Chapter 879: Want to speak?

It emerged from a fissure in the skin above, its surface covered with a rough woody texture, and a few leaves with withered yellow edges grew on its branches.

That outfit was an asymmetrical general's uniform, with a wide sleeve on the left and a cut shoulder on the right— the very attire from her dream.

But now it was in tatters: the left wide sleeve that originally fluttered loudly in the wind had been torn more than half, leaving only a few strands of dusty cloth hanging from the arm; the right shoulder's thin silver chain cross strap had broken one link, one end of the chain dangled at the edge, the other end missing; the ultra‑thin mist‑gray thigh‑high stockings on the legs were riddled with several holes, revealing the death‑white skin beneath, devoid of any blood color.

The shoes, however, were still there.

But both boot uppers were covered in a layer of dust, as if they had lost their shine, like relics dug out of ruins.

The person in the mirror was clearly herself.

A version of herself that had fallen into the Demonic Yin Body.

Qingque stood rooted to the spot, dumbstruck.

Demonic Yin Body.

Qingque stared at the monster in the mirror.

The monster in the mirror also stared at her.

Her lips twitched.

She made no sound.

Her throat felt as if something were blocking it.

She lowered her head and looked at her hands again.

Her fingers were still the same fingers, her skin still its normal color.

She rolled up her sleeve; the skin on the inside of her arm was also normal.

She patted her cheek; the palm felt normally warm and soft, completely unlike the gray‑white, withered reflection in the mirror.

She lifted her head again to look at the mirror.

The gray‑white, long‑haired monster with vines entwining its body mimicked her motion.

"——Eh?"

At last a voice squeezed out.

Qingque took a step to the left, and the monster in the mirror also stepped left.

Qingque walked two steps to the right, and the monster in the mirror followed, taking two steps as well.

She raised her right hand and shook it; the gray‑white hand in the mirror also shook, a thin vine coiled around its wrist, and the tiny leaves on the vine trembled slightly as it swayed.

"……This is——"

Qingque raised her hand, fingertips trembling in midair as she pointed at the monster's face in the mirror.

She had wanted to say "What is this thing?" but her tongue tangled in three knots, and only two dry words popped out.

"……Me?"

No one answered her.

The Demonic Yin Bodies kneeling around her remained silent and crawling, while Huo Huo still stood beside the mirror, her small command flag swaying lightly, her jade‑green eyes glowing with pale yellow light, full of curiosity and delight.

Qingque turned her head to look at Huo Huo.

Her eyes widened, her expression flickering between fear, astonishment, confusion, and a faint sense of grievance, like a pot of overcooked mixed grain porridge.

She raised a hand toward the mirror, her lips trembling, and let out a wail as thin as a spider's silk.

"No, is this mirror broken?? Does the mirror issued by the Ten Kings Office have a defect?? How could I possibly be—look at me, look at me,"

She pointed frantically at her own face, tugging at her hair, her voice rising higher and faster, as if racing her speech against an approaching truth: "My hair is brown! Brown! Look closely! And my eyes are green, right? Qingque's 'qing'—the jade‑green—is not like that in the mirror! I'm still alive, I'm clearly still alive……."

By the end, Qingque's words were getting a little incoherent.

She lifted her head and looked at Huo Huo, who stood not far away.

Those jade‑green eyes glowing with yellow light examined her with interest, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile that made one's skin crawl, as if she were watching an insect that had accidentally fallen into a lab, simply observing it creep.

"Hmm, let me guess~"

Huo Huo shifted the command flag to her right hand, propped her chin on her left, and tapped her cheek twice with her index finger: "You want to speak?"

Qingque nodded vigorously.

Her ponytail whipped wind at both shoulders, and the wayward tuft on top of her head swayed back and forth.

She opened her mouth and mouthed each word one by one: "You——can——hear——me——?"

Huo Huo raised an eyebrow.

She rotated the command flag half a turn in her palm, and the flag surface unfurled a dark‑red wave in the air, then she gave it a light sweep toward Qingque.

A speck of dark‑gold light drifted from the flag tip, like pollen blown by the wind, and floated down onto Qingque's shoulder, hair, and arm.

When the speck touched her skin, there was an extremely faint warmth, like sun‑heated fine sand slipping between her fingers.

Then the speck seeped into the fabric, into her skin, and vanished.

Qingque lowered her head to watch where the speck had disappeared, waiting a moment.

Nothing happened.

She lifted her hand and turned it over; the back of her hand was still the same.

She touched her throat again, cleared it, and tentatively spoke: "Hey? Hey hey? One two three, can you hear me?"

Huo Huo's brow furrowed slightly.

She retracted the command flag, lowered her head to examine the golden‑thread runes on its face, then lifted her gaze to Qingque, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"……What's going on. It's useless."

Qingque blinked.

She watched Huo Huo flip the flag over and wave it again; another sheet of dark‑gold specks drifted down, this time denser and brighter, the warmth on her skin greater, like the midsummer noon sun.

The specks seeped in, just as before, and nothing changed.

She opened her mouth: "Miss Huo Huo, is your flag not charged?"

The only response to her was Huo Huo furrowing her eyebrows even deeper.

The Command Flag was waved a third time.

Dark golden light interwove in the air into a fine net, descending from above Qingque's head and enveloping her whole body within the light net.

The light threads clung to her skin and tightened; she could feel a gentle energy flowing over her body, as if someone were writing runes on her with an ultra‑fine brush.

Then the net dispersed, the light specks fell to the ground and vanished.

Huo Huo's brows were furrowed to the limit.

…Ineffective.

The confusion in her tone was stronger than the previous two times.

She tucked the Command Flag back to her waist, then re‑examined Qingque; her gaze was more meticulous than before, traveling from Qingque's ash‑gray hair down to the short boots on her feet, then slowly returning, finally lingering on the dull, lifeless apricot eyes on her face.

Qingque felt a shiver under that stare.

She now confirmed two things: first, Huo Huo was indeed trying to restore her ability to speak, which showed that this Huo Huo, regardless of the yellow light in her eyes, harbored no malice toward her at present; second, even the Command Flag was beyond her control, indicating that her current condition was indeed very troublesome.

Then she saw Huo Huo's mouth corner lift a bit again.

Those emerald eyes, emitting yellow light, narrowed slightly, the specks of light in the pupils rotating slowly like two tiny nebulae pressed against the eye sockets.

…Interesting.

Huo Huo placed her hands behind her back, her petite frame leaning forward slightly, tilting her head to look at Qingque; the pose, together with her shy little round face, should have seemed innocent, but the yellow‑glowing eyes turned the whole scene completely opposite.

I have another method.

She lowered her voice to a whisper, so soft that Qingque had to lean forward a bit to hear clearly.

But…

She deliberately elongated the ending, drawing her right hand from behind, its five slender fingers gently bending in the air as if grasping something at a distance.

It requires a bit of contact.

Qingque's neck retracted half an inch.

Of course, that depends on whether you agree.