Chapter 175: The Cannon Fodder Who Can’t Survive Three Chapters (18)
“Knock, knock.”
The knocking, inaudible to Bei Xing, reached Su Mingxiu’s ears.
She had been about to… enjoy the “cherry on top,” but now she paused, looking at the flushed, dazed girl in her arms. “Someone’s looking for you,” she said, her voice a low murmur.
Bei Xing, her fingers slipping from the edge of the tub, having been tossed around like a small boat in a storm, now saw a glimmer of hope, reaching for the edge again, but Su Mingxiu’s hand gently pushed her fingers away, back into the water.
“Do you want to leave?” she whispered, nibbling on Bei Xing’s ear.
Bei Xing, thinking about the servants outside, and her current predicament, her body covered in bubbles, a jiao’s embrace, a dangerous intimacy, swallowed nervously. “Yes,” she whispered, her eyes pleading.
Su Mingxiu’s gaze fell on her slightly swollen lips, her eyes darkening, a bottomless abyss that made Bei Xing shiver, whether from the evaporating water or something else.
The knocking intensified.
The housekeeper, worried about Bei Xing’s state last night, knowing she wouldn’t want her family to know, had come to check on her. She had been drenched, he didn’t want her to catch a cold.
“Miss, are you awake?”
The water had stopped, and now Bei Xing also heard the knocking. She panicked, afraid that Su Mingxiu would ignore it and continue.
But the sun was already up, she couldn’t bring herself to be so… shameless.
She cupped Su Mingxiu’s face and kissed her, her voice a hurried whisper. “Tonight… okay?”
So obedient.
Su Mingxiu sighed inwardly, remembering Gui Mian, who had also been so compliant.
A strange sense of cherishing, and she released Bei Xing, letting her get out of the tub, her back covered in bubbles, like melting marshmallows, a tempting sight.
Perhaps sensing her gaze, Bei Xing instinctively tried to cover herself, then realized it was pointless, she was about to shower anyway.
“Don’t look,” she mumbled, her face flushed.
Su Mingxiu, her elbows resting on the edge of the tub, her tail swishing playfully, looked up at her. “Why not?”
“You’ve seen me,” she said casually, “shouldn’t I return the favor?”
Bei Xing: “?”
She turned on the shower, startled by the sudden spray of water, even though it was a comfortable temperature. She wiped her face, spluttering. “When did I…”
Then she paused,
Remembering carrying the injured jiao back home last night.
…Can that be considered “seeing”?
She was speechless, the water washing away the bubbles, her back now bare and exposed.
After changing and drying her hair, she finally opened the bedroom door and saw the housekeeper standing there with a tray of ginger tea and cold medicine.
“Hmm?”
“Mr. Li said you came home late last night, and you were caught in the rain, so he asked me to bring you this,” the servant explained.
Bei Xing, relieved, took the ginger tea and drank it quickly, then her expression froze as the spicy, burning sensation spread through her throat and into her stomach.
Too… spicy.
She could barely speak, her voice hoarse. “How… much ginger did you put in?”
The servant, after a moment of thought, gestured towards the bowl. Bei Xing looked at the dark liquid, the brown sugar not masking the ginger, then noticed the layer of ginger bits at the bottom.
Bei Xing: “…”
She placed the bowl back on the tray. “I’m fine, I’m not sick,” she said, then turned and left, not wanting to give the housekeeper another chance to fuss over her. She grabbed her bag and said she was going to school, even though she only had a Mao Gai lecture, which she could skip.
Su Mingxiu, now with a physical form, couldn’t hide in her shadow anymore. Knowing she was going to school, she simply waved her goodbye.
Before leaving, Bei Xing, worried that Su Mingxiu would be hungry, had the servants bring snacks to her room.
Before the Mao Gai lecture, Bei Xing looked around, but Chu Yinxi, usually punctual, wasn’t there. She asked a classmate from another department: “Where’s Chu Chu?”
“I don’t know.”
Bei Xing texted Chu Yinxi: “Did you take the day off?”
No reply.
Meanwhile…
Su Mingxiu, emerging from the water, her black robe drying instantly, looked inwards, seeing Su Jin’s consciousness trapped by the refined lightning, and asked calmly: “Where’s the third soul fragment?”
Su Jin and the system were both numb from the electric shocks.
They couldn’t understand how Su Mingxiu had managed to refine the lightning and use it against them. Well, only Su Jin was confused, the system was… familiar with this kind of torment.
“I don’t know.”
“Really? Or do you know, but you’re not telling me?”
Su Jin: … Unable to move or speak, trapped by the lightning, she remained silent.
But Su Mingxiu continued, voicing her suspicion: “Is the third soul fragment… Chu Yinxi?”
Su Jin: “Impossible!”
Her voice was filled with genuine surprise.
Su Mingxiu nodded, realizing she had overestimated Su Jin’s intelligence. If it wasn’t Chu Yinxi, then why the constant attention, could it be… that the snake demon had actually fallen for a mortal?
But that was unlikely, Su Mingxiu hadn’t seen any signs of genuine affection, Su Jin’s “love” seemed superficial.
Then, who was guiding her, encouraging her to pursue Chu Yinxi?
Su Jin remained silent, until another jolt of lightning, and her consciousness, releasing a wisp of black smoke, betrayed the system—
After all, she and Su Mingxiu were one, even if their souls hadn’t merged yet, their fates intertwined, if they couldn’t complete the system’s mission, they would both perish.
And they couldn’t afford to wait another century.
“Hmm?” Su Mingxiu, hearing the distorted voice, initially thought it was a trick, then, remembering the flood of information when she had tried to merge with Su Jin, she understood.
Her instincts told her that the missing piece was hidden within Su Jin’s consciousness.
She continued the electric shocks, then, as Su Jin’s mind weakened, she extended her own consciousness, trying to extract the culprit.
Evening, the sky darkening.
Bei Xing returned home and hurried to her bedroom, calling out before even closing the door: “Susu, did you eat anything today?”
But there was no sign of the ghost,
And the snacks on the desk were untouched.
If not for the slight movement under the covers, she would have started another divination.
She breathed a sigh of relief, tossed her bag aside, and wondered why Su Mingxiu was sleeping so soundly, buried under the blankets, like a hibernating snake.
She walked over and pulled down the blanket, a black shadow lunging towards her—
Her waist was suddenly constricted, and she fell onto the bed, her face buried in the blankets.
She instinctively touched the jiao’s tail, its cool scales familiar, imagining its powerful form, and gently stroked it, her voice muffled. “Can you loosen your grip? My waist hurts.”
But the tail tightened, making it difficult to breathe. She didn’t know whether to pull it away or to uncover her face.
Her legs kicked uselessly against the bed.
“Susu?”
She sensed a strange irritability from the jiao, so she softened her voice, her touch gentle, trying to soothe it.
But after calling out its name, she was pulled into a warm embrace, the darkness under the covers not hindering the jiao’s vision, its lips finding hers, silencing her protests, only a muffled whimper escaping.
No wonder Su Mingxiu had been so eager—
While trying to extract the system from Su Jin’s consciousness, the newly transformed jiao, its injuries healed, had entered its mating season.
And Su Jin’s fierce resistance had amplified the effect, the initial surge of desire, now triggered by Bei Xing’s presence, becoming overwhelming.
Bei Xing, kissed breathless, her face buried in the blankets, her body weak and pliant, her legs no longer struggling, only resting limply on the edge of the bed,
Felt the jiao’s tail, smooth and cool, emerging from under the covers, coiling around her right leg, from thigh to knee, its tip resting lightly on her ankle, then tightening, a possessive grip.
Pale skin, black scales.
A stark contrast, a captivating image, and the prey, trapped, could only struggle futilely as the hunter closed in.
To be devoured, body and soul.
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