"To save me, Balder was nearly burned alive. Even though he was rescued, he was left with scars hard to heal, his appearance utterly ruined. When I saw him in the hospital, he was wrapped in bandages all over, with pus and blood oozing endlessly."
"Later, I asked Balder, why did you save me? If he hadn’t rescued me, he wouldn’t have ended up ."
"I still remember he said he wanted to go to the beaches of Free Port in summer for a chance encounter filled with love, but now with his appearance, he would only give tourists a fright on the beach."
"Balder then said, encounters of love are like flowing water, but junior sisters are eternal. I am his junior sister, so he had to save me for the sake of our senior-junior bond."
Belli remained silent for a moment before continuing, "Among the people I know, Balder is the least adept at crack jokes. His jokes are extraordinarily unfunny."
Aimou said nothing, just quietly listening.
"Back to the previous question, do I hope Alice will wake up?"
"How could I? I also really liked my junior sister, but dead is dead, that’s an unyielding iron rule."
"From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were not Alice. You seemed more like Alice’s younger sister?"
"Well, it’s quite sad that Alice couldn’t be revived, but when I learned of your existence, I was quite happy. This might sound strange, but now I have another little junior sister."
Mentioning ’little junior sister’, Belli laughed. She seemed to really term.
"I thought this would be a good start, but the teacher became more and more extreme."
"I know what he wants to do..."
"When Alice died, I couldn’t protect myself, that was tolerable, but now it’s different. I am the Minister of the Sublimation Furnace Core, I can’t just sit by and let a second junior sister die."
Aimou probably understood her meaning, and instinctively reached out, then slowly hugged Belli. The two embraced into a bundle, as Belli continued.
"Earlier you seemed like Alice’s sister, now you seem like my sister," Belli described in a strange way, "I think our generation’s betrayal has brought enough misfortune to the sect, yet now we’re starting a drama on ethics."
Belli hugged Aimou tightly, then lifted her head, kneading and pinching Aimou’s face.
"Don’t worry, no matter what the reason is, nothing will happen to you. The mistakes of the teacher shouldn’t fall on you."
Belli said harshly, "He ought to retire!"
Aimou responded softly, Belli’s words caught her by surprise. She hadn’t expected Belli to say these things to her, much less in such a manner.
Belli gave all the defensive equipment she could to Aimou. Aimou remembered Bologue’s frequent troubles, maybe the field staff don’t have such a good treatment as her.
"I thought, in your eyes, I was just a research project." Aimou said.
"Research project and little junior sister don’t conflict, just like research project and Bologue."
"Ah?" Belli’s words completely shattered Aimou’s feelings.
Belli grinned wickedly, and rubbed Aimou’s head vigorously again.
Opening his eyes, Bologue skillfully moved Wei’Er to the side, tidied his clothes, and leisurely walked out of the room.
Sai Zong somehow returned to the Undying Club, sprawled on the stairs. Bologue acted as if he hadn’t seen him, lifted his foot and stepped over.
In the bar downstairs, Serey, who was drunk, lay behind the counter, but even so, he prepared breakfast for Bologue. This guy’s willpower is astonishing in certain aspects.
Bologue wasn’t polite either, picked up a knife and fork, and started eating. Footsteps were heard as Bode came out with a bucket and mop, cleaning up the chaotic scene.
After spending time together, Bologue found the composition of the Undying Club much like a peculiar family, with Wei’Er and Sai Zong as family pets, Serey as the unsteady heir, and Bode as the enthusiastic old father.
"Serey, I recently made a friend." Bologue said.
Serey lay on the counter, looking like he was about to die.
"It’s an Alchemy Puppet," Bologue added, "one with self-awareness. You could say, apart from the body being different, she is no different from a normal person."
"As long as she is maintained regularly and the Constant Motion Core and Mind Projection run normally, she could be considered an undead in a certain sense."
Serey gave a perfunctory nod, the night’s alcohol making it impossible for him to think about complex matters. "Quite interesting, is it... that one named Aimou?"
Bologue felt a bit strange, as there should be no connection between Serey and Aimou.
"Heard Palmer mention her before, he said she was your recent mission target." Serey replied.
"Didn’t think Palmer would even tell you this." Bologue was surprised.
"You should know what Palmer’s mouth is like as his partner?" Serey nudged the bottles, watching them roll around the counter, "Just a few bottles, you could even extract the asset distribution of the Clarks."
"Truly a shame to the Clarks family..."
"I think so too." Serey agreed.
If not for knowing beforehand, even a monster like Serey would find it hard to associate Palmer with the surname Clarks.
Thinking back to when the Clarks fought fiercely with him during the Dawn War, they were outstanding heroes, yet now with Palmer, it’s just unbearable.