Chapter 64

The two were trussed up tightly like rice dumplings, shoved and dragged to the street with the main plaza.

Willow Waist pushed open the gate to her own house and, with a wave, had Zhu Ming and Tang Qiaoqi hauled inside. With the mistress’s invitation, this time they could finally see the inside of a residence. But the courtyard was quite ordinary, built in the same faux-ancient style as the rest of the town.

If there was anything noteworthy, it was the red lanterns hanging in rows under the eaves.

At this moment, in broad daylight, the mist had mostly dissipated. The lanterns were unlit, utterly mundane, nothing like the unsettling glow they had at night.

Not all the demons had come inside. Once bound, Zhu Ming and Tang Qiaoqi couldn’t escape, so so many hands were no longer necessary.

Willow Waist stood in the courtyard and scrutinized them for a moment. A slender finger tapped her chin as she seemed to weigh which one to start on. After a pause, she gave a pleased little chuckle and snapped her fingers, ready to divvy up the spoils. “Little ones, the human girl is yours. This one here, I’m keeping for myself.”

The one Willow Waist wanted was, without a doubt, Zhu Ming. She preferred a worthy challenge over the weak and fragile Tang Qiaoqi.

They were about to be separated. Zhu Ming quickly whispered a few instructions into Tang Qiaoqi’s ear. After getting her directives, Tang Qiaoqi’s expression eased somewhat, though her eyes were still filled with terror.

As for Zhu Ming, Willow Waist grabbed her by the collar and dragged her into an inner room.

Thump.

Zhu Ming was tossed directly onto the bed.

A very strange, awkward tension filled the air. These demons were surprisingly… direct.

Willow Waist sauntered over, grinning, and pinched Zhu Ming’s cheek, pulling and twisting it. “Well? Scared now, are you? If you’re scared, you can beg me.”

Zhu Ming coughed dryly. “What do you want? Drain me dry? Then hurry up and get it over with.”

Willow Waist narrowed her eyes. “How naive. You think I’d let you die so easily? I intend to have my fun torturing you first.”

No sooner had she spoken than another person entered the room. Zhu Ming looked up to see another familiar face—the very wolf demoness who had dragged her and Tang Qiaoqi into the Demon Market!

The wolf demoness was gripping a whip, bristling with eager anticipation, a look of pure excitement on her face. “I told you! I’ll make sure your corpse has no burial ground! See? You’ll be dead soon enough!”

The butcher’s knife was poised, and they were the meat. Bound tight and unable to move, Zhu Ming lay on the bed, helpless. If Willow Waist and the wolf demoness wanted to act, they could easily take her life.

And yet, Zhu Ming didn’t feel fear. She looked at the whip and sighed. “Can you just kill me outright?”

The wolf demoness cracked the whip threateningly. “No!”

So, Zhu Ming let herself relax completely on the bed and started playing dead. “Suit yourselves, then.”

Wolf demoness / Willow Waist: “…”

The two demons exchanged a look: What now? She’s not afraid?

Furious, the wolf demoness lashed out with the whip. “Stop playing dead!”

Zhu Ming didn’t react.

The wolf demoness raised her whip for another strike, but Willow Waist grabbed her hand. “Stop. You go outside first. I’ll deal with her.”

Demons respected the law of the strong. Gnashing her teeth unwillingly, the wolf demoness had no choice but to drop the whip and stalk out. Willow Waist stared at the woman breathing steadily on the bed for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. “You really aren’t afraid we’ll kill you, are you?”

Zhu Ming kept her eyes closed and replied calmly, “I suspect this game isn’t designed for direct, immediate murder. Otherwise, why bother tying me up without making a move? For you, killing is restricted. Let me guess the condition: You keep saying you want ‘a sip,’ but you haven’t forced it when I refuse… So… your only way to kill right now is through draining Essence.”

For a moment, the room was dead silent. Then came the rustle of fabric. Willow Waist leaned down and pinched Zhu Ming’s nose. Even though she’d been exposed, she wasn’t angry. “So clever. That is indeed a limitation. So let’s play a little game now. The game is: How long can you hold out… without begging me to take a sip?”

She giggled. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Need the bathroom? But you can’t move right now, can you? What are you going to do? Maybe… you should beg me?”

Zhu Ming opened her mouth to breathe, sounding exasperated. “Look, Big Sis, can I just get some sleep?”

Willow Waist replied coldly, “Sure. Beg me for it.”

Zhu Ming understood now. Sleep deprivation was one of Willow Waist’s tactics. Normal human physiological needs still existed within the instance. As long as they had needs, they’d eventually be forced to compromise with the demons.

And that wasn’t even counting how the demons would gleefully add fuel to the fire, using every trick in the book to force a participant’s submission.

Like right at this moment.

But Zhu Ming wasn’t about to give in easily. At least for now, she could endure it. So she still didn’t beg Willow Waist.

Seeing ordinary tactics didn’t frighten her, Willow Waist’s mind spun, and a new scheme was born.

She suddenly reached out and ripped Zhu Ming’s collar open, popping the top button off and sending it to the floor. This time, Zhu Ming’s eyes flew open. She glared at Willow Waist, speechless.

“What are you doing?!”

Willow Waist just giggled. “Nothing much. You can relax. We can’t kill you, can’t torture you… so unfortunately, I’ll just have to exercise a demon’s natural talent… and do you.”

Do you?

A herd of alpacas stampeded through Zhu Ming’s mind. She couldn’t help but snap, “Don’t mess around! That’s 18+ rated content!”

But for Willow Waist, that wasn’t a threat at all. She sneered. “You think this is the internet where you can only describe things from the neck up? Tch. What if I just force myself on you right now? What are you going to do about it? Don’t think I can’t. We demons don’t discriminate between male, female, old, or young! Oh, and by the way, according to Little Wolf, that girl is your lover? If you’re not willing, well, we can start with her. Wait here, I’ll call her over right now. We’ll have the two of you, face to face, first XXXX then XXXX…”

The more she heard, the greener Zhu Ming’s face became. Willow Waist looked like an elegant and graceful maiden, but she fundamentally wasn’t human. She spoke these tiger-wolf words without a trace of shame, utterly devoid of propriety or honor. The elite of the animal kingdom indeed!

Zhu Ming couldn’t listen anymore. “Stop, stop, stop! Isn’t it just Essence you want? Is all this really necessary?!”

Willow Waist flicked the tip of Zhu Ming’s nose with a devilish smirk. “If you’d cooperated this early, we wouldn’t be here.”

Zhu Ming had initially intended to stall, hoping to fish for more free intel from Willow Waist. After all, demons had low innate intelligence, which was why only humans had built a civilization on Earth.

But having been pushed to this point, she couldn’t keep probing. Any further, and she’d become the meat in the dog’s mouth for real.

“How about this—you answer one question, and I’ll let you take one sip,” Zhu Ming proposed.

“What question?”

“The same as last night: How do we Light the Lamp?”

Willow Waist squinted, mulling it over. A calculating look, utterly unhidden, crossed her face. Then, stingily, she answered: “When the Fox King takes a bride, the bride has the right to light the lamp. She might not necessarily do it… but at that time, we’ll all go to watch.”

The moment she finished, Willow Waist eagerly leaned in next to Zhu Ming’s neck and took a long, deep inhale.

A brief moment of dizziness washed over Zhu Ming, but it passed quickly. She felt alright.

Willow Waist looked at her expectantly. “Anything else you want to ask? You hungry? Thirsty? Need to use the bathroom?”

Well, this was some top-notch, enthusiastic innkeeper service. It would be better if she weren’t tied up lying on the innkeeper’s bed, though.

Zhu Ming did have another question. But why ask this one? She didn’t want to ask Willow Waist. She’d save it for a demon with a slightly better attitude.

So, Zhu Ming shouted: “I want to marry the Fox King!”

In that split second, Willow Waist’s eyebrows shot up, and her hand flew back, ready to deliver a heavy slap. The palm stopped just before Zhu Ming’s face, trembling with rage.

She glared furiously at Zhu Ming but finally lowered her hand. “Are you sure?”

Zhu Ming beamed. “I’m absolutely sure.”

No one in town wanted to marry the Fox King, but the King must have a bride. Now someone was volunteering—to fill their bellies or save their own lives? The demons chose the latter.

And once a participant became the Fox King’s bride, her status would rise. It was a rule, a restrictive rule in this instance.

Willow Waist pinched Zhu Ming’s neck with deep regret and reluctance, unwillingly trying to lure her into making more demands. “Aren’t you even going to ask what happens if you marry the Fox King? What you might need to prepare?”

Zhu Ming replied with gentle sweetness, deliberately provoking her. “I’ll just ask some other demon. You’re not the only one here.”

Just then, the wolf demoness rushed over, flustered. “Trouble! That human says she wants to marry the Fox King! We can’t hold her anymore!”

Zhu Ming had been one step away from being untied, but after the wolf demoness arrived, she was hauled, still bound, into the courtyard.

Tang Qiaoqi was also in the courtyard, no longer tied up. She hid behind a stone table, eyeing the unruly demons with extreme caution. “Boss Zhu, are you alright?”

Zhu Ming shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Willow Waist cut short their reunion. “There are two of you, but the Fox King only needs one bride. What to do?”

What to do? More attempts to sow discord.

Zhu Ming chose to throw the question back. “What do you suggest?”

Willow Waist’s eyes darted cunningly. “Let me take a sip, and I’ll tell you what to do.”

“…” Zhu Ming almost laughed at this gluttonous demon. “That’s easy. The Fox King has to take a bride, and from what I hear, one bride after another ends up dead. So how about one of us marries him first… and the other marries him later?”

Willow Waist ground her teeth. “Fine. So tell me, which of you goes first, and which goes second?”

Zhu Ming said, “We’ll need to discuss that.”

Willow Waist untied her. Folding her arms, she watched them, not forcing an immediate decision. After all, the main gate was shut; they couldn’t leave anyway.

“Take your time discussing. No rush,” she said. “After all, soon enough, you’ll both be part of our Demon Market.”

The crucial point was this: No matter if they married or not, any need the two humans had would have to be requested from a demon. And any request meant… being sucked.

—

Zhu Ming and Tang Qiaoqi retreated to a corner of the courtyard.

“Boss Zhu, you can’t marry him!”

Before Zhu Ming could even speak, Tang Qiaoqi blurted out urgently: “If you marry him, you’ll die!”

“I expect something bad would happen. But the lamp can only be lit by the bride during the King’s wedding procession. We still have to complete the marriage step. Don’t worry; normally, there should be a way to avoid the danger.”

Tang Qiaoqi was stunned. She hadn’t realized that completing the mission literally meant you had to get married.

Earlier, when they were separated, Zhu Ming had told her that if things got unbearable, she should say she’d marry the Fox King. But after hearing demons say that the Fox King’s brides didn’t leave even scraps of bone behind, Tang Qiaoqi had agonized over it, then sacrificed a sip of her Essence to get the detailed scoop from a demon.

“But the demons said, once the bride gets into the sedan chair, as soon as the white lantern shines on her… she just stays frozen, letting the Fox King eat her. How do you light the lamp then?” Tang Qiaoqi pulled out her invitation, distressed. “If you can’t even move, even if the lamp lights itself somehow… you still can’t tear the invitation, right?”