The sky gradually darkened, a biting cold wind howling through the alley.
White Li’s body began to glow with a white light, cold and piercing, making it hard to look directly at her.
The tips of her hair shimmered with a faint silver halo, the air around her violently distorting, as if some terrifying existence was quietly awakening.
“What the hell… is going on?”
Huang Mao was so scared he couldn’t speak. In his nearly twenty years of life, he had never seen such a scene.
Lü Mao also sensed something was wrong. He wanted to let go and throw this monster away, but found he simply couldn’t.
He looked down. His fingers were already frozen stiff, a layer of frost coating the joints. His entire arm felt like it didn’t belong to him, completely immobile.
They couldn’t believe that a seemingly thin and weak high school girl could possess such terrifying power.
“Y-you… who are you?”
Lü Mao wanted to run, to get away from this place immediately, but his limbs were frozen in place. He couldn’t even retreat.
That chill was drilling from his arms into his body. He could feel his blood slowing down, even his heartbeat growing sluggish.
White Li tilted her head slightly, her eyes opening just a slit. An eerie blue light seeped out from beneath her eyelids.
Like a fissure deep within an ancient glacier, it held only an indifferent gaze.
Huang Mao met that gaze. He opened his mouth, but only a choked “Urk” came from his throat.
Then his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
White Li paid him no mind. She was still chanting words she herself didn’t understand, but they felt like they should be spoken. It was like something engraved in her bloodline, naturally welling up.
Mana was still climbing.
The disguise bracelet was already starting to feel hot—a warning that it was nearing its limit. When that happened, the fox ears and tail belonging to the monster would be exposed.
But it didn’t matter. After all, there were only these three thugs…
Thud. A muffled sound came from behind.
Lü Mao’s eyes rolled white, and he fell forward, stiff as a board.
White Li was pulled forward by him, stumbling a step, her feet finally touching the ground.
She knelt on one knee, the chanting abruptly ceasing.
The white light rapidly faded, the ice and snow melted away, and the silver glow at her hair tips dimmed.
She blinked. Her azure pupils returned to grayish-black, transforming back into an ordinary human high school student.
“Hah… hah…”
White Li braced her hands on the ground, panting heavily, her heart pounding like a drum.
‘Crap, I got carried away. I almost didn’t rein it in just now.’
The bracelet was still warm. She touched her head, confirming her fox ears hadn’t appeared, and only then let out a sigh of relief.
Come to think of it, wasn’t there a muffled sound from behind just now?
White Li stood up, looking back in confusion.
The alley light was dim. A dark figure stood behind the fallen Lü Mao, his face unclear.
He bent down, seeming to pick something up from the ground.
‘Another thug?
‘Must be here to help these three. So there was someone else keeping watch from behind!’
Without thinking, she pushed off the ground, charging towards the dark figure.
“Are you alri—”
The dark figure had only uttered three words when White Li was already in front of him, delivering a fierce kick right between his legs.
“Urgh—!”
The dark figure let out a deathly shriek, then curled up like a shrimp, clutching his vital area with both hands, staggering back a few steps and slamming into the wall.
White Li steadied herself, adopting a defensive stance. Only then, by the light seeping in from the alley entrance, could she clearly see his face.
Delicate features, the same high school uniform as hers, and a single-strap bag lying on the ground.
“You are…” White Li froze. She remembered this was the boy who sat behind her by the window. “Called… called Lin…”
“My name is… Lin… Du…”
Lin Du leaned against the wall, frowning, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, clearly in great pain.
“Ugh…”
He finally squeezed out a syllable through gritted teeth, slowly sliding down to squat against the wall.
White Li stood frozen in place for a full three seconds before finally realizing what had happened.
“Ahhhhhhhh I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!!!”
She rushed over, standing helplessly in front of Lin Du, wanting to help him up but not knowing where to start.
“I, I thought you were with them! I didn’t mean to! A-are you okay?!”
Lin Du didn’t respond, just buried his head in his knees, shoulders trembling slightly.
After a good while, he raised one hand and waved at her.
“It’s… fine…”
His voice was hoarse. It didn’t sound fine.
“Um… I… I’ll take you to the hospital!” White Li was so anxious she was spinning in place. “Is there a clinic nearby? No, better to just call an ambulance! Where’s your phone? I’ll call 120 for you…”
“Don’t need to.” Lin Du took a deep breath, slowly lifting his head.
Under the moonlight, his face was still pale, but he could barely speak now.
“When you kicked just now… I used my hand… to block it…”
Only then did White Li notice his left hand was still protectively held in front of him. He hadn’t been completely defenseless.
That kick, he had actually blocked most of it with his hand.
“But…” White Li hesitated.
She had experienced the taste of being hit in the demon pill before. With the force she used just now, what if…
“I’ll be fine after resting a bit,” Lin Du said, slowly standing up while leaning on the wall, his legs still a bit shaky. “You… have quite some strength.”
White Li’s face flushed red. She clasped her hands together. “I’m sorry… I’m really, really sorry…”
Lin Du waved his hand dismissively, picked up his single-strap bag and slung it over his shoulder, moved his arm around a bit, his expression gradually returning to normal.
He looked down and noticed the three people lying on the ground: Hong Mao unconscious in the corner, Lü Mao face down, and Huang Mao lying between them, scattered haphazardly like crops after a typhoon.
“Did you do this?” Lin Du looked at White Li.
White Li was stunned for a moment, following his gaze to the ground, her mind racing.
‘What to say? Tell the truth?
‘Are you kidding? That would expose me.’
“Yes… I did it,” she nodded. “Mostly by hitting them with my bicycle.”
“Bicycle?”
“Yes!” White Li pointed towards the alley entrance. “I was just riding home from school, and these three guys suddenly jumped out. They had knives and said they were going to rob me!”
She gestured with her hands. “That Huang Mao, he just pulled out a knife and charged at me. I was so scared, I… I pushed my bicycle hard and rammed him with it.”
Lin Du looked in the direction she pointed. That shared bicycle was still parked at the alley entrance, its basket dented.
“Mm. And then?”
“Then… then they chased me and tried to hit me,” White Li squeezed out an innocent expression. “I could only fight back. I managed to beat back that Hong Mao and Huang Mao with great difficulty, but then I got picked up by Lü Mao.”
“You saw the rest… you helped knock Lü Mao down, and then I accidentally…”
“Alright, I get it.” Lin Du hurriedly cut her off, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.
He walked forward, checked the condition of the three on the ground, then looked at White Li again.
“Wh-what’s wrong?” White Li hunched her shoulders slightly.
“Three of them, chasing you alone?” Lin Du’s gaze held a hint of suspicion.
“Yes…”
“They had knives?”
“Yes…”
“The red-haired and yellow-haired ones, you took them down?”
“Yes, hit them with the bike and kicked them a few times.” White Li swallowed. “Maybe… they weren’t very good fighters to begin with?”
Lin Du stared at her for a few seconds before shifting his gaze away, pulling out his phone from his pocket.
“I’ll call the police.”
White Li breathed a sigh of relief. Any longer and the bracelet’s effect would eventually wear off. Exposing her identity then would be disastrous.
“Alright then, thanks for handling it.” She took two steps towards the alley entrance. “I just remembered I have something to do at home, need to head back. Someday… I’ll thank you properly another day.”
“Wait.” Lin Du tilted his head to hold the phone between his shoulder and ear, freeing one hand to beckon her. “You can’t leave yet.”
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