8: Chapter 8 Rose Manor

Checking the calendar, today is Wednesday, April 2nd, the day of one of the few important events she could remember.

Tomorrow evening, she was going to accompany her best friend to her boyfriend's villa for a vacation. The two girls planned to go together; the villa wasn't too far, about an hour's drive.

First, she covered her two-colored heterochromatic eyes with contact lenses in front of the mirror. The brown contact lenses concealed her mysterious and charming aura, yet added a touch of serenity.

Tuaner's message appeared on Mia's phone screen: "I'm ready! I'll be at your place at 4:30. Oh, just wear your streaming outfit, it's not like it's some unspeakable makeup or styling. We can even stream together tonight, and I can leech off your popularity."

After lunch, Mia awkwardly prepared for the daily routine of washing and makeup. Later, Mia completely surrendered her body to instinct, getting up, washing her face, brushing her teeth, applying a mask, and doing her makeup in one smooth motion, then choosing clothes...

About two hours passed after all that, and the exhaustion she felt was like having just defeated a squad of Goblins.

The Mia in the mirror, with her exposed lace-trimmed bodysuit, accentuated her proud bust into tempting curves. The black nun's habit, wrapped from her collarbone all the way to her ankles, unexpectedly outlined the demonic lines of her wasp waist and perky buttocks.

A cross necklace hung in the deep hollow of her collarbone, swaying against her fair skin with every movement.

A wisp of dark brown hair escaped from beneath the black headscarf and pure white veil, forming a dangerous contrast with the seemingly innocent eyes hidden by contact lenses beneath her thick eyelashes.

As she half-squatted in front of the mirror, posing, the white lace garter straps, faintly visible through the slit, exuded a hint of ambiguity in the twilight.

After the fusion of memories, she was very satisfied with her appearance. Checking her phone, it was 4 PM.

She went online to check on the Science and Technology Park where she had been kidnapped. The information online was varied: some said the park caught fire, some mentioned zombies, others spoke of a plague in the vicinity, and so on.

"It seems I'll have to find time to go, or hire a private detective to get a clear picture. For now, I'll try not to expose myself in front of my best friend."

Mia checked her assets. Since it was a third-tier city in the North, this garden community was very cheap. She owned a house outright, and there was a six-figure sum in her bank account. She couldn't help but sigh, "Influencers really do earn a lot."

With that, she began searching online for a private detective with good credibility and a high success rate, eventually hiring a Chinese-American named Chen Mo.

She paid the deposit, requesting an investigation into the Science and Technology Park's situation after the earthquake and to collect as much criminal evidence as possible. She paid half the deposit immediately, a smooth operation.

A white Ora Good Cat stopped downstairs. The humid, pre-rain wind carried the heat from the car. Mia brought her backpack, which, in addition to normal clothes and a makeup bag, habitually contained her streaming equipment, and strange items like a stun gun and a Swiss Army knife.

"Want to go out for a walk?" Mia asked.

"It's going to rain," Tuaner replied weakly, then lazily draped herself over Mia. "They say rivals are enemies, but two rivals like us are quite rare."

Mia noticed Tuaner was wearing a new lip gloss. In the fleeting glow of the street neon lights, this red, somewhere between coral and blood, suddenly became dazzling in the twilight. On the back seat lay tulips sent by Tuaner's boyfriend.

Back in Mia's small apartment, the twilight sun streamed lazily through the half-drawn sheer curtains, spilling onto the dressing table.

Tuaner casually tossed her phone onto the table—the lock screen lit up, showing another message from Li Qianzhou. She didn't even need to look to know what it said.

"Mia..." She tilted her head, reaching out to twirl her newly permed chestnut hair, a hint of helpless laughter in her eyes. "Do you think he's sick or something?"

The phone screen lit up again.

"Tsk." Tuaner swiped her finger, and a message popped up—it was from Li Qianzhou, a photo of a high-quality replica of the Raiden Shogun cosplay outfit from 'Genshin Impact' that she wore during yesterday's stream, with a line of text attached: "The authentic one just arrived. Can you wear this to dinner with me tonight?"

Tuaner slapped her phone face down on the table, then looked up at herself in the mirror—a delicate doll-like face, fair skin, and a pair of slightly upturned peach blossom eyes with a gaze that was half lazy, half sly.

Her makeup today was light, but a tiny diamond was affixed to the corner of her eye, sparkling in the sunlight as if her eyes held stars.

"Does this guy think..." She drew out her words, reaching for the milk tea on the table, biting the straw between her rosy lips, "...that if he just throws money around, I'll obediently wear whatever he wants?"

She crossed her legs, and the lace hem of her short nightgown slid up a bit, revealing a pair of long legs that her fans jokingly called "legs for a year"—evenly proportioned, skin like creamy jade, with even the curve of her ankles exuding a delicate Charm.

Mia propped her chin on her hand beside her, watching: "So, what are you going to reply to him?"

Tuaner blinked, biting the straw even more crookedly: "I'll reply to him—" She drew out her voice, "'Keep the clothes and wear them yourself, General!'

After saying that, she swiped her finger, sent the message, and even included a "dog head" emoji.

She put down her phone, leaned back in the chair, and smiled lazily: "Men, ah..."

—But no sooner had she spoken than the phone on the table vibrated again.

She glanced at it, finding a new short video push. In the video, Li Qianzhou stood in front of the background wall from her stream yesterday, holding the expensive high-quality replica cosplay outfit. The background was a meticulously recreated "Tenshukaku" set, complete with special effects lighting.

Below it was a line of text:

"Waiting for you to train me."

Tuaner stared at the screen, silent for a long moment.

"...Holy crap." Finally, she sighed softly, pushing the phone towards Mia, her lips curving slightly, "Is he so rich that he's burning through money?"

But her eyes were undeniably too bright. "Go, go," Mia half-pushed, half-coaxed Tuaner out the door.

At midnight, Mia's phone glowed faintly: "I'm not coming back tonight. Li Qianzhou has a last-minute meeting, and might not be back until tomorrow. We'll go there and stay tomorrow noon. And wait for him."

Tuaner seemed to be talking to Mia, yet also to herself.

"Have you decided? Are you getting married?"

Mia replied on her phone, then started gossiping and urging Tuaner to get married. After all, a rich man urging a goddess to find a partner, while absurd, wasn't as hard to accept as her own situation, a female body with a male soul who had also been a Slime for a while.

The torrential rain had fallen all night with no sign of stopping. The car carrying Tuaner and Mia was driving through the last section of the winding mountain road.

Lightning split the thick clouds, illuminating a gray Gothic building standing in the distance—its spires like sharp swords piercing the dark purple sky, and behind its stained-glass windows, a candlelight-like glow flickered.

Mia's fingertips unconsciously picked at the Swiss Army knife in her backpack. She felt uneasy whenever she saw stained glass now.

"Tuaner didn't say it was this villa, did she? Isn't this place rumored to be haunted online? Even when I was a man, I didn't dare come here. Now I'm a charming beauty, and I spent two hours doing my makeup and changing clothes, and you bring me here?"

(survival maintenance system notification: Host, the content of your internal monologue is long enough to automatically wrap lines. It's affecting this system's mood, so I'm preparing to arrange a dungeon for you.)

"Calm down, calm down. I'm a Cleric, and a Succubus. I am a darling of the Clerics and a Succubus of the Crimson Queen's bloodline. Yes, and I have a poisonous-tongued Life Support System that no one else has."

(Given the host's great characteristic of anti-internal monologue, a dungeon will be generated immediately.)

Mia quickly filled her anxious heart with self-hypnotic comfort.

The moment the car tires crushed the withered roses strewn across the ground, Mia clearly saw the family crest on the wrought-iron gate: a rose entwined with a snake.

Mia's memories surfaced in her mind. Having just come out of the Diablo world, she could almost draw this family crest.

Reading scriptures in the Cleric church every day wasn't for nothing. A capital 'DANGER' seemed to float before her eyes.

It was identical to the design of Tuaner's new earrings. The car drove into the manor, and as they dragged their suitcases along the cobblestone path, the scent of rotting roses suddenly intensified.

Mia's backpack suddenly grew heavy, and her clothes felt damp like seawater.

The main door slowly opened by itself. Crystal chandeliers hung with twelve candelabras, reflecting flowing dark red stains on the spiral staircase.

As Tuaner's high-heeled boots stepped on the thick carpet, tiny whimpers seeped from the gold threads, like a maiden's cries.

She was a little different today, appearing less lazy and sly than usual, but with a touch more mystery and elegance.

"Li Qianzhou said the Original Owner here was a descendant of a Hungarian Countess," Tuaner said, using her phone screen to illuminate a fresh red mark on her collarbone, like the fold of a petal.

"Look at those portraits in the hallway..."

"It better not be that Hungarian Countess of the Bathory family that I know..."

The renovations on both sides of the hallway strongly resembled the Countess from Act I of the story in the 'Diablo II' dungeon, a Countess that a hundred Mias couldn't defeat at her current stage.

[Entering Real World High-Risk Area Lv0 Dungeon: Countess's Ancient Castle (Replica)]

[Suitable for Adventurers Lv5-10 to team up and conquer]

Due to insufficient number of participants, forced data panel update:

[Name: Mia Lv3→Lv4 (Forced Evolution)]

[Health Points: 150/150→ 180/180 (Forced Evolution)]

[Magic Points: 150→ 200 (Crimson Queen's Blood Activated)]

[Basic Skills: Basic Footwork Lv4→Lv5, Basic Waist Strength Lv5→Lv6 (Waist strength temporarily broke through, what is this for?)]

[New Passive Skill: Curse Resistance Lv1 (Immune to low-tier negative statuses)]

[Life Support System issues quest: Purify this villa, a real-world projection of the dungeon. Be a good Cleric? Or be a good Succubus?]

[Quest Reward: When Luo Yu fuses with Mia's memory fragments again, the pollution level increasing will not affect Luo Yu's consciousness but will only increase the similarity of emotions and behaviors, gradually evolving into a Relatives of the Crimson Queen.]

[Quest Failure Penalty: Mia is reborn, Luo Yu dissipates.]

(Apologizing to this system now is completely useless, wahahaha, accept the judgment of fate, Nya-san, oh no, Mia-san! Come, see the Life Support System's wrath.)

[Special Note: This is the original Mia's last chance, Luo Yu, you must seize it! Think about the time you were a Slime! I'll secretly tell you, no 'one' here will discover you using skills. Additionally, there's a certain chance your holy skills will transform into Succubus-exclusive skills, offering a little surprise (or fright?). The enemies in the dungeon might be old acquaintances.]

"Welcome to Rose Manor."

An elegant male voice drifted from the depths of the darkness. Mia sharply turned her head, seeing a tall man standing in the candlelight shadows—Li Qianzhou, Tuaner's boyfriend, dressed in a vintage black tuxedo, his handsome, pale face seemingly veiled in a cold mist, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Qianzhou? Weren't you coming back tomorrow?" Tuaner exclaimed, then quickly jogged over and linked her arm through his.

His gaze, however, was fixed on Mia, his pupils glowing with a strange dark red in the candlelight. "My itinerary was adjusted at the last minute... Miss Mia, I've heard much about you."

Mia's Succubus Eye automatically activated, and the Eye of the Dead stirred.

In her vision, Li Qianzhou was surrounded by a black, misty blood aura—not the aura a living person should have.

"Indeed, Mr. Li's manor... is very unique."

"You flatter me. This Cleric attire worn by someone of Miss Mia's identity... is also very unique."