Above Her Lips (GL) - Chapter 3

A gray sky loomed over a world buried in white snow.

At the hotel entrance, a waiter respectfully pulled open the car door for a beautiful, noble woman. She stepped quickly into the vehicle; despite having no natural body temperature, the biting winter cold was still something she found difficult to adjust to.

“Director Daolei, please forgive my negligence!” Manager Hong, still persistent as the man prepared to leave, chased after him, bowing low in desperate entreaty.

Daolei glanced at Manager Hong before seating himself in the front passenger side. “Rest easy. There is no need for such rigidity; you will not lose your future over this matter.”

Hearing this, Manager Hong bowed once more in gratitude. He never dared to look toward the mysterious, gorgeously dressed woman in the backseat; her status was clearly a boundary he could never cross. After all, those rare golden-brown pupils were a trait belonging only to Pureblood Nobles.

Having secured his position, Manager Hong stood respectfully at the hotel entrance, maintaining a ninety-degree bow until the black sedan vanished into the white streets.

The heavy snow outside made pedestrians even scarcer. Many shops along the road had begun hanging “Closed” signs, as this route passed through the North District train station—a place of chaotic public security. Idle thugs often took advantage of such wretched weather to “visit” shops or traffic “livestock” for exorbitant profits.

Daolei looked into the rearview mirror; Mu Fei had her eyes closed, taking a brief rest.

“Due to the heavy snow, the original return route seems to be blocked, so I’ve switched to this path,” Daolei explained. Although the distance was similar, this way passed through common human train stations and was relatively noisier. Mu Fei preferred quiet, so he felt it necessary to report the change.

Mu Fei did not respond, which served as a silent endorsement of Daolei’s decision.

Indeed, groups of pedestrians began appearing outside the window. One could tell their identities just by their attire. These people could threaten any shop in the area, yet they dared not approach the black sedan passing beside them. The emblem on the rear of the black car body represented an insurmountable boundary.

Through the window, the woman in the backseat silently watched the chaotic incidents flash by. An elderly couple running a shop was being thrown out of their own doorway.

“The two extremes of the Fusha District—wealth and squalor—are separated by only a few streets,” Daolei remarked.

As the car rounded the next corner, the sound of a group of men jeering could be clearly heard. Beneath a streetlight carved with an image of the Virgin Mary, a man was laughing as he yanked a child by the hair, while several men standing nearby whistled and egged him on.

The girl was trembling all over, forced to endure the man pulling and jerking her hair as he prepared to drag her away by force.

Daolei recognized the girl at first glance; she was the child brought by that madwoman in the lobby. It was obvious the poor child had been abandoned here by that wretched mother.

“Why have we stopped?” the person in the backseat questioned with a note of displeasure.

Daolei turned back. “Master, it is that child.”

Mu Fei’s cold eyes glanced toward that vile street corner. The girl’s face was turning purple as a man choked her. Even so, the girl did not cry; she kept hitting the man’s hand, attempting to make him let her go.

“Take her to that ‘club.’ There are plenty of guests these days who like them young; we might get a high price for her,” the man said, laughing as he looked at the girl’s thin, frail limbs, already calculating the profit in his head. When the girl scratched his hand, he flew into a rage and threw her violently into the slushy snow.

The girl clutched her arm in pain.

A youth nearby pointed at the girl’s face with disgust—a face covered in chilblains and splattered with mud. “Stop dreaming. How much do you think she’s worth looking like that? You know what the child prostitutes in Boss Feng’s club look like; this one is dirty and ugly.”

Hearing that she wouldn’t fetch a good price, the man grew frustrated. Then, looking at the girl’s relatively fair and tender arms, another plan formed in his mind. He suggested with a lewd grin, “Then we’ll just…”

“Then you’ll just what?”

A cold, eerie voice finished the excited man’s sentence.

The group whirled around, glaring to see what blind fool dared to interfere with them. A slender, black figure stood like a phantom, positioned silently just three feet behind them.

When had she arrived? It had been noiseless. No one had noticed when this strangely pale and exquisite woman had appeared. She looked extraordinary—breath-takingly beautiful yet profoundly unsettling.

“I do not wish for this place to become a slaughterhouse, so I suggest you all leave now.” She looked up, the corners of her lips curling slightly. Beneath the brim of her hat, her deep red eyes had pupils narrowed into slits.

Evidently, the men were very “wise” and left immediately. More accurately, they fled in a mad, desperate scramble. When faced with an unknown supernatural phenomenon, humans experience a physiological, instinctive terror.

Mu Fei watched those social dregs—who had been so arrogant moments ago—scatter like terrified animals, her heart filled with nothing but endless loathing.

“They certainly have little courage,” Daolei chimed in suddenly from the side.

Mu Fei shot him a disparaging look and smiled thinly. “Indeed. You, on the other hand, seem quite bold. Shouldn’t this matter have been handled by you?”

Daolei shrugged slightly, forcing himself not to look at Mu Fei’s unsettling smile. He felt a bit helpless; his Master had stepped out of the car before he even had a chance to react. He had assumed Mu Fei would watch with cold detachment, as she had never before interfered with the life-and-death laws of the human world.

He turned his head and asked softly, “Master, how should we handle this child?”

Beneath the streetlight sat a figure so small it was almost negligible. The girl was shakily leaning against the iron pole, tears held back in her dark eyes. She clumsily wiped the mud from her face with her hands and looked up at the “Lord” standing against the light.

Mu Fei’s smile faded. A gust of cold wind blew past, scattering some of her long black hair. She lowered her hat and looked down at the girl with a cold gaze.

The girl was shivering incessantly; her frail body looked as if it would collapse with a single gust of wind. She looked toward Mu Fei timidly. Upon closer inspection, the girl’s face bore old scars from being beaten.

Mu Fei remained silent for a long time. Finally, she said only one thing:

“Bring her back to the estate.”