Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 322

“Look, the insignia on the chest is different.” Mu held up the white coat and placed it in front of Xiangzi.

Xiangzi took it and looked at it.

Indeed, the logos on the chests of the two garments are different.

"This is the imperial emblem; I recognize it... and another one..."

Xiangzi picked up another piece of clothing and froze.

"This is... a kingdom?"

In other words, this monastery was jointly operated by the kingdom and the empire?

Haven't they been fighting for many years? How could they possibly open a monastery together peacefully and send the Red Queen's heirs, who are of paramount importance to the empire, to receive education there?

This... how is that possible?

How could that be impossible?

The tree demon that Ningning used before, the residents of the Kingdom's Holy City, the silver slime in front of her, and the artificial monster weapons used by the Empire—they are all the same thing. They might all have come from the same research lab.

They all originated from here.

She already knew why Xiao Su Shi was having nightmares.

What haunted her countless nightmares was the research institute hidden in the upper levels of the monastery. These institutes, filled with bloodshed and sin, made this already terrible world even worse, and were the root of Xiaosushi's nightmares.

The Lost Story: The Lost Child - Chapter 411 The Secret of the Top Floor

The wolf rider, standing amidst the pile of shattered armor, stopped in his tracks.

The outstretched hand was less than two centimeters away from Aine.

However, it could no longer move. Its body was battered and broken, its joints damaged, and sparks flew from the gaps in its armor. Aine's final blow was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Clank, clank, clank——

The wolf rider was shattered into pieces.

The exhibition hall, which had been in complete disarray, finally quieted down.

"call......"

Ai Yin wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath.

"Finally, it's all cleaned up." Ai wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, put one hand on her hip, and smiled brightly. "We're really amazing!"

"Lixi, matcha candy." Lena held out her hand to Lixi.

"I'll give it to you later."

"I want it now."

"I already said I'd wait."

"Matcha sugar."

"Sigh..." Li Xi sighed, took a matcha candy out of his pocket, and put it into Le Nai's mouth.

Lena showed a happy smile.

On the other side, Xiao Su Shi emerged from the cover of the lamp, still shaken, and stared at the pile of armor fragments scattered on the ground in front of her.

The armor was empty; there was nothing inside, and no one was inside controlling it.

"Are these armors monsters?" She crouched down and poked the armor.

“If they were monsters, I should be able to hear their thoughts.” Lantern walked to her side, squatted down, and picked up a piece of armor. “I can’t hear their thoughts.”

"Then it's not a monster?"

“But… although I can’t hear them,” the lamp said with a sorrowful expression, “I can feel the grief emanating from them.”

"why?"

The lamp shook its head and said:

"I don't know... but I have a feeling that they weren't placed here voluntarily."

"There's a legend circulating among the empires about the dwarves. It's said that they sacrificed their entire race's lives for a great wish, and in doing so, the dwarves vanished from the world, their souls becoming part of that wish." Little Su Shi patted the wolf rider's helmet. "Could these armors be...?"

Aine slung the katana back over her shoulder, walked to the fragments of the wolf knight's armor, and looked at its now-dulled helmet.

"But isn't this the Regent's power armor?"

“The energy that powers it must be a creation of the dwarves.” Lixi picked up a piece of armor and pulled out a small, can-like object from the back. “This is it. The description on the display case says it’s called something like ‘Mini Steam Core’.”

"So this thing wasn't made by the Empire..." Aine blinked.

The lamp held a miniature steam core and closed its eyes.

A sense of sadness welled up from the steam core.

The system, visible only to the lights, indicates that this steam core can be used as an offering.

“Yes…” the lamp said softly, “the emotions I feel are emanating from these things.”

========

"Xiang, are you still planning to continue?"

Mu's voice roused Xiangzi from his thoughts.

“Of course, now that Sky City has taken off, the Regent can’t escape,” Xiangzi said. “Having come this far, there’s no way we won’t tear this place down.”

She clenched her fists.

Since this place is the source of Xiaosu Shi's nightmares, she has to see why the Empire and the Kingdom are united, and what this so-called place for training the Red Queen's successor is actually used for.

As you move up one level, more and more of the truth is revealed before you.

She saw a bell covered with dense, intricate patterns, and next to it, a plaque faintly bore the words "Activator." This bell was the same model as the one the kingdom had used to turn all its inhabitants into monster debris during the war between the empire and the kingdom.

She saw rows of neatly arranged operating tables, covered with mottled black bloodstains and other white and yellow substances. A research diary casually tossed aside said that these were experiments to implant monster limbs and turn people into monster weapons.

She also saw an administrator's office, where she found the administrator's log.

The log says this:

Today is my first day on the job. My predecessor in this position told me that our country's secret cooperation with the Kingdom has been going on for many years. The monastery is ostensibly used for selecting the Red Queen's successor, but in reality, the Red Queen's "selection" produces a lot of "waste"—rare experimental subjects. My task is to keep an eye on these experimental subjects and prevent them from running away.

The log also stated:

Today marks my tenth anniversary since taking office. Good heavens, I've been working here for nine years. To be honest, seeing these young women being sent into the lab every day is a bit heartbreaking, but after a while, I just think, "Oh well, that's how it is." I guess that's what numbness is. However, the experiments on the top floor seem to be showing some results recently. I've seen one young woman several times—theoretically, no test subject can survive going in and out of the top floor that many times. I hope she can live a long and healthy life.

Turn to the next page, and you'll find the last page, which contains only a very simple line of text:

The experiment was a success! The kingdom really did have ulterior motives; they're going to silence everyone who knows! I don't want to die!

Xiangzi closed his journal, his eyes half-closed.

"The experiment on the top floor... Let's go up and take a look."

She left the logbook where she was and continued walking uphill.

Keep going up.

keep going.

Reaching the very top of the spire surrounded by the entire monastery, I looked at the tightly closed door and took a deep breath.

Xiangzi covered the door panel with his hands and exerted force.

======

squeak-

Ai Yin struggled to push open the heavy iron door, and leaning on the door panel, she exclaimed, "This thing is really heavy!"

She glanced at Lixi beside her; her expression wasn't much better. Seeing Aiyin smiling at her with a look that seemed to say, "So you can get tired too," she rolled her eyes back.

It was heavy, of course. These doors were supposed to be controlled by hydraulic levers, but she and Lixi managed to push them open. Behind the door was an empty hall, which looked quite safe; they could rest for a while.

"Tengteng, it's safe this way, you can come in." Aiyin waved down the stairs. "We're almost at the top."

With the lamp holding Xiaosushi's hand, a figure emerged from behind the supporting column of the spiral staircase.

"Are we almost there?" Xiao Su Shi asked cautiously, peeking out from behind the lamp.

"Hmm!" Ai Yin nodded, hands on her hips. "It's almost at the end."

The Tale of the Lost: The Lost Child - Chapter 412 is about to come to an end (Part 2)

"Are we almost there?" Xiao Su Shi asked cautiously, peeking out from behind the lamp.

"Hmm!" Ai Yin nodded, hands on her hips. "It's almost at the end."

"Speaking of which, this journey has been quite bumpy." Aine raised her head again, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked up at the ceiling.

It had been more than half a day since they separated from Xiangzi and were forced to act separately. They launched their attack at dawn, and now the sun was almost setting.

This whole day has been exhausting.

I love the sound.

Even though there was only a wall between them, they had to go around to the other side of the open door. Not to mention, there were countless monsters along the way, some looking like dogs, some with lots of hair and weak to fire, some with big bodies and weak to doors, and some with moving armor—Aine didn't see a single living person!

The empire is constantly sending troops up there, so why is there not a single living person on Sky City, but instead all sorts of monsters?

This was not the thrilling war one might imagine; instead, it was filled with a chilling sense of unease.

Aine didn't dare to think too much about what the Empire was doing; just the thought of what these monsters might have turned into sent chills down her spine.

Back to the point.

In fact, they had only been up there a short time when they felt a violent tremor in the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the sky began to change.

Their location was rising, soon above the clouds. With the clouds gone, the sunlight shone unreservedly on the buildings made of copper pipes, gears, and bricks.

Sky City has been moving somewhere, and this continues to this day.

They had actually reached the tallest control tower in the very center of the city and were currently heading towards the top.

The control tower, which looks like a goddess statue, is several hundred meters high. It's not easy to get up there. Even with elevators, you can't get to the top floor in one go. You have to change elevators repeatedly to reach the top of the tower.

There were quite a few monsters on the way to the summit. At first, there weren't many monsters along the way, until a staircase destroyed in battle forced them to change course, and then the number of enemies increased. Looking back now, the reason they didn't encounter many enemies earlier was probably because their little master had cleared them out before them.

Later, we had to change course and take a path that the junior master hadn't taken, which led us to encounter even more enemies. Does this mean the junior master has already gone ahead of us, so we don't need to work as hard?

Since the junior master is so skilled, we can leave everything to him.

While resting, Ai-yin stared blankly at the ceiling and couldn't help but think of that.

"No, that won't do." Deng sat down next to Ai Yin without anyone noticing. "Ai, we can't leave everything to Xiang. We have to work hard too."

“I forgot you can read minds.” Ai Yin scratched her head and chuckled. “I know, I know, thinking like that will make me lazy.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Deng nodded seriously. “We can’t let ourselves become lazy, Xiao Ai. We promised that no matter what, we would walk together.”

"I won't forget it."

"That's good......"

"Speaking of which, how come Dengdeng has the ability to read minds? You didn't wish to become a magical girl with Kyubey, did you?"

"No, I'm still an ordinary person."

“But how can ordinary people read minds… Ah, I almost forgot that Lin Hai is also an ordinary person.” Aine shook her head. “It feels like once you enter this barrier, there’s no difference between magical girls and ordinary people.”

"That's why I can help everyone." Lamp clenched her little fist and held it to her chest. "I can hear the voices of the monsters and everyone else. Maybe Su Shi wants me to hear them, and... I want to hear them myself too."

She had wondered why she had inexplicably gained this ability, but in the end she couldn't figure it out and gave up.

Perhaps it was really Su Shi who wanted her to understand her, so... Deng shook his head, his gaze drifting to Su Shi, who was sitting quietly to the side with her eyes closed, resting.

She said she was resting with her eyes closed, but she had actually fallen asleep.

They had only been sitting down for a short while when Xiao Su Shi began to fall fast asleep.

"She looks so cute when she's asleep." Aine leaned closer, smiling as she looked at Su Shi curled up in a ball. "Like a kitten."

"They say you only sleep like that when you don't feel safe," Deng said softly. "I've never seen Lena sleep like this before."