In a dark living room, a frail girl, filthy from head to toe and with disheveled hair, crouched in a corner with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She clutched a bloodstained dagger in her hands. Beneath her ssy bangs, her eyes were fierce and sharp—like a wild beast ready to pounce.
Several corpses lay on the floor in front of her, staining the entire room red with blood...
A squad of plainclothes police burst in from outside and quickly subdued the girl. One of them forced her to drink sothing.
"From now on, I ask one question, you answer one question."
"What's your na?"
The girl's fierce gaze dulled, becoming blank and lifeless.
"My na is Zhao Yingzhi."
…
…
"Brother Ran, I followed the goddess outline you gave , and I successfully got a date with ng Ge!"
At the community gathering point, Lu Zhaohui looked at Li Ran with a face full of admiration.
"Guys really do have to take the initiative to get the girl," Lu Zhaohui said.
"Chasing girls is a skill ga. It's not about blindly throwing yourself at them. Keep giving without getting anything back—who can handle that? Even Mario has to collect coins on the way to save the princess."
Lu Zhaohui's expression shifted in sudden realization—it was like being struck by divine wisdom.
"One talk with you is better than ten years of studying books," Lu Zhaohui said in awe.
Li Ran gave a small laugh, glanced at the ti on his phone, and frowned. "Song Linjia is late today."
"That's weird. She's usually very punctual. Sothing must've co up."
"Forget it, let's not wait for her. Any new quest leads these past couple days?" Li Ran asked.
Lu Zhaohui scratched the back of his head and said awkwardly, "Brother Ran, you know I'm pretty timid. If it weren’t for your outline, I probably wouldn’t have even taken the first step."
"But…"
Li Ran narrowed his eyes. "But what?"
Lu Zhaohui looked conflicted, hesitating to speak. "Brother Ran, ng Ge... sothing’s off with her."
"No kidding. Which native isn’t off?" Li Ran rolled his eyes.
He stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and glanced sideways at Lu Zhaohui. "If you’ve got no new quest leads, I’ll head out and do my own. I’ve still got a pile of unfinished business."
"Brother Ran, I think you have to help with this. I’ll give you 500 points," Lu Zhaohui suddenly said.
"Five hundred?"
Li Ran’s lips curled into a smirk. Now things were getting interesting.
"A 1,000-point quest?" he asked.
"Yeah, Brother Ran."
"After I completed the quest where ng Ge had to ask out, I followed the outline to the next step—taking her to a hotel. But ng Ge refused. I figured I might’ve been too direct. I an, girls can be more reserved."
"But then, around 9 p.m. last night, I saw her bring so random guy ho. Oh right—I live in Building 3, so I can see the front door of Building 6 perfectly."
"Actually, it’s not the first ti. In the past few days, I’ve seen her bring different n ho more than once."
"But what I don’t get is—why is it okay with all those other guys, but not with ? Or maybe what I saw was all an illusion, and she’s actually a chaste, decent girl?"
"Brother Ran, this quest is driving nuts. If I give up, everything I’ve worked for these past days will go to waste. But if I keep going, I’m scared I’ll learn sothing I can’t handle."
Hearing all this, Li Ran felt like he was watching a self-cultivation of professional simp.
He opened his mouth and looked at Lu Zhaohui in shock. "Wait... you’re not actually in love with her, are you?"
Lu Zhaohui didn’t deny it. He nodded. "I think I am."
"Respect!" Li Ran gave a big thumbs up.
"She gives this hot-and-cold vibe that girls in real life just don’t. It’s like the feeling of a first love, that innocent confusion."
Li Ran was speechless. "So your first love brought a different man ho every day? Be real—maybe you're are backup bro.”
Though Lu Zhaohui didn’t provide any solid quest leads, his rambling reminded Li Ran of one of the neighborhood rules Uncle Ge had told him:
[The female tenant in Building 6 brings a different man ho every few days, but no one’s ever seen any of those n leave. If you don’t have a strong kidney, best stay away.]
"Looks like the girl this doofus is chasing—ng Ge—is that sa tenant. Constantly bringing n ho, and they never co out? That’s classic soul-sucking demon girl behavior!"
"No wonder Uncle Ge said you’d need a strong kidney."
Clearly, Lu Zhaohui had been following a quest chain, and based on his description, it sounded like he’d encountered a real female demon.
"What’s your quest objective?" Li Ran asked.
At that, Lu Zhaohui’s face turned beet red. He mumbled, "To… to sleep with her."
"What? Sleep with her?!"
Li Ran’s jaw nearly hit the ground. He thought he’d misheard.
"What kind of quest is that? Isn’t that just a straight-up perk?"
Honestly, Li Ran was a little jealous in that mont.
"Brother Ran, you’re making fun of , aren’t you? There’s no perk! I keep hitting walls. These days she’s barely responding to my texts—just ‘mm’ or ‘ok,’ then says she’s going to shower. I can’t even get her to co out, let alone sleep with her."
Frustrated, Lu Zhaohui kicked a small stone and continued, "It’s not about sleeping with her. I really do want to be with her."
"I just want to figure out what’s really going on. Why is she so casual with other guys but acts so weirdly cold and warm with ?" Lu Zhaohui pleaded, "Brother Ran, please give a winning strategy!"
A 500-point quest—how could Li Ran say no?
As annoying as this quest was, Li Ran had confidence he could help Lu Zhaohui complete it.
Whether ng Ge was a scumbag girl was still up for debate. After all, seeing isn’t always believing. A few chat logs aren’t enough to tell the whole story.
Plus, her attitude toward Lu Zhaohui was definitely odd. If she really were the soul-sucking demon girl Uncle Ge warned about, why hasn’t she gone after Lu Zhaohui yet?
Is this a Nie Xiaoqian falling for a Ning Caichen situation?
Could it be... she caught feelings?
"To get to the bottom of this, you don’t just need a strong kidney—you gotta win with surprise. This 500 points won’t co easy."
Thinking this, Li Ran said to Lu Zhaohui, "Give your phone. First, let’s get her to et up."
Lu Zhaohui handed over his phone. "I tried already. She won’t co out."
Li Ran shot him a look, then glanced over the chat history and quickly started typing. Tap tap tap tap tap...
[Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen are iconic characters from Chinese folklore, particularly from a short story titled (Qiàn Nǚ Yōu Hún / The Enchanting Shadow) in Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Nie Xiaoqian is a beautiful ghost who was forced to seduce and kill n for a tree demon in order to survive in the spirit world.
Ning Caichen is a poor but honest and kind-hearted scholar who spends the night at a haunted temple where he encounters Nie Xiaoqian.
Instead of falling victim to her, Ning Caichen treats her with compassion and dignity, and Nie Xiaoqian falls in love with him.
With Ning’s help and moral strength, Xiaoqian breaks free from the demon’s control, and eventually, after a long struggle, she is reborn as a human and becos Ning Caichen’s wife.
Li Ran thought that the sa thing happened with Lu Zhaohui and ng Ge.]
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