36: Good boy, pat on the head
Outside the containment room, in the observation station filled with Arcane formations.
Several A-level Personnel in red uniforms were observing the Calamity Witch through the window.
“November 18th, 9:28 AM, Calamity Witch awakened, no anomalies…”,
“9:29 AM, Calamity Witch began staring at 9527. Staring duration 10 seconds. 9527 no anomalies.”
“9:30 AM, Calamity Witch began staring at 6496. Staring duration 2.5 seconds. 6436… exploded.”
As one of them recorded this, another visibly older A-level Personnel slowly nodded.
“Having Arcanists with higher sanity as investigators should yield better results. Continue observing.”
In the observation station, only the tapping sound of the typewriter remained.
These important data would be transmitted via cable to the esteemed Head of the Foundation.
Meng Yun watched with his own eyes as 6436 suddenly clutched his head, his eyeballs bulging.
Finally, with a wail, his head burst open like a watermelon.
Bang!
Blood splattered onto Meng Yun.
Had he not experienced the mountains of corpses and seas of blood from slaying demonic beasts, Meng Yun might have truly screamed.
But at this moment, his heart had long since seen everything.
Meng Yun silently tried to use Alchemy to remove the stains, but helplessly found that elemental flow was blocked here, with no energy source, Arcane could not be used.
After much thought, he walked directly up to the silver-haired girl.
The girl also fixed her gaze, unblinking, on Meng Yun, watching him approach her step by step, without stopping.
Meng Yun vaguely felt that her eyes, which were like ancient ice and unchanging through eternity, seemed to flicker for a moment with surprise and bewilderment.
But Meng Yun still didn't care.
Since he wasn't instantly killed upon first sight, the possibility of death was greatly reduced.
Perhaps after this job, he might truly be able to return to society and experience the wonderful life of an Arcanist.
With this thought, Meng Yun had already approached within two meters of the girl.
“Don't come any closer.”
“You will die.”
The girl clearly didn't open her mouth, she merely stared at him expressionlessly, but a clear, indifferent voice gently knocked on Meng Yun's heart, resounding within his chest.
Mental perception.
An incredibly profound ability.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Arcane.
Otherwise, Meng Yun would quickly learn it and could later pose as a magician to deceive people.
He took another step forward.
One meter.
The girl still made no movement, but in Meng Yun's ears, countless eerie whispers suddenly arose.
Like ancient murmurs, with obscure and difficult-to-understand pronunciations, they twisted and eroded Meng Yun's sanity step by step, attempting to pull him into aFall abyss.
Meng Yun turned a deaf ear.
Aside from the boost from his unyielding will, under the influence of the demonic seed, Meng Yun had long since regarded such temptations as nothing.
A rare hint of confusion appeared on the girl's exquisite, flawless face.
It seemed she was curious as to why this unremarkable human could brazenly approach her.
And not have his mind eroded by that inexplicable curse, causing his head to explode.
Clearly, everyone else was like that.
Meng Yun didn't think much and finally came before the girl.
He just wanted to clean the bloodstains off himself.
Squatting down, Meng Yun knelt on one knee, like the most devout knight beneath the throne when greeting a princess.
The girl's golden eyes watched Meng Yun, and her heart inexplicably trembled slightly.
No one had ever shown her such a posture.
All she had ever known was fear and anger, utilization and betrayal, nothing more.
Under the girl's slightly moved gaze, Meng Yun gently and softly, with his hand, pinched a corner of her long skirt.
Then he pressed his face against it.
Rub, rub, rub.
Until all the bloodstains were wiped clean.
The girl felt offended.
An unprecedented, absurd, ridiculous, and utterly foolish offense.
So much so that for a moment, she forgot to be angry, forgot to question, forgot to take him down.
Even though she could have easily pierced this person's forehead with a slight reach of her hand.
At this moment, Meng Yun had already stood up, satisfied.
“You, what were you just doing?”
The girl's voice, from her heart, resonated in Meng Yun's mind again.
“As you can see, I was wiping my face.” Meng Yun spread his hands and explained, “I have a trivial bit of mysophobia.”
“Myso…phobia?”
The girl tilted her head, her ancient eyes combined with her youthful appearance giving Meng Yun the illusion of a temporal rift.
“Do you have it too?” Meng Yun suddenly apologized, “My apologies, I was inconsiderate.”
“Tear!—”
The sound of fabric tearing rang out.
Meng Yun directly tore off the corner of her skirt that was stained with blood.
Revealing a section of the girl's slender thigh and her pristine white stockings.
“This way, you're clean too, and everyone's happy.” Meng Yun smiled.
The girl looked at the fragment of her own skirt in Meng Yun's hand, and for the first time, an expression of bewilderment appeared on her face.
Was she, being teased?
A word so ancient that she had never used it was unearthed from her mind and applied to herself.
An invisible fluctuation spread; even though elemental flow had been blocked, Meng Yun still felt the presence of wind.
This was a power unrelated to Arcane, almost a talent, almost a rule.
She wanted the wind to come, and it came.
Cold wind brushed his face.
In the observation station.
“The Calamity Witch has entered the second stage, she has broken through the elemental blockade and successfully gathered the power of wind!”
“9527… continue observing!”
The wind was flowing, growing more intense.
The gentle breeze was about to turn into a gale.
“Good girl, don't make trouble.”
Meng Yun gently reached out and placed his palm on the silver hair on the girl's head.
He even gently stroked it a few times.
Her hair was soft. He wondered if the Foundation provided regular hair trimming and washing services for its containment subjects.
The roaring wind stopped.
The Calamity Witch felt that the changes in her state of mind brought about in mere seconds were more profound than all the past countless years combined.
As a containment subject, she had always been an existence feared and utilized by humans.
Being touched on the head by a human male like this was an unprecedented experience.
How should she describe it?
Should she praise this person's warm hand?
Or should she be enraged by his repeated offenses against her?
This experience left her speechless.
But the only thing she could be sure of was that she didn't dislike this experience.
Instead, subtly, it seemed she had secretly yearned for this feeling deep in her heart for many years.
This feeling of being called human.
The Calamity Witch, as a containment subject, had escaped the Foundation's control countless times, but she had no malicious intent.
Once, when the Foundation found her, she was sitting by a small river in the city, watching the flowing water while eating a donut.
But people were afraid of her, and they wouldn't even allow her such simple leisure.
As soon as that device approached her, she would become a machine, a tool, without thought or emotion.
Whether it was clearing obstacles or eliminating dissenters, it went against her true wishes.
Now, there was actually a person standing before her, gently stroking her head with his hand, and softly saying:
“Good girl, don't make trouble.”
The Calamity Witch felt a little wronged.
She suddenly unbuttoned the first button of her top and tore open her collar.
Meng Yun looked down, just able to see her fair, delicate collarbone and a shimmering green gem.
He dared not look further down.
This gem was the proof of her status as a containment subject.
“Please don't treat me like this, I am not a person, just an object.”
The emerald gem shimmered, and the girl's inner voice echoed in Meng Yun's mind, attempting to push him away fiercely with this defiant posture.
But she herself didn't realize that this thought was actually more like a silent plea.
Please.
Save me.
Please.
Come a little closer.
She yearned to be human, to possess everything a mundane, ordinary person could possess.
“Good girl, quickly put on your clothes, I didn't bring a return gift.” Faced with the Calamity Witch's meager yet generous offering, Meng Yun laughed dumbfounded.
He continued to gently pat the Calamity Witch's head.