On the way home, Helena held Luo Wei's hand tightly.
But she remained silent the whole time, as if lost in thought.
"What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"
Helena looked up at Luo Wei and asked hesitantly:
"Brother... can you stop going to school?"
"Helena wants brother to stay home with me..."
Luo Wei smiled at her, "Didn't I always stay home with you before?"
Helena shook her head, her smile becoming somewhat melancholy.
"Brother is too popular at school... Helena is worried..."
"Worried that someone will steal brother away."
Luo Wei ruffled Helena's hair, "How could that happen? I'll always be your brother."
But Helena stubbornly dodged Luo Wei's hand, her voice getting lower and lower.
"It's not like that..."
"It's not like that..."
"It's not like that!!"
She kept repeating these words, muttering to herself, her tone becoming shrill and strange.
Luo Wei looked at her with concern, having never seen Helena react like this before.
Even the strength in her hand was increasing, as if she was about to crush his hand.
Luo Wei started to feel a bit scared.
"Helena wants..."
"Wants..."
Luo Wei looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she was trying to express.
But Helena kept her head down, not letting Luo Wei see her expression.
The atmosphere became particularly silent.
Luo Wei felt a strange sensation, as if his "sister" had become somehow different.
She kept quiet, so Luo Wei could only look at the vintage-style street.
Due to the combination of steam and magical technology, the streets were filled with wondrous and novel things.
The game "Anomalous Species Containment Facility" had never been very popular, with no one discussing it on forums. Luo Wei always felt like he was the only one playing this game.
But the game's artistic style was particularly outstanding and very much to his liking, so he had been quite addicted to it for a long time, investing a lot of enthusiasm.
So when he first realized he had transmigrated into the game world, Luo Wei was quite excited.
In his original world, he was all alone, living a monotonous and boring life.
But in this world, the protagonist's identity was mysterious and extraordinary, with a sister and a house - he was practically a winner at life.
He was already eagerly anticipating his adventure journey in this other world.
Speaking of which, the identity of an "ordinary student" at Callen University was his disguise to the outside world, which was quite necessary, so he hadn't directly answered when Helena asked earlier.
Looking again at Helena, who was silent with her head down.
Just as Luo Wei was about to continue comforting her, Helena suddenly raised her head.
She revealed an angelic, gentle smile.
"It's Helena's fault, Helena didn't consider brother's feelings."
"Let's hurry home!"
In the story, Helena had always been the gentlest and most considerate. Seeing that smile, Luo Wei felt relieved.
The strange feeling from earlier gradually disappeared.
"I'm glad you understand."
How could the most obedient and well-behaved Helena have any other thoughts?
Luo Wei held her hand, and the atmosphere became warm again.
The two chatted happily about what had happened over the past four years, passing through street after street, arriving at their large house in the remote suburbs.
It was a two-story Western-style house, an inheritance from their late "father," which later became the protagonist's containment facility's base of operations.
Of course, although it was called containment, after resolving crises, they had all become like tenants, living together happily as a family in this big house.
So when he opened the door and saw the empty, quiet house, he asked with confusion:
"Huh? Where are they? Where did everyone go?"
The room was empty, quite clean though, showing that Helena had been taking care of it, but there was no sign of life.
"They?"
Luo Wei heard a muffled click behind him.
Helena had locked the door.
Luo Wei suddenly felt a chill in the air, a bone-chilling coldness...
Right after he had said "they"...
Luo Wei slowly turned his head, and his smile gradually faded.
Because he saw that Helena no longer had the gentle smile she had outside. She was looking at him with a gloomy face, with an indescribably eerie gaze.
"They?"
"They???"
Helena's expression changed from blank to gradually becoming ferocious and agitated.
"Four years! I've been looking for you, brother, for four whole years!!"
"Only Helena has been persistently looking for you! They've all disappeared long ago!!"
"But you're still thinking about them?? Isn't Helena enough for you??"
Luo Wei opened and closed his mouth, Helena's reaction was so intense that it caught him completely off guard.
He instinctively glanced at the main door, realizing that Helena had added a chain lock to it at some point.
In the moment he wasn't paying attention, she had firmly locked the door.
"Helena, you..."
"What's wrong with you?"
Looking at Helena, who seemed to have become a completely different person, Luo Wei unconsciously took half a step back.
She had been fine just moments ago, had she been pretending all along?
Helena, seeing Luo Wei instinctively retreat, twisted her angelic face into a strange smile.
"Why are you backing away, brother?"
"Are you... are you afraid of Helena?"
"Hehe, I knew it, I knew it..."
"You never saw me as a sister, you've always thought of me as a monster!!"
"Wait, Helena!" Luo Wei, seeing Helena becoming increasingly unstable, hurriedly tried to explain.
"It's not like that, how could I think that way?"
But it was too late. As Helena's smile became more and more distorted, an indescribable sensory impact hit Luo Wei's mind.
He suddenly felt his whole body unable to move, his heart occupied by fear, and even his vision began to warp.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Helena's body also began to distort, becoming eerily strange.
That pure and gentle angel-like girl was gradually becoming something Luo Wei dared not look at directly.
[You have received a strong mental shock]
[Performing sanity check...]
[Sanity check failed]
[Sanity -5]
"Helena, stop it!" Luo Wei cried through gritted teeth, "You're not yourself! You're releasing mental pollution!!"
"No! Brother!"
Helena approached Luo Wei's body step by step, "Helena knows exactly what she's doing~"
She pulled out a sharp knife from somewhere, walking towards Luo Wei with an increasingly maniacal smile.
"Helena..."
"Helena will never..."
"Never let brother leave again!!"
"What... what are you going to do!" Luo Wei said through clenched teeth, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, the mental pollution making it almost impossible for him to speak.
The sharp, gleaming blade touched Luo Wei's skin, and he immediately felt an icy sensation.
"Brother is not being good, Helena has no choice~"
Helena, like a demon or a mischievous child, smiled as the knife tip occasionally grazed Luo Wei's neck, then pressed against his chest.
"Only this way can brother stay with Helena forever..."
Seeing Luo Wei's agitated expression, Helena giggled, "It's all brother's fault for being so fickle, so popular~"
"If only brother had agreed to my request earlier~"
"Too bad... Helena can only do this now!"
Luo Wei felt the knife tip slowly piercing into his chest, the sharp pain making him terrifyingly realize...
Helena was serious!
She really wanted to kill him!!
"Does it hurt, brother?"
"It's okay..." she caressed Luo Wei's cheek somewhat sorrowfully, as if comforting him.
"It will be quick, it will be over soon..."
"Don't worry, Helena will be with you..."
"No one will ever take you away again... We'll be together forever very soon..."
The pain from the gradually sinking knife tip made Luo Wei cry in agony, but it also suddenly cleared his mind.
In that instant, he finally broke free from the suppression of the mental pollution.
He gathered all his strength and pushed away Helena, who was so close, also knocking the sharp knife flying through the air.
When his thoughts cleared, Luo Wei clutched his chest and immediately wanted to use his "containment" authority.
Any "anomalous creature" he contained could be controlled by him, forming a team to defeat enemies.
But in the next second, Helena's character panel suddenly updated.
Seeing the information on it, Luo Wei felt as if he'd plunged into icy water.
[Helena (Uncontained/Escaped)]
[Species: Hybrid Anomaly (95% Human; 5% Shoggoth)]
[Affection: 100]
[Contamination: 75↑]
[Danger Level: Four Stars (High Risk!)]
[Description: A twisted being madly in love with you]
It must be because he had been gone for four years that Helena's status on the system panel was [Uncontained]...
In the Anomalous Species Containment Facility, containment subjects must have [Affection] above 50 and [Contamination] below 50 to be successfully contained.
And having just returned, without any contained entities, he was a lone commander with no skills and no way to counter her.
He was done for...
Helena, who had nearly fallen, stood up again. She stared intently at Luo Wei before her, the smile on her lips still twisted.
"Brother... you still choose to resist..."
"It seems Helena's choice was right after all."
"After all, someone as wonderful as brother never belonged to me from the start..."
Luo Wei watched her every move, quickly glancing at his surroundings. With his life on the line, what was he waiting for? Run!
The main door had already been locked by her, and he definitely couldn't open it. No wonder she had been so insistent on him coming home earlier - this was the trap she had deliberately prepared.
Luo Wei immediately glanced at the window next to the living room.
The window wasn't far, and he could reach the street if he climbed out.
What he needed to worry about most now was the supernatural ability Helena had just demonstrated.
In the first playthrough, Helena was the earliest contained character, with only one skill: [Mental Contamination]. One only needed to escape a certain range to get away.
But if unfortunately hit by [Mental Contamination], a sanity check would be required, and at that point, it would come down to luck.
Helena seemed to catch onto Luo Wei's thoughts, and she giggled, "Don't even think about it, brother. This is my domain, you can't escape~"
Luo Wei silently looked at her.
Then, he showed a helpless but gentle smile.
"Helena, actually..."
With past experience, his maxed-out [Charm] could solve many problems with just a smile.
Sure enough.
Helena stared at Luo Wei's smile, momentarily dazed.
"Actually what? Brother?"
"What did you want to say in the end?"
Still gonna die, huh? Luo Wei laughed coldly in his heart, and with lightning speed—
He turned and ran.
The presence behind him suddenly paused, and he sprinted towards the window without looking back.
One step...
Two steps...
Three steps...
The window was within reach.
Driven by survival instinct, Luo Wei used both hands and feet to climb onto the balcony, moving at incredible speed.
The setting sun outside the window enveloped him.
Jump down, and he'd be saved!
But this glimmer of hope lasted only a second.
With a squelching sound.
His chest suddenly felt cold.
His hands gradually lost strength, and he heard the patter of a large amount of blood dripping to the ground.
Was this... a new ability?
Luo Wei slowly looked down.
He saw that his chest had been pierced by a sharp and slimy tentacle.
How could it... reach so far?
The crimson blood quickly spread across his white shirt, soon soaking Luo Wei's entire garment.
With a bout of dizziness, Luo Wei's body fell heavily onto the cold floor.
His thoughts became increasingly muddled.
In the last moment before losing consciousness, he saw Helena walking towards him step by step.
She looked at him expressionlessly, her arms having transformed into wildly flailing tentacles.
Luo Wei's vision went black, and he lost all sense of the world around him.