The Protagonist Finally Returns!

What’s Ling, missing for dozens of chapters, up to right now?

“Mmm… ha!”

I lift my little hand like a gull’s wing and smack a strange orb. The small sphere doesn’t shatter; it squishes like jelly, splits around my palm like water parting, then reforms when I let go. Honestly, it looks pretty fun.

“Ha!… Ha!… Ha!!!”

I play with the little orb a few more times. Even a shiny toy gets old; boredom crawls in like cold dew. I push it away with a fingertip, and let it drift into the dim distance where a thousand more just like it float like lazy fireflies.

With no entertainment, my eyes go dead-fish dull. I flop flat, a salted-fish on a board, and let my body drift in this zero-gravity mind-space. Every so often, a flashing sphere glides past like a lantern on a tide and washes my face with light, showing the goofy grimace boredom carved there.

“So bored…”

I sigh toward the blank sky. I’ve been here who-knows-how-long. It’s quiet as a winter pond. The only thing around are these little orbs, and they’re useless; they’re just playthings, not food. Not that I’d eat—my appetite’s drifted away like smoke… even if I could eat, I wouldn’t want to.

Funny, right? In my last life I swore I wanted a Buddha-life—go-with-the-flow, heart like still water. Who knew the real thing would be this mind-numbingly dull? I’ve evolved from a small salted-fish into a Buddha-salted-fish: no eating, no sleeping, fate decides, I just lie there and float.

It’s really, really boring.

What? You ask if I’m studying Lian’s magic? Are you kidding me? Me, study that stuff? Why don’t you try? Not everyone can read those “heaven-tomes” without their eyes crossing, okay?

At first I was super into it—teleportation magic, explosion magic, toad magic, all those shiny names glittered like festival banners. Mainly, the cover screamed “Three-Minute Beginner,” so of course I had to try.

Then… well, a genius like me gave up in less than three… weeks! It’s not “quit,” really. I just couldn’t push past a page, told myself “tomorrow’s fine,” and shoved it to tomorrow. Tomorrow I read a little, hit a wall again, and shoved it to the day after. Then—

Eh? That book looks fun. Hmm. I’ll switch to another one first~

Later, while wandering this place like a drifting cloud, I found a strange corner filled with little dolls that look like me. Real dolls—two palms wide, tiny as sparrows.

When I got close, a doll dove right into my body like a raindrop into soil. A rush of coolness flooded me, like slipping an ice cube down your shirt in midsummer. Pure bliss. That’s it.

Like discovering a new continent, I cruised here every day, soaking up these “ice cubes.” There were plenty; it felt like an endless glacier.

Then I realized laziness would gut me like rust. I can’t neglect my study time, right?

So my plan got an upgrade: every day from 3:00 to 3:01 p.m. is my fixed reading time~

Sadly, that “full life” didn’t last. Those ice cubes were limited! Can you believe it? Limited! I finished one, reached for the next, and—nothing. Empty as a picked orchard.

Wow! I’ll cry, okay? How can you bully me like this? Bullying a loli gets you smacked, you know!

Obviously, in this weird inner space, no one hears my complaints. I shout twice into the void, then it’s quiet again, like falling snow.

Without my biggest entertainment, what can I even do?

Read? Not happening. Play? Gone. Peep? Great idea!

How to peep? If I directly link to Lian’s spirit, she’ll sense me like a cat hearing a bell. Then she’ll find a way in here. If she sees me in salted-fish mode, I’ll get scolded.

Right! The Script!

The Script dropped off the map for several chapters, nearly losing all presence, just like me. Since I remembered it, I’ll put it to work.

I can’t summon the Script in my own mind-space; it’s probably snoozing somewhere in the mental shelves.

But so what? This is my mind-space. A little magic will find it like a lantern in fog.

Think, then do. I estimate my usual output, and tug a thread of magic from within…

“Boom!!!”

A tidal wave of magic roars out. The impossible swell startles me; my heart jumps like a rabbit. What? I don’t remember a tiny bit of magic being this much!

I clamp down, cut the external flow, and the space goes still, quiet as midnight water.

“Phew…”

I breathe out, then aim my awareness inward to see what changed.

Emmm…

It’s… not a small thing. My ocean of magic turned into a whole galaxy, star-lanes wide. A small thing, a small—like hell that’s small!

What happened? Did those doll-ice-cubes secretly boost my magic cap like divine pills?

Damn. I didn’t notice this the whole time?

Whatever. For me, infinite plus infinite is still infinite—just bigger… I guess.

Anyway, peeking is way more exciting. Small stuff can wait.

I nudge a speck of magic, softer than dust on a reed, to search for the Script. I find it in under a second, like a fish darting to bait.

I crack it open, and let the Script sip my magic like tea.

Oh~ so that’s what’s been happening lately~ Oh~~ pretty interesting.

…

Ah, huh?

I turn the next page, and it’s blank as new snow. I pour in more magic. Red strokes crawl out like threads of blood across paper.

Why red? I don’t know. It’s my first time seeing anything that’s not black ink.

After about a minute, the letters finish stitching themselves. Sleep fog lifts from my mind like mist at dawn. This time, I instantly regret waking. I want to sink back into a nap, drift like a leaf.

Because the Script shows just one line, marked red—

Alicia’s body was pierced by a pink short blade, and she is dead.