Monster - Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Center City - Currying Favor

While eating barbecue, Lou remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since waking up in Black Goat Walled City.

Ever since learning about Lin Sandie's current condition, she had suddenly lost many of her desires. It was like that time before Lin Sandie was forced to kill Yan Ting in self-defense; the desires that had returned when she sensed Lin Sandie was in danger had now vanished without a trace.

If she weren't a Sentinel from the Main World, she might have starved herself to death long ago.

But this made it hard for her to eat much. After a few pieces, she just focused on grilling meat for Miu.

"Go see Lin Sandie after you're done eating. She still thinks she's the one who got you hurt." Lou cut the fragrant, grilled pork belly into small pieces to make it easier for Miu to swallow.

"Lin Sandie just likes to overthink things. But I can understand her, more or less. Our way of survival as Guides has always been different from yours," Miu said, continuously swallowing the small pieces of meat Lou had cut for it. It didn't forget to nag Lou on the "squad channel." "The way you are now, you don't look much like a Sentinel."

"What's a Sentinel supposed to look like?"

"How do Guides usually insult Sentinels?"

"Brainless primitives?"

"Heh," Miu let out a strange laugh.

"So?"

"Because a Sentinel's instincts are often what they rely on for action. And for a trained Sentinel, when they lose their way and feel lost, the first thing they follow is their own instinct. Has it been too long since you reviewed the basics? You actually need a Guide like me to tell you this? Or do you just not trust your own instincts?"

"...I really don't trust them much right now."

After saying that, Lou fell silent again. Lately, she had been falling into such silences very easily.

After the person and the bird finished eating, Miu found Lin Sandie's location based on the address Lou had given it. The latter was sitting in a wheelchair, looking at a large screen in front of her. As she pressed the white remote in her hand, data flashed across the screen intermittently.

Miu probed with its Island, sending a request to land on Lin Sandie's Island in the unique way of a Guide.

Lin Sandie stopped what she was doing, looked up at the ceiling, and said to the caregiver sitting on the sofa behind her, "Please open the main door, then stay on the first floor. I'll call you when I need you."

The caregiver gave Lin Sandie a strange look but didn't say anything. She got up, went downstairs, and opened the main door.

As the main door opened, the caregiver felt a gust of cold wind mixed with snowflakes hit her face, but she saw no guests.

She waited strangely for a while. Seeing that no one was coming and only the cold wind was pouring in, she closed the door again for the sake of Lin Sandie's health.

The caregiver didn't go back upstairs to find Lin Sandie. Having spent some time with her, she had come to understand some of her current employer's temperament, so she just stayed obediently on the first floor, awaiting her employer's next summons.

At that moment, on the second floor, Lin Sandie looked at the crow standing on the display screen, a rare smile appearing on her face.

"I'm very happy to see you again, Crow Lady." Lin Sandie was as elegant and graceful as when Miu had first met her. Her black hair fell over her shoulders, her eyes were deep, and she wore a pair of glasses on her high-bridged nose.

But her temperament had changed drastically. If the old Lin Sandie had a kind of translucent fragility, the current her carried a dark aura that easily inspired fear. So when she smiled, it made the person facing her feel a sense of honor in a daze, as if she were a creature who was not meant to smile, making her smile seem all the more precious.

Although her style was completely different from Lou's, seeing Lin Sandie like this, Miu felt she was becoming more and more similar to Lou. It was a similarity that belonged only to the two of them. To the perceptive Miu, they were increasingly like a pair of twins who had grown up together.

"Seeing you like this, I can't say I'm very happy," Miu paused, then replied.

Lin Sandie just smiled without replying, waiting for Miu to preen its feathers.

"I heard about your plans from Lou. She probably heard them from someone else, too. I'd still like to hear it from you."

"Are you asking as Lou's partner? Or as a senior who wants to give me some advice?" Lin Sandie tilted her head slightly. Her pupils, once the pale color of rain, had long since turned pitch-black.

"Heh, if you must have a reason, let's just say I'm currying favor," Miu's voice was full of playfulness.

Lin Sandie looked at it, confused.

"Lin Sandie, your current physical condition is visibly worrying. Do you really still plan to leave Leviathan?"

"I haven't considered that step." Lin Sandie, who always thought about so many things, said something uncharacteristic of her.

"So you don't plan on leaving Leviathan."

"Right now, just thinking about how to resolve the current situation is exhausting enough, so I don't want to think about things that far ahead. Whether or not I can leave Leviathan isn't important to me." Lin Sandie knew Miu was asking if she would successfully become a Guide in the Main World. Because, as things stood, as long as she could survive until Lou dealt with Tree, she would have broken through the confines of her own world and be qualified to enter the Main World, no longer trapped in the chaotic Tower Worlds.

"Resolve what situation?"

Lin Sandie hesitated for a moment, then looked into Miu's eyes and answered, "To lead that fool out of this sea of suffering, so she's no longer entangled by the ghosts of her past."

"...You've really thought this through. So if Lou remains obstinately blind to the truth, you plan to die with her?"

"You also know she's going to die soon?"

"Tsk, anyone who's known her for a little while knows she won't live long. The only reason she hasn't been beaten to death is because everyone can see she's already on the verge of dying."

Lin Sandie was at a loss for words. She suddenly became curious about Lou's reputation in the Main World.

"She's toned it down a lot since she met you. Before, who couldn't see she was a madwoman?"

"Crow Lady, please tell me more about what Lou was like to all of you." Lin Sandie asked with a smile, like a dying person begging someone to grant her a final wish. This made Miu feel quite uneasy.

After preening its feathers, Miu flew onto Lin Sandie's shoulder. Lin Sandie controlled her fingers, which could now move slightly, and steered the wheelchair toward the living room balcony on the second floor.

"I only officially got to know her after we became partners. Before that, I'd only heard of her great name. Lou isn't the longest-living Sentinel, nor the most active, but the difficult missions she's completed are too famous. Plus, she holds the title of Pie's next successor. These two things alone are enough to make many people have ideas about her—some good, and definitely some bad."

"But her personality is very unlikable. She's reckless and willful, never considers other people's feelings, and doesn't think about the consequences for her relationships. While it's not to the point where people want to kill her to vent their anger, it has made many people unwilling to associate with her."

"In other words, she's abandoned a lot of people?"

"'Abandoned' is a good word for it. I'm not saying she's a bad teammate. When it comes to missions, she does her part well enough. But as soon as personal feelings are involved, she's very irresponsible. She casually tramples on the feelings of those who like her—ignoring them, avoiding them, toying with them... I heard she once saved a child during a mission. The child was brought back to the Main World, and after a month with her, she got impatient and just sent the kid to an orphanage. She never went back to see them even once. Things like that."

"She must not have many friends, then," Lin Sandie shook her head helplessly.

"Not many people can stand her."

"What other interesting things have you heard?" Lin Sandie pressed on, full of interest.

The person and the bird continued to chat about some of Lou's past stories. Seeing that Lin Sandie was unwilling to talk about herself, Miu didn't press her, instead telling her some of Lou's "glorious deeds." Before they knew it, they had talked late into the night.

"Alright, alright, that's all. I have to go."

"Okay," Lin Sandie smiled. "I'll treat you to a meal next time."

Miu laughed a couple of times. Standing on Lin Sandie's shoulder, it lifted one of its wings, and a dusty gray object fell into Lin Sandie's lap.

It was a rabbit doll the size of an adult's palm, with a pair of red eyes. The rabbit had a round, cute head with long ears. On its face, besides the two eyes, there was only an "×" stitched with thread where its mouth should be.

Lin Sandie's heart pounded. She manifested her Spirit Separation state and picked up the rabbit doll Miu had given her.

This tattered rabbit doll was undoubtedly the Little Rabbit that Lin Sandie had been when she was first "picked up" by Little Fool. It had been preserved in a certain temporal state, because no matter what, hundreds of years had passed since then; it couldn't possibly still exist.

"Where did you get this rabbit?" The last time Lin Sandie had seen this rabbit doll, it was being held by a little girl from the slums, who had picked it up after Little Fool had thrown it away.

"I thought it had disappeared," Lin Sandie said, looking at the rabbit doll with a hint of nostalgia.

"Pie had me deliver it. She said that if she appeared by your side too often, it would cause unnecessary changes."

No wonder I haven't been getting a response when I summon Her in my dreams. Lin Sandie muttered to herself upon hearing this reason.

"Why give it to me?"

"That I don't know. It was Pie's idea." Miu also couldn't figure out why Pie would specifically have it bring this rabbit doll to Lin Sandie.

Lin Sandie stroked the rabbit doll in her hands, lost in thought. After a moment, she asked again,

"She can't appear by my side, but what about by Lou's side?"

"Probably. That girl Lou is sulking right now. Are you really not going to ask me why I'm currying favor with you?" Miu was a bit speechless at Lin Sandie's unhurried pace and took the initiative to ask.

"What's there to ask? You probably know I'm the Little Rabbit that Lou has been looking for, and that I have a connection with Pie."

"It's not as simple as just 'having a connection'."

"What do you know?"

"Well, I'll tell you after you and Lou make up." Miu was extremely malicious, whetting Lin Sandie's appetite and then refusing to say more.

Lin Sandie blinked. "It's not a matter of making up or not between us."

"By the way, can you really not just tell Lou that you're the Little Rabbit she's been longing for?"

"I've tried countless times in my dreams. It only throws her into deeper confusion. It might seem like an improvement at first, but there are many hidden dangers."

"Alright," Miu sighed deeply. "Then that's that. Goodbye."

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