Chapter 1
“Rumble—”
Thunder split through the clouds, tearing open a massive rift. Silvery-white lightning flashed through the narrow window, illuminating one corner of the dark room.
A beautifully crafted cage of solid gold stood beneath a thick layer of black cloth. The velvet, patterned with dark designs, hung all the way to the floor, glinting faintly in the darkness and completely concealing the alluring sight within the cage.
A cold gust swept in through the window, lifting the covering draped over the cage.
Fu Xin was curled up inside. Her gaze passed through the closely spaced bars and peered out through a lifted corner of the cloth, attempting to glean even the slightest bit of information about the outside world.
The succubus’s skin, deprived of sunlight for so long, was a luminous white. Her black wings and heart-tipped tail drooped listlessly behind her, and her waterfall of long hair was slightly disheveled from her repeated struggles.
Her pale violet eyes watched the door beyond the cage with wary vigilance.
Three days ago, she had been locked inside this cage.
That day, Fu Xin had gone out with her clanswomen to socialize, just as she usually did. She had reached the age when she was supposed to learn from the clan’s elders how to feed on lust and desire.
After reaching adulthood, a succubus needed to feed deeply on emotion once every month. Otherwise, her magic would decline, her tail and wings would lose their luster, and the little horns atop her head would stop growing.
Once Fu Xin learned the art of seduction, she could either remain with her clan or leave and live on her own.
Usually, only succubi who had found suitable masters chose to leave. Fu Xin had no such plans for the time being.
But a group of strangers had descended upon them from nowhere, abruptly ending her education.
They had clearly come prepared. Every one of them had covered their eyes with a thin veil enchanted to render a succubus’s charm magic useless, and all the magical artifacts they carried were specifically designed to suppress the magic of the succubus race.
The leader of the bandits stared at Fu Xin, who had been separated from the others, and the two scattered succubi behind her.
A vicious grin spread across his coarse features.
“We’ve hit the jackpot today!”
The bandit leader fixed his eyes on Fu Xin’s exquisite little face, greed gleaming in their depths.
Turning around, he warned his men, “Be careful, all of you! These premium goods will fetch a fortune. Don’t damage them!”
We’re doomed!
She had encountered succubus traffickers on her very first outing!
Succubi were a beautiful race with relatively weak abilities of self-defense. As a result, bandits who raided and plundered also tended to engage in the trafficking of succubi.
Aside from succubi, elves were another highly sought-after commodity on the market.
They commanded such exorbitant prices that selling just one could spare the traffickers from having to work again for years.
Succubi specialized in seduction, not combat. Fu Xin and her clanswomen were quickly overpowered and fell into the group’s hands.
After being locked inside the cage, she had been transported through several different locations before finally being brought here.
She had been imprisoned alone in this room. She had no idea what had happened to her clanswomen…
“Clank—”
A sound from outside the door pulled Fu Xin from her thoughts.
Someone used a key to unlock the chains that had been added to the heavy iron door. A moment later, the door swung open with a creak.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
Footsteps approached from a distance as the person outside strolled leisurely into the room.
From her angle, Fu Xin could only see the pair of gleaming, spotless leather boots he wore.
“Has this succubus been causing trouble in there?” Fu Xin heard him ask the guard outside. “If she gets too noisy, force some medicine down her throat.”
The auction house handler was dressed in a long robe, with an enchanted cloak draped over his shoulders and several jeweled rings adorning his fingers. He glanced at the golden cage as though inspecting a piece of merchandise.
“Absolutely nothing can go wrong at tonight’s auction!”
From the other side of the wall, the subordinate guarding Fu Xin dutifully replied, “She struggled constantly on the first day and kept trying to escape. Perhaps she realized there was no hope. She’s been much more obedient these past two days.”
“Has she eaten anything?”
“No.”
“Give her some food and water. She’ll need to be displayed at the auction. No one will offer a high price if she’s starved until she’s gaunt and sallow.”
“It would be best to dress her up as well. Put her in one of the specially made outfits. Those nobles love buying beautiful succubi who have only just come of age.”
“Why isn’t there any sound from inside? She’d better not have starved to death. Let me have a look…” As he spoke, he reached for the black cloth covering the cage.
“Don’t lift it…”
The arrogant handler paid him no mind. “What are you afraid of? She’s locked in a cage. Do you think she can escape?”
“Besides, the clothes and accessories I’m wearing have been blessed by the Church. They can withstand attacks from demonic creatures.”
Ignoring his subordinate’s attempt to stop him, the handler continued reaching for the cloth.
Realizing he could not dissuade him, the guard outside had no choice but to obey his instructions and fetch food and water. The guard knew the handler was deliberately sending him away. This was far from the first time the man had done something like this.
Every piece of merchandise that passed through his hands had to endure his abuse first. The guard simply had not expected even the succubus reserved as the auction’s grand finale to escape this treatment.
The enchanted velvet only affected succubi. To the handler, it was nothing more than an ordinary piece of cloth, and he pulled it aside with ease.
The dark patterns across the black cloth shifted and flowed, suppressing a succubus’s magic. Now that someone had lifted it, its restraints on Fu Xin’s magic vanished as well.
Although Fu Xin had yet to learn the art of seduction, her ocular enchantments and illusions were among the finest of her kind.
The instant the velvet was lifted, the invisible prison suppressing her and restricting her magic dissolved. Fu Xin raised her head, and a violet light flashed within her eyes.
The moment their gazes met, the handler’s eyes lost focus, a purple haze spreading across their depths.
Fu Xin parted her lips and silently commanded,
“Open the cage.”
Like a puppet capable only of obeying orders, the handler pulled out the key concealed beneath his robe.
Fu Xin did not need direct contact. As long as she had an opportunity to meet someone’s gaze, she could bewitch them.
The subordinate soon returned with food and water. Finding it strange that the room had gone silent, he hesitated before stepping inside to investigate—only to come face-to-face with the succubus emerging from the cage.
“Hel—”
The cry died before it could leave his throat, silenced completely.
Subduing two people in such a short span of time depleted more than half the magic within Fu Xin. She had to find her clanswomen before her power ran out entirely.
Under her control, the handler led her to the other places where her clanswomen were being held.
Because of that evening’s auction, the succubi had been confined in separate rooms, but all of them were concentrated within the same building, sparing her the trouble of traveling far.
Fu Xin no longer had enough magic to control the guards outside.
She issued an order. “You—come up with an excuse and lure the guards away.”
The bewitched handler walked out.
Fu Xin hid in the shadows and carefully observed the situation before her, prepared to withdraw immediately if anything went wrong. The handler’s keys were now clutched tightly in her hand.
His position as the auction house handler proved extraordinarily useful. After only a few words, Fu Xin watched the guards follow him away.
“Now!”
Fu Xin flew over at once. Before her feet had even touched the ground, her wings still beating behind her, she hurriedly aligned the key with the lock.
The golden cage inside the room was likewise covered with black velvet.
But it could only restrain the succubus imprisoned inside.
Standing outside the cage, Fu Xin reached for the cloth. Although her magic was not being suppressed, the dark patterns burned her skin.
Enduring the searing pain, Fu Xin tore the black cloth away with all her strength.
“Fu Xin!”
The clanswoman imprisoned inside was Meili. She was the one who had taken Fu Xin out this time. She had arranged in advance for her good friend Qimeng to teach Fu Xin the art of seduction.
Qimeng’s mastery of seduction was second to none. She had left the clan as soon as she came of age and thrived in the outside world as naturally as a fish in water. It was impossible to see her without making an appointment in advance.
No one had expected them to encounter bandits on this outing.
Meili saw the burns on Fu Xin’s arm bleeding. Fu Xin’s fingertips trembled as she unlocked the cage.
The moment she regained her freedom, Meili rushed out and pulled Fu Xin into a tight embrace, transferring a substantial amount of magic into her.
Fu Xin handed the keys to Meili. The magic within her was almost completely depleted.
She spoke tersely. “Qimeng is upstairs.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the footsteps of several people sounded outside.
The patrolling guards had discovered that no one was stationed there. One of them demanded, “Why is no one guarding this area? Hurry inside and see whether the merchandise is still there.”
Oh no!
They had been discovered!
Before Fu Xin could think of a solution, she found herself enveloped in a sphere of warm light. The last thing she saw was Meili smiling at her as she said,
“Leave the rest to me! You get out first.” Meili gave her no chance to refuse.
An overwhelming drowsiness swept over Fu Xin. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she could no longer resist. She closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
The glow of Meili’s magic surrounding her carried her over the guards and flew in the direction farthest from the crowd. The guards who stormed into the room seemed to have collectively gone blind, unable to see Fu Xin floating over their heads. Their attention remained fixed entirely on Meili as she emerged from the cage.
Several streaks of lightning flashed intermittently beneath the gloomy storm clouds.
Fu Xin floated through the air, the light surrounding her growing dimmer and dimmer.
A flash of white light streaked past, followed a moment later by an earth-shaking crash of thunder. The fleeting arc of lightning struck the unfortunate girl while she was still unconscious.
*
One deafening rumble after another rolled across the sky.
The workday was nearly over.
Everyone in the office had long since stopped thinking about work.
“The weather was perfectly fine when I left home this morning. How did it suddenly turn into a downpour?”
“It’s safest to stay indoors during thunderstorms like this. It’s dangerous outside.” As though to prove her point, several thunderclaps exploded beyond the window the moment she finished speaking.
The employees seated near the windows were so frightened that they hurriedly scooted their chairs away.
“You rarely see thunder this intense. They’ve issued a red lightning alert on our phones.”
Yu Chen glanced out the window. Bolt after bolt of lightning slashed down from the sky. Abandoning the idea of going home just yet, she decided to remain at the office and work overtime.
She lived alone, so it did not matter whether she returned home early or late. No one was waiting to have dinner with her anyway.
The apartment Yu Chen rented was not far from the office. She could walk home in just over ten minutes.
Her social life was simple, and every day, she traveled back and forth between only two places: home and work.
The weary air of an office drone and her lifeless, vacant expression greatly diminished her beauty. On top of that, she wore a pair of thick, black-framed glasses all day, concealing her picturesque brows and eyes and reducing her completely to an inconspicuous passerby.
But there was no shortage of people in the world with an eye for beauty.
“Yu Chen, once the thunderstorm stops, do you want to try that new barbecue restaurant nearby? This kind of weather is perfect for a group of people to sit together and eat piping-hot barbecue.”
In hopes of persuading Yu Chen to join her for dinner, her coworker had even gone to the trouble of inviting the other women in the office.
Yu Chen continued typing methodically at her keyboard. “You can go. Have fun. I need to go home today.” Her face showed no unnecessary emotion, making her resemble a robot programmed to deliver a predetermined response.
The expression on her coworker’s meticulously made-up face froze. Yu Chen merely pushed her glasses up slightly without looking at her.
A friend pulled the coworker away and comforted her softly. “It’s not as if you only just found out what she’s like. She’s completely oblivious.”
The thunder gradually subsided.
It was already well past the end of the workday, and the employees began leaving in groups of two and three.
Yu Chen glanced at the sky outside. The rain had eased, but the sky remained dark and overcast. She gathered her belongings and left work.
The streets felt fresher after the rain. The downpour had washed the city clean, and damp moisture lingered around Yu Chen as she walked.
As she passed the entrance to an alley, she thought she heard a faint rustling sound coming from deep within.
She stopped and listened carefully.
It was not her imagination. The faint noises continued.
Was it a homeless person sheltering from the rain inside the alley, or a stray kitten rummaging around for food?
Either way, they needed her help.
“Hss…”
It sounded like a girl’s voice.
Memories of past news reports surfaced in her mind, and she could not help imagining the worst possible scenario. The moment she considered that a girl might be in danger,
Yu Chen entered the alley without the slightest hesitation.
“Who’s in there?”
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!