The rain gradually eased, then stopped.

The dust hanging all through the city air had been washed clean. Even the night sky looked clearer now. Walking the streets after the rain, you could even faintly catch the scent of ozone. It was fresh, enough to lift the spirit.

A breeze brushed past. The roadside trees rustled softly, leaves and branches swaying. A few little puddles still lingered by their feet, shimmering under the streetlights.

In the middle of that colorful scene, Jiang Jiu looked like an old farmer who’d just come back from harvesting wheat, carrying An Ning over her shoulder as she slowly made her way toward the bar.

She should’ve been too weak to even truss a chicken, but for some reason, after drinking Lilith’s blood, her whole body was brimming with strength.

So witches were really treasures from head to toe? Even their blood was some top-tier tonic?

Then when they got back, should she chat with Lilith and trade her body—or something else—for a little more blood, just in case?

After all, who’d ever complain about having more trump cards?

Jiang Jiu was letting her thoughts run wild when she suddenly heard a faint breath from over her shoulder.

An Ning was awake.

Jiang Jiu stopped walking and carefully lowered the girl from her shoulder. She held her by the waist so she wouldn’t collapse to the ground from sheer weakness.

Then she leaned in with concern and asked,

“How are you? Feeling okay?”

An Ning kept her eyes closed and panted for a moment longer before finally shaking her head with difficulty.

“...I’m fine.” After forcing out those two words, she barely managed a trace of a smile. “It’s enough that I’m alive.”

Jiang Jiu nodded at that and smiled too.

“It’s good that you can think that way. Once you’re dead, there’s nothing left. If you’re alive, there’s still a chance.”

Your friend Bad Woman Jiang Jiu has gone offline. Your friend Soul Mentor Jiang Jiu is now online. She was very good at helping girls pull themselves back together, a female mentor deeply versed in human nature.

With three sentences, she could make An Ning devoted to her for life.

“Your enemy is dead. The An Group is leaderless right now. You can go back, take over the inheritance your father left you, and be your lady president in peace.”

“From now on, you won’t have to think about all that blood feud anymore. You can put your life back on track.”

“So, welcome your new life, Miss An Ning.”

Jiang Jiu’s three lines were done.

But An Ning only looked at her in silence. After a long while, she shook her head and asked,

“But I only want to drink with you... just like you said before—Jiang Jiu, I came back alive to drink with you.”

Jiang Jiu had talked to her about the An Group, about a bright future, about becoming CEO and marrying a rich, beautiful woman and reaching the peak of life... well, she herself was the rich, beautiful woman. But that wasn’t important. What mattered was, why was An Ning so fixated on drinking with her?

Jiang Jiu sighed, raised a hand, and lightly tugged at the collar around her neck.

Mist began to gather.

Along with the light sound of approaching footsteps, the Witch in a black dress appeared before them, her face full of confusion.

Then she saw Jiang Jiu raise a hand and point at An Ning as she tattled,

“Master, someone’s trying to hit on me.”

“?”

“?”

Lilith and An Ning both produced the same question mark at the exact same time.

Lilith thought, You can do that?

An Ning was completely dumbfounded and had no idea what to say.

And after confirming that An Ning could stand steady now, Jiang Jiu slowly and elegantly let go of her and stepped off to one side. The three of them ended up standing about the same distance apart, forming a subtle equilateral triangle.

As everyone knows, an equilateral triangle is the most stable structure.

But the relationship between the three of them right now didn’t seem stable at all.

An Ning looked at Lilith. Lilith looked at Jiang Jiu. Jiang Jiu wore an innocent face, as if asking Lilith why she was looking at her.

It was like when cultists held a sacrifice, grabbed some unlucky victim, and planned to offer him to an evil god. By reverse logic, that unlucky victim could of course also shout, “Honored evil god, I offer these most loyal cultists to you!”

You had to think flexibly. You had to learn how to redirect conflict.

Like now. Wasn’t the conflict between her and An Ning now turned into a conflict between Lilith and An Ning?

As for whether her conscience would hurt... Jiang Jiu felt she’d never had that organ to begin with.

She even wanted to add fuel to the fire and shout from the side, Fight! Fight! Fight!

“...”

Lilith’s Enchanted Wand hardened.

Expressionless, she gave Jiang Jiu one last look, then turned to face An Ning.

“You shouldn’t like her.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

“She’s a scumbag.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

“All you’ll get from her is disappointment... or anger. She’s the real born witch, if anything.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

“...Shut up.”

Lady Witch pulled out her Enchanted Wand and slashed it toward Jiang Jiu, making her unable to say another word.

Your friend [Dog Mod · Lilith] has muted your friend [Soul Mentor · Jiang Jiu].

With the chief troublemaker, who’d been happily eating popcorn and stirring things up, now muted, Lady Witch and An Ning could finally talk normally again.

“You saw it too,” Lady Witch explained as patiently as she could. “The Jiang Jiu you like is exactly this kind of irresponsible, promiscuous scumbag. She can even toss the blame onto me this lightly... Even so, do you still like her?”

Lilith normally didn’t like talking to other people. That was one of the reasons behind her title.

But she probably felt a kind of shared misery with the girl in front of her, so she unusually said a few extra words. She wanted An Ning to see clearly what kind of person Jiang Jiu really was, so she could give up cleanly and decisively.

If there was no hope, there would be no disappointment. She understood that very well.

But An Ning shook her head.

Just now, she’d been stunned by the sudden turn of events. But now she had slowly calmed down and could think normally again.

And after thinking it through, she rejected Lady Witch’s words.

“But she saved me.”

“That day, I was probably... ready to just die like that. Of course, it would’ve been best if I could drag my enemy down with me. But she asked if I wanted to drink with her. She saw me off and let me leave to get my revenge...”

“She gave me a reason not to die.”

As An Ning spoke, the image of Jiang Jiu seeing her off that day suddenly rose before her eyes—Jiang Jiu in a maid outfit, escorting her all the way to the bar entrance, reminding her the weather might turn bad tonight, handing her an umbrella.

When she stepped into the wind and rain to take revenge, the maid gently stayed by the bar door and told her, “May fortune favor you in battle.” Then she waited for her to come back, bandaged her wounds, cooked for her, took her to the rooftop for drinks that night, gave her a lap pillow and a massage, and comforted her by saying that everything lost in the rain would be reborn in flame.

And when she was about to die, Jiang Jiu had suddenly appeared beside her under a black umbrella, wiped the rain from her face, and softly told her not to die.

There was no way she could forget those beautiful memories, even if Jiang Jiu had arranged them on purpose.

A gentleman judges deeds, not motives. An Ning understood that clearly.

“So I still like her.”

She looked at Lilith without yielding in the slightest.

At last, Lilith couldn’t help sighing.

Looking at An Ning, she seemed to see her own past shadow in this stubborn girl.

So this girl had also thrown herself headfirst into Jiang Jiu’s bottomless pit with no intention of turning back?

“Then like her if you want,” she could only say coldly. “But your feelings have nothing to do with me. I’m taking her away.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lilith waved the Enchanted Wand in her hand.

Mist surged up at once, swallowing her and Jiang Jiu’s figures. Cold, soft tentacles slithered through the fog, lifting her up and conveniently wrapping Jiang Jiu into a rice dumpling.

Surrounded by those tentacles, Lady Witch looked down at An Ning from above and declared coldly,

“Jiang Jiu is my pet, my toy, my servant, and I won’t allow you to like her. So if you want to take Jiang Jiu away from me, then try defeating me first.”

After saying that, she turned and vanished with Jiang Jiu into the receding mist.

Only An Ning was left standing there alone.

She clenched her fist.

...

“Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—don’t bully a poor young girl. When you were throwing out that threat, did you never think she might find some old grandpa hiding in a ring somewhere, get a crazy power-up, and come back for revenge?”

“You’re underestimating the gap between an Otherkind and a witch.”

“Keh keh keh, no, you’re underestimating protagonist aura. If you ask me, An Ning’s probably one of those chosen children of destiny too. Maybe before long she’ll beat you, then snatch me back to be her bandit bride.”

“If that really happens, then I’ll tell An Ning the truth. I’ll tell her I did it all on your orders, and that you’re the real mastermind.”

“Hey... don’t do me like that. The boat of friendship capsizes just like that, Lilith?”

“Hmm?”

“...Master.”

“Mm.”

Lilith nodded, picked up the wineglass beside her, and tipped her head back for a sip. Sitting beside her, Jiang Jiu also raised her glass and drank down the last of her wine.

The two of them sat at the edge of the rooftop. One looked up at the strangely full moon. The other looked down at the streetlights glowing below.

The mood was lazy and quiet. No sound but the high wind blowing past with a low whoosh.

After a while like that, Jiang Jiu suddenly heard Lilith’s voice.

“Lend me your legs. I want to lie down for a bit.”

Then, without waiting for her agreement, Lilith leaned over and gently rested her head on Jiang Jiu’s lap.

Jiang Jiu instinctively wanted to tease her like usual, to ask if she’d gotten jealous after seeing her give An Ning a lap pillow last time, so now she wanted the same treatment too.

But for some reason, she never said it. Instead, she reached out and gently rubbed Lilith’s temples, tender and gentle like a real maid.

Then she suddenly heard Lilith ask, almost like sleep-talking,

“Why do you have to be like this, Jiang Jiu? To me, to your old girlfriends, to An Ning... why are you so cruel?”

Jiang Jiu’s hand paused for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. She kept massaging Lilith and smiled as she shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Right.”

“...How could you not know your own feelings?”

“But I just don’t.”

Jiang Jiu lowered her head and met Lady Witch’s gaze. Her long hair poured down like flowing water, spilling across Lady Witch’s chest.

Then she let out a soft laugh. Her fingertips brushed across Lady Witch’s cheek, leaving behind a faintly cool trace.

“You told me witches are slaves to love, Lilith. But sometimes people are too.”

“But come to think of it, none of that has anything to do with me...”

“Because I’ve already decided to devote my limited life to the infinite great cause of giving more beautiful girls a warm embrace.”

“After all, I’m a bad woman.”

As she said that, she winked at Lilith.