Chapter 245: Chapter 245: It’s No Fun to Catch Me

Qiao Xixi frowned. "Team up? How do we team up?"

Seeing Qiao Xixi relent, Huang Ying grew even more delighted. "I’ll convince my system to take you back with me after I complete my mission. All you have to do is cooperate with me and see all the book’s plot points through to the end."

"What do I need to do?"

"You know the deal. You’re the villain’s vicious biological mother. Your job is to abuse them, humiliate them, and leave them with indelible psychological scars. And I... when the time comes, I’ll capture all their father-beasts and kill them right in front of them..."

Huang Ying was so excited as she spoke that she completely failed to notice the change in Qiao Xixi’s eyes.

"Huang Ying, what did you do before you transmigrated?"

Qiao Xixi’s sudden question interrupted Huang Ying’s increasingly excited fantasy.

Huang Ying’s expression faltered. The smile on her face slowly vanished, but then she let out a strange laugh, her voice laced with an odd quality.

"Me? I was just a wage slave. My biggest dream in life was simply to coast along, waiting to die—to give up on the rat race while I was still young."

"And to achieve that goal, you’d do anything? Even watch a life fade away right before your eyes?"

Huang Ying’s pupils constricted. She tightened her grip on Qiao Xixi’s hand, as if trying to crush her bones.

"Qiao Xixi, have you gotten too into your role? Open your eyes and look at this world! It’s an illusion. Everyone standing before you, besides me, all of them—they’re all just paper people! What life could they possibly have?"

Qiao Xixi glanced at Fenglin, who was standing at the cave entrance, and said coolly, "And him? Is he just a paper person in your heart, too?"

Huang Ying shot Fenglin a look and frowned, but she quickly and arrogantly declared, "Of course."

Fenglin’s pupils trembled. He just stared silently at Huang Ying. He had heard her say the term "paper people" more than once. He didn’t know what it meant, but he could feel the contempt and indifference in her voice whenever she said it.

Qiao Xixi looked at the darkening sky outside, then slowly pulled her hand from Huang Ying’s grasp.

"Huang Ying, you didn’t just hurt these ’paper people’ you talk about. You hurt me, too. To achieve your goal, you fed me that lust-fruit and made me mate with them, knowing full well I was unwilling. It was all so I would give birth to the villains you needed, right?"

The smile in Huang Ying’s eyes froze. "I told you, as long as I complete the mission, I’ll take you with me when I leave."

Qiao Xixi let out a soft laugh, her eyes filled with an icy chill. "Then let me tell you again. Impossible."

Huang Ying’s face darkened. "Qiao Xixi, if you won’t do this the easy way, you’ll do it the hard way. Do you really think you can escape?!"

Qiao Xixi sneered, "Why don’t we find out?"

Huang Ying roared, "Fenglin, tie her up!"

The moment the words left her mouth, a thick black mist billowed out from within the cave and instantly enveloped Huang Ying.

Huang Ying’s pupils shrank. She struggled, trying to break free from the black mist’s grasp, but it was like ropes binding her body. The more she struggled, the tighter the mist coiled around her.

"My lady!"

Fenglin sensed something was wrong and immediately rushed in, but he was quickly swept out of the cave by the black mist.

"My lady!"

Fenglin was frantic. He paid no mind to his own injuries, madly charging back toward the cave.

Wrapped in the black mist, Huang Ying was dragged outside the cave, her body gradually lifting into the air.

"Oh, you little white-feathered chicken... trying to capture me was a bad idea." A demonic, sinister voice exploded by her ear, and the hair on Huang Ying’s entire body stood on end.

’What the hell is this thing!’

Sangze’s face gradually became clear within the black mist. Huang Ying was so shocked her pupils constricted violently.

’It’s him! How did he break his restraints? Why didn’t I know anything about it?!’

"Die, you white-feathered chicken!"

The black mist tightened abruptly. Huang Ying felt a deadly suffocation in her chest, and just as she was about to pass out, a fiery red figure charged forward and slammed into the mist.

A flash of impatience crossed the face in the mist. "How... annoying."

Under Fenglin’s relentless assault, Sangze was forced to release Huang Ying to focus his full attention on the fight, leaving only a wisp of black mist coiled around her.

Huang Ying summoned all her strength, shattered the remaining black mist on her, and fell to the ground.

A deep mark was etched into her neck where she had been choked, a near-fatal injury.

Lying on the ground and struggling to breathe, she looked up and heard a sizzling sound.

Huang Ying looked up in astonishment and saw Qiao Xixi unhurriedly putting something away.

"You just did something to me."

Qiao Xixi looked down on her, her voice laced with coldness. "If you died, you could go back to that world, couldn’t you?"

"What did you say?" A flicker of panic crossed Huang Ying’s eyes. "No, Qiao Xixi, you can’t! You mustn’t! I’ve already given so much for this mission. You can’t let all my hard work go to waste!"

Qiao Xixi raised the bone knife high in her hand and lunged at Huang Ying.

Fenglin saw it out of the corner of his eye. Ignoring Sangze’s attack, he took a heavy punch to the chest.

"ARGH!"

Fenglin coughed up blood from the pain, but even so, he ignored everything and charged toward Huang Ying, pulling her into his arms to shield her.

"My lady, don’t be afraid. I will protect you."

Huang Ying cowered in Fenglin’s embrace, terrified.

But the bone knife in Qiao Xixi’s hand never fell.

Huang Ying opened her eyes in surprise, staring at Qiao Xixi in astonishment.

Qiao Xixi just watched her coolly. "Huang Ying, this is one of your ’paper people.’"

"What..."

Qiao Xixi lowered her gaze to the blood-soaked Fenglin.

"You don’t even have a contract bond with him. Even if you were to die, he wouldn’t suffer any backlash. But he still charged over without a second thought. Huang Ying, they are flesh and blood. They have feelings, no different from you and me. So, I will never, for the sake of your so-called mission, harm anyone I care about."

The black mist swept in, quickly forming a protective barrier around Qiao Xixi.

"My little female, you don’t want them dead?"

Qiao Xixi frowned. "Yeah. Let her go this once. Let’s go back."

"You’re so kind, my little female. I love it~~ But as for them... I don’t really want to let them go so easily."

A swirl of black mist rose up, instantly enveloping Huang Ying and Fenglin. Then, Qiao Xixi watched as the mist flung their figures far into the distance.

Sangze shifted into his human form and gathered Qiao Xixi into his arms. "Now, no one can disturb us."

Before Qiao Xixi could even react, he placed a gentle kiss on the corner of her lips.

But before he could pull away, Qiao Xixi actively wrapped her arms around him, deepening the kiss.

’A proactive little female... so charming.’

"Last time it was in a tree. This time... where do you want to do it?"

Qiao Xixi was kissed until she was dizzy and disoriented. She had only been so forward a moment ago because she was caught up in her emotions; she hadn’t actually wanted to take things further! But Sangze wasn’t about to give her a chance to refuse. He swept her up in his arms and carried her into the cave...