Thump! Thump!
Like drumbeats, the sound echoed ceaselessly, carrying a strange, rhythmic quality.
Pitch blackness enveloped everything. All light seemed to have been devoured. The darkness, like cold, dark blood oozing from a decaying corpse, snaked over its surroundings and slowly seeped into every crevice.
Gurgle, gurgle…
A sound, like an adult drinking water, faintly rippled through the air.
Almost simultaneously, dark red flames erupted from the ground, subtly illuminating the surrounding scene.
A colossal golden scale stood majestically in the center of the grand hall. Pure, flawless feathers floated serenely above its golden pointer.
Under the glow of the dark red flames, the scale refracted a diamond-like, crystalline brilliance. Within that radiance, shadows of truth seemed to be reflected.
Behind the scale, on an ancient stone throne, a humanoid figure rested, propping what appeared to be its head with an arm.
Thump, thump, thump!
The previously faint and erratic drumming suddenly intensified, becoming urgent and heavy.
The dark red flames on the ground swelled at the same moment, casting light upon the dark red hearts that hung suspended in the air like peaches.
Gurgle, gurgle!
In the black pool surrounding the scale, a pair of enormous, profound eyes slowly surfaced, staring hostilely at the center of the hall.
“My dear ‘Death’ Your Highness, I regret to inform you, it seems an important arrangement of the Palace of Satan in the East has been uprooted!”
Adorned with star-like shimmering patterns, the figure’s long robe was as dark as night. Their face was veiled by a dark mask, and their voice was hoarse and indistinct.
“Since when did the Wisdom of the Stars begin to meddle in others’ affairs?”
The figure on the ancient stone throne slowly opened their eyes. Their eye sockets were profoundly black, as if containing two black holes.
A cold voice resonated in the darkness, followed by the sound of water being churned. The malevolent eyes beside the scale rose slightly, revealing rough, grotesque skin below and a gaping maw several times larger than an ordinary alligator’s. Ferocious fangs were bared, exuding a chilling, metallic gleam.
Thump, thump, thump!
The hearts suspended in the air pulsed in unison at that moment, sending invisible ripples through the void.
“If I am not mistaken, Your Excellency Death’s target also fled into that realm. Tsk, tsk, tsk, that is a living ancient god, and currently in a weakened state. I fear many are secretly eyeing them covetously!”
Splash! The enormous, grotesque alligator head broke the surface of the water, followed by a massive, muscular upper body akin to a lion’s.
Yet, the other person remained completely unfazed, as if oblivious to the approaching death, continuing their verbose speech from their spot.
“This humble one represents the Order, bringing goodwill, hoping to cooperate with Your Excellency…”
“…Ammit.”
The monster’s gaping mouth froze mid-air. On the ancient stone throne, the figure lowered the hand that had propped their head. With a wave, they plucked a heart from the air and began to toy with it. Their pitch-black pupils narrowed slightly as they scrutinized the visitor before them.
“Cooperate?”
“Perhaps ‘transaction’ would be a more fitting description than ‘cooperation’…
****
“Uwaa, what are you doing? Don’t take off my clothes, mmph!”
Golden hair lay scattered across the ground. The young girl panted softly, her delicate face flushed crimson. Her loose clothes clung tightly to her body as she struggled, outlining her graceful curves.
Lin Xuan looked at the suddenly chaotic scene before her, feeling a pang of reluctance to disrupt such a picturesque moment.
Just as she hesitated, a few buttons on Shi Chen’s shirt finally came undone.
Swish!
The scene before them brightened slightly, followed immediately by Shi Chen’s shriek.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Snapping back to reality, Lin Xuan immediately stepped forward. She effortlessly lifted the seemingly powerful little loli, holding her up like a baby chick.
However, the white-haired little loli seemed completely mesmerized, staring blankly at Shi Chen, who was clutching their chest and glaring angrily at her.
“How is this possible? The red cross, you swallowed it?”
“Huh?”
****
“So you mean Shi Chen swallowed your ‘red cross’ thing, and that’s why they became like this?”
Lin Xuan dusted off the classroom desk and plopped onto it, looking at the little loli who called herself Qiongqi.
She wouldn’t bother with how this creature appeared for now, as there was something more important to clarify.
“That should be it, but I don’t know how the red cross got into their body!”
The little loli nodded, her small head bowed like a child who had done something wrong, unwilling to meet Lin Xuan’s gaze. Earlier, Qiongqi might have been more arrogant, but that single grab had made her deeply aware of the disparity in strength between herself and the ‘Celestial Fox’ before her.
The moment the other party’s hand touched her body, all her surging demonic and magical power seemed to vanish instantly. Even the innate bloodline power of her ferocious beast physique was suppressed by some terrifying force. In that moment, she was as frail as a mortal!
‘An immortal fox capable of countless heaven-reaching arts? I didn’t take it seriously before. It seems that was a warning from her. Ancient sealing art? Or some long-lost absolute seal?’
“How big was your red cross?”
“Uh.”
Lin Xuan’s voice suddenly rang in her ear. The little loli paused, then extended her small hand, gesturing in the air.
“Roughly the size of a pendant, a bit smaller than a one-yuan coin.”
After a moment’s thought, Qiongqi offered what she believed to be an appropriate description.
“Xiao Chen, did you feel like you swallowed anything back then?”
“Uh, I don’t remember clearly! I only remember talking to you by the bathroom door, and then I woke up like this!”
Shi Chen, who was currently pulling up their pants and desperately tightening their waistband, replied.
“Why has my waist become so thin? My pants won’t stay on…”
After two fruitless attempts to secure them, they gave up entirely, pulling out their phone to make a call.
–Hello, is this Butler Chen? Mm, it’s Shi Chen. Huh? What girlfriend? Get lost! I’m not joking with you…
“Was there anything special about that red cross?”
Lin Xuan turned her head and asked again. Perhaps starting with the item itself could provide some clues about Shi Chen’s transformation.
“Special, you ask? That was something I got when I went to the Western Continent to play. It was placed on the central altar of an ancient ruin, and I thought it looked nice, so I took it back.”
The little loli recalled, tapping her chin with her index finger, then chuckled naughtily.
“I almost got caught by the ruin’s guards!”
‘Was it an exhibit brought back from a tourist spot in the Western Continent? This fellow…’
Watching the little loli’s smug expression, Lin Xuan sighed softly. She reached out and gently stroked her small head, subtly tapping her forehead to draw a triangle. She had a habit of wanting to pet cute little lolis, but at this moment, she naturally couldn’t openly rub her head, only poke her forehead.
“Don’t do things like that next time. It’s very dangerous!”
Given the chaotic legal situation in the Western Continent, getting caught violating the law there wasn’t something easily resolved with just a fine.
She had once seen a news report about a male tourist who carved ‘I was here’ at an ancient ruin scenic area in the Western Continent. As a result, local guards stripped him naked and tied him to a stone pillar. It was only after his tour guide contacted the Huaxia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who then contacted the local authorities – and after several attempts due to the disorganized area to find the responsible party – that the tourist was finally released. By then, he had been hanging on the stone pillar for an entire day…
“Mm, did Senior also go to the Western Continent?”
Qiongqi nodded earnestly. Although the divine tomb guards only possessed fragmented consciousness, each one had demigod-level strength. If she had been discovered, even she wouldn’t have been able to handle it, and might have even fallen into danger.
“Ah, that was quite a long time ago!”
The Nine-tailed Senior, disguised as an ordinary student, merely nodded casually, seemingly indifferent to things from the Western Continent. ‘Indeed, has Senior’s power already surpassed the demigod level?’
Thinking this, Qiongqi felt a surge of excitement. It seemed those scoundrels were right; with Senior’s intervention, this matter was absolutely guaranteed to succeed!
****
That place, the Western Continent, her adoptive father had taken her there on a business trip a long time ago. In reality, there wasn’t much to it; Lin Xuan’s only impression was how chaotic it was, extremely chaotic. Although the scenery itself was distinctive, the travel experience was truly terrible!
‘It seems the clue has been cut off again,’ Lin Xuan sighed helplessly, glancing at Shi Chen, who was still debating with the person on the other end of the phone.
“So, to get back to the point, how did you end up in the bathroom?”
‘Did this fellow already sneak into my school and hide in a bathroom stall? But even then, they wouldn’t have run into Shi Chen, would they? Could it be that they rushed in from the corridor, following the GPS, and then crashed into Shi Chen because they rushed too fast? Thinking about it closely, that actually seems possible…’
“Of course I flew…”
Halfway through her sentence, the little loli suddenly paused, a subtle change appearing on her delicate face.
“Damn it!”
She quickly reached into her clothes pocket and pulled out something.
“Although there was a slight mishap, the red cross has been delivered to Senior! So, I’ll trouble Senior with it then!”
“?”
Lin Xuan froze, looking at the note the other party handed her, and instinctively took it.
“Love you, Senior!”
Next, a soft, warm touch brushed against her cheek. Snapping back to reality, she saw the white-haired little loli cutely sticking out her tongue, clenching her small fists into cat paws, and tapping her own little head.
“Hehe~ Well, I have things to do, so I’ll be going now~”
As her voice faded, the little loli zipped to the door of the storage room, waving sweetly with a smile, and vanished from sight in the next instant.
Outside, a commotion erupted on the sports field. Lin Xuan looked out through the storage room window to see a helicopter descending from the sky, rattling loudly.