Chapter 88
Strangely, the moment Lin Ran covered her eyes, the hostility in the little girl suddenly dissipated, and she became quiet again.
As if she was afraid of A-Ran discovering something was wrong.
Although Qiao Qi felt that this was a disguise.
“Do you know Qiao Qi?”
Lin Ran couldn’t help but ask Pepe.
Pepe obediently shook her head.
“Then why did you scare him?”
Although Lin Ran also found it strange, Qiao Qi, such a tall person, was actually scared by Pepe.
“…”
Being told off by A-Ran, Pepe felt a little down, but she didn’t dare to vent her anger on Qiao Qi, afraid of being seen by A-Ran again.
As Lin Ran held Pepe’s hand, that strange feeling surfaced again.
Theoretically, Pepe in this timeline shouldn’t have met him before, but he couldn’t help but want to be nice to her.
Even though Big Pepe was almost as tall as him.
Qiao Qi, looking at this scene, was also hesitant about what was going on. Could they really be siblings?!
But Lin Ran didn’t look aggressive at all, while the demon called “Pepe” was much more terrifying. Qiao Qi could easily sense an oppressive aura from her.
This was a demon’s instinctive sense of danger, the instinct to flee from dangerous beings.
But she was clearly clinging to Lin Ran!
Qiao Qi couldn’t even find a chance to quietly remind Lin Ran to be careful, but the monster was firmly glued to Lin Ran’s side, not leaving him for a moment.
Lin Ran’s gaze paused on Pepe’s long hair and didn’t say anything for the moment.
“Why are you here alone? Where is your family?”
Not knowing the situation here, Lin Ran tried to ask.
Hearing these questions, Pepe’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and after a while, she mumbled, “Lost.”
“Lost?”
Lin Ran didn’t believe that Elder Gu Li would be willing to leave his precious granddaughter.
But Pepe clearly didn’t intend to say anything more.
Even the next second, she transformed into a small bird, landed in Lin Ran’s palm, and gently rubbed against his hand.
“So cute.”
This scene inexplicably reminded Lin Ran of the first time he met Pepe. The little girl had also landed beside him like this.
So cute?!
Qiao Qi didn’t dare to say a word, but he couldn’t see the cuteness at all. This was clearly extremely dangerous!
What kind of 800-meter thick filter was this!?
“Um… are you still going to the library? I heard that you’re not a new teacher?”
However, after following Lin Ran for a few minutes, Qiao Qi still couldn’t help but ask about this doubt, even though, strictly speaking, he had been deceived.
But he couldn’t enter the library without identification.
“Sorry, I’m indeed not a new teacher. I’m a tourist, here for a short visit.”
Lin Ran hadn’t thought that he could keep up the pretense for long.
So after organizing his words, he revealed his identity to Qiao Qi.
“Tourist? Are you planning to leave this place?! Feather Clan members from all over the world have gathered here because without the energy magic crystal, our wings will gradually stiffen and lose their function. What will you do with your wings if you leave?”
Qiao Qi really thought that Lin Ran, like a real bird, was planning to leave this place.
Leaving here would even make him unable to fly?
Lin Ran looked at Qiao Qi, who was worried about him, and finally realized where the strangeness came from.
It was as if someone had deliberately made all the Feather Clan members gather here.
“And you need identification to enter the library. If you want to borrow books, I can borrow them for you, but… eh!?”
But just as Qiao Qi was about to offer his help, Pepe, after hearing the conversation, just glanced at Qiao Qi and directly took Lin Ran and disappeared.
A few dozen seconds later, they disappeared into the library just like that!
Lin Ran was caught off guard and forcibly brought to the top floor of the library by Pepe, still a little dazed.
“…We’re in!”
There was no need for that unremarkable demon to help.
Pepe looked at Lin Ran with a rare sense of pride, as if waiting to be praised, her big eyes filled with joy.
“Okay, our Pepe is really amazing, she said she would bring us in, and she did.”
Lin Ran, hesitating, smiled and touched Pepe’s head. In any case, she had indeed done this for him.
Although he felt that Qiao Qi must have been startled again.
Actually, Lin Ran wanted to find history books, or periodicals like newspapers, so that he could quickly understand the context of this timeline.
“Cheep cheep!”
After knowing that A-Ran wanted to find books, Pepe also volunteered to transform back into a bird and fly to the other side to help search.
But just as Lin Ran was searching among the bookshelves, a book suddenly fell from the shelf.
“…?”
Lin Ran paused, bent down to pick up the book, and found that it was actually a copy of “The Chronicles of Prinskar”!
But it falling down so coincidentally inexplicably reminded Lin Ran of the time when Little Feather was still unwilling to show himself and secretly helped him find books.
“A feather…”
And a black feather happened to fall on the spine of the book.
“You don’t belong here, intruder.”
When a voice suddenly sounded behind him, Lin Ran froze and his pupils constricted as he turned to look.
It was a team of Black Wing Enforcers staring at him with serious expressions.
“…”
The situation seemed a bit off.
Since he had the book, it wasn’t impossible to slip away.
Lin Ran calmly looked up at the skylight, estimated the distance, and felt that it wasn’t completely impossible to fly out.
The commotion on the top floor clearly attracted the attention of those downstairs, especially Qiao Qi, who had rushed in to find someone. He widened his eyes and found that Lin Ran had actually gone to the top floor!
Heavens, he was even being targeted by the Enforcers, what should he do?
But when Lin Ran mobilized his magic power and tried to spread his wings to escape, the pair of wings that appeared behind him instantly shocked all the Feather Clan members who were watching.
“Heavens——that intruder is running away!”
“White wings!?”
Even the team of Enforcers was stunned and reacted a beat slower.
Because they were a pair of exceptionally dazzling pure white wings, each feather soft and bright, plated with a light golden edge under the light from the skylight, like a work of art.
Countless Feather Clan members looked up at this scene, the picture as if frozen.
White wings, it had been a long time since they had appeared in the Feather Clan’s territory.
The moment the wings appeared, a demonic aura that was trying to tear at the roots of the wings from the shadows instantly stopped, and the next second, it was fiercely repelled by Pepe’s dark blue demonic aura, which arrived in time.
“Mm…”
Even so, Lin Ran still felt like his wings had been grazed.
Just as he was about to fall while holding his wings, he was caught by a somewhat clumsy and stiff figure.
[Ding——You have found the core instance character “Eno Gard”! ]
[Please stop him from releasing the source miasma and carrying out the extinction plan within 12 hours, and use the “Cage of Purification” to seal the scene again in time!]
The quest prompt from “Demon World” was instantly issued.
“Little Feather?!”
Lin Ran murmured incredulously as they looked at each other.
Little Feather in the instance world was almost fully grown, his tall and superior figure currently floating quietly in mid-air, his indifferent face exposed outside the mask even having a touch of divinity.
Extremely stunning.
Lin Ran had always believed that Little Feather would be very handsome when he grew up.
But the hideous and twisted scar on the other half of his face, which even the mask couldn’t completely cover, destroyed this beauty.
It made the jade even more flawed, shocking to the eye.
Little Feather?
Who was that?
Actually, Eno Gard had sensed Lin Ran from the moment he appeared in Prinskar.
A foreign entity suddenly appearing in the birdcage was naturally extremely conspicuous.
He hadn’t acted immediately, simply because he wanted to know what this intruder who had broken into the cage was trying to do.
Including the demon who dared to assist him, Eno Gard had originally planned to deal with them together.
But Eno Gard didn’t understand why, looking at the wound on the other party’s wings that was almost grazed by the demonic aura, he felt an indescribable sense of oppression.
As if he had done something extremely terrible.
There was even a voice in his heart saying that if he really hurt him, he would definitely regret it immensely.
Lin Ran didn’t care as much as he thought about being accidentally injured by Little Feather in the instance, and even felt that this was far beyond the expected danger level.
What Lin Ran cared about more was the pair of wings behind Little Feather, which had turned completely pitch black, like the darkest and most dangerous night in the Demon World.
“Why have your wings turned black… Little Feather?”
For some reason, Eno Gard, being stared at, felt that his black wings were particularly ugly for the first time.
Especially in contrast to those gentle white wings, it made him involuntarily want to hide them behind his back.
But Lin Ran didn’t give Eno Gard any chance to hide and even reached out to touch his wings.
The wings were extremely hard, but at this moment, they obediently closed and drooped, like a tamed beast, letting the human touch and examine them.
This was unreasonable, as if he had been bewitched, but his heart secretly hoped that the other party would touch them for a little longer!
[Ding——Interference continues! Instance difficulty is being re-analyzed and calculated…]
The appearance of the “Demon World” prompt also made Lin Ran a little puzzled.
Interference? The difficulty was adjusted again?
Did it become harder, or easier?
In fact, the moment that demonic aura appeared, the Time Mirror vibrated violently and was immediately hugged tightly by Little Feather in the real world.
The little guy, who had been dozing off, opened his eyes in a panic, blankly recalling the series of dream images he had seen before closing his eyes.
His grown-up self actually had ugly black wings! And he actually wanted to break A-Ran’s wings!
Just this thought made Little Feather freeze in self-loathing.
He couldn’t possibly be like that.
Absolutely impossible… that wasn’t him!
Gray demonic aura appeared around him, extremely unstable, as if pulling and intertwining with the Time Mirror’s balance.
“Ee, ee!”
Little Feather even hugged the mirror and flew directly to Shao Mian, trying to ask for help from his guardian.
Shao Mian, of course, also noticed this abnormality and knew that Lin Ran must have encountered Little Feather in the future timeline, but things were clearly not going smoothly.
“Calm down, try to connect with your magic power, to a certain extent, it can let the you in the mirror sense it.”
While guiding the cub on how to communicate with his magic power, Shao Mian’s gaze towards the mirror became dangerous.
He had originally thought that there wouldn’t be any danger throughout the process.
And as Little Feather obediently tried to mobilize his magic power, he did vaguely feel the connection, but what came to him was an extremely cold and desolate feeling of deathly silence.
Even faintly carrying a hysterical madness.
Little Feather felt lost and wronged for the first time. Would he become like this when he grew up?
Would A-Ran hate this bad version of him?
Little Feather even wanted to eat the mirror, not allowing it to tell A-Ran that he would actually have such a terrible side when he grew up!
At the same time, the images that appeared in Eno Gard’s mind in the mirror world were completely opposite.
It was the sense of security of being gently held and protected in his guardian’s arms when he was still in the eggshell.
It was the slight grievance of angrily hiding on the electric fan, and then throwing himself into his guardian’s arms to act coquettishly after being found.
It was the happiness of hiding in the hat to perform magic, accidentally causing trouble, and then being comforted by A-Ran with a smile, saying it’s okay, don’t be nervous, our Little Feather has already done a great job…
But the more memories surged, the darker Eno Gard’s eyes became, and he self-harmed, scratching his body.
Why?
Why was the “him” in these memories so lucky?
Then what was he in this world?
[Ding——Interference interrupted! Difficulty test results are uncertain!]
After this prompt appeared, Little Feather, holding the mirror, suddenly quieted down.
“Didn’t connect?”
Shao Mian’s tone became even more serious as he looked at the slightly dazed cub.
But Little Feather shook his head, then nodded.
“Ee ee…”
Connected…
But the other party refused the connection in the end.
That version of him seemed very angry.
But he wasn’t angry at A-Ran, he was angry at himself.
Although Little Feather had to admit that he also didn’t like the him in the mirror.
Perhaps the other party also disliked him?
Shao Mian listened to the little guy’s “Ee ee ee” for a long time, all tongue twisters of “himself, himself, himself,” and after a while, he rubbed his forehead, feeling that perhaps he shouldn’t trust a cub’s expressive ability too much.
“Indeed, I should send you to school earlier.”
The big lion sighed with rare regret.
“Ee…”
Little Feather felt wronged. Was his speech unclear?
A-Ran said he was very smart!
And in the mirror world, Lin Ran, seeing Big Little Feather’s sudden painful state, instinctively reached out and hugged him to check on him.
“Are you sick? Does it hurt? Why did this suddenly happen?”
The touch by his ear was familiar yet strange, but it inexplicably made the demon feel very attached.
After a while, Eno Gard, raising his head again, looked down at the human, conflicting emotions pulling at his mind:
“Hurts…”
His voice rarely carried a hint of inexplicable grievance and fragility.
Coupled with Little Feather’s handsome face, which had a touch of divinity after growing up, Lin Ran admitted that his heart softened.
He couldn’t bear to see Little Feather, whom he had raised since he was young, become so hurt and sad when he grew up.
“A-Ran, he might be lying.”
Pepe, on the other hand, frowned and seriously told A-Ran to be careful.
In her memory, this guy had never been so fragile.
What made him suddenly change?
“Lying?”
Lin Ran looked at Little Feather, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat from the pain, and was momentarily at a loss.
Would Little Feather be good at lying when he grew up?
Little Feather, when he was young, never lied to him.
“But he really looks like he’s in pain.”
Lin Ran lowered his eyes and gently touched Little Feather, and the next second, he was hugged by Little Feather, even his black wings closed around him.
He carefully sniffed A-Ran’s scent, it seemed to be the same as in his memories.
It was a refreshing scent of soap pod.
But the more he realized that those images might have actually happened, the more another thought couldn’t be stopped from surfacing.
He didn’t want to give him back.
Because that version of him was foolish and naive, and he would even accept lessons from those useless Feather Clan members. What could he learn from following a bunch of useless people?
Eno Gard didn’t want to admit that this might be jealousy.
He was jealous of himself.
“Pepe, can you help me get a wet towel?”
After helping Little Feather sit down, Lin Ran wanted to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead, otherwise he might catch a cold.
But Pepe clearly had a tantrum, staring at Eno Gard with increasing suspicion, still feeling that he was trying to trick A-Ran into pitying him.
“He’s so annoying, A-Ran. He just tried to hurt you.”
Pepe was so straightforward that she started to complain to A-Ran in front of Little Feather with an expressionless face.
Even though Little Feather instantly opened his eyes, which Lin Ran couldn’t see, and looked at the still unmoved Pepe with a cold expression.
Lin Ran was instantly amused and exasperated.
He sighed that the two little guys had never gotten along, and this hadn’t changed at all in the mirror.
Although Lin Ran always felt that Little Feather lacked a bit of gentlemanly conduct in this matter.
But Pepe seemed much more lively like this, and her eyes weren’t as empty as before?
“Okay, even if Little Feather is lying to me, then let him. Otherwise, he’ll really catch a cold if he sweats from the pain.”
Lin Ran smiled and touched Big Little Feather in front of him.
If he was really pretending, was this considered acting coquettishly even after growing up?
And the moment Lin Ran said this, Little Feather’s hand, which was originally hanging by his side, slowly loosened, and he even subconsciously touched Lin Ran’s clothes.
