Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Medusa curled up in her palm, her head bowed, like a venomous snake ready to strike.

Without hesitation, Lyle reached out and cradled Medusa in his arms. He stroked her scales, watching Medusa writhe weakly in his palm. Lyle felt his heart clench.

He had his back to the sculpture, and did not look directly at her beautiful face.

“Ms. Helena, please give me some private space. I want to rest alone for a while.”

"Please get some rest, Lyle, and don't miss the luncheon." Helena's voice was still captivating, but in Lyle's heart, it had taken on a different meaning.

About ten minutes passed after Helena's voice disappeared.

“Mr. Deckard, Mr. Ernest, please give me some private space.”

Lyle kept his eyes closed, sensing the state of his body.

The pressure eased; the two spirits had indeed left him. Lyle looked around, making sure there were no more chilling auras or gazes nearby.

Lyle pulled out his wand and pointed the tip at himself.

"The curse of zombies".

A curse used for disguise makes the caster's aura resemble that of a corpse; it was probably used by liches to disguise themselves. Lyle accidentally discovered another use for it: to pollute the surrounding environment with the aura of death, blocking perception.

Lyle stretched out her pale, gray fingers and gently stroked her wooden scales.

Medusa.

Medusa's eyes became flexible, like a snake that had just emerged from hibernation.

“Lyle.” Her voice was weak and feeble, as if she had just recovered from a serious illness.

“You are afraid of Helena, Medusa. You are afraid of your creator.”

Medusa was no longer as lively as before; she leaned against Lyle's palm.

“Helena is special; she, she is a Soul Reaper.”

"Soul Stealer?"

"Master of the ghosts, reaper of souls. You already know of the existence of the race. Every race has its leader, a leader who holds the power of life and death. The Naslan family's race is the Ghost Herd, and their leader is Helena. She is special, very powerful; she controls every soul in Naslan..."

“Ariana…”

"Her sisters are not within her control, but that doesn't mean she won't show her strong desire for control."

"Because of a disaster, Helena lost her physical body and could only exist as a soul. But her soul was dangerous, and it was dangerous to everyone who saw her, even her own sister. Therefore, Helena created many sculptures for herself as objects of her own possession, just like the sculptures you see. She had a habit of stripping the original spirit of a work after she created it, turning it into an empty shell, an empty shell for her own use."

“I am lucky, Lyle, that I became your wand and regained my spirit through your bestowal ritual. For us creatures, spirit is my life, and I do not want to die, Lyle.”

Lyle looked at Medusa in surprise.

"That's why you're hiding. You're hiding from the scholar and Ariana, you're hiding from everyone connected to Helena. You don't want them to discover that you can speak and have sentience. Just now, you pretended to be a manipulated puppet."

“Yes, I had to play dead because Helena was examining my spirituality. I’m sorry, Lyle, for hiding so much from you. I thought these were things you didn’t need to know.”

"As a result, I fell in love with Helena's sister, Ariana. This put you in danger, Medusa. I'm so sorry."

Medusa shook her head and crawled back into Lyle's sleeve.

"It's alright, trust me, I'll keep up appearances. Don't worry, Helena is kind to her sisters, and she'll be no exception with you. Her evil is only directed at her creations. What am I saying? Isn't it natural to be manipulated by one's own creator? I'm just a disobedient toy with my own thoughts."

“I will protect you, Medusa, just as you once protected me.”

Medusa paused for two seconds, then reverted to her usual lazy and arrogant self.

"Then protect me well, little Lyle."

……

Lyle was already prepared when Monica came to inform him. The two spirits re-possessed Lyle, and he followed Monica towards the restaurant.

On the long table, only one section had chairs and food set up; the rest was empty.

On the main seat is a seated sculpture, a sculpture of Helena.

Beatrice sat to one side, idly fiddling with her fork. The moment she saw Lyle, she snapped the fork into chopsticks. She glared angrily at Lyle, but at Ariana's signal, made no further move.

Ariana changed into a deep black dress, without any extra embellishments—it was loungewear, but her charm remained undiminished, especially her snow-white skin against the black background, which shimmered like a gemstone, drawing Lyle's gaze. She patted the seat next to her.

Lyle sat down and smiled at Ariana.

Beatrice handed over another set of knives and forks, which she then twisted into chopsticks.

Helena's voice echoed again from within the sculpture.

"Welcome to Naslan, Lyle. I believe he will soon become part of our family, as my sister's lover. A... human." As Helena emphasized the words, the main hall suddenly filled up, and the ghosts standing on both sides materialized, their gazes fixed on Lyle.

Ariana took Lyle's hand and complained to her sister, "Honestly, Helena, don't scare Lyle."

Helena let out a silvery laugh. "I just wanted everyone to meet Lyle, since he's our honored guest. Since my lovely sister isn't happy about it, let's officially begin our meal."

"Welcome, Lyle."

Lyle gave the statue a reserved smile, picked up his knife and fork, and began to eat.

His lower back, Medusa was curled up where the cotton chair back was touching.

Chapter 198 Leisurely Joy

The silver knife traced the beautiful marbling, completely merging with the rich flavor. The small cut was like a spring exposed on the ground, spraying its flavor and warmth into the cool air. The deep brown juices obscured the cross-section, and Lyle had lost all interest in admiring it. He forked a small piece from his plate, put it in his mouth, savoring the taste of the juices mixed with saliva, and feeling the warmth of the hot oil against his skin.

Lyle's eyes closed naturally, then opened again after swallowing. His mouth felt empty; the memory lingering on his lips and teeth had turned him into a ravenous ghost. He looked at Ariana excitedly, exchanging joy with her smiling crescent moons.

"Delicious!" Lyle felt as if his tongue was being forced to utter the word. He felt that his ability to stop eating and exclaim in praise in the face of such delicious food was a testament to his strong self-control.

Ariana put down her knife and fork, smiled, and was about to respond to Lyle.

"It's sour." Beatrice put down her knife and fork and expressed her feelings in a loud voice.

"It's sour?" Lyle looked at Beatrice's plate, which contained the same steak as his own, and asked in confusion.

Beatrice met his gaze and snorted in dissatisfaction, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Can vampires eat meat?"

"Of course, drinking blood is necessary for survival, but I can treat eating as entertainment. And my tongue hasn't degenerated; I can clearly distinguish the subtle sourness in the steak."

Really? Lyle cut off another small piece, put it in his mouth, and once again became engrossed in the delicious taste. He didn't detect any obvious sourness.

Lyle looked at Beatrice with a suspicious expression.

He turned his attention to Ariana.

"Anna, how do you feel? Are you also feeling bitter?"

Before Ariana could even take her first bite, Beatrice and Lyle's eyes were already fixed on her.

He smiled.

"Then let me have a good taste. This is the first time in so many years that I've enjoyed food."

Ariana put the small piece of food into her mouth.

She chewed her lips a few times.

Then her lips started to droop, indicating that it didn't taste good. Before Lyle could say anything, a horrifying scene unfolded on Ariana's body.

Her skin, starting from her lips, slid down her body like melted wax. Her beautiful features melted and distorted, and the flesh fell to the ground like mud at her feet.

Ariana turned into a skeleton again, still maintaining the same feeding posture as before. The two flames of her soul, no longer obstructed by her physical body, flickered twice in her eye sockets at Lyle.

My girlfriend has turned into a makeup artist.

This scene was enough to traumatize Lyle, but the bloody mess was not what Lyle cared about at the moment.

“Anna!” Nia’s tentacles spread out on Lyle’s body. Lyle tightly grasped Ariana’s skeletal arm and looked at the two still relatively bright flames. “Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing.” Ariana, having reverted to her lich form, spoke in a cold voice. A ghostly servant produced a white cloak and draped it over her shoulders.

“I’m fine, Lyle.”

The minced meat on the ground turned back to its dark reddish-black color, just like Nia's former form, except that it had no tentacles and looked like a lump of rice cake.

"My disguise has fallen off."

Lyle's gaze returned to the clone of Nia. "What's going on, Nia?"

Nia extended her slatted tentacles, connecting with the mass of flesh.

"It is eating, and it needs to revert to its original form to eat."

Lyle stared at the writhing mass of flesh.

"Does eating require reverting to one's original form? Can't we rely on the human digestive system when disguised?"

"What is that?" Nia didn't know.

I understand. Arianna's corrupted disguise is an avatar created by Nia, who didn't imbue it with human physiological mechanisms during creation; it's merely a disguise. When it receives the command to feed, it reverts to its original state and eats.

It's all just a disguise.

Just like a binary computer cannot understand the meaning of the number ten.

The corrosion camouflage still needs system upgrades. As for how to eat and how to build a human digestive system, that's something I'll have to do later.

After sharing his analysis of the cause and effect, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"I see, Anna can't eat yet."

Ariana extended her white fingertips and stroked Lyle's palm, though the movement seemed somewhat stiff at the moment.

"Even a limited miracle is my good fortune."

Lyle smiled as he looked at the skull beneath the white veil.

"Ariana, I will let you rediscover the deliciousness of food."

……

“The meat from Naslan has a sour taste. This is unavoidable, after all, our livestock raising methods are rather special.”

"What method?"

Rumble!