Chapter 12: “Heh… little guy, do you want to get in the way too?”

The thought had barely crossed her mind—Help… this time, it really seems like no one’s coming to save me—when Bai Linlin was yanked forward, stumbling the whole way.

Outside, the sky had turned completely dark. A few lonely streetlamps glowed in isolation.

They arrived in front of an old-looking annex building.

The sign on the door read “Hot Spring Inn · Storage Room.”

This appeared to be the back of the hot spring inn, a place for storing miscellaneous items.

Xi Ran produced a key and unlocked an inconspicuous small iron door. Inside was pitch blackness.

She shoved Bai Linlin forward.

“Ow!”

Bai Linlin landed hard on her backside, crashing onto the freezing concrete floor.

The pain nearly brought tears to her eyes.

But she couldn’t afford to focus on the pain right now.

Behind her, the door clicked shut with a decisive sound, cutting off the last traces of outside light and noise.

The storage room reeked of dust and mildew. Only a small high window let in a vague sliver of moonlight—barely enough to make out the approaching outline of Xi Ran.

It’s over. It’s really over.

This time she was actually going to be locked up and killed!

Xi Ran was definitely the type who would rather destroy what she couldn’t possess!

“What do I do? What do I do?!”

Bai Linlin scrambled backward on all fours until her back hit the cold metal shelving.

Xi Ran slowly approached and crouched down in front of her.

The moonlight happened to fall across the side of her face. Those pitch-black eyes stared straight into Bai Linlin’s—scrutinizing, confirming, something.

That gaze made one’s skin crawl, as though it could peel back the soul itself.

Then, without warning, Xi Ran’s face suddenly drew close.

A kiss landed.

Bai Linlin’s entire body locked up. Her mind went completely blank.

The touch on her lips was cool and soft.

What shocked her even more was that this body… felt absolutely no strangeness toward it.

No resistance, no surprise—not even the racing heartbeat felt like the thrill of first contact. It was the habitual tension of something routine.

As if such kisses were as ordinary as daily greetings.

That realization sent an icy chill straight to Bai Linlin’s core.

What exactly had been the twisted relationship between the original host and Xi Ran?

The kiss continued.

At first it was merely pressed together. Then Xi Ran began lightly nibbling her lower lip.

Bai Linlin endured passively, mind in utter chaos—thinking of escape routes, cursing Ruan Yuan’s unreliability, wondering if Jiang Jiaojiao might come looking…

But soon the kiss changed flavor.

It was no longer that seemingly gentle contact.

Xi Ran’s force suddenly intensified, as though she wanted to suck Bai Linlin’s lips into her own mouth.

Their teeth clacked together—painful.

Immediately after, a slick tongue forced its way past her teeth, invading deep, wantonly sweeping through her mouth.

“Mmph…!”

Bai Linlin let out a muffled, distressed whimper. She tried to turn her head away, but Xi Ran’s hand clamped firmly on the back of her skull, holding her in place.

This wasn’t a kiss anymore. It felt more like a possessive devouring.

The metallic taste of blood spread between their lips—whoever’s lip had been bitten open, it didn’t matter.

The air grew thin. Oxygen in her lungs was consumed at a frantic rate. Her vision began to darken.

Just as she thought she would pass out from suffocation, pure survival instinct exploded.

“Get off—!”

With every ounce of strength in her body, she shoved both hands against Xi Ran’s shoulders.

Xi Ran clearly hadn’t expected the sudden resistance. She rocked backward, grip loosening.

“Ha… ha—!”

Bai Linlin gasped desperately for air. Her mouth was filled with the rusty taste of blood; her lips burned like fire.

Xi Ran slowly wiped the back of her hand across her own mouth. In the moonlight, a dark smear was visible on her skin.

She looked at the panicked, breathless Bai Linlin. Her voice was gentle, yet carried a bone-chilling cold.

“Linlin is getting more and more disobedient… It seems I’ve been too gentle lately?”

No—she couldn’t just sit here and wait for death!

Bai Linlin’s mind raced at top speed.

Was there anything she could use?

A weapon? A tool?

Her gaze landed on the schoolbag that had been flung aside.

Right—the schoolbag!

Maybe the original host kept something in there?

Pepper spray?

Even a pen would do!

The desperate will to survive overpowered her terror of Xi Ran.

She scrambled—half crawling, half rolling—toward the bag and fumbled frantically at the zipper.

The zipper jammed halfway.

At that moment—

“Puff.” A fluffy, warm bundle burst out from the opening and landed lightly beside her leg.

Bai Linlin jumped in fright, then focused.

It was… a fox?

Very small—about the size of a kitten.

Covered in fluffy pink fur that stood out vividly even in the dim light.

It had round amber eyes, now tilted upward, quietly watching Bai Linlin.

She remembered—the character profile had mentioned it. The original host kept a pink fox pet named “A-Li”!

It had actually been hiding inside the schoolbag all this time?

But there was no time to be surprised!

Xi Ran had already stood up again. Her shadow fell over them.

Her hand reached out—aim not for the face, but for the buttons of Bai Linlin’s uniform blouse.

“It seems a more profound ‘memory’ is needed.”

Xi Ran’s voice was right beside her ear.

Bai Linlin felt her blood turn to ice. Her fingers clutched uselessly at the rough fabric of the schoolbag.

Just as Xi Ran’s fingertips were about to touch the collar—

“Wuuu—!!!”

A low, warning growl rang out abruptly.

It was the little pink fox, A-Li.

At some point it had positioned itself in front of Bai Linlin. The fur along its back bristled slightly; its small body tensed like a coiled spring. Facing the advancing Xi Ran, it bared its tiny sharp teeth and let out a continuous, threatening “wuu wuu” from its throat.

Xi Ran’s movement halted.

She lowered her head, looking at this sudden little creature that dared to block her path.

For the first time, a flicker of surprise appeared in her pitch-black eyes—only to be immediately replaced by an even deeper, colder frost.

“Heh… little one, you want to get in my way too?”