Chapter 3: Take Off Your Dress

“L-Little Han, w-what is that?”

Wen Qiao reached out with a trembling hand. She had gone stiff all over.

Lin Zhihan, on the other hand, was perfectly calm. She even greeted her. “You’re still awake?”

Wen Qiao, the long-haired girl with two low pigtails, was Lin Zhihan’s roommate, classmate, and friend.

Lin Zhihan had gotten into the best school in the city: an elite private high school. Most of the students came from aristocratic or wealthy families. Only Wen Qiao and Lin Zhihan were from ordinary backgrounds.

They both had to work to pay their tuition, and they’d soon become friends. Now they shared this old rental room.

Wen Qiao wasn’t supposed to have a night shift tonight, though. Lin Zhihan had no idea why she’d stayed up waiting for her.

Wen Qiao was clearly thrown by Lin Zhihan’s question. Her eyes widened slightly, and her mouth fell open. For a moment, she seemed unsure whether to ask about the person on Lin Zhihan’s back or answer her first.

Lin Zhihan noticed how soaked Wen Qiao’s hair was and hurriedly told her to get inside.

Wen Qiao finally came to her senses and opened the wooden door.

The room was in terrible shape. The walls were moldy, the furniture peeling. Water leaked in around the window, though they were used to it by now. Wen Qiao had heard about the storm and stuffed towels along the window frame in advance.

Lin Zhihan was already exhausted. She hurriedly set the succubus down.

Their living room was nearly empty, furnished with nothing but an old coffee table and a few cushions.

But Vaniel was so beautiful that, somehow, the whole room seemed transformed when she sat down.

Wen Qiao stared at her lovely face and unusual wings, then asked again, “Lin Zhihan, is… is that a succubus?”

Lin Zhihan had no choice but to nod and explain. “I found her on the way home. The collar around her neck kept tightening, and she looked like she was about to die. I had to make her acknowledge me as her master.”

Vaniel lowered her head and pursed her lips.

Wen Qiao was too stunned to speak.

How could there be a succubus out on the street? They were rarer than giant pandas!

She stood there, dumbfounded. It took her a long while to manage, “But… can we afford to keep her?”

Vaniel’s brow furrowed, and she glanced up at Wen Qiao.

Lin Zhihan said easily, “The things a succubus can produce are worth a lot. She can support herself.”

Wen Qiao had never met a succubus before, and only half understood. She nodded, deciding to trust Lin Zhihan. “Oh. Is that so?”

But at those words, Vaniel’s face turned red. She fixed Lin Zhihan with a cold stare.

Wasn’t the most valuable thing about a succubus the golden eggs she could produce? But they didn’t just appear out of nowhere…

That lewd woman. She was about to do exactly what Vaniel had predicted she would do!

Lin Zhihan turned to her and pulled her to her feet. “Come on.”

The room was so small that it was obvious Lin Zhihan was taking her to her own partitioned-off space.

Vaniel gritted her teeth. This scumbag was going to do that filthy thing to her the moment they got home?

And in such a shabby little room, on a worn-out bed, without even closing the door—where someone else could watch?

No. She clenched her jaw, and her nails sharpened. Even if she died, she’d bite the human to death first.

When Lin Zhihan turned and came toward her, Vaniel nearly attacked.

But Lin Zhihan wasn’t trying to force her onto the bed.

She crouched naturally in front of Vaniel and pulled a change of clothes and a first-aid kit from under the bed.

Vaniel froze.

Lin Zhihan took out antiseptic, gauze, and the like with practiced ease, then looked up at her. “Come on. Let me take a look at your wounds.”

Vaniel’s face had gone blank, but she still didn’t move.

Lin Zhihan hesitated. “…Or do you want a hot bath first?”

Vaniel bit her lip, and her ears turned red.

This human was pretending again!

She said nothing. Instead, she turned her head away, showing Lin Zhihan her stubborn profile.

Lin Zhihan didn’t say anything else. She was too tired and wanted to finish the pre-bedtime routine as quickly as possible. So she simply stepped forward and pressed a hand to Vaniel’s shoulder, making her sit down.

This time, Vaniel looked reluctant, but she sat on the bed.

Lin Zhihan was her master now. In theory, she could do whatever she wanted with Vaniel.

If she was willing to treat her wounds, that was already an act of mercy. Vaniel ought to be grateful.

But she hadn’t been born a succubus.

She looked unwilling, and she moved awkwardly. Her body went rigid under Lin Zhihan’s touch.

The room was full of this human’s scent. It made Vaniel uncomfortable.

Lin Zhihan pulled Vaniel’s long dress up to her knees, revealing a pair of long, pale legs. Her toes curled together with nerves.

Lin Zhihan gently washed away some of the blood. But when she saw the wounds on Vaniel’s legs clearly, her hands stopped.

She’d heard that succubi healed quickly and could endure pain far better than humans.

Even so, she couldn’t imagine how anyone could have done something so awful to the girl in front of her.

She looked up at Vaniel. The storm had made it hard to see, but now, in the light of the room, it was clear that Vaniel was still very pale.

As Lin Zhihan cleaned her wounds, Vaniel’s brows furrowed slightly and her lashes trembled.

Her sweet features made her look, in her silence, almost like a wounded pedigree cat.

After a while, Lin Zhihan said, “That should do for now.”

Vaniel opened her eyes at once and looked at her suspiciously. That was it?

Lin Zhihan had been gentle. She hadn’t tugged at the wounds or rubbed salt into them. She’d really only treated them.

No. She couldn’t trust this human. There was no way she was just treating her wounds!

Maybe this was part of some worse plan. Lin Zhihan had stared at her wounds for so long—maybe she’d been admiring them, planning to torture her in some more twisted way. Vaniel needed to be more careful.

She watched Lin Zhihan warily with wide eyes.

But Lin Zhihan didn’t look at her again.

After tidying up, she flopped onto the bed with a thump, as if she’d completely forgotten there was a succubus in the room.

Vaniel stared at her, confused and suspicious.

The system suddenly spoke up beside Lin Zhihan. “Host, what are you doing? It’s time for the next part of the plot!”

Lin Zhihan could barely keep her eyes open. She mumbled, “What…? I’m going to sleep.”

“How can you do that? Aren’t you going to, you know…?”

It took Lin Zhihan a moment to figure out what the system meant.

“No… she hasn’t let her guard down yet. What if she cuts my throat again?”

She tried to fight it with the last scraps of her consciousness, but her voice grew slower and slower, until it was barely a murmur. “Besides, she’s hurt… let her heal first…”

The system didn’t understand. “But if you don’t do it with her, how will her wounds heal?”

Lin Zhihan didn’t answer. But the system seemed unusually persistent about these “important” scenes and wouldn’t let her brush it off.

“Succubi need other people’s desire to nourish them. It’s like food to them!

“You have to do it with her, host. Otherwise, you’re starving her. Without food, she won’t heal. She might not even survive.

“Host?

“Host?”

The system called for a long time before it realized Lin Zhihan was already fast asleep.