Chapter 23: Small Fire

"No, I won't go away!", she adamantly protested. "The heck were you doing when I was away? Why the heck is everything is a mess!"

Her reaction is contrary to the prior analysis Lon made. Even if she's another abomination, it is apparent she still hasn't lost her mind, her identity. The one that actually pays the rented unit.

"Madam lady, let's just go and do some shopping, shall we?" A cold hand tugs her left arm which belonged to a woman beside her. She was acting cool and cute to convince her to forget about what was the current state of her house. The appeal of her body is disturbingly awesome but it didn't affect Nana in the slightest bit.

"Go, go, go. Don't disturb me.", Lon also insincerely waved his hand while his eyes fell on a lump of melting box of metals, not showing the slightest concern.

Bam!

A foot stomped on the floor, generating mild torrents of wind that caressed his back. High amounts of ash temporarily blocked the line of sight of everyone present. It was purely her raw strength put into that specific action and she was already able to do something like that. The testament how much changes she underwent in less than a month.

"Nope, I won't leave! In the first place, where the heck did you get such a large amount of money? You couldn't possibly rob the son of an influential person?"

She is a nagging housewife that caught her husband on the act of cheating with the mistress. If you know a person enough, there is no plausible explanation for his sudden windfall of money, to buy some bulk objects resting peacefully in the corner and give some change to her. At her claims, he simply laughed it off and cleared the smudges that settled on his face.

"Oh, that? I simply won in a bout you know, the type with high-risk and high-reward. Winning some money in return."

Nana became dumbstruck because of this. Gambling nowadays has advanced mechanics that cheating is virtually impossible. It could be the awesome thirteen roulette or eleven-mil slot machine but no one would have the capacity to cheat in any reputable casinos on the planet. At least, there's no one present in the 12, 172nd-star system.

"What it is? Tell me! Gambling with the mafia or Majong with those laundering companies!" The soft-spoken voice became hoarse from her violent clamor.

"Let me ask you, what's your contribution for leeching from me." Her distant blue, sharp shaped eyes were filled with fury. A burning sensation is enough to roast anyone to death. She was triggered for some reason as it dyed her vision. "All you did is laze around and not even help in the household chores!"

The other girl stared at him with understanding because she finally pieced the puzzle why the helper her parents found is inconceivable to her.

"Tell me, what right do you have to do something so troublesome like this?" She pointed out to the pits the blistering lumps of hot metals made on the floor. To fix such damage, not even paint or tape is enough. A special cement is needed for such a restoration project.

One thing special about Lon is that sometimes, he's a jerk that will even take milk bottles from babies just to see them cry. It's a worry for the mothers but music to his ears. Only a person with a twisted mind will do that. Unless the baby is the child of your sibling and you wanted to see them cry for fun.

He chuckled at the end of her speech. A component with a weird drawing was simply taken from a thick supply box. On its surface, weird drawings with special meaning dispersed around.

"You're wrong. It's far-fetched from that."

"It's a gacha where I got a puppet with a malicious ghost obsessed with it, carrying three million Nins."

Nana went beyond her tolerance as her face was filled with anger because of the description. It sounded what he experienced from a virtual game he played before in an internet café. If not for his follow-up sentence she might have tried to attack him to knock some sense to the broken skull of his.

"By the way, that ghost is standing beside you."

She looked to her right and a proud face of a smiling girl came to her sight. Her beauty rivals her but that wasn't enough to describe her. Put it simply, she was a textbook definition of a rich woman showcasing her wealthy body politely

A contrasting scene where the devil and the angel both stayed close to one another, staring at each other.

"Are you bullshitting me?"

Despite the pale lifeless skin, the occasional stiff movements, and no need to breathe, Nana didn't believe all of it. There was this strange voice that kept telling her to punish this man regardless of the foreseeable consequences in order to wake him up.

"Nah, that's the truth. If I were screwing you, I would have long treated you like an innocent kid." He nodded and naturally explained to her. It was a matter of a fact for him because he wouldn't give a damn about anything else besides the results of his experiments.

Butt-hurt? He won't give a single cent of concern. Broken? He's already beyond repair, why would he help others? But one thing that sets him apart from the cold-blooded serial killers is that he's a thoughtless bastard that will certainly speak whatever is in his mind.

He looked back with a natural smirk on his face which is a big provocation for her.

"If you don't prefer that, I won't mind treating you like a garbage then."

The gust of wind came out of nowhere while Lon could feel his heart jump out of his mouth. There was no time to dodge or issue a verbal command but he could only send the corpse puppet beside him to block the incoming projectile.

Bang!

Via the direct soul link with the puppet, the punch that produced a loud noise, smoke that rose up from a dented palm skin, and palpations that he was experiencing, was stopped a few millimeters away from hitting his head.

Beatrix spectated this scene in silence with a bag of chips that magically appeared on her hand. She didn't expect that a mini-version of tv dramas will happen in front of her in real life. Moreover, she is acquainted with one of the actors.

"Who's the garbage now?", her coarse voice is laden with poisonous venom as she backed off. Her body is still in a guard stance, ready to counter any attack thrown at her.

Lon understood the meaning but he didn't take it personally. He was a powerless person without the corpse puppet or any external aid like the energy gun. This made the smug look on his face to be wiped out. If he didn't react fast earlier he would have a severe concussion that will need immediate medical attention.

This prompted him to place restrictions yet before he could, she stormed away after striking the place.

"You're a bastard! A bastardly bastard god knows what he is up to!"

This is the exact words said before Nana took the money and left. Without a context, it will look like a fight between a husband and a wife, which ended in a lack of closure.