Lin Suqing followed the sound of crying and, as it grew nearer, he saw in the midst of the mist, a young girl of marriageable age sitting on a green stone slab with her back to him, facing a large tree and covering her face as she wept.
That child-like crying was coming out of this young girl.
Could she be a girl from some family who had lost her way?
Lin Suqing pushed through the waist-high grass and walked towards her, calling out from a distance, "Young girl, what's wrong with you?"
As he asked, he pondered in his heart, if she was someone's lost girl, shouldn't the dog know her address? Maybe he could ask the dog to take her home. Or call her family to come to the Crown Prince's residence to pick her up, that should be feasible.
Upon hearing Lin Suqing's call, the young girl stood up in response. Barefoot, she stood on the damp stone slab, with her long hair cascading down her back, trailing over three feet on the stone slab.
The girl continued to cover her face and sob softly, but she did not intend to turn around and face Lin Suqing.
Thinking she might be a bit shy, he walked up to her and patted her shoulder, saying with concern, "Don't be afraid, young girl, big brother isn't a bad guy... Don't cry for now, can you tell big brother if you are lost?"
No matter how gently and considerately he expressed his concern, the young girl still did not turn around or look back. She just said timidly, "Big brother, I'm hungry..."
Clearly a girl of fifteen or sixteen, her voice was tender as a child's.
Hearing this, Lin Suqing felt a bit helpless. He felt pity for himself too, as he hadn't even had breakfast and, in his rush, had not brought any provisions. Looking around him, he saw no wild fruit that he might pick for her.
Worried the young girl would continue crying, he persuaded her gently, "Stop crying, I didn't bring any food with me when I left the house. Why don't you come with me..."
As soon as he spoke, Lin Suqing felt it was not quite proper, how could he casually ask someone to come home with him, especially when she was a young girl. Fearing she might worry unduly, he quickly invoked the Crown Prince's name to explain, "Have you heard of the Crown Prince of Danxue Mountain? I am staying at his house."
The young girl shuddered, her crying abruptly stopped, and then she said in a soft and mushy tone, "So, you are a guest of the Crown Prince. That is... indeed wonderful~" As she spoke, she slowly turned around, only to reveal a grotesque appearance with dark red skin, red eyes, and long ears!
"Monster!" Lin Suqing screamed at the top of his lungs and turned to run.
Unfortunately, the brushwood was abnormally thick here, making it difficult to run at even half of his usual speed—it was over, he should never have come out!
"Help! Dog, help me! Crown Prince, help me! Heaven, help me!" He ran and howled at the same time.
What kind of cursed place was this, where danger lurked at every turn, where beasts and demons lay in wait the moment he left his house!
He ran desperately, cursing silently, had he unwittingly urinated on someone's ancestral grave to be so unlucky!
The female demon behind him laughed in a sinister and chilly manner, her laugh seemingly attached to the back of his ears. No matter how fast he ran, the laughter closely followed him.
With each sound in his ears, she pressed closer step by step.
Suddenly, she tossed her hair, which flew out like silk ribbons, instantly coiling around his neck like serpents, swiftly entwining his entire body in the space of a breath.
Lin Suqing felt the hair tightening around him, so tight that he could hardly breathe. He tried to call for help, but his voice was intercepted by the hair in his throat; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make a sound.
He instantly felt a terrifying fear borne of sheer desperation.
Then, the female demon gathered her long hair and dragged Lin Suqing, who was wrapped up like a silkworm cocoon, back to her.
She bent down and with her long, sharp, black fingernails, she lifted his chin and scrutinized his face carefully.
"Earlier, I heard that a mortal from another world arrived at Danxue Mountain~ I specially came to see something novel~" Her blood-red pupils made strange rotations within the depths of her dark eye sockets, then refocused on Lin Suqing's face. After seriously considering for a while, she asked, "Handsome boy~ Could it possibly be you?"
Lin Suqing was bound by her hair all over, with only his head exposed. Now, the female demon's face was so close to his that the more he looked at it, the more his spine chilled, and he immediately shut his eyes tightly, not daring to open even a sliver to look.
Seeing that he wouldn't even glance at her, the female demon's thin lips puckered slightly in slight annoyance and she blew a breath of foul air onto his face.
The smell was like algae and ringworm growing atop a pile of rotten mud at the bottom of a river, extremely fishy and nauseating, enough to make one vomit.
As the foul breath hit his face, Lin Suqing's eyes involuntarily widened in shock. Despite his efforts to close them, his eyelids wouldn't move at all!
What sort of sorcery was this, that he could only watch the female demon in front of him with his eyes wide open?
"Handsome boy~ I was born in Danxue Mountain just a few days ago, so I'm new here as well. I was planning to see you, but you've come to me instead. It seems we are fated to meet~"
At that moment, the female demon, whose skin was black with a reddish, shiny hue, suddenly released Lin Suqing from the shackles and freed him from her hair.
Once released, Lin Suqing wanted to take a breath of fresh air, but the grotesquely ugly female demon twisted her waist and straddled his, laughing weirdly, "To me, everything in this world is quite fascinating, handsome boy, and so are you~"
The female demon leaned down close to his face, crossing his arms above his head and gripping his wrists firmly.
Her hands, which were like sticks of firewood, were incredibly strong. With such a simple grip, she rendered him completely immobile.
She leaned over Lin Suqing's body, observing him for a while longer. Then, with a lock of her hair, she gently brushed the tip against his cheek, asking softly, "Handsome boy~ I came to see you risking life and death, do you see? Do you see if I'm beautiful? Do you like me or not~"
With her words, the fishy stench assaulted his nostrils, causing a violent surge of acid reflux in his stomach. A sudden urge to vomit rose to his throat, but he had to desperately suppress the urge, fearing that he might accidentally kiss her if he raised his head while retching. That would be worse than death.
Before he could recover from the waves of nausea, the female demon stretched out her long, sharp, black fingernails, gently teasing from his brow to the bridge of his nose, and then lightly down his chin, over his Adam's apple, and along his neck...
It was so creepy that he couldn't help but shudder with goosebumps all over his body.
The female demon's bony fingers roved across his chest, then slowly moved down toward his abdomen, and finally slipped her stick-like hands under his shirt!
Lin Suqing's body jolted, and he gasped for air, wishing he could just die on the spot.
He resented, why... why was it him being molested by such an outrageously ugly female demon... why...
The female demon squinted her red eyes, smiling sinisterly. Lin Suqing's wrists were firmly grasped by her, his waist pinned down by her tight straddle, leaving him no room to struggle.
Just as the female demon's hands threatened to reach into his shorts...
"Hold on!" Lin Suqing suddenly blurted out, causing the female demon to pause in bewilderment.