Chapter 89
“Look up, Little Feather, can you?”
Lin Ran held Little Feather’s head and softly asked.
Eno Gard hesitated for a moment, but actually obediently raised his head, letting the human in front of him hold him and brush aside the long hair by his ear, looking directly at his face.
If the enforcers outside the door saw this scene, they would probably be shocked to the core.
Because one of the recognized taboos was to look directly at his face!
There was once a demon who considered himself a confidant and tried to secretly remove the mask from his face, only to be instantly purified and disappear completely, ceasing to exist in this world.
Since then, no one dared to touch the mask, and few even had the courage to look directly at him.
But as Lin Ran wiped Little Feather’s face with a towel, he couldn’t help but look at the silver mask on his face.
“Can you take off the mask? Or keep it on, but I won’t be able to wipe the other half of your face.”
Pepe watched vigilantly from the side, always suspecting that he would attack A-Ran, but today he was indeed abnormally quiet, without any movement.
Pepe couldn’t even find a reason to stop A-Ran.
“Okay.”
Little Feather lowered his eyes, and after a few seconds of silence, he actually agreed.
Lin Ran also wanted to take this opportunity to see the condition of Little Feather’s face after he grew up, if Little Feather didn’t feel uncomfortable about it.
But Little Feather being so obedient and docile inexplicably gave Lin Ran a strange feeling.
Could it be that Little Feather also remembered something?
Otherwise, why would he be so obedient?
The moment the mask was gently removed, Eno Gard couldn’t help but look at the human in front of him intently, not missing a single emotion.
The wound on the other half of his face was disgusting and hideous, anyone who saw it would involuntarily feel disgusted.
Eno Gard even suspected that perhaps the human in front of him was part of a conspiracy, so no matter what, at this moment, he should have removed all his disguises.
However, to Eno Gard’s surprise, when the mask was removed, Lin Ran was stunned and speechless, but there was no disgust or fear. Instead, what appeared in his eyes was pure heartache.
“Does it hurt? How did it become so serious… haven’t you gone to see a doctor?”
Lin Ran looked at Little Feather, then at the scar on his face, his voice subconsciously softening.
He knew the situation wouldn’t be good, but Lin Ran didn’t expect it to worsen to this extent. His entire eye socket was charred and shrunken, with gray mist faintly surging within.
Of course, it hurt. The corroded and polluted wound was constantly being twisted and torn.
As for whether it was very painful?
Eno Gard was actually very unfamiliar with this question.
It was ridiculous that someone would actually ask him if it hurt, as if he was also the kind of inferior demon who was afraid of pain.
Eno Gard subconsciously wanted to deny it disdainfully.
But perhaps because Lin Ran’s gaze was too pure, Eno Gard inexplicably felt the urge to cover that half of his face, unwilling to expose his ugliest side to the young man.
“Don’t look, it’s ugly…”
“Of course there will be scars when you’re injured.”
Lin Ran immediately held him back.
“Besides, our Little Feather is clearly very handsome, you’ll definitely be the most handsome little bird after you’re healed.”
Lin Ran knew that Little Feather seemed indifferent, but he actually cared a lot about being praised for his looks, he was a true beauty lover.
He usually cleaned Little Feather often, keeping him neat and tidy.
“Right?”
Seeing that Little Feather didn’t respond, Lin Ran looked at him and asked seriously again.
Although his heart rate increased for a moment, Eno Gard still suppressed his excitement and retorted sullenly.
“Lying.”
Half of his face was covered in scars, it couldn’t be called good-looking at all.
It was simply a despicable method to deceive cubs.
He, as an adult, wouldn’t believe it, but his mood actually improved.
It was as if he had also become that naive and childish self, willing to be coaxed by a few words and give up all his guard.
“A-Ran, would never lie!”
But before Lin Ran could react, Pepe, squatting beside him, couldn’t help but retort.
She wanted to pull A-Ran away and leave this guy alone.
“…Pepe.”
Lin Ran chuckled and held Pepe’s hand. Pepe immediately stopped talking and leaned against A-Ran aggrievedly, wanting to complain.
The next second, her cheek was pinched.
“Okay, how about we make a bet, Little Feather?”
After thinking for a few seconds, Lin Ran carefully chose his words and looked at Big Little Feather in front of him.
“What?”
“If you’re really handsome after your wounds are healed, you’ll take me to the laboratory ruins. Okay?”
Lin Ran’s tone was light, but his words undoubtedly made Eno Gard clench his fingers.
“So you want to go to the laboratory.”
As expected, he had a purpose.
“Yes, but after going to the laboratory, you might see the person you’ve always wanted to see.”
Since the disaster hadn’t erupted yet, it meant that the protective restriction in this timeline hadn’t completely failed, so Little Feather’s parents’ consciousness might still be activated.
In the original timeline, they could also see Little Feather one last time before completely leaving.
“The person I’ve always wanted to see?”
Eno Gard’s tone was indifferent, because even he didn’t know who he had always wanted to see.
“Mm, the person you’ve always wanted to see. Little Feather.”
Lin Ran lowered his eyes and responded, reaching out to touch the uneven scar on Little Feather’s face.
Little Feather, who was successfully appeased: “…”
He just wanted to see the laboratory?
“Let’s go now, Luska.”
Eno Gard, whose wound was being touched, subconsciously ordered the attendant outside the door.
And Luska, the adjutant who appeared outside the door, had an uncontrollable look of shock and fear on his usually cold face when he saw the scene in front of him.
Everyone had been guessing whether the intruder was dead, but he was not only alive, but he had even seen Eno Gard’s true face…
He really was like the evil ghost in the rumors.
Noticing Luska’s gaze, Eno Gard then remembered that he hadn’t put his mask back on. Perhaps Lin Ran’s reaction was too normal, so he had forgotten about it.
But Lin Ran, noticing the abnormality, had already stood up and blocked half of Little Feather’s face, helping him lean against his side.
Knowing that Little Feather didn’t like people seeing that half of his face, Lin Ran naturally didn’t want his cub to feel uncomfortable after being seen.
“Excuse me, could you leave for a moment? I’ll contact you if I need anything.”
Luska looked at Eno Gard, who was only showing half of his face and had a cold expression, and naturally bowed and disappeared, knowing that he had definitely escaped a disaster.
If that intruder hadn’t suddenly interrupted, perhaps he would really be finished.
Things seemed completely different from what he had imagined.
After confirming that Luska had left, Lin Ran turned and handed Little Feather the remaining half bottle of concentrated Golden Spirit Fruit potion.
“It can really be cured, trust me, okay?”
At this moment, Eno Gard suddenly realized that he might have really fallen into a carefully designed trap.
From the memories that appeared in his mind, to being bewitched step by step, to now trying to apply the so-called potion to his face.
If this potion was poisonous, it would be the perfect assassination.
But when the cold potion was carefully applied to his scar by Lin Ran with a cotton swab, Eno Gard, who had been staring at Lin Ran, couldn’t help but purse his lips and fight against the gradually emerging drowsiness.
He wanted to look at him more closely, to remember more.
“Why are you spacing out? Does it hurt? It shouldn’t be irritating, right?”
Lin Ran found it amusing that Little Feather kept staring at him without blinking and reached out to touch his eyes, wanting him to blink to prevent them from drying out.
“It doesn’t hurt, it’s actually very comfortable.”
This time, Little Feather finally told the truth, although he couldn’t tell whether he was attached to the care he felt from having his wound gently treated, or the drowsy feeling caused by the potion gradually taking effect.
Was he concerned about this version of him, or that version of him…
In fact, when Big Little Feather in the mirror was applied with the potion and his wound gradually began to heal, Little Feather outside the mirror blankly touched his eye mask.
His wound felt itchy, he wanted to scratch it.
But A-Ran had told him not to touch his wound.
Little Feather always listened to A-Ran, so he held back and didn’t move, just flapping his wings restlessly and flying around.
And Shao Mian clearly noticed the little guy’s abnormality and directly waved for Little Feather to stand in front of him so he could check on him.
“Ee…”
Little Feather nervously had his eye mask removed by the big lion guardian and blinked his eyes.
“As expected, he’s still worrying about you.”
After carefully examining him for a moment, Shao Mian confirmed that the wound was indeed healing in a very strange way, and it even faintly contained some kind of space-time law.
But was this really worth it?
Taking such a big risk just to heal the scar on his face.
And Shao Mian was certain that Lin Ran, with his personality, probably hadn’t considered one thing: although they were both Little Feather, the adult and cub forms didn’t have the same character.
If the other party didn’t want Lin Ran to come back, there was definitely a chance that he would be completely trapped in the space-time turbulence.
“Ee…”
Little Feather lowered his eyes, as if he also understood something from Shao Mian’s reaction. It seemed like A-Ran had gone to do something for him.
Just like how he, Sootball, and Snowball had secretly gone to grab things for A-Ran!
“It’s not a big problem, it’s useless for you to worry, just go to sleep.”
Shao Mian tapped the little guy’s head and raised an eyebrow, signaling for Little Feather to go back to sleep.
“?”
But Little Feather was still holding the mirror, reluctant to let go, worried that something might happen.
“It won’t, I’m watching.”
Shao Mian’s eyes were filled with a smile, feeling that the little guys he had raised were all quite sensible, at least they knew how to care about their guardian.
And Eno Gard only knew that he had slept for a long time, so long that even he had forgotten the time.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already completely bright outside the window.
Just as he was about to get up, he noticed an unfamiliar warmth by his wrist. It turned out that Lin Ran had fallen asleep with his upper body lying on the edge of the bed.
Lin Ran originally wanted to watch over Little Feather and see if his wound could heal, but he unknowingly fell asleep while waiting.
But Pepe, when Little Feather tried to touch A-Ran’s head, suddenly woke up and flew over to peck at that bad hand.
“You…”
Little Feather narrowed his eyes dangerously, he had long found her annoying.
Pepe was expressionless but firm.
“…Mm?”
The commotion between the two little birds quickly woke Lin Ran up, and Little Feather and Pepe instantly quieted down.
But when Lin Ran looked up at Big Little Feather in front of him, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“It’s really healed a lot, Little Feather, haven’t you noticed?”
It wasn’t completely healed, but the scar on his face had shrunk by more than half!
Even his eye socket, which was originally corroded and covered, had gradually regained its outline.
Being pulled by Lin Ran to look at himself in the mirror, Little Feather was clearly stunned for a long time, even touching the skin on that half of his face as if to confirm.
The scar and mist that had originally spread to most of his face had actually been healed by a large area, and even faintly showed signs of completely disappearing around his eyes.
“Aren’t you happy? Maybe it will be completely healed soon.”
Lin Ran touched Little Feather’s face and said expectantly with a smile.
But if it was completely healed, would you leave completely?
The first thought that suddenly appeared in Little Feather’s mind was this unreasonable guess.
This countdown-like unease even overshadowed the joy of his wound being healed.
“Damn it, let me go, I didn’t do anything wrong–”
But a sudden shout made Lin Ran and Little Feather look out the window at the same time.
This voice was so familiar, it was Qiao Qi!
Lin Ran was very grateful to Qiao Qi, this demon who had helped him a lot.
Why did it sound like he had been captured?
“Little Feather, you didn’t do this, did you?”
Lin Ran immediately grabbed Little Feather and asked with a frown.
Little Feather then remembered that he had indeed ordered the young demon who had assisted the “intruder” to be captured…
In fact, when Qiao Qi, who had been released from the restriction, saw Lin Ran, he was so shocked that he almost jumped.
“My god, you’re still alive! This is great!?”
The surprise of finding Lin Ran still alive was so strong that Qiao Qi subconsciously reached out and tightly held Lin Ran’s hand.
“Yes, I’m still alive. I’m really sorry, Qiao Qi, that you were accidentally hurt. I must have Little Feather apologize to you…”
Lin Ran smiled and let this rare friend hold his hand.
Although he really didn’t expect that Little Feather, after growing up, could be so domineering, simply capturing someone he didn’t like.
How should he compensate Qiao Qi?
“Apol, apologize…? Ah?!”
Qiao Qi then noticed that a tall, black-winged demon was slowly walking behind Lin Ran. The familiar mask on his face instantly made Qiao Qi freeze.
No way!? This strange scene made Qiao Qi feel like he had been tricked into being killed.
You didn’t say you had a backup plan!?
Between his life and an apology, Qiao Qi was quite clear about his choice…
“Sorry, this is compensation. There was a slight error when the Enforcement Team was verifying your identity.”
But before Qiao Qi could frantically wave his hand, he inexplicably received compensation. Eno Gard, who had signaled for his subordinate to hand it over, even apologized personally!
“My god…”
Qiao Qi, whose brain had short-circuited, was even more dumbfounded when he saw what was inside the box.
It was actually an A-rank magic crystal!?
In this era of magic power depletion, the energy provided by an A-rank magic crystal was enough for a newly hired young teacher to complete a series of experimental projects.
Couldn’t this be some kind of trap? But did he have such great value?
Qiao Qi felt a little dizzy, happiness came too suddenly.
“Are you that happy?”
Lin Ran subconsciously smiled, feeling that Qiao Qi didn’t seem so angry anymore?
The compensation given by Little Feather was probably quite reasonable, it was good to make him bleed a little, so that he wouldn’t be so reckless in the future.
“Lin Ran, you…”
Qiao Qi looked at Lin Ran as if he was in a dream, his brain unable to comprehend this scene.
“Cough, I’m here for a trip, actually, I’m also looking for my lost family member, look, I found him now.”
Lin Ran took out the excuse he had prepared long ago.
“Family member!?”
Are you sure!?
Qiao Qi stared at Lin Ran and Little Feather beside him, swearing that he couldn’t believe there was any blood relation between the two.
“Don’t we look alike?”
Lin Ran also felt a little guilty, looked at Little Feather, who was pretending to be quite convincing in front of outsiders, and felt that he lacked a bit of presence.
He would try to wear a dark suit in the future, the kind that looked cool and aloof!
Otherwise, all the little cubs at home had grown up, and he hadn’t changed at all, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?
“…”
Little Feather stood behind A-Ran expressionlessly and looked down at Qiao Qi, clearly warning him not to say anything he shouldn’t in an angle that Lin Ran couldn’t see.
As for Qiao Qi…
Qiao Qi naturally shut up.
Qiao Qi didn’t know for a moment whether he should feel lucky that he had seen Lin Ran take the initiative to help him before.
“Principal, I, I’m very honored.”
Ah, principal?
Lin Ran was still a little hesitant when he saw Qiao Qi bow.
A few seconds later, he found that Little Feather actually nodded slightly, signaling for Qiao Qi to leave.
And Little Feather, under A-Ran’s shocked gaze after he turned around, really wanted to completely erase the embarrassing history of his childhood self.
“Little Feather, you really, um… are very impressive.”
It seemed that he really had to send Little Feather to kindergarten earlier after returning.
After all, their Little Feather had become a principal after growing up. If he delayed this, wouldn’t he be committing a sin?
Lin Ran was so amused that he didn’t know where to start asking.
He had originally thought that Little Feather was studying here, but he never expected that the founder he heard about in class was actually Little Feather.
“Don’t laugh.”
So Little Feather protested in a low voice, holding A-Ran’s hand and not allowing him to continue laughing.
“Okay, I won’t laugh anymore, but you have to remember to apply the medicine yourself tomorrow.”
There was still half a bottle of potion left, he didn’t know if he could completely cure it before he left.
“And now you have to take me to the laboratory, Little Feather.”
Lin Ran looked at Little Feather and seriously mentioned this matter.
This time, Little Feather was silent for a moment, then took Lin Ran and set off.
When he saw the familiar ruined laboratory in the instance world again, Lin Ran was certain that Little Feather probably hadn’t repaired or removed the source of pollution inside.
He had simply reopened this forbidden area after the world merged.
Especially the Purification Stone, which was hailed as a “miracle” by Qiao Qi and the other demons. In Lin Ran’s view, it was clearly a large transfer station that had already been polluted.
It extracted the original turbid magic power and released it for all the Feather Clan members to use, seemingly maintaining stability for a period of time, but actually causing the wings of all Feather Clan members to mutate unknowingly…
It even created a strong dependency.
Once they left the forbidden area, they would gradually lose even their basic ability to fly.
“So everyone’s wings gradually turned black. Little Feather, did you do this to make everyone perish together here?”
Lin Ran’s tone was calm, but Little Feather inexplicably knew that this was how A-Ran acted when he was truly angry.
Although when he brought A-Ran here, Little Feather had already been certain that everything he had done would be discovered.
“So you came here specifically to stop me, right?”
But recalling A-Ran’s “trip,” Eno Gard looked at Lin Ran and asked softly.
He finally understood why A-Ran had come to this world to find him.
“Yes, Little Feather. But actually, after purification, your wound should be completely healed.”
Especially the remaining pollution.
When Lin Ran pushed open the long-sealed door, the familiar aura of the pollution source appeared.
But after a long period of nurturing and fighting, this aura was clearly much stronger than what he had felt in the Feather Clan’s forbidden area.
But fortunately, he had the prerequisite item this time.
[Ding——Detected “Mutated Ancient Source Miasma,” do you wish to capture? ]
[Important Note: This capture will consume 95% of the Time Mirror’s energy, please be prepared to leave at any time.]
Just as Lin Ran was about to capture it, the prompt from “Demon World” unexpectedly popped up.
In other words, once he captured the miasma and completely ended Little Feather’s plan, he would have to leave this place soon?
Lin Ran remembered that the instance quest given by “Demon World” this time was to stop Little Feather from destroying everything.
If he purified the core pollution source, it would naturally be equivalent to completing the quest.
As for Little Feather’s scar, it had already healed more than half, and the remaining small half bottle of potion was placed beside Little Feather.
The small gift he bought for Pepe, the little girl should be able to see it when she woke up.
But for some reason, when he turned to look at Little Feather, who had been staring at him, Lin Ran had an indescribable feeling.
[Ding——Cage of Purification sensed!]
When the ice-blue small cage in his hand slowly rotated, the two familiar auras reappeared, but this time, Yin Er and Rhine Man En’s auras were clearly much weaker.
Their figures were almost translucent, but they still instinctively looked at Little Feather not far away.
Even the grown-up Little Feather instantly noticed the unusual aura and looked up in a daze at Yin Er and Rhine Man En, who were reaching out to him.
Lin Ran watched as Little Feather successfully met with his parents’ final figures, as if the last task of the instance had been successfully completed.
“They actually love you very much, Little Feather.”
Live well.
And the timing was really perfect, because Yin Er and Rhine Man En in the instance world were only a few days away from completely running out of energy.
The disaster that would have been triggered then could clearly lead to the complete destruction of the entire Feather Clan.
But now it should be properly resolved?
But just as Lin Ran was about to disappear, Little Feather seemed to have made up his mind and took back the item in his hand.
[Ding——Detected that the target character “Eno Gard” has not returned the key item to its original position, the quest has not been completed! The quest has not been completed!]
Lin Ran looked at Little Feather in surprise, he had actually taken the Cage of Purification back and let the miasma start to escape.
“Little Feather?”
Little Feather was certain that when he didn’t listen to A-Ran and stop the plan, A-Ran’s disappearing figure seemed to be restricted by some kind of law.
Two completely different emotions were sharply pulling at each other within him.
On one hand, he knew that A-Ran should leave, and on the other hand, he knew that if he really returned the item, this dream would probably truly end.
[Ding——This kind of case has never appeared before, emergency analysis is required. It is currently suspected to be a special change caused by excessively high Affection Level!]
Even the “Demon World” system never expected things to develop like this.
Theoretically, the higher the Affection Level with the target character during the instance, the easier it would be to advance the related quests.
But the “Demon World” system never expected that excessively high Affection Level would actually cause unexpected situations!
Just as the situation became extremely complicated, crimson gold law rune ripples faintly appeared in the air.
Eno Gard was forced to let go and watched as the cage was sucked back to its original position.
As expected, the next second, all the light and anomalies disappeared, and A-Ran was completely gone.
Only a white feather was left, falling into his palm.
But the completely purified forbidden area, at this moment, sprouted countless green branches, leaves, and vegetation, and the originally depleted magic power was replenished again.
The Feather Clan demons living in the forbidden area suddenly realized that some strange change seemed to have happened. The circulation of magic power had become dozens of times smoother.
Even their wings, which always felt heavy and sluggish, had become much lighter at this moment!
[Ding——Quest completed! Rewards are being distributed…]
Lin Ran felt extremely dizzy amidst the waves of fluctuations and only vaguely heard the final prompt from “Demon World.”
When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was already sitting in front of Yuanbao, still a little dizzy.
“Yuanbao? Why are you awake? Didn’t you sleep at night?”
Lin Ran held Yuanbao’s shoulder, feeling a little guilty, not expecting to be caught red-handed after the instance ended.
“Do you know how dangerous this is? Just to remove the scar on that little guy’s face?”
Shao Mian rarely softened his attitude but looked at Lin Ran and asked calmly.
…?
Lin Ran’s eyes widened slightly, still a little unresponsive.
Until Shao Mian handed him the mirror.
“You know what I went to do?”
Holding the mirror in his hand, Lin Ran was truly stunned.
“After asking such a strange question last time, is it that hard to notice?”
Shao Mian inexplicably wagged his tail, warning himself not to be fooled by Lin Ran’s cuteness again.
Although Lin Ran, wearing his pajamas and sitting in front of him, was indeed incredibly cute!
Why would he need to spend a fortune on a plushie?
The 1:1 original was right in front of him!
But Shao Mian was also certain that the human in front of him, although seemingly gentle, was actually incredibly stubborn once he decided to do something.
“Okay… it’s a long story, I really saw Little Feather in the future this time.”
“But after the matter was resolved, I didn’t feel so relieved, Yuanbao.”
Lin Ran was silent for a long time, couldn’t help but look at Yuanbao, and still hadn’t completely recovered from the emotions of the instance.
Lin Ran rarely showed such a lost expression.
But it seemed that apart from Yuanbao, there was really no one else in this world he could trust enough to tell this to.
“…”
Shao Mian, being stared at by Lin Ran like this, also suddenly felt that something was serious.
Because he couldn’t bear to see the human in front of him show such an expression! He wanted to do something immediately.
If the “Demon World” main consciousness noticed this, Shao Mian had a hunch that this crappy game didn’t know how it would exploit him, after all, even transforming into human form could be sold for so many points.
“But if you didn’t go, things would only get worse, wouldn’t they?”
But just as Shao Mian started to comfort him, Lin Ran suddenly couldn’t help but transform back into a small white ball!
For some reason, Lin Ran felt a little tired being human sometimes, and it was very relaxing to transform back into a little demon.
“Cheep cheep.”
Lin Ran even suddenly wanted Yuanbao to transform back into a big lion, so he could hide in his mane and sleep.
Even though this seemed a bit willful.
“…………”
Very well, he couldn’t refuse at all.
Shao Mian paused for a long time, resigned himself to his fate, and transformed back into a lion. The next second, he saw the tired little ball bury his head in his mane and fall asleep.
After a while, the crimson gold lion tail gently brushed against the small white ball’s fur, letting Lin Ran sleep more comfortably.
He had actually done very well.
