Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1268 White-Dressed Fu Sends a Duo Queue Invitation

"Excuse me……"

Suppressing her fear, she snatched the "fruits" from Leon's hands and tossed them far away like dirt. Her face flushed, the woman in the white dress stammered:

"I...I wanted to thank you! But I didn't know they...they could actually..."

"It doesn't matter……"

After calming his turbulent emotions, Leon took a deep breath. Then, amidst the suppressed laughter of Blackie in the room behind him, his cheeks twitched slightly as he offered words of comfort:
"I know you didn't mean it. I didn't expect the fruit to talk either... By the way, it seemed like you wanted to tell me something before?"

"Um……"

Cautiously glancing towards the cabin, and vaguely catching a glimpse of a black gauze robe, Bai Qunfu pursed her lips and tentatively asked:
"I have something I want to tell you, but could we..."

"Bang!"

A gentle breeze carrying the scent of roots blew by, and the door of the cabin slammed shut, locking Leon out and cutting off the light coming from inside, plunging the two outside back into the darkness.

"..."

Goodness… Frederica wanted to whisper something to me, and I didn’t want her to hear, so she was a little unhappy and locked us out… Thinking about it, it’s really quite strange.

After reciting the strange tongue twister he had just learned in his mind, Leon shook his head slightly, and then, seeing the relieved look on White Dress Fu's face, led her toward a secluded grove of trees... and then turned back.

We can't go into the woods. It looks quite secluded, but Ms. Tree's curiosity is just too strong. If we really go into the woods to chat, she'll definitely come and join in. It's better to find an open space.

Although 'Earth' is also omnipresent, his thinking speed is too slow. He probably hasn't even figured out who he is yet, and even if he heard himself talking to White-skirted Fu, he wouldn't remember it.

"Just say it here."

On a slightly upturned mound, after finding a fairly flat large rock, Leon brushed off the dust, gestured for White-Dressed Fu to sit down, and then asked with some curiosity:
"What exactly do you want to say? Why do you insist on avoiding talking about this other version of yourself?"

"It's really nothing serious..."

Gathering her skirt under her hips with both hands, her smooth legs slightly together, she sat gracefully beside Lyon. Under the moon's curious gaze, the woman in the white dress lowered her head slightly and whispered, somewhat hesitantly:
"Leon, I... can I stay at your place?"

"???"

What the heck? What did you say?
Taken aback by the opening remarks of the woman in the white dress, Leon's mind raced with a flurry of thoughts. Then, realizing things weren't quite as he'd imagined, he tentatively asked in return:
"Frederica, do you mean... you prefer living near the woods and want to switch houses with me?"

"No no no!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Qunfu shook her head repeatedly, biting her lower lip as she said:
"I want to stay in your room, I mean... I want to stay with you tonight..."

"?!?!?!"

As the white-dressed Fu answered, the relatively quiet breeze stirred slightly, the moonlight that had been somewhat hazy above their heads instantly solidified, and even from the black-dressed Fu's small wooden house in the distance, a crisp sound of something falling to the ground could be heard.

"..."

This damn world, there's absolutely no privacy at all!!!

Feeling the sudden surge of willpower projected towards him, Leon's face darkened. He then followed Professor Fu's method, gathering a small amount of "targeted" roots and inserting them back one by one, willpower by will.

As Lyon retaliated, the once quiet little hillside suddenly became noisy.

"oops!"

"It hurts!"

"That's outrageous!"

Amidst screams, the scalding moonlight suddenly rose, the squeezed breeze scattered and fled, and clumps of tender green grass shrank back in unison... Even the large rock beneath Lyon and his companion grunted and then threw them off, rolling away with a clatter down the slope.

"You're so stingy! I won't give you seats!"

"..."

Although I've said this many times before, I have to repeat it again... I've really had enough of this place!!!
Watching the 'stone' angrily roll away in the distance, a speechless Leon remained silent for a moment before turning to Frederica, who was standing frozen on the ground beside him, and said with a tense expression:
"Okay, now it seems no one will listen... What's wrong with you? Why do you suddenly want to live with me?"

"I can't really explain it... Anyway, I don't know why, but lately I've been feeling a bit uneasy..."

After regaining her composure, Baiqun Fu quietly moved closer to Leon, then hugged her knees and said with a complicated expression:

"It's hard for me to explain that feeling to you. It's like... like living under a cliff that could collapse at any moment, or like being in a jungle where wild animals are lurking. Even though nothing has happened yet, you always feel like you're being watched..."

Being targeted... isn't that to be expected?
In this place called "where everything has a spirit," even if I take a dump, I can be watched by a group of ten people from the Roots. We basically have no privacy. It would be strange if we weren't being watched.

Leon guessed that White Dress Fu had been spied on by Lady "Tree" and was frightened by her ever-present gaze, so she wanted to find someone like him, who was "safer," to keep her company. After thinking for a moment, Leon suggested:

“Hei Fu is actually the most familiar with this place. How about I talk to Hei Fu and ask you to live with her? She actually…”

"do not want!"

Upon hearing Leon's suggestion, White-Dressed Fu's expression tightened, and she immediately grabbed Leon's arm, pleading:

"I won't live with her! She almost stabbed me to death before! I still want to live with you!"

"Don't worry, she won't touch you again... well... at least not for now."

Understanding that White-Dressed Fu had almost been stabbed, Leon must have a deep-seated trauma from Black-Dressed Fu, so he patiently explained:

"She is actually you in the future. Because you did some... not-so-good things, she was punished and began to regret her past actions. She wanted to change everything by killing her past self."

Now I've persuaded her to stay. She wants to wait for 'Destiny' to return and see if 'Destiny' can do anything to change that bad future. So at least until she sees 'Destiny,' she won't harm you again.

"She can't be trusted!"

Feeling the still-cold blade against her heart, Baiqun Fu pursed her lips and shook her head, saying:
"I know you only temporarily persuaded her, you didn't really change her mind. She might change her mind again at any time! Besides... besides, I didn't do anything!"

Recalling her incredibly unlucky experiences during this period, and the carving knife that is still stuck in her heart, Bai Qunfu's eyes welled up with tears of grievance.

"She went too far! The worst thing I've ever done in my life was throwing a handful of sour berries into Ah Huang's hay, and I even apologized to Ah Huang afterwards. I... I haven't done anything wrong, so why was I stabbed with a knife? I... I..."

"Okay, okay, don't worry."

Knowing that Bai Quefu was truly upset, Leon gently comforted her for a moment, then nodded after hesitating for a moment:
“If you really don’t want to be with her, you can be with me. My cabin has an inner room. You can move your bedding there and sleep there. If there’s any danger, I’ll protect you.”

"Thank you!"

Seeing that Leon had accepted her "cohabitation" invitation and unexpectedly received a promise of protection, White Dress Fu couldn't help but sniffle slightly, and her tightly furrowed face finally broke into a smile. "Leon, you're such a good person. Luckily, you're with me, otherwise I really wouldn't know what to do."

"..."

Good grief, have I been rejected?
Somewhat amused and exasperated, Leon accepted this unexpected "good guy" card. Just as he was about to offer a few more words of advice, he noticed a hint of hesitation on the face of the woman in the white dress. She then spoke hesitantly:

"Leon, can I ask you a question?"

"What's the question? Ask it."

"It's just... um... I want to know, what exactly is the relationship between you and that other version of me?"

After carefully observing Leon's expression, the woman in the white dress cautiously inquired:
"From what I overheard you talking earlier, it seemed like you two were from the same place, and you seemed quite familiar with each other. So, are you... friends? partners? Or... something else?"

My relationship with Frederica...

After thinking for a moment, Lyon shook his head and said:
"No, strictly speaking, we are opponents most of the time... but because of certain common goals, we have temporarily given up fighting and chosen to cooperate, so we are enemies who have entered a truce."

Enemy...

Seeing Lyon's somewhat complicated expression, Baiqun Fu blinked and her expression also became complicated.

"So you hate me... or rather, you hate her?"

"Hmm...not bad?"

After assessing his overall impression of Frederica, Leon frowned and said somewhat uncertainly:
"I don't agree with her, and I can even say I'm extremely disgusted by her previous choices, but I can barely understand her willingness to do anything for her family. After all, if I were to lose everything, I might not be as calm as her, and I might even do something worse."

As for her now, even though she has indeed done many excessive things, she was willing to kill herself to correct her mistakes after realizing they were wrong. Just for that courage to face her mistakes and do everything in her power to correct them, I am still willing to respect her.

So, to sum it up... while she's a bad person, she doesn't seem like a truly awful one?

"..."

This is truly... a very complicated evaluation...

After barely managing to understand Leon's words, the woman in the white dress, somewhat confused, bit her lower lip and then couldn't help but emphasize:

"Leon, I can assure you that although I may indeed be her, I am different from her, and I will absolutely not become another her in the future!"

"Uh-huh."

Looking at the somewhat stubborn-looking woman in the white dress before him, who, compared to the mature and weary woman in the black robe, even possessed a touch of innocence and cuteness, Leon couldn't help but chuckle. Instead of explaining how terrifying the erosion of time was, he nodded in agreement:
"I believe you. You look much better than her. You will definitely not become like her in the future."

"What I said is true!"

Even though she hadn't yet experienced everything that the black-robed Fu had gone through, and hadn't become the cunning and decisive Frederica in her entirety, Frederica's innate keenness still allowed the white-dressed Fu to detect the slight perfunctoriness in Leon's reply.

After grabbing Leon's arm, Frederica, whose composure hadn't yet fully developed, insisted with slight annoyance:
"She made those choices and did bad things afterward, but that doesn't mean I'll become like her! I... although we might be the same person, I'm definitely not like her!"

"Uh-huh."

Knowing that White-skirted Fu's interpersonal relationships were "simple" and that she had grown up in the sacred land of the Hope lineage, her mental age was somewhat younger than her appearance, Leon smiled and gently coaxed her:

"Don't worry, you are you and she is she. I've always been able to tell the difference. After all, if I couldn't, I wouldn't have stopped her when she tried to stab you, right?"

"Yes! But..."

"Alright, it's getting late, let's go back."

After glancing up at the moon that seemed to be making faces at them, Leon smiled at the woman in the white dress, who still wanted to say something, and then urged her on:

"Let's go to your place first and move all your things to mine. If you don't have much stuff, it'll probably be dawn by the time we finish moving everything, so you should be able to sleep a little longer."

Ugh! It's happening again! How annoying!

Finding that Leon's attitude towards her felt like he was coaxing a child, Baiqun Fu felt a pang of resentment. She then puffed out her cheeks and said defiantly:
"Go back to sleep by yourself. I only have one straw mattress, which can be rolled up and packed away. You don't have to help me move it!"

"Alright, I'll head back now."

As astute as Lyon was, he naturally noticed her sulking. He smiled and nodded, then said nothing more. Under the somewhat annoyed gaze of the woman in the white dress, he turned and walked back to his little cabin... He then reached out and rubbed his furrowed brow.

I've been completely set up...

Although it's probably too early to talk about love, Frederica, who has suddenly faced a life-or-death crisis and fallen into an extremely unfamiliar environment with no relatives or friends around her, is indeed becoming too "dependent" on herself, and this dependence seems to be increasing.

Although he managed to fool them by "pretending to be an elder," if that "fate," which has vanished into thin air, were to return in ten or twenty years, this dependence would almost certainly gradually "change," and there are already some signs of it now. This is truly...

After shaking his head slightly, Leon pushed open his door and, under the curious gaze of Ms. Tree, tidied up the inner room of the cabin. He then sat on the wooden chair in the outer room, preparing to talk to White-Dress Fu when she arrived.

Strangely, however, Leon waited and waited until dawn, but the woman in the white dress who had gone back to pack her bedding and luggage still hadn't come back. Suspicious, Leon pushed open the door to check, only to find that the entire valley had become much emptier.

Not only did the house of the woman in the white dress, which was far away by the stream, disappear, but even the wooden house of the woman in the black robe, which was nearby, also vanished. Originally, there were three small wooden houses that were far apart from each other, but now only her own house remained.

Something doesn't seem right...

Leon glanced at the location of the black-robed hut, but found no trace of it. Alarm bells rang in his ears, and he narrowed his eyes. He then lightly knocked on his door.

"Ms. Tree, are you there?"

"Yes, yes~"

Sure enough, the ever-curious peeping tom was still on duty. As Leon inquired, a gentle face immediately appeared on the cabin door, smiling and asking:

"What do you need me for this time? Do you want me to add another piece of wooden furniture for you?"

"no need."

After shaking his head slightly, Leon stared intently at Ms. 'Tree's' face and asked:

"What about the other two cabins? Where did Frederica and the others go?"

"Frederica?"

Upon hearing this, Ms. Tree blinked her wooden eyes, then asked in return with a puzzled expression:
Who is Frederica?

(End of this chapter)