True enough, upon hearing this question, Mazao's expression imdiately changed.
"Why would you suddenly ask that?" She observed my expression, "Could it be that you had previously..."
"It's not what you think." I responded in a calm and unhurried tone, "It's just to be precautious, I needed to confirm beforehand."
"How can you be precautious about this kind of thing?" she frowned, "And haven't you never fully believed what I told you before, yet now you suddenly ask so thoroughly..."
"What I find hard to believe is limited to your remarks about Doomsday, not your description about attracting calamities. Seeing how concerned you are about the calamity you might bring, I cannot fully treat it as a joke. Moreover..."
She asked doubtfully, "Moreover what?"
"I can't believe you, but I want to believe you." I earnestly looked into her eyes, "Mazao, can I believe in you?"
This was indeed the truth. Whether it was Doomsday or her Broom Star Physique, these were things I hardly believed, yet wished could be true.
However, let speak another truth from my heart; I never expected such a lodramatic line to one day co from my own mouth. It's said that people unintentionally reflect their stereotypes about a role they are unfamiliar with when acting in it. Perhaps I have read too many comics, and when I try to play the nice guy, the lines I say always co out too strong.
Not sure if she was disgusted, Mazao involuntarily stepped back again. This ti she backed up until she was leaning against the wall, staring in astonishnt and said, "You really are, truly bizarre... How can there be soone like you?"
"So, does your physique that attracts calamities actually affect the people around those around you?" I couldn't help but revert to my initial question.
She steadied her expression and thought for a mont before replying, "I'm not very sure."
"Not sure yourself?" I wondered, "Shouldn't you be the most clear about such things?"
"Just consider it slightly, and you'll understand. In the Doomsday Era I lived in, odd creatures were everywhere. While survivors tried their best to avoid these monsters, anyone could be discovered by a monster in the next mont and fall into danger," she explained, "Under such circumstances, I can't differentiate which oddities were attracted by my Broom Star Physique and which were just poor luck encounters."
"Since everyone has a considerable chance of being attacked by odd creatures, how can you be sure that there are creatures that attacked because of your fault?" I didn't miss this point.
"...It's statistics," her tone turned gloomy, "Combining information obtained from interactions with other survivors, I noticed that the frequency at which I encounter odd creatures is significantly abnormal and this abnormality increasingly affects those who are cooperating with ... So of them might have lived longer. I should have been the one to die instead..."
By the end of her words, she could no longer hide her pessimism and depression.
It seed this matter had caused her severe trauma; she exuded a sense of fragility and disenchantnt.
Seeing this, I tried to shift her focus, "I understand, it's like black paint shows up distinctively on white paper but appears vague on black paper. Your calamity-attracting physique can only yield unclear results in a calamity-filled environnt, is that the reason?"
While that is the case, perhaps even in such an environnt, if the experints were nurous enough, more accurate conclusions could still be reached. However, that would also an more loss of life, which clearly isn't sothing Mazao would choose to do.
"Yes..." Mazao took a deep breath, seemingly exhausted.
Suddenly, her legs gave out, and she wavered, almost falling down again.
I promptly stepped forward to support her. She had fainted before, and it seed she might exhibit the sa symptoms now.
Fortunately, this ti she didn't pass out but grasped my arm, holding herself up.
I helped her to the couch and let her sit down.
"Are you alright?" I recalled her initial hospital gown, "Are you ill? If you need any dicine..."
"No, it's not a physical illness," she said seriously, "As I ntioned before, my soul has been severely damaged by the Doomsday Demon, and I can't even use the blessing power. This tendency to faint is also due to the soul..."
Before she could finish, her stomach suddenly made a rumbling noise.
She fell silent.
"Are you hungry?" I suddenly realized what I had forgotten before leaving ho.
I forgot to feed Mazao!
From picking her up last night until now, I hadn't seen her eat anything, and she had seed weak all the while.
This was the first ti I had soone staying at my ho for so long, so I completely hadn't considered her need for food and drinks. It was like a novice pet owner forgetting to prepare food for a new cat or dog at ho, leaving them there while confidently following Changan around.
No wonder Mazao was displeased when she saw return; she probably thought I would have co back soon and hadn't expected to leave her ho this long, hungry.
I felt very ashad about this.
"I'm sorry, it was my negligence. You must be very hungry right now, aren't you?"
"It's nothing, I'm used to it." Her expression was typical, but she couldn't help touching her stomach.
Hearing this, I felt even more sorry for her.
"I didn't expect you to faint from hunger..."
"It's not because of hunger!" She first frowned and argued back, then touched her stomach again, "As I said earlier, it's soul trauma. I did eat yesterday, it's just that I've been hungry for one day, which wouldn't cause to faint. I fainted because of the soul trauma... Wait, what is that look in your eyes?"
"Uh, I understand. Soul trauma, right, I get it."
"No, that expression of yours shows complete disbelief... Don't look at with such pity! Didn't you just say you 'wanted to believe '?"
It seed that, more than being embarrassed about her hunger, she was upset about being looked at with pity, angry enough to want to bite fiercely.
I imdiately changed the subject: "But, aren't there food in the fridge? And so snacks in the bedroom, have you not touched them?"
"Do you an the fried at and rice in the fridge? That food belongs to you," she replied, taking it as a given, "I need to hide out here with you for the next three days, how could I presu to touch your food and water? Anyone who would do such a thing even deserves to be killed if they are."
"This isn't the Doomsday World, no one deserves to be killed for such a minor mistake here." I hoped she would relax while staying with , "This ti, it was my fault, I hadn't thought it through beforehand. From now on, you can use anything in my house as if it were your own, my stuff is your stuff. You can have any food and drink you like, just let know if it's not enough."
Instead of being pleased by my generosity, she viewed it with suspicion: "How can this be acceptable?"
"Anyway, you're only staying for three days, aren't you?" I used this to dispel her doubts, then walked toward the fridge, "Wait here, I'll cook sothing for you. Just to be sure, you're not fainting because of hunger, correct? There is really no problem with your body?"
"No problem." She didn't seem to be lying.
"Then I'll make you so fried rice, but rember to chew slowly and swallow carefully." I pulled out the food from the fridge.
This food was left over from the last ti I ordered too much delivery. Since there are large discounts for ordering extra on the delivery app, I often ordered several boxes of food, stored the leftovers in the fridge, and just reheated them in the pot when hungry. Now, what I had left included stir-fried pork with peppers and rice, shredded potatoes, and several eggs; I planned to mix them all together to make fried rice for Mazao.
Actually, there was another question I wanted to ask her, but I decided to fill her stomach first.
However, she seed to sense sothing from my attitude.
"You must have other questions you want to ask ," she said, stopping while looking intently at the plastic box in my hands containing the food, "I didn't give a proper response to your last question, which isn't enough to trade for food. You can ask another question."
"If I ask, will you answer it?" I countered.
"I can't guarantee that, it depends on your question." Her attitude remained unchanged.
I placed the plastic box with the food on the nearby dining table.
"Okay... First of all, you transmigrated from the Doomsday Era to now, yesterday, right?"
"That's what I ntioned last ti."
"This morning, the police officer at my door said you are a serial killer who has killed five people in the past two or three months, what do you think about that?"
"I didn't do it," she asserted confidently, "Before yesterday, I wasn't even in this era."
Yes, this was her alibi.
There is definitely soone lying between Mazao and Agent Kong. The likelihood of Mazao lying is higher, as this era has her photo on file.
But I knew there was a possibility that could make both their statents true.
Mazao is a transmigrator, and "transmigration" is originally a literary concept for physically moving to another ti-space due to certain events. This phenonon could be broadly divided into two types: one where both the body and soul move to another ti-space; another is where only the soul moves. In many literary works, transmigrators whose only souls travel often end up possessing soone else's body.
Mazao said she reached this era after failing a Space Transfer. So, my initial assumption was that she traveled to this ti with both her body and soul.
However, assuming Mazao is using a body not originally hers, and that the original owner of this body is the actual serial killer, this would solve many mysteries.
"Mazao, is this body really your own?"
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