A villainous girl created by paranoia

It makes sense. He's so old, it's one thing to run a pet shop that doesn't attract many customers, but more importantly, is it really necessary to serve dog food to a lonely old man like him? And lily-scented dog food at that.

Ignoring the shop owner's bewildered expression as he held up the pet collar, I whispered something in Chun's ear.

"Idiot, haven't I already got my hands on the rope of your collar?"

--split line--

Gentlemen, since Shuna and Tsubaki have already opened their hearts to each other, let's open our hearts to each other too. Of course, we don't need collars.

I'm a very inexpensive author. When you read my book, I don't really care about your tips or monthly tickets. What I care about are your criticisms and comments.

To put it simply, as long as I see new comments or complaints every day, I will have the motivation to write and will be able to maintain the quality of the chapters.

My chapters can be long or short, but I try my best to make each one interesting and motivating.

I've been updating almost every day, so my goal is for every reader who's waiting for an update to think, "Let's read today's chapter," rather than "Let's put this book aside and read it when we want to."

I am cheap, but I am also greedy.

I hope that every time I go to the author's backend, I will see new comments or complaints.

So, everyone! Feel free to rant and comment! I'll even accept your insults!

Chapter Fifteen: The Red World

After leaving the pet store, Chun and I went to the zoo. I don't know why, but I just wanted to go there and take a look. It was my intuition that told me I had to go to the zoo.

After buying the tickets, I held Chun's hand and prepared to enter the zoo in a relaxed mood. Actually, I'm not a big fan of zoos. I don't like those big animals. I prefer smaller animals, like cats, cats, and more cats.

The reason I don't like large animals is simple: the larger the creature, the harder it is for me to control. On the contrary, I can rub and squeeze smaller cats as I please.

Lost in thought, I stepped into the zoo. But the moment I entered, the world suddenly changed.

The world transformed back into the world filtered through a red lens. The crowd before them vanished in an instant, leaving only their clothes on the ground. The small hands they had been holding disappeared. Turning their heads slightly, they saw that Chun was nowhere to be seen, with only Chun's clothes and bag on the ground.

The world has abandoned me, or rather, I have been abandoned.

The form of consciousness is a whole; what is seen and perceived is not an illusion, but all of it is real, or rather, the world before us truly exists.

A blood-red sun hung in the oppressive dark red sky, its rays blindingly bright and suffocating.

Quiet, quiet, utterly quiet, so quiet that I long for sound, for the clamor of the crowd, for the gentle rustling of the leaves in the wind, for the sounds that this world should have.

The world has lost its sound. It's not that I can't hear anything; I can clearly hear my breathing and my heartbeat. But this red world has lost its sound.

I took a deep breath. I didn't know what was going on in this world, but the only thing that reassured me was that there were still people in this zoo, and that there was still the smell of life.

Should I go find those people? If I were alone, I would definitely go find those people.

But what about Chun? I'm certain that Chun didn't vanish into thin air in that instant. It's exactly the same situation I saw this morning, except now there's no door for me to open again.

Chun is probably still beside me now, but she must have let go of my hand. I looked at my hand, then looked around, and finally reached my hand behind me.

"Chun, take my hand."

My hand was held by a slightly cool little hand, and I heard the noise of the crowd again. The world regained its sound, and the world before my eyes indeed returned to its original state in an instant. The abrupt change without any warning made my chest feel tight and nauseous, and my head throbbed with pain.

My eye twitched involuntarily. I'm afraid of pain, I'm extremely afraid of pain, otherwise I wouldn't have cried for so long after being punched by Zhou Fangming.

"What's wrong, Shuna?"

Turning around, I saw Chun looking at me anxiously. I shook my head at her and said...

"I don't know what happened, I think I saw something strange. Tsubaki, why don't you try letting go again?"

Although she was still a little worried, Chun let go of my hand as I instructed.

Another sudden shift occurred, and the silent red world reappeared. The chest tightness and nausea worsened, and the throbbing pain in the back of my head felt like swallowing a block of ice. At the same time, I experienced a slight tinnitus, my eyes felt sore, and my nose was stinging.

The world hasn't changed much from before. No, to be precise, it has changed. The clothes have moved, and the people wearing them have moved from the normal world. In other words, my departure and re-entry did have an impact on this world.

I took a step back and extended my hand again.

"Chun, take my hand again."

My hand was once again grasped by Chun's cool little hand, and the world changed without warning again. This time, I almost lost consciousness from the pain of exiting the world. Then, a strong feeling of nausea surged up. I dragged Chun and ran to the trash can in a disheveled state, and then started to dry heave.

I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, but I didn't vomit anything. Our strange behavior naturally attracted a lot of attention. A boy who looked a bit young came over and asked us a question.

"Um, do you need any help?"

Looking at the boy in front of me, a thousand thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant. Then I released my grip on Chun's hand, and prepared to punch the boy in front of me with my left fist.

But this time the world didn't change. Looking at where I am now, and then at the zoo, I think I understand why.

I released my fist and gave the boy in front of me a polite smile.

"Thank you for your concern, sir, I'm fine."

"Ah...oh...oh..."

After uttering two unintelligible syllables, the boy blushed and scratched his head as he walked away.

Looking back, Chun's big amber eyes were still fixed on me. Although she didn't say anything, it was as if the words "I'm worried about you" were written all over her face.

It feels good to be worried about; it's very pleasant.

I am a very honest person. I am neither arrogant nor spoiled. For me, happiness is happiness. I will not say that I am unhappy while I am not telling the truth.

Just like the case with Tsubaki, I could deceive myself and make myself feel that I was just using Tsubaki as a prop, but in fact I wasn't deceiving myself.

I like to lie, and I'm good at lying, but it's too tiring to even deceive my own heart.

I'm not lying to myself. It's because I'm afraid of being alone that I turned Chun into what she is now.

Those who are arrogant are essentially idiots. They know things all too well, yet they keep deceiving themselves and telling themselves lies. What else can they be but idiots?

What is hidden is merely hidden; it still exists in reality.

I saw someone starving to death, so I gave them a piece of bread, telling myself I was just trying to save them, nothing more. That's the foolish thing to do—deceive yourself. The truth is, that's what I should be doing.

I saw a person who was starving to death, so I gave them a piece of bread. I gave the bread out of good intentions, out of kindness, and out of my conscience. I did not deceive myself; I simply acted out of kindness.

Surprised? Someone like me, who should be condemned to hell, actually has a kind heart?

In fact, I do have a kind heart; after all, I have actually done such things.

Do you think I only know how to kill and do evil? Don't think that way. Even I have a kind heart.

I didn't deceive myself. I'm an honest person. I care about Chun and our relationship. So I'm happy that Chun is worried about me.

So, do you understand me better now? The one who has been watching me and my heart since the beginning of our journey at the port?

"Chun, don't look at me like that, I'm fine."

"That's true, but, Shuna, what exactly happened just now?"

"It would be too complicated to explain, so I don't really want to."

"Oh fine."

Chun seemed a little disappointed, but she still had that gentle, comforting smile on her face.

She's very well-behaved and obedient; I've really fallen for Chun.

"Alright, let's go in."

As I was speaking, I took Chun's little hand and prepared to lead her into the zoo, but Chun didn't take a step immediately. Feeling the resistance behind me, I looked back in confusion.

Chun's lips still held that soft smile, a smile that was very comforting.

"Shunai, I'm worried about you, very worried about you, but I'll listen to you."

After saying that, Chun started walking. Seeing this, I just shrugged and then took Chun's hand and entered the zoo.

The moment I stepped into the zoo, the world changed again without warning, and my palm was empty once more. I ignored the empty palm and continued walking forward, my hand still holding Chun's hand.

When I took my second step, the world returned to normal, and I felt the touch of Tsubaki's little hand in my palm again.

When the third step is taken, the world no longer transforms, but remains as it is in the normal world.

I think I figured out how to enter that world, so I followed the place where I sensed the presence of humans. Before long, I brought Chun to the beast zone, where a large tiger was lying on the ground with its eyes half-closed in the iron net.

Looking at that tiger, a strange feeling welled up inside me, and that feeling was that the tiger in front of me... was dead.

But the tiger was still breathing and showed signs of life, so why did I think it was dead?

I trust my instincts because they haven't failed me.

I think this tiger is dead, so it's definitely dead. If it's not dead, then I'll go and kill it in a bit.

Feeling that it was about time, I let go of Chun's hand again.

It was the same kind of sudden change without any warning, except this time I heard a sound.

boom!

A dull thud...

I was somewhat shocked by the sight before me.

It was still that same red world, but now a girl was fighting a monster, and the ground was riddled with holes from the aftershocks of their battle.

The girl was very pretty, with long black hair styled in a single ponytail. She wore a white uniform that resembled a military uniform, and in her hand she held a giant hammer that was larger than herself.

The girl is beautiful and has a strong impact, but the monster on the other side is pushing the limits of human endurance.

That should be a tiger, at least judging from the skeleton. Why do I say that? Because there's practically no flesh left on this tiger. It seems to have no fur, and its dark red muscles are exposed. Every now and then, sticky flesh and blood, like rotten mud, fall from the tiger's bones onto the ground, making a 'plop' sound.

But what's most disgusting is the tiger's head. This tiger has no other organs besides its eyes. There are nearly 40 eyeballs on its face, and the pupils in the eyeballs are staring intently at the black-haired girl.

If I were stared at like that, I absolutely couldn't stand it, and I would cut off all its eyeballs and stomp on them one by one.

Being stared at by forty eyes is not a pleasant experience.

The black-haired girl seemed a little uneasy under the gaze. She charged forward and stood in front of the tiger, raising her giant hammer high as if to smash its head. The tiger was not to be outdone, and its huge claws slammed down towards the girl's slender waist.

The battle should have ended in the next moment, but I couldn't wait for that next moment.

Because time stopped, stopped for no reason, the whole world stopped, the girl remained in the action of smashing the hammer down, the tiger remained in the action of slapping, everything in this world was suspended, including me.

[Ding, error code 404...]

A cold, emotionless, mechanical female voice echoed in my mind, and then the voice continued to speak in my head.