Infinite Chimera Creation

"Zi, don't look so gloomy. My food problem is solved. Cheer up and smile."

After being told what Rumia said, Yakumo Shiya realized what was going on, her worries disappeared, and a happy smile appeared on her face.

As she was laughing, Yukari Yakumo suddenly paused, as if she had thought of something. She turned to look at Yuan Yuan, her eyes filled with surprise.

"Is this the effect of madness you mentioned, brother? The longer I stay with you, the more emotional I become. Even though I can sense this change and try to suppress it, I'm still being influenced without realizing it."

Yuan Yuan nodded, making no attempt to hide anything.

"That's right. On the one hand, arrogance and conceit can be extremely obvious and brutally induce a sense of arrogance in people. On the other hand, all arrogance can subtly and imperceptibly amplify the emotional fluctuations in people's hearts, making them more prone to emotionality. Moreover, this emotionality tends to be more negative, such as your behavior, where you tend to think about things in a negative direction."

"But in my perception, there are still many lives in this world, so why don't I see the phenomena you described in them? Is it because they've lived in madness for so long that they've gotten used to it?"

One question was answered, but a second question arose in Yakumo Yukari's mind. Without hesitation, she asked it directly.

Thinking about the behavior of those little guys in hell, Yuan Yuan smiled and shook his head.

"Madness cannot be adapted to; no one except the user can develop tolerance to it. In fact, apart from Lolo, who is under my special protection and has no problems, all life in Hell has been corrupted by Madness, but the symptoms are not obvious."

Seeing that Yukari Yakumo didn't seem to believe him, Yuan Yuan wasn't angry. He casually opened a few gaps in the white curtains, gesturing for her to see the scenery inside.

There were three white gaps in total. In the first gap, a chimera with a wolf's head, a scorpion's tail, and jet-black fleshy wings on its back lay on the ground, struggling in agony. Crimson blood flowed from the corners of its mouth. In the midst of this struggle, two bloody gashes suddenly split open on the chimera's abdomen, from which emerged a pair of raptor-like claws covered in blood and slime. Once the claws appeared, the chimera stopped struggling, let out a long, triumphant howl, and galloped away into the distance.

Through the second white gap, there was a researcher dressed in a pure white lab coat, with four tentacles extending from his back. On the experimental table in front of him lay an enormous, six-fingered arm, as big as three people. The researcher's eyes were bloodshot, his face filled with fanaticism, and he kept muttering things like, "That's right, just like that," and "Add this here, that's right, and it will produce a level three enhancement."

Within the third white gap, several more monsters lurked. Some resembled enormous black scorpions, others had eagle heads and lion bodies with wings on their backs, some had wolf heads and human bodies with fleshy wings on their backs, and some resembled ordinary birds but possessed a thousand pupils in their eyes. Some had both dog and ant heads on their necks, and snake heads on their tails. A sinister aura permeated the air around these monsters, noticeable to anyone. From their conversation, it was clear that their behavior stemmed from their father's prolonged absence from their presence, leading them to suspect abandonment.

With a wave of his hand, Yuan Yuan closed the gap, a genuine smile appearing on his face.

"As you can see, this world filled with madness is my greatest testing ground, and all life that enters here is an experiment. Under the influence of madness, those with unstable bodies will mutate, providing me with new experimental samples; those with unstable souls are prone to inspiration, providing me with all sorts of useful or useless results; and those with unstable emotions are prone to developing independent consciousness, perfecting my previously imperfect works."

P.S. I was too busy yesterday to update, so I'm making up for it today. Today's update will be this afternoon.

Chapter Ninety-Four: Departure

Looking at the three white gaps in front of her and listening to Yuan Yuan's words, Yakumo Yukari was momentarily speechless.

As one of the strongest youkai, Yukari Yakumo has killed a considerable number of people in her lifetime. Moreover, she has no excessive sense of justice and is indifferent to life. She would kill all the lives in a world without any psychological burden if necessary.

However, when she saw Yuan Yuan using the lives of an entire world for his experiments, Yukari Yakumo couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.

Yakumo Yukari remained silent, her gaze towards Yuan Yuan carrying a faint sense of rejection she herself was unaware of. Yuan Yuan also kept quiet, simply watching Yakumo Yukari without expression, his expression devoid of joy or sorrow. For a moment, the atmosphere became awkward again, but this time, the awkwardness seemed even more oppressive.

In fact, Yukari Yakumo's reaction was perfectly normal, and Yuan Yuan could completely understand it. Intelligent life forms are like that; when faced with a killer, some might be afraid, some might admire, and some might feel awe, because that killer can take lives.

However, when faced with beings that manipulate life, all intelligent beings react in much the same way: a mixture of disgust and fear. Intelligent beings can tolerate the slaughter of life, even without reason, but they cannot tolerate the manipulation of life, especially when the number of those being manipulated is large enough; this intolerance becomes even more pronounced then. Even if the manipulators are not their own kind, or even intelligent beings, they will still exhibit disgust and fear, as well as anger stemming from that fear.

As someone who manipulates the lives of an entire world, it's perfectly normal for Yuan Yuan to be hated by Yakumo Yukari. Those who don't feel disgusted are the abnormal ones.

For example, there's that silly bird that gets along extremely well with Yuan Yuan, and another example is that kind, thick-skinned, silly man-eating monster.

Despite being a bit dim-witted, and despite her unique personality and limited interaction with others, Rumia still noticed the awkward atmosphere. Although she didn't know the reason for this awkwardness, this kind-hearted, dim-witted monster tried her best to think outside the box and break the ice.

"Aaaaaah!! Oh no, oh no, I forgot! I promised Xiaolingmeng I'd go bug catching with her today! Does this mean I broke my promise? No way! I'm not a bad adult who breaks his word!"

Startled awake by Rumia's shout, Yukari Yakumo immediately realized the inappropriateness of her actions, and a mocking, somewhat insincere smile returned to her face.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, I was a little distracted just now. Rumia, now that the food problem is solved, let's hurry back and not keep Reimu waiting."

Rumia's feigned anxious expression froze on her face as she stared blankly at Yakumo Yukari, her lips moving but unable to utter a single word. She had only said those things to break the ice and, incidentally, to wake Yakumo Yukari.

In fact, before Yakumo Yukari brought her here, she had already discussed with Reimu that today's bug-catching activity would be postponed to tomorrow, and Yakumo Yukari had been watching from the sidelines. Now, all Yakumo Yukari had to do was say, "Rumia, you idiot, the bug-catching activity is tomorrow!" and the conversation could continue. However, Yakumo Yukari unexpectedly chose to go back.

For a moment, the poor, clueless youkai's mind couldn't quite process it, but trusting her best friend, Rumia didn't contradict Yakumo Yukari. After a couple of dry laughs, she stammered in response to Yukari's words.

"Heh, heh heh, that's right, that's right. We can't keep Reimu waiting."

"Since you still have things to do, then hurry back. By the way, Rumia, although that madness should be enough to keep you from going hungry for three months, you'd better come back every two months to replenish it. After all, if you encounter a battle at the end of the three months, you will definitely fall into a state of hunger quickly, and it will be too late to regret it if something happens then."

Yuan Yuan seemed oblivious to Rumia's clumsy acting; his expression remained unchanged as he nodded indifferently.

"Also, when you come to replenish your madness, if I'm not conducting experiments, come find me. If I'm busy, you can stay here for a day. With the concentration of madness here, you should be full in a day."

After clapping his hands, Yuan Yuan made a concluding statement.

"Anyway, let's leave it at that for now. I'll work on finding a complete solution as soon as possible. Until the results are in, you'll have to rely on your madness to get through this."

Faced with Yuan Yuan's careful instructions, Lumia's smile became even more stiff.

"No, it's alright. Actually, using madness to make food is already quite good, really. As for a complete solution, Yuan Jun can think about it when he has time."

Seemingly ignoring Rumia's words, Yuan Yuan nodded.

"My sage demon, don't forget to deliver the hairy jade I requested. Well then, farewell."

Yukari Yakumo seemed genuinely unwilling to linger there. After a brief farewell, she hastily opened the door and pulled Rumia inside.

The gap slowly closed in front of Yuan Yuan, and he remained motionless for a long time without making any move.

"Ah! Xiaoyuan, the formula you gave me is so complicated. Even people would find it difficult to use. But the effect is really good. Now even Zi can't spy on this place."

Luo Luo, who seemed to be fast asleep in the corner just a moment ago, suddenly appeared behind Yuan Yuan and slumped limply onto his back as if all her strength had been drained.

Yuan Yuan patted Luo Luo's hand, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you for your hard work. Although I can deduce the energy flow formula to shield Yakumo Yukari from prying eyes, I can only rely on you to put it into practice."

"Hehe, I don't feel tired at all at being able to help Xiaoyuan."

Clinging to Yuan Yuan's back, the red-haired girl rubbed her face against his cheek sweetly, her face full of happiness.

Yuan Yuan smiled warmly, not giving the girl a chop to make her leave as usual, but letting her cling to him softly.

After a while, the girl finally got up from Yuan Yuan's body, sat down next to him, and said with some concern,

"Yuki, judging from your reaction just now, she clearly has a lot of dislike for you. Are you really okay?"

"Relationship? What kind of relationship could there be?"

Yuan Yuan grinned disdainfully, his tone becoming extremely sarcastic.

"Although Yukari Yakumo may have made this decision subconsciously without realizing her true intentions, wasn't that exactly what she was planning from the beginning? She asked me to create life for her, shifting the responsibility of manipulating life onto me, thus maintaining a certain degree of 'cleanliness' for herself. Although she herself may not have realized this mentality, in fact, instinctively, she has always been rejecting me. Rather than maintaining that ambiguous, seemingly friendly, half-hearted relationship, it's better for me to let her see her true feelings at the end of the conversation, so that I won't be annoyed by her fake smile later. Now that she has developed a dislike for me, she definitely won't bother me again unless necessary, and I'm happy to have some peace and quiet."

P.S., please consider giving me a tip or voting for me with monthly tickets.

Chapter Ninety-Five: Misunderstanding...?

"But Obuchi, is it really okay? After all, Yukari Yakumo is the administrator of Gensokyo. If she develops a dislike for you, it will definitely have a negative impact on your entry into Gensokyo."

Looking at Yuan Yuan's mocking smile, Luo Luo made no attempt to hide her worry.

"She doesn't care about being rejected by the world. After all, as long as she has Yuzuru by her side, she'll feel happy even if she's traveling between different worlds every day. But Yuzuru can't let all the results of his hard work be destroyed, right? If he doesn't enter Gensokyo to escape the world's rejection, Yuzuru's hundreds of years of hard work might be completely destroyed. Is that really okay?"

Yuan Yuan lightly tapped Luo Luo on the head with a chop, then revealed a genuine smile and said,

"Discussing this issue with me now is pointless, because the root of the problem lies not with me, but with Yukari Yakumo. My lifelong dream and pursuit have been the mystery of life, the yearning to create perfect life, so my experiments will absolutely not stop. If Yukari Yakumo cannot accept me as I am entering Gensokyo, then anything else I say is just useless nonsense."

And don't be misled by Yukari Yakumo. It's true that [when power reaches a certain level, all life connected to that powerful being will be rejected by the world]. But, you know, I'm still quite a distance from that [certain level].

As he spoke, a complex expression, a mixture of resentment and relief, flickered in Yuan Yuan's eyes, and he said in an enigmatic tone,

"If I continue at my current pace, it will take at least two hundred years for the world to begin rejecting life forms related to me. In those two hundred years, I refuse to believe I won't find a solution to this problem. What Yakumo Yukari and the others could do, I, Yuan Yuan, can do too!"

Watching Yuan Yuan's expression harden and harden again, Luo Luo's eyes lit up with a hint of infatuation, and her little hands, which had been resting on Yuan Yuan's legs, began to wander.

"Xiao Yuan is always so confident and charming, it makes people a little teary-eyed."

"When I awakened to the madness called pride, it was destined that no matter what happened, I could never lose my self-confidence."

Yuan Yuan raised an eyebrow, grabbed Luo Luo's small hand that was beginning to slide towards her sensitive areas, and gave a cold smile.

"If you want to play, of course I won't refuse. But before we play, shouldn't we resolve the issue you hid from me before?"

Yuan Yuan's icy voice at this moment would likely send waves of intense danger through even the world's consciousness, making it tremble with fear. However, upon hearing Yuan Yuan's words, Luo Luo's dazed eyes didn't lose their dazed look; instead, a hint of fanaticism surfaced in them.

"Is Xiaoyuan going to punish someone? He's going to punish someone, right? He definitely will!! He'll definitely use a super cruel method that he's never used before to punish someone, right? He definitely will!"

The more Luo Luo talked, the more excited she became, and the more fervent her voice became. So much so that, before she even realized it, she had climbed onto Yuan Yuan, and the liquid dripping from both of her mouths simultaneously soaked Yuan Yuan's shirt and pants.

"Since you can't wait any longer, let's begin."

Raising an eyebrow, Yuan Yuan ripped off his already soaked shirt, picked up Luo Luo, whose face was flushed, and rushed into the bedroom.

While Yuan Yuan and Luo Luo were talking, the sage of the monster and the cannibal girl were also conversing inside the gap.

"Zi, what's wrong with you just now? You suddenly showed such a strong desire to leave. This is not like you. In my memory, except in front of certain people, you never let anyone see your true thoughts."

Rumia tilted her head, looking at Yukari Yakumo with a puzzled expression. She had known Yukari Yakumo for nearly a thousand years, and in that time she had never seen Yukari Yakumo so excited.

Ever since she stepped into the gap and escaped Yuan Yuan's sight, Yakumo Yukari's face had become extremely gloomy, making it obvious to anyone that something was wrong with her.

Taking a deep breath, Yukari Yakumo tried to suppress the turbulent emotions surging within her, but found it futile. Frowning, she gave up on controlling her emotions and began to complain to Rumia, seemingly in a cathartic way.

"Am I behaving differently than usual? Oh, well, Rumia, you're right, I am indeed acting differently than usual. But I just can't control my emotions right now."

"Rumia, you probably have no idea how I felt when I saw Yuan Yuan, right? To be honest, even I couldn't have imagined that I would feel like a kindred spirit to someone I had just met. If it weren't for the huge difference in our strength, I would have suspected that I had been under some kind of spell that affected my thinking."

Frustrated, Yukari Yakumo brandished her folding fan and, with a grim expression, stomped on a large eye-shaped object, trying to vent her anger. However, the act of destroying things only intensified her frustration.

"Later, when I talked to Yuan Yuan, I found that we got along surprisingly well. No, it wasn't just that we got along well; talking to him was a kind of enjoyable experience for me. To be honest, I even considered kidnapping him and keeping him in the Lost Home just to keep me company. To suppress my urge to kidnap him, I even had to hypnotize myself and tell myself 'I hate him' so that I wouldn't just snatch him away from that stupid bird."

The more she spoke, the faster Yukari Yakumo's speech became, and the more frantically she waved her folding fan. Her elegant long dress even became somewhat disheveled due to her movements.

“I thought that even if we couldn’t be confidants, we should at least be friends. As for playing with life, I didn’t care at all. But when he showed me his magnanimity in treating the whole world as a testing ground and using all the lives in the world as test subjects, I realized how foolish I had thought.”

Staring intently into Rumia's eyes, Yukari Yakumo wasn't sure if she was talking to Rumia or trying to convince herself.

"How could someone with that kind of magnanimity possibly have the concept of friends in their heart? How could they possibly consider me a friend?"

“Zi, I don’t know how magnanimous Yuan Jun is. I’m not as smart as you to see these things. From the fact that Yuan Jun uses the world as a testing ground, I only see one thing: Yuan Jun must have many things on his hands, or rather, research projects.”

Staring blankly at Yakumo Yukari's manic expression, an expression unseen in nearly a thousand years, Rumia blinked, then spoke in a somewhat silly but extremely serious tone,

"But even though he was very busy, Yuan Jun still chose to help Zi and help me, didn't he?"

Yakumo Yukari's hand, which was waving her folding fan, suddenly stopped. The manic look on her face vanished instantly. She stared intently into Rumia's eyes and slowly asked,

"You mean... I'm overthinking it?"

Without avoiding Yakumo Yukari's gaze, Rumia nodded and said in a similarly slow voice,

"I think so. Zi must care too much about Yuan Jun. She's so worried about losing him that she's overthinking things."