Yama Reborn-Chapter 492 - 489 [The CP I Ship Will Never Have a Bad Ending!]
Chapter Four Hundred Eighty-Nine
HUFF!!
Early in the morning, the girl suddenly sat up!
After a deep breath, she gasped for a while, then instinctively clutched at her chest.
Then...
Her enchanting eyes were full of confusion as she instinctively looked around.
The decrepit room, with exposed copper pipes on the walls, was clearly meant for heating. Near the pipes, the wallpaper was corroded and full of water rust, with many bumps protruding. Underneath her was a single bed with a mattress that had obviously seen better days; lying on it felt uneven, and moving slightly made the bed creak noisily.
She cautiously stretched her feet out to touch the floor. It was cold beneath her; it was worn wooden flooring with much of the paint peeled off.
At that moment, three questions that philosophers might have asked themselves countless times over the millennia naturally came to mind.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
The room seemed a bit cramped and confined. Aside from a bed, there was only a rather bulky wardrobe, and near the window, a table. The curtains were thick but obviously hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Approaching them, one could smell the musty odor of dust. This added a touch of panic to the girl’s confusion.
No matter how hard she thought, all sorts of memories in her mind seemed as fragmented and disjointed as broken pieces, and it seemed impossible to put them together into a coherent logic. But the most vivid fragment was being in a cold and dark environment, submerged in water, shivering from head to toe. Especially... the cold water that filled her ears and nose, that feeling of suffocation close to death...
In an unfamiliar environment, coupled with inconsistent memory fragments, the girl’s brain froze for a moment.
She just sat blankly on the side of the bed, dazed for who knows how long.
Finally.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
The door was knocked on three times.
The girl instinctively lifted her head, but her mind was still entangled with the chaotic thoughts in her head. However, the person outside didn’t seem to have any intention of asking for permission to enter; knocking seemed just a way to signal someone was coming in.
The door was soon pushed open.
A brown-haired, portly middle-aged woman, pushing an old trolley, came in. She nimbly used her heel to secure the door and rolled the cart into the room.
"You’re awake? This is the breakfast we provide... You can eat here; after you’re done, press the service bell on the wall, and I’ll come to clean up."
The portly middle-aged woman muttered, her cheeks jiggling as she moved.
The food on the cart looked simple: a plate of baked beans, two slices of bacon, two slices of bread, and a cup of milk.
"Breakfast?" The girl lifted her head, puzzled, looking at the other woman. "...For me?"
"Of course. You’ve paid for it," the middle-aged woman casually wiped her hands on her apron.
"I... I am... No, what is this place?"
The middle-aged woman curled her lips. "Earl’s Sweet Home... I guarantee it’s the best-value hotel in East London. Our baked beans are famous for being hearty and cheap, all hand-cooked by me."
"What Home?" the girl looked bewildered at her.
"Earl’s Sweet Home," the middle-aged woman—perhaps the cook, perhaps the landlady and waitress—said without batting an eyelid. "You were clearly intoxicated when you arrived last night. I suggest you drink this cup of milk first. Waking up with a hangover will definitely make you uncomfortable. If you have a headache, we have medicine at the reception."
"Oh, do you need Aspirin? But just to let you know, medicine isn’t free; it will be deducted from your deposit."
"...Deposit?" The girl was even more baffled.
"Of course, you paid a generous deposit at the front desk. Enough for you to stay here until next year."
"..."
The girl held her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up. "This place... is a hotel? Then... the front desk, check-in... Is there a registration?"
"Of course, there’s registration! We’re a legally operating business! Those vagrants out there can’t come in! Otherwise, the police would trouble us," the middle-aged woman immediately retorted as if her tail were stepped on. "Why do you ask?"
"I... How did I get here?"
"You came here yourself. You registered and checked in by yourself and paid a large deposit."
Myself?
The girl, no matter how hard she searched her mind, couldn’t dredge up any memories.
So, she cautiously ventured, "Can I... see the registration I filled out when I checked in?"
"..."
The middle-aged woman seemed a bit displeased and directly took out a ragged notebook tied with string from under her cart, flipping it open with a glance.
"It’s right here. You, guest, left a deposit of two hundred British Pounds!"
"A single room, including two meals a day, and hot water supplied from 8 to 10 in the evening."
"It’s all written here!"
"Look, here’s your signature."
The girl was startled and quickly grabbed the notebook to look over. The content of the registration matched what the other person had said. However, she wasn’t too concerned about that. Her eyes were fixed on the signature!
The signature was neat and tidy!
The problem was, the signature didn’t seem to be in English.
"Is this... my signature?"
"Or is it mine? I can’t write these block characters... Oh right, you seem to be from the East, right? Are you here for traveling? Or for studying?"
The girl didn’t answer, just kept looking straight at the signature.
She realized that she actually recognized the characters of the signature!
Then, she subconsciously read it out.
"Lu... Xixi...?"
BANG!
After the door was closed, leaving the bewildered and confused girl alone, the middle-aged woman pushed her cart slowly down the hallway. When she reached the end of the corridor, she stopped in front of a door, then turned the doorknob and entered directly.
The room behind the door was very dark; the only light was a sliver coming through a gap in the curtains. The room was still cramped, and the layout wasn’t much different, except for a figure lying on the bed, seemingly motionless.
The middle-aged woman sighed, walked over, and looked down at the person on the bed.
"Such a sentimental guy indeed..."
"A box of standard ten-unit Self-healing Serum injections, nine units for her, and only one for himself. Aren’t you afraid you’d die from severe injuries?"
After speaking, the woman pulled a box from under the cart, took an injection out of it, and roughly jabbed it into the thigh of the person on the bed. She didn’t care at all as she pushed the plunger and then yanked out the needle, throwing it carelessly onto the floor.
"You need to know about what’s going to happen next, huh."
"The girl will go through confusion, uncertainty, and chaos."
"Then, the fluctuations in her emotions will create an overwhelming urge to understand what exactly happened, to find out who she truly is."
"And then she’ll want to leave this place and go outside in search of something—exactly what, she might not know herself, but she will feel driven to seek it out."
"It’s an instinctive reaction."
"I can’t stop it, nor do I want to. It’s best to let her emotions have an outlet at this time."
"Once she leaves and runs about aimlessly outside for some time, she’ll realize that her actions are futile."
"She doesn’t know who she is, and her current appearance and identity... have no registered identity."
"When she is bewildered, disappointed, and despondent, I’ll appear before her again."
"Of course, I’ll pretend it’s just a random accident."
"Hmm... let me think."
"How about I arrange it like this?"
"I’ll pretend I am the cook of this inn going out to buy groceries, and then I’ll happen to come across this girl squatting by the roadside, looking helpless and pitiful."
"And then I’ll tell her, if she has nowhere else to go, she can come back to this inn."
"The deposit is still at the front desk; she can stay here, at least she’ll have a place to settle down."
"This way, there’s a ninety percent chance that in her desperation, she’ll choose to follow me back here and settle down in this place for the time being."
"Then we’ll move on to the next phase."
"The next phase is rather simple."
"A girl who doesn’t even know who she is will certainly feel terrified and alone inside."
"And at that time, me, a cook and landlady of the inn, uneducated and crude but seemingly kindhearted, will become the first person she gets to know in this world."
"And then we’d become like a shopkeeper and a traveler, eventually turning into something like friends."
"I’d take the opportunity to teach her some basic survival methods."
"Ah..."
"Of course, it’s something I must teach."
"After all, her soul is just that of a five- or six-year-old girl! She doesn’t understand anything."
"If I just let her run out into the world, imagine how dangerous that would be!"
"Even if she inherited Yun Yin’s powerful abilities, a naive soul coupled with an excessively beautiful appearance..."
"She wouldn’t be safe out there in the world; she might be deceived and taken advantage of."
"So, I would become her first mentor in this world after her rebirth!"
"After she has stayed with me for a while and has slowly learned some survival skills, I’ll find an excuse to fade out of her world."
"For example..."
"What if I, the cook, suddenly die of a terminal illness? How about that?"
"Or, what if I die in a car accident while going out?"
"Wouldn’t this script be a little better?"
"In any case, I would die, but before I die, I’d entrust this inn to her."
"That way, with a bond formed, I can at least ensure she stays in this place for a few years."
"According to the script..."
"A few years later, an incident will occur here, where two delinquent Ability Users commit a crime."
"And then they run into her."
"At that time, she will accidentally discover that she possesses such great power."
"She will defeat those two delinquents, and then... from their belongings, she’ll find a gateway into the Underground World."
"Wow!"
"Do you like this script?"
"A girl skilled in martial arts accidentally kills two bad guys, only to step into another magical world!"
"What follows simply flows naturally."
"I would take on different identities, appearing once or twice around her from time to time, making my presence known in her life when she faces danger or is about to take the wrong path, just like this ’cook,’ becoming her temporary mentor."
"But I won’t do this forever, just for a few years at most. Once her mind has matured enough to protect herself, I will disappear completely from her surroundings and no longer interfere with her life."
"Hm... And then..."
"Having stepped into the Underground World, having been exposed to another side of this world..."
"TA-DA!"
"A new Legend is born! The Underground World will welcome a new Legend!"
"Star Sky Empress!"
The middle-aged woman spoke with exuberant excitement, spit flying everywhere. When she got excited, she even pulled out a cigarette pack from her pocket, lit one for herself, and after puffing some smoke, she raised her hand to fan away the fumes and bluntly walked over to pull open the curtains and open a window.
The cool breeze from outside blew in, alongside the light filtering through the window, casting its glow on the bed.
On the bed, the young person who was lying there had actually already opened their eyes. Those eyes, filled with an incredibly complex look, were fixed tightly on the middle-aged woman. It was just that, obviously, they couldn’t speak or move.
"I can see from your eyes... you’re cursing, you’re cursing at me."
"Aren’t you, Chen Nuo?"
Chen Nuo glared at the middle-aged woman.
"Preventing you from speaking and moving is for your own good," the middle-aged woman said after taking the last drag of her cigarette. She actually walked over, directly snuffed out the cigarette butt on the bedside, and then stretched out her plump hand to gently pat Chen Nuo’s face, "Don’t mess up my plan, so just lie down quietly."
Having said that, the middle-aged woman turned and pushed the food cart out the door.
Before leaving, she suddenly turned back to Chen Nuo and smiled, leaving behind a sentence.
"By the way, there’s something you’re probably dying to ask me."
"Even though you can’t speak right now, you’re definitely most concerned and most eager to ask one question..."
"Alright, I’ll answer you directly."
"Yes, you guessed correctly. You’re right."
"I am Zero."
BANG.
The door closed.
The room was no longer dark; it was just that Zero hadn’t closed the window when he left, and the cold wind from outside was still blowing in incessantly.
After cursing a few times in his mind, Chen Nuo finally managed to calm his emotions down slowly. Up to this moment, after going back over the battle with Yun Yin last night... Every event, once lined up and carefully sorted out one clue after another, Chen Nuo didn’t know whether to be shocked, scream, or just feel helpless.
So...
Lu Xixi... Is the orphan I adopted back in 1981?
Fuck!!
So...
Was everything arranged by this "Zero"?
In the following days, Chen Nuo could still only lie there, immobilized every day. However, "Zero" would come to see him every day and even talk to him for a bit. It was like receiving a briefing.
"Today, Lu Xixi indeed ran off, searching chaotically without knowing what she was looking for. She seemed on the verge of a breakdown, running all over the streets, perhaps trying to find someone who recognized her."
"I watched from a distance as she even asked the police, but they ignored her."
"There were a couple of no-good homeless men eyeing her, and I simply tossed them into the sewer."
"Later, I picked her up from the roadside."
"As I expected, a person who is alone and desperate, at this time, would accept someone they recognized upon waking up showing kindness and telling them that there is still a place for them to stay, even if it’s just a temporary one."
"So, she was just brought back by me."
"She’s been staying with me for a week now, and I’m the only person she’s willing to talk to. But it seems she’s still very wary of other people in the hotel."
"Yeah, she’s quite aloof."
"But she seems still quite uneasy, so I’m planning to find her something to do."
"Yeah... Tomorrow I’ll find an excuse to have her help out in the kitchen, what do you think of that idea?"
"Fuck!! Chen Nuo!!"
"What the hell did you teach her before?"
"She’s so dumb?"
"Can’t even wash dishes?"
"Do you know she smashed six plates today?"
"My God... I really don’t know what you taught her when she lived with you for a month."
"HAHAHA! Do you realize how efficient a Controller is when washing dishes?"
"HAHAHA, I’ve already decided to fire the kitchen’s handyman."
"This girl can do the work of three people by herself!"
"My idea is truly brilliant!"
"Strange, really strange!"
"Today, while she was helping in the restaurant, a drunk customer tried to make a move on her."
"I was thinking to myself that this was a perfect opportunity to teach her how to protect herself."
"But before I, as a mentor, got the chance to step in, Lu Xixi kicked the guy who was trying to grope her clear out the door!"
"HAHAHA!"
"I asked her who taught her to do that, do you know how she responded to me?"
"She told me no one taught her that, but somehow she just knew this principle in her mind very clearly: If someone tries to touch her, she should kick them hard, and it doesn’t matter if she breaks their leg!"
"HAHAHA..."
"Chen Nuo, after much thought, I’ve concluded that you must be the only one who has taught her such things!"
"After all, before she turned five, her mother, who was a prostitute, certainly didn’t teach her those things!"
"Ah..."
"The situation is a bit messy."
"I’m getting worried that Lu Xixi has developed a kind of attachment to me."
"I feel like she’s started to see me as a mother-like figure."
"What a headache, ah! Such a headache!!"
"This won’t do, the persona of the Star Sky Empress can’t have family ties or weaknesses."
"It looks like I need to log off from this identity sooner than expected."
"I originally thought I could use this identity for another two or three years, but I didn’t expect it to be unworkable so quickly."
"I’ve thought about it and designed a way to exit and take a bow with this identity."
"What do you think, death by electrocution?"
"Or death from a car accident?"
"It definitely can’t be illness... She has already discovered that she has powerful abilities and can control parts of her own and other people’s bodies."
"If I pretend to be sick, she might just use her power to heal me, and I wouldn’t be able to die even if I wanted to."
"So... car accident? Or electrocution?"
"Maybe I should just flip a coin."
"The persona’s completely collapsed!!"
"Alas!!"
"Such a cultivation failure!!!"
"The Star Sky Empress should be cold, heartless, and cruel in her persona, right?!"
"Why has she turned out this way?"
"I actually saw her today secretly feeding stray cats in the yard!!"
"Is she so kind-hearted and fond of small animals?!"
"Chen Nuo, it must be your teaching, right?!"
"It has to be you!"
"Alright, I admit defeat..." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
"With her first month’s salary from helping me in the kitchen, she actually went and bought a puppy!"
"And you’ve taught her Huaxia script, haven’t you? She’s bought some Huaxia books to read."
"She probably finds it strange why she understands both English and Huaxia languages."
"HAHAHAHAHA, Chen Nuo, I really regret not letting you recover earlier now!"
"If you could move now, you would definitely be hopping mad!"
"Do you know what happened today?"
"A few students who have been coming here to eat from a nearby university."
"One of the boys obviously fell for Lu Xixi at first sight, HAHAHA!"
"Today that boy actually invited Lu Xixi to go see a movie, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Are you angry or not? Do you feel like going insane?"
"Yama’s future wife, the Star Sky Empress, was invited by a man to see a movie, do you feel like killing someone?"
"Do you feel like grinding that boy to dust?"
"Okay, I’ll stop teasing you."
"The way Lu Xixi reacted was just too funny."
"She turned down the boy, and then when he persisted, guess what?"
"Guess what she did?"
"You could guess all you want and you’d never figure it out!"
"Remember the dog she bought back?"
"She actually let the dog attack the boy, HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Damn it! Today that boy came back, with the police."
"Your wife’s dog bit someone, and it turns out I’m the one who has to pay the person’s medical bills!"
"Fuck!"
"Who made me create this persona of ’crude but kind-hearted and loyal’ for myself?!"
Unbeknownst to himself, Chen Nuo had already been lying on the bed in this room for a full three months! Every day, this ’Zero’ would enter the room and chat with Chen Nuo for a while. Of course, it couldn’t really be called a conversation, since Chen Nuo couldn’t talk and had to simply listen to this person ramble on alone.
Chen Nuo’s mood and emotions had evolved from initial annoyance, frenzy, anger, shock... to gradually calming down. He had completely calmed down now. Each time Zero came by and talked about everything happening outside this room, in this inn, the little details about Lu Xixi living here, and matters of life... Chen Nuo was able to listen rationally and then analyze and sort through everything in his mind.
Through Zero’s daily narratives, Chen Nuo slowly made a judgment. Everything was fine with the reborn Lu Xixi in this inn. Moreover, it seemed that after the transformation from ’Louise’ to ’Lu Xixi’ and after losing most of her memories about ’Louise’, under Zero’s deliberate guidance, Lu Xixi’s growth gradually got on the right track. Well, perhaps not exactly the right track, but the path Zero hoped for.
And what puzzled Chen Nuo even more...
What exactly did Zero want to do?
Chen Nuo was very aware of the severity of his injuries. Very severe. But not so severe that after an injection of Self-healing Serum, he could only lie down for a month, unable to move or even speak. Clearly, Zero had tampered with him. His external injuries had obviously healed completely.
And Chen Nuo’s Consciousness Space... This was the most helpless part for Chen Nuo. He discovered he couldn’t enter his own Consciousness Space at all!!
This might be hard to understand. To put it simply: Chen Nuo found he seemed to have become a normal person. A normal person without any abilities whatsoever. Normal people can’t introspect; they can’t enter their own Consciousness Space. He, of course, couldn’t control his spiritual power either. Right now, he was like a physically paralyzed normal person. Actually, worse than paralyzed; he couldn’t even make a sound.
Unable to introspect, to activate any abilities. Unable to check his own Consciousness Space. There was only one possibility then: Zero had the ability to completely lock down his Consciousness Space!! And it was a lockdown lasting three months!!
Even more horrifying was that for three months, he neither ate nor drank, yet his body showed no signs of weakening! That was simply impossible. There is no human being on this planet who can survive three months without food and water! Humans don’t have the ability to hibernate.
So the only explanation was... Zero, that guy, could manipulate Life Force! He didn’t eat or drink, but Zero supplemented the loss of Life Force for him. Every day! Right when it came to talk to him each day!
Lying in bed for the one hundredth day.
THUMP THUMP THUMP!
After three knocks, the doorknob was turned.
Lying in bed, Chen Nuo’s heart suddenly sank! He immediately realized something! The person manipulating the doorknob from outside was definitely not Zero! Because every time Zero came, he wouldn’t knock on the door!
When the door was pulled open, a figure appeared in Chen Nuo’s sight! In an instant, Chen Nuo felt his heartbeat slow down by half a beat.
Seaweed-like long hair... those eyebrows and eyes...
Alright, that bastard Zero!!! He actually made Lu Xixi wear a maid’s uniform?!!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the kind of maid outfit posted on the internet decades later. It was the kind of British maid’s work dress worn by waitresses in an English-style inn of this era.
But...
Unforgivable!!!
Lu Xixi, dressed in a maid uniform, entered the room, walking lightly and a bit stiffly. But soon, she came to the bedside and looked at Chen Nuo on the bed, who was staring back with wide eyes.
Lu Xixi hesitated for a moment and then spoke softly.
"Old gentleman... Mrs. Earl asked me to come and change the sheets."
Mrs. Earl?
Chen Nuo instantly realized, this Mrs. Earl must be Zero.
Right, this inn is called something like Earl’s Sweet Home.
However...
Wait a second!!
What did Lu Xixi call me?
Old gentleman?
Old gentleman!?
Old????
Chen Nuo watched eagerly as Lu Xixi approached the bed, gently propped him up, swiftly changed his pillow and bedding, and then looked at Chen Nuo with an obviously sympathetic gaze.
"Well, I’ve finished my work, you should rest well. I won’t bother you any further."
After saying that, Lu Xixi, holding the replaced sheets, retreated to the doorway.
And outside the door, Zero was standing there. After instructing Lu Xixi on a few things with a smile, Zero let her leave and then entered the room, closing the door behind him.
"What do you think?"
"I am very considerate, right? I knew you would really want to see her, so I specially arranged for her to come and change your sheets."
Chen Nuo glared fiercely at Zero!
"Are you wondering why she didn’t recognize you?"
"Because even though she is Louise’s soul, due to the reincarnation process, her original Consciousness Space collapsed, which caused her to lose many memories."
No, that’s not right!
Chen Nuo instinctively felt something was off!
Memory loss, not recognizing him, logically it made sense!
But...
This Zero, since he’s playing the role of "arranging history," according to his methods, he should never allow Lu Xixi to see his own face in 1981!!
Otherwise...
"Otherwise, if I let her see you now, with an Ability User’s memory, she would definitely remember your face."
"If that happens, things will become awkward when you two meet again in Antarctica twenty years later and she recognizes you. There would be variables in the situation."
This guy shamelessly peeked into my thoughts!
Chen Nuo stared at Zero with narrowed eyes.
"Alright, I changed your appearance a bit. Of course, I couldn’t allow her to see you with Chen Nuo’s face."
"But I was really considerate..."
"Well, okay, or maybe say I was very gossipy and wanted to see the scene of the first encounter between this destined couple."
"So I let you meet her, but I changed your appearance a bit."
"Oh come on... that’s not weird, right?"
"Ship the CP! You can understand!"
I’ll ship your grandma!
Chen Nuo cursed in his heart.
Zero directly picked up a mirror from the table, brought it in front of Chen Nuo, "Here, this is what you look like right now. I used my powers to make a slight change, if you don’t like it, no problem, you can go back to your original look once you recover."
Chen Nuo’s eyes widened at his reflection in the mirror...
A few seconds later, Chen Nuo looked at Zero with a complex expression.
This...
This is called "a slight change"?! The reflection showed a lean old man with a head full of white hair!
And that hair was styled into a severe case of male pattern baldness—completely bare on top!
It would have been one thing if just the hairstyle and age changed!
But that face... it was the spitting image of how a certain famous, older comedic character actor, known for his distinctive features, would look thirty years in the future!
This is called "a slight change"??
You call this "slight"?!
You call this "a bit"?!
Zero came over smiling, patting Chen Nuo on the shoulder.
"Don’t worry, I will definitely arrange both of your fates well."
"The couple I ship will never have a sad ending~"
Chen Nuo just rolled his eyes.
"By the way, I have something to discuss with you."
Zero started talking to himself again.
Chen Nuo couldn’t respond, so he just listened coldly.
"In a couple of days, I’m going to take you out of here to a place, to attend a very important event."
Chen Nuo continued to roll his eyes. What event?
"Trust me, this event is very important and meaningful to you!"
Chen Nuo’s expression remained skeptical. Meaningful how?
"I think very few people in this world get the chance to attend such an event—okay, I won’t keep you in suspense."
"I’m going to take you to watch your future parents’ wedding."
Chen Nuo’s mind reeled. !!!!!!!!
Zero spoke calmly, "Yes, you understood correctly."
"Chen Jianshe and Ou Xiuhua’s wedding!"
"Although you’ve meddled a bit, since I am here, I naturally found a way to put everything back on track. I haven’t been idle these past three months."
"Don’t stare like that."
"Think about it, I went to great lengths to achieve successful reincarnation for Lu Xixi, just as she should have according to the original history."
"So, how could I possibly allow Mr. Chen Nuo not to be born?"
"With Lu Xixi here, how could we do without Chen Nuo?"
Chen Nuo was speechless.
Are you really Zero, the controller of evolution and history?
The most mysterious and powerful Seed under the Mother?
Why do I see you more as a fanatical perverted CP fan!!!
