Chapter 146 : An Awkward Bastard

“Have you acted enough?” Milly applied slightly more pressure, staring into those emerald eyes, emphasizing each syllable. “Sta-cy.”

Listening to Milly’s voice, Lisa’s eyes showed no panic, only a flawless confusion.

“Who is Stacy? Milly, are you okay?”

Lisa’s expression gradually turned to one of worry. If Milly hadn’t been gripping her chin so tightly, Lisa might have reached out to check her temperature. Through the fog, she couldn’t see Milly’s situation, but every sound from that side had reached her ears perfectly.

Until the final blow, Milly had been losing against the Shadowblade Beast. Being suppressed for so long might have left a shadow on her mind.

Watching the worry in Lisa’s eyes, Milly scoffed inwardly. It must be hard for her, keeping up the act even now.

“And Milly… could you be a little gentler? It hurts…”

So Stacy could feel pain. Based on Milly’s understanding of her, she had thought that woman never felt pain. But whether the pain Lisa spoke of now was real from having her chin squeezed, or just lines recited to match Milly’s actions, was hard to say.

Milly released her fingers from Lisa’s chin. Since that person intended to keep acting, Milly had no intention of pressing further. After all, you can never wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.

She had disguised herself as Lisa and followed her all this way. It couldn’t be just out of worry, deciding to stick close to her until she reached the end of this journey. If that were the case, she didn’t need to use such a troublesome method. That person could have simply hidden her presence. At her level, she could have stuck to Milly like glue, and Milly probably wouldn’t have noticed. There was absolutely no need to change her identity and go through all this trouble.

Another possibility flashed through Milly’s mind, stunning her for a moment.

No… her idea wasn’t baseless. A scene from the campfire last night surfaced in her mind. She clearly remembered what Lisa—no, what Stacy—had said to her.

Combining that with the laborious and awkward methods she had just witnessed, was the reason Stacy had disguised herself as Lisa to use this identity to get close to her, continuing to use awkward means to try and salvage their relationship?

She really didn’t know when to quit.

But this was still just Milly’s guess. As for what Stacy was plotting, perhaps when Milly reached the end and verified her theory, everything would become clear.

“I was hallucinating. Thought of someone I knew.”

Milly brushed off her previous actions lightly, turning to grab Lisa’s hand, which was hovering in mid-air. “Follow closely. Don’t get lost.”

“Eh?”

Lisa hadn’t expected Milly not to pursue the matter further. If she had continued to question, Lisa had ways to bluff her way through. But for it to be dismissed so lightly felt a bit unnatural.

Staring at the hand Milly had actively taken, Lisa couldn’t help but speak.

“The person you knew… is it the one called Stacy?”

“Yes.”

Milly’s calm answer betrayed no emotion, as if she had anticipated Lisa’s question.

“Then she… what kind of person is she?”

She’s a bastard.

As the words fell, the hand holding hers trembled slightly.

“I see…” Lisa forced a smile, her voice hiding an almost imperceptible mockery. “Then she… must have done many terrible things, things that hurt you…”

Milly didn’t pay attention to the expression on Lisa’s face. This same conversation had already played out elsewhere. Now, it was just being repeated with a different identity. As for what had actually happened, both of them knew perfectly well. Continuing a topic with no result was meaningless.

But…

“Yeah. She’s a bastard. But an awkward bastard.”

“Eh?”

Clearly, Lisa—or rather, the person behind her—hadn’t expected Milly to say something different this time.

The same conversation had happened several times before, and each time, she had received the cold reply: “I will never forgive her.”

“Awkward?”

Milly didn’t respond. Saying this much was enough. She glanced at the crimson countdown in her vision.

Since they entered the forest core, the speed at which the countdown numbers changed had increased significantly. It was as if some existence had noticed Milly’s movements and knew she was getting close to something.

Something was afraid of her learning the truth. From the moment Milly entered this forest, the countdown had noticeably sped up, as if something was panicking due to her approach. Deliberately accelerating the countdown only proved one thing: Milly was going the right way.

She could learn the truth, confirm her guess.

She pulled Lisa along, quickening her pace. Lisa opened her mouth to ask more about the meaning of “awkward,” but the silent Milly didn’t answer her.

In the end, Lisa could only give up asking. Neither of them mentioned the conversation again, as if nothing had ever happened.

Behind them, the beast that had fallen to the ground was quietly melting, turning into a puddle of black liquid that sank into the earth, as if it had been absorbed and devoured by something.

As the two went deeper, the fog grew thicker, reducing visibility to almost zero. If not for the real warmth coming from the hand she held, Milly might have thought the Lisa beside her had gotten lost in the fog.

As Milly continued deeper, a faint killing intent emanated from the fog. They were being watched by something. As time passed, the killing intent diffusing from the fog gradually became viscous, as if it were about to solidify into a physical entity.

There were more things watching them in the fog. As they went deeper, the number continued to increase. It seemed the Shadowblade Beast from before was just an appetizer, and the main course was yet to come.

If they continued deeper, the existences hiding in the fog would surge toward them like a tide, stopping her from passing through the fog.

Were they that afraid of her knowing what was on the other side?

Milly stopped. Dazzling lightning danced at her fingertips, dispelling the fog in front of her.

She wanted to see just what kind of monsters could crawl out of this fog to stop her from going further.