Chapter 150: Light Kiss

Light Kiss

Ciel moved bit by bit to the factory entrance, leaned against the main door, and looked at her right hand under the dim sunlight.

In her somewhat unfocused vision, the skin of her right hand was chapped, and within the cracks, scarlet tentacles were drilling outwards along the wounds, waving beside her hand.

The blood staining her fingers and palm red dripped drop by drop from her fingertips towards the ground.

But when Ciel used her left hand holding a handkerchief to wipe the blood on her right hand, she wiped nothing at all.

In her left hand’s perception, her right hand showed no changes at all; the palm was also dry, without wet blood.

Both sensations were irrational.

She did indeed tear open the raven’s eyeball with her hand in the Other Side; it’s impossible that no blood stuck to her hand. But the blood couldn’t possibly keep flowing like this—after so long, the blood should have dried long ago.

At this moment, Ciel’s mind still seemed to echo with the low roars of those monsters from the Other Side. These sounds echoed in Ciel’s mind like whispers; she was glad she didn’t understand the meaning these sounds represented.

Ciel slowly took out the “Echo of the Silver-White Timebinder” from her pocket.

The stopwatch now lacked its initial simple rusticity, beginning to show exquisite patterns.

Opening the silver cover, the stopwatch no longer felt stuck when opened... as if it had been refurbished all at once.

However, what concerned Ciel the most was the gear at the center of the watch face.

It covered the hour, minute, and second hands, but its rotation frequency was completely inconsistent with these hands.

This gear clearly didn’t participate in the stopwatch’s rotation, rather resembling a decorative component independent of the stopwatch.

Ciel hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand on the gear.

Even if it’s decorative, it’s a decorative item with “Uniqueness.” It should have some special abilities...

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The moment Ciel placed her hand on the stopwatch, a familiar system panel popped up before Ciel.

【【Echo of the Silver-White Timebinder (Damaged)】: Exclusive Sealed Artifact, Bound, more abilities can be obtained as the sealed artifact is repaired】

【Current Ability: 【Echo of Time Lv.2】】

【Echo of Time Lv.2: Records the host’s current individual time. After 15 seconds, or when life is threatened, returns the host individual to the recorded time and removes all negative states】

【Side Effect: Within forty-five minutes after use, the host’s individual spacetime will become disordered, the host’s state will jump between different save files】

【【Overlimit Gear Lv.1】】

【Overlimit Overload: Turn the gear, causing a specified skill, item, or sealed artifact owned by the host to enter the 【Overlimit Overload】 state, allowing it to exert power beyond its limits and ignore side effects, lasting 1 minute】

【Side Effect: Skills, items, or sealed artifacts amplified by 【Overlimit Overload】 will enter a 72-hour 【Overload Damage】 state, unable to be repaired】

Overlimit Overload?

Beyond limits? Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

And it can act on any skill, item, and sealed artifact?

Anything fitting to these three concepts can be overloaded by myself?

Just reading the text description, Ciel realized the power of this gear.

Its strength lies in the concept.

The gear places no restrictions on the things and items that can be overlimited, meaning anything can be overlimited using the gear.

Just don’t know how this “owned” is determined.

If only items redeemed from the system store count as owned, then the items Ciel can use would be greatly limited.

Ignoring item, skill, sealed artifact type, overloading without upper limit... If what she held was already a high-tier item or high-tier sealed artifact, overloading it again would let it break the upper limit.

Most importantly, during that one minute, the side effects of those items, sealed artifacts, and skills are ignored.

If paired with specific powerful sealed artifacts or skills, Ciel essentially possesses 1 minute of unrestrained, frantic attack time.

Considered a powerful hand card... As for other uses, only her future self can slowly develop them.

So that raven relied on this overload to exert power beyond its own strength, summoning meteors...

A throbbing pain in her brain made Ciel temporarily stop reviewing previous events.

Just as Ciel was about to watch the system time count down to calm her spirit, she heard the sound of urgent footsteps.

“Ciel?”

Hearing this familiar voice, Ciel, leaning against the door, relaxed her spirit directly. Just a slight slackening of spirit, and she fainted immediately.

Before falling and losing consciousness, Ciel felt a soft embrace.

...

So hot...

Ciel, unconscious, felt a stuffy, scorching heat all over her body. This feeling made her head increasingly dizzy, the splitting headache making her wish she could just smash her own skull for complete release.

Unsure how long passed, when a cool sensation came from her brain, the agitated emotions in Ciel’s mind gradually disappeared.

This change was also reflected in Ciel’s expression at this moment; her originally tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Avena, kneeling on the ground, had fine beads of sweat on her forehead. Her lips trembled constantly, her face deathly pale, as if frightened by something.

At this moment, Ciel lay before Avena, her head pillowed on Avena’s soft thighs, eyes tightly shut.

After another ten minutes or so, Ciel’s eyelashes trembled slightly. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing Avena currently placing both hands on her forehead, her expression unusual.

Compared to before, the swelling and dizziness in Ciel’s head had subsided considerably. Even the volume of the whispers had noticeably weakened.

Ciel slowly raised her hand, grasped Avena’s slender wrist, and bit by bit moved her hand away from her forehead.

“Psychologist” wasn’t a path suited for combat. Avena’s physical strength couldn’t compare to Ciel’s at all. Although struggling slightly, Avena’s hand was still moved away by Ciel.

The healing was interrupted. Avena abruptly opened her eyes, scanned the surroundings with lingering fear, realized there was no mist or monsters, then took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Avena looked down, her gaze meeting Ciel’s eyes, which carried a hint of weakness.

“Ciel...”

Avena was about to say something, but was interrupted by Ciel.

“It’s alright now...” Ciel managed a smile and said.

“It’s already over.”

-

After Ciel released her hand, Avena’s suspended hands didn’t know where to put them. After hesitating for a moment, she slowly placed them on Ciel’s shoulders and asked:

“How are you feeling now?”

At this moment, Avena hadn’t fully processed Ciel’s “It’s alright now,” still worried about Ciel’s physical condition.

Even without touching Ciel’s forehead, just placing her hands on Ciel’s shoulders, her thumb close to Ciel’s cheek, Avena could feel the scorching heat from Ciel’s body.

“Okay, I guess... just a bit dizzy.” Ciel shook her head, but just this simple action made her feel intense dizziness, even nausea.

Seemingly seeing through Ciel’s struggle, Avena gently supported the back of Ciel’s neck, slowly changed position, supported Ciel’s nape with her right hand, passed her left hand under Ciel’s legs, about to lift her directly.

Hm?

Avena, just preparing to lift Ciel in a princess carry, froze slightly when preparing to stand up.

Although Ciel’s body was very light, Avena surprisingly couldn’t lift Ciel directly at once...

Avena didn’t know how to directly carry someone lying down on her back. Lifting face-to-face by the buttocks seemed somewhat inappropriate... For a moment, Avena didn’t know what to do.

However, this slight delay also allowed Ciel to recover somewhat from the dizziness.

She propped her hand on the ground, attempting to stand up.

Seeing this, Avena quickly supported Ciel’s shoulder, helping her stand up bit by bit.

“Ciel, hold on a little longer, the carriage will be here soon.” Avena said softly.

Carriage?

Ciel’s slightly muddled mind imagined the bumpy picture of sitting in a carriage... Riding a carriage now might really kill her.

“No carriage...” Ciel said slowly, “Can you help me walk home?”

Home?

Where?

Her own home? Or the house Ciel rented on Gem Avenue? No matter where, it wasn’t a place the current Ciel could walk to.

But there was another place Ciel could manage to walk to.

“North-South Stone Street?” Avena asked tentatively.

“Mm...” Ciel nodded slightly.

“Okay, hold on for a moment.” Avena supported Ciel, moving bit by bit towards the outside of the factory.

At this time, besides cargo carriages and children running around on the street, there were almost no pedestrians.

The street still emitted an indescribable sour stench, but Avena showed no disgust, just carefully observing the road, avoiding puddles, pedestrians, and carriages.

This journey, originally only taking six or seven minutes, took them nearly twenty minutes. Finally, they stopped at the entrance of No. 144, Clock Tower Alley.

Ciel reached into her pocket, fumbled slightly, took out a key, inserted it, and turned it to open the door.

Just opening the door, there wasn’t the expected smell of dust hitting her face. Everything in the house was spotlessly clean, as if someone had been coming regularly to clean the house.

After helping Ciel to the sofa and letting her sit down, Avena went back to close the door, then walked towards the kitchen, starting to look for a kettle, but couldn’t find one.

Some of the cookware and kettle here had already been taken away. What remained were some immovable furniture originally left by the landlord.

Finally, after rummaging through boxes and cabinets, Avena found a wooden bucket and ladle that looked barely used. After filling the ladle with some tap water, she walked directly to the living room and offered it to Ciel’s mouth.

“Ciel, drink some water.”

Avena just finished speaking, but quickly withdrew her hand, “Sorry, let me wash it...”

The clear water just in the ladle turned turbid red after sloshing a few times, accompanied by an indescribable rusty smell.

Is this blood...

Avena continuously scrubbed the stains on the ladle in the kitchen with her hands, but after trying for a long time, the water scooped up still became turbid, just the color slightly lighter.

Avena, who had never done housework once since childhood, was almost frantic at this moment.

When she finally managed to scoop a ladle of clear water and brought it to the living room, she found Ciel already curled up on the small sofa with cracked leather, long asleep.

About thirty minutes later, Nia, who returned to the factory but didn’t find anyone, found her way here. After Avena gave her some instructions, Nia went out again.

Following Avena’s instructions, Nia first went to the clinic in the Gem District, called Adele over, then returned to the abandoned factory again, cleaning up all the corpses inside.

After Adele arrived at Ciel’s house, she performed a set of routine checks on Ciel.

This time again, no physical problems were found. Ciel’s physical symptoms were caused by mental exhaustion. After recording all of Ciel’s current symptoms, Adele quickly returned to the clinic laboratory to prepare new medicine.

And throughout this entire process, Avena stayed by Ciel’s side, observing Ciel’s mental state.

Now Ciel was sleeping naturally, recovering naturally. As long as no worsening symptoms appeared, Avena wouldn’t intervene.

Mental healing isn’t something accomplished overnight. If treatment were truly that simple, there wouldn’t be so many mad transcendents.

At this moment, Ciel, in her sleep, was experiencing a clearly visible dream.

Ciel in the dream was in a vast, misty room, stepping on creaking wooden floors.

No matter where she walked along the mist, there seemed to be no end. She just kept walking in this almost infinite space, yet her spirit became increasingly frantic.

She started running, sprinting with all her might, but before her eyes, besides mist, was still mist, seemingly endless.

Until Ciel was about to be exhausted, she stepped through one of the wooden planks, her body falling downwards, plunging into the boundless darkness beneath the planks.

At this moment, Ciel abruptly opened her eyes. What met her eyes was warm candlelight.

She looked down. A soft, warm blanket had been placed over her body at some point.

She just raised her right hand wanting to rub her eyes, but was startled by the scarlet tentacles probing before her eyes. Only then did she remember her vision was still in a contaminated state; the spiritual damage to her right hand still existed.

However, compared to the beginning, the dizziness in her head had subsided considerably.

Most importantly, the feeling of overloaded calculation in her brain was gone, and her body temperature had also returned to normal levels.

Besides the hallucinations before her eyes and the seemingly constant monster roars in her head, Ciel’s spirit had recovered significantly.

She propped herself up on the sofa with her right hand, gently rubbing her forehead with her left hand.

Her simulated self didn’t faint for this long... and didn’t describe this state similar to a high fever either. This could basically be determined to be due to absorbing the “Uniqueness” gear.

After all, the variable between reality and simulation was only whether “Uniqueness” was truly collected.

-

“System, is all that knowledge sealed in my mind?” Ciel asked the system inwardly.

【Can’t waste my memory, right ^^】

Good grief... The knowledge sealed in my mind, I actually have to pay to access it myself...

【You should be secretly happy, at least you don’t have to worry about being controlled by others anymore】

Don’t have to worry about being controlled by others anymore... Like the situation where the quill pen controlled her body in the simulation won’t happen again?

This was good news for Ciel.

She followed the warm candlelight, looking around. Firewood burned in the fireplace, blocked by the fireguard, providing warmth to the house.

Several bottles of expensive wine, a silver teapot, and a few cups were placed on the table. These were clearly not her own things. One bottle of wine was half empty.

Ciel looked to her left and saw a familiar figure sitting on the single sofa, head tilted, asleep.

Her glasses were still perched on her nose, long black hair sliding down her fair cheeks. Her current posture was by no means comfortable for sleeping.

A dry mouth made Ciel pick up the teapot. She opened the lid, confirmed it was just ordinary black tea inside, not wine, poured herself a cup, and drank it down.

The warm tea flowed down Ciel’s throat, giving her a feeling of being alive again.

After pouring herself another cup of tea and finishing it, Ciel focused her gaze on Avena again.

While she was unconscious, did Avena stay beside her the whole time?

Even in summer, Berren City’s nighttime temperature was only slightly above ten degrees, certainly not warm. Sleeping in the living room like this was not only uncomfortable but would definitely lead to catching a cold.

Ciel stood up, stretched her waist slightly, confirmed her current spirit was decent, then walked beside Avena and gently lifted her.

Avena’s weight was surprisingly light for Ciel. Ciel very easily lifted her entire person in a princess carry, then slowly walked upstairs.

Pushing open her room door with her back, Ciel placed Avena on her own bed, unfolded the folded quilt beside her, and covered Avena with it.

After taking off Avena’s glasses and placing them on the table, Ciel lit the candle on the table.

Just as Ciel finished lighting the candle and prepared to stand up and leave, Avena, lying on the bed, slightly narrowed her eyes.

Actually, she had already woken up when Ciel lifted her just now, just hadn’t spoken. Only when Ciel prepared to leave did she open her eyes and whisper:

“Ciel...”

Hearing the voice, Ciel turned her head and saw Avena half-propped up, looking at her, her eyes full of worry.

“What’s wrong?” Ciel asked.

“You... where are you planning to go?” Avena asked.

The current Ciel basically gave Avena a stereotype: as soon as Ciel went out, she was preparing to do something particularly dangerous.

“Nowhere.” Ciel shook her head. She originally just wanted to go downstairs and get something to eat. Having not eaten for almost a whole day, she felt somewhat hungry.

“Then rest well.” Avena lifted the quilt slightly, patted the somewhat hard mattress, and said.

Unsure why, the current Avena maintained a blank expression, but both her tone and actions gave off a feeling like she was acting spoiled.

Plus, Avena wasn’t wearing glasses now; her eyes looked somewhat hazy. Ciel remembered the half-empty bottle of wine downstairs.

Thinking carefully, when carrying Avena upstairs just now, she did indeed smell a faint scent of alcohol on her.

“Are you drunk?” Ciel sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Avena, asking somewhat curiously.

“No.” Avena shook her head, lay back down again, looked at the ceiling, and said, “Just thirsty.”

This Ciel understood clearly. Many nobles treated wine and tea as water, rarely drinking plain water.

In the perception of most nobles, water was still an unclean beverage. Alcohol was better, and could also “disinfect.”

Of course, Ciel had always boiled water to drink, but besides her and her sister, she seemed not to have seen anyone else with this habit.

However, this was the first time Ciel saw a slightly tipsy Avena... At least her expressions were richer.

“How are you feeling now?” Avena turned her face sideways, looked at Ciel sitting beside her, and asked.

The current Avena lay on Ciel’s bed. Although the mattress was hard, the quilt wasn’t soft to the touch, the fabric slightly rough, yet her surroundings seemed enveloped by Ciel’s scent.

The slight flush on Avena’s cheeks now, unsure if it was due to these scents, or because of drinking some wine.

“Much better,” Ciel looked at Avena, saying sincerely, “Thank you, Avena.”

If not for Avena helping her share some of the contamination, she definitely wouldn’t have recovered so quickly. For this point, Ciel was genuinely grateful to Avena.

Hearing Ciel’s reply, Avena nodded slightly, then slowly closed her eyes.

Since childhood, Avena understood one principle.

If you want something, you have to strive for it.

A prosperous life also gave Avena plenty of room for trial and error, nurturing her calm, confident personality.

Most importantly, such a life also gave her a quality difficult for ordinary people to possess—not being afraid of making mistakes.

Because she had the capital to cover her mistakes.

And Ciel was the complete opposite.

Similarly calm and composed, but Ciel was too easily afraid of making mistakes, because once she made a mistake, she would lose everything directly.

So most matters, Ciel carried alone, even actively distancing herself from close ones when encountering danger, just so that when things went wrong, close ones wouldn’t be implicated.

During these days of interaction, Avena also saw this point.

Especially Ciel’s personality, always hovering at the edge of everyone, made Avena worry.

Worrying that one day encountering something, Ciel would disappear completely without any discussion, escaping to a place no one could find.

To prevent this situation from happening, Avena felt she had to do something.

-

“Ciel.” Avena sat up again, reaching her hand towards Ciel.

“Hm?” Ciel looked somewhat puzzledly at Avena’s left hand.

When she saw Avena’s left hand reaching towards her right hand, Ciel’s pupils slightly constricted. When Avena’s fingertip touched her finger, she subconsciously pulled her hand back slightly.

In Ciel’s vision, where Avena’s hand touched, in the crack on the back of her hand, terrifying scarlet tentacles writhed. Her terrifying right hand formed a stark contrast with Avena’s fair left hand.

Ciel’s hand only retracted slightly, but Avena moved forward again even faster, directly placing her hand on the back of Ciel’s hand.

“Avena...” Ciel looked somewhat puzzledly into Avena’s eyes, seemingly not understanding her intention.

“I can see it, Ciel.” Avena looked at Ciel’s right hand. She held Ciel’s wrist and slowly lifted Ciel’s right hand.

After pressing Ciel’s palm against her own face, she looked into Ciel’s eyes.

“After healing your spiritual body, whatever you can see, I can see too.”

Avena’s dark purple pupils stared into Ciel’s eyes, saying seriously, word by word, “Do you think I would be afraid?”

Ciel looked into Avena’s eyes, felt the warm temperature of Avena’s cheek on her right hand. Unsure why, her heart skipped a beat.

Avena...

Whether in reality or simulation, Avena’s unreserved help towards her made Ciel develop immense trust in her. Precisely because of this, Ciel was even more worried that the events she encountered would implicate her.

But Avena herself didn’t seem to think so.

Within these short few seconds, Ciel re-examined her own heart.

Previously, she was indeed somewhat self-enclosed. Towards anyone, even her own sister, she couldn’t reveal her true heart.

Could this method really protect the people around her?

This sentence, now in Ciel’s heart, was marked with a question mark.

This method, perhaps, might hurt those who truly treated her genuinely...

Ciel understood Avena’s feelings for her were quite special, but Ciel herself deliberately avoided matters of emotion.

Before, perhaps “crisis not yet resolved” could be used as a shield, convincing herself.

But now, it seemed no such shield could be used. She had to face her own heart, give a response.

Just as Avena felt somewhat disheartened in the silence, intending to release Ciel’s right hand, Ciel looked up, met Avena’s gaze, and slowly said:

“Can you swear, no matter what I become, you won’t be afraid of me for a lifetime?”

“Even if I become another appearance, even if I become a monster...?”

Another appearance referred to save file transformation, an ability Ciel would definitely expose in the future; it couldn’t be hidden.

And the other, naturally, was the contamination from the Other Side.

Ciel didn’t know, under continuous contact with the Other Side, or continuous absorption of “Uniqueness,” how long her human body could be maintained. But she knew, as the “Uniqueness” she held increased, she would definitely slowly deviate from the path of “human.”

Ciel’s question was very serious, but this question left Avena slightly stunned for a moment.

A lifetime?

Why did it suddenly escalate to a lifetime?

But looking at Ciel’s serious eyes, unlike lying, Avena took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

From the first sight of this red-haired young woman at the police station, a seed quietly sprouted in Avena’s heart.

And when this red-haired young woman named Ciel tore open her collar and bit her neck, Avena knew she might never forget her for a lifetime.

Thus, at this moment, facing Ciel’s question, Avena had only one answer.

“I promise.”

The faint candlelight flickered on the table, casting the two young women’s reflections onto the curtains. Avena gazed at Ciel’s beautiful dark red pupils, unable to move her sight away at this moment.

Unsure for what reason, Avena’s body leaned forward slightly, perhaps probing, perhaps just accidentally.

But this small probe made the somewhat weak red-haired young woman before her subconsciously lean back slightly. But soon, the red-haired young woman’s body also leaned forward slightly, the long hair hanging over her shoulders sliding down before her, swaying gently.

The young women slowly approached each other, but neither knew what they were doing, nor what they were about to do. When their noses touched, even able to feel each other’s breath, Avena finally came back to her senses slightly.

What on earth am I doing...

A flush rose on Avena’s face. She seemed to realize the current distance was somewhat too close, leaning back slightly—at the last moment, she actually retreated somewhat.

But Avena’s slight resistance didn’t make the beautiful red-haired young woman retreat. Instead, she turned over, climbed onto the bed, pressing closer towards Avena by several steps.

“Eee...!”

The young woman’s sudden approach caught Avena off guard. Her entire person fell back onto the bed, emitting a delicate sound she thought impossible to come from her own mouth.

This posture now... was quite similar to the posture in the bathroom before.

Avena’s heart pounded rapidly. She instinctively wanted to close her eyes tightly, but worried this would be interpreted by the sensitive Ciel as a signal of rejection. Could only slightly narrow her eyes, watch helplessly as the stunningly beautiful face approached her bit by bit.

The young women’s lips lightly touched together.

In an instant, whispers, the sound of wind, breathing, all sounds dissipated from Avena’s mind. She felt as if a steam train had run through her brain and opened its release valve as it passed over her head.