Chapter 134: Aberrant 24

The two little girls who looked very similar didn’t seem much older than Qian. Their features were delicate, like two dolls.

As they held Qian’s hand and walked toward a room, the girls chatted around her.

“She’s not human.”

“There’s no human scent, but she’s different from us too.”

“Ah, what a pity—then we won’t get any blood to taste.”

“But she’s so cute. She can play with us.”

“She looks different from us and can’t understand what we say.”

“There’s something strange in our home. She came from that place. Maybe we can go play there.”

Qian didn’t understand their words, only glanced left and right.

“Who are you? What are your names?”

Hearing Qian speak, the two chatting girls looked at her simultaneously. Their movements were so synchronized and neat it made anyone they stared at uncomfortable—except for Qian, who was excited to see kids her own age.

“She’s talking to us, but we don’t understand what she’s saying. What should we do?”

“I guess she’s asking where we’re taking her.”

One girl tilted her head and said to Qian, “We’re taking you to our room.”

The other smiled and added, “We want you to play dolls with us.”

Qian didn’t understand but nodded seriously. “Oh, I still don’t understand. My name is Qian.”

“I’m Qian, QianQianQian…” She shook her head, repeating her name like a song, and this time the two girls understood.

The one on the left pointed to herself: “I’m Muriel, Muriel.”

The one on the right said, “Harriet. I’m Harriet.”

Then, in unison, they said, “Let’s go play happily together!”

But just as the three turned a corridor, a man in a tailcoat appeared. He bowed and smiled at the two young ladies. “Tonight’s banquet is about to begin.”

Muriel frowned. “I don’t want to go to the banquet. I’m about to take her to play.”

The red-eyed butler glanced at Qian and smiled. “Misses, why not invite the little guest to join the banquet? After the banquet, you can play. Maybe you’ll even find suitable toys there.”

Muriel and Harriet exchanged a glance and said in unison, “Alright!”

Qian only noticed they changed direction and walked into another equally magnificent hall. A long dining table was covered with a dark red cloth, laden with countless dishes and fresh flowers.

Children who hadn’t eaten a feast in a long time were instantly drawn to the sumptuous food.

Muriel and Harriet made Qian sit between them, each pulling their chair closer to squeeze her in the middle. Then they nodded at the butler with satisfaction. “Begin.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The butler clapped, and the box-shaped object covered by a red cloth at the center of the table was suddenly uncovered, revealing a cage beneath.

Inside the cage were more than a dozen terrified humans, mostly young and good-looking.

The butler tied a napkin around Qian’s neck. She held a spoon, ready to eat, when she suddenly looked curiously at the group in the cage.

The people were let out and lined up in two rows. Some showed fearful despair, others looked eager and fanatical—their expressions starkly different.

“Lately too many servants in the castle have died. Those pesky bugs keep invading our home in waves. It’s so annoying. Father and mother are always asleep; it’s left to us to do the work,” Muriel complained unhappily.

Harriet looked at the humans and urged, “Transform them quickly, then we can play.”

A bowl of thick soup was placed before Qian, and she immediately began drinking.

“You, come here.” Harriet pointed at a fairly handsome man.

“He looks nice, I like him,” she said to Muriel as the man stiffly knelt on one knee in front of her, exposing his neck.

Harriet opened her mouth, revealing two sharp fangs. The man’s hand twitched.

Just as she was about to bite, Muriel suddenly said, “Wait.”

“We haven’t played that little game with him yet.”

Muriel smiled brightly, resting her chin on her hand at the table, and said to the nervous man, “We’re twins, but one of us is actually a boy. Can you guess which one?”

“If you guess right, we’ll make you our blood servant. But if you guess wrong, we’ll drain your blood until you become a brainless dry corpse.”

The man’s face went pale. He looked at Muriel and said, “You’re the boy.”

Muriel laughed, “Wrong!”

Harriet laughed too and winked at her naughty little brother. “Ah, what a pity.”

The man suddenly raised his bowed head, and with a small silver dagger in hand, stabbed at Harriet’s chest.

Unfortunately, before the dagger pierced her clothes, it was stopped. Harriet’s slender, pale hand gripped the man’s arm tightly.

“Ahhh!”

Qian lifted her head from the soup and saw Harriet bury her head in the man’s neck. Moments later, the man’s face turned green and his eyes glazed over. Harriet loosened her grip and threw him to the floor.

Feeling Qian’s gaze, Harriet turned back with a big smile, licking the blood at the corner of her mouth.

Qian looked at her with the spoon, then at the convulsing man on the floor. Suddenly, he wobbled to his feet and staggered out.

Tilting her head, Qian asked, “Why did she bite him? Why did he turn green?”

Harriet asked her brother, who was playing with a dinner knife, “What is she saying?”

Muriel said, “She’s probably asking if his blood tastes good.”

“Ugh, disgusting! Tastes like holy water mixed in! Next one, Muriel, you drink!” Harriet said.

Muriel replied, “No way, I won’t drink something that gross.”

He looked at Qian between the two girls with interest. “I wonder if she likes this taste?”

He called over another waiting man, grabbed him by the neck, and pressed him down at Qian’s table, smiling at her. “Do you want to try?”

Her nails sharpened as she scratched the man’s neck, causing drops of blood to ooze out.

Miraculously, Qian understood his invitation and shook her head violently. “I don’t want to bite him!”

Something unpleasant seemed to stir in her mind… she recalled that blood didn’t taste very good.

Seeing her face scrunch up, Muriel said regretfully, “Alright, looks like it’s not her taste.”

Then she grabbed the man’s hair and bit deeply into his neck. As he rolled his eyes and collapsed, she disdainfully pricked her finger and flicked a drop of blood into his mouth.

The butler stepped in at just the right moment to take the man away, and thoughtfully placed a large plate of cut beef with a fork in front of Qian.

The aroma of the beef made Qian lower her head to continue eating, occasionally glancing at the two sisters chatting with newcomers who then got bitten.

Some bitten turned blue, dazed, and staggered away; others, after being bitten, received a drop of blood from Harriet or Muriel’s finger and were taken away by the butler.

When Qian felt she had eaten enough, and Harriet and Muriel’s sides were finally clear, the two brightened up and pulled Qian toward their doll room.

One side of the room was filled with countless clothes, the other lined with dolls—some palm-sized, others nearly as tall as Qian—with porcelain faces and glass eyes, cute but tinged with a hint of Weird Entities.

Yet none of the three children felt fear. Qian ran over to touch their faces and tug their hands.

“Can they move?” Qian asked, turning back to see Harriet and Muriel each pulling out two small dresses from the wardrobe.

Harriet held a pink dress. “Let’s change her into this one first. It’ll definitely fit!”

“Why? I think this one’s better. Change her into this one first,” Muriel insisted firmly, holding a pale yellow dress.

Qian watched as the two suddenly started arguing for reasons she didn’t understand. They’d seemed close just moments ago, but now looked like they wanted to rip each other’s hair out.

Eventually, their quarrel spread to Qian herself. One grabbed her upper body, the other her legs, neither willing to let go.

“Let me try first!”

“Let go, I want to try!”

Qian was pulled back and forth like a big toy being fought over.

“I’m a girl, and Qian’s a girl. She should play with me, so go away!”

“You go away! I’m prettier, she’ll definitely want to play with me more.”

Qian didn’t understand at all. “Waaaahhh!”

Finally, Qian slipped into the wardrobe herself and pulled out a floral dress. Reluctantly, the two put it on her.

“I want to braid her hair like Anna’s,” Harriet said.

“No way. Loose hair with a flower crown looks better,” Muriel replied.

They exchanged a glance and started fighting again. Qian ignored them and grabbed a pretty necklace to wear.

Pearls, agates, diamonds, jade… By the time Harriet and Muriel noticed, Qian’s neck was already covered in necklaces, and a huge sapphire dangled and swung on her head.

Harriet and Muriel: “…”

“That’s so ugly!” they said in unison.

Though they couldn’t communicate well, the three children got along fairly well. After a while, Harriet and Muriel yawned together.

“It’s dawn, time to rest.”

Because Blood Castle and Monster Domain had different day-night cycles, the fused domain showed a strange scene: the left half of the sky (Monster Domain) was still night, while the right half (Blood Castle) was gradually brightening.

“We’re going to sleep now. You’ll sleep with us.”

Wearing the big sapphire necklace, Qian was again led by them through long corridors and down into the dark castle basement.

The decorations below were equally lavish but somewhat aged, and a chill breeze blew from the darkness.

“Our father and mother sleep in this room, but they haven’t woken in a long time.”

“This is where we sleep.”

“Do you want to sleep with me or with Muriel?”

Qian listened to the constant chattering by her ears, looked at the two empty coffins in the dim room, and ran over to peek inside.

Muriel rushed up, grabbed Qian, and rolled into a coffin, slamming the lid shut.

Harriet shouted from outside, “You’re too sly! She hasn’t chosen yet! Get out here!”

The lid was forced open by her sister. Muriel hugged Qian tightly. “Not letting you have her!”

The tug-of-war began again, one holding arms, the other legs.

In the end, the three squeezed into the same coffin, which wasn’t completely dark but dotted with faint blue lights.

“Don’t crowd me!”

“Who’s kicking me?”

“Ah, you’re crushing my hair!”

“Hahaha!”

The three kids squished together, laughing and playing.

Meanwhile, because of the domain fusion’s disturbance, the Aberrant mother who was supposed to sleep until the third night woke early.

Since the child’s birth, her regular schedule had been shattered. She was almost used to being woken shortly after falling asleep.

Leaving her room, Aberrant sensed something wrong in the domain—and noticed a grave problem: she could no longer feel her child’s presence within her domain!

Her child was missing!

Her gaze shifted to the red spired castle, slowly moving closer to the castle area.

As she entered the castle, the red carpet seemed even redder.

She walked down the corridor; the calm suits of armor on both sides began to tremble.

In the castle’s underground section, in a dark room, two coffins stirred.

Suddenly, one was pushed open. A handsome man sat up and tapped the coffin beside him.

“Deina, something frightening has entered our home.”

“Hm, what happened? Our home feels strange,” blonde Deina sat up too.

“No choice, we have to go check it out.”

“Alright, and let’s also see how our two little treasures are doing.”