Chapter 40: Goodnight: I’ll Stay With You

The cold white lights made the blood on Feng Xian’s body appear even thicker, and the laboratory’s temperature had dropped quite a bit more.

Feng Xian had already retracted her flower leopard features, but her disheveled long hair stuck wetly to her cheeks, her skin smeared with blood and bits of flesh. Her face was as pale as paper, yet her lips glowed with a eerie red from the blood, making her look like a malevolent ghost that had crawled out from hell, completely devoid of her original appearance.

You Nian shrank her shoulders in fear, but her rabbit legs inched forward a little.

Though she knew Ye Xi had the ability to protect herself, she hadn’t entirely forgotten her duties as a contract beast.

Feng Xian looked at You Nian, who was blocking her path and trying to separate her from Ye Xi, and struggled to move her lips. “Physician Ye.”

Her voice was low and hoarse with pain, carrying an indescribable bitterness.

Ye Xi’s gaze slid downward, slowly settling on Feng Xian’s abdomen. She lifted You Nian away with one hand. “You Nian, she means no harm.”

“That’s hard to say.”

Feng Xian ignored the little rabbit’s stubborn retort. With You Nian no longer in the way, she grabbed Ye Xi’s hand. “Ye Xi, I’m sorry.”

Her eyes roamed over Ye Xi’s legs, taking in the wounds left by the crocodile tail spikes, and guilt welled up in her heart.

Her tightly pressed lips parted, and a hoarse voice emerged. “I’ll make it up to you.”

The moment Feng Xian finished speaking, a piece of demon power candy materialized in Ye Xi’s palm, followed by a second, a third… Feng Xian was rapidly converting her demon power into demon power candies that Ye Clan physicians could consume.

Demon power could indeed be restored through cultivation, but only if the loss hadn’t damaged the foundation.

At the rate Feng Xian was converting her demon power, she wasn’t just giving Ye Xi a portion—she was handing over everything. This was different from a sick demon paying for treatment; not only would she fail to recover her demon power, but she might not even preserve her life.

Ye Xi watched the candies pile up in her palm and hurriedly called for her to stop. “Feng Xian, if you keep this up, you’ll die.”

“I know.”

Feng Xian didn’t stop.

Ye Xi tried to pull her hand back, but Feng Xian gripped her wrist tightly.

Ye Xi was stronger than Feng Xian, so breaking free wouldn’t be too difficult.

Just as Ye Xi was about to use brute force, she heard Feng Xian whisper, “Ye Xi, help me. Don’t let me face Ye Lan with this guilt.”

“Director Feng…” Ye Xi didn’t know what to say. Feng Xian seemed to be begging for death. “Don’t you want to know whose child I am?”

Feng Xian lifted her gaze slightly. “I know you’re not Ye Lan’s child.”

At that moment, Feng Xian appeared much calmer. With the murderous aura dissipated from her body, she even looked somewhat gentle, her eyes toward Ye Xi carrying the affection of an elder for a junior.

While Ye Xi was momentarily distracted, Feng Xian stuffed all the freshly converted demon power candies into her mouth. “Ye Xi, I believe in Ye Lan. I believe in…”

Feng Xian blanked for a moment before continuing, “I believe in our love.”

As the word “love” left her lips, two trails of tears appeared on Feng Xian’s face.

The tears washed away the bloodstains on her skin, revealing her true appearance.

That face held no trace of the flower leopard’s wildness—only grief and sorrow.

Feng Xian looked as if her bones had been shattered and her organs hollowed out, with no path left but to await death.

She grabbed Ye Xi’s hand again, obsessively converting her demon power into candies once more. The repetitive motion and the pain of excessive demon power depletion briefly soothed the guilt in her heart. Feng Xian grew increasingly frenzied, the speed of conversion accelerating.

You Nian watched from the side, somewhat dumbfounded. “If you keep this up, you’ll really die.”

“I deserve to die anyway.” Feng Xian smiled bitterly, an aura of despair enveloping her. “I should have been this resolute long ago—resolutely believing in our love, in my lover… If only I’d gone to find her sooner… then they wouldn’t have used me a second time. She was so good to me, yet I harmed her clansman…”

“Director Feng, you had no memories. It’s not your fault,” Ye Xi said.

“No!” Feng Xian roared, her body growing thinner and more emaciated from the demon power loss. Her frail form trembled with her surging emotions. “Even without those memories, I should have clearly remembered how much Ye Lan loved me. She would never betray me! I was petty, it was all… all my fault!”

After venting her emotions, Feng Xian calmed down again.

Memories from the past flooded back, igniting a strong desire to confess.

“Ye Xi, my status in the family wasn’t high. Because of my poor talent and weak body, my parents didn’t favor me, and I was always squeezed out by my siblings. The only stroke of luck was having a good friend. My friend A Xuan happened to become Ye Lan’s contract beast. Ye Lan… your clan’s physicians all have kind hearts, but Ye Lan was the kindest.”

“She knew me. I was much older than her, but she was more like a big sister, always taking care of me and indulging me… There had been no traces of parents or relatives in my world for a long time. Ye Lan and A Xuan were my everything. But… I killed A Xuan, I ate Ye Lan… How could I eat her? She was so good to me. I deserve to die. And yet I thought they betrayed me, hid things from me… I’m awful. I’m not a good lover. I…”

Feng Xian couldn’t control herself anymore. She bent over and let out a few dry heaves.

She was no longer calm and fell silent, single-mindedly accelerating the conversion of her demon power.

Ye Xi had guessed correctly.

Feng Xian truly harbored no hostility toward her now.

All this time, Feng Xian’s life had been sustained by the obsession to figure out whose child Ye Xi was. Now, though she still didn’t know Ye Xi’s parents, she had learned the truth of Ye Lan and her close friend’s deaths. Whether Ye Xi was anyone’s child no longer mattered to her.

Ye Lan’s devotion had long proven she could never be a betrayer. Instead, the truth turned Feng Xian into the sinner.

She had convicted herself.

Of a capital crime.

Perhaps from the moment she learned the truth, Feng Xian could no longer live.

As long as she could still think, she would constantly recall that she had eaten her lover, that her beloved’s bones were in her belly.

Feng Xian retched violently, operating her demon power faster and faster.

The conversion that damaged her foundational bones left her body increasingly weak. Soon, she could no longer maintain her human form.

Feng Xian reverted to her flower leopard body. In beast form, she descended into madness again. She stopped converting demon power and instead gathered her last bit of strength in her front paws, reaching toward her abdomen. Ye Xi’s eyelids twitched. “Don’t.”

Ye Xi couldn’t stop her. Feng Xian tore open her own abdomen.

Feng Xian seemed utterly insane as she clawed out her innards bit by bit. Fragmented sounds spilled from her lips, but her tone didn’t sound like her own.

She was following memories, imitating Ye Lan’s speech.

“I don’t lack friends, but I lack a girlfriend. Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Little Sister Feng, your dad and mom don’t love you? I love you. I’ll share my mom with you.”

“Little Sister Feng, my mom is a really good person. Don’t always shrink back. You’re so pretty—why are you afraid of others looking?”

“I think I can’t call you Little Sister Feng anymore. From now on, it’s just Little Feng. How many times have you fallen this month? No way! I need to check you over. Did your bones not form right when you shapeshifted? Don’t dodge—come here!”

“…”

You Nian clutched Ye Xi’s clothing corner. “Ye… Physician Ye, she seems to have gone mad.”

Qiao Yan and Bian Rong had died too easily.

Ye Xi didn’t respond to You Nian. She watched the increasingly out-of-control Feng Xian and walked toward her.

You Nian tightened her grip on Ye Xi’s hand. “Physician Ye, maybe we shouldn’t go over. She might hurt you by accident.”

Ye Xi said nothing, her steps forward unwavering.

She was controlling the out-of-control Shen Mingjin while dragging her injured leg, making movement very inconvenient.

If she didn’t hold Shen Mingjin firmly, a scorching kiss would land on her neck.

Ye Xi pressed down on Shen Mingjin’s waist, feeling her writhe in her arms. “Sister, be good.”

Shen Mingjin didn’t answer, but her struggles did weaken a little.

Truthfully, Ye Xi didn’t know what she could do. She couldn’t stop Feng Xian from seeking death, nor could she treat this kind of meltdown from excessive stimulation.

Feng Xian wasn’t mad—she just missed Ye Lan too much.

She had put herself in Ye Lan’s place, repeating Ye Lan’s words to the innards she had personally dug out. Perhaps subconsciously, she wished it had been her who was eaten.

Ye Xi reached out toward Feng Xian. Even as her wrist was scratched by the frenzied flower leopard, she didn’t stop.

She touched the flower leopard’s forehead. As expected, the demon bone physician’s soothing treatment had no effect on Feng Xian. Ye Xi’s approach didn’t calm her—instead, it made her more uncontrollable.

Feng Xian struggled back violently, constantly swiping at Ye Xi.

Scratches multiplied on Ye Xi’s arms, but she ignored the wounds and softened her voice as much as possible. “Auntie, you’re very tired. It’s time to rest.”

Feng Xian had immersed herself in Ye Lan’s identity, and this “auntie” actually quieted her down.

A brief clarity entered her eyes, the flower leopard’s gaze holding a mother’s tenderness. “Ye Xi, cherish the time when your lover is still by your side.”

This was Feng Xian’s hard-earned lesson, and her greatest regret.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t loved Ye Lan enough in life—only that, in pursuing those memories, it felt like her love had been too little, too brief.

Having lost all her demon power, shattered her foundational bones, and dug out her own innards…

Feng Xian, hanging on by a single breath, let it go, and her vital signs faded swiftly.

Ye Xi gazed quietly at the flower leopard that had finally fallen into eternal sleep. “Auntie, goodnight.”

The laboratory lights illuminated the blood and flesh scattered across the floor in stark clarity. The intense metallic stench assaulted the senses, and Ye Xi felt the temperature drop even lower.

While stabilizing Shen Mingjin’s demon power through bone-pressing, Ye Xi reflected on everything that had happened in Wanghe Village.

Feng Xian and Ye Lan’s story was a man-made tragedy.

Ye Lan wasn’t the only one from the Ye Clan to die mysteriously—there were many such tragedies.

Though Bian Rong and Qiao Yan had pushed Ye Lan’s death forward, those truly responsible extended far beyond them.

Just Qiao Yan alone had four faint shadows in her abdomen. How many from the Ye Clan hadn’t died naturally but ended up as meals for the Demon Clan?

Bian Rong and Qiao Yan had become scapegoats, willingly selling their lives without revealing a hint of the real culprits even in death. There was definitely something suspicious.

She was being targeted now.

Since Bian Rong and the others had failed, new people would surely come after her.

She might end up dying miserably too.

Looking at Feng Xian’s corpse, Ye Xi suddenly felt an urge to distance herself from Shen Mingjin. She remembered Feng Xian’s words about cherishing, and she wanted to cherish Shen Mingjin, but she didn’t want her own targeting to bring tragedy upon Shen Mingjin. She didn’t want…

“Ye Xi.”

Shen Mingjin’s voice interrupted her tangled thoughts, preventing her from spiraling deeper into panic.

With Ye Xi’s help pressing her bones, part of Shen Mingjin’s seal had stabilized.

She hadn’t fully escaped the sea of desire—her cheeks still flushed with lingering arousal—but she could now converse normally with Ye Xi.

Shen Mingjin had the ability to see through Ye Xi’s facades. Even without guessing her full thoughts, she could sense Ye Xi’s sudden fear.

When a conviction was firm enough, even the heaviest promises slipped out naturally. “Ye Xi, I’ll protect you.”

Ye Xi had long suspected Shen Mingjin’s auxiliary ability involved sensing emotions, and now it confirmed her guess. At the same time, she felt a bit helpless. Shen Mingjin was actually easy to fool with sufficient lies, yet she had this emotion-related ability.

Others lied with strings of fabrications; Ye Xi lied by masking her emotions.

Shen Mingjin was born to counter her, able to effortlessly tear through Ye Xi’s disguises.

Wasn’t this fate?

Truth be told, Ye Xi hated being seen through, but Shen Mingjin was the exception.

Shen Mingjin never weaponized her ability or attacked with raw emotions—she always offered gentle comfort.

Even fresh from the tide of desire, with her body still hypersensitive and most needing distance to stay clear-headed, Shen Mingjin—who usually maintained a safe distance—didn’t pull away now. Instead, she embraced Ye Xi, offering warmth through her hold. “Ye Xi, don’t be afraid.”

“Sister, I’m not afraid.”

Ye Xi rarely trusted others, but she trusted Shen Mingjin.

Images lingered: the lost Shen Mingjin stroking her face and whispering, tears falling from guilt over failing to protect her. Ye Xi absolutely believed in Shen Mingjin’s desire to protect her.

And because she believed Shen Mingjin would protect her with everything she had, Ye Xi grew even more terrified that Shen Mingjin would be targeted too.

Ye Xi’s determination to get closer to Shen Mingjin had originally been firm, but as she thought about their perilous circumstances and the potential tragedy ahead, she grew somewhat hesitant.

Previously, it had been Shen Mingjin who feared that getting emotionally involved would hurt Ye Xi. Now, it was Ye Xi who feared that getting emotionally involved would hurt Shen Mingjin.

Shen Mingjin had been endlessly patient with Ye Xi from the very first time they met. Her eyes had pierced through Ye Xi’s facade, seeing that her fear had not faded.

She did not expose Ye Xi but repeatedly offered her comfort.

The arms holding Ye Xi tightened: “Ye Xi, I’ll stay with you.”

Ye Xi’s lips trembled: “Sister, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“…”

Shen Mingjin found the words familiar, and her memory flashed back to the time when she had tactfully rejected Ye Xi out of fear that her bloodline would harm her.

Shen Mingjin did not let go of Ye Xi, nor did she say anything more.

Her desire was under control, but her body temperature had not dropped, and her heart was not entirely calm.

You Nian wisely stayed silent, but suddenly, a beam of flashlight light shone down from above the laboratory, accompanied by an unfamiliar female voice: “Vice Director Qin, Shen Vice Bureau, they are here!”