Rhodes Island's Psychologist

Ch 178: Chi Xiao

Lin Ye swears, his hands were just itchy. That's really it.

*Cough*

Alright. He was actually bored out of his mind, thanks to the bickering between Ch'en and Swire, but when they changed the topic once more, this time to Ch'en's sword, Chi Xiao, he got interested.

After all, in his previous world, Chi Xiao was an ancient blade wielded by the emperor who decapitated the White Snake and started a new dynasty.

Chi Xiao, in that legend, was also known as "Emperor's Blade."

Lin Ye actually didn't have much hope that he'd be able to even move the sword, and he had mentally prepared himself for failure, but he still wanted to try. That was why he used more force than he normally would when unsheathing his own black steel sword.

But to his surprise, he felt no resistance from the blade.

It just slid out of the sheath-like butter.

Lin Ye gulps, seeing their surprised looks, which basically scream: "That's impossible... How did you do that?!"

Swire, in particular, was really surprised by what she was seeing. Even though she didn't know much about the sword, she had tried numerous times to unsheathe the blade without succeeding once. When she sees the blade, in all its glory, gleaming under the white light, she realizes something. She looks at Ch'en with a smug look, "So, Ch'en, what were you going to say again? That you're the only one who can pull the blade out? Why don't you show us?"

Ch'en was speechless, but she's not so much focused on what Swire said as she is on how Lin Ye could unsheathe the sword so easily.

Hoshiguma coughs and reminds Swire, "Swire, that's enough."

Swire didn't want to let this opportunity go, but when she saw Ch'en's expression and how her mood was swinging wildly, Swire shrugs and stops agitating Ch'en.

Thus leaving Lin Ye alone in the spotlight.

Ch'en finally asks with a complicated look, "How did you do it?"

"Uh...", Lin Ye scratches his head awkwardly, "I just unsheathed it like I would with my own sword, with slightly more... Actually, I didn't use much force. It just came out on its own.", he sneaks a peek at her, "Uh, when you said you're the only one who can pull the blade out, you were joking, right?"

Lin Ye immediately regrets saying that. Did he have a death wish?

Swire smiles more brightly at Ch'en after hearing Lin Ye's words. On the other hand, Ch'en doesn't seem to show much of a reaction.

Lin Ye breathes a sigh of relief.

He wasn't trying to mock her. Actually, he asked a genuine question.

To be frank, he didn't think he had some special ability that allowed him to unsheathe the blade. Although he has the pet affinity, Chi Xiao wasn't a pet. Hell, it's not even a living being. How was he supposed to use his affinity on the sword? That's why he suspects that Ch'en was just joking. Or perhaps, she exaggerated the effect to make the phenomenon look more mystical. Still, those aren't things Ch'en would be the type to do.

Hoshiguma looks at Ch'en out of concern.

"I lied.", Ch'en says slowly, "There is definitely more than one person in this world that can pull this blade out, but I have never seen anyone doing that with such ease."

Lin Ye pauses.

"I meant that literally.", Ch'en sees that Lin Ye is still confused, so to help him understand how incredible his feat was, she decides to demonstrate it herself, "Watch how I pull the blade out, and you will understand what I meant."

Seeing how serious Ch'en is, Lin Ye's chest tightens.

Was she going to use the demonstration as an excuse to kill him?

"Ha!", Ch'en roars in a low voice and suddenly pulls on the sword's handle.

Lin Ye quickly steps away from her, but then he notices that Ch'en hasn't pulled the blade out.

Instead, she's still gripping the handle.

*Pah*

Swire frowns. She turns to look at where the sound came from and sees the heart monitor was turned off. Then, she finds the power cable lying on the floor. The plug was still connected to the wall, but the wire was cut through.

"Ch'en!" Hoshiguma shouts, "What are you doing?!"

Suddenly, everyone feels a raging, aggressive presence that is rampaging in the room.

Lin Ye looks at the blade again.

Chi Xiao is finally out of its sheath... by two inches.

But the room is already "collapsing."

Bottles, cups, fruits, curtains, everything soft and malleable starts to dent and break, as if there is an invisible swordsman hacking and slashing at everything without a particular goal.

Other than Ch'en, everyone else starts to get really nervous, fearing that the next blow would land on themselves instead.

"Ch'en!" Hoshiguma grabs her shield, "Stop!"

Ch'en sheathes the sword and breathes out slightly as if she just walked away from a life-and-death battle.

Swire curses, "Damn dragon, are you trying to kill me?!"

Ch'en glances at her, "Although I can't completely control Chi Xiao, I can still make it avoid you."

Hoshiguma grabs Swire's shoulder and shakes her head.

Ch'en looks at Lin Ye, or rather, at his surroundings.

After those few seconds when she barely pulled the blade off the sheath, the room was full of dents and holes. Yet, the area around Lin Ye in a roughly two meter radius wasn't damaged at all.

She then realizes something.

Ch'en once again places her hand on the handle and wills Chi Xiao to attack Lin Ye.

... but it refused her command.

It seems she was right, Chi Xiao was deliberately avoiding Lin Ye.

But there was another thing she hadn't expected.

Ch'en quietly moves her hand away from the handle and hides it behind her back,

As a single drop of blood drops onto the floor.

{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}

Draft by Demosama

Proofread by Demosama & PanzerComrade56

Edit by Jaqqy10