Crisis

Shengri Manor.

As the night deepened, the manor gradually quieted down. The survivors of the auction incident had all fallen into a deep sleep.

This was not because they were mentally strong, but simply because being controlled during the ritual had placed an immense burden on their spirits. Once they were awakened and confirmed to be relatively safe, a profound exhaustion originating from their mental state quickly overwhelmed them.

Qi Chuan was the same. Five seconds ago, he was still leaning on a makeshift bed, complaining to Su Mian about how they seemed to run into trouble everywhere lately and wondering if their luck was just terrible.

When no response came within five seconds, the girl tilted her head to look and found that he was already “unconscious” with sleep.

One could not tell whether such sleep quality was something to be worried about or envied.

In contrast, Su Mian had no desire to sleep at all. Once Qi Chuan was out, she sat up from her makeshift bed.

In the dim environment, her eyes scanned the sleeping people around her, and she instinctively licked her dry lips.

In her ears, frantic voices seemed to be screaming, urging her to lunge forward, tear these people apart, and swallow them all into her stomach!

That desire grew stronger and stronger. A red mist seemed to rise within the tent, the scent of blood spreading as a crimson shadow began to form behind Su Mian.

But at that exact moment…

“Shut up.”

Su Mian pressed one hand against her head and swept the other hand back, dispersing the half-formed blood figure.

She took a deep breath.

After standing up, she slowly walked out of the tent.

Out on the plaza, many doctors and officials were still busy. Someone looked over upon hearing the movement, but they completely ignored her a second later.

Su Mian ignored them as well. She walked away from the plaza, finally stopping in a deserted corner.

“How long will this last?”

The girl took out the palm-sized mirror and looked at the succubus revealed within.

After devouring that demon in the restaurant only to find her appetite still unsatisfied, she had been forced to awaken her other self to avoid hurting others.

When she regained consciousness, she found that things seemed solved, yet not quite.

The events at the manor had indeed concluded. The ritual was broken, and the culprit, Boss Yu, had not escaped his fate.

But regarding Su Mian herself…

She touched her abdomen. That intense hunger was exactly the same as before.

Fortunately, she did not experience that impulse to lose her mind and swallow everyone in sight.

She looked back at the mirror. This time, the succubus inside appeared to be asleep.

Su Mian spoke a few words to her, but received no response.

“Asleep…”

The corner of her mouth twitched. Do succubi get sleepy too?

But just then, Su Mian seemed to see something.

She looked up at the night sky, then suddenly looked down at her own shadow.

“This thing…”

Su Mian’s expression became subtle.

Her shadow seemed a bit off.

Within the pitch-black shadow, an extra “person” seemed to have appeared.

Instead of fading, the hunger seemed to be growing even more intense.

Furthermore, a cluster of consciousness kept screaming in her mind, constantly driving her to tear apart every living being and eat them, leaving not a single scrap behind!

Su Mian felt that this also originated from her demon half, but unlike the succubus, this part of her consciousness was very pure—it was composed entirely of the desire to feed.

Precisely because it was so pure, it was impossible to communicate with; it was closer to instinct.

Instinct is hard to resist. Worried she might lose control, she had no choice but to seek help from her other self again.

Facing Su Mian’s struggle, the silver-haired girl in the mirror made a strange expression and then smiled. “How long? If you mean the hunger, then naturally until you are full.”

“An entire real demon wasn’t enough?”

“It wasn’t enough.”

The girl outside the mirror fell silent. Seeing her conflicted expression, the succubus in the mirror spoke slowly again. “I know you strongly identify as a human, so your values make it hard for you to accept attacking your own kind. But the demon side is also a part of us, and the desires of this part must also be satisfied.”

“…”

Su Mian remained silent, her brow furrowed. The other she was essentially urging her to eat people, since there wasn’t a second demon in this manor to fill her stomach.

As she was thinking, the mirror spoke again.

“You don’t think I’m forcing you to eat people, do you?”

The succubus laughed. Seeing Su Mian’s troubled expression outside the mirror, she laughed even more joyfully.

She pressed her pale fingers against her lips before continuing: “My point is, I know you don’t want to attack humans, but you have to eat when you’re hungry. So—let’s go hunt demons!”

“You think demons grow on trees?”

Hearing this, Su Mian couldn’t help but roll her eyes. If she could find another demon, she wouldn’t be this conflicted.

Although demons were technically her own kind, she had never lived in the so-called Abyss. She was mostly curious about demons. If given the chance, she wouldn’t hesitate to strike.

The problem was she couldn’t find any other demons right now!

Su Mian was speechless at her other self’s suggestion, but she quickly realized the succubus wouldn’t be talking nonsense at a time like this. Her eyes instantly lit up.

“Wait, you mean… there are other demons nearby?”

“No.”

“…”

“What I meant was, I’m not referring to you, but to you.”

“What?”

“I’m referring to that demon who is also a succubus, just like you.”

If it weren’t for the fact that her other self was inside the mirror, Su Mian would have truly wanted to pull her out and give her a beating.

The girl’s gaze became increasingly dangerous. The succubus in the mirror finally stopped joking and showed a serious expression. “Let me be specific.”

“I sense the aura of a massive ritual. Someone is performing a super-sized ritual on this land, attempting to pull something terrifying to this side!”

The smile on the succubus’s face grew richer, while Su Mian’s brow furrowed again. “A ritual? Like the one in the exhibition hall?”

“Similar, but the ritual here covered one building at most. The ritual I sense… envelops the entirety of Yujing!”

The entirety of Yujing?

Su Mian stood frozen, not knowing how to react for a moment. She was truly shocked by this news.

Once she snapped out of it, she disregarded her image and pressed the mirror right to her face, staring at her serious-faced self. “You mean someone is performing a ritual like Yu Fu, trying to summon an even more powerful demon?”

“You could put it that way.”

The silver-haired, blood-eyed girl was still smiling. Su Mian couldn’t smile at all because she immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

A mere building and a ritual involving fewer than a hundred people had almost caused Officer Jiang and the others to fail.

If the entirety of Yujing was used as a foundation, with millions of lives as sacrifices, what kind of terrifying thing would be summoned?

Su Mian didn’t know what to say. She had been excited to hear about other demons just a moment ago, but now she had cooled down instantly. Even her appetite seemed to fade slightly.

After a brief silence, she looked down at her reflection in the mirror again.

“When did you discover this?”

“A while ago. It felt very faint before, just a vague sense that something was wrong. It wasn’t until I devoured that demon just now, which strengthened some of my abilities, that I finally confirmed it.”

Seeing Su Mian’s hesitation, the girl in the mirror shook her head before she could speak. “It can’t be stopped. I can feel that this ritual is already very complete, just waiting for the final moment of activation.”

Then won’t Yujing…

“So, do you want to save it?”

The succubus smiled again, but the smile looked so strange that even Su Mian, who was used to it, felt goosebumps. She instinctively took a step back and swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“It’s simple. The ritual is nearly complete and we can’t stop it, but we can hunt down the demons or whatever else descends and use them for ourselves. We can use them to take revenge on those who once did that to us.”

“This way, we satisfy our need for a feast and protect the city in a roundabout way—killing two birds with one stone~”

It seemed to make some sense.

However, Su Mian thought for a while and then frowned. “As you say, there’s really nothing to hesitate about. The problem is… can we beat the demons that might descend? Are you sure we aren’t just delivering ourselves to their doorstep?”

Although the girl had seen her other half’s power slaughter the summoned demon in the restaurant.

But Yu Fu’s ritual was only one restaurant, while the scope had now expanded to all of Yujing!

Just thinking about it made her realize the two were not on the same level at all. Similarly, the demon the latter was about to summon would be powerful beyond imagination.

Su Mian’s demon half could easily slaughter the former, but what about the latter? No one knew.

In response, the girl in the mirror continued to smile, but her crimson eyes seemed to grow darker.

She looked at the Su Mian outside the mirror, their eyes meeting. Her voice sounded somewhat ethereal.

“That’s why we need to work together with one heart and mind.”

“Work together?”

“Exactly! Only if you completely accept the other part of yourself—that is, the demon part of us. Only when you stop suppressing our power and stop controlling our desires can we exert our maximum capability…”

Although it was the succubus speaking in the mirror, a dim shadow seemed to overlay her body.

“You need to accept your desires and become a true demon!”

Su Mian did not speak.

The succubus in the mirror smiled again. “Are you still hesitating? Is becoming a demon really more important to you than the existence of this city?”

“Don’t try to provoke me on purpose.”

The girl gave a cold snort.

“I have never denied your existence. I just hate that you are out of control!”

Indeed, the demon side was never something unacceptable to Su Mian. What she couldn’t accept was the other part being completely beyond her control, often hurting herself and potentially hurting others.

To her, such uncontrolled desire and power were merely burdens.

To this, the succubus’s answer was…

“If you don’t even accept us, how do you know whether or not we can be controlled by you?”