In City A, Ling Xiaoxiao walked into a dilapidated residential building.
Soaked through, her vision was obscured by her hair. She accidentally missed a step and tumbled down the stairs.
Ling Xiaoxiao picked herself up despondently, climbed the stairs again, and fell once more.
The beautiful traditional ruqun she wore was now ruined by dust and filthy water. She looked at her reflection in a piece of broken glass and let out a laugh.
How ugly, she thought. If she could, she would rather remain forever in that period of time when Xue Ji had taken her in.
Just a few short months, yet they were fuller and happier than any time in the past thousand years.
Meeting again had already been so difficult, so why should she repeat the mistakes of the past?
Ling Xiaoxiao lay on the ground, gazing at the sky visible outside the residential building, simply laughing, unable to stop.
“I was such a fool.”
Ling Xiaoxiao covered her eyes with her forearm and wept silently.
Ever since Xinuo’s magical flower had withered, it had been raining continuously in City A.
After who knew how long, before she even realized it, she found herself in front of Xue Ji’s door.
Behind this door was the warmth, now feeling foreign to her, that she had once been given. Subconsciously, she knocked on the door, then sat down, leaning against it.
Master, is the fate of a Demon God’s Spawn truly inescapable? She muttered to herself, like a deceived child constantly complaining.
“If only you hadn’t saved me back then. Why didn’t you kill me? Why did you make me bear all of this?”
“Why, after finally breaking free from your shadow, do I have to be tripped up by these unreasonable things?”
Ling Xiaoxiao felt she was the most wronged person in the world, having to endure a millennium of loneliness guarding the human world, while simultaneously being haunted by the shadows of the past.
Bloody tears flowed from her eyes, their scalding heat causing the damp hallway to fill with mist.
Her usually clear and melodious voice was tinged with intense sorrow. Her choked sobs made it hard to breathe. The young woman in tattered clothes just sat there, hugging her knees, burying her head in them as she wept bitterly.
At this moment, even the most hard-hearted person would be moved by such sadness, let alone Xue Ji, who was just behind the door.
Separated only by that door, Xue Ji leaned against it, listening to Ling Xiaoxiao’s complaints and crying, her heart aching as if cut with knives.
“If this is the fate of a Demon God’s Spawn…” Ling Xiaoxiao was utterly despondent, her voice hoarse.
‘Yes, the fate of a Demon God’s Spawn, unavoidable self-destruction. We are the same.’ Xue Ji heard the self-abandoning voice of the young woman in the ruqun.
And how was Xue Ji herself feeling? What she experienced was pure anger, a surge of heat spreading from her heart throughout her entire body.
Creak. Accompanied by the sound of the door opening, the warmth Ling Xiaoxiao so deeply yearned for enveloped her.
The whole world seemed to stand still. The softness behind her rekindled her dead heart. She turned back in disbelief, wanting to see that person’s face.
Xue Ji voluntarily leaned her head on Ling Xiaoxiao’s shoulder, holding her tightly.
Her heart burned fiercely as she spoke firmly: “If this is fate, then I will fight against it. And I will win, just to show you!”
These words struck Ling Xiaoxiao directly in the heart, shattering the wall she had built around herself for so long.
“You and her… are both liars. She also said she would make me happy. And then, and then she deceived me for over a thousand years.” Ling Xiaoxiao choked up. Because she was stubbornly trying not to cry, her breathing became incredibly rapid.
Xue Ji slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back, and in a posture that made Ling Xiaoxiao’s heart flutter uncontrollably, she forcefully carried her into the room.
Ling Xiaoxiao subconsciously wrapped her arms around Xue Ji’s neck. The delicate touch confirmed she wasn’t dreaming.
‘Xiao Ji is carrying me?’
Realizing she was being held in a princess carry by Xue Ji, her brain instantly short-circuited. Her lips trembled, but she couldn’t utter a single word. The hint of vivid color on her face, together with the flame mark between her brows, made her look as enticing as a cherry.
“X-Xiao Ji, how… how are you here?” Ling Xiaoxiao’s heart was filled with anticipation. Her voice was no longer calm, but flustered like a young girl experiencing her first love.
“When I saw both of us, Demon God’s Spawns, having episodes, I became even more unwilling to leave you to face it alone.”
“But if we’re together, we’ll only hurt each other. Separating now, at least we can preserve your…” Ling Xiaoxiao looked up, but upon meeting Xue Ji’s burning gaze, she couldn’t continue.
“I’ve had enough of this suffocating feeling, always being forced to hurt each other, always silently enduring. Like being a manipulated puppet.”
“I’m basically a messed-up person, not worth you giving so much.”
“You are not!” Xue Ji’s voice was gentler than it had ever been.
“You gave everything for that flawed, thousand-year plan.”
“You held fast for a millennium, protecting all living beings.”
“You sealed yourself away to prevent losing control, shattering your own soul.”
“There is no one more foolish than you, no one gentler than you, and no one who makes my heart ache for them more than you.”
“Regarding everything about you, and everything about this world from now on, I will take it all back from the Great Demon’s hands!”
Before Xue Ji, Ling Xiaoxiao only felt she was a hopeless case.
Her mental state was dangerous, and she knew it was dangerous.
For this reason, she tried her best to act cold and aloof, just to reduce the chance of contact with others.
As time went on, she began to negate herself. She felt she didn’t belong to this era and should have fallen long ago in the river of history.
But she wandered the human world, witnessing countless people live and die. She couldn’t bear to part with these ephemeral yet vibrant lives, and it was this sense of protective duty that sustained her for a thousand years.
For the first time, someone saw her vulnerability and stood before her as a protector.
She excitedly broke free from Xue Ji’s embrace and urgently claimed the other’s soft lips. At that moment, she wished she could just take Xue Ji right then and there.
This kiss was intense and long-lasting. As the feeling of breathlessness grew stronger, Ling Xiaoxiao finally released Xue Ji temporarily.
Inside the consciousness space, the young woman in the ruqun, Xue Ji, was holding a tissue, wiping her nose.
“Thank goodness, Xiao Xiao.”
On the other side, Lilith, who was in the car substituting for Xue Ji, was simultaneously enduring interrogation from Xue Ji’s parents and, due to the shared sensations from Xue Ji’s upgrade, experiencing the feeling of suffocation.
‘Damn you, incompetent Sage, wuwuwu～’
The dark clouds in Ling Xiaoxiao’s heart were completely dispelled, but she then found herself in a dilemma.
At that moment, she both wanted to indulge herself and feared pushing the person in front of her away, which actually made her more hesitant and overthinking.
Xue Ji saw through her embarrassment. She used her hand to tidy her own disheveled hair, turned back, and said with a smile, “Take a shower first.”
She tilted her head, and the scene of her playing with her hair appeared so beautiful in Ling Xiaoxiao’s eyes. The pure white figure, the pure soul – the redemption she had always longed for had finally arrived.
While Ling Xiaoxiao was still dazed, Xue Ji took her hand, and they walked into the bathroom together.
Just after entering, Xue Ji popped her head back out. Her right index finger pointed towards a certain corner, and a small explosive sound was heard.
“No peeking at this, okay!”
Accompanied by her slightly playful voice, the final image was Xue Ji making a funny face towards the camera.