Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Facing that usually gentle and refined face again, Li Yuyao couldn’t feel the slightest bit of attraction. That familiar sense of fear wrapped around her once more.
Chu Wenxu curled his lips, but the smile never reached his eyes. “I’ve read your resignation report. You’re a Three-Yin woman.”
Li Yuyao’s date of birth was listed on her resignation report. A Three-Yin woman was a woman born in a year, month, and day of yin.
As he spoke, Chu Wenxu had already forced Li Yuyao into a dim corner by the wall.
Tears welled in her eyes, but Li Yuyao didn’t dare let them fall. She could see clearly that Chu Wenxu’s eyes had become vertical pupils again!
Chu Wenxu reached out and gripped Li Yuyao’s chin. The immense strength made her whole body tremble. She tried to push him away, but her body had gone rigid and wouldn’t move.
That handsome face drew closer to hers. If this had happened in the past, she probably would have been ecstatic.
But now, all she wanted was to escape.
“My wife can make use of you. That’s your good fortune. Give me your primordial yin essence.”
An eerie, icy light flickered in Chu Wenxu’s vertical pupils. Li Yuyao felt something inside her body about to surge out of her control.
Just when she thought she was doomed, a man as massive as a small mountain charged over and knocked Chu Wenxu to the ground.
The man roared furiously.
“Chu Wenxu, how can you face my sister after this?!”
Li Yuyao sat huddled on the sofa, apparently still immersed in the terror of her memories. “That’s what happened.”
Zhou Benxin ground his teeth as he listened. He wished he could go over and slap Li Yuyao. “You really were trying to destroy my sister’s family! I couldn’t remember who you were at first, but now I do.
“Back when my sister was laying people off, everyone under her worked day and night. You used family matters as an excuse not to work overtime every single day, and you even got the amount of an employee’s severance pay wrong. My sister was the one who covered for you.
“She treated you so well, and you turned out to be a heartless ingrate! Why didn’t my brother-in-law just strangle you to death?”
Lu Changxue said faintly, “You were calling him Chu Wenxu before, and now he’s your brother-in-law. For the record, this brother-in-law of yours is a snake demon who attempted to kill someone!”
At that, worry appeared on Zhou Benxin’s face again. “Did my sister lie to me? She never found a nun! There must still be something wrong with her body. Otherwise, why would she still need a Three-Yin woman?”
Floating in midair, Lu Changxue cast Li Yuyao a sympathetic look. “Well, nobody cares whether you’re alive or dead.”
After saying that, Lu Changxue shook her head again. “What a shame. It’s your loss that you can’t hear my heartfelt consolation.”
Yun Jianyue tilted her head in confusion. “You call what you just said consolation?”
“Of course. What else would it be?” Lu Changxue replied, completely unabashed.
Seeing Yun Jianyue talking to thin air, Li Yuyao broke out in goosebumps. “W-Who are you talking to?”
Yun Jianyue said, “A ghost, I guess.”
Li Yuyao shuddered and looked at Yun Jianyue fearfully. “I told you everything. Can you save me?”
“From the sound of it, you don’t seem particularly worth saving.” Yun Jianyue stroked her chin and pondered.
Zhou Benxin immediately agreed. “Exactly! She deserves to be strangled to death by my brother-in-law!”
Faced with Zhou Benxin’s wavering moral compass, Yun Jianyue chose to remain silent.
“All right, I know everything I needed to know. Stay home for the next few days and don’t go out. Even if you order takeout, wait until the delivery person has left before opening the door to collect it. Understood?” Yun Jianyue asked.
Li Yuyao nodded frantically. “Understood! I definitely won’t go out!”
Compared with her life, what was the big deal about staying locked at home for a few days?
The two people and one ghost left Li Yuyao’s apartment. As they stepped outside, Zhou Benxin still looked somewhat aggrieved.
“Senior, why did you tell her all that? She deserves to be targeted by my brother-in-law!” Zhou Benxin was furious, but he also knew perfectly well that if Chu Wenxu really killed Li Yuyao, Yun Jianyue, as an employee of the Paranormal Bureau, definitely wouldn’t let her brother-in-law off.
Yun Jianyue nodded perfunctorily. “Right, right, right. She deserves to have her primordial yin essence drained by your brother-in-law, die suddenly in her own home a few days later, and leave your sister’s child an orphan while your brother-in-law is hunted down by the Paranormal Bureau.”
After saying that, Yun Jianyue seemed to realize something. “Wait, when your sister gives birth, won’t the baby be a little snake? Or will it be a snake egg? Snakes are oviparous animals!”
Lu Changxue’s attention veered off course again. “I heard snakes have two of those… Hehehe…”
Just as Lu Changxue finished speaking in her uninhibited manner, the elevator doors opened.
Lu Changxue’s expression cracked.
Inside the elevator, Chu Wenxu stood neatly dressed, staring expressionlessly at the two people and one ghost.
Suddenly, he smiled gently. “Let’s go home. Ruyan knows you went out and is very worried about you. City B isn’t particularly safe at night.”
Lu Changxue floated closer to Yun Jianyue in terror and whispered, “He can see me, right?”
Chu Wenxu looked at Lu Changxue and nodded with a smile.
“Somebody save me!”
With a shriek, Lu Changxue disgracefully retreated into the jade pendant.
Yun Jianyue entered the elevator calmly, and Zhou Benxin followed her in.
In the cramped space, Zhou Benxin felt somewhat awkward. After hesitating, he spoke up. “Brother-in-law, um… I’m sorry.”
Chu Wenxu tilted his head slightly. Obscure emotions flickered in his eyes beneath his gold-rimmed glasses. “You both know now.”
Yun Jianyue suddenly rubbed her stomach. “I’m hungry. Why don’t we go get some late-night food? Is Sister all right by herself at home?”
Was this really the time to be eating late-night snacks?! Zhou Benxin was on the verge of breaking down. He glanced at the time: half past midnight.
Well, it was indeed a great time for a late-night snack.
Chu Wenxu still wore that same gentle smile. “All right. There’s a barbecue restaurant outside the complex. If you’d like, I’ll take you there.”
And then they really did go out for barbecue.
As plate after plate of grilled food was brought to the table, Zhou Benxin still felt an intense sense of unreality.
They were seated in a secluded spot where no one would overhear them. The restaurant had hardly any customers that night. Their table was the only one occupied.
Even while Yun Jianyue was devouring the food, she still remembered to ask politely, “Brother-in-law, are you really not eating?”
“Most human food would damage my spiritual body.” Chu Wenxu politely declined.
Zhou Benxin spoke in a small voice. “So my sister knows that you’re…”
“She knows.” Chu Wenxu answered calmly.
Yun Jianyue asked, “Then will my sister give birth to a live baby or lay an egg?”
Zhou Benxin nearly flipped the table. “Senior, do you have any manners?!”
Chu Wenxu fell silent as well. He had weathered all kinds of storms, but even he hadn’t expected someone to ask him such a question to his face.
“That’s a little private, huh? I’ll ask something else, then. Brother-in-law, you aren’t registered with the Paranormal Bureau, are you? Who issued your ID card?” Yun Jianyue asked.
Great demons like Chu Wenxu, who could maintain human form for long periods and work and live in human society, generally registered with the Paranormal Bureau. The bureau issued them human identity cards.
But demons were forbidden from marrying humans. Half-demon bloodlines were unstable. Some half-demons initially looked no different from ordinary children, but their bloodline could awaken at any moment, causing their demonic nature to run wild and leading them to harm the humans around them.
If they registered a marriage with a human, the Paranormal Bureau would capture them and take the demon away.
Chu Wenxu had been married to Zhou Ruyan for several years without incident, so his identity card clearly hadn’t been issued by the Paranormal Bureau. Chu Wenxu wasn’t in the bureau’s records, either.
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold. Zhou Benxin wanted to laugh it off, but he had no idea what to say.
Only Yun Jianyue acted as though nothing was wrong. She kept eating and drinking while waiting for Chu Wenxu’s answer.
After a long while, the trademark smile faded from Chu Wenxu’s face. When his expression was blank, he looked somewhat cold and frightening.
“You’re with the Paranormal Bureau. Have you come to take me back and bring me to justice?”
Yun Jianyue answered his question with another. “Why does my sister need the primordial yin essence of a Three-Yin woman? Is it related to her excessive sleep and hibernation?”
Chu Wenxu lowered his eyes. “She was a snake for six lifetimes, and she was my partner every time. In this lifetime, she became human, but she’s still my partner. She’s a snake woman, and I’m a snake demon. Our child can only be a snake demon.”
And when demons gestated life, the process was bloody and cruel.
From the moment an embryo began to develop, it would seize the mother’s life force and mental strength. Countless young demons were born only after draining their mothers dry.
Why were demons declining in numbers? Because they didn’t want to die, and they didn’t want to give birth to new life. Demons usually cultivated on their own until they attained the Dao, and reproduction was rare.
Zhou Ruyan couldn’t withstand the Serpent Fetus siphoning away her life force.
At first, Chu Wenxu transferred his own demonic power to Zhou Ruyan so that the Serpent Fetus could absorb it.
But gradually, the Serpent Fetus was no longer satisfied with his demonic power. It began drawing on Zhou Ruyan’s vital essence and blood.
To keep Zhou Ruyan alive, he came up with a crooked plan: find the primordial yin essence of a Three-Yin woman and use it to replenish Zhou Ruyan’s vital energy.
“Then why not abort the Serpent Fetus? Brother-in-law, you’re a great demon. Dealing with an embryo shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?” Yun Jianyue asked.
Even if the Serpent Fetus had already taken shape, could Chu Wenxu really not deal with an unborn young demon? She didn’t believe it.
Intense pain flashed through Chu Wenxu’s eyes. “The Serpent Fetus is linked to her life. If it dies in her womb, she won’t survive, either.”
A fetus being linked to its mother’s life was an occurrence found in fewer than one case out of ten thousand among demons.
Yet that infinitesimal chance had landed on him and Zhou Ruyan.
Zhou Benxin panicked and shot to his feet. “Then what do we do now? Are we just supposed to watch my sister die?”
“Then go capture Li Yuyao and let your brother-in-law drain her dry.” Yun Jianyue spoke lightly, blinking her huge, innocent eyes at Zhou Benxin.
Zhou Benxin was silent for a moment before quietly sitting back down.
If he killed Li Yuyao, he would go to prison.
If Chu Wenxu killed Li Yuyao, the Paranormal Bureau would capture Chu Wenxu.
Worst of all, the primordial yin essence of one Three-Yin woman definitely wouldn’t last until Zhou Ruyan went into labor. Even if they killed Li Yuyao, they would still need several more Three-Yin women to keep Zhou Ruyan alive.
“It’s not as though there’s no solution.”
Chu Wenxu suddenly spoke. “Have you finished eating? If you have, I’ll pay the bill. Tomorrow, I’ll explain the other solution to you and your sister together.”
“I’m full~” Yun Jianyue had eaten to her heart’s content, and her voice practically radiated happiness.
After Chu Wenxu paid the bill, the two humans and one demon returned through the side entrance of the residential complex.
The complex had complete public facilities, except for one stretch of path where there was a problem with the wiring. The streetlights and surveillance cameras were broken and had yet to be repaired.
When they reached that stretch of path, Chu Wenxu suddenly stopped.
“Benxin, go on ahead. I have something to discuss with Miss Yun.”
Zhou Benxin didn’t suspect a thing and genuinely walked away like an idiot.
Once only the human and the demon remained, Chu Wenxu suddenly said, “I’m sorry, Miss Yun.”
Yun Jianyue stood face-to-face with Chu Wenxu. Her bright, sparkling eyes shone just as brilliantly in the darkness of night.
With a giggle, she asked, “Is your other solution to kill me, Brother-in-law?”