Me, a Human Cauldron? (1)

For a long time, I couldn't comprehend it much. I had lost sense and time. It was like my brain had just turned off. Flickered and died, like a lightbulb. I was one bloody hell, useless girl. Voices of my own floated in and out inside my head.

Oh, God. How was I supposed to put this?

The so-called backhand kiss protection? That bratty familiar bodyguard? Bullshit. Indignation surged through me. I felt almost breathless with shock. I knew what I was facing. I thought I knew.

Danger. And a pretty troublesome one at that.

Questions were left unanswered looming around my head. What they wanted with me and where they were taking me? At some point, I remembered being taken to... an underground lair, I supposed. I couldn't help feeling frightened. I breathed the familiar yet discomfort scent of damp earth. The smell of discarded trash, unflavored by some kind of magic spells.

I should have never accepted the screenwriter job. In fact, I should have never listened to Jie Moshu in the first place.

That handsome bastard! Looked at what his plan had caused me! Well, it appeared I didn't need to wait until the remaining five petals withered and fell. Now was already the death of me.

Something wet dripped on my cheeks. It was a steady drip-drip-drip, snapping me back to reality. I opened my eyes. Both of my right and left hands were pinned to the walls, bounded with ropes. A groan of pain escaped my numb, cold, chapped lips. My brain had made my stomach clenched with nerves as though I was about to vomit out of pain. As I looked around with narrowed eyes, Si Ming's face, Huashe's face came to view.

My throat went dry. Huashe had been there as well, lying where he was, staying motionless. I saw those marionettes with Si Ming lead, they swarmed over Huashe like they were ant soldiers. Huashe screamed in agony, clutching his stomach, blood spurting between his fingers. The struggles built inside him, swelling me like an avalanche. I wailed and wailed, as if my heart were being torn out of my chest, filling me with despair.

"Stop! Stop!" I shouted although I didn't think they will do as I told. But I still shouted anyway.

"Well-well. It's about time you woke up, Liu Huayu," I heard Li Ruman's voice saying.

I could feel more energy was pushed into me, slammed into my mind like a sledgehammer. My head spun, my stomach twisting as my vision blurred. Still, I tried my best to stay awake. I gritted my teeth against the pain. Panic flooded my system. "Stop—"

"Ah, ah, ah." Her voice was hushing me. "No fighting back. It'll end soon."

Did it matter? I was in pain, for God's sake.

In less than a minute, the torment ended. As if the magic circling me vanished. One moment the magic wave saturated my whole world, throbbing me with pain as sharp as a knife, and the next it disappeared without warning, snuffing out any lingering ache on my whole body. It might have been my imagination, but it was rather realistic to picture. I shook my head. My brain mentally kick-started my senses back alive. I struggled to focus and found myself face-to-face with that fake Li Ruman.

She was there sitting in a chair with no other people.

Not a single human from her marionettes. No Si Ming. Not even a trace of Huashe as well. Only her, alone.

"What was that? Where's Huashe?" My head throbbed combined with all this rumination, I was having trouble focusing on her.

"Oh, rest assured. Your familiar is in good hands," she smiled at me. "And what you saw just now is called enchantment magic. In other words, a possible scenario. It only played the scene we wanted you to see. You can say that I'm simply threatening you."

The images of Huashe tortured were thudding through my head like photographs—screaming and more screaming—but I couldn't contemplate the risk of putting both me and Huashe in danger. So, instead, I was fighting for my life and had to use everything at my disposal. My woman instincts told me to provoke her, perhaps she might reveal something her words would not. But before that, I should stop thinking.

Bratty mode on.

I scoffed. "Threat? I don't see Huashe in person. How can I know you're just playing tricks in my head?"

"Ah. Smart as I expected. I knew you'd ask. Let me take you for a walk," she leaned forward, whispered against my ear. "You'll love the scenery."

In a flash of speed, I had felt she slashed both of my sides, releasing me. My knees buckled, and I hit the floor. I groaned and clutched my head in my hands. Pain stabbed my skull like stinging arrows, but I took a deep breath, and made myself forget about it, made myself take a good look at this Li Ruman.

Oh my god, what did I just taint my eyes for? For a second, I froze. My mind went blank, and all I could do was stare at her, which I tried not to. Maybe it was my imagination, but my eyes moved incredulously. She was wearing her same red mini dress, looking as slutty as ever. Hang on, was that—what were those fluffy things fanned behind her shoulders? I rubbed my eyes. But it didn't make the slightest changes in my sight. They looked like wagging tails, all muscled and powerful in those lilac-colored furs.

"What are you, a human or an animal—" That was all got out before I clamped my mouth to keep myself from spouting nonsense.

"Who me?" she said with perfect innocence, a smile curled on her crimson lips. Her blue eyes glowed with silver sparks. She seemed bemused by my halted question. "I'm both, a meld between them. A fox fairy, if you wanted me to tell."

Huh. Let me count them. 1... 2... 9. Nine-tailed fox. A slutty celebrity. Well, that practically made sense.

"Now, get on your feet," she said. "We have a show to carry on."

The fox fairy grabbed my arms. I was barely standing, practically limped along as she dragged me deeper into the tunnel. Every footstep sent me a twinge of pain to my brain. The sudden motion and awful smell made me sick. I took a deep breath, tried my best not to vomit. Focus! Focus! You're on a bratty mode, no damsel in distress! I had to be sharp and strong. That was the only way I could get out of this mess.

I forced my mind to focus on my surroundings. It seemed that we were so far underground, we would never see the sun again. The smell had me guessing that we were walking on old sewage. A long, winding tunnel gave away to endless darkness. As we strolled, the passageway was even colder as if it was winter, given that the ground was frozen solid. What caught my attention was the place was covered in ice—almost everything, from the floor to the rough walls overhead. My ragged breath frosted in the air.

Finally when we reached a stop. Considering how deep we were in the underground, the room had a dome-shaped ceiling, made out of the same dark gray stone as the rest I saw so far. Foxes statues had been carved into the stone hovering above us. The sight of glaring foxes made my stomach twisted. Like a reminder that I would have to face another danger. I shivered and looked away. What the hell was she up to?

I saw an unreasonably large stone chair in the middle of the domed room. A wooden desk squatted right beside it. My gaze moved to the tools lying neatly there: cuffs, whip, spiked baton, chainsaws, plastic tubes... (What on earth did plastic tube had to do with this?). Not even my wildest dream, this was the exact definition of a torture room!

I stared at the chair and desk, feeling a nasty chill.

Shit. What the hell—did she actually want to kill me alive?

I was trying to stay composed, even as everything came crashing down inside me. But when suddenly I turned to the corner, my eyes widened in a freaked-out way. A glimpse of a plump muscled mane of light-blonde hair chained up to the wall, hanging hopelessly. I would recognize that twig-like horns anyway—Huashe.

I limped my way to where Huashe was hung, stumbled on my knees the moment I reached beside him. On a closer, I could how awful these people had thrashed him. Bloody, his outfits torn, his eyes were already swollen over, he sagged off the walls. I would have guessed he was dead, blamed myself for it, except he was staring straight at me. Although his eyes were hazy and unfocused, I saw his resistance.

I was about to burst into tears, but I held them back. My throat was aching from it. I wanted to ask what had happened, what they had done to him. I wanted so badly to tell him how grateful I was that he was still alive.

"S'ssstinky... human," he suddenly croaked out, succeeded in catching my focus. "I'm... not dead yet."

I forced myself to give him a reassuring smile, despite dwelling on it too much. It wouldn't do me any good either. My hands squeezed into fists on their own.

Worry washed over me. Huashe was an excellent fighter, a mythical beast, I knew that when we had our fight with that octopus lady. If this fox fairy could get the drop on him, that meant she was something above a thousand years demon—or worse.

"Liu Huayu," she said, flicking the tip of his tail rhythmically as she called me. "See that? I have concocted that specifically for you."

I glared at that fairy fox. My hands clenched into tight fists, trying to hide my anger, sorrow, and all other emotions surging through me.

"Save that. What do you want?" I demanded, my voice was barely-contained violence.

"Simple. What I've always wanted—your brain, every piece of you," again she smiled, zipping chills down my spine. "Now prepare yourself, my human cauldron."

My breath caught. She had said what? I was her what? Damn it!

"You're crazy!" I shouted, but fear made my words sound like a panicky growl. "Let us out of here! Release us!"

That fairy fox laughed as she took slow deliberate steps, her heels click-click-clacking on the iced-over floor. I took a deep breath and braced myself for whatever came next. We both knew I didn't have a chance of escaping here. None.

A human cauldron? What a terrific way to die!