She suddenly felt that the Shadow Spider was far too easy to deal with. The so-called slave girl didn’t seem all that impressive after all. Wasn’t the world’s setting a bit over the top?
Using her fists to extract information, Bai Ya basically figured out the Shadow Spider’s personal details. She memorized the slave girl’s profile—perhaps it might come in handy someday, who knew?
Having been humiliated so many times by Bai Ya, the Shadow Spider’s little chest heaved with anger. She wanted to kill that wretched woman! She absolutely had to kill that wretched woman!
Bai Ya raised her fist again. The Shadow Spider instinctively closed her eyes and shouted, “Stop hitting me! I’ll answer whatever you ask, just don’t hit me anymore!”
Ah, the loli finally got the hint.
“How many slave girls like you are there on this ship?”
“Th… th- three—You bastard woman!” The Shadow Spider was stunned. She had thought Bai Ya would continue asking for her personal information, so in her mind she had resolved to answer honestly no matter what was asked. It was this habitual way of thinking that allowed Bai Ya to get the information she wanted.
That wretched woman had been throwing out irrelevant questions from the start, numbing her defenses, making her naively believe she was dealing with a clueless fool, and step by step, falling right into her mental trap.
The number of slave girls—that was information that posed a threat to their master! She had just exposed it to the detestable Bai Ya.
The Shadow Spider finally began to seriously regard Bai Ya. She had originally thought this slave could be easily manipulated, but she had suffered many setbacks at her hands. If she didn’t take her seriously now, she might lose any chance of turning the tables forever.
This slave possessed some special power she herself didn’t understand. Underestimating her any further would cause great losses.
“Three, huh…” Bai Ya ignored the murderous glare from the Shadow Spider. She lowered her head to ponder. Three slave girls meant three big troubles. To be honest, even one Shadow Spider was already enough trouble.
“Next question: besides you, who are the other two slave girls? What are their racial talents? Don’t look at me like that—I’m not familiar with this place. The less information I have, the lower my odds of winning. I have no intention of losing this game.” Bai Ya tapped the Shadow Spider’s neck seriously with the blade’s edge of her dagger.
“I absolutely won’t say another word. Give up.” The Shadow Spider suddenly quieted down, staring at Bai Ya with eyes colder than ice.
Bai Ya actually hoped she would make some noise. A raging enemy was much easier to deal with than a calm one.
Seeing the Shadow Spider so resolute, Bai Ya guessed no matter how many punches she threw, she wouldn’t get an answer. Some little tricks only worked once, that’s that.
“Fine, I give up. I never planned to get answers from you anyway. My time’s running out. It’s time to say goodbye.” Bai Ya sighed softly, she sheathed her dagger and cracked her knuckles.
The moment the threat from her neck was lifted, the Shadow Spider seized the opportunity to reveal a black armored limb and stabbed toward Bai Ya.
“Die!” The Shadow Spider twisted her face and screamed.
Bai Ya had anticipated the counterattack as soon as she put away her dagger. She quickly dropped down to dodge the strike. The sharp black armored limb grazed her spine, slicing through her armor, exposing skin marked by a bloody scratch.
“Almost dead, huh!” Bai Ya gritted her teeth, enduring the burning pain in her back. Before the black armored limb could retract, she clenched her fist tightly.
The Shadow Spider sneered, feeling overjoyed to see Bai Ya take a hit. But to her horror, a tiny fist suddenly grew larger in her vision.
The fist smashed into her nose. Though not hard, it was a solid blow that brought real pain. Fearful memories surged back into her mind, and the momentum controlling the black armored limb faltered. The razor-sharp weapon, like a black spear, halted just before piercing Bai Ya’s spine.
“That was a close call, huh? Good luckey,” Bai Ya said, sensing the lingering threat at her back. That faint coldness pressed against her skin—if it sank deeper, it would bring excruciating pain.
“Now then,” Bai Ya lowered her head, excited as she looked at the tearful Shadow Spider clutching her nose, “I’m going to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time!”
Bai Ya raised her fist again, high above, and slammed it hard onto the Shadow Spider’s face.
The Shadow Spider’s pupils constricted. Not yet free from her terrifying memories, she couldn’t dodge this blow. She shut her eyes in fearful anticipation of the pain.
“Don’t…”
The fist stopped less than a centimeter from the Shadow Spider’s face, but the fierce gust it generated still struck her cheek. This threat amplified her fear, pushing her mind to the brink of collapse.
Bai Ya held her fist steady, the excitement fading from her face, replaced by the serious expression of someone navigating galgame (dating sim) dialogue choices.
After a long silence, she finally spoke in a tone rarely heard from her—dead serious.
“To be honest, I really want to punch you.”
“You cured me of years of loli obsession. Now I actually know how I should feel about lolis. Sorry about that.”
“Twelve years old? A loli your age should have picture books, dolls, dresses, spending every day dolling up prettily, going out to act cute and roll around, making people have fantasies that start at three years and go all the way to death penalty*—so basically, a loli only needs to be cute, nothing else matters.”
“Why kill people… why can you bring yourself to do such horrible things? And why can you still smile? Is that your reason for living? If your answer is yes, then I will unhesitatingly reject it completely.”
“I think I’m starting to hate this whole slave girl setup.”
Feeling sympathy for the Shadow Spider’s plight, Bai Ya’s game mode wavered for the first time, on the verge of unlocking.
*“Starting at three years, up to death penalty” refers to crimes involving sexual acts with girls under fourteen years old. Ordinary cases receive a sentence between three and ten years in prison. Severe cases can lead to more than ten years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty. As nice as lolis are, one must not get carried away.