After sending the message, Qi Qi put down her phone and leaned back against the sofa. Unconsciously, her mind drifted back to that day when she had made a rare display of kindness, only to invite a wolf into her home.
After a brief moment of chaos, as the conversation between the human and the snake progressed, Qi Qi had caught on to the sense of dissonance in Shen Lu.
“Speaking of which, your body suddenly turned out like this for no reason, aren’t you scared?” At that time, although Qi Qi was still somewhat unaccustomed to it, her feelings were driven more by a long-lost excitement akin to discovering a novel creature. Thus, even at the risk of being slapped away by a tail, she had insisted on getting hands-on to explore.
However, the scene she had envisioned never came to pass.
Shen Lu, whom she had affectionately given the mischievous nickname “little monster,” had actually turned into a real monster, yet she still loved crowding close to her. Perhaps it was because in turning into a snake monster, she had also inherited the traits of a serpent.
Especially now, in the dead of cold winter, she was far more sensitive to temperature than she had been as a human. Consequently, her lower body, which had transformed into a snake tail, coiled tightly around Qi Qi, encircling her in the center, pressing cold snake scales as close as possible against Qi Qi’s exposed, warm skin.
It was an ideal posture for a predator, one where, with just a slight exertion of force, she could instantly strangle Qi Qi like a helpless prey.
When the reluctant monster finally permitted her to stand up from the bathtub, Qi Qi took the opportunity to shower and change into clean clothes. Afterward, the monster closed her eyes and rested obediently on her lap. Aside from the long, unignorable tail, everything seemed no different from how the two of them used to interact.
Yet, that in itself was extremely strange.
If someone suddenly gained such immense power, shouldn’t the very first thing on their agenda be getting revenge on those who used to bully them? Especially toward an egregious bully like her, how could Shen Lu possibly remain as submissive and accommodating as before?
“Also, I did so many awful things to you in the past. Aren’t you going to get back at me?”
Whether it was a transformation or a mutation, if she were Shen Lu, she would definitely use the most agonizing method possible to torment anyone who had ever picked on her.
Demanding a kiss earlier could barely be rationalized as a twisted form of humiliation under extreme psychological distress, but this permissive, submissive attitude was completely inexplicable.
Thinking about it this way, Qi Qi felt her current, overly leisurely situation was beyond eerie. It was as if she had been gently let off the hook by the final boss, a character like her in a survival game would surely be flamed as a cheater using hacks.
Hearing her voice, Shen Lu tilted her flushed face up slightly, her eyes meeting the genuine confusion in Qi Qi’s gaze as she looked down. She paused for two seconds before suddenly realizing the meaning behind those words.
She could not help but laugh. Because of her damaged throat, no matter when she laughed, her voice carried a rough, raspy texture that could hardly be called pleasant. Yet at this moment, her laughter was filled with genuine, lighthearted emotion.
Then, the monster’s turquoise tail tip curled up slightly. Resting atop it was the soft, warm hand belonging to the person she loved. She gently circled that wrist.
The South Red agate bracelet resting on Qi Qi’s slender, pale wrist was deep and rich as blood. It should have been a warm, passionate color, yet on her, it took on an aloof, noble chill that discouraged anyone from approaching.
Just like the girl herself, full of contradictions.
She favored the pure, vibrant shade of agate known as South Red.
Most people’s impression of agate came from cheap, flashy trinkets sold on street corners, beads ground down and strung together into simple bracelets. They looked ordinary, even though they refracted warm light under the sun, it was hard to place them alongside glittering, expensive jewelry.
However, agate of the quality and color that Qi Qi liked was unimaginably rare and expensive, let alone crafted into a solid, full bangle.
Shen Lu’s eyes fell upon that wrist, which looked like a work of art. Even the precious South Red served as nothing more than a dull foil against her.
The tip of her tail tightened slowly according to her will, first brushing against the cool body of the bangle, then meeting the human’s warm, soft fingers. Perhaps out of confusion, those fingers curled slightly before extending again, tapping her with a tiny bit of force and inadvertently tracing over her snake scales.
This subtle sensation, akin to a gentle struggle, reminded Shen Lu of catching butterflies in her childhood, how their fragile wings fluttered in panic against her palm. This feeling of completely controlling and possessing someone continuously stimulated her nerve endings.
It was subtly addictive.
“Shen Lu?”
Her prolonged silence made the waiting girl call out her name in confusion.
“Mm, why?” Shen Lu’s tail instinctively twitched and curled, only to be caught by Qi Qi and forcibly pulled back open. “As long as Qiqi likes it, isn’t that enough?”
Whether it was her exterior or her inner self, as long as this person liked it… the opinions of others, her own thoughts… none of it mattered at all.
At her earnest request, Shen Lu had finally switched to using a normal form of address.
Qi Qi stared fixedly at her, seemingly unable to comprehend.
It didn’t matter if she couldn’t understand.
After all, she was already a monster now.
Toward the end, Shen Lu’s voice actually began to tremble, even she couldn’t tell if it was out of joy or… excitement.
“Besides, Qiqi likes the current me better, right?”
Qi Qi hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she nodded.
“Then there’s no problem.”
Qi Qi was inwardly panicking. She felt as though this special admission student, who had originally just been ordinary, gloomy, and reclusive, had somehow been pushed by her into becoming a psychological lunatic.
“But I used to bully you…” She tried to steer the conversation back onto a normal track.
“Master, the things you did can’t be called bullying at all.”
The special admission student, whom Qi Qi had quietly suspected of snapping into a psychological lunatic after repressing herself for too long, finally lost that gentle yet unhinged, skin crawlingly eerie smile and the ill-concealed excitement in her eyes. Instead, her face softened into a helpless, doting expression.
The most outrageous thing Qi Qi had ever done to her was back when they first met. Seeing how defensive and covered in sharp thorns Shen Lu was due to a misunderstanding, refusing to take a shower obediently, Qi Qi had dragged her straight into the bathroom and washed her clean with the showerhead.
Everything after that was just childish, lukewarm tricks like playing house.
Qi Qi had claimed she wanted to play frisbee and made her act as the dog. Just when Shen Lu thought she would be worked to exhaustion that day, Qi Qi called it off after only a few rounds, claiming she ran too slowly. She made Shen Lu sit on the side to drink tea and eat cookies while watching her play with a German Shepherd brought over by the servants, all under the guise of “tormenting her mind by letting her watch but not play.”
Then, Qi Qi wanted to write calligraphy on her body. Shen Lu had thought this would be true torment, expecting humiliating words to be written on her skin. Yet when it was over and she looked in the mirror, the characters Qi Qi had written were “Serve the country with unreserved loyalty.”
Afterward came making her read novels aloud, using her as a human cushion, and ordering her to wash her feet. Qi Qi seemed to believe these were forms of humiliation.
Though she put on an arrogant and mean front, decreeing that Shen Lu would be responsible for cleaning the room from then on, she used that exact pretext to give her the key to the lounge, allowing her to use anything inside at any time.
From time to time, Qi Qi would give her boxes stuffed with clothes, claiming on the surface that a person like her was only worthy of wearing her hand me downs. But when Shen Lu opened them, every piece inside was brand new, unopened, and tailored exactly to her measurements. Though deeply touched, a tiny corner of Shen Lu’s heart had actually felt a faint sense of disappointment back then, if Qi Qi had given her clothes she had actually worn before, it might have been even better.
She also prepared rich, balanced meals for her every day, watching over her to make sure she ate. She would even… hold her, saying she liked her body…
“Are you saying… you think the things I did don’t count as bullying at all?”
Shen Lu nodded.
Qi Qi’s eyes widened in utter shock. Her body lost its support from the sheer impact of this revelation, slumping powerlessly against the cold wall of the snake tail coiled beside her. Her weight elicited a faint tremor from the “wall” and an ambiguous sound resembling a moan from the monster behind her, but Qi Qi was past caring about anything else.
Did everything she had ever done amount to nothing more than harmless, trivial play fighting in Shen Lu’s eyes? Had all her efforts been entirely in vain?
While she had been smugly congratulating herself on coming up with clever ideas to bully her, imagining the small monster’s grief stricken expression of agony, in reality, it had all been utterly weak and ineffective.
“…I know that Qiqi is very gentle.”
After finishing her lingering recollection, Shen Lu stated her final conclusion with absolute certainty.
If that’s the case, doesn’t that make me nothing more than a tsundere, proud young lady who is soft hearted on the inside, unable to voice her kindness out of pride, and completely contradictory in word and deed?
Qi Qi’s current mood was a complete mess of mixed emotions…
Not only that, but she also felt an indescribable sense of tragic indignation, alongside a guilty, uneasy regret, as if she had committed some terrible mistake.
Her character concept seemed to have run into a major issue.
Was it too late to fix it now?
Even more tragically, it seemed like it was already too late.
A sudden knock on the door pulled Qi Qi out of her painful memories.
“Darling!”
The first thing that caught her eye upon opening the door was a massive bundle of pure white gardenias. A delightful fragrance filled the entire hallway within the short ten seconds it took her to answer. A few seconds later, a girl, far more beautiful than the blooming flowers, peeked out from behind the bouquet. Her smile was brilliant and pure, her bright peach blossom eyes reflecting Qi Qi’s somewhat cool expression.
“I bought these specifically for you. Do you like them?”
Qi Qi took the pure white bouquet that was forcibly shoved into her arms. Under Bai Zhi’s relentless questioning, she had no choice but to offer praise over and over.
“You don’t want them?”
Seeing her reaction, Bai Zhi narrowed her eyes slightly. Though her smile didn’t shift at all, the atmospheric pressure around her dropped noticeably.
“It’s not that… forget it, you’ll understand in a bit.”
Qi Qi sighed and pinched Bai Zhi’s cheek, squishing her face until she looked like a puffed-up pufferfish.
Bai Zhi stared at her for a long time, seemingly checking to make sure she wasn’t just placating her, before grudgingly saying, “Fine, then.”
Once inside, she clung to Qi Qi like glue, severely hindering her ability to walk.
“Please walk independently.”
“No. We haven’t seen each other in so long.”
Dragging this human sized deadweight, Qi Qi exerted quite an effort to stick the flowers into a vase. Annoyed, she pinched the soft flesh at Bai Zhi’s waist. “Didn’t we just see each other at school two days ago?”
“But there were too many people around. We didn’t even get to talk properly.”
Bai Zhi felt unhappy just thinking about it. Because she had promised Qi Qi not to reveal their relationship, they couldn’t display any affection at school.
The two of them shuffled over to the sofa in that awkward, clinging posture.
“Sit properly.” Wanting to take a break due to her lack of physical stamina, Qi Qi spoke with helpless exasperation as she looked at the girl resting limply against her neck like she had no bones.
“Sit properly?” Hearing this, Bai Zhi raised her brows and finally decided to spare Qi Qi, straightening her body up. “Alright, I’ll sit properly.”
And with that, she sat herself down primly right on top of Qi Qi.
“Don’t play dumb with me, that’s not what I meant at all… forget it.”
Qi Qi really wanted to shake the girl off her body with flair, but remembering what she was about to say next, she couldn’t help but sigh. Since this was going to be the last time anyway, there was no harm in indulge her a little.
“Alright, I invited you over because I wanted to tell you something.”
Bai Zhi hugged her tightly, refusing to let go, her tone tinged with disappointment. “Is that so? I thought you called me here to satisfy your desires…”
Qi Qi shot her a sidelong glance. “Don’t make me sound like a brute.”
“Mm, let’s put it this way. I need to recharge my energy.”