Chapter 158: The terrifying experience of the first day on the job
The pale blue light of the screen reflected off Houhou's grayish-green hair.
Beneath her bangs, her eyes appeared crystal clear, as tears had already begun to well up and swirl within them. It looked as if they would burst forth at any second, turning into tiny pearls cascading down her cheeks.
"Tail… are you… dead?"
Seeing the ending of this quest, Houhou looked toward Tail beside her with reddened eyes. Her small hands tightly gripped a corner of her clothes, as if she were holding onto Tail himself rather than just fabric.
Being stared at with such a pitiful gaze, Tail suddenly said in a fluster, "Wh-what are you crying for!?"
"That was just the me in the game disappearing. Am I not perfectly fine right here?"
Hearing this, Houhou let out a small sob, and the tears in her eyes receded slightly.
At that moment, the Houhou in the game whimpered: "Tail interfered against Cirrus; he helped us… but… but he's gone…"
"I can't sense him anywhere… he's gone."
"Even though because of Tail, I've always had a grueling job and lived a miserable life…"
"There were countless times I thought about how comfortable life would be without that guy, but… but now that the moment to leave him has actually come… I… my heart feels empty."
"I really am a useless person. The thing I've looked forward to for so long has happened, yet I can't smile at all."
"Lady Xueyi said that Heliobi are eternal flames. Mr. Tail… he must be out there somewhere."
Hearing her own voice, Houhou, who had managed to compose herself a bit, immediately burst into tears again.
"Waaaaah…"
"Tail… after all these years, I've already gotten used to your presence…"
"I think of you as a friend… like family…"
"Please don't disappear like in the story, okay…?"
Tail was stunned. It hadn't expected that because of this game's plot, Houhou would actually pour her heart out to it.
Family? Friend?
These terms that it usually scoffed at actually sounded… pretty good right now?
But it was a proud Heliobus, after all. It was impossible for it to start wailing along with Houhou at a time like this—
It tapped on the Jade Abacus on the desk, searching through the news pushed on the homepage. Soon, its eyes lit up.
"Stop crying, you crybaby."
"Look at this!"
"A short film released by Feathered Spirit two minutes ago—it's called "Myriad Celestia Trailer — "An Exorcism at Fyxestroll Garden!"
"Hahaha, look at this emoji on the cover! It's practically you in the flesh!"
Houhou rubbed her eyes and looked at the cover of the video. She froze instantly.
That was clearly a thumbnail of herself!
On her palm-sized face, her eyes and mouth were wide open, looking as if she were about to faint from fright the next second.
"Eh…?"
"Something related to me…?"
Seeing Houhou still hesitating, Tail clicked on it directly.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and see what this short film is about!"
The scene began. A pair of small hands was holding an electronic compass. On the compass's signal screen, several targets of varying sizes appeared.
A narration sounded: "As the people of the Xianzhou travel the cosmos, it is inevitable they encounter the supernatural."
"Thus, many ghost stories have arisen."
"It is said that on that day, a novice judge of the Ten-Lords Commission received a decree to exorcise demons…"
Houhou blinked. What was this narrator saying about a novice judge…
But the dazed little character in the scene—wasn't that her!?
The background was a desolate mountain village. Her current self was running forward, drenched in sweat while clutching the compass. By the roadside, there were the silhouettes of two children.
Her onscreen self paused for a moment and cautiously stepped forward to greet them: "Excuse me…"
The young boy on the right suddenly turned around, his mouth curled into an eerie arc. He said in a raspy voice: "A newcomer…"
The little girl beside him followed suit, turning around. "We must… give… a… warm… wel… come…"
Houhou's ears immediately stood upright!
Next, something even more terrifying happened. The two children suddenly reached out their hands and stuck out long, red tongues that hung down to their waists like ties.
"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!"
Houhou immediately took off running in fright. The two children hopped away into the distance with identical, synchronized movements.
Before she could catch her breath, Houhou discovered that the place she was hiding in contained a coffin! One corner of the coffin had already been opened.
Holding the compass in one hand and a copper coin sword in the other, she tremblingly stepped forward to investigate. However, the coffin was empty.
Just as Houhou was feeling surprised, the figure of a woman appeared behind her. The woman had originally been facing away from Houhou, but her head suddenly rotated 180 degrees!
"You… are the newcomer?"
Houhou's heart jumped! What… what kind of short film was this!? This wasn't funny at all!
Tail, meanwhile, opened the real-time bullet chat.
…
"Xueyi's head can turn 180 degrees?"
"A puppet's head really is convenient."
"I'm dying laughing, hahahahaha…"
"Ting Yun: I wish I had a neck like that."
"This is the Ten-Lords Commission headquarters… they're all colleagues."
"Is this what it was like when Houhou first started working?"
…
Only then did Houhou realize. Oh, so that was Lady Xueyi. No wonder her neck could rotate 180 degrees. Everything suddenly became logical.
Including the Hanya she encountered next.
But her "self" in the story was scared out of her wits—turning to stone, then literally cracking apart on the spot. Finally, at the gate at the foot of the mountain, she encountered the most terrifying thing of all…
"Hahahaha, ehehehehe…"
The scene shifted. Tail let out a gloating laugh.
"You were the one who told me to tell a scary story to build up your courage."
"Isn't this just your personal experience from your first day on the job? Is it really worth being this scared?"
Tail was "pushed" back in by the soul that Houhou had literally been scared out of.
The revived Houhou hugged her pillow tight: "Let's end today's courage training here."
Tail, however, suddenly snatched the remote away in its mouth.
"This is just the beginning! Keep going for Lord Tail!"
Unable to win back the remote, her face was left with nothing but fear and grievance.
"Pfft…"
Seeing her own pathetic appearance, Houhou couldn't help herself. She broke into a smile through her tears.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something terrible, she clutched her head.
"Aaaaahhh…"
"Now the whole internet knows… that I'm a coward…"
"No…"
"I have to be brave!"
"I can't be like in the game, only crying whenever something happens!"
"I'm going to work hard! I'll make everyone see Houhou in a new light!"
Tail looked at Houhou with a shocked expression, as if she had suddenly awakened.
She contacted Hanya and Xueyi.
"Lady Hanya… has anything abnormal happened on your end?"
"There might be Heliobi appearing nearby, creating illusions and such…"
Hanya replied: "We have already checked the status of the Creation Furnace; none of the Heliobi within have escaped."
"It seems General Jing Yuan took precautions in advance to avoid this crisis."
"Xueyi and I will return shortly."
"Eh?"
"Nothing went wrong?"
This caused Houhou, who had just intended to show off her skills, to look helpless.
"Ugh… I finally mustered up my courage…"
"But… that's fine too."
"It's best if everything can remain peaceful and quiet."
Tail, however, complained: "I wouldn't be so sure."
"In the game plot just now, Hanya might have blown up, but the other Heliobi are still floating around outside."
"Maybe ghosts will start haunting every corner of the Xianzhou…"
"Ugh… don't scare me." Houhou covered her mouth.
"Who's scaring you?"
"I'm talking about the game plot."
"Lord Tail can't wait to see what kind of mess the Luofu will turn into!"