Swordsmanship Coach: Kill with One Slash

Chapter 271: Chapter 181: Change (Part 2)

She couldn’t possibly fall back asleep.

Ultimately, she was just a teenage high school girl. Having never faced any real hardships, she naturally lacked the mental fortitude for something like this. All she wanted was to find someone, anyone, and pour out everything that had happened.

Lu Anning,

at that moment, became her only choice.

Because,

Lu Anning hadn’t immediately dismissed her.

At the time, Lu Anning was sleeping. She had just become Extraordinary, and her power was nowhere near as profound as Su Xing’s, so she still had to sleep.

When she woke up,

she finally saw her friend’s messages.

Seeing these messages, Lu Anning was no fool. Especially since she had just come into contact with the Extraordinary World around that time, she immediately realized something was very wrong.

However,

her experience with the Extraordinary was still limited.

Although she knew something was wrong,

no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out what it was.

What’s more,

by the time Lu Anning saw the messages,

her friend had already taken a bus and left the Summer Resort all by herself.

"Hm?"

"So she left?"

Su Xing was stunned for a moment.

He had thought, with the way these stories usually go, that something bad was bound to happen. But it turned out that nothing did, which surprised him a little. However, he quickly pieced it together and asked:

"Did something happen to her after she came back?"

"Yes..."

Lu Anning nodded on the other side of the screen.

Although she had left the Summer Resort and returned to her own home in Cang City, she felt like someone was standing by her bed every single night, staring fixedly at her.

This feeling grew stronger and stronger,

making her fear more and more apparent.

Gradually, she became too scared to sleep alone at night. She could only fall asleep if she was with her parents, but even that didn’t help.

Even when she slept with her parents, the feeling of being watched remained, as if countless pairs of eyes were fixed on her from the shadows.

Her state, like this,

naturally seemed to her parents like she was having mental health issues.

When the relatives returned from their trip,

her parents also heard about their daughter’s condition from them, making them even more convinced that she had some kind of mental illness and must see a psychiatrist.

However,

she didn’t think she was sick at all.

In fact, she felt her mind was clearer than it had ever been.

Therefore,

the doctor’s visit didn’t turn up anything.

Aside from a prescription for some sedatives, nothing came of it.

But,

the psychiatrist gave the parents an idea.

He suggested they invite the friends or relatives she had traveled with over for a meal. The idea was that once she realized they were still the same people, her "mental illness" would be resolved.

For such an unprecedented condition,

the psychiatrist’s approach was arguably quite clever. Her parents immediately agreed to the plan and invited her cousin over for dinner.

However, when her cousin arrived, she discovered that the girl had completely changed into someone else.

To be specific,

back at the resort, she had asked her cousin why her suitcase was full of pants and had no skirts. Her cousin had said she never wore skirts because she didn’t like the drafty feeling.

But,

this time, she came wearing a green miniskirt.

Through subsequent interactions,

she became absolutely certain that while the person looked identical, her personality, habits, and even some of her memories had changed. She had become a completely different person.

"Hmm...?"

"How is that possible...?"

Su Xing said with some amazement.

If this really was some kind of power sequence or Extraordinary method, it was incredibly elaborate, almost ingenious. Her parents had never even been to the resort; it was hard to imagine how their perceptions could have been altered.

But, to make sure his guess was on the right track, Su Xing made a point to ask one more question:

"Did her family not notice this change in her cousin?"

’If they weren’t affected by it,’

’and her personality and everything had changed,’

’her parents would surely have been able to tell.’

After all, Lu Anning’s friend had only known her cousin for a short time—not long at all. Her knowledge of the cousin couldn’t possibly compare to what her own parents knew about their niece.

"No."

"Or rather..."

"It was impossible to notice."

Lu Anning shook her head and said.

"Oh?"

Su Xing’s eyes narrowed as he asked:

"Why was it impossible to notice? Don’t tell me this cousin knows how to conceal her true nature?"

"Exactly."

Lu Anning was surprised by the accuracy of Su Xing’s judgment.

But when she thought about everything Su Xing had experienced, it was only to be expected.

She just continued,

"She told me that the creature disguised as her cousin immediately changed its act the moment it met her parents. It seemed to be deliberately mimicking the real cousin’s mannerisms. Her parents are middle-aged and don’t pay that close attention to the younger generation, so they didn’t notice anything was amiss."

After she returned,

she would contact Lu Anning from time to time.

Because Lu Anning was the only friend who comforted her about this matter.

Everyone else either thought she was under too much stress or that she was mentally ill. That’s why Lu Anning was fairly well-informed about the situation.

"And then?"

Su Xing didn’t interrupt and continued to ask.

’This story Lu Anning is telling is clearly nearing its end, so I’ll wait until it’s over to analyze what kind of event this really was.’

"She was terrified."

"She felt that no one could understand or believe her, so her only choice was to call the police."

"Coincidentally, the special organization dedicated to handling all sorts of Extraordinary incidents had just recently been revealed to the public."

"Even though she wasn’t an Extraordinary Being and had no experience with the Extraordinary, she knew that regular police couldn’t possibly handle something so bizarre. So, she didn’t hesitate to report it to the special organization."

"And the special organization did show up."

"Her story was outrageous, but since the special organization’s Extraordinary Beings were there to handle exactly these kinds of things, they actually wore extremely grave expressions."

But,

soon,

the investigation was closed.

No trace of any Extraordinary power could be found at the Summer Resort. All her friends and relatives answered the investigators’ questions perfectly, showing no sign of having been replaced.

Although,

a few members still felt something was off afterward,

and would come by from time to time to ask her questions. But whether it was because they couldn’t find anything or because something else came up, the members of the special organization eventually stopped visiting.

Because of this,

no one in her family believed her either,

and they all insisted on taking her to a better hospital, even suggesting she be admitted for more effective treatment.

"..."

’Why did the special organization stop the investigation?’

Su Xing wondered to himself.

’Could it be because of the Spirit Realm?’

’Based on the timeline,’

’it does line up.’

’If the Spirit Realm was the cause, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to shelve a case with no immediate leads.’

’But that also proves the special organization did find something strange, otherwise they wouldn’t have kept coming back.’

"Later..."

Lu Anning paused, then said:

"She was forcibly sent to the hospital and took a leave of absence from school."

Worried about her friend, Lu Anning gathered a few close friends after a session at the Sword Hall and went to visit her in the hospital.

The visit went much more smoothly than they had imagined.

When her friend saw Lu Anning, she was overjoyed. She insisted they stay for dinner and chatted with them about school until it was dark outside.

Back then,

when Lu Anning asked her about what had happened,

she just said that she had been under too much stress and had some minor hallucinations. After resting in the hospital for a while, she said the hallucinations had stopped.

At the time,

Lu Anning actually believed her.

The more Lu Anning learned about the Extraordinary, the more she understood just how warped the situation her friend had described was. Altering the perceptions of so many people at once... it was something beyond human capability.

Until,

at dinner.

She added a massive amount of vinegar to her noodles—enough to turn the broth completely sour. But the thing was...

...she had always hated the taste of anything sour.

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