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As it turned out, Orphelia seemed genuinely intent on staying here, with no intention of returning to Rewolf Black Academy.
Faced with this, Fang Li could only respond with sarcasm.
"Didn't you say you hated me? So why are you still following me around?"
Orphelia remained silent, offering no response in return.
That, in itself, made Fang Li feel as though he was talking to himself.
Even so, he didn't drive her away.
He wasn't particularly fond of this girl who had long abandoned hope and surrendered to despair. Nor did he harbor much sympathy for her tragic past. However, it was he who had first approached her out of curiosity. Now that the situation had reversed, he had no right to complain.
Perhaps it was just in Fang Li's nature to be this capricious— acting purely on his own will, without concern for consequences.
Who knows? Maybe by tomorrow, he would change his mind and tell her to leave.
But at least for today, he was willing to tolerate it.
"Let's just call it even."
Having come to that conclusion, Fang Li didn't offer Orphelia his bed. Instead, after taking a quick shower, he simply lay down on it.
Surprisingly, Orphelia silently did the same, slipping under the blanket beside him.
If anyone else had seen this scene, they would have found it impossible to believe that these two claimed to be enemies.
If they truly despised each other, if they truly couldn't coexist, would they really share the same bed so naturally?
And yet, neither showed the slightest hesitation. Despite being of opposite genders, they remained utterly indifferent to each other's presence.
This, if anything, proved that neither harbored any ulterior motives.
Otherwise, such casual disregard for each other's existence would have been impossible.
This strange, almost paradoxical way of coexisting could only belong to two anomalies like Fang Li and Orphelia.
Thus, the two lay side by side, sharing the same blanket, neither turning their back to the other.
For the record, Orphelia had removed her school uniform, leaving only a loose shirt on. Her snow-white hair cascaded across the bed, giving her an almost ethereal, ghostly appearance.
Outside, the night deepened.
Fang Li was already on the verge of falling asleep.
Only Orphelia remained awake, her crimson, moon-like eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought. There was a hint of hesitation in her gaze, as if she wanted to speak but couldn't bring herself to.
Then, at a certain moment, Fang Li, eyes still closed as if already asleep, suddenly broke the silence.
"If you have something to ask, just ask. Keeping it bottled up is just pointless."
Hearing this, Orphelia slightly lowered her gaze before speaking softly.
"When did you become a Genestellar?"
Fang Li didn't hesitate to answer.
"A year ago, right after entering Jie Long Seventh Institute."
To be more precise, it had been a year in this world's time.
But if measured by Fang Li's own experience, it had felt much longer.
"A year ago..." Orphelia murmured. "Was it because of an experiment?"
Orphelia herself had been turned into a Genestellar— a Strega, no less— through inhumane human experimentation.
But Fang Li's case had been different.
"At the very least, no one strapped me to a table and injected some mysterious substance into my body," Fang Li said, still keeping his eyes shut. His voice was casual, almost drowsy. "If I had to describe it... it was more like I was affected by an unknown power."
That unknown power was, of course, the Main God's Dimension.
Back then, Fang Li had been able to sense the presence of Mana, meeting the criteria to become a Genestellar. And so, through the power of the Dimension, he had undergone the transformation.
Yet to Orphelia, those words carried a different meaning.
"Ah…" She sighed bitterly. "Then, I suppose you could call it fate."
'Couldn't you?'
To be transformed from an ordinary person into a Genestellar due to some unseen force— was that not fate?
But Fang Li finally opened his eyes.
"Don't just blame everything on fate." His voice was cold. "That's nothing more than an excuse to deny your own choices. And honestly, it's irritating."
"I became a Genestellar of my own free will. Unlike you, I wasn't forced."
Orphelia blinked, momentarily taken aback. After a pause, she asked earnestly, "Why? Why would you voluntarily become someone who brings harm to others?"
"Brings harm?" Fang Li scoffed. "Since when does having power automatically mean hurting people?"
"From what I've seen… it always does." Orphelia's voice carried a trace of sorrow. "I am that way. And so are you."
The difference was that Fang Li wielded his power by choice, whereas Orphelia had once been powerless and had since given up.
There was, however, another fundamental difference between them.
"Maybe, in your eyes, every life has its own worth and shouldn't be harmed," Fang Li remarked with a hint of mockery. "But I'm not as kind as you. I have my own desires."
"If I like someone, I'll get along with them."
"If I hate someone, I'll kill them."
"I enjoy spending time with my Senior Brother and Senior Sisters."
"But if it's someone who would strap you to a lab table and experiment on you… I won't hesitate to kill them."
Orphelia's shoulders trembled ever so slightly.
But Fang Li seemed indifferent, continuing on.
"Kindness isn't necessarily a virtue. Nor is it necessarily right."
"At least, that's how I see it."
With that, he seemed ready to end the conversation, shutting his eyes.
"It's late. I have morning training tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep."
With that, he adjusted his breathing, slowly slipping into slumber.
Listening to his steady breathing, Orphelia turned her gaze once more to the ceiling.
Her crimson eyes flickered with emotions she herself couldn't fully understand.
But at the very least, she had come to realize one thing.
"Perhaps… meeting someone like you was my fate as well?"
With that thought lingering in her mind, Orphelia finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.
'(End of Chapter)'