“Dearest Mother,
If you are reading this letter, it means that Salome and Cassandra have successfully found a way to bring you back to our world.
We deeply regret your abrupt departure from Saint Thylburg three years ago, leaving without a word just as we were about to arrive.
Therefore, to atone for this regret, should you safely endure the transmigration process, we earnestly invite you to return to Saint Thylburg—which, of course, we have since renamed ‘Fort Resistance’.
For the life you so generously bestowed upon us, and for the boundless love and care you poured into our upbringing, we are bound to repay you a thousandfold.
As you once treated us, so shall we return it to you tenfold.
Have no unease, Dearest Mother.
After all, this is nothing less than what you deserve.”
The letter began with these paragraphs of small, vigorous penmanship, written mostly in English, yet with subtle differences in spelling and letterforms.
Despite the exceedingly polite and earnest tone of the entire letter, Shirley’s stomach began to subtly clench after she finished reading.
Her intuition whispered that matters were likely far from simple.
Below this opening, ten more paragraphs followed, each distinct in its font and even its method of inscription.
Some were hastily scrawled in pencil, others penned with elegant ballpoint or fountain ink, while a few were so wildly cursive they were barely legible; two lines even appeared in precise, block print.
Beneath these words, a dense array of red fingerprints marred the page.
Though Shirley presumed they were left by ordinary red pigment, an involuntary chill always crept over her, suggesting they might well be blood…
“Mother taught me exquisite techniques of cutting and dissection; I wish for Mother to witness firsthand the extent of my progress.”
“Thanks to Mother, I can glimpse what has yet to transpire; I wish to share my visions with Mother.”
“By Mother’s grace, all the little animals adore me.
I hope Mother will play with them.”
“I want Mother to forge a good relationship with my little friends.
After all, Mother gave me the opportunity to meet them.”
“I am grateful to Mother for the voice she bestowed upon me.
I have a song to dedicate to Mother; I hope she enjoys it.”
“I wish for Mother to love only us, to merge with Mother as one…”
“I want to give Mother a sup—er surprise she will nev—er forget!”
“Oh, Mother, I am eternally grateful for everything you’ve granted me!
May you too become as exceptional and beautiful as I am.”
“I wish for Mother to forever cast off meaningless burdens and suffering, to utterly embrace peace and joy, just as I do now!”
“Come, Mother!
Let us run joyfully beneath the azure sky, just as we once did!
Let us explore the absolute limits of the human body!”
Ten lines in total, the content was not overly extensive.
Yet, by the time she finished the last line, Shirley felt as though she had been hurled alive into an ice cavern capable of freezing the very soul—indeed, while phrases like ‘cutting and dissection’ and ‘seeing the future’ were utterly baffling, most of the content was, at least on the surface, devoid of overt peculiarity.
Nevertheless, reading these words evoked a visceral unease in Shirley, akin to the instinctive dread many feel towards snakes or spiders.
But when had she acquired so many ‘daughters’?
Shirley drew slow, deep breaths, her fingernails unconsciously digging into her palms.
Though she had never spoken of it to outsiders, the strange winged girl had indeed mentioned something that deeply troubled her today: she possessed virtually no memories from three years prior!
The earliest memory Shirley held was waking up three years ago, in the early summer, within the desolate great hall of a castle.
The coolness of the stone floor was the very first sensation she had ever experienced in ‘this life’.
She later learned it was the ancestral family stronghold of her adoptive parents, Viscount and Viscountess Collins, nestled in the hills of North Wales.
At that time, she possessed nothing but a soiled laboratory coat and a grey bodysuit bearing peculiar insignia.
Upon waking, Shirley had initially spoken English, albeit with subtle differences from modern English.
She could recall neither who she was nor where she hailed from.
Even the name ‘Shirley’ had been bestowed upon her by her adoptive parents.
Initially, Viscount Collins had, of course, considered her an unlawful intruder and had intended to summon the authorities.
Yet, for reasons unknown, after a period of conversation, both he and his wife’s attitudes towards Shirley softened considerably, leading them to adopt her as their own daughter.
Three months after her adoption, Shirley found herself in East Asia.
As her adoptive parents were both diplomatic officials, she was enrolled in the finest international school they could find: St. Lilian’s Girls’ Academy, where she became a high school student.
However, despite all this, Shirley had never managed to recover her memories, nor had she uncovered anything that might hint at her former identity.
But if what that strange winged loli had said was true…
“Shirley, don’t bother with this,” Ji Bingyao scoffed.
“To me, it’s nothing more than a prank!
If someone’s willing to pay for a custom order, little gadgets like this don’t require much technical skill to produce.
I’d like to see which family’s child is so ill-mannered as to not only trespass into our academy but also use such clumsy methods to cause trouble for others.
Someone like this, who was born but never truly raised… Uwaah!”
“What is it, Bingyao?!”
“The window… the window… there’s something outside the window!”
“Huh?!”
At Ji Bingyao’s frantic words, Shirley and Eileen swiftly turned their gazes towards the single window of their private dormitory, whereupon both girls simultaneously let out a piercing shriek.
Outside the window, a face seemingly ripped from the depths of hell stared back at them.
At her first startled glimpse, Shirley believed it to be human—yet this impression lasted only for the briefest instant.
After all, true humans do not possess mandibles half a foot long, nor do they sprout two pairs of chitinous structures from their upper jaw, constantly opening and closing, eerily resembling the chewing mouthparts of a coleopteran insect.
Furthermore, she certainly didn’t believe any normal person would be clinging head-down to the third-story dormitory window, much like a gecko!
“EEYAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!”
The three girls in the dormitory simultaneously unleashed screams with an impact force comparable to a sonic weapon, their shrill cries effortlessly piercing the glass and startling the bizarre ‘person’ outside.
The latter met their gazes, shivered, and then, like a frog, hopped away from the window.
As their eyes met, Shirley realized that within the ‘person’s’ dim, yellowish eyes resided the cunning of a beast, alongside a certain rationality born of biological instinct.
However, there was not the slightest glimmer of intellect or emotion to be found.
Though the creature had fled of its own accord, Shirley and the others dared not linger within the dormitory.
Hastily prying open a bookshelf, they unearthed an electric fly swatter—typically used against dipterous pests—to serve as a makeshift self-defense weapon.
The three girls then scrambled out of the room with all haste, dashed down the corridor, and reached the stairwell… only to encounter another shadowy figure.
“Aaah—a monster’s here—!” Eileen shrieked hysterically, raising the activated electric fly swatter high above her head.
Had Ji Bingyao not reacted swiftly, snatching the ‘weapon’ from her grasp with lightning speed, the person ascending the stairs at that very moment would have literally suffered an 1800-volt high-voltage shock to the face.
“What did you just say?!
Who are you calling a monster?!” demanded the dark figure who had narrowly avoided a shocking blow.
“Uh, Miss Huang, we just saw a monster outside our dorm…” Shirley tried to explain, but the other party had no intention of listening.
“Alright, all of you, stand still!
Turn out your pockets and let me see everything!” Though she adamantly insisted students address her as ‘Miss,’ the dorm supervisor of Dormitory Building No. 7 was, in fact, an older woman nearing fifty, her waist so rotund she resembled a wine barrel.
As for her appearance, she was rather pretty compared to a two-headed ogre, and when pitted against a goblin, it was a matter of subjective taste.
Within St. Lilian’s Girls’ Academy, she was one of the few individuals Shirley found truly repellent—primarily due to her extreme stubbornness and egocentrism.
“Hmph, is that all?” After seeing the entirety of the items the three produced—mobile phones, ballpoint pens, handkerchiefs, and small perfume bottles—Miss Huang appeared exceedingly disappointed.
“Don’t play dumb with me, speak!
Where is ‘that thing’?!”
“What ‘thing’?” Shirley inquired, bewildered.
“Hmph, hmph, hmph!
Don’t think for a second that just because I didn’t send you straight to the infirmary for an examination, I don’t know what schemes you’re all up to!” Miss Huang sported a triumphant expression, as if to say, ‘You can’t fool me.’
“I’ve already taken photos of your ‘elegant’ behavior from earlier as evidence, you know.”
“What ‘elegant’ behavior?”
“See for yourselves.” Miss Huang raised her phone, bringing up a photo: In it, Shirley and the four members of the ‘Pink FM’ band lay disheveled and sprawled out, their poses even suggesting certain ‘implications’.
All of them had their eyes rolled back, faces flushed, limbs twitching, and saliva uncontrollably pooling on the floor, looking every bit—or perhaps nine-tenths—like they were utterly high…
…Though they themselves knew it was entirely the result of being attacked by that strange winged loli who inexplicably called people ‘Mother’!
But who would ever believe such a tale?
In contrast, another explanation seemed at least more plausible: given that students at this academy were invariably rich and influential, it was not uncommon for some to dabble in ‘that kind of stuff’.
Just two years prior, two students had even been expelled for similar reasons.
“In any case, where is it?
Hand it over, now!” Miss Huang continued in a forceful tone.
“Just because some of you have a bit of money and got into this school, don’t think you’re hotshots!
Don’t imagine for a second that no one’s pulled stunts like this before!
If you confess now, I might just overlook it as a first offense and not report it to the infirmary or school administration…”
Shirley frowned, a flicker of displeasure crossing her face.
As far as she knew, Miss Huang was hardly an upright or incorruptible individual.
On the contrary, when it came to devising ways to extract benefits from these affluent students, she possessed an eagerness more intense than a shark scenting blood.
Evidently, this woman mistakenly believed they had secretly dabbled in ‘that kind of thing’ and intended to obtain physical evidence, thus gaining leverage to continuously extort them in the future.
Of course, Shirley wasn’t afraid of blackmail.
For such matters, she had dozens of perfectly capable countermeasures at her disposal.
The problem, however, was that after personally witnessing the quasi-human entity outside the window moments ago, she was in no mood to waste time with the barrel-waisted dorm supervisor.
“Miss Huang, uh, we just saw a monster… I’m serious,” she earnestly tried to persuade the woman.
“It was right outside the window, and I have a feeling that creature means trouble.”