Chapter 4: The Fox Girl’s Ordeal

Life’s three greatest hardships are rowing a boat, forging iron, and grinding tofu.

And, by a stroke of peculiar luck, Su Qianyu experienced all three in one go.

As dawn broke, a cool breeze swept through her hair from outside, instantly dispelling the exhaustion of the night.

Observing the thoroughly ‘played-out’ fox-girl, Illo’s face was alight with triumph.

‘How exhilarating.’

‘It has truly been so long, so long since I felt such exhilaration.’

Su Qianyu’s phone lay discarded on the floor, the time displayed having already advanced to the next day.

A single night was not long, merely a few short hours.

Yet, it had been more than enough time for Illo to completely vent the fury accumulated from her previous life.

Her gaze drifting over her handiwork, Illo decided to leave Su Qianyu on the floor.

She needed this fellow.

At the very least, this so-called ability to move objects remotely would prove incredibly useful for her investigation.

But for now, she first had to resolve the matter of Su Qianyu’s identity.

Pulling a savings card from the pocket of the clothes scattered on the floor, Illo let out a snort.

She, too, harbored a deep resentment for the wealthy.

****

Barely half an hour later, the sky was fully bright.

Morning invariably brought a bustling energy; commuters thronged the streets, and steam rising from cooking pots permeated the city air.

Suddenly, however, a streak of crimson light, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, sliced through the sky, instantly clearing the morning’s haze and drawing the eyes of every pedestrian below.

“Is that Magical Girl Illo? Has another monster appeared somewhere?”

“I don’t know, perhaps.”

“I’m not sure about anything else, but if you keep staring, your pot is going to burn!”

“Ah! My pot!”

Soaring through the air, the cityscape below was a panoramic view.

At this very moment, Su Qianyu was slung over Illo’s shoulder.

The cool wind from the clouds blew from behind, causing her body to shiver involuntarily.

Seemingly sensing that the person on her shoulder had awakened, Illo jiggled the girl gently.

“Awake?”

The familiar demonic whisper once again echoed in her ears.

Su Qianyu shuddered, silently opting to feign sleep.

‘Not awake, not awake. You just keep flying, I’ll catch a little more sleep.’

Anticipating the girl’s reaction, Illo let out a soft hum, then slowly undid half of the meager clothing Su Qianyu still wore.

And so, amidst the girl’s screams and Illo’s intermittent laughter, the two returned home.

This was the very place where Su Qianyu had imprisoned Illo in her previous life.

But, it wasn’t quite that yet.

****

Clutching the wall, Su Qianyu was already feeling quite nauseous from motion sickness.

This damned Magical Girl had deliberately toyed with her, circling endlessly in the air countless times before finally descending.

Immediately upon landing, Su Qianyu found herself unable to walk straight, collapsing to the ground and attempting to crawl, desperately trying to regain her sense of direction.

‘You, you just wait until I get my chance!’

‘Once I’ve grown stronger, I’ll surely chop you into fine mincemeat!’

‘Don’t bully a young man for his poverty (TL Note: A common Chinese saying, ‘mò qī shàonián qióng,’ often used to express a future promise of success or revenge), ugh…!’

Casually closing the door, Illo pulled a chair behind her, watching Su Qianyu crawling on the floor with an amused expression.

Everything here was so familiar, so much so that it stirred up some unpleasant memories.

Before addressing the matter of the other party’s identity, she still had something to do.

“My dear, is it fun to curse me?”

A chilling smile played on Illo’s face.

Though Su Qianyu hadn’t yet fully recovered her senses, even in her current state, she was absolutely certain of one thing.

‘At this moment… I probably shouldn’t be breathing out defiantly.’

‘She didn’t want to be ‘mugworted’ (TL Note: ‘Àicǎo’ (mugwort) is slang, often implying being subjected to intense, painful, or humiliating discipline/punishment) again.’

Shaking her dizzy head, Su Qianyu lay on the floor, doing her utmost to feign an apologetic demeanor.

However, such crude acting could never deceive Illo, who had climbed out of a pile of dead bodies.

Illo didn’t expose her, simply watching the person before her perform.

After all, before taming a wild beast, one must first allow it to release some of its vigor.

Moreover, through the mentally inscribed collar she had conjured, Illo could genuinely feel Su Qianyu’s emotional fluctuations.

From Su Qianyu’s perspective, however, the other party stood motionless, like a formidable door god.

‘So terrifying. Can I go back to being a ‘blond camera’ (TL Note: ‘Huángmáo shèxiàngtóu’ is slang for an inconspicuous observer or spy, implying wanting to be unnoticed), and pretend to sleep some more?’

‘Life is unpredictable, ‘big sausage wraps small sausage’ (TL Note: ‘Dàcháng bāo xiǎocháng’ is a Taiwanese snack, but here used as a humorous, nonsensical idiom similar to ‘stuff happens’ or ‘life is messy’).’

‘Expressions were hard to hide, as they stared at each other.’

They remained in that awkward standoff, not a word exchanged.

It wasn’t until a bird’s cry pierced the sky that Illo, who had been sitting in a high position, finally rose.

Looking down at Su Qianyu on the floor, she repeated her earlier question.

“So, did you find it fun?”

“Not fun, not fun at all.”

Shaking her head like a rattle-drum, Su Qianyu now wished for nothing more than to survive.

Whatever the other party said, she agreed; whatever they commanded, she complied.

Noticing that Su Qianyu, despite her fear, still harbored thoughts of revenge, Illo pursed her lips.

She didn’t demand that the other party have no desire for revenge; after all, she wasn’t a soul-corrupting demon.

But what did it mean to be thinking of revenge *now*?

To contemplate revenge after just one night of being held captive? What about two nights, or three?

Yet, very quickly, she conceived of a method.

An absolutely perfect method for ‘taming’ (TL Note: ‘Tiáojiào’ implies training or disciplining, often with a suggestive undertone of domination) the other party.

Watching the fiery red figure gradually draw closer, Su Qianyu closed her eyes in fear.

But the imagined torment never arrived.

Instead, the other party simply turned her back and walked out.

“I have something to attend to and need to go out for a bit. You wait obediently for me here.”

A purple glow flashed through Illo’s eyes.

After leaving this airy remark, Illo promptly departed through the door.

Observing this baffling behavior, Su Qianyu couldn’t help but feel that Illo might truly be out of her mind.

However, upon further reflection, Su Qianyu decided it was quite reasonable.

Magical Girls, after all, which one isn’t a little crazy?

Consider the ones next door, even magical girls who create evil when there is none exist, so for an Illo to be this eccentric was hardly surprising.

Soon, her red figure vanished into the sky.

Calculating the time, Su Qianyu also noticed the clothes in the room.

It was then that she realized her body clearly bore the characteristics of a demonic fox.

While undeniably beautiful, it was also clear that there was no way she could go out looking like this.

Unless, of course, she wanted to be mistaken for a monster by a passing Magical Girl and blasted into pieces the moment she stepped onto the street.

So, she immediately wrapped herself snugly in various loose-fitting clothes.

‘As long as I avoid the crowds, there shouldn’t be any problem!’

Su Qianyu considered herself a woman of action.

Not long after, looking at the mummy in the mirror, she smiled.

With a gentle push, the door opened with a soft creak.

Looking at this wooden door, Su Qianyu became even more convinced that Illo was indeed mentally unstable.

Stepping out of the inner room, she was mere steps away from the exit.

Out of caution, however, Su Qianyu used the X-ray vision that came with her telekinetic ability to scan the vicinity.

‘Hm, safe.’

‘No traps, no sneaky ambushes (TL Note: ‘Lǎo liù’ is internet slang for a treacherous person who ambushes others), and certainly no poisonous mushrooms.’

Recalling how the other party had fiercely subjected her to a night-long ‘double-slit experiment’ (TL Note: A scientific term used here euphemistically to imply intense, repeated, and perhaps humiliating activity), Su Qianyu was utterly indignant.

‘Had it not been to endure past midnight, why would I have allowed myself to be manipulated!’

‘But now…?’

Staring at the door, Su Qianyu took her first step towards freedom.

‘Beyond that door, lies freedom!’

‘If only, if only she could reach that place!’

But before she could take a second step, a nameless fire ignited in her lower abdomen.

It felt… as if she were going into heat.