Ran Jiuyi’s Past

For Ran Jiuyi five years ago, life was about breaking free from poverty. Having a friend who felt like a sister and a career to fight for meant everything was moving in the right direction.

‘If only it could stay like this forever.’

That’s what the Ran Jiuyi of that time thought.

But unfortunately, this period of happiness was about to be shattered, and Ran Jiuyi would eventually be forged into the person she is today.

At the Suzuki main house, the current head of the family, Suzuki Ritsu, was profoundly dissatisfied with the newly born next generation of the Suzuki bloodline.

Over the course of a year, the Suzuki family had produced over a dozen newborn infants. These infants were all conceived according to the methods implemented by Suzuki Ritsu, birthed by direct female descendants of the Suzuki family who possessed the densest fox demon bloodlines.

Theoretically, the bloodline concentration of these infants should have been, at the very least, no lower than that of their parents.

But the results were cold. Experimental testing showed that the bloodline concentration of these infants had not only failed to rise but had actually dropped significantly. Of the dozen or so infants, only three barely reached the average level of the previous generation. Among the rest, the lowest concentration didn’t even reach one-third of that average.

This outcome was clearly unacceptable to Suzuki Ritsu. In a fit of irrational rage, he personally murdered all the personnel who performed the tests that very day, showing zero regard for the potential repercussions.

Yet, even after experiencing such a gruesome failure, his stubbornness bordered on idiocy. He didn’t believe his method was the problem. Instead, he believed the direct descendants were deceiving him, finding random outsiders to father the children.

To solve this delusional problem, he actually decided that from then on, all children would be sired by him—possessor of the densest bloodline—with the other women of the main house.

Such a proposal naturally incited even more violent protests from the rest of the Suzuki family. The previous plan was already a violation of ethics; was he now going to be even more excessive?

But these protests were destined to be ineffective. In the Suzuki family, Suzuki Ritsu, with his overwhelming gap in strength, was the absolute ruler. For every command he gave, the people of the Suzuki family had only two choices: consent, or die.

After killing several public dissenters to make an example of them, the rest, in order to survive, could only choose to comply with Suzuki Ritsu’s orders, obediently sending all the direct-line women of the family to his bed.

Even having gone to this extent, Suzuki Ritsu felt it wasn’t enough. He believed the efficiency was too low and that more suitable direct-line females were needed.

Thus, he thought of Suzuki Tetsuya, who had left the family a year ago.

A few days later, Ran Jiuyi received a new invitation for a collaboration. Thinking it was just another company wanting to work with the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad, she went to the appointment at the provided address without a second thought.

The location was a quiet mansion on the outskirts of the city. Ran Jiuyi felt she was already very familiar with this city, yet she had no impression of this manor at all. This slight abnormality didn’t raise her guard; she simply assumed she had never noticed the place before.

Upon entering the large room at the very center of the mansion, Ran Jiuyi met the person who had invited her.

It was an old man in a kimono who appeared to be at least sixty. His face was aged, but his body was unnaturally strong. Even through the loose kimono, Ran Jiuyi could clearly see the outlines of his muscles.

There was no doubt that this unknown old geezer was a transcendent, and a very powerful one at that.

Four bodyguards in suits stood around the room. As soon as Ran Jiuyi entered, they immediately closed the door.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Suzuki Ritsu, the head of the Suzuki family, and Suzuki Tetsuya’s grandfather.”

Before Ran Jiuyi could even sit down, Suzuki Ritsu spoke: “I have invited you here today to notify my granddaughter that I am taking her back.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Ran Jiuyi refused flatly. “Tetsuya told me all about you long ago. She broke away from the family ages ago; she has no reason to go back.”

At Ran Jiuyi’s answer, the four bodyguards closed in, blocking any route for her to escape.

“The fact that you didn’t go to Tetsuya first, but came to me instead, proves you know she would never go back with you. Furthermore, the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad is currently under government jurisdiction and has a certain level of influence. Using forced military power would easily blow the matter out of proportion.”

Facing this situation, Ran Jiuyi didn’t flinch in the slightest. “So you thought of a way to lure me out alone to deal with me, the manager of the squad, first?”

As she spoke, Ran Jiuyi sized up the bodyguards surrounding her. Judging by the thick mana radiating from them, every single one was an opponent Ran Jiuyi couldn’t handle.

And the most critical factor was Suzuki Ritsu sitting in front of her. Ran Jiuyi had heard Suzuki Tetsuya describe his strength: ‘He could wipe out everyone in the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad with just one finger.’

Knowing that her chances of survival today were slim, Ran Jiuyi simply cursed: “f*ck you, you perverted old thing. Making your own children incestuously—”

Before Ran Jiuyi could finish her sentence, her tongue was firmly clamped between two of Suzuki Ritsu’s fingers.

In just an instant, Suzuki Ritsu had appeared right in front of her, and Ran Jiuyi hadn’t reacted at all. At the same time, the four bodyguards pinned her down, neutralizing any movement.

“A-ga-ga…”

With a slight exertion of pressure from his fingers and the welling of blood, a painful wail escaped Ran Jiuyi’s throat.

Looking at Ran Jiuyi’s agonizing expression, Suzuki Ritsu nodded with satisfaction. “I already told you, the person I intend to notify is my granddaughter. You are merely the notification.”

“But first, you must learn to respect your elders.”

With that, Suzuki Ritsu’s arm suddenly jerked with force, and he ripped Ran Jiuyi’s entire tongue out by the root.

Ran Jiuyi simply vanished. She disappeared without a sound.

Suzuki Tetsuya searched for her like she had gone mad, but in the end, she found nothing.

It wasn’t until a week later that Suzuki Tetsuya found Ran Jiuyi lying at her doorstep, on the brink of death.

Or more accurately, a lump of flesh named Ran Jiuyi.

Suzuki Tetsuya rushed her to the hospital. After a series of treatments and examinations, a grey-haired doctor sought out Suzuki Tetsuya specifically. Pointing at Ran Jiuyi in the intensive care unit, he said:

“You’re Ran Jiuyi’s colleague, right? To be honest, in my thirty-plus years of practicing medicine, I have never seen a case like hers. What I’m about to say might be hard for you to accept, but please listen closely.”

“Her entire body is covered in various man-made injuries, including but not limited to blunt force trauma, sharp object wounds, sprains, and various types of burns.”

“The vast majority of the skin on her body was flayed. Her ribs are nearly all broken—more accurately, they’ve been shattered. Her eyes, her tongue, and all of her fingernails… are gone.”

“But the most critical part is this.” The doctor produced an X-ray. “This is the result of her full-body scan. It’s… shocking. Most of the bones in her body are simply no longer there.”

“And based on my experience, these bones were… well, I don’t know how to put this to you.”

After hesitating for a long time, the white-haired doctor finally said: “It’s like boneless meat. After the whole thing was crushed, the bones were picked out one by one, and then the flesh was sewn back together. I’m not entirely certain, but the various wounds and suture marks on her body tell me this is what happened.”

“I’ve been a doctor for over thirty years. I’ve never seen anyone capable of doing something this cruel, nor have I seen anyone who could survive after experiencing this.”

Realizing his words were too terrifying, the doctor quickly corrected himself: “These are just my speculations, they might not be true. Don’t take it too much to heart.”

“However, I strongly suggest you report this to the police, or seek help directly from those individuals with extraordinary abilities. We can only provide medical treatment here; we can’t offer her any other kind of help.”

After hearing the doctor’s words, Suzuki Tetsuya didn’t say a word. She just sat quietly to the side. And that one sitting lasted for the better part of a day.

During that time, whether it was her comrades from the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad coming by or other doctors questioning her, Suzuki Tetsuya didn’t say a single word. she just stared quietly at Ran Jiuyi.

It wasn’t until the dead of night, gazing at the still-unconscious Ran Jiuyi, that the grief and rage in Suzuki Tetsuya’s heart became unbearable, and she began to sob softly.

The next day, Suzuki Tetsuya disappeared.

Hearing this, Meng Shan apologized: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to talk about these things. This must be something you really don’t want to remember.”

“It’s nothing. This doesn’t have anything to do with you. Besides, I’ve already moved past it.”

As she spoke, Ran Jiuyi condensed over a dozen Eclipse Needles and drove them all into her right arm.

While moving her arm, she said, “See? Just like this. I’ve become indifferent to pain.”

Meng Shan shook his head. “In my eyes, that doesn’t count as moving past it. Forget it, we can talk about that later.”

“Oh, by the way,” Ran Jiuyi added, “Just for the record, I’m still a virgin, because on the very first day, they flayed my skin off.”

Meng Shan: “…Why would you say that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Stop pretending. I know that most men care about that sort of thing.”

Meng Shan was speechless. “…I really don’t know what to say about you. Fine, just keep telling me what happened afterward.”

“Afterward? Well, it took me a month to wake up, three months to stand up, and six months to fully recover. Back then, my recovery ability wasn’t that strong. If it happened now, with those kinds of injuries, I’d only need less than a week.”

At this point, Ran Jiuyi’s expression became very lonely. “I could have gone to look for Suzuki Tetsuya back then, but I was afraid. Those seven days of torture have been tormenting my mind ever since I woke up.”

“Every night when I fall asleep, I dream of my body being torn apart and crushed by those guys.”

“So even though I improved and was discharged, I still didn’t have the slightest bit of courage to go find Tetsuya, even though I knew where she went. Or rather, it was because I knew where she went that I didn’t dare find her.”

“During that time, I was always like a coward, only knowing how to hide in my own home. I was constantly terrified that maybe the next day, the Suzuki family would come and snatch me away again to continue the torture.”

“During that period, the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad also disbanded due to various methods used by the Suzuki family. Without Tetsuya and without teammates, I completely became a solitary person.”

Ran Jiuyi paused, then continued, “And then, in the ninth month, I heard the news of Suzuki Tetsuya’s death.”