Squelch, squelch.
Wang Yue struggled to pull her boots from the thick riverbank mud as she trudged toward a small red flag.
The red markers indicated gemstones, detected by the sensory abilities of the hybrids. The flags were accurate within a two-to-three-meter radius, necessitating a meticulous search of the immediate area. Flags were peppered along the entire bank, and the gold prospectors were clustered in teams of three to five, digging frantically.
“Let’s see who finds something first!” Lilith suggested.
“Sure. What does the winner get?” Wang Yue agreed readily.
“The winner gets to ask the loser a question, or command them to perform an action. You have to answer honestly, and you have to do the action, no matter what it is.”
By the time she finished, Lilith’s voice had turned incredibly soft.
Ah, Truth or Dare.
Wang Yue hesitated. Deep in her heart, behind a hidden door, lay things she didn’t dare face—things she deliberately avoided. The once-pleasant atmosphere suddenly turned cold as ice, and every breath felt like it was laden with winter mist.
Seeing the look of pain and guilt on her face, Lilith seemed to understand. She looked away and whispered, “Never mind, then…”
The two fell into a heavy silence.
One small lamp, two young girls, sitting on the wet mud of the riverbank. The orange circle of light cocooned them, like a warm cage from which neither could escape.
As if a disaster were looming, the young black-haired girl’s pupils trembled. She felt a subconscious urge to run away, to distance herself from the blonde girl—to never look at her again. If she didn’t, she would keep remembering the mistakes she had made.
But then she caught a glimpse of the light fading from Lilith’s eyes, and her heart twisted. If I run away now, won’t I just be hurting her all over again?
At the very least, she should let Lilith ask and get some clarity.
Wang Yue made up her mind. She lifted her face and looked Lilith straight in the eye, opening the windows to her soul. She would let Lilith see into her heart, no matter how despicable or ugly it was.
“Let’s play by your rules,” she said firmly.
Lilith blinked, a sudden surge of regret hitting her. Damn it, if the truth comes out, I won’t be able to keep playing dumb anymore.
But there was no stopping it now. The game had begun.
The two began digging absentmindedly into the foul, shimmering wet mud. The river silt felt like some kind of rotting aspic—sticky, black, and smelling of brine.
Wang Yue dug out another shovelful. As she smoothed it over, a tiny glint caught her eye. She rinsed it in the water and picked it up. It was a small, pale brown grain—a brown diamond.
“I found something first.”
Wang Yue breathed a small sigh of relief. She could gloss over this round.
“Ask your question,” Lilith whispered.
What should she ask? Which way the wind blew? Or perhaps a dare? Have Lilith wipe the mud off her face?
She had intended to keep it trivial, but she realized this was a rare chance for total honesty. Knowing Lilith’s personality, if they missed this chance, it might never come again.
Wang Yue looked away and murmured, “Do you… do you hate me?”
Lilith’s lips moved, her eyes swirling with complex emotions. She hesitated before speaking.
“Do you know what it’s like to be cut in half at the waist? To be severed instantly? Your upper half still has sensation, but you can’t feel anything below. Your brain is in agony and confusion… ‘Huh? Where are my legs? I don’t have legs anymore. Oh, my bottom is gone too…’ Tell me, in that moment, would I hate my legs and my bottom? No. I would only be thinking, ‘Am I about to die?’“
Wang Yue felt the urge to laugh and cry at the same time.
“For a long time after that, I kept wondering why I wasn’t dead yet. At night, I would sit on the windowsill with one foot dangling outside. I felt like my chest was hollow, like the moonlight was passing straight through my body and hitting the floor…”
Wang Yue felt as if a knife were being twisted in her heart. A cold, bitter liquid seemed to fill her lungs, making it almost impossible to breathe.
“As for now… do you think I hate you?” Lilith asked in return.
Wang Yue shook her head. If Lilith truly hated her from the bottom of her heart, she wouldn’t have sought her help, nor would she have become the God’s priestess.
They reached the next digging site.
The silence returned as they dug. This time, Lilith found a patch of Blue Earth first. She shoveled the dirt into her gold pan and swirled it in the water. The silt washed away, leaving behind a few glittering golden grains.
“I won,” she said, her smile pale.
“Please, go ahead…”
Wang Yue sat on the riverbank as if exhausted. She pulled a piece of acorn cracker from her bag and took a bite. It was bitter and hard to swallow. Her gaze drifted toward the Gloomwood on the far bank.
Lilith grit her teeth, as if reaching a final resolution. She asked, “Did you… did you ever actually like me? I mean, liking me as a lover.”
Wang Yue’s body jolted as if she had been struck by a bullet. She slowly leaned back.
That really is a sharp question…
After a long pause, she asked, “Do you want the truth?”
“Tell me… please…” Lilith’s voice was strained. She clenched her fists, trying to suppress her trembling.
“Actually, the first time I met you, I had a premonition that we would become each other’s greatest rivals. And things did develop that way… I didn’t expect the Principal to change everything. I promised her I would give you more memories, which led to us spending time together. But I didn’t like your personality. I was always trying to change you. You really did change a lot for me, and I felt like I was just one step away—just one step from being able to love you with all my heart…”
“And then? Say it!” Lilith cried out urgently.
“I met Plum. I felt she was better. So, I gave up on you without any hesitation. You see? I didn’t like you that much. I’m a bastard. You didn’t do anything wrong, Lilith.”
“I knew it! I knew it!” Lilith screamed, her voice breaking into sobs. She scooped up a handful of mud and slammed it into Wang Yue’s face. “You bastard! I hate you!”
In the end, you went back to being yourself, Lilith…
Wang Yue wiped the mud from her face, feeling a sense of relief. Lilith was back to her old self, and that was for the best. Seeing Lilith slowly tear and twist herself apart, turning into a submissive “Little Tail” in extreme agony—it had been like watching someone pull the bones out of a body one by one until they were a spineless creature. It had filled Wang Yue with a melancholy grief, as if she had personally melted down a peerless, one-of-a-kind divine weapon.
“That’s blasphemy, Lilith! Do you still have your faith?” Wang Yue suddenly shouted.
“It’s gone! It’s all your fault, you jerk!” Lilith cried, throwing another clod of mud.
“If you throw another one, I’m hitting back!”
“Then hit me!”
The two began pelted each other with mud. Before long, their faces were completely blackened.
Lilith blinked her beautiful red eyes through a mask of mud and asked calmly and honestly, “Now that I’m not a Witch and you aren’t a god… can we be good friends?”
“I’ll definitely be a good friend,” Wang Yue nodded vigorously.
Just then, a signal firework bloomed in the sky. Wang Yue took out her wand and used witchcraft to clean the mud off both of them, and together they hurried toward the light.
***
In a wooden cabin nestled in the woods by the river.
Inside, a rope hung from a ceiling beam, binding the round-faced girl’s hands tightly and hoisting her up.
Her wrists were in agony. She could barely touch the ground with her toes to relieve the pressure. The strain tightened her smooth, long thighs, and her hips swayed slightly as she struggled, making her figure appear even more alluring.
Her beautiful almond eyes were filled with fury. Her small mouth didn’t stop questioning them.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
A muscular hybrid, wearing several gold knuckledusters, stepped forward. He put his weight into a twisting punch, slamming it directly into the girl’s abdomen!
Thud!
It made a dull sound, like a fist hitting a heavy sandbag.
The force of the punch twisted her clothes; the buttons of her suit jacket popped off and flew across the room.
Olivia’s face went deathly pale instantly, the color draining down to her neck. Her body arched like a bow, stiffening in shock. She couldn’t draw a breath for a long time. Then, her body went limp, dangling from the rope and twitching slightly as she nearly lost consciousness. Her entire weight slumped onto her bound wrists.
The muscles in her thighs gave way. A stream of hot urine trickled down, the damp stain spreading rapidly across her flesh-colored stockings.
