Chapter 18: Mmm-mmph?!
Looking at Ice Lily’s indifferent, almost vacant expression, Xu Bai rubbed her eyes, a headache forming.
Since Ice Lily had mistaken her for a fellow clansman, her cold aura had softened considerably, the chill in her eyes receding.
Moreover, her words and actions towards Xu Bai were now gentle, almost accommodating.
Ice Lily had no reason to feign kindness here. Xu Bai could tell she genuinely intended to treat her as a junior in need of care.
Even within the human Empire, where families were bound by blood ties, it was rare to find such a selfless “elder” like Ice Lily, offering protection not for gain, but simply based on a shared lineage.
But this was precisely what troubled Xu Bai.
She wasn’t a demon, nor was she Ice Lily’s junior!
“Sigh,” Xu Bai fretted, fiddling with her grayish-white bangs and looking at her reflection in a puddle at her feet. “How do I change back…”
The frosty Demonic Runes on her cheeks hadn’t faded; they were still prominent.
Moreover, Xu Bai could sense a faint demonic aura emanating from her.
Although barely perceptible, it was a pure demonic aura, similar to Ice Lily’s.
If she weren’t certain from her memories that she wasn’t an Ice Demon, Xu Bai would have started to wonder if Sister Neily had found her in the Abyssal Demon Realm.
So, it was understandable that Ice Lily had mistaken her for kin.
“Change back? You mean disguise yourself as a human, like before?” Ice Lily looked at Xu Bai, a flicker of understanding in her usually indifferent eyes. “I saw a rune mark on your collarbone. It seems to be the one that alters your appearance—the form I first saw you in. Why aren’t you using it?”
“Collarbone?”
Xu Bai looked down, surprised. There, on her delicate collarbone, was a scarlet mark identical to the rune Sasha had given her.
But now, it resembled a Demonic Rune.
More complete than the ones on her face, its crimson color almost seemed to bleed.
Xu Bai quickly pulled her clothes higher, concealing the mark.
Her current appearance was alarming enough; adding this scarlet rune…
If anyone saw it, Xu Bai wouldn’t be able to explain it away.
“But, aren’t runes single-use… how can it be imprinted on my body?” Xu Bai frowned.
Runes were essentially spells, techniques, and incantations sealed within a special medium, allowing anyone to use them without prior training.
Typically, these runes crumbled after a single use. Reusable runes were rare, and runes that imprinted themselves on the user were unheard of.
So, what exactly was the rune Sasha had given her?
Was it truly a Demonic Rune?
Yet it lacked any demonic aura or the characteristic invasiveness of Demonic Runes.
“Why aren’t you using the rune?” Ice Lily asked again, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Xu Bai hesitated. “It’s no longer working.”
“It’s not. I tried it just now,” Ice Lily said casually.
Xu Bai: “???”
Wait, when? How? She hadn’t noticed anything.
“When I was holding you, I accidentally saw the rune on your collarbone and tried it,” Ice Lily explained, seeing Xu Bai’s bewildered expression.
“Accidentally… tried it…”
Xu Bai was speechless. Ice Lily seemed genuinely oblivious, so perhaps she was just being overly cautious. Maybe Ice Lily was simply being kind.
Ice Lily was very different from Sasha. Sasha… well, better not to think about her. Who knew where she had run off to.
“By the way, Miss Ice Lily, how did you find me? No, why did you try to kill me earlier?”
Xu Bai suddenly remembered. Ice Lily had clearly been looking for her at the restaurant; it hadn’t been a chance encounter.
And judging by her indifference to the rioting humans, Ice Lily wasn’t a bloodthirsty demon. If she had wanted to kill Xu Bai, there must have been a reason.
But that reason hadn’t been strong enough to outweigh her concern for a “fellow clansman.”
“I wanted to find you, so I did,” Ice Lily turned her head slightly, avoiding Xu Bai’s gaze. “As for why I wanted to kill you, it was just a misunderstanding.”
For some reason, Xu Bai sensed a hint of guilt in Ice Lily’s voice.
“…Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” Xu Bai decided not to press the issue.
Despite being a demon, and possessing a demon’s decisiveness in combat, Ice Lily was different from the demons Xu Bai had encountered before.
Not just her apparent cluelessness, but also her lack of hostility towards humans and the absence of the usual demonic arrogance and coldness.
Honestly, aside from being a demon, Ice Lily was far kinder than most of the so-called higher-ups Xu Bai had met in the Knights.
She couldn’t bring herself to see Ice Lily as an enemy, even though Ice Lily had just tried to kill her.
“How do I use this transformation rune?” Xu Bai hesitated, then asked.
Since Ice Lily had tried it, she should know how it worked.
“Didn’t you use it before?” Ice Lily frowned. “Just channel energy into the rune and visualize the form you want to take.”
“…It’s no different from a normal rune.”
Except…
Xu Bai raised her arm; her psychic circuits were still unresponsive.
It seemed the earlier overexertion had taken a severe toll. Her circuits were completely depleted, unable to function.
“What’s wrong?” Ice Lily asked.
Xu Bai hesitated, then shrugged slightly. “I… I don’t have any energy left to activate the rune.”
“You do,” Ice Lily said firmly.
“I don’t.”
“You do,” Ice Lily repeated.
Xu Bai flexed her arm. “See? I really don’t have any strength left.”
Ice Lily, seemingly exasperated, stepped forward and cupped Xu Bai’s face in her hands.
“Mmm-mmph?!”
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