V2: Chapter 36: Was That an Angel? Or a Cthulhu of Light?

Laura's eyes gradually became unfocused. She felt her soul leaving this world. A vision appeared before her eyes: her father wasn't lying on the ground, her mother wasn't impaled by tentacles, and her family was happily gathered around the table, beckoning her to come and eat.

"Dad...?"

"Mom...?"

Laura's eyes welled up with tears. She couldn't wait to run to her family, to throw herself into their arms, and tell them about the terrible dream she had just had.

"Don't go."

A voice rang in her ear.

It was a terrifying voice, like a monster whispering in her ear, ethereal and seemingly echoing.

Laura hesitated, but looking at her family's smiling faces, she couldn't resist taking a few more steps forward.

"Don't go!"

The voice grew louder, booming in her ears, making Laura's ears ache. She looked around in terror, but saw no one.

"Who... who are you?"

She mustered her courage and shouted into the air.

"I..."

"I am..."

It seemed that, except for the first time, all the other sounds were echoes.

"Where are you? Why can't I see you?" Laura's fear returned.

The voice murmured, saying something loud, but Laura couldn't understand it.

"... Let me.... save you..."

The last sentence finally became clear.

Laura felt another wave of dizziness.

"Good child, now is not the time. Sleep, sleep... when you wake up, when you grow up, you will know what happened today..."

Laura fell into a deep sleep, and after that, she lost all memory of the event. Or rather, her memory was altered, changed to the time when her parents died when she was very young.

Now, she finally remembered, and she remembered how she escaped that night.

What appeared to be a pair of full, feathered wings, but as her vision cleared, she realized they weren't wings at all. They were wings made of eyes, with blue pupils, looking pure and beautiful, almost like angels. Of course, there were so many of them, densely packed together, it was enough to trigger trypophobia (fear of clusters of small holes or bumps.) 

These eyes blinked, and the wings danced up and down with their blinking, as if trying to carry the girl away.

Laura was shocked to discover that these wings belonged to her. The man was nowhere to be found, and beneath her wings lay her father, unconscious, blood trickling from his mouth.

Ah…

Laura remembered everything.

Today was her eighteenth birthday.

So, the voice that said, "When you grow up," was waiting for this day?

"Ah…!"

Laura jolted awake, sitting up in bed, touching her forehead to find it soaked in cold sweat.

"Huff..."

"Huff..."

Before she could even catch her breath, Gladys was launched from the bed with a "whoosh!" and landed on the ground, looking around in terror.

"Laura! I just heard a really loud bang, did something explode?"

Laura wiped the sweat from her brow and shook her head. "No, I had a nightmare and accidentally screamed."

"Oh..." Gladys slumped back onto the bed, her eyes still heavy with sleep, muttering, "You had a nightmare too? Me too."

Before Laura could ask, Gladys began recounting her nightmare.

"I dreamt of my favorite mutton blood cube, which grew bigger than me and was chasing me with a knife. Good heavens, I'm always the one eating the blood cube, how come there's a blood cube eating me? I was so scared, I almost woke up! Oh my god, if you hadn't woken me up first, I probably would have screamed and woken you up too, thank goodness..."

Gladys was still here patting her chest in relief.

Laura glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was already six in the morning. She immediately threw off the covers, got out of bed, and without even bothering to stop herself from wearing her pajamas, hurriedly opened the door and ran out.

"Hey! Laura! Where are you going? You're not wearing shoes yet!" Gladys chased after Laura, carrying a pair of shoes. "Running like that will give you diarrhea and freeze your feet!"

Laura's mind was in turmoil. Her only thought was to tell Liang Lin and Liang Di about her dream right now.

When she reached Liang Lin's door, Laura hesitated noticeably. Liang Lin's morning grumpiness was well-known, and although she liked Liang Lin, she didn't dare to act rashly. Instead, she ran past Liang Lin's room and knocked on Liang Di's door.

Click~

The door opened.

Liang Di was already dressed, holding a stack of brochures about the shop.

"What's wrong?"

She seemed surprised.

"Miss Liang Di! I had a dream! I dreamt about something very important!" Laura shouted excitedly, attracting the attention of the cleaning maids nearby.

Liang Di frowned, pulled Laura into the room, and just as the door was about to close, Gladys squeezed in, carrying the shoes.

"Hehehe, Laura, your shoes are here with me."

Liang Di looked down and saw that Laura had run in barefoot.

"Put your shoes on first, what's so important that you're in such a hurry?" Liang Di returned to her desk and sat down in her seat again.

Laura, while putting on her shoes, said to Liang Di, "Miss Liang Di, I dreamt of tentacles!"

"What's so strange about that?" Liang Di said calmly. "You probably dreamt about it a lot during the day, so you dreamt about it at night. There's no need to make a fuss."

"Is there anything else? If not..."

"No! A man appeared in my dream. I couldn't see his face clearly, and I learned how my father died! And, and! I dreamt of an angel, yes, the angel from the church! Although... she looked a little different from what everyone imagines."

Hearing this, Liang Di put down her work.

"Oh? That sounds interesting. Please continue talking about this dream."

"No, Miss Liang Di, to be precise, that wasn't a dream. It was a sealed memory. I lost a part of my memory, and now, I've finally remembered it."

"My father's name is Bradrick."

"Wait?!" Liang Di interrupted her, standing up in shock.

"You just said your father's name is Bradrick?!"

Laura was startled by the sudden remark, her tone less urgent, becoming hesitant.

"Y–Yes, what happened to my father? Was he... was he a criminal? I haven't learned anything about him in recent years..."

"No."

After the initial shock, Liang Di regained her composure. "Continue with your story. I saw your father a few days ago. I'll take you to see him in a few days."

"Eh?"

Laura paused for a second, then burst into joy.

"My father! He's in the capital?! I knew he was still alive! In my dream, I was the one who saved him!"  Liangdi nodded. "Okay, tell me about your dream first. I can only worry about it tomorrow at the earliest; I still have work to finish today."

Laura calmed herself down after finding her family and recounted her dream in detail.

After listening, Liang Di fell silent.

What Laura described had once again overturned her worldview. She had always believed that God didn't exist, but since angels existed, then perhaps God... did exist too?

However...

"You said the angel you saw was covered in eyes? Its feathers were covered in eyes?"

Laura nodded firmly.

"And those wings were on my own body. I could see them clearly, even though I was seeing it from a third-person perspective. I recognized that face; it was myself." Laura was very certain.

Liang Di remained silent.

After a long while...

 “I’m going back to the Magic Tower. You’ll come with me.”

Liang Di thought for a moment, then finally knocked on Liang Lin’s door. She felt she shouldn’t keep everything from Liang Lin; otherwise, she would become the sinner Liang Lin disliked.

This was also a good opportunity to curry favor.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Liang Lin was very grumpy when she woke up. She opened the door and saw Liang Di. She was about to yell at her for being so crazy, but Liang Di interrupted her.

“Sister Liang Lin, let’s go. I’ll take you to the Magic Tower. Haven’t you been there before? We have something very important to do today. Come with us.”

Liang Di spoke with a flattering tone.

“We’ll be fighting side by side from now on. I feel like I can’t keep anything from you. Let’s go. Laura and I will tell you all about it on the way.”

After this inexplicable conversation, Liang Lin instantly fell silent. She could only hear the key phrase—“We have something very important to do today. You’ll come with us to the Magic Tower.”

This short sentence was enough to completely dispel her morning grumpiness.

"Okay, wait for me to change my clothes and wash up quickly, then we'll leave."

Liang Lin closed the door, quickly changed her clothes, and washed her face with water before setting off.

Before leaving, she looked at Carol on the bed, caught in a dilemma.

Should I take her or not?

The Magic Tower didn't sound like a very safe place, and considering Liang Di's past suffering there as a child, Liang Lin felt it was strange to send Liang Di's daughter there again.

"Gladys, you and Bellica stay home and watch over Carol," Liang Di said, noticing Liang Lin's concerns.

But Liang Lin was still worried. She looked at Gladys, who wasn't very bright, and Bellica, who wasn't particularly strong in combat, with concern.

"Are you sure these two can protect Carol? One's not smart enough, and the other's not strong enough."

"Sister Liang Lin, you can think about it from a different perspective. Gladys may not be very intelligent, but her fighting skills are very high. Bellica may be a bit weak in fighting, but her mind is very sharp."

Liang Di comforted her.

At this moment, Gladys, who had listened to their conversation for so long, finally realized what was going on. She pouted, huffed, spread her legs, and put her hands on her hips, "Hey! Don't you talk badly about people behind their backs? How can you say someone is stupid and clumsy to their face!"

"I didn't say you were stupid and clumsy, you're just insulting yourself." Liang Lin was amused by Gladys's flushed face.

"You think I don't understand? I'm not stupid!" Gladys gesticulated wildly. "Ha! You say I'm not smart enough, that's basically calling me stupid and dumb! You think I'm so stupid I can't understand what you're saying? I can understand!"

Looking at this little dwarf gesticulating wildly in front of her, Liang Lin inexplicably wanted to put her hand on the other's head.

Smack!

Her hand, acting on its own, slapped Gladys on the forehead. The foolish vampire princess was startled, then enraged, opening her mouth to reveal sharp fangs, adopting a "death before dishonor" stance, and stretched out her arm, ready to fight.

Liang Lin didn't even flinch. Gladys's tiny arms and legs were nowhere near her. Her hand flailed wildly in the air, trying to grab her, but she caught nothing but air.

"Huff, huff, huff!"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stopped flailing her arms, panting heavily.

"Hahahaha!"

Liang Lin was laughing so hard she was almost choking, clutching her stomach, bent over, mocking Gladys short stature and short arms.

Seeing this comical scene, Liang Di couldn't help but chuckle. However, they had been fooling around for too long, and if they didn't leave soon, they'd miss their deadline.

"Sister Liang Lin, we should go."

"Okay."

Liang Lin stopped teasing Gladys. "Gladys, don't let Carol fall. If you take good care of her, I'll give you extra food. You can drink whatever animal blood you want, it'll all be fresh."

Gladys, who had been pouting and sulking, suddenly brightened up, forgetting everything else. She clenched her fists. "Really? You're not lying to me!"

"If you don't believe me, then forget it." Liang Lin shrugged.

Gladys immediately beamed, transforming into a fawning lackey, circling Liang Lin several times. "I believe you, I believe you, I believe you! I'll definitely keep a close eye on the little miss~ Don't worry, in the time you were out, she might even gain a couple of sizes!"

Goodness, she's already starting to brag.

"Alright, alright," Liang Lin grinned from ear to ear, "I'll be thanking my lucky stars if you can hold Carol without dropping her."

After instructing Gladys and Bellica, Liang Di began drawing a teleportation array in her room.

Every time Liang Di drew a teleportation array, she found it fascinating. Why could drawing a strange pattern on the ground and reciting a few incomprehensible sentences teleport someone to another place?

Sigh, this world is truly wondrous.

This time, Liang Lin felt nauseous, but clearly, not as nauseous as the first or second time.

The teleportation array could only transport people to the vicinity of the Magic Tower, as it was enchanted and forbidden from entering.

This was Liang Lin's first time at the Magic Tower. She looked up at the black castle-like structure, and surprisingly, even to her own standards, found it beautiful.

The magicians guarding the castle saw Liang Di. Everyone knew her; she was the current tower master's adopted daughter. Who wouldn't recognize her?

"Miss Liang Di, you're back. Are you here to see the Tower .aster?" the magician at the gate asked.

Liang Di nodded.

If it were anyone else, the magician would have gone in to announce their arrival, but since it was Liang Di, he let them through directly.

"Miss Liang Di, please go in. The Tower Master should be in her study right now."

"Okay, I understand."

Liang Di walked in front, with Liang Lin and Laura behind her. The three girls entered the Magic Tower together, moving without hindrance. Occasionally, passing magicians would greet Liang Di. The three of them arrived smoothly at Octaville's study and knocked on the door.

Creak~

The door opened, and it was Hilary who opened it.

Octaville and Hilary were surprised by their arrival.

"Liang Di, what happened? Why did you suddenly come back?"

These two couldn't just stay in front of the magic crystal ball all day long; they had their own things to do.

Liang Di flashed, revealing Laura behind her.

"Laura, tell Hilary and Octaville about the dream you had."

This was the third time Laura had told the story. While drawing the teleportation array between the two locations, she had also told it to Liang Lin, who was idly standing by.

Laura patiently recounted her dream.

After listening, Octaville showed the same expression as Liang Di, but her focus was not on the mysterious man, but on the fact that the man, like those high-level monsters, could trap people in illusions.

“His… ability is to trap people in illusions? No, that’s not right, he has tentacles too, could it be…” Octaville looked at Liang Di, “Could it be that that guy is a monster hybrid a level higher than Liang Di? No… no, no.”

Upon hearing this, Liang Di’s mind suddenly clicked, and she pondered for a moment.

“Octaville, is it possible that it’s not that he’s a monster hybrid a level higher than me, and that his ability isn’t just trapping people in illusions, but rather… I can actually trap people in illusions too, but I haven’t mastered the method.”

Octaville gasped sharply, her eyes widening.

“Liang Di, you really…!”