Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
From the time I fell unconscious to February, it had already been more than seven and a half months.
The cooldown period for the permanent task had ended, but up until now, there had been no sign of it being triggered.
Although I didn’t want to relax too much, human nature was just like that—gradually, I started to let my guard down.
Even though I knew this kind of slackening was not acceptable, I still unknowingly relaxed my vigilance.
Was this perhaps the dark side of human nature?
Moreover, over the past seven and a half months, I had gradually discovered that my personality and habits had begun to undergo slight changes.
I didn’t know when it started, but my habits and character began to shift slightly.
This left me feeling a bit lost and afraid.
The habits and traits that had changed didn’t belong to Liu Yunyan or Zhang Yiwei, but instead carried a sense of unfamiliarity.
And yet, that unfamiliarity somehow felt incredibly familiar.
That was what made it frightening.
After thinking for a long time, I believed... it was very likely due to the soul.
The soul was the vessel of memory—at least, that was how I saw it.
A stronger Evil Spirit Form was naturally a good thing.
But the strengthening of the Evil Spirit Form wasn’t from its own growth.
Rather, it was enhanced through constant devouring.
This led to—more or less—those soul fragments that hadn’t been fully erased getting mixed into the Evil Spirit Form.
Gradually, they started to influence it.
On the other hand, my Evil Spirit Form had also begun to change.
Since the soul was the carrier of memory, then the soul’s vessel must be the body.
Although in games, the soul trumped the flesh, in the real world, I tended to believe the body was stronger than the soul.
Therefore, to some extent, the body had already started to influence the Evil Spirit Form.
This influence began almost entirely with the appearance of the Evil Spirit Form.
As my body matured, the Evil Spirit Form gradually shifted from its original appearance of “Zhang Yiwei” to that of “Liu Yunyan”.
I didn’t know whether this was good or bad.
But the transformation of the Evil Spirit Form didn’t have any negative effect on my physical body.
Along with my bodily development, the originally twisted and elongated figure of the Evil Spirit Form started becoming more humanlike.
The face of the Evil Spirit Form also gradually began to resemble Liu Yunyan.
As time went on, it became increasingly difficult for me to find any trace of Zhang Yiwei in the Evil Spirit Form.
In other words... the current Evil Spirit Form had completely changed in appearance.
The look of Zhang Yiwei had entirely vanished.
What remained was an Evil Spirit Form that stood three meters tall—essentially an enlarged version of “Liu Yunyan”.
The entire Evil Spirit Form was a deep, pitch-black color, as if no light could ever escape from it.
No matter where the Evil Spirit Form stood, it looked terrifyingly dark.
On this pitch-black humanoid Evil Spirit Form, only two parts had a different color.
One was... the eyes with pupils contracted nearly into a point, and the other was a crimson, eerie grin that almost split the entire face into upper and lower halves.
Those eyes looked as if they came from someone in the grip of extreme terror, with pupils contracted to the extreme, becoming a black dot in the center of the eyeball, surrounded entirely by the whites of the eyes.
Just looking at them gave an inexplicable chill.
I believed... this was the fear from the soul devoured by the Goat-headed Monster, influencing the appearance of the Evil Spirit Form.
And that wide, unnaturally stretched eerie grin likely originated from that terrifying smile’s soul fragment.
The overall soul had changed from being thin and withered to a full-bodied female shape.
This kind of standard female form should’ve carried a hint of allure.
But the grotesque smiling face and the eyes filled with terror completely ruined that beauty.
What was originally three parts seductive instantly turned into a feeling of bone-deep dread.
Wearing the L5000 and with a black leather bag specially customized for Suo Liuwan hanging at my waist, I twisted my somewhat wide hip joint (waist) while listening to “Love Lost Frontline Alliance”.
Honestly, being female was inconvenient.
The center of gravity was very different from being male.
Even without deliberately twisting my waist, just a slight movement gave off a very seductive vibe.
Especially with these two perky cheeks that had filled out over these past seven or eight months?
My waist-length hair swayed along with the movement of my head, and for a moment I felt as if I were possessed by a demon.
Though the sound quality of a desktop computer was indeed much better than that of Suo Liuwan, there were birds, dogs, owls, and cats in the room.
With so many pets around, turning up the volume too much would disturb them.
That’s right—my room was now basically like a small zoo.
In the cages were squirrels, chinchillas, and ferrets.
Outside the cages were a tabby cat, a chubby orange cat, a husky, and a two-month-old Czech wolfdog.
On the bird perch above sat a northern goshawk, also known as the “haidongqing”.
An African parrot, and a white-faced scops owl that had just joined the household two months ago… in other words, an owl.
Perhaps it was due to my “illness”, but Gong Lianyu and Liu Wanqian had been even more attentive toward me.
When they discovered that I had begun to like animals (since the old Liu Yunyan didn’t like animals at all), they discussed something.
Finally, four months ago—in May—they gave me what they called a piece of “good news”.
The couple had opened a private wildlife zoo under my name.
The location had already been decided.
It was in the outskirts of the provincial capital—a wildlife zoo was being constructed there.
The total area was a thousand mu (a traditional Chinese unit, approximately equivalent to 666.67 square meters or 1/15 of a hectare)...
The local government had offered strong support, even granting an interest-free loan.
After all, this was considered a beneficial project for the people.
It could boost tourism and serve a charitable purpose, making it an achievement worth supporting.
The processing of paperwork happened so fast it was almost unbelievable.
In just one day, the land was secured.
Surveyors were dispatched that very day to measure the area, and construction had already begun.
Preliminary estimates suggested the zoo would cost several hundred million yuan.
It would include nearly all well-known wild animals.
Well... I did think it was a bit over the top.
But I was more than happy to help push the project forward.
Mainly because in the future, it would be more convenient for me to choose animals I wanted to use.
The estimated completion date was the end of next June.
In other words, by the time I finished my first year of high school, it would be ready.
As for annual maintenance, the couple would naturally provide the funding.
But I felt that by the time I finished my first year, I could start dabbling in things like running a company.
After all, the knowledge in my mind was immense.
No matter the industry, I could reach the highest level.
Just the amount of postdoctoral-level knowledge in my brain was equivalent to at least five people, enough to let me handle any profession with ease.
By then, once I started making money, the zoo wouldn’t need to rely on the couple’s financial support.
What’s more, the zoo itself would have some income.
When I earned enough, just supplementing it with a bit each year would basically be enough.