Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 520 - 16 Embracing Left and Right

Chapter 520 -16 Embracing Left and Right

What does it feel like to have warmth and tenderness in your arms?

In all honesty, it’s quite pleasant.

But what does it feel like to be constrained by warmth and tenderness?

Not so pleasant.

It wasn’t too bad with Su Yunjin; she just squeezed into Yan Yu’s blanket and clung to his right arm, shivering—the equivalent of having a fragrant and soft accessory hanging off his arm, which didn’t really hinder his movements.

However, Lin Ning forcibly bent his left arm towards her—both scared and apprehensive to crawl into the bed herself, she simply “snatched” a sense of security for herself, making Yan Yu feel as if he were shackled by human-shaped handcuffs.

The softness was indeed there, but being hugged by Lin Ning, who also clamped his hand between her legs, meant he was completely immobilized, which obviously wouldn’t do.

After Yan Yu had tried in vain to withdraw his arm for a long time, he could only send a message to Lin Ning with his thoughts:

“Who would have thought Ningning was actually such a scaredy-cat? Truly surprising.”

“Shut up, I’m not scared at all!” Lin Ning fell for the provocation, ready to forcefully fling his arm away to show her bravery. That’s when she heard Chen Lingyun say:

“Let me share one too.”

Lin Ning: ……

Hurriedly snatched back his arm to hug it again.

Yan Yu also felt exasperated, secretly suspecting that Chen Lingyun was deliberately causing trouble.

“It was around the end of the last century,” Chen Lingyun began softly, “Jianghai Prefecture often had cases of young women being victimized. The victims were mostly between 18-25 years old, with fatal wounds on their necks that bore large bite marks. Upon examination, the bodies were found devoid of a single drop of blood, as if completely drained.”

Shivering even more, Su Yunjin curled her entire body into the blanket, pressing tightly against Yan Yu’s side.

“The Patrol and Arrest Office back then hadn’t yet adopted Western forensic techniques,” continued Chen Lingyun. “They interviewed witnesses, who gave all sorts of testimonials, but certain highly repeated testimonies drew the patrollers’ attention.”

“That, that.” Lin Ning’s voice trembled as she said, “Lingyun, before you continue with the story, maybe tell us first that this is all made up, okay?”

“Yes, it’s just a legend,” Chen Lingyun said with a smile. “Many of the case testimonies mentioned sightings of an elderly lady in red near the crime scenes.”

Curling up beside him, Su Yunjin let out an indistinct whimper. Yan Yu wanted to pat her head to comfort her, but his hands were trapped, so he had to use his chin instead to knock lightly.

“Like in a certain inn,” Chen Lingyun went on. “Two young girls were staying over, and one went out to use the public restroom. The other waited a long time without her friend returning, and upon going to look for her, she saw an elderly lady in red coming out from the restroom. Deep inside, she found her friend lying on the floor, pale as death, with two small holes on her neck.”

“Something’s not right, something’s not right?” Lin Ning suddenly exclaimed. “Wouldn’t the inn rooms have their own restrooms? Why would she need to go outside?”

“Back in those days, inns and taverns were separate,” Chen Lingyun explained calmly. “Inns were just for drinking.”

Lin Ning ran out of objections and pulled Yan Yu’s arm closer into her embrace, hugging it tightly.

“Later, the Patrol and Arrest Bureau posted a warrant for the arrest of the elderly lady in red,” Chen Lingyun concluded. “Whether they caught her or not is another story, but my mother told me that at the time, people were panicking, with every household hanging garlic and closing their doors after 5 pm, refusing to venture outside. Families with young women were especially on edge, acquiring all sorts of talismans to stick on their doors, for fear that the red-clad old lady would find them… Hmm, what’s that outside the window?”

At this, Lin Ning dropped all pretenses and scrambled into Yan Yu’s blanket, joining Su Yunjin in a chaotic crying.

“Enough! Enough!” Yan Yu couldn’t take it any longer. “Still playing the same trick a second time? Lingyun, that’s enough already!”

Having finished her story, Chen Lingyun obviously wouldn’t provoke Yan Yu further, saying with a laugh:

“I’ll stop here. Sister Zhao, do you have any horror stories?”

“Oh, yes,” Zhao Yuanzhen replied.

“Speak up, speak up,” Xie Ruoxi urged quickly.

“I know someone…” Zhao Yuanzhen began. She was about to say “I know a fellow junior sister,” but then she remembered matters concerning the Qiansi Sect were meant to be kept secret from her younger siblings, so she corrected herself, “…I know someone whose family was so poor they couldn’t even make ends meet. They were considering selling their daughter when a Taoist nun passed by the village. She gave them some money, taking their daughter as her disciple instead.”

“The girl was young and initially felt that she had been sold by her parents. Angered, she swore to sever ties with them. As time passed and she progressed in her cultivation, she discussed the matter with her master. Her master told her that life is full of hardships and her parents didn’t really want to abandon her; they simply couldn’t afford to keep her.”

“She pondered over it for quite some time. After all, she had been away from home since she was little, and any resentment from back then had faded. So she asked her master for a few days off and set off on her flying sword to visit her parents.”

“Then what happened?” Lin Ning inquired. The story wasn’t scary so far.

“When she got back, she found the village no more,” Zhao Yuanzhen laughed. “She had been cultivating in the mountains for over eighty years. The secular world had changed governments twice, and the village had long been razed by war. The passage of time and transformation of lands are beyond human control; isn’t that frightening?”

The girls: ……

“Not scary?” Zhao Yuanzhen scratched her head.

When our master first recounted this story to us, she commented, “The brevity of a mortal’s life is terrifying amid the cycle of life and death.” Why isn’t anyone scared?

Lin Ning had already gathered her composure and somewhat unnaturally let go of Yan Yu. Su Yunjin also reluctantly crawled back into her own quilts.

“Is there anyone else who wants to tell a story?” Chen Lingyun asked with a smile. “Ningning, Yun Jin?”

“I don’t have any ghost stories.” Lin Ning quickly shook her head.

“Neither do I,” said Su Yunjin with a forced laugh.

“Good, I was just about to…” Yan Yu hadn’t finished speaking when he was abruptly silenced by Lin Ning and Su Yunjin, one on each side covering his mouth, and they interrupted him:

“No! You don’t!”

Ultimately, it was Lin Ning who reacted the quickest, Su Yunjin reached out to cover his mouth only to touch the back of Ningning’s hand, awkwardly retracting her hand but becoming secretly vigilant in her heart.

Seeing how swiftly and naturally Ningning moved, it seemed she had no awkwardness or embarrassment from the physical contact with the captain.

When I was hugging the captain earlier because I was scared, could she have also…

“I actually need to use the bathroom!” Yan Yu broke free from Lin Ning’s restraint and said angrily, “That’s the end of the ghost story session!”

Lin Ning sheepishly retracted her hand, thinking I thought you were going to share too.

When others were telling ghost stories, she was able to seek solace by clutching onto the captain’s arm. If the captain were to tell a ghost story, she would be in such a hurry to stay away that she might end up having to cling to Ling Yun instead.

Upon entering the bathroom, Yan Yu discovered it was a squat toilet and couldn’t help but sigh.

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After relieving himself and washing his hands, he walked out and prepared to sleep in his own quilts.

“Captain,” Xie Ruoxi suddenly said, “I also want to use the bathroom…”

“Then go,” Yan Yu said.

“But I’m a little scared after hearing some stories,” Xie Ruoxi said with a slight plaintive tone that was soft and tender.

“If you’re afraid of this stuff, you shouldn’t have been so enthusiastic at the start!” Yan Yu helplessly crawled out of his quilts.

Arriving at the bathroom door, Yan Yu stood outside waiting for Xie Ruoxi to come out.

“Captain, are you there?” A voice came from inside.

“I am,” Yan Yu replied.

After a moment, Xie Ruoxi’s voice rose again:

“Captain, are you still there?”

“No, I’m not,” Yan Yu said. “I got taken away by a ghost.”

The sound of flushing came quickly from inside, and Xie Ruoxi rushed out in a panic, relieved to see Yan Yu still at the door.

Once back in the quilts, just as Yan Yu closed his eyes and prepared to sleep, he heard Su Yunjin transmit a message:

“Captain, I also want to use the bathroom…”

Yan Yu:……

Or I could just carry you over and then urinate for you.

After Su Yunjin left the bathroom and with Yan Yu guarding the door, he simply asked everyone:

“Is there anyone else who needs to use the bathroom? Time waits for no one; I’m going back to sleep.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Bathroom Manager Big Brother,” Chen Lingyun said with a laugh.

Yan Yu couldn’t be bothered with her and returned to his quilts, preparing to sleep for the third time, when suddenly someone reached out and gently held his hand, a smooth and warm feeling coming from the palm.

“Captain, I’m still a bit scared,” Su Yunjin transmitted.

That was a lie. She had already used her strong self-control to erase the ghost stories she just heard from her memory.

Now was the time to feign weakness to the enemy, to take advantage of the situation and breakthrough the captain’s boundary against physical contact!

Win!

Yan Yu was about to refuse diplomatically, but then he remembered how Ningning had fallen asleep holding his hand and softened.

Oh well, let’s be fair.