Tang Qiaoqiao had taken several days off and hadn’t gone to school. She also stopped replying to Long Ling’s messages and even started to feel irritated.

Why did Long Ling keep saying these things to her? Before, Long Ling kept insisting that Teacher Wen must have feelings for her, that the way he looked at her was different from how he looked at other girls. It made her so hopeful that she truly believed he liked her.

But now it turned out Wen Yuxian really had a girlfriend—and was even planning to propose!

How many times did she have to say this? Being the third party was absolutely unacceptable!

She hated mistresses. Back when she thought Jing Pei was an illegitimate child, she couldn’t stand her. If she hated that kind of situation, how could she ever become “the other woman” herself? Any legitimate child of an Atavist family would hate that role deeply—especially her. She loved her parents very much. If anyone dared to ruin their relationship, she really would want to kill them.

It was only because Long Ling’s background with Jing Pei was unclear that Tang Qiaoqiao accepted her as a friend. Otherwise, she would never have let her get close.

Heavy rain suddenly began to pour, breaking the suffocating heat of the day.

It was at that moment that Tang Qiaoqiao received another message from Long Ling.

“Again? What is it this time?” Tang Qiaoqiao muttered, annoyed. She glanced at her phone—and froze.

Long Ling sent a location along with a message:

Qiaoqiao, something happened to Teacher Wen. He needs help. Come quickly. Don’t tell anyone.

Tang Qiaoqiao jumped up from the bed and called her immediately. The call was picked up at once, with the sound of heavy rain crashing in the background.

“Qiaoqiao, it’s urgent. Come quickly!” Long Ling said.

“Wait—what happened? Tell me clearly! What happened to Teacher Wen?” Tang Qiaoqiao asked anxiously.

“I can’t explain now. Just hurry. And don’t tell anyone, or Teacher Wen will be done for.”

“Hey—”

The call cut off.

What was that supposed to mean? Tang Qiaoqiao’s mind fell into chaos. She looked outside at the rain, then back at her phone. Should she ask someone for help? But Long Ling warned her not to. What if telling others really made things worse?

…

The rain washed away Wen Yuxian’s scent in the air.

“It’s too dark. The scent’s gone. Searching blindly might alert him,” one of the trackers said.

“But there’s an upside. He won’t be able to smell us either.”

“Let’s wait out the rain first.”

They stopped searching and quickly took shelter in a cave.

The corpse of a black bear lay inside, used as a seat. They watched as Long Ling sent the message and made the call.

“She likes Wen Yuxian a lot. She won’t ignore this,” Long Ling said nervously.

She leaned against the cave wall, soaked and trembling. Her legs had been broken. The pain was unbearable, like shards of bone stabbing into flesh. Her nose was also broken. Being thrown aside like trash had left her dizzy and disoriented.

She had never been in such a miserable state in her life. It made her fully aware that these people were ruthless killers. Her life hung entirely in their hands.

The woman twirled a dagger and licked the blade with a grin.

“That Tang Qiaoqiao is your friend, right? You’re just sending her here to die?”

Long Ling gave a weak smile. “Everyone looks out for themselves. We’re not that close.”

If it weren’t for Tang Qiaoqiao, she wouldn’t be in this situation. If she had to go to hell, she would drag her along too.

“So you’d betray anyone,” the woman said, eyes glinting. “You might actually fit in with us.”

“Yes! I can be useful!” Long Ling said quickly. “I can do things you wouldn’t expect!”

“Then let’s see.” The woman turned on her phone camera and pointed it at Long Ling. “Introduce yourself. The real Long Ling. Whether the boss wants you or not depends on this.”

Long Ling hesitated for a moment, unused to exposing her true self.

But survival came first.

She forced herself to act like a job candidate and began speaking confidently, ignoring the pain.

She told them everything—her desire for the dragon pearl, how she manipulated people outside the academy with false kindness.

…

A black car sped through the heavy rain.

…

Inside the Bubble, the rain could not reach.

The small wooden house was simple but warm, wrapped with strings of lights that glowed softly in the dark like something from a fairytale.

“Don’t peek,” Wen Yuxian warned.

Zhang Simiao sat inside, her one large eye tightly shut, though it kept moving beneath her eyelid.

Her claws fidgeted on the ground, barely containing her excitement.

“It’s not ready yet,” Wen Yuxian said.

“Wuu~”

“Just a little longer.”

“Grrr!”

“Almost.”

He quickly set up the table—food, flowers, cake.

And the candles.

The ring stayed in his pocket.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

Then he called out, “Okay, you can come out now.”

The door flew open.

Zhang Simiao rushed out and stopped right in front of the table, struggling not to grab all the food at once.

“Look behind you,” he said.

Her eye lit up at the glowing house, then quickly returned to the table.

“Happy birthday…” Wen Yuxian sang softly. “Make a wish—well, you don’t need to. It’s already obvious.”

She let out a low growl, like scolding him.

“Alright, alright. You must be starving. Eat first.”

【Yay!】

She carefully used a fork to eat, stopping her other hands from grabbing food.

This was her last line she refused to cross—she would not lose herself completely.

Wen Yuxian watched her, then slowly took out the ring.

“Miaomiao…”

She turned and froze.

“I’ve wanted to propose for a long time. You said you wanted to wait until thirty. I’ve been waiting for this day. Will you marry me?”

Tears filled his eyes.

She stared down at him.

Tears fell from her eye.

She saw her reflection in his eyes—a monster.

An existence that shouldn’t exist.

But for a moment, it felt like that shell disappeared, and she saw herself as a woman again.

If only it were true.

…

Meanwhile, Tang Qiaoqiao stumbled through the mountain in the rain, calling out:

“Long Ling! Teacher Wen!”

Her voice was lost in the storm.

She slipped again and fell—

Half her body vanished.

Without realizing it, she had stepped into the hidden Bubble.

And when she looked up—

What she saw felt like the most terrifying scene of her life.

---

Newly Identified Terms:

• 黑熊洞 → Black Bear CaveTang Qiaoqiao had taken several days off and still hadn’t gone back to school. She also ignored the messages Long Ling sent her, and was even starting to feel annoyed.

Why did Long Ling keep saying these things to her? Earlier it had also been Long Ling who kept saying Teacher Wen must have feelings for her, that the way he looked at her was different from how he looked at other girls. It made her full of hope, to the point that she truly believed Teacher Wen liked her.

But now Wen Yuxian really did have a girlfriend, and things had already reached the point of a marriage proposal!

How many times did she have to say it? Being the third party was absolutely impossible!

She hated mistresses. Back when she thought Jing Pei was an illegitimate daughter, she had hated her to death. Since she hated mistresses, of course she also hated third parties. How could she possibly become one herself? Any legitimate child in an Atavist family would hate a third party to death, okay? She especially loved her parents. If anyone dared destroy their relationship, she really would kill.

It was only because Long Ling and Jing Pei’s situation was complicated and neither could really be called an illegitimate child, otherwise she never would have let Long Ling get close enough to become her friend.

The sky opened and heavy rain poured down. The air that had been stifling all day finally seemed to crack open.

It was at that moment that Tang Qiaoqiao received Long Ling’s message.

“Again? What is she going to say this time?” Tang Qiaoqiao said irritably as she picked up her phone and glanced at it. Then she froze.

Long Ling had sent a location and wrote: Qiaoqiao, something happened to Teacher Wen. He needs help. Hurry over. Don’t tell anyone else.

Tang Qiaoqiao sprang upright on the bed and called Long Ling back. The call was picked up quickly. Through the loud blur of heavy rain on the other end, she heard Long Ling say, “Qiaoqiao, it’s urgent. Hurry over!”

“Wait, explain clearly first! What happened? What happened to Teacher Wen?” Tang Qiaoqiao asked anxiously.

“I can’t explain right now. Just hurry. And don’t tell anyone, or Teacher Wen will be finished.”

“Hey—”

Before Tang Qiaoqiao could ask more, Long Ling had already hung up.

What was that supposed to mean? Tang Qiaoqiao’s mind was in complete chaos. She looked at the weather outside, then at her phone. She wanted to ask someone for help, but then she remembered Long Ling saying she couldn’t tell anyone else. What if telling someone really did make things worse for Teacher Wen?

…

The sudden downpour washed Wen Yuxian’s scent from the air.

“It’s pitch black and his scent is gone. If we search rashly, we might alert him and let him get away.”

“It’s not all bad. If we can’t smell Wen Yuxian, Wen Yuxian can’t smell us either.”

“Anyway, let’s find a place to shelter from the rain first.”

They paused the search and quickly took refuge in a black bear’s cave.

The black bear’s corpse was being used as a sofa. The group watched as Long Ling sent Tang Qiaoqiao the message and made the call.

“She likes Wen Yuxian very much. Once she hears something happened to him, she definitely won’t sit by and do nothing,” Long Ling said nervously.

She was soaked through and leaning against the cave wall in a miserable state. Her forcibly broken legs hurt so badly that it felt as if shattered bone were digging into flesh. Her broken nose felt just as bad. The man who had been carrying her had casually thrown her over there like trash, making stars burst in her vision.

She had never looked this pathetic in her life. Everything about the situation reminded her that these four people were vicious killers. Her life was hanging in their hands.

“That Tang Qiaoqiao is your friend, right? And you’re just luring her here to die?” The woman played with a dagger, licked its sharp edge, and looked at her with a strange smile. “So this is the ‘only conscience among the Atavist families’?”

Most people from Atavist families were arrogant. Even the duds carried themselves as if they were above others. Because of that, some online commenters had called Long Ling “the only conscience among the Atavist families.”

Long Ling gave a dry laugh. “Everyone looks out for themselves. We’re not close friends anyway.”

If not for Tang Qiaoqiao, how could she have suffered like this? So even if she was going to hell, she would drag Tang Qiaoqiao down with her!

“But no matter who it is, you’d sell them out, wouldn’t you?” A sharp glint flashed in the woman’s eyes. “Still, with your kind of talent, you really would fit in with us.”

“Yes, I’d be very useful! The things I can do for you will absolutely exceed your expectations!” Long Ling said at once, eager to fight for her life. As long as she stayed alive first, nothing else mattered.

“Then come apply.” The woman picked up Long Ling’s phone, turned on the video recording function, and pointed it at her. “How about a self-introduction first? A self-introduction from the ‘real Long Ling.’ As for whether you’ll be accepted, that depends on the boss.”

Long Ling stiffened slightly. She was used to pretending. Peeling away her own mask like this felt unnatural to her.

But right now, the only thing that mattered was surviving like a person. Everything else was irrelevant. So she quickly cast aside that discomfort and, like a true applicant, endured the pain and gave a confident self-introduction to the camera.

She knew these villains liked hearing the wicked side of people, and that pretending to be kind was useless with them. So she started with how she coveted Long Jin’s dragon pearl, and how she offered false help to the desperate people outside the Twelve Zodiac Academy in order to gain things from them, and went on from there.

…

A black car sped through the rainstorm.

…

The rain soaked the world outside, but the little Bubble was untouched.

The roughly built wooden cabin was crude but spacious. Still, it had all kinds of solar-powered lights installed. Tiny bulbs were wrapped around the whole cabin, and in the pitch-dark night they glowed gold, beautiful as a fairy tale.

“Don’t peek,” Wen Yuxian warned.

Zhang Simiao was crouching inside the cabin with her one large eye closed. But her curiosity clearly made her want to peek, and her eyeball rolled around under the lid until his warning made her stay still.

Her big clawed toes scratched the floor. Her fingers scratched too. She was holding herself back while waiting for her boyfriend’s surprise.

“Aoo~” A sound unlike any human voice came from her throat, like a spoiled complaint.

“Not ready yet.”

“Wuu~”

“Wait a little longer.”

“Hou hou hou!”

“Almost done.”

Wen Yuxian quickly arranged the food, flowers, and cake on the long table outside the cabin. Oh right, and the candles!

The ring absolutely couldn’t be hidden in the food. It would be awful if Miaomiao swallowed it in one bite. It was safer to keep it in his pocket and take it out directly later.

Damn, he was a little nervous. She wouldn’t reject him, right? No reason she would, right? If she wasn’t going to marry him, then who else would she marry? Wait, was that way of thinking too confident? What if he got too happy and things went wrong?

Wen Yuxian took a deep breath and tried to keep his heart from pounding so fast.

The candle flames flickered. Wind from another dimension blew in through the Bubble’s entrance, carrying a trace of dampness. Some rainwater even flowed in and wet that small patch of ground. It looked like the rain outside was really heavy.

Another day, he would have to install a door on the inside. That way, if it snowed in winter, the inside wouldn’t be invaded by the cold. Miaomiao was afraid of the cold. And now he couldn’t even hold her close anymore, couldn’t block the wind and snow for her, couldn’t give her enough body warmth to keep her warm.

……

The black car stopped at the foot of the mountain.

The person in the driver’s seat took a preserved plum from their pocket and popped it into their mouth.

It was Jing Pei.

On the other side of the mountain, another black car was parked, bearing a rabbit-shaped emblem—the crest of the Tang family.

Resting both hands on the steering wheel, Jing Pei turned to look at the dark mountain. The rain covered every smell and every sound. No one knew what was happening inside.

This experiment had gone on long enough. The first result should be about to come out.

She opened her phone and looked at the tracking page. A green dot was moving across it. Tang Qiaoqiao was a fool who dropped all guard around people she knew. She never even noticed when Jing Pei had touched her phone and installed a tracker.

At this point, although Jing Pei had interfered and changed part of the plotline, that rebellious child of a story still twisted its way back toward fate.

In the original story, Long Ling and Tang Qiaoqiao had followed Wen Yuxian to that villa district. Tang Qiaoqiao was caught off guard by the intimate scene between Wen Yuxian and Zhang Simiao, suffered too heavy a shock, and drew all of Wen Yuxian’s attention. Long Ling used the chance to escape and brought back the people who killed him.

And now, although Tang Qiaoqiao had clearly not gone with Long Ling to follow him, she had still been lured here by Long Ling in the end, appearing on this mountain all the same. And the people who would kill Wen Yuxian had still been brought here by Long Ling.

Tonight was the day Wen Yuxian died in the original story.

It was also the day this couple’s story ended.

Jing Pei already had some sense of just how strong the pull of the main plot was on people tied to it. But was it really impossible to change?

She exited the tracking page, opened her contact list, and started making calls.

……

Tang Qiaoqiao wore a raincoat and held a flashlight as she climbed the dark mountain, shouting, “Long Ling! Teacher Wen!”

The rain swallowed her voice so it couldn’t carry far.

She lowered her head and looked at her phone inside a clear plastic bag. When she reached the foot of the mountain, she had called Long Ling once more to confirm the place. Long Ling had only urged her anxiously to hurry up the mountain, saying Wen Yuxian was about to die.

How could that be okay?!

Even if she had decided not to keep chasing him, she still liked him. There was no way she could just watch him die.

But the mountain was huge and the rain was heavy. After she came up, Long Ling stopped answering calls. She stumbled around in confusion like a headless fly.

“Long Ling! Teacher Wen! Can anyone hear me?”

……

Inside the cave.

“I can hear her voice,” said the man tracking Wen Yuxian’s scent.

“Let her keep looking. Isn’t she Wen Yuxian’s student? She might draw him out. We only need to wait.”

……

The Wu family of the Black Tortoise family.

The Wu family’s old residence stood on Turtle Island, a lake island shaped like a turtle’s shell. The heavy rain had raised the lake level, and the air was damp everywhere.

But this kind of weather was the favorite weather of the Wu family’s Atavists.

Wu Ying was swimming lazily in the lake. When she returned to shore, she saw Jiang Qing standing in the pavilion by the lake, talking on the phone. The nineteen-year-old stood tall and straight, neatly dressed, with an unfamiliar expression on his face.

But with rain that heavy, it was too loud. Even an Atavist’s hearing was affected.

“Who are you talking to?” Wu Ying frowned. “What’s with that expression? What are you doing behind my back?”

Jiang Qing immediately ended the call. “Nothing. It’s student union business.”

“It better be,” Wu Ying warned. She wore a swimsuit, well developed with a hot figure. Jiang Qing’s gaze swept across her chest, then he shook open a large bath towel and wrapped it around her. “Don’t catch cold.”

“Would I be afraid of catching cold? You should worry about yourself.” Wu Ying tossed the towel straight onto his head and swaggered forward.

There were servants nearby. Jiang Qing’s eyes darkened slightly. He hurried after her and draped the towel back over her shoulders. “Even if the chance is small, it’s better to be safe, Sister.”

“You’re seriously annoying,” Wu Ying said, though she didn’t take the towel off again because she was too lazy to argue over something so small.

The two walked side by side when Jiang Qing suddenly asked, “Sister, isn’t your shell with you?”

Wu Ying answered casually, “I lent it to someone.”

“You lent it to someone? To who? Something that important—how can you lend it out so casually?”

“What’s it to you? My stuff, I’ll lend it to whoever I want.” Wu Ying immediately raised her brows and replied unhappily.

Jiang Qing softened his tone at once. “I was just worried about you. Don’t be mad, Sister.”

“It better be that. Don’t boss me around. I don’t like it.” After a while, seeing him looking like a drenched puppy with his head lowered, she said irritably, “Fine. Stop making that face. I lent it to Long Jin. She’ll return it in a few days.”

A Black Tortoise’s shell was extremely important and was never loaned out lightly. But Wu Ying admired Jing Pei quite a bit. The two of them chatted on the phone from time to time, and Jing Pei had offered something sincere in exchange, so Wu Ying lent it to her. Besides, if it wasn’t returned on time, Wu Ying could summon it back at any moment. She wasn’t afraid it would be stolen.

If anything, Jing Pei was the one who should worry that Wu Ying wouldn’t return her item on time.

……

Qiu Fa stood on the steps outside the Tribunal Division and looked at the flooded street.

If he stepped down, the water would probably be ten centimeters deep. If this rain kept up till the next day, cars on the street would probably start floating.

He stood there expressionless, a cigar hanging from his mouth, looking every bit the tough, cool guy, while testing the edge with his foot like he wanted to step into the water.

His assistant said, “Director, do you want to play in the water?”

Unlike other cats, tigers really did love water.

“But if those leather shoes get wet, you can’t wear them anymore, right?” the assistant added. “This month’s salary hasn’t even been paid yet. If this keeps up, you’re going to have to live by fishing. Bluefin tuna is pretty good. The ones you ate in the sea last time could have sold for over a hundred million.”

Sorry, but there was just a bit too much disappointment in his tone. He still hadn’t recovered from learning that the Director had swum back to Yunjin Prefecture while casually feasting on all-you-can-eat bluefin tuna in the ocean. Heaven knew how strong the shock had been when he first found out.

For a moment he didn’t even know whether to call the Director poor or extravagant. Did he know the highest recent auction price for bluefin tuna was thirty million? How many had he just eaten whole? Why didn’t he drag even one back to sell? Then maybe he wouldn’t still be hung up on that ten million.

How could he be such an idiot about making money?

At this rate, he might stay powerful and high-ranking forever while still having no money.

Qiu Fa seemed completely unaware of his assistant’s bitter disappointment and merely moved the tip of his shoe back a little.

At that moment, Qiu Fa’s phone rang.

……

“Alright, you can come out now,” Wen Yuxian’s voice drifted into the cabin.

The next second the cabin door flew open, and Zhang Simiao rushed out like a whirlwind. Then she slammed to a stop in front of the table, suppressing the urge to swallow all the food on it in one bite. That one huge eye looked at Wen Yuxian with expectation.

“Look behind you.”

Zhang Simiao looked at the sparkling cabin, and her eye immediately lit up, bright and shining. Then her gaze slid back to the dining table, and she looked at Wen Yuxian expectantly again.

“Ahem. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…” Wen Yuxian began singing the birthday song. He should’ve known Miaomiao wouldn’t be able to wait. “Quick, make a wish. Oh, never mind. Anyway, it’s definitely to stay with me forever.”

If Zhang Simiao were still in human form, she would already be glaring at him and knocking him on the head. But now she was a Mutant, a monster, so all she could do was open her mouth and roar at him.

“Alright, alright. You must be starving. Hurry and eat. It’s your favorite mango cake.”

【Yay!】

She picked up the fork with one hand, while also having to stop the other four arms from sneaking out to grab the other food and stuff it into her mouth. For a monster, it would have been much easier to just pick up the cake and swallow it whole. But this was one of the lines she insisted on holding. Just like how she refused to eat raw meat, she couldn’t let even her behavior become completely unlike a human’s.

It would make him suffer even more.

Wen Yuxian watched her happily eating cake, took a deep breath, and pulled the ring out of his pocket.

“Miaomiao.”

Zhang Simiao turned to look and froze.

“Miaomiao, I wanted to propose to you a long time ago, but you said you wanted to wait until you were thirty, so I endured and waited until now. I’ve waited a very long time for this day. Will you marry me?”

He had indeed waited a very long time for this day. So long that tears were already in his eyes, making him look like a crybaby.

Zhang Simiao stared blankly down at him. Then huge tears also rolled from that one eye. She saw herself reflected in his eyes—what kind of ugly monster was this? Like something that should never have existed in this world at all.

But very quickly, it was as if the monster’s shell disappeared, and standing before him was a tall woman with beautiful features and a touch of sharp spirit.

If only… if only that were really true.

……

Tang Qiaoqiao no longer even knew where she had wandered. The rain made it hard to see the path, and even as an Atavist, she still tripped over vines and stepped on slippery ground from time to time, stumbling badly all the way.

Without realizing it, she wandered into a bamboo grove and saw a waterfall with rushing water. Her flashlight swept around, but found nothing.

Was Long Ling messing with her? But no way, right? She wouldn’t joke about Teacher Wen like this, would she? Something felt very wrong. It made her uneasy. Maybe she should ask someone for help…

Tang Qiaoqiao was distracted by these thoughts when her foot slipped again. Her whole body pitched forward, and half of her body disappeared.

That strange visual effect, as if she had been cut in half, was actually because half of her body had stepped into another time-space—the little Bubble hidden nearby.

So when she lifted her head in confusion and saw that scene, it felt like the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her life.