Chapter 14: Hu Li

In the chaotic night, amidst the ruins of a broken temple, a silver-haired girl with fox tails squatted among the shattered bricks and rotten tiles, her mouth stuffed with rotting cabbage leaves dug out of a trash bag, while Yu Sheng, who had died three times, stood behind a broken wall, staring dumbfounded at the opposite side.

They faced each other silently across the night; for a first meeting (the headbutt before didn't count), this scene was something Yu Sheng would likely never forget in his life.

Then, he saw the fox-tailed girl slowly widen her eyes, a huge shock and joy—perhaps mixed with some disbelief—gradually filling her golden-red pupils; she finally stood up, still clutching a handful of cabbage leaves, and then as if suddenly waking up, she raised her finger pointing at Yu Sheng, making a choking sound in her throat: "Human!? Ah, human! You are a human?! You... who are you? Where are you from..."

Yu Sheng had already prepared his opening lines on his side, including how to introduce himself, how to ask this Miss about the situation, and how to express his broad-mindedness in not minding the previous "favor" of that headbutt, but the moment she spoke, he was stunned, forgetting most of the words he had thought of, feeling only that her reaction seemed quite different from what he had expected.

What did "You are a human" mean? Was being a human such a huge shock to her? Had she never seen a human before, or had it been too long since she saw one? And more importantly...

Whether it was an illusion or a misunderstanding, Yu Sheng always felt her reaction was as if she were seeing him for the first time, but clearly, this Miss had already seen him when he was fighting that monster before—of course, the way they met then might have been quite unique; after this Miss headbutted him, Yu Sheng's overall silhouette should have been quite different from now, but putting that aside, at least his face shouldn't have changed much before and after...

Even if this Miss didn't carefully inspect the crime scene after the collision, she should at least have some impression of the soul under her head, rather than acting like this, as if seeing the "stranger" before her for the first time.

"We... have met once," Yu Sheng held back for two or three seconds, finally unable to hold back and spoke, "Just now, in the open ground outside, you said you came to save me... forgot?"

The fox Miss on the opposite side tilted her head, seeming truly not to know what Yu Sheng was talking about, but soon her attention shifted elsewhere; she pointed at the bag of kitchen trash on the ground, her eyes seeming to glow in the night: "This is, your, thing?"

When she spoke, there was a strange pause, as if she had not communicated with people for too long, so that every word had to be rethought and recalled before she could say it.

Yu Sheng's tone was strange: "Uh, yes..."

"Can I, eat it?" the fox Miss said quickly, still speaking with a slight stutter; immediately she squeezed the cabbage leaves in her hand tightly, as if using immense willpower to resist the impulse to stuff this thing directly into her mouth; her mouth moved, chewing the thing she had just put in, then she looked at Yu Sheng again and asked quickly, "I, hungry, I want to eat, sorry..."

Her hands trembled slightly, her tone urgent, yet she kept restraining herself with willpower, as if what she had to restrain with willpower was not just her appetite, but something more dangerous than appetite... something already on the verge of losing control.

Yu Sheng was dazed for a moment, feeling as if he had just seen a faint, dim shadow floating behind the other party, that shadow slowly spreading from the distance, like a hunter lying in wait in the darkness, waiting for the moment the prey's spirit slackened.

But that shadow quickly dissipated.

Yu Sheng walked out from behind the broken wall; he had already noticed something wrong with the girl before him (although her messy pile of tails was quite wrong in itself), but he still boldly walked forward: "Those things can't be eaten, they are all..."

He felt he couldn't go on saying it—because he had never been so hungry before.

And at this moment, the girl had already slowly squatted down, seeming unable to wait for Yu Sheng's response; she was about to pick up the scattered meals on the ground.

"Wait! I seem to have something to eat!" Just then, Yu Sheng suddenly called out loudly to the Miss opposite; as if remembering something, he spoke while quickly rummaging in his clothes pockets.

In the end, he finally pulled out two small wrapped breads and a palm-sized piece of chocolate; these were originally intended for him to eat as a late-night snack.

Due to work factors, he had the habit of staying up late at night.

The fox Miss watched Yu Sheng's actions with a hint of wariness and confusion; Yu Sheng came before her, demonstrating how to tear open the bread packaging; accompanied by the sound of plastic tearing, the aroma of bread escaped, the girl's eyes instantly brightened, then almost at a speed leaving afterimages, she grabbed Yu Sheng's hand, even stuffing the hand holding the bread into her own mouth.

Yu Sheng almost couldn't react; the girl was not only incredibly fast but her strength was shocking; he pulled his arm back with nearly all his might, managing to pull his hand out of the other party's mouth just before the fox bit off his fingers; even so, his index finger was scratched by the other party's sharp canine teeth, and blood quickly seeped out.

"Damn, how long have you been starving..." he couldn't help but mutter.

The girl seemed to hear nothing around her; she quickly stuffed food into her mouth, as if wanting to shove it all directly into her stomach at once; her mouth was stuffed full, her eyes wide with every chew; Yu Sheng even worried she would choke herself to death the next second, but she still forcibly swallowed the food in her mouth, then her gaze fell on the other piece of bread.

"Slow down first, catch your breath evenly; eating like this will choke you to death," Yu Sheng had to block the other party, looking seriously into the girl's eyes and saying, "Okay? Did you understand?"

"I, understand..." the fox Miss nodded hard, trying hard to swallow her saliva.

Only then did Yu Sheng hand over the second piece of bread, watching the girl clumsily tear the plastic packaging—her technique was wrong, but her strength was shocking; she almost instantly tore the plastic bag to shreds, then tore the bread in half and stuffed it into her mouth, but after stuffing half, as if remembering Yu Sheng's words, or realizing the preciousness of the food, she hurriedly slowed down, tearing the bread into small pieces and putting them into her mouth with extreme restraint. At the same time, her gaze kept glancing at Yu Sheng's hand, falling on the last small piece of chocolate.

"This is cho-co-late..." Yu Sheng said casually, preparing to hand over the chocolate, but as soon as he raised his hand halfway, he hesitated and stopped, his facial expression becoming a bit strange.

He thought quickly for a few seconds, finally calling out to Erin in his heart: "Erin."

The loud, noisy voice of the doll in the painting instantly exploded in his mind: "Yu Sheng! What was going on just now, why did you suddenly go silent again, and why no matter how I called you, no..."

"My situation here is complex; I'll explain slowly to you later; for now, let me ask you something..."

"You... fine, you ask." Erin's voice sounded unfriendly, but in the end, she helplessly showed patience.

"Dogs can't eat chocolate, right?" Yu Sheng suppressed the strange feeling in his heart; he secretly glanced at the fox Miss opposite who was full of expectation, trying to make his tone sound a bit more serious.

"... Yes," Erin felt this question was nonsensical, "That thing is toxic to dogs. But why do you suddenly ask this? You're trapped in another realm and still have this leisure..."

Yu Sheng ignored the other party's subsequent rambling: "Then can foxes eat it?"

"Foxes probably can't either... right?" Erin hesitated a bit, "After all, they are both Canidae. Hey, let me tell you, many human foods are toxic to species other than humans; let's put it this way, just your food list, don't say in the eyes of animals, even in the eyes of 'other races' like me, it's simply sick, belonging to eating poison with strong alkali, pouring acid down every meal, biochemical agents passing through the intestines, devouring decaying substances in big mouthfuls..."

!.

Yu Sheng interrupted this BB machine's loud chatter again: "Then what about a fox that has cultivated into a spirit?"

Erin was finally stuck for words: "... What?"

It proved that even a BB machine with the most trash talk couldn't withstand such an overly neurotic topic shift.

"I mean, a fox that has transformed into human form, a Fox Immortal, a Fox Demon, get it?" Yu Sheng said quickly in his mind, because he found the fox Miss before him was about to finish that small bread, and it looked like she was about to snatch the chocolate in his hand, "Does a Fox Immortal still count as a fox? Is there more human component or more fox component? If the latter component is higher, does a Fox Immortal count as Canidae?"

Erin: "... What exactly is your situation over there?!"

"I have a fox here that's about to starve to death, white fur, red eyes, nine tails... or maybe six or seven, all matted so they can't be counted, but I only have one piece of chocolate left."

Erin listened, stunned, then with amazing acceptance threw back a sentence: "If it already has nine tails, it can definitely handle it; if it didn't have even this much cultivation, would cultivating so many tails be for using them as propellers when swimming? Hey wait, what exactly is going on over there? Wasn't it said to be an uninhabited other realm? How did a... pop up..."

Hearing the first half of Erin's words, Yu Sheng felt it made a lot of sense; not waiting to respond to the other party's subsequent nagging, he handed the chocolate in his hand to the opposite side, but still didn't forget to remind: "Here, you can eat it, but best try eating a little less; I'm afraid this might not be good for your body."

"Th-thank you!" the fox Miss hurriedly took the chocolate, clumsily opened the packaging, and then carefully took a bite.

A look of surprise appeared on her face; immediately she slightly narrowed her eyes, as if immersed in immense happiness.

"Alright, there's no more if you want more," Yu Sheng shook his head seeing this and spread his hands, "Don't know if it's enough to fill you up... uh, also don't know how to address you."

"Thank you," the fox Miss said again; this time the thanks was more solemn than before; only after she was no longer so hungry did she look into Yu Sheng's eyes, raise her finger and point to herself, with a serious face, "Hu Li."

"Ah?" Yu Sheng didn't react immediately.

"Hu Li," the fox Miss pointed at herself and slowly smiled, "I, have a name!"

(End of this chapter)