Challenge: The Fool with the Surname Okayamine

Interlude Chapter 178: "The Flexible and Resilient Invaders of Another World"

Under the night sky, in this strange world, that building stood like a lonely streetlamp in the wilderness.

In what appeared to be a very stylish apartment, a man and a woman sat facing each other at a table. The girl's eyes revealed a hint of panic, and she trembled slightly, not daring to give directions to the man in front of her.

"........."

They sat facing each other, a subtle silence and awkwardness pervading the room.

"Um... um... are you... alright?"

The girl slowly raised her head, her panicked eyes brimming with tears, staring directly at the pale face with veins faintly visible and the corners of her mouth twitching wildly.

Suddenly, a loud slam echoed as the table was struck. He slammed his fist down, the blow causing his hand to turn red, and roared at the blonde girl:

"Are you alright...? What do you think? Damn! Do you want to try being pinned to the sofa with a pillow and almost suffocating from lack of oxygen?!"

"But...but, because you're a man, that's really surprising."

"What's wrong with guys? Guys shouldn't be bullied by strong girls like you! Let me tell you..."

He kept shouting at the girl, who could only wag her fingers guiltily.

It was clearly her own home, yet for some reason he could insult her so harshly that she was speechless. Even the young girl must have found it strange.

"But... a normal quasi-elves shouldn't die from lack of oxygen, right? Besides, this is the [Neighboring World]. Creatures with spiritual power shouldn't die like this."

"Hey! What are you talking about! I'm not Superman, how could I ignore oxygen? Besides, you almost crushed me to death just now! What quasi-elf? What [Neighborhood]? Dude, are you even thinking straight?"

"Ok?"

The girl was taken aback by his question. Hearing the man's genuine anger, she immediately realized what he meant, widened her eyes, and pointed at him.

He spoke with a hint of realization:

"Do you know where this is? Do you remember what you used to do? Oh, you might have forgotten that... And what's your name?"

"Huh? I don't know. I don't even know who I am. I woke up here, and my face still hurts a lot when I woke up."

The girl tilted slightly; she would never tell this man that she had just been afraid she couldn't drag such a large person, so she tied a rope around his neck and used leverage to forcefully pull him onto the sofa.

However, even more embarrassing than this problem was that he didn't even know who he was.

"Impossible! Even if most of your memories from your previous life are erased, at least your name should remain..."

She murmured something to herself, her gaze meeting his as his expression shifted from anger to blankness, and she recalled the feeling of her hand pressing down on him.

"Wait a minute? With my strength, I shouldn't be able to control this kind of person... Wait, his eyes are completely empty! And his clothes are faint! His strength is weak! He has no memories... It matches the description of 'emptiness' perfectly!"

For some reason, the man always felt that there was a hint of pity in the girl's eyes when she looked at him, which made him very uncomfortable.

As if trying to verify something, the girl stood up somewhat shyly and awkwardly moved closer to the man.

It was probably the first time in her life that she had seen a man (referring to her life after falling into the neighboring world). She walked up to the man, hesitated for a moment, and then looked at him.

"Ah...uh, just wondering, could I test it on you? Ah, let me make it clear first, I used to be an idol, although I'm a complete loser now, so...so...I'm pretty clean..."

"What?"

Just as the man was still wondering, the girl reached her hands toward his chest. As if sensing some danger, he tried to dodge, but to no avail.

The gossamer-thin clothes were torn to shreds. The man stared in shock, his eyes wide, and roared:

What are you doing?!

The girl blushed, her fingers trembling as she fumbled around his chest. After a moment's thought, she muttered, "This isn't really spirit armor; it's just some kind of impurity made of spiritual energy..."

The man, on the other hand, resembled a bullied girl next door, cowering behind the sofa in fear. His exposed, pale chest muscles possessed a unique charm.

Before he could react, his hand was grabbed tightly by the girl again, and he was dragged towards the bathroom.

She was pulled to the water heater valve in the bathroom, and somewhat embarrassed, she grabbed the man's hand. Then, unexpectedly, the showerhead started spraying hot water onto the bathtub.

"Oh, thankfully... there is spiritual power, but it's rather weak. Perhaps in his previous life he was just an ordinary nobody like me."

The man looked completely bewildered, his eyes filled with a mix of confusion, anger, and doubt, utterly clueless about the situation.

"What are you doing?! Can you explain yourself first?!"

The girl then stopped what she was doing, patted her barely noticeable chest, and stated frankly with a sense of self-righteousness:

"Oh, although you're strange, and you suddenly appeared downstairs at my apartment building, you must be a quasi-elf who hasn't been here long, right? Because you don't have any dreams, you just came down empty-handed."

She talked on and on, though I didn't understand a single word of most of what she said, such as "domain," "quasi-elf," and "nameless angel."

The few things I could understand were—

"But you're the first male in this world, so congratulations! Although I've never heard of a male idol before, speaking of which, how's your singing? Come to think of it, I seem to recall hearing about male idols in my past life..."

"Huh?! What do you mean?"

Faced with his bewildered gaze, the girl enthusiastically began to introduce herself to him, mentioning things like the Ten Realms, Emptiness, and Spirit Gear. During this time, the girl also introduced herself as Hui Liliyinmeng.

The name sounds beautiful, like a star that's always shining; that's the first impression it gives.

Rion was surprisingly patient. Tao Tao didn't seem to notice when she talked about the neighboring world, but when the topic of "Dominator" was most important to her, her expression turned sour.

"Hey? Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about someone who really makes me angry."

"Who? Tell me, let me have some fun too."

The man suddenly started talking familiarly, seemingly selectively forgetting the scene of being pressed down with a pillow.

"I don't want to recall that stinky Ruiye... and the position of ruler that should have belonged to me."

There was a hint of disappointment and a hint of anger in her eyes, but in the end she just sighed and said it didn't matter, and led him out of the bathroom.

Although I sensed the stench of gossip, I refrained from digging into other people's wounds because I was still living under someone else's roof. Instead, I changed the subject.

"Um...would you like to be called that, Rion-chan? Are you going somewhere?"

"Let's find a suitable place to continue chatting. It just feels weird to chat in the bathroom, doesn't it?"

"It seems so."

"Oh, right, where were we just talking about?"

"O Ruler."

"That's not what I'm asking~ I'm asking you, what do you want to do after you become an empty being with your own spiritual power? I feel like your dull eyes aren't suitable to be an idol, and you're not even one ten-thousandth as cute as me."

"Huh? No, you're asking me, a grown man, to compete with you in cuteness! Are you serious?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, it really is a congenital problem."

The man's lips twitched slightly. Although he had a bit of a temper and really wanted to rush up and grab her by the neck to make her repeat what she had just said, he knew he couldn't beat her.

"Don't you dare curse again!"

"I didn't insult you... You seem a bit sensitive. In terms of service, it's definitely better than nothing."

Rion blinked. Her eyes were incredibly innocent and cute, and she didn't seem to be deliberately scolding herself. However, what was puzzling was...

"Speaking of which, why are you so certain that I am nothingness? Shouldn't you have just said that existence is empty and therefore not valued? Why are you saying that..."

"Yes, because your eyes are dull, your skin is pale, and you look like an ordinary passerby, so you're not particularly attractive. The only difference between you and your kind is that you have more micro-expressions than them, and you can survive without spiritual energy."

"I see. Although I still feel like you were insulting me..."

Upon reaching the bedroom door on the second floor, Rion went in first, and the man hesitated for a moment before following him in.

The bedroom was decorated warmly with pink bed curtains, but there were also some papers scattered around and some small miscellaneous items, visually creating a back-and-forth between neatness and clutter.

"This is?"

"My room, haha~ I only heard some noises, came out to check and saw you, and we chatted for so long, I'm really a little sleepy~~"

"so what?"

"What else can I do? Of course, I'll go to sleep. I've told you everything I wanted to tell you."

"what about me?"

The man pointed to himself, as if to remind Rionmu what he should do.

"Oh, right! Let me think... what if this time period allowed you, someone with a bit of nothingness, to go out and wander around..."

"Are you really not going to let me stay here?"

After a moment's thought, Rion looked at herself with some uncertainty, as if she had heard something strange.

"Hey! You're willing to follow me! Uh... I don't mind taking you in, but without idol energy, I can't replenish your poor, empty spirit."

"I remember you said I have spiritual power, right? I should be able to provide this myself. I just need a place to stay."

"Sigh! Are you really going to stay here with me?"

"Otherwise, do I have a choice?"

"Thinking about it carefully, as long as you don't need spiritual power, I'm fine with anything. It wouldn't be bad if I had a friend, since I've never had any friends before."

After hesitating for a moment, looking at the man staring blankly at her, Rion said:

"Speaking of which... can't you remember your own name?"

"nonsense."

"Your tone was a bit harsh. If you want to be taken in, you'd better be more friendly."

"Ah...you're right?"

"Okay, that's it! And another one! And another one! What else can you remember clearly now?"

“A girl… seems to be a very important person. I can’t remember her face, and her appearance is a bit blurry. The only thing I can remember is that I used to call her ‘Sawa’.”

"Wow! So you still have memories you can recall! What did you do in your previous life?"

"do not know."

"Cough cough."

"I'm sorry, I can't remember. Is that right?"

"Hmm, that's very polite. Speaking of which, you don't have a name, do you? Shall I give you one now?"

"Whatever, as long as it's listenable."

"Cough cough."

Seemingly enjoying the feeling of being respected, Rionmu subconsciously wanted to listen more. She couldn't help it; she had missed this feeling terribly ever since she could no longer sing.

"I can accept anything named by Ms. Rinemu. You probably want to hear something like this, right?"

“Not bad, not bad. Since you have nothing in your eyes and mind except for this memory, and you can’t remember your name, then I’ll call you ‘Nameless’.”

As soon as the girl finished speaking, Wuming nodded immediately and then walked downstairs to the sofa.

"The blanket is inside the TV cabinet at the bottom."

"Oh."

"cough..."

"Hiss, thanks!"

"Ah~ That feels so good~~"