Chapter 17: A Brewing Conundrum
Su Muluo hadn’t lost a feather in nearly a century. Now, losing three made him feel terrible.
He even thought he might be going bald!
The little black dragon was completely oblivious to its phoenix’s current mood. It happily hugged the three soft, white feathers, smelling their pleasant scent and burying its head in them.
They smelled wonderful, all carrying the scent of the phoenix.
Su Muluo: “…”
He looked at the little dragon, sulking as he tried to take his feathers back.
The little black dragon tightened its grip on the feathers, unwilling to let go. “Aoo!”
It wanted them!
Su Muluo said, “You don’t let me touch your tail, yet you want me to give you my feathers.” Despite his words, he didn’t take back his feathers, letting the little black dragon continue to hold onto them.
The café was already closed, and Qiansui had snuck out. Su Muluo thought for a moment and took the little black dragon into the employee rest room, heading to the bathroom mirror.
He placed the little black dragon on the sink—then in the next second, a bird as white as jade fluttered lightly in front of the mirror, examining its reflection from different angles and grooming its feathers.
Thankfully, its feathers were still beautiful and dense, not appearing bald from losing just three feathers.
The phoenix’s mood immediately lifted. Meanwhile, the little black dragon on the sink was staring intently at its phoenix, its dark golden eyes unblinking, and its tail flicking, clearly wanting to wrap itself around the phoenix.
The phoenix met its gaze and reverted to human form, holding the little dragon in his hand.
“It’s probably because you’re going to shed scales,” Su Muluo said, “so I lost feathers too.”
Little black dragon: “?”
“Aoo!”
It wasn’t shedding scales! It was just itchy, and dragons don’t shed scales!
“Then why haven’t I lost so many feathers before?” Su Muluo countered. “No matter what, it’s because of you.”
Little black dragon: “…”
Its phoenix was blaming it again, and there seemed to be nothing it could do. It turned its head sulkily, clutching the feathers even tighter.
Seeing how precious the little black dragon found those feathers, Su Muluo thought for a moment and then smiled. “How about I make these feathers into a bracelet? Once you transform into a human, I’ll give it to you.”
The little black dragon’s eyes lit up, but Su Muluo slowly emphasized the latter part: “But only if you transform.”
Little black dragon: “…”
The little black dragon was silent for a few seconds, looking between the phoenix and the feathers. It made up its mind to transform into a human as soon as possible. That way, it could have the feather bracelet and hug the phoenix every day!
With this thought, its mood improved significantly, rubbing against Su Muluo’s fingers.
Su Muluo petted the small horns on its head, thinking that his feather loss today might indeed be connected to the little black dragon. After all, it had been itchy recently, possibly due to a scale problem, and he lost feathers at the same time… It seemed like quite a coincidence.
Maybe there was a mysterious connection between them?
With this in mind, Su Muluo, holding the little black dragon, left the café and went to the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings.
At the Bureau, Hu Xiao sat motionless in the interrogation room, separated by a glass window.
Liu He stood at the door, saying to Su Muluo, “Mr. Su, we’ve clarified the situation. You can now enter the red umbrella.”
Su Muluo nodded. Liu He hesitated, then cautiously asked, “But… I’d like to request to accompany you. It’s not that I don’t trust you; it’s just that I need to compile a report for the higher-ups, and I want to be personally involved in the final capture to understand more details. I promise I won’t be a burden or interfere with you!”
Su Muluo didn’t mind Liu He joining, as she seemed easy to get along with. He replied gently, “Alright.”
Liu He breathed a sigh of relief. The incident of the demon attack in Lin City was supposed to be handled by their Bureau, but Mr. Su acted faster, making them feel quite embarrassed… If they did nothing, it would be even more embarrassing!
With everything ready, they were about to enter the umbrella. Before departing, Su Muluo asked Liu He, “Hu Xiao has helped me before. After we catch Hu Yan, what punishment will she face?”
“Punishment is inevitable. She admitted during questioning that she covered up for Hu Yan multiple times, making her an accomplice to some extent,” Liu He explained. “But since she helped you and is willing to lead us to the real culprit, we can offset her crimes to some extent—we’ll just detain her for a while and not give her the same fate as her sister.”
Hu Yan’s fate, naturally, was execution.
Su Muluo didn’t say anything further. Detention for a while might indeed be an acceptable outcome for Hu Xiao.
The two entered the interrogation room, where a broken red umbrella lay before Hu Xiao. Seeing Su Muluo, she gently touched the umbrella’s handle. “Are we leaving now?”
Liu He replied, “Let’s not delay any longer.”
Hu Xiao nodded silently, biting her finger to let a drop of blood fall onto the red umbrella.
Instantly, the umbrella emitted a sinister red glow, illuminating the entire room. Amid the glow, Su Muluo and Liu He heard Hu Xiao’s voice, “Come over and hold my hand.”
Liu He immediately stepped forward and grabbed Hu Xiao’s wrist. Su Muluo placed his hand lightly on her shoulder, maintaining some distance.
Hu Xiao slowly closed her eyes, and the umbrella’s red glow seemed to guide itself into her body… A few seconds later, their surroundings changed.
They were no longer in the interrogation room but in a blood-red space, with no visible boundary between sky and ground, extending endlessly as if it would never end.
However, the place wasn’t deserted. Not far from them, a woman knelt—dressed in a red-and-white gown with a trailing hem, cradling a skeleton in her arms.
That was Hu Yan.
However, the moment Su Muluo saw Hu Yan, the scene before his eyes changed again.
“……”
He looked around, no longer seeing the blood-red space, but instead, a small bridge over flowing water, a picturesque rural scene.
An illusion.
Fox demons are adept at beguiling the heart and creating illusions. However, Hu Yan’s power was not on par with Su Muluo’s, so this illusion couldn’t deceive him at all.
The stream flowed silently, and at the other end of the small bridge was a household. Su Muluo didn’t break the illusion before him but calmly walked over, pushed open the door, and entered the small courtyard.
In the courtyard were a few peach trees, pale pink petals falling under the window, outlining the silhouette of a couple embracing.
“Hahaha…”
“Yan’er…”
The woman’s bell-like laughter came from inside the window, along with a man’s passionate vows. They laughed and played wantonly, like the most genuine lovers in the world.
A breeze passed through the courtyard, sweeping away a few peach petals. Soon after, frost and snow fell, and it turned to winter in the blink of an eye.
This was no longer the countryside but a bustling capital. The small courtyard had disappeared, replaced by a grand mansion.
Red silk hung high, lanterns and streamers adorned the place. The man who had made passionate vows to his beloved woman in the courtyard now donned wedding robes, marrying another woman.
The wedding procession passed noisily through the street, and among the onlookers stood a stunningly beautiful woman, staring blankly at the groom on the horse.
The next moment, the scene changed again. Su Muluo heard the woman’s shrill and painful scream, surrounded by several cultivators. The man just now held a knife, with a bloodied human face in his hand.
All of this fell into Su Muluo’s eyes. Soon, both the cultivators and the man were dead. On the blood-stained ground, only the woman with her face peeled off was left, holding the man’s corpse and kneeling in a daze for a long time.
“……”
Su Muluo looked at the woman, seemingly moved by her story, his expression slightly softening, even lowering his guard.
At that moment, a pale, thin hand quietly approached him from behind. When it reached a very close distance, it suddenly extended sharp nails, aiming straight for Su Muluo’s heart—
Whoosh!
A white feather flashed with a sharp cold light, instantly severing the woman’s hand, but no blood flowed because the hand was also fake.
“……” The woman holding the corpse raised her head, her cold gaze fixed on Su Muluo. She said, “What did I do wrong? Why did you push me to this point?”
Su Muluo looked at her calmly. His earlier relaxed guard was merely a pretense to make this woman reveal her true face.
“Before asking what you did wrong, think about what you have done.” He said, “Weren’t you just trying to kill me?”
Hu Yan fell silent. Su Muluo glanced at the corpse in her arms and continued, “Since this person betrayed you, why kill for him?”
“Betrayed?” When mentioning her lover, the hatred in Hu Yan’s eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by an obsessed love, “No, Yang Lang never betrayed me. He just fell in love with another woman.”
Su Muluo: “……”
“Men are all infatuated with appearances. That woman was just younger and more beautiful, so she stole Yang Lang’s heart.” Hu Yan stroked the corpse in her arms, muttering, “As long as I resurrect Yang Lang and find a prettier face for myself, he will love me again.”
She finished speaking and laughed softly, then suddenly grabbed the corpse’s neck, her eyes fierce.
But the next second, the fierceness in her eyes faded, turning back into that pure love.
Su Muluo: “……”
He took in Hu Yan’s changing expressions and, after a few seconds of silence, suddenly realized something.
She had gone mad.
When her lover betrayed her and peeled off her skin with his own hands, this fox demon went mad.
Now she probably couldn’t distinguish between love and hate. She was just immersed in her own world, believing she still loved this man and willingly hunted for human skins for him, growing increasingly mad… So even her sister couldn’t stop her.
Hu Yan was still obsessively holding the man’s corpse, but Su Muluo didn’t want to look anymore. He raised his hand and casually wiped in the air—
The illusion shattered, Hu Yan’s eyes widened, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and fainted.
The next second, Su Muluo returned to the blood-red space. Hu Yan fell into a brief coma due to the illusion’s collapse, as did Liu He and Hu Xiao.
They had also entered the earlier illusion, and its collapse affected them both. Though uninjured, they lost consciousness.
Su Muluo didn’t expect this outcome, indicating Hu Yan’s considerable strength relative to Liu He and Hu Xiao. With everyone unconscious, he could only wait for them to wake up.
The space was silent. A small black dragon poked its head out of his pocket and softly cried.
It wanted to be held.
Su Muluo looked down at it, picked up the little dragon, and said, “Did you hear what Hu Yan just said?”
The little black dragon wagged its tail, indicating it didn’t care to listen.
Su Muluo said, “She just said men only love appearances.”
Little Black Dragon: “Rawr?”
Su Muluo: “So you must be attracted to my beauty.”
Little Black Dragon: “?”
“Unlike you,” Su Muluo said with a smile, “you’re just a little black mud eel, nothing attractive about you, so I’m slightly more noble than you.”
Little Black Dragon: “……”
To prove it wasn’t attracted to the phoenix’s beauty, the little black dragon thought seriously for a moment and said, “Rawr!”
But back when we were both in eggs, I already liked you.
We were both still eggs then!
Su Muluo said, “That seems to be the case.” He thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled, “But even as an egg, I was a very good-looking egg, unlike you, resembling a duck egg.”
“So you still crave my beauty.”
Little Black Dragon: “…”
Little Black Dragon looked at Su Muluo, feeling that his phoenix was mischievous, always teasing him and trying to pin the blame on him!
So, it straightforwardly hugged Su Muluo’s hand and let out a justified “roar.”
Yes, I crave your beauty!
When I become human, I’ll marry the phoenix as my wife!
Su Muluo: “…”
Little Black Dragon: “Roar!” And every day we’ll kiss, every day I’ll press you onto the bed and do naughty things!
Su Muluo: “???”
Su Muluo stared at this extremely arrogant Little Black Dragon for a few seconds, then expressionlessly threw it out.
“Keep dreaming!”
T/N: Hello hello! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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Also, check out the other series we have on HoH!
If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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