Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Transparent tears slid down her snow-white cheeks, dripping from her chin and leaving deep water stains on the blankets.
The torrent of tears seemed unstoppable, silently filling her blood-red eyes, quickly soaking the sheets.
Compared to the torrent of tears, Yue’s expression was initially blank, as if it took him a while to recover.
He frowned, a troubled helplessness showing between his brows, then an unbearable pain surfacing in his usually cold and indifferent eyes.
“Ah…” A hoarse sigh escaped Yue’s lips; no matter how hard he tried to maintain his composure, he couldn’t hide his choked voice, “It’s so painful.”
“Why?” Ding Hong on the bed blurted out, not even knowing what she herself wanted to know after asking.
The moment the man’s hand touched her heart, the sorrow, despair, and reluctance she felt seemed to be transferred, relieving her mental torment but leaving behind an emptiness.
This emptiness made Ding Hong even more panicked, even leading to the thought: she’d rather die from heartache than experience this ignorant emptiness, feeling nothing at all.
Fortunately, the emptiness vanished in just a few seconds, and she regained her emotions.
The first thought that crossed her mind wasn’t relief, but intense heartache: Yue always said he had no feelings, so he didn’t know what happiness or sadness felt like. At first, she didn’t understand, but now she understood a little. This emptiness, as if she had no heart, was terrifying! Even just a few brief seconds almost made her lose herself. How had Yue gotten through this past year?
Thinking this, she could no longer control herself and opened her arms to hug the man in front of her.
“Ah!” The moment she touched him, the sleeves of her hands tore open as if burned.
Ding Hong was also burned by the sudden, intense heat.
The scream jolted Yue out of his reverie, and he recoiled abruptly.
Ding Hong, however, didn’t let go, and his movement pulled her off the bed, causing them to fall to the floor together.
“Let go.”
“No!”
Ding Hong not only didn’t let go, but instead gripped the man’s clothes tightly, her voice filled with undisguised terror. “Why is this happening? What’s wrong with you? Your face, your body…”
Yue didn’t speak; it felt as if volcanic lava was flowing beneath his skin, threatening to incinerate him at any moment.
“Tell me! I command you to tell me!” Ding Hong screamed.
Since their unexpected encounter, the fox spirit Yue had been unable to refuse her commands.
But this time, it was ineffective.
“Yue! Tell me what happened? Why have you become like this! Speak!”
No matter how Ding Hong interrogated, commanded, or focused intently, it had no effect on the person beneath her; despair gradually surfaced in her eyes.
“Have you noticed?” Yue said slowly, “Your commands are ineffective against me.”
He reached out, his sharp fingers tracing Ding Hong’s cheek, leaving a red mark without even applying any force.
A flicker of pain flashed in those tear-washed, crimson eyes. Her fingers didn’t move forward; instead, they withdrew a centimeter. “So I can hurt you, but it won’t affect me.”
Ding Hong’s eyes widened, her lips trembling. “It’s…it’s okay, nothing’s okay, as long as you’re alright… you have to be alright…”
“Get away!” Yue suddenly roared, interrupting her fragmented words.
Ding Hong was startled. But her instinctive reaction wasn’t to leave this seemingly crazed monster, but to grip him even tighter, afraid he would disappear from her sight.
“I told you to get away, or I’ll really kill you!” To prove his words, Yue’s five fingers suddenly plunged into Ding Hong’s heart with lightning speed.
This time, the fingers pierced her clothes, cutting her skin, and blood stained the edges of her garment.
Ding Hong cried out in pain, raising her head to meet Yue’s gaze.
The usually quiet and somewhat shy girl now possessed a terrifying, stubborn madness in her eyes.
She clutched the hand piercing her chest, crying out, “Kill me! Do you think this will scare me? Let me tell you, even if I die, I won’t leave! You’ve saved me more than once or twice anyway, this life is yours already, take it if you want!”
“…”
No matter how hard the girl tried, she couldn’t budge the demonized hand an inch.
Ding Hong laughed and cried at the same time, her beautiful face contorted, “I like you, I like you, I like you, Yue! I like you, I really, really like you, I dare not say I love you, others say liking is unrestrained possession, but love is selfless restraint, I don’t want to be selfless or restrained, I will only like you more and more from now on!”
“Ha.” Yue twitched her lips, revealing her usual mocking smile, “What a reckless and selfish confession.”
Ding Hong didn’t speak, tears dripping from her chin, falling onto Yue’s cheek below, instantly drying and evaporating.
Yue gazed at her silently, his eyes growing increasingly intense. His tightly pressed, cold lips trembled slightly as he parted, a low, mournful moan escaping from the depths of his throat.
He gave a bitter laugh, suddenly reaching out to pull the girl into his arms.
“Ding Hong, you haven’t changed at all.”
His hoarse voice brought tears to Ding Hong’s eyes, her heart aching. How could she bear to see this proud man so disheveled? He was always arrogant, and he should remain so.
She tried to move, to speak, but the man held her tightly, and she heard him mutter to himself, as if speaking to the air, “Always knows how to sway my heart.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ding Hong felt her heart pound violently, a deafening roar echoing in her mind, and all the images vanished.
Outside, a crimson moon hung in the sky, draping the world in a hazy, eerie veil. The modern steel city in the scene distorted and blurred, like a broken cassette tape, pulling one’s mind and body into the turmoil, leaving them unable to control themselves.
“Ding-a-ling—” A light, melodious bell sound suddenly rang out, growing louder as it approached.
The scene abruptly quieted down, no longer showing the familiar modern skyscrapers. Instead, there were blue-tiled roofs, stone-paved paths, and men and women dressed in short robes.
They were discussing something, and a scene played out in fragments. Listening to the conversations of the people in the play, one learnt that a legend was circulating in this small town— a fox spirit lived on Qingqiu Mountain behind their town, and every year sacrifices were offered to this fox spirit to ensure the town’s good weather and safety.
However, in recent years, the town had become unsettled, with frequent incidents of able-bodied men getting injured or disappearing while hunting in the mountains. Some suspected the fox spirit was angry, while others believed it was not a fox spirit at all, but a mountain demon.
The people were divided into two factions. One side believed that finding a bride for the Fox Spirit would please him and ensure his continued protection. The other side wanted to hire a sorcerer from outside the town to eliminate the mountain demon. They had chosen a representative and were raising money to send that person out of town to invite a renowned sorcerer.
While the belligerent faction was out searching for a sorcerer, the peaceful faction also encountered problems. Families with daughters were unwilling to send their children away. After discussion, they decided that everyone would contribute money to buy a woman from outside the town to be the Fox Spirit’s bride.
No one expected that the powerful sorcerer brought by the belligerent faction would encounter bandits on her way to the town. Initially, she was reluctant to fight due to the rule against harming ordinary people, but a hidden archer killed the town’s guide with a single arrow.
This sparked a fight, giving this inexperienced young sorcerer her first real experience of the cruelty of humanity.
She still didn’t kill him, only crippling the hidden archer before fleeing.
But before she could escape, she was struck hard on the head with a club, her face covered in blood. And after running for more than ten minutes, she collapsed unconscious on the ground.
This was the only way out of the small town, and two villagers who were going out of town to buy a fox spirit bride happened to find the unconscious female sorceress.
“Is this really necessary? She’s already so pitiful.” The young man looked at the female sorceress’s beautiful face, even stained with blood, and felt a pang of pity.
The older man, while carrying her, said, “If we hadn’t passed by and rescued her, she would either have frozen to death here or been eaten by wild beasts. We are her saviors, she should repay our kindness!”
“But if she marries the fox spirit, she won’t survive…”
“Shut up! Hurry up and carry her. Aren’t you happy that we can save you some money? Don’t you want to get married?”
“But…”
“Hurry up!”
In the end, the young man was persuaded, and the two of them carried the female sorceress back.
They didn’t know that after they had gone far away, a figure easily landed where they had been.
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