Chapter 196
Chapter 196
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 196 – Lan Qi Only Attended One Public Class
Whenever the wind blew, the wooden-framed windows creaked, and the small curtains trembled, with occasional drops of rain seeping through the fabric.
In the center of this dim room, the Great Love Poet spoke in her playful tone, directing her words at Phoenix.
“Phoenix, your younger sister Phyllis is currently in the school hospital.”
“……”
Her mere presence, as a great demon, amplified Phoenix’s fear, as if she could manipulate his emotions at will.
Phoenix naturally understood what she meant.
It must have been that Phyllis accidentally saw Lan Qi on the screen during the duel with Adams, mistaking him for the principal from the Purgatory Corridor Academy, and fainted from fright.
Actually, the chance encounter with Lan Qi’s team on the first day at Ikerite Academy wasn’t coincidental. He had received intelligence to intercept a hunting target, which led him to join the match.
After returning to the real world, to ensure his identity and mission remained secure, he remained in a hypnotic state until the wake-up signal, completely forgetting anything related to the Resurrection Church.
He had no chance to relay the intelligence to his sister.
“Do whatever you want with her.”
Phoenix stated firmly, coldly, as if he didn’t care about her life.
“Hmph hmph.”
The Great Love Poet sat atop Lan Qi’s table and beckoned him with a curl of her finger.
No words were needed—Lan Qi understood and drew from the soul space a stack of semi-transparent cards, each glowing with a different hue, allowing her to choose.
He had no idea which magic card she wanted.
After a moment of selecting, she picked [Transformation: Demon] and handed it to Lan Qi.
Lan Qi transformed back into his radiant demon form from the Purgatory Corridor Academy.
The Great Love Poet then tapped the table in front of Huperion, signaling her to drop her disguise and return to her half-demon form.
In an instant, the storage room seemed transformed into a demonic domain.
“Who exactly is whose summon?”
Lan Qi sighed, putting away the magic card.
He even felt that the Great Love Poet was the truly perfect being. As long as he, her host, survived, she too would be immortal. Even if defeated, once the summon cooldown ended, she could be called again.
“Heh, if I were a card maker, and could obtain your soul material, I’d definitely make you into some kind of poet, my ultimate card.”
The Great Love Poet smirked proudly.
Her card-making talent far surpassed Lan Qi’s, but she was limited to first-level, only able to assist him.
She then turned her attention back to Phoenix.
“Phoenix, imagine this scenario: I take Lan Qi to visit your sister in the hospital. She has just awakened from a nightmare-induced faint, thinking she’s back in reality… and in this stormy, thunderous darkness, she sees a living demon walk freely into the supposedly safe Ikerite Academy, and the next to enter the room is the radiant demon principal, Lan Qi. What would she do?”
The Great Love Poet smiled delightfully, painting a scene for Phoenix.
“She’d break down, right? Absolutely.”
Her eager expression suggested she couldn’t wait to try it.
Observing Phoenix’s progressively uncontrollable expressions and vein-popping face, she finally pointed at him and laughed boldly.
“You didn’t care about your sister at all, right? You said—‘Do whatever you want with her.’ So why do you seem so restless now?”
She mimicked Phoenix’s earlier tone, mocking him.
Under the magnified emotional manipulation, Phoenix’s intentions were laid bare.
Earlier, he had merely pretended not to care about his sister.
With even the slightest clue, the Great Love Poet could easily find gaps in a captive’s mental defenses.
“No! You can’t touch my sister! She’s not a resurrectionist; this has nothing to do with her!”
Phoenix shouted almost in despair.
The demons might not physically harm his sister, but they could utterly destroy her in essence.
“I guess you think people like us wouldn’t really threaten your family… and that once your sister’s innocence is confirmed, we wouldn’t do anything to her…”
The Great Love Poet shrugged, arching her brow playfully.
“But now, look closely—are we even human?”
She smiled, stepping aside.
Behind her sat two demons, their expressions indifferent, unconcerned. That level of cruelty and coldness belonged only to demons.
“……!”
For a moment, Phoenix had a terrifying thought—
This place no longer felt like Ikerite, the capital of Hedon Kingdom.
It felt like a demon stronghold.
He even began to suspect that the country itself had been infiltrated and corrupted by demons.
“Or… the student council could organize a campus event, everyone dressing as demons for a carnival. When your sister wakes and leaves the hospital, she’d see the whole academy filled with demons, everyone acting crazily. And just as she thinks she’s escaping the nightmare, the radiant demon principal Lan Qi would appear…”
The Great Love Poet continued tirelessly, directing Phoenix like a director, painting vivid scenes.
Eventually…
“No, stop talking.”
Under her psychological manipulation, Phoenix’s mental defenses collapsed. He trembled, tears streaming down his face:
“I’ll agree to anything you say… just don’t harm Phyllis…”
Nearby, Huperion silently glanced at Lan Qi.
Lan Qi, still sipping his tea, observed the interrogation process with a satisfied expression, like a principal in the back of a classroom listening to a moral education lesson.
“We’ve rescued another misguided youth. More merit for us.”
Noticing Huperion’s gaze, Lan Qi smiled and looked at her.
“……”
Huperion couldn’t respond. She wanted nothing more than to leave this room with these two chosen demons and find Tatta for treatment.
If Lan Qi was a pseudo-human, the Great Love Poet was a true prime being.
The Great Love Poet didn’t even need to act.
Yet, even she differed from Lan Qi—she was aware of her own malicious tastes and had clear self-recognition regarding her lack of humanity.
Lan Qi, on the other hand, didn’t think he had any issues.
Huperion could no longer distinguish who in this room was good, and who was a cultist.
She couldn’t imagine how Lorren, the academy dean, would react tomorrow upon seeing a reformed Phoenix, or what he would guess about the ruthless “rehabilitation” of this elite cultist.