Mid-spring had already passed its halfway mark, bringing the perfect season.
The winter chill had vanished entirely from daily life. A gentle breeze swept over, carrying waves of warmth against the skin.
Out in the fields, people busied themselves transplanting seedlings and sowing seeds. In the cities, carriages and horses streamed through the streets without end, as if all the vitality bottled up over the long winter had burst free at once.
Joy radiated from every face.
Except for the Little Snake Demon’s.
“Wah wah wah, that heartless woman Du Xuan,” Yin Luan grumbled from beneath the shade of a tree. “How could she forget to give me some traveling money? She toyed with my body and didn’t even leave me a single coin?”
Her westward journey had brought the Little Snake Demon to the outskirts of East County’s most bustling city, Nine Li City.
At a normal pace, she should have entered the gates by now. But she’d slowed to a crawl lately, dragging her feet on purpose.
The reason was simple… hunger.
Yin Luan never imagined her appetite would climb right alongside the rising temperatures.
A single meal used to last her three days. Now she needed three meals a day, as if determined to make up for every skipped bite from before.
And after gorging on chicken, duck, fish, and lavish delicacies alongside Du Xuan, switching back to plain vegetarian fare left a sour taste—not just in her mouth, but in her heart.
Her money had run dry in no time.
“Why won’t anyone come rob me?” the Little Snake Demon sighed dramatically toward the heavens. “Hey, somebody—anyone—come rob me already!”
As an upright snake, she drew the line at underhanded tricks. All she could do was hope some foolhardy bandit would blunder into view and bail her out of this mess.
No such luck. The local security was impeccable.
It wasn’t like the remote eastern fringes. The roads grew busier the closer you got to Nine Li City, crisscrossed with major thoroughfares and patrolled constantly by officers. Bandits didn’t stand a chance.
When it came down to it, it was all that heartless woman’s fault. She’d ruined her for simple food without stocking her purse properly.
Leaning against the tree trunk, the Little Snake Demon hugged her knees and scanned the steady stream of passersby up ahead.
Should she leverage her looks and sweet-talk some mild-mannered rich fellow into buying her a few meals?
She wasn’t an idiot. She knew damn well she had charm to spare. No way every person was as hopeless at appreciating it as Du Xuan, right?
Gurgle…
Bad sign. Food was all she could think about now… Even that lone girl off in the distance—seventeen or eighteen years old, pushing eighty or ninety jin—looked downright mouthwatering!
This one’s life had clearly been cushy. Well-fed, active, with fair skin and taut muscles. Her travel pack screamed quality goods, fresh off a legitimate caravan after shelling out a fat fee for the ride.
Rich.
Satiating.
Perfect mark.
No, no, no—calm yourself, Little Snake. You’re not some loose woman who’d trade her body for a full belly…
But that scent wafting from her… so damn fragrant!
What now? Ditch her morals or starve her instincts? Or scrape together another plan?
At least she still had that recommendation letter from the Demon Subduing Division. Schmoozing her way into some government meals probably wouldn’t get her tossed out on her ear, right?
Little Snake eyed the envelope clutched in her hand and swallowed hard.
“The Demon Subduing Division emblem?”
A stranger’s voice cut in.
The aroma hit like a wave, stoking her hunger.
Little Snake looked up. A cheerful girl with braids twisted like pretzels and eyes curved like crescent moons bent down at the waist, peering intently at the letter.
“Knife, bow, sword on one side. Great Zhou Kingdom royal insignia on the other. And this next to it—a personal seal? Never seen one before, but it sure looks like Demon Subduing Division issue.”
“Mm…”
Miscalculation. This girl couldn’t have ninety jin of meat on her. Those perky, handful-sized breasts had thrown off the waist ratio; truth be told, she was more medium build, leaning slim.
And lately… bones had been giving her indigestion. Had to factor that out.
“Haha, sorry about that,” the braided girl said with a bright laugh. “Stuff from the Demon Subduing Division doesn’t come around every day—got me a little worked up. Were you staring at me just now? Fair enough. A girl my age traveling solo does turn heads. Creeps have sized me up on the road more than once, hahaha…”
Gurgle—
Swallow.
A girl who laughs like that… bound to taste decent.
“Uh, you hungry?” The girl glanced around. “Out here on your own too? With a Demon Subduing Division emblem, you’re no villain… C’mon, my treat. Let’s get some food!”
Food?!
Little Snake sprang bolt upright, mouth flooding with saliva, eyes flashing green.
“Good person… Truly a good person!”
~~~
Nine Li City, restaurant.
“Bring another ten plates—no, make it twenty.”
Watching the stacks of plates piled high on either side of the beautiful woman before her, the braided girl felt her eyelids twitch. She beckoned the waiter over and gave him instructions.
She had never seen a woman who could eat like this… No, forget women—regardless of gender, she had never met anyone who could pack away more food than this one.
The woman’s eating habits were downright inhuman. She barely chewed her food before swallowing it down with a single gulp.
She devoured her meal like a ravenous wolf, gulping it down like a whale sucking in the sea.
Chicken, duck, fish, beef, lamb, pork, rabbit—she took it all without discrimination. Even someone starved for ten straight days would have eaten with more decorum.
Her instincts had been spot on. Anyone connected to the Demon Subduing Division couldn’t possibly be ordinary…
The Little Snake Demon kept on eating and eating until her belly swelled out like she was five or six months pregnant—though not quite the full ten months of gestation. Only then did she let out a long sigh of satisfaction, wipe her mouth, and set down her chopsticks.
“Burp—finally, a proper full meal.”
Tears of gratitude nearly welled up in Yin Luan’s eyes.
She glanced at the towering stacks of plates that rose higher than she did, then at the waiter panting and foaming at the mouth in the distance from sheer exhaustion. A bit embarrassed, she touched her cheek.
“Ah, um, I might have eaten a little too much…”
“No worries,” the braided girl said with a laugh. “It’s just one meal, and I said it was my treat. What kind of host doesn’t let their guest eat until they’re full?”
“Thank you,” the Little Snake Demon said, patting her belly. “I’m Yin Luan. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not with the Demon Subduing Division. I just know one of their members.”
“What about your letter, then?”
“It’s a recommendation letter,” the Little Snake Demon replied honestly—this wasn’t exactly a secret. “They told me I could flash this at government offices anywhere and mooch meals and drinks without getting kicked out.”
“From what I know, the Demon Subduing Division doesn’t hand out recommendation letters to just anyone,” the other woman said. “I’m Ren Tan, a merchant… and an adventurer.”
“An adventurer?”
The Little Snake Demon perked up at the intriguing term.
“Some merchants stick to safe, established trade routes,” Ren Tan explained candidly. “Others prefer to blaze new paths. I’m the latter. ‘Adventurer’ is just what I call myself, though. Really, I just like poking around into strange and unusual things. I wouldn’t dare venture into any truly dangerous spots.”
“Then what brings you to Nine Li City?”
“Because I heard an interesting rumor…”
