Chapter 305 |
“Yuan Yuan-jie, I’m really sorry we have to trouble you to walk us home…” one of the girls murmured from behind as Yuan Yuanyuan packed her things. She wasn’t angry at the small group of young monsters behind her—just quietly thought to herself that everyone at the tavern really had a bit too much faith in her.
This kind of serious situation, and they were leaving it to her—a not-so-powerful demon—to handle? She didn’t know if that was trust or irresponsibility.
Why weren’t there any high-level demons at the tavern? Because recently the war had intensified. All the powerful ones had been sent off to assist elsewhere, leaving the tavern eerily desolate.
Many monsters were caught helping both the tavern and the anti-war organization at the same time. Yuan Yuanyuan herself was no exception, but things outside were getting chaotic.
Tonight, she happened to be free, so it was fine for her to walk a few girls home. She glanced at them—six girls in total, mostly from the youngling district in City C, which was roughly where Tang Shi lived too.
She suddenly recalled someone mentioning once that lots of the girls working part-time at the tavern were from the same high school—yes, the one Tang Shi attended.
With everything packed, Yuan Yuanyuan headed out with the girls. The sky had turned a pale red, and the air carried a strange tension. As soon as they stepped outside, the girls started to tremble. Another young female demon, whose home was nearby, looked back at them with concern and asked, “Can’t the tavern spare a room for them? Let them stay a few days until things calm down?”
Yuan Yuanyuan watched as that suggestion was swiftly rejected. She wasn’t surprised. If it were just a regular tavern, no big deal—but this tavern wasn’t ordinary.
It had too many secrets. If it let people stay, they risked being entangled in things far beyond their pay grade. As for Yuan Yuanyuan not being strong enough… well, compared to that, everyone was more worried about the tavern’s secrets being exposed. So it made sense that they’d rather have her handle this.
Then again, maybe she shouldn’t jinx herself. Yuan Yuanyuan quietly activated her illusion spell, shielding the area around them, and set out with the nervous girls. They walked while constantly checking their surroundings, but Yuan Yuanyuan herself stayed calm. With such a wide illusion in place, no monster would easily notice them.
“What’s going on? Why did everything suddenly turn into this?” one girl asked tearfully. “I want to go home…”
“Yeah, there was no warning at all. How did this all happen out of nowhere?” one of the bolder girls turned to Yuan Yuanyuan. “Sis, do you know what happened?”
“Ah, even if you ask me, I don’t know either…” Yuan Yuanyuan replied. As soon as she said that, a flash of lightning tore across the sky, making all of them jump.
She looked up. The sky, now a horrifying mix of black and red, was truly hard on the eyes. Most people preferred soft, clear colors, but this mess of clashing tones just made you dizzy.
As they walked, Yuan Yuanyuan began feeling nauseous. At first, she thought it was just the ugly color scheme messing with her, but soon she realized—no, it was more than that.
“Yuan Yuan-jie, are you okay?” one of the girls asked in concern. Yuan Yuanyuan took a few deep breaths, looked up again, and wondered, What is this? Why am I feeling so awful? But she pushed through, continuing to lead the group.
They hadn’t gone much farther when she reached her limit. She didn’t know how to describe the pain—it felt like her whole body was burning.
She touched her side—and was shocked.
At some point, she had started bleeding. She had no idea when it happened or how.
Yuan Yuanyuan rushed to get the girls safely to their homes. Once they reached their apartment complex, each of the girls breathed a sigh of relief.
“Don’t go to work for the next few days. Wait for further notice,” Yuan Yuanyuan said. The girls nodded, and Yuan Yuanyuan turned away, her steps already unsteady.
After turning a corner, she transformed into Yuan’s appearance and continued forward.
She kept glancing up—the sky was now even redder. Her sharp eyes could clearly see figures moving around, many wearing the familiar flower-patterned masks of the Hundred Demon King’s men.
Her illusion spell was starting to wear thin—it demanded too much demonic energy.
Everything had changed so suddenly.
And worst of all… she couldn’t even use her teleportation or burrowing techniques for more than a few seconds. If she tried to flee with those now, she’d just collapse mid-jump.
Yuan Yuanyuan felt like a complete wreck. She couldn’t remember feeling this helpless since that time—when she’d gone to the comic convention. That night she had coughed up blood and bled from almost every part of her body, hiding in the bathroom desperately wiping it off with tissues.
That had been awful, but this was even worse. She could barely stay on her feet now.
If her illusion failed, her true body would be exposed. She had no chance of escape then. Better to go in already disguised as Yuan.
Was she scared about being exposed as Yuan? Of course.
But her train of thought was this: she didn’t plan to fight. She just wanted outside help. And there was only one person who could give her that—Ji Qiu.
She was one step away from yelling “Ji Qiu, you damn troll! Help me, I’ll get on my knees!” At least then maybe he’d cut her some slack. After all, she’d been such a diligent helper—surely that was worth something?
She still didn’t know what the red wounds meant, or why they were worse than last time. Back then, she could at least fight a few low-level enemies. Now she couldn’t even stand.
She had to figure out what was going on—but first, she had to get out of here.
Maybe her shop? But who knew if anyone was stationed there now? Everyone knew Yuan had lived there. Maybe… she should head for the youngling district? Last time she’d gone there, it had gone surprisingly well.
She dragged herself forward. Her vision started to blur.
Finally, when she was just a few hundred meters from her shop, her legs gave out. She collapsed, barely managing to cast a weak illusion with the last of her energy.
Hopefully, when she woke up, she wouldn’t be somewhere too weird. Then again… anywhere was better than not waking up.
This was in fate’s hands now.
…
When Yuan Yuanyuan next opened her eyes and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling, her first thought was: Whoa. I actually woke up.
Her second thought: This doesn’t look like my place… but it’s not an interrogation room either.
She tried to sit up—but her body had no strength. She turned her head and looked around. The room was unfamiliar… yet oddly familiar.
Where had she seen this before?
She stared at the painting above the bed—an image of a bull charging. The art style nagged at her memory. Just then, the door opened and someone stepped in.
They locked eyes.
Ah. That’s why the bull looked familiar… This is Tang Shi’s place.
Right. Tang Shi lived nearby.
Yuan Yuanyuan looked at him—he seemed a little startled to see her awake.
She asked him two questions right away:
“How did you bring me here?”
“Did anyone see you?”
“N-no…” Tang Shi looked flustered. “I used illusion magic—the one you taught me. Didn’t run into anyone familiar. You’ve been here for a whole day. No one came looking…”
Yuan Yuanyuan exhaled.
As expected of Tang Shi. Bold and clueless. Most people would run for the hills in a situation like this—even if the unconscious person was a former teacher. Only a kid like Tang Shi would actually do something.
After that thought, she suddenly noticed something was off—Tang Shi wasn’t joking around like he usually did. He hadn’t said anything dumb in ages.
Right—today…
Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly remembered something important.
This was the first time she had appeared in front of Tang Shi… wearing Yuan’s face.