Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 66

A moment ago.

While following Zhou Qian through the wetlands, Wu Ren said, “Look, thanks to the card you gave me at the beginning, with two cards, I was able to restore the points for both cards simultaneously at the ‘Evil Spirit Purification Station’.”

Zhou Qian nodded in realization. “Right. So, people should always do good deeds.”

“Ahem…” Wu Ren, sensing Zhou Qian’s insincerity, changed the topic. “Why did you want me to play the ‘king’ at the beginning?”

Zhou Qian: “I was just testing you. I thought you were in cahoots with Yin Jiujiu.”

Wu Ren: “…”

So it was like that.

As Wu Ren was about to ask more, Zhou Qian stopped walking. Seeing his serious expression, Wu Ren took a step back nervously. “What’s wrong?”

“According to my gambler, Qi Liuxing and the others went east from here. Be careful; this place can trap you in illusions. But if we keep talking, we should be fine,” Zhou Qian said and started walking eastward.

“An illusion? Aren’t you afraid?” Wu Ren asked.

Thinking of something, the serious expression on Zhou Qian’s face disappeared, and he said with a smile, “Because I remembered someone.”

Upon seeing his expression, Wu Ren joked, “Oh, you’re thinking of a woman, right? Zhou Qian, I didn’t expect you to be so sentimental. Heroes do have a weakness for beauties…”

Before Wu Ren could finish, Zhou Qian interrupted, “Oh no, you misunderstood. I was thinking of a man.”

Wu Ren: “???”

Zhou Qian: “He is quite handsome, perhaps even more than many beauties.”

Wu Ren: “…”

Brother, what’s your deal?

Shaking his head, Wu Ren observed Zhou Qian’s silhouette, thinking that no beauty would find them attractive in their current state.

“If we stand next to a beauty now, it would be like Beauty and the Beast. Ah no, Beauty and the Monster…” Wu Ren mumbled.

Zhou Qian halted again.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Ren asked.

Suddenly, Zhou Qian’s chest burst into blooming red roses.

From Zhou Qian’s body sprouted dark grass, making him shed his clothing. His body was almost completely transformed into a plant, with no human skin or flesh left. The tips of these grasses started budding, then blooming one by one.

With grass growing and flowers blooming from it, Zhou Qian looked exceedingly strange, a sight that made Wu Ren frown. But when Wu Ren glanced down, he saw roses sprouting from his chest as well.

After the mutation, Wu Ren’s body resembled stacked leaves, and now petals began to grow on these leaves. He took a moment to process it but then shrugged it off, as the bizarre had become the norm in this instance.

A moment later, Wu Ren twitched his nose, as if he had smelled something, and then turned to walk towards a small path nearby. After not going far, he indeed saw clusters upon clusters of roses blooming there. It was likely that under the influence of these roses, both he and Zhou Qian had acquired the genes of roses in their bodies.

The vibrant red roses blossomed profusely, diluting the unpleasant smell of the place and replacing it with a rich fragrance. What was even more remarkable was that, apart from being much larger in size, the shape of these flowers had not undergone any significant change. At the sight of them, one couldn’t help but feel a sudden sense of returning from an otherworldly realm back to the world of humans.

But after all, this place wasn’t the ordinary human world.

Clusters of roses stretched for miles, and roughly in the middle, there stood an exceptionally large rose, almost as tall as a person.

At that moment, Zhou Qian also turned his gaze to this giant rose.

After realizing that he too had acquired the genes of the rose, his previous speculation about a massive species fusion undoubtedly seemed more plausible. He quickly made an attempt—commanding the roses in his mind, testing if he could control their blooming and wilting.

However, Zhou Qian failed. The roses temporarily couldn’t respond to the commands from his brain.

After pondering for a moment, Zhou Qian motioned for Wu Ren to join him, and together they approached the massive rose in the center. Zhou Qian wanted to try and make more contact with it, to be “sensed” by it a little longer.

Perhaps after waiting for a bit longer and merging more thoroughly with it, he might gain control over the roses.

Unexpectedly, shortly after Zhou Qian approached that giant rose, a memory suddenly appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

It was during an evening.

Roses were planted all over the balcony, and many roses were also placed inside the room. Roses, cosmetics, beautiful dresses… All these items indicated that this was a girl’s room.

In addition, there were some unusual things in the room—magic wands, crystal balls, and books recording magic. It seemed that the girl living here was a witch.

The door opened, and indeed a girl entered.

Zhou Qian was very familiar with her—it was Sarah. She had beautiful eyes, and her hair and eyelashes were a light golden color.

However, she was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed in.

She had no legs.

The one pushing Sarah was a maid. She carefully lifted Sarah onto the bed. Sarah then looked at her and said, “I’m useless now, aren’t I?”

The maid shook her head, went to the balcony to pick a fresh rose, placed one on Sarah’s head, and put the rest in a vase.

The maid said cautiously and gently, “Dear Sarah, you’re the most beautiful girl in the world. You’re not useless. You’ll stand again. Young Master Ryan will heal you.”

Holding the rose in her hands, Sarah sighed. “Even the most beautiful roses will wither. I’m just like them. You all say I’m beautiful… but without my legs, surely no one would love me. A rose without appreciation loses its luster. If no one loves me… I’ll age quickly and die in loneliness and oblivion.”

“I can’t bear such days. Life is passionate… I hope everyone has me in their eyes. That would be nice…”

“The more people care about me, the happier I live. But now everything has turned into an illusion.”

“Miss Sarah, please don’t say such silly things. You will get better!” The maid admonished, looking more anxious, as if afraid of angering Sarah.

“Look, my promotion of witchcraft… seems like a joke. I founded the Witch Association and brought so many girls into it. But when they find out that I can’t use magic to heal my own legs… what then? I’ll become a joke.”

“I lost. Completely lost.”

Sarah said, “I vowed to Ryan that I would prove him wrong. I wanted to prove that science and technology were wrong. But now… was the path I took correct?”

“You see, even if you’re comforting me now—” Sarah sighed, “you must be laughing at me in your heart. Originally, I was just bitten by a venomous insect, and I refused to go to the hospital… until amputation was the only option. You must be laughing at my ignorance and stubbornness.”

The memory ended here.

The scene shifted.

Then another memory appeared.

It was in a ward.

There was a girl lying on the bed who was pale, but her eyes were bright, and her mouth wore a joyful and content smile.

It was still Sarah.

Surprisingly, looking through the thin quilt, one could see the outline of two legs. It was as if her legs had grown back.

Then someone else entered.

This time it was a familiar face—Ryan.

Except for the color of their eyes, Ryan and Sarah did indeed look very similar. They had different auras, and their facial features were also different upon close inspection, but from their body shape and facial contours, it was clear they shared a close blood relationship.

The room was filled with roses.

Ryan entered holding a bouquet. After pouring water into a vase and placing the roses in it, he sat next to Sarah and began to speak.

“Feeling better? Can you walk?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, thank you. Indeed, I’ve grown legs and can walk. It’s amazing.” Sarah laughed, pulling back the quilt to reveal a beautiful dress. Beneath the dress were two slender, pristine white legs, as if newly born without a single flaw.

Sarah gently touched her leg and covered herself with the quilt again. “I’m still adjusting, but there are no major issues. It’s wonderful.” After a pause, she looked at Ryan, hesitated, and then said, “I’m sorry. I misunderstood you in the past.”

“It’s okay. It’s good that you can see things differently now,” Ryan replied.

“Yes. I was… too stubborn before,” Sarah said with a wry smile. “So I’ll start learning about technology now. It’s not too late, right?”

Ryan said, “Of course there’s time. After I went outside, they tested my IQ and said it was extraordinarily high. They even said they’ve never seen someone with such a high IQ. It shows that Beautiful Flower Town has been isolated from the world for so long that they don’t even know the capabilities of the people here…”

“In any case, you are my sister. You should be like me. What I can learn, you can also learn quickly.”

“Ha… that’s great.” Sarah laughed. After laughing, she looked a bit melancholic. “Wait, what about the Witch Association? I built it from scratch. Every day I tell everyone to return to nature…”

Ryan paused. “Yesterday… a witch was burned. Do you know what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Sarah blinked.

When Sarah said this, Ryan didn’t notice anything. But Zhou Qian saw Sarah’s hand secretly clenched into a fist, and a shadow passed through her eyes.

The beautiful girl had a strong resentment in her eyes, as if…

As if she wished all the witches were dead.

“Isn’t the witch execution done by the mayor? The current mayor is quite annoying. It would be great if you could be mayor in the future.”

“Anyway… I don’t know why, but the townspeople now really hate witches. Haa… I’m thinking about how to dissolve the association.”

“I’m just worried that they learned to return to nature and study magic because of me. In the end, they find out there’s no magic in the world, and now I’m studying science… I’ve become a joke.”

“Sister, you shouldn’t care too much about what others think,” Ryan said. “We just do our thing. Look, I can heal your leg and treat the diseases of others in the town. Everything we learn will benefit everyone. Beautiful Flower Town will get better and better.”

“Yes, you’re right…” Sarah pinched a rose and looked at the setting sun outside the ward. “But this is far from enough.”

Ryan frowned, somewhat puzzled. “Sarah, what do you mean by that?”

The setting sun painted Sarah’s fair face red. The evening glow accentuated her eyes and the rose, which made her look somewhat enchanting.

She whispered, “Our mother died of heart disease. Now you can make a heart. That problem is solved. But there are many other problems.”

“I was bitten by a venomous bug and had to have an amputation because of an infection. Our father died of pneumonia… You said it was caused by a virus. Why can’t we coexist with viruses and bacteria?”

“Ryan, do you think there’s a way… some technology that lets us coexist with them? Or… I’ve always worried that if I get old and unattractive, no one will love me. But plants don’t age! If I could be like a tree or grass, could I live for ten thousand years and stay young?”

Holding the rose in her hand, Sarah turned her head to meet Ryan’s gaze.

Her eyes had a captivating power, hinting at underlying madness. “Is there a technology that can turn us into gods? Ryan, I want the roses in the world to never wither.”

……

These two memories faded away. Not only did Zhou Qian see these images, but Wu Ren did too.

Wu Ren felt he should have broken out in cold sweat, but his back was already full of leaves. He said, “Did we see all this from the perspective of the rose? Are these the rose’s memories?”

“That seems to be the case,” Zhou Qian said thoughtfully, looking at the huge red rose. Such a beautiful flower would be wonderful if it never withered. But did beauty always mean it was right?

Moments later, Wu Ren continued, “Wait… We thought that Ryan and Sarah were opposites, one pursuing science and the other magic. Ryan was a tech fanatic! He was so obsessed with his experiments that he caused accidents, created these strange plants and animals, and sent us here… but now I feel… that the real tech fanatic is Sarah?”

“You’re right,” Zhou Qian replied. “Sarah founded the Witch Association. She seems like the kind of person born to be in a cult—good at convincing people with her speeches and persuasions. She said she wanted everyone’s attention. Perhaps that’s why she founded the association. But when she realized she couldn’t achieve everything through magic… she turned to ‘technology’.”

“But Ryan is the one who’s into technology…” Wu Ren said, puzzled.

“Is it possible that Ryan is Sarah and Sarah is Ryan?” Zhou Qian suggested.

“That’s what we thought before—that Ryan is pretending to be a woman—”

Wu Ren was interrupted by Zhou Qian, “But what if… it’s not cross-dressing?”

Wu Ren: “?”

Zhou Qian lifted his hand, looked at the ink-colored grass and red rose in his palm, and whispered, “Could they have merged together?”

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The author has something to say:

Zhou Qian, did you fall for the male town mayor, the witch, or…???

Zhou Qian: ?????

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