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Join the ServerThe convention finally ended, and the audience filtered out, but Bai Ling still felt shaken.
‘I almost got caught red-handed by that Xu Zhi. That was close, way too close.’
‘Thank goodness Gu Xiyan covered for me. Otherwise, who knows how that would have ended.’
She just didn’t know what the Green Snake Demon was up to. First a vengeful demon, then snake scales, then a vengeful demon’s heart. It felt like they were planning a terrorist attack.
‘When I go back to the old alley in the north of the city tomorrow, I need to remember to tell Guan Qing. Someone is trying to stir up trouble again.’
Bai Ling sat in front of the makeup mirror backstage, clumsily removing her makeup as she thought.
Luckily, it had looked like a huge commotion, but in reality no one had been hurt, except Guan’er, that half-baked demon hunter.
‘Even with all those people in the venue, no one noticed!’
‘Am I saving the world without anyone knowing?’
At that thought, Bai Ling felt smug about what she had done.
‘I have to admit, being a behind-the-scenes hero secretly saving the world does feel good. No wonder those chuunibyou types love fantasizing about it.’
Guan’er would be taken in and treated by the Demon Suppression Bureau, so she didn’t need to worry too much. It was just bad luck that Guan’er had come for a commercial gig and ended up missing. She probably wouldn’t get paid, and according to the contract, she might even owe penalty fees.
But her livestream today had earned a lot, so it shouldn’t be a big problem.
Bai Ling had actually gained a lot today. There was the cosplayer fee, the brand ambassador position, and she had even squeezed a custom skin and exclusive title out of Liao Cao. She had really made a killing.
Everything was perfect, except that she had almost been caught by Xu Zhi and let the Green Snake Demon get away.
Later tonight, Chengzi and the others had invited her to dinner. She hadn’t seen them for a while during the break. She used to find their constant joking and gossiping annoying, but after not seeing them for some time, she actually missed them.
Xu Zhi probably wouldn’t take the chance to come find her. After causing such a commotion, he would likely stay at the venue to check on things and handle the aftermath.
He would probably stay upstairs waiting for the logistics staff to survey the scene and clean up the mess.
‘After I finish removing my makeup, I’ll go find that demon-slaying blade…’
Just as the girl was thinking this, a large hand suddenly reached over.
“Did you lose this?”
A twenty-centimeter handle lay in the palm of that hand.
Huh?
Bai Ling turned her head and saw Xu Zhi’s big face beside her.
‘Oh no! How did he pick it up!’
‘Quick, think of a way to bluff past this!’
“I…”
But Bai Ling was terrible at lying. She searched her mind and couldn’t come up with a reason.
Luckily, Xu Zhi had no intention of listening to her excuses.
“I told you to carry it with you!” Xu Zhi shoved the handle into Bai Ling’s palm. “You’ve been forgetful like this since we were kids…”
He started nagging like a mother hen again.
‘Good, good…’
Bai Ling let out a long breath internally. Thank goodness Xu the blockhead was dumb as a pig and hadn’t suspected anything.
She was secretly glad her identity hadn’t been discovered, but for some reason, she also felt a faint, inexplicable sense of loss.
‘Maybe it’s guilt from hiding it from Xu Zhi?’
She settled on that explanation for her sense of loss. ‘Sorry. But when it’s a matter of life and death, of course I have to hide it from you.’
“And this.” Xu Zhi suddenly grabbed her wrist. As bad luck would have it, the wrist he grabbed was the same one he had grabbed earlier when she was in her snake demon form.
“You lost this too? Do I have to follow you around picking up after you like when we were kids?”
He pulled a huai flower bracelet from his tactical suit pocket and put it on Bai Ling’s wrist.
It gave the illusion that he was putting a ring on a girl’s finger.
“Ah… oh!” Bai Ling froze for a moment, then yanked her wrist back as if shocked. “No wonder I couldn’t find it…”
“Why are you here?” she asked, pretending to realize only now.
She was trying to change the subject, afraid Xu Zhi would ask something he shouldn’t.
Her acting was so bad it deserved a Golden Broom Award.
“There was a demon in the venue just now,” Xu Zhi said honestly.
“You didn’t notice?”
“No…”
Bai Ling shook her head stiffly. She could even hear her neck bones creaking.
‘Mom, I really am terrible at lying!’
“Oh right!” Bai Ling suddenly grabbed her small shoulder bag and shoved her phone, the handle, and anything else that belonged to her into it. “I’m supposed to have dinner with my roommates! I’m going to be late!”
She scrambled out of the backstage like a refugee. The door slowly closed behind her.
What she didn’t know was that after she fled the backstage, Xu Zhi looked thoughtfully at his palm.
The feel of her wrist when he had put on the huai flower bracelet still lingered in his nerves.
‘This feeling… it really is similar…’
****
In the bedroom of the temporary safe house, the High Ponytail Woman slowly opened her palm. Unmelted ice crystals bit into her flesh, their temperature and feel exactly as they had been a thousand years ago.
“Sister…” she murmured, so softly she couldn’t even hear herself. “Why did you come back early without telling me…”
In the living room, Young Man was chipping away at the ice encasing Shorty with an ice pick and hammer. Ice shards scattered across the floor.
“I’m so mad! I’m so mad!” Shorty jumped out of the ice and immediately started running his mouth. “I’m going to kill her! Kill her!”
But as soon as he spoke, a dagger flew out from the half-open bedroom door. It grazed the tip of his nose and thudded into the wall, its handle still quivering.
“You know what happens if you dare touch her.” The High Ponytail Woman’s voice slipped through the gap in the door, as sharp as the dagger she had just thrown, sharp enough to cut with words alone.
Shorty was too scared to speak.
He was usually wild and crazy, looking like he feared neither heaven nor earth, but he actually feared the High Ponytail Woman more than anyone.
If he provoked someone else, either they couldn’t beat him, or they couldn’t outrun him. Even if they could beat him and catch him, the worst they’d do was kill him with one strike.
But if he provoked this woman, the consequences were far worse than death. Her poison would leave you in endless agony, unable to live or die.
“Second Sister?” Young Man poked his head through the bedroom door.
The High Ponytail Woman was clearly the third in command. She was the only woman among the three leaders, yet she wouldn’t let anyone call her Big Sister, nor Third Sister.
She insisted on being called Second Sister, making it seem either that she coveted the second-in-command position, or that there was supposed to be another woman above her.
“What is it?” The High Ponytail Woman was brushing her hair in front of the vanity mirror. She undid her high ponytail, wiped off her makeup with cleansing water, and took another hair tie from the drawer.
“This operation should count as a failure, right?” Young Man said, leaning against the door. “Shouldn’t we report back immediately?”
“I’m in charge of this operation. I decide what counts as failure.” The High Ponytail Woman applied foundation in front of the mirror. Her face, which had held a blade-like coldness, gradually softened under the alternating strokes of eyebrow pencil and powder puff.
“We’ll be staying in human society for a long time.”
The High Ponytail Woman’s makeup finally neared its end. She picked up the lipstick on the table, applied it, and pressed her lips together. The grapefruit-colored lipstick was the finishing touch, transforming her aura from a cold, mature woman into a sweet young girl.
“We should give ourselves new names to hide our identities.” She seemed very satisfied with her current look. Her loose hair was tied into two low ponytails, and the round glasses on her nose reflected the light.
At this moment, there was no trace of Second Sister’s coldness left on her. Instead, she had the air of a sweet schoolgirl.
“What do you think of the name Lu Qingci?”
She, Lu Qingci, made a checkmark with her fingers under her chin and flashed an innocent smile.
‘Is this still Second Sister?’
Young Man couldn’t help but mutter inwardly. He suddenly felt that Second Sister’s new order to stay in human society for a long time might be for some personal reason of her own.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, I Was Summoned As a Vampire By The Magician is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : I Was Summoned As a Vampire By The Magician
