Chapter Ninety-Three: A Familiar Feeling

Luoguo’s tone carried an inexplicable trace of grievance, and her resentful eyes swept over, making Xu Nuo feel as though she’d somehow wronged her.

Wait… goosebumps were rising.

“This water isn’t anything special; anyone standing by it will see their reflection,” Luoguo continued. Her sour tone was reminiscent of an abandoned bride from some family.

The attempt to lighten the mood failed, plunging everyone into a strange, speechless atmosphere. Fang Yu sighed helplessly, “Guo’er.”

Xu Nuo couldn’t help but murmur, “Guo’er.”

“Who gave you permission to call me by my nickname?” Luoguo glared angrily at Xu Nuo, then leaped ashore from the boat.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Xu Nuo was utterly confused, unable to understand why Luoguo suddenly lost her temper.

“She wasn’t like this before…” Fang Yu was equally bewildered, sighing, “She rarely goes outside. Let’s hurry and find her.”

In the Demon Realm, a beautiful and harmless demon girl wandering alone outside faced unimaginable dangers.

Xu Nuo and Fang Yu hurried after her. Yet Luoguo’s petite figure quickly disappeared, lost among the bustling crowds on the street.

Fang Yu contacted Qingxin Pavilion, and soon people arrived to help search. For such special beings as them, it was impossible to escape Qingxin Pavilion’s control on their own.

With this incident, the lake outing ended prematurely. Fang Yu was taken back to Qingxin Pavilion, while Xu Nuo wandered the streets of the Demon Realm, still unable to find any trace of Luoguo.

“What’s Luoguo’s personality like in the original story?” Xu Nuo asked the system.

007 paused for a moment. [Hmm… Obedient, sweet, playful, very cute.]

But in reality, she was gloomy, silent, and eccentric—completely at odds with the original character setting.

Xu Nuo couldn’t find Luoguo, but soon news arrived from Qingxin Pavilion: Luoguo had already been found and returned.

The bloodbath at Qingxin Pavilion further inflamed the Demon Clan’s warlike instincts. Xu Nuo battled through countless challenges, and even the arena matches were becoming difficult.

When Fang Yu heard Xu Nuo’s request, she agreed without hesitation. Her straightforwardness surprised Xu Nuo.

007 couldn’t help but curse its host for being shameless, calling in reinforcements for a rigged match. Xu Nuo grinned and, together with Fang Yu’s unique skills, sent opponent after opponent packing.

The audience below cheered ecstatically, shouting their names. To the uninformed, “Puppet Double Rainbow” seemed like Fang Yu was just a manipulated puppet, but she felt no dissatisfaction—instead, she experienced a kind of fulfillment she’d never known before.

Amidst the thunderous applause, the gazes gathered upon her no longer brought a nauseating feeling. Standing atop the platform, Fang Yu sensed emotions budding within her that she couldn’t yet name.

[Fang Yu, Affection Value +10]

Xu Nuo: “???”

007: [???]

Why would an NPC’s affection value increase?

Xu Nuo: “Xiao Qi, what kind of bug is this now?”

[Please don’t panic. I’m checking now.] 007 sounded anxious.

Xu Nuo scrutinized Fang Yu. No matter how she looked at it, the figure before her was a female demon—especially beautiful, slender and alluring—completely unmatched to the target Lu Ciyuan.

The setting never mentioned Lu Ciyuan being a dual-bodied demon.

007 hurriedly contacted the technical department and soon got an answer.

[Yes, it’s another bug. Because the story setting isn’t fully compatible with the romance theme, there’s another glitch—some NPCs can also be healed. So what you’re actually accumulating isn’t affection value, but healing value. Although the system prompt says affection, it’s really healing.]

Xu Nuo was stunned. “So, all this time I’ve spent on Lu Ci, apart from our first meeting, I was just spinning my wheels?”

“He hasn’t been healed at all?”

007 rarely saw its host so dejected and tried to comfort her, [Healing and affection are a bit different. Maybe he’s always felt affection for you but hasn’t experienced healing.]

Xu Nuo reluctantly accepted this explanation but remained dispirited for most of the day, so bored she released Lu Ciyuan and stared at his unconscious body.

Her gaze was intense and probing, making 007 uneasy—it even wondered if Xu Nuo wanted to strip Lu Ciyuan to confirm his gender.

“The target’s been paralyzed for so long—hasn’t the bug been fixed yet?”

007: [It’s being worked on.] There was nothing it could do about technical issues.

Xu Nuo poked Lu Ciyuan’s face. “What if he never wakes up?”

007 wasn’t sure. [Maybe, we’ll have to wait for the notification to forcefully end this round.]

After all, how could healing work on an unconscious body?

Soon after, Xu Nuo saw Luoguo again. She was still as gloomy and silent as before, but this time didn’t leave midway, since there were only the two of them.

“Do you want to be the city lord of the main city too?” Luoguo asked.

“Actually, I don’t really want to.” Xu Nuo replied. “If it were just about having a cool and impressive identity, I’d love it. But being city lord means managing affairs—it’s far too troublesome.”

Demons aren’t easy to govern; brute force alone isn’t enough. Without brains, you wouldn’t last until the next city lord selection—you’d be ousted in no time.

Xu Nuo sighed, “No matter where you are, competition is always fierce.”

Luoguo was puzzled. “Then why do you still fight?”

Xu Nuo said, “First, it’s fun. Second, because I promised someone I’d help him conquer the world.”

At these words, Luoguo’s eyes flickered. “Who is that person to you?”

“Guo’er, you’re awfully curious about people’s privacy,” Xu Nuo laughed, rubbing Luoguo’s head. “I don’t know why, but you feel familiar to me. Have we met before?” It was the feeling of an old acquaintance—otherwise, she wouldn’t have answered Luoguo’s questions so honestly, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what felt familiar.

“Is… is that so?” Luoguo’s eyes wandered as she lowered her head to hide her emotions.

“Hmm…” Xu Nuo suddenly thought, “It’s Yan Junior Sister.”

Yet, though the two shared some similarities, there were many differences as well.

Luoguo: “Who is Yan Junior Sister?”

Xu Nuo: “A friend.”

Luoguo quietly breathed a sigh of relief. “Am I very much like her?”

Xu Nuo: “Mm, the same face, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.”

Luoguo couldn’t help but arch her brows in a smile. “Who doesn’t look like that?”

It was the first time Xu Nuo saw Luoguo smile. The usually gloomy girl lit up like a pine tree revealed after snow melts, radiating a fresh vitality, and the sense of familiarity grew even stronger.

Xu Nuo suddenly recalled Lu Ciyuan’s appearance beneath the stars and moon in the Jade Book Illusion.