A few weeks ago, I had a fight with a messenger from the underworld. It all started because of Tang Xiaohua—the underworld messengers wanted to teach her a lesson. The outcome was that the defeated messenger cimed Tang Xiaohua had broken the rules of the underworld by altering human lives and warned that if she interfered with underworld matters again, there would be severe consequences.

  But at that time, I didn′t know what had actually happened. In the recent period, I had gotten addicted to a game called "Yaokai Hunter" and spent my days in front of the computer, lost in it and neglecting my watch over Tang Xiaohua. The night after my battle with the underworld messenger, I dragged Tang Xiaohua into the bathroom at home—the one with the best soundproofing—and interrogated her.

  Even at seventeen, she still seemed like a complete little kid in my eyes. The mirror in the bathroom reflected us, standing face to face like oil and water. Tang Xiaohua wore an ugly, outdated mid-length coat, and her face was partially obscured by her short, limp hair. Her complexion looked a bit pale, and the light above us shone through her smooth skin, giving her a faintly translucent quality.

  "Come clean: what trouble did you cause while I wasn’t around?" My expression was colder than marble.

  Tang Xiaohua hesitated, gncing at me briefly before quickly shifting her gaze away, saying nothing.

  "Speak!" I felt less like a guardian spirit and more like an enforcer collecting protection money.

  "Well... I..." Her dark eyes darted behind her gsses, avoiding mine.

  "You never lie." I softened my tone. Interrogation requires skill; a mix of soft and hard tactics.

  "Alright, alright, I'll tell you." She sniffed, then raised her head to look at my forehead. She lifted a finger and drew a line on it, then, with a half-excited, half-troubled tone, said, "I saw something new on their foreheads."

  "What do you mean?" I instinctively touched my forehead.

  "Your phone, your phone, take out your phone!" She rummaged through my pockets, pulled out my new phone, and pointed to the battery indicator on the screen. "It's this! Everyone has a simir mark on their forehead."

  I froze for a moment. "You're saying you can see a battery indicator on people's heads?"

  "Yes." She nodded. "Some people have high battery levels, some have low. Older people all show low battery. But a lot of younger people also have low battery."

  I thought for a second. As sharp as I am, I probably understood what was happening. To put it simply, this little girl could now see people's life energy, like a battery.

  But how did this connect to the furious Underworld messengers?

  "When did you discover this new ability?" I asked her. Tang Xiaohua shook her head.

  "Don't remember or just not willing to say?" I continued to press, gripping her shoulder—getting involved with the Underworld was no small matter. She shrank back, resisting me to the end.

  Tang Xiaohua's biggest characteristic was that she never lied. As she got older, she had learned to be silent at times, but she would never tell a lie.

  Knowing her temperament well, I released my grip and started going through the events of the past few months in my mind, picking apart every small detail. In the end, my focus nded on the week before my battle with the Underworld messengers.

  There was one day each year when I would leave Tang Xiaohua for 24 hours and go to the deep mountains outside the city to absorb the spiritual dew that formed during the transition between day and night—this phenomenon only happened once a year. That was the downside of being a fox: I always had to rely on external sources of energy to sustain myself. Fortunately, absorbing the spiritual dew could keep me nourished for the whole year. My agreement with her was that during the 24 hours I wasn't around, she couldn't leave the house.

  I recalled the morning I returned from the mountains. Tang Xiaohua sat at the breakfast table, her face tired, munching on a bun that seemed like it would never end, while her parents sighed endlessly beside her.

  I had long since gotten used to the way she interacted with her parents, but I couldn't get used to her ignoring me. In front of her parents, she was as obedient and quiet as a calm rabbit. She had none of the rebelliousness typical of her age group. She liked her parents, respected them, and followed all their arrangements but always maintained a subtle distance.

  But when she was with me, it was different. Although she was still like a rabbit, she was definitely not a quiet one. She was a clingy, hopping rabbit. Even when there were outsiders around, when she had to pretend not to see me, her eyes always followed me with a sparkle that only I could see.

  This obvious intimacy that set her apart from others became more pronounced as she grew older.

  And this morning, even my presence couldn't light up her eyes. The key to the whole situation must have happened the day I went to the mountains.

  "The day I went to the mountains, you broke our promise, didn't you?" I couldn't waste any more time and grabbed her wrist.

  "Ouch..." Tang Xiaohua's face changed, and she cried out.

  I have always been careful with my strength; this force won't hurt her. Unless...

  I swiftly rolled up her sleeve, revealing a clear mark on her fair wrist. The shape resembled a petal, twisted at an eerie angle, making me think of a pair of lips that were about to speak but held back. The strangest part was that through this mark, I could see the pattern on the floor—the mark had made part of her flesh disappear.

  My heart was no longer uneasy but filled with a sense of danger."Tang Xiaohua, I give you two choices." I lifted her chin, waving two fingers in front of her eyes. "First, tell me the truth. Second, starting tomorrow, I will disappear from your life forever. You know I keep my word."

  I admit I'm at a loss. I don't have the ability to peer into others' pasts.

  "You..." She blinked in panic; her life without me was something she had never imagined.

  I knew it wasn't right to threaten a young girl using her soft spot, but compared to letting her die in confusion, I was willing to py the vilin.

  "I..." She sniffled, her head hanging down like a sinner from ancient times. "I lied to someone..."