noveldepot Chapter 85, What do you understand now?!
Chapter 85, What do you understand now?!
The ward was a pristine white.
Zhong Ai lay on the hospital bed, most of her face shyly hidden under the covers, only her big, watery eyes showing, as she softly and shyly called out, "Brother."
The man sitting by the window stopped what he was doing immediately upon hearing the sound.
He put down the half-peeled fruit and knife, came to her side, and leaned down slightly: "I'm here, what's wrong?"
Looking at the face so close to hers, Zhong Ai's cheeks involuntarily flushed even more.
She shook her head gently and said softly, "It's nothing, I just wanted to call you."
The man paused for a moment after hearing this, then smiled.
"Get some rest, I'm here for you."
"Um."
Zhong Ai's gaze lingered on him until he finished arranging everything in the ward and was called out by the nurse.
Click.
The ward door closed, cutting off the girl's lingering gaze.
The gentle, brotherly aura on Cheng Chen's face vanished instantly. He straightened his collar expressionlessly and turned to the side.
"The doctor said that she still has some residual effects from the failure of the transformation magic and mind control magic, but a powerful magical source within her body is protecting her, so she is fine and only needs to rest for a while to recover."
The person standing outside the ward with their hands in their pockets was not a nurse, but Jiang Fei, dressed in a black trench coat and turtleneck sweater.
She calmly held up the diagnosis report and asked indifferently, "Is this the result you wanted?"
A brand new magical girl is developing feelings for you.
[A new playable character has been added: Magical Girl Azure]
She is completely captivated by you, utterly subjugated by you. Without you, her world would be a bleak wasteland. You may not be everything to her, but you are undoubtedly one of the most important people in her life. Guilt, affection, attachment, trust… Well done! Evil Demon King, you have achieved an unimaginable breakthrough!
Magical Girl: Azure
Current dependency level: 56%↑
Cheng Chen quietly closed his eyes, as the system's cold, impersonal prompts popped up in his mind one by one.
Cang Qing's dependence on the system has skyrocketed from a state where it was never recorded before to now exceeding 50%, and it is still rising.
Without a doubt, this is his biggest gain from this trip.
The new dependency not only brings new ascended magic, further enhancing his strength, but can also be used to suppress the side effects after releasing [Miracle].
When I opened my eyes again, part of the skin on the back of my hand was still blurry and translucent, but it was covered by my sleeve and was hard to see.
Jiang Fei stepped forward, took his hand, examined it for a moment, and then frowned: "Is it worth it?"
"worth."
Cheng Chen nodded slightly, his tone calm and firm, and then withdrew his hand.
From the moment Chung Ai first mentioned investigating "Ink Cat Residence," he has been guiding things, shaping them into what they are today.
"...Is that so?"
The hint of heartache on Jiang Fei's face quickly faded, and she returned to her usual demeanor. "You went to all that trouble just to deceive a little girl's feelings? I really don't understand you anymore, Cheng Chen. Do you like her?"
Cheng Chen took Zhong Ai's diagnosis report from her and casually flipped through it.
"I don't deny that I deceived her, but not because I liked her, it was purely out of exploitation."
"So, you have absolutely no feelings for her?"
"Of course not."
Cheng Chen answered decisively, looking up to meet Jiang Fei's gaze, "It's just that this feeling is different from what you imagined."
Jiang Fei asked, "What's the difference?"
He put down the report, considered it for a moment, and slowly began to speak: "One day, during a downpour, you were walking home with an umbrella, your clothes were completely soaked, and you were in a terrible mood. Suddenly, you heard the faint meowing of a cat coming from the flower bed."
Looking into Jiang Fei's eyes, he continued, "You softened your heart. You rescued that dirty kitten and took it home, bathed it, fed it, and raised it little by little... that's probably the kind of feeling you have."
Jiang Fei shook her head: "I don't understand."
Cheng Chen sighed helplessly and had no choice but to explain more patiently: "Rescuing cats and dogs is not because you love them so much from the beginning, but because you hope to get some kind of emotional projection from them and thus obtain comfort. No matter how close the pet and its owner are, they are not family members, but a kind of subordinate domination, which just looks closer."
I helped Huiya and deceived Cangqing all to get what I wanted from them. If, knowing this, I could still shamelessly claim to "like" or "love" them, that would be utterly hypocritical.
He could speak sweet words and make promises to those magical girls.
The one thing you must never do is deceive yourself.
He needs the magical girls' dependence, but he doesn't need to depend on them himself.
Jiang Fei was stunned for a moment, then stared intently at his face.
Seeing her expression, Cheng Chen asked again, "Do you understand now?"
"Understood!"
"What did you understand?"
"You have avoidant attachment style."
Jiang Fei spoke with absolute certainty, "To be specific, it's about being afraid of intimate relationships, deliberately thinking of yourself as the worst possible person, and attributing all your actions to exploitation, so that you can deceive their feelings without any psychological burden."
You don't understand a damn thing!
Cheng Chen almost swore.
His face twitched, but he ultimately decided not to correct Jiang Fei and changed the subject.
"How's the wrap-up going?"
Jiang Fei cooperated by not delving further, and with a serious expression, began to discuss serious matters.
"The battlefield in the Dragon's Blood District is still being checked for any remaining magical disasters. After that, a construction team from the Yin City Reconstruction Fund will arrive. Ziyi will be overseeing the entire process, and she will notify me immediately if anything goes wrong."
"In addition, we recovered the corpse of a Demon Lord and a very strange severed hand from the apartment building that Bai Xing found. Based on your previous description and the on-site investigation, this unknown Demon Lord is the culprit behind everything today."
She paused, her expression turning serious, and said, "I will find some trustworthy channels to investigate his identity and the matter of that severed hand."
"No need to check."
Cheng Chen raised his hand and decisively rejected the idea.
"The perpetrator left behind a corpse and deliberately left behind a severed hand. These are the only two clues that can reveal his identity; everything else is irrelevant. The purpose was to lure us into investigating pre-set clues, only to find a result he meticulously orchestrated."
Cheng Chen smiled casually, "It's really annoying to be led by the nose."
This time, Jiang Fei didn't object, but simply asked, "Then what should we do?"
"I'm tired of investigation and crime-solving games."
Cheng Chen calmly replied, "Of course, I'd just flip the table."
……