Snake and Rabbit (9)

"Congratulations host, you have completed the first mission! Please wait while the system calculates the next mission." The cold voice of System 097 pierced through Yin Mei's head, causing her to open her eyes.

It really was that easy? She couldn't help but look down, immediately regretting that decision. A wave of nausea immediately rushed up, the sword clattering on the ground as she dropped it, leaning to the side of vomit.

For a while, the only sound in the silent night was that of Yin Mei's retching.

"You did a good job." Suddenly, the demon king's dark and beautiful voice spoke out, and Yin Mei looked up. She didn't know when, but the demon king had knelt before her, on the other side of the corpse. The blood was soaking his expensive and gorgeous robe, but he didn't seem to care.

The moonlight shined down on him, and he had on the most beautiful smile. Yin Mei was shocked silly, and only felt that her appearance was dirty and shameful in front of him. His eyes were curved into crescent moons, and his red lips perked up. "You did a good job." He said again, patting Yin Mei's head.

"A good job?" She murmured. He nodded, still smiling peacefully. "That's right. I completed the mission. Doesn't that mean I did a good job?" She thought absentmindedly. She then smiled. "That's right! I did a good job." Even the demon king said it, so it had to be true. It had to be true.

The next morning, when Yin Mei woke up, she found that she didn't feel any different from usual. Walking out into the courtyard, it was spotlessly clean, as if there hadn't been a bloody corpse lying on the ground just last night. Even Yin Mei was doubting herself, but she looked at the ring in her hand. It wasn't a dream right? "I wonder what the next mission is?" She thought, closing her hand into a fist. "Killing the male lead was much easier than I thought."

She had been so sure that something would happen that would allow him to survive, but it ended up being very anticlimactic. He died without even being able to do anything.

Yin Mei seemed to stop in her tracks, spacing out. Only after a few moments did she start to move again, heading toward the demon king's room.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," Yin Mei said, this time remembering to knock before entering. The demon king was already up, sitting on a chair as he was looking at the dragon sword placed on the table in front of him. He looked slightly more dressed up than usual, his hair partially put up with a fancy gold and ruby hairpin. His red robe had an extravagant gold trim design, and the edges of his eyes were tinted with red eyeshadow. "Are you going out?" Yin Mei asked, tilting her head. She actually felt that this demon king was much more dazzling than when he was partially undressed, perhaps because it was rare to see him like this. Even so, he still exuded the same indolent and lazy beauty that he normally did, and if Yin Mei had to compare it to something, she felt that it was similar to rotting flowers.

She Ming didn't reply to Yin Mei, instead asking, "What're you here for?" His hand passed over the dragon sword, and with a flash, it disappeared into his storage ring.

Yin Mei didn't pay much attention to the change in topic. "It's this," she said, opening her hand to show him the ring inside. "I took it off of the Li Kingdom's ninth prince yesterday." She stared at the ring, again looking absentminded.

It wasn't until she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder that she snapped out of it, looking up to see the demon king's eyes right in front of her. The red eyeshadow made him look even more seductive, and up close, his skin looked especially smooth and free of imperfections.

When did he stand up and walk over to her? She wondered, but then recalled what she had been talking about. "It seems like a very good treasure."

The demon king took the ring from Yin Mei's hand, observing it. No matter how one looked at it, it only appeared ordinary. There wasn't really anything to indicate it being a special treasure. If one must say, then the black metal it was made out of looked pretty good, but that was it.

"How about try dropping blood on it?" Yin Mei suggested. She had no interest in taking the ring for herself. She only wanted to give the treasures to the demon king to make him stronger. "But the male lead already isn't here anymore, so what's the point?" She suddenly thought. That's right, giving treasures was initially to make him strong enough to take out the male lead. In the end, it had all been useless.

No, it's fine. The ring wasn't useful to Yin Mei's mission anyways. It was still better to give it to the demon king.

Yin Mei watched as the demon king pricked his finger with a small needle, letting a drop of ruby-like blood fall onto the ring. The ring absorbed it, seeming to glimmer momentarily before turning to normal.

The demon king seemed to think for a moment before putting the ring on his finger. He then took Yin Mei's hand, and with a flash, they both disappeared from the room.

The hidden guard captain: ... Your Majesty, why couldn't you have brought me with you?

Inside the ring, it was like another world. The flowing green meadows, dark forests, the bejeweled night sky with a colorful aurora made a breathtaking scene. Yin Mei's eyes sparkled, and she felt relaxed. She really liked looking at beautiful things, as it made her body and mind relax, seemingly to forget everything else.

Looking around, there was a small hut nearby. It looked very inviting and cozy, and when the two stepped through the door, the inside was much bigger than the outside. It had all the accommodations needed for a person to live there, but Yin Mei was more concerned about the library and the treasury. These two rooms were the ones that were the most important in this entire dimension.

Yin Mei explored the hut with the demon king, both of them remaining silent. Kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom. It was only when they reached the very end did they find the doors to the library and treasury. They stood side by side, contrasting with one another. The library door was made out of a gleaming heavy wood, the dark brown warm and shining, carved into the images of animals and plants that almost seemed alive and moving. On the right side, the treasury door was made of something that resembled fire gold, but was much more vibrant in color. It was crimson blood red and a shining gold, carved into the images of a dragon king and an undying phoenix.

"Let's go through the wooden door," the demon king said, speaking the first words since they had entered.

Yin Mei nodded, placing her hand on the smooth curves of the wooden door. It was warm to the touch, and Yin Mei felt that she could feel the life energy of all the plants and animals that were carved on it. She pushed it open, and they entered. Behind the door was a library in a sea of stars. The floor was the galaxy, the ceiling was the galaxy, and the walls was the galaxy. Aside from the books on the glass shelves, there were also books floating in little orbs around them.

It was super fantastical, beyond imagination.

Yin Mei's eyes were practically sparkling. She couldn't help but exclaim in wonder. She felt that maybe a xianxia world wasn't so bad, seeing that she could see such magical sights like this one. The demon king grabbed a scroll from the nearest bookshelf, opening it up to scan over the contents. "This is..." Yin Mei couldn't read his expression, only watching as he continued reading, before moving on and grabbing the next book and reading again. He was completely absorbed in it.

"It's a good thing that the time in this dimension is 30:1 in comparison to the outside world," Yin Mei thought. Or else by the time they left, maybe the female lead would have already ascended. Yin Mei then wondered, but, without the male lead protecting her, could she even safely ascend? It wouldn't be that she would have died off when they leave, right? She could only thank the gods that the time in this dimension was slowed to this point, or she really would be worried that the female lead would be dead by the time the demon king finally decided he wanted to leave.

Seeing as the demon king was absorbed in reading the books, Yin Mei also took down a book, grabbing a floating chair to sit on and read.

It looked to be an alchemy technique. Bai Yu only had average talents in alchemy, so reading this book was like trying to understand quantum physics when she only had a high school physics education. She could only put the book down and look for another one. Every technique was extremely profound, but that didn't mean they were impossible to understand or master. It was just whether or not you had the talent for it and if you were willing to work at it.

Yin Mei looked around until she found a technique that was more suitable for her to learn. She finally settled on one that would allow her to communicate with animals and plants.

Like this, the two of them continued reading for who knows how long, unable to tell the flow of time in this space. It was only after a long time that Yin Mei felt that they should go back out to check on matters.

The problem was the demon king, who was currently diligently cultivating and pondering on the technique he was currently studying.

Yin Mei didn't want to disturb him, but she also knew that they couldn't stay in here forever. Thinking that, she gathered up the courage to interrupt his cultivation. "Your Majesty, we can't stay here forever. We should go out to check on the others."

Although the demon king was initially upset for being disturbed, he agreed with what Yin Mei said. After all, he still needed the Nine Dragons Stove. With those thoughts, he grasped Yin Mei's hand, and with a flash, they had returned to the same spot they disappeared from.

It had already been six days since they had disappeared, meaning they had stayed in that space for almost half a year. The hidden guard captain was delighted. If the demon king disappeared just like that, the demon world would fall into chaos trying to choose a new king.

Yin Mei went off to demand some snacks from the chef uncle, while the demon king directly ordered the hidden guards to kill off the female lead.

"System, have you calculated the next mission yet?" Yin Mei asked as she slowed down her pace. The system had been with her in the space for half a year, yet hadn't mentioned a word about the next mission. It couldn't be that it had short-circuited and died right?

"The system is still calculating, please wait."

Yin Mei sighed in relief. At least 097 was still alive. As for the mission, she didn't mind if it took a little longer to issue, as she could then spend her time relaxing.

It was only a few days later that Yin Mei regret having such simple thoughts.

"Due to the death of the female lead, the main mission has been recalculated. Current mission: ascend and help the demon king take the dragon throne."

Yin Mei: ... Excuse me?