Chapter 72: A Sister’s Fury and a Tangled Truth

The punch landed with startling suddenness.

Had it been Liu Xingluo’s usual self, she would have been utterly incapable of reacting.

Yet, the Liu Xingluo of this moment was far from her ordinary self; endowed with the Seventh Princess’s incredible reflexes, she managed to intercept the blow.

“Sister, what was that for? You just suddenly punched me.”

Although she had successfully parried Jidi’s fist, Liu Xingluo was still considerably startled.

It was fortunate her reactions were up to par; otherwise, that punch would have inflicted significant pain.

The throbbing ache in the palm of the hand that had caught the blow served as undeniable proof.

“Who exactly are you?”

“Huh? What are you saying, Sister? I’m your dear little sister, who else could I be?”

“Stop pretending; you’re not convincing at all.

The little sister I know would never utter such sickening words.”

With a look of utter disdain, Jidi intensified her push, sending Liu Xingluo stumbling backward.

‘So I’ve been found out after all… Though, to be fair, I never truly expected to deceive you.’

Liu Xingluo was hardly surprised by her discovery.

While a few casual remarks, like their last brief encounter, might have allowed her to feign identity, a one-on-one conversation like this was bound to expose her.

She knew absolutely nothing about the true Seventh Princess’s personality or mannerisms.

Moreover, Jidi was the Sixth Princess, a blood sister to the Seventh, making it only natural for her to see through the deception.

Indeed, if Liu Xingluo *had* managed to fool her, *that* would have been the truly astonishing feat.

“Who are you, truly? And why are you inside my little sister’s body?”

At first, Jidi had considered the possibility that the ‘little sister’ before her was an impostor.

In their world, certain creatures possessed the ability to mimic and transform, though they couldn’t imitate the princesses themselves.

However, given the sheer multitude of humans, it wasn’t inconceivable that one or two might possess similar capabilities.

Yet, this little sister was accompanied by one of Father’s retainers, and the aura Jidi sensed from him was undeniably authentic.

Furthermore, Yinlang had also mentioned the presence of one of Father’s retainers beside their little sister.

Therefore, this little sister *should* have been genuine; that was how it ought to be.

But the feeling this ‘little sister’ evoked was utterly different.

Beyond her physical appearance, every aspect of her was vastly divergent from the little sister Jidi knew.

Thus, only one conclusion remained: the body was undeniably her little sister’s, but the essence within belonged to someone else.

Those ‘defective products’ (TL Note: A derogatory term used by the princesses for humans) must have employed some vile method to seize her body; it had to be so.

‘Damnable humans, to dare inflict such an atrocity upon my sister! I shall not forgive them; I will slaughter them all without mercy.’

As for Liu Xingluo, she decided it would be best to tell the truth.

Jidi had shown an inclination to converse rather than immediately resorting to violence.

If the conversation proceeded smoothly, they might even avoid a confrontation with the Sixth Princess.

Taking a step back, even if a battle proved inevitable, she could at least buy enough time.

Then, with the support of other Superhumans (TL Note: Individuals with supernatural abilities) arriving as reinforcements, their chances of victory would significantly increase.

“My name is Liu Xingluo, and I was originally just an ordinary human.

No, perhaps not entirely ordinary; after all, people as unlucky as me are quite rare.

As for why I’m in this body, I’m not entirely sure myself.”

“Are you toying with me, you fiend?!”

Liu Xingluo’s answer clearly displeased Jidi, who immediately manifested a chilling gust of wind to express her discontent.

“No, no, no, I have no intention of toying with you.

What I’m saying is true; I genuinely don’t know how I ended up in this body.

I only remember that both she and I were on the brink of death at the time, and then she said, [Allow me to borrow your body for a while].

When I opened my eyes again, this is how things were.”

“What?! You… were those things you just said truly real?”

Jidi still found Liu Xingluo’s words difficult to believe.

How could one of their princesses stoop to something as demeaning as fusing with a human?

Jidi herself would rather die than merge with a human just to cling to life.

Furthermore, even if such a fusion occurred, the princess should retain ultimate control over the body, not surrender it to a mere human.

Yet, if everything Liu Xingluo had just claimed was false, then how did she know about the princesses’ ability to merge with other life forms to replenish their strength?

And she had also mentioned that both she and the little sister were on the brink of death.

Could there truly be humans capable of bringing a princess to such a dire state?

‘Wait, if that’s the case…’

“Of course it’s true.

Not a single word is a lie; even the punctuation is real.”

‘Though, in reality, spoken words don’t actually have punctuation, she mused internally.’

“Hm, so that’s what happened.

If that’s the case, then it all makes sense.”

“Huh? What makes sense? What do you know?”

Watching Jidi mutter to herself, Liu Xingluo was utterly bewildered.

What exactly had she figured out?

“You defective products are truly deplorable.

Not only did you severely wound my little sister, but you also forced her to merge with a human and then stole her body.

Isn’t that right?”

Jidi had already concocted an entire scenario in her mind about what had befallen her little sister.

First, her little sister was gravely injured by humans, then forcibly merged with one, resulting in the human usurping her body.

While the entire progression sounded rather outlandish—after all, it was hard to imagine a princess being defeated by mere humans, and even harder to fathom why a human would seize control after a fusion—this was, nonetheless, the most logical conjecture Jidi had arrived at after careful consideration.

“Huh? What are you talking about? That’s completely wrong.

At the time, both she and I were defeated by someone wielding a heavy sword.

And she even called that person ‘Sister,’ which means the one who killed both of us at that moment was one of the other princesses, including yourself.”

Jidi’s imagined scenario was entirely incorrect, a colossal deviation from the truth.

Liu Xingluo quickly hastened to fill in the details she had previously omitted.

“A heavy sword? How could that be? No, it’s impossible.

You must be lying to me.”

When it came to princesses wielding heavy swords, Jidi knew exactly who she meant.

That was their eldest sister, the First Princess, Huangren.

But how could their eldest sister possibly inflict such a fatal blow upon their little sister?

Big Sister cherished all of them, her younger siblings; she would never personally harm them.

It had to be this ‘defective product,’ using her little sister’s memories to deceive her—it had to be!

‘What a cunning creature! If I weren’t so intimately familiar with Big Sister, I might actually have fallen for her deception.

To dare try and sow discord among us princesses, to shatter our trust—I will absolutely not forgive her!

I’ll eliminate her now and reclaim my little sister’s body!’