Author's Note 💌
Hello, my dear readers,
It's been a few days since I last wrote, and I've missed my world, my characters, and all of you more than I can say. Tonight, I couldn't stay away — even though life has been heavy and the days silent, my heart pulled me back here, to the pages we've built together.
This chapter is darker, heavier than usual. It carries fear, confusion, and intense emotions. I hope you'll approach it with care, and remember that it's part of the story I've made with love, even through the shadows.
Thank you for staying with me, for holding my stories in your hearts. Every word I write is because of you — and because I can't let my world fade, not yet.
With all my heart,
Yàn Yè Xīn
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The world tilted and spun, her body a battlefield of fear, exhaustion, and the ghostly ache of violation.
As Lànhuā tried to stand, her muscles screamed in protest, but her mind was already elsewhere, scrambling for an escape. She wrapped the torn remnants of her white robe around herself, a futile attempt at modesty. Her skin was a map of goosebumps, a cold terrain of fear and disgust. The unwanted, aching throb in her lower body was a constant reminder of what had just happened. Then, a new sensation made her freeze: a thick, warm wetness. It was different from the fluid she had felt before.
"Oh no…" she whispered, her heart a frantic drum against her ribs. The dead bodies hanging around her felt less like corpses and more like a macabre guard, sealing her fate. Her trembling fingers reached down, her touch feather-light against her sensitive, violated skin. When she brought her hand up, the liquid on her fingers was a mix of thick red blood and a milky white fluid. It was a brutal, undeniable truth—the proof that her innocence was at least partially gone. Her body, in its cruel way, was mocking her.
Her breath hitched, and she was violently yanked back to reality as a swarm of bats flew past her. Their leathery, black wings flapped against her face, and her sharp gasp echoed through the cave. She stumbled backward, her spine hitting the cold wall she had rested against earlier.
But it was what she heard in the wind of their passing that truly chilled her: a chorus of whispers that seemed to come from the bats themselves. "He's coming again for yu yao~"
Yu yao? Who was "He"? And why "again"? What did they mean? Is it.. any code language of spacial grade ? The questions swirled in her head, and she couldn't fathom why these creatures were delivering her a message.
One of the bats' frantic wings dislodged a body hanging from the wall by a bloody white cloth. The corpse's head immediately detached, hitting the ground with a sickening thud before rolling to a stop right in front of her. Its vacant eyes seemed to stare, and in the dim light, its lips twisted into a grotesque smirk. Lànhuā muffled a whimper, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle a scream. Her other hand held the tattered robe tightly against her body, a desperate shield.
Suddenly, a bare black foot kicked the head away like a ball, accompanied by a dark, throaty chuckle. "Hehe, stop scaring my cute mate now… she has officially announced she's mine."
It was the yokai, back with a coconut shell full of water, trying to be the "good mate" Lànhuā had described. Lànhuā's eyes, which had been locked on the rolling head, snapped back to the yokai's face. The sight was too much; she immediately closed her eyes, hugging herself. She had lost another chance to run away, thanks to those mysterious bats, her own injuries, and that gruesome corpse. She had to find another way, to send a message to her father, to find Mo, to do anything but stay here.
"Here… water. Now I'm a good mate, and you'll give me lots of babies who are beautiful and independent, just like you… not ugly like me." The yokai's words were a strange blend of casual cruelty and a heartbreaking innocence. As Lànhuā swayed, about to lose her balance, the yokai caught her, its hand possessively gripping her waist. The touch was far too intimate and casual.
Lànhuā squeezed her eyes shut, her hands clenched against her chest. A whirlwind of emotions tore through her: fear, disgust, desperation, a flash of heartbreak, and a strange, unsettling admiration. The yokai's words were both disturbing and poignant—a monster fantasizing about mating with her, yet calling itself ugly and wishing its children would be beautiful and safe like Lànhuā.
She didn't know how to categorize this being—it wasn't purely evil, nor was it good. It was gray, just like her. She, too, had cared for people despite being a demonic cultivator. This yokai, a creature known to be evil and grotesque, seemed to possess a heart, or at least something resembling it—an impulse she couldn't understand. Was it true love, or a dangerous obsession?
The yokai blinked its dangerous white eyes, confused by Lànhuā's stillness. It had only ever known roughness and desperation. For Lànhuā, it genuinely wanted to try something new, like a wild animal attempting to learn gentleness.
"Drink, mate… the scary head is gone," it said in a lower tone, a purr that was meant to be comforting. Then, its grip on Lànhuā's chin became firm, forcing her mouth open. "Mphh!" she protested, but the hold was more like a torture than an act of care. The yokai, completely unaware it was hurting her, pushed the water down her throat until she almost choked.
"Good girl…" it purred, pulling Lànhuā against its own exposed chest. Its skin was pitch-black, a stark contrast to the white of its teeth and eyes, which sometimes flashed red. Its hair, usually a pale, ugly white, turned black when it was agitated.
Lànhuā's own chest, barely covered by her robe, pressed against the yokai's, her sensitive nipples grazing its lower chest as its height surpassed hers. Her face was buried right between the yokai's breasts. Embarrassment burned through her, but she was helpless and remained perfectly still.
The yokai began to preen Lànhuā's hair, its long, sharp claws mimicking a bird. Lànhuā, both mortified and terrified it would tear her scalp, noticed something even stranger.
The yokai's nipples were stark white against its hair-black skin. While human nipples were typically a darker shade of brown or pink, the yokai's were so pale they stood out. When the yokai noticed Lànhuā staring, it tilted its head, a glimmer of misunderstanding in its eyes. From the limited knowledge it possessed, and from the mating rituals of its rare species, a mate staring at its breast was a sign of a desire to either mate immediately or drink from it.
A dark smirk spread across the yokai's face. It licked its lips with a long, black tongue, its mouth parting grotesquely like an octopus. Lànhuā shut her eyes tightly, unable to watch. The yokai lowered its robe further, exposing one full breast. "Milk or mate?" it hissed, a purr in its voice.
Lànhuā shook her head, a desperate no. But the yokai's excitement grew. In their twisted mating system, a partner's resistance wasn't a refusal; it was a challenge, a sign that they wanted their mate to sing and dance for them before fully giving in. It was a sign of a willing participation in their strange ritual.
The yokai chuckled, a dark, excited sound. It let go of Lànhuā and began to dance, a spider-like mimicry of a bird's mating ritual. Its possessive, hypnotic, and traumatizing song echoed through the cave:
她的名字,在我口中成为糖與鎖.
Tā de míngzì, zài wǒ kǒuzhōng chéngwéi táng yǔ suǒ.
Her name, on my tongue, becomes both sugar and shackle.
在燭影裡,我為你編織欲望的網.
Zài zhú yǐng lǐ, wǒ wèi nǐ biānzhī yùwàng de wǎng.
In candlelight, I weave for you a net of hungry want....