Chapter 22: Red Wolf

“Is Teacher Li strict in class?” 

Zheng Qiaonian asked. What boys cared about most was naturally a teacher’s temper, since that was the thing most closely related to their future studies and daily life.

“When Sister gets fierce she’s really scary. I don’t even dare to breathe. She’s like a big tiger—if she finds anything displeasing she’ll eat you…”

“Ahem.”

Just as Ying An was speaking with enthusiasm, a light cough came from behind him.

He would never mistake that voice even if he died.

Before he even turned around to confirm who it was, cold sweat had already begun to form on his back.

Su Yueyue and Zheng Qiaonian both turned to look at Li Jue behind them.

They thought Ying An had not heard and even patted his shoulder to remind him.

Ying An slowly turned around, not daring to lift his head.

“Hello, Teacher Li.”

“Mm.” Li Jue nodded and stared straight at Ying An. 

“Xiao An, get up. We’re going home. There’s still half a minute until school ends.”

“Oh…”

He timidly raised his eyes and glanced at Li Jue.

Sure enough, her expression was cold beyond recognition, and his heart grew cold along with it.

He said goodbye to the two classmates and followed behind Li Jue as they left the school.

On the drive home, Ying An sat perfectly upright in the passenger seat like a prisoner waiting to receive punishment, not making a single sound.

Li Jue glanced at his disheveled appearance after a full day of military training, his hair greasy and messy. 

“When we get back, take a shower first. Throw your clothes in the washing machine.”

“Mm…” Ying An nodded. “Sister, did you overhear just now?”

“I heard. Seems Xiao An has quite a few opinions about Sister.”

“I… I was just joking. How could I have any opinions about Sister?”

“It’s fine. Later when you’re naked and taking a bath, Sister will have plenty of ways to deal with you.”

“I’ll apologize to you. Can you not punish me?” Ying An asked in a small voice.

“If an apology could solve the problem, what would the police be for?”

Ying An knew he could not escape this time, so he simply stopped talking and turned to look out the car window.

The streets at night were bustling and noisy.

For them, the time to finish school and go to sleep seemed to be only the beginning of adult nightlife.

He remembered the question Su Yueyue had asked him.

“Sister, why did you call Su Yueyue ‘little kitten’?”

“Su Yueyue? You mean that girl who didn’t do the military training?” Li Jue said. “Because she has the bloodline of a cat demon. The purity is very low—probably a human-demon hybrid.”

“Su Yueyue is a cat demon?!” Ying An was extremely surprised.

“For children born of human-demon hybrids, neither the demon blood nor the demon power is inherited in any significant amount. They’re almost no different from ordinary people. They might not even notice anything unusual about their own bloodline, so she should be classified on the human side.”

“Then can she live for hundreds or thousands of years like Sister?”

“Of course not. Her lifespan is only at the level of ordinary humans. Only the descendants of exceptionally powerful great demons might inherit the demon blood and demon power of their father or mother—for example, the child of you and Sister.”

“Me and Sister?!”

Imagining that scene, Ying An’s face instantly turned red.

He already understood where babies came from and knew what actions were required for the process.

He looked at Li Jue’s face.

When she said those words she was especially calm, as if speaking of something that was only natural.

To her, Ying An was her destined future.

Everything else might still be premature, but he… must never belong to anyone else.

“What is Xiao An thinking about?”

“Nothing… nothing at all.”

After returning home, Li Jue was drinking again tonight.

However, she was not on the rooftop this time, but leaning against the wall outside the bathroom while Ying An bathed inside.

“Does Xiao An hate military training a lot?”

“Of course. It’s exhausting and hot. Sister, can you help me get some kind of leave note?” Ying An’s voice mixed with the rushing sound of water.

“If Sister breaks your leg, then you can take leave legitimately.”

“See? I told you you’re fierce. I wasn’t wronging you at all.”

Li Jue was actually the typical type with a sharp mouth and a soft heart toward Ying An.

On the way back she had said she would deal with him while he was bathing, yet now she was only standing outside drinking.

She said she would not let Ying An take leave, yet she still thought of a method for him.

She moved to a position where Ying An could not hear and called Chu Jiuer. “Can you make it rain in the city for two days?”

“My dear Sister, why do you always give me difficult problems?” 

Chu Jiuer’s face filled with helplessness when she heard the request.

“I’m a demon, not a god. Where would I get that much demon power?”

“Anyway you’re lying around at home all day. Saving up demon power is just a waste. Besides… Xiao An is doing military training these days.”

The moment it involved Ying An’s affairs, Chu Jiuer immediately became interested.

She had been lying on the bed watching shows on her phone, but now she sat up at once. 

“Then you have to let Xiao An go with me.”

“It’s not my business. Why should I agree?”

“You called me, didn’t you? That means you feel sorry for Xiao An too, heehee.”

“…” Li Jue was silent for a while. “Bring him back when it’s over. Don’t take him running around.”

“Okay~”

***

At midnight, south of Xiheng’s sports field, inside an abandoned small building.

This building had previously been a student dormitory.

For some reason it had not yet been demolished and was now used to store miscellaneous items.

All sorts of messy things were piled up on both sides.

A beam of light passed through the choking dust in the corridor, and footsteps sounded in the darkness.

The man shone a flashlight as he reached the end of the corridor and entered the last room.

He pushed aside the discarded cardboard boxes filled with clutter in the corner, revealing a rusty iron door on the ground.

He pulled open the iron door and entered the underground passage inside.

It was equally pitch-black, yet the passage was unexpectedly spacious.

In the darkness one could faintly hear a heavy, powerful breathing sound, like some large animal beyond ordinary human understanding.

That creature seemed to have also sensed the man’s arrival.

Immediately a series of clanging sounds of iron chains rubbing and colliding rang out.

As the light moved forward, bloodstains gradually began to appear on the ground.

The man stopped walking.

The monster in the darkness fully revealed its true form—a giant red wolf with a pair of scarlet, terrifying eyes.

Its limbs and neck were bound by thick iron chains, and its entire body was covered in bloody, dripping wounds.

The man threw a large chunk of raw meat in front of the red wolf.

It opened its blood-filled maw, exhaling a foul, bloody breath. “Another batch of new students. How many are you planning to sacrifice this time?”

“As many as qualify.” 

The man smiled contemptuously.

“You’ll be caught one day. When I get out, I’ll definitely bite you to death with my own mouth.”

“Then just keep waiting for that day.”

The man took a white crystal and walked toward the red wolf, pressing the crystal against a wound on its leg.

The crystal slowly turned red.

The intense pain made the red wolf roar.

It struggled violently, glaring viciously at the man, wishing it could swallow him whole in one bite.

“I will definitely kill you with my own hands! Definitely!”

“I know, I know.” 

The man raised his index finger to his lips in a silencing gesture. 

“Keep it down, or I’ll have to find a way to knock you out again.”