The Whispers of a New Reality

Even though he had long anticipated this outcome, and had steeled himself against it, the fury and sorrow in his heart still surged uncontrollably.

Clenching his left hand into a fist, he gently closed the eyes of the corpse with his right.

“Rest in peace, buddy.”

Just as his deductions suggested, this was indeed a male dormitory; the environment remained unchanged, save for Xia Li having brazenly usurped it.

The deceased was Zhang Wei, a classmate from the adjacent dorm room.

A quiet presence in class, he was a recluse who preferred to burrow himself in his dorm, gaming all day.

He and Lin Ran shared a decent relationship; whenever a new game dropped, they would often hop between dorms for a co-op session and some banter.

Only two or three days prior, the two of them had celebrated reaching Gold rank in a game by treating themselves to a meal at Haidilao.

Yet, he and Xia Li could not possibly have had any connection.

Xia Li, for her part, held the utmost disdain for such gaming shut-ins.

Conversely, Zhang Wei had once declared to Lin Ran that he would rather remain single for life, starve, or die on the streets, than ever be interested in the peculiar women Lin Ran encountered.

Nevertheless, the disgusting and chaotic scene on the bed, coupled with Zhang Wei’s complete nudity—

—clearly suggested that something had transpired between him and Xia Li.

This entire situation reeked of strangeness.

The impossibility of a relationship between the two, combined with a seemingly delicate girl having killed a robust adult male in such a short span of time.

There had to be a hidden truth behind it all.

Still, Lin Ran did not forget his original purpose for being there.

“Lim,” he called, “don’t just stand there gawking. Find some food; we need to take it back with us.”

Resource gathering was their top priority.

As long as the invisible barrier persisted and the portal remained un-upgraded, Lin Ran’s only option for acquiring resources was to collect them from other dormitories.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before he’d be gnawing on weeds alongside the other slimes.

Upon hearing his instruction, however, Lim merely tilted her nonexistent head.

Then, she extended a tiny, mimetic tentacle, pointing towards the corpse sprawled on the bed.

It was as if an innocent child was asking, ‘Does this count as food…?’

Lin Ran found himself caught between laughter and tears, his earlier fury diluted by half due to the little creature’s antics.

Truth be told, slimes were omnivorous creatures, so this *could* indeed be considered one of their food sources.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to cross that psychological barrier, especially since the deceased had been a friend.

Lin Ran shook his head, swiftly rejecting the notion.

“Just look for things with [instant noodles] or [sausages] written on the packaging; those have a long shelf life. We haven’t yet stooped to eating corpses.”

Lim, nodding with a semblance of understanding, then led the other slimes to ransack the room.

Midway through their search, they even discovered a few slimes still lingering in the room.

Upon seeing Lin Ran, those little creatures immediately launched an ambush, only to be instantly detected and thwarted by Lim.

Lim, enraged, swelled up like a pufferfish, her entire body turning a deep purple, as if bristling with fury.

Much like a stern teacher reprimanding wayward students, Lim thoroughly chastised the newcomers for quite some time.

Lin Ran, however, paid them little mind.

His attention was elsewhere, for he had found a mobile phone tucked away in the nightstand.

If he wasn’t mistaken, it belonged to Zhang Wei.

Unlocking it with Zhang Wei’s fingerprint, Lin Ran quickly navigated to the chat logs with Xia Li.

–Xia Li, I finally added you. What have you been doing at Lin Ran’s dorm entrance these past two days? Haven’t you given up on him yet?

–Mind your own business? You pathetic shut-in. Why did you add me? Trying to hit on me? Let me tell you now, I wouldn’t be caught dead with someone like you.

–I know why Mike (TL Note: Mike is a male character’s name in the glossary, but here it is used as a reference to a male person, which is consistent with the glossary.) returned to the country; the boys in class have been gossiping about it. He has *that* disease, doesn’t he? Did you give it to him, or did he give it to you? You have a disease and you still want to get close to Lin Ran? I’m going to report this to the dean!

–What the hell are you spouting?! You just wait, I’m coming to your dorm right now! If you dare tell Lin Ran a single word, I’ll kill you!

Lin Ran’s pupils constricted sharply as he read those messages.

The implication of ‘disease’ was chillingly obvious!

The conversation took place at 7:30 this morning, not long before Lin Ran had woken up.

Crucially, what could Xia Li have done to a man who clearly harbored hostility towards her, and in such a brief timeframe?

‘Knowing the other person was diseased, how could Zhang Wei still…? Was he so desperate he didn’t care about his life?’

‘Moreover, Xia Li knew she was afflicted, yet still tried to get close to me? Wasn’t that attempted murder?’

Lin Ran pinched his chin, his mind racing with possibilities.

One by one, the previous anomalies began to link together.

And a singular idea involuntarily surfaced in Lin Ran’s mind.

“Lim,” he suddenly spoke.

“Why didn’t you attack when that woman appeared? You had all turned black; that’s your angry color, isn’t it?”

Slimes still possessed the instinct to devour humans, implying that their restraint from attacking him stemmed from his unique status, his ability to coexist peacefully with them.

Xia Li, however, was different.

She had clearly slaughtered numerous slimes here, even killing one upon entering.

Slimes would instinctively attack humans, just as they had attempted to assault him moments ago.

Indeed, it was safe to say that without Lim, any slime encountering him would immediately launch an assault.

Yet, the truth remained: even at the very end, the slimes had not swarmed to attack Xia Li.

What’s more, his own surging murderous intent, which had been boiling over, was inexplicably quelled by at least half the moment his eyes fell upon Xia Li’s face.

Though it was a blessing in disguise, this inexplicable calm had allowed him to prioritize rescuing the dying slime.

This was profoundly abnormal.

Lim’s surface suddenly developed several layers of wrinkles, as if mimicking a human frown.

She pondered for a very long time, yet ultimately failed to arrive at a conclusion.

Appearing somewhat crestfallen, she flattened herself against the floor, indicating that even she had no idea.

Yes, not even Lim herself understood why they hadn’t attacked Xia Li.

Lin Ran, however, smiled.

‘I don’t know’ — this, paradoxically, was the answer he most desired.

For this was now a world of swords and magic, where the realms of Demon Kings and Heroes had descended upon reality.

But—no one had ever said that only monsters would descend, had they?

If it were merely a relentless descent of monsters, with humanity’s strength left unenhanced, it would be nothing more than a one-sided massacre.

If the goal was simply to annihilate and slaughter mankind.

There would be no need for the current game-like mode of wave after wave of attacks, interspersed with periods of respite.

This suggested that humans, too, had received some form of the ‘descent’ effect.

Drawing on countless games he had played and works he had read, both in this life and his previous one, he speculated…

An ability that could make hostile alien creatures abandon their attack…

An ability that could charm an opposite-s*x individual who detested oneself, and in such a short time…

An ability that could even diminish the murderous intent of someone bent on killing her…

This mind-bending charm ability…

The answer could only be one thing.

“—A succubus!”

Lin Ran blurted out, almost instinctively.

“Lim, and all you other slimes, listen to me!”

“Xia Li’s physique, due to the descent of the otherworld, has transformed her into a succubus, and her physical attributes have been greatly enhanced.”

“Therefore, if she suddenly returns, we must…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Lim, perched on his shoulder, suddenly ‘stood’ upright, as if she had spotted something.

Her formerly round and adorable silhouette sharpened slightly, and the core at her center began to faintly shimmer.

Though slimes lacked lungs and windpipes, and thus couldn’t produce a true cat-like hiss.

She was clearly expressing her hostility in her own unique way—

“Pchoo—!”

A rapid, bubbling sound, akin to a sneeze, emanated from within Lim.

Simultaneously, her body color swiftly shifted to a deep black, and her entire form leaned slightly forward, adopting a threatening posture.

She looked exactly like a fiercely protective kitten, baring its tiny fangs at an intruder.

Following the direction of Lim’s ‘hiss’.

Sure enough, the dorm room door had been pushed open.

“Ugh, I’m exhausted~ I barely got any rest!”

A sultry female voice, tinged with a hint of weariness, drifted in.