Yeah. The moment her fingers touched that patch of fluff, Ye Zhibai knew.

—Those were real fox ears.

She’d never touched a fox’s ears before, but she’d touched a cat’s! They weren’t the same species, but she knew that feel. There was no mistaking it!

Ye Zhibai had been an expert cat-petter in her past life. Her fingers moved in all sorts of ways over those fox ears—sometimes pinching gently, sometimes rubbing them. Those were tried-and-true techniques for making a cat roll over and show its belly!

Lost in the healing warmth and satisfaction of the moment, Ye Zhibai didn’t notice...

The fox-girl whose ears she was petting was already trembling all over.

“Mm... Human! You... You’re going too far! Too far!! You can’t... touch a god’s ears! Let go of us!! You’ll be struck down by divine retribution...! You’ll be punished! Don’t...! We won’t punish you... Just... please let go... Ugh...!”

Huh?!

At last, the fox-girl let out a plaintive whimper. It hit Ye Zhibai like a muffled blow, jolting her back to her senses.

Oh no.

She’d gotten carried away pinching them!

Ye Zhibai quickly let go with her slender hand.

Freed at last, the little fox-girl went limp like a puddle of water. Her knees gave way first, and she couldn’t even keep sitting with her legs folded to one side. Her whole body—or, well, her whole fox—slowly tipped forward until she was sprawled on the floor.

She panted rapidly, as if trying to catch her breath...

Even the tip of her tongue peeked out between her lips as she trembled.

Ye Zhibai looked at her hand and curled her fingers into a fist.

I... What on earth did I just do?!

All I did was pinch ears that might not even be real! Is that really such a big deal?!

Completely at a loss, Ye Zhibai glanced around. Her eyes soon landed on the thin, gauzy sheet on the bed.

A-Anyway, forget everything else. I need to cover this strange creature with some cloth first!

The fox-eared girl had been without clothes this whole time. Ye Zhibai didn’t even know where to look.

As fast as she could, she grabbed the sheet and hurried back to the fox-girl, who was still sprawled on the floor.

Ye Zhibai lifted and spread the sheet, intending to cover the girl’s small, flat frame.

But before the sheet could fall... Ye Zhibai’s gaze wandered again.

Oh, right...

S-She still had a huge, fluffy tail!!

It swished from side to side, fluffier than she could’ve imagined.

Aww, I wanna pet her tail!

“H-Human! You dare?! If you try that again, we’ll fight you!!”

“Sorry...”

Ye Zhibai’s wayward right hand was just about to touch the fox’s tail when the fox-girl’s scolding brought it to an abrupt halt.

There was nothing for it... As much as she regretted it, Ye Zhibai could only spread the sheet over her and pull her hand back.

And put some distance between them!

Ye Zhibai backed away until she was pressed against the doorframe, ready to dash outside and call for help at any moment.

That little stunt just now might’ve really angered this bratty little girl!

But the fox-girl didn’t look particularly dangerous... She was kind of cute, actually.

From where Ye Zhibai leaned against the doorframe, she watched the fox-girl huddle beneath the sheet. Her long brown hair spread across the floor around her. It shifted a few times, then slowly came to a stop.

She slowly wrapped the little sheet around herself... then stood up.

“......”

The fox-girl clutched the sheet in both hands, holding its edges together in front of her to cover herself as she glared at Ye Zhibai, her face burning with embarrassment and anger.

At last, she spoke.

“You, Ye... How dare you... How dare you grab our ears?! Don’t you know that ears are the source of the world’s truth? They’re very sensitive!”

“That makes no sense...”

“What did you say?!”

“Nothing...”

Ugh, what’s with me? Why do I keep wanting to save my strength by saying everything as briefly as possible?!

The fox-girl had looked pretty angry at first, but... soon her expression softened.

Then she let go of the sheet.

This time, Ye Zhibai didn’t need to cover her eyes.

Because... a dress slowly appeared on the fox-girl. It was exactly like Ye Zhibai’s nightgown, only smaller, and her tail hung naturally from beneath it.

It was like a magic trick. Ye Zhibai could only stare, dumbfounded.

The fox-girl looked at her new clothes and sighed. “Sigh... That does it. I’m completely out of divine power now. The last of my strength went toward conjuring a pointless outfit... Poor me.”

At least she was finally wearing clothes.

After grumbling to herself, the fox-girl composed herself. She touched her own ears, and her little face flushed again. Then she folded her arms over her flat chest and looked at Ye Zhibai.

“Well, never mind. I told you already: your soul and body still aren’t properly in sync. It’ll take some time before they can fully merge. Until then, it’s normal for your words to come out a little wrong. We won’t hold it against you.”

“As if that’s something you can blame me for...”

“Want us to smack you?!”

“!”

You just said it was normal for my words to come out wrong!

Why are you threatening to hit me now?!

No, wait...

Ye Zhibai shook her head and sorted out her thoughts, trying to make sure she expressed herself clearly.

Because... this was important.

“So your story checks out... You’re the one who turned me into this, aren’t you?”

“Of course!” The fox-girl spread her arms, then proudly planted her hands on her hips. “Well? Are you happy with your new body? No need to thank us!”

“!”

The fox-girl straightened the wrinkles in her nightgown.

Honestly, humans are such a hassle. Taking a human form is nice and all, but there are so many rules.

Ye Zhibai was now fairly sure that the fox-girl in front of her was the true form of that wretched ball of light.

Oddly enough, she wasn’t all that scared anymore...

With a cool expression, she strode toward the fox-girl, step by step, and stopped right in front of her.

Stare...

At 162 centimeters tall, Ye Zhibai had an almost tangible air of intimidation over the girl, who was around 150 centimeters tall!

The fox-girl immediately struck a defensive pose, ready to fight!

“What are you doing? F-First, let us tell you! You’ll suffer divine retribution if you hit a god! We’re not joking! If you’re going to attack... think carefully first!”

“You...”

“Don’t hit us!”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t you dare...! Huh?!”

The fox-girl was stunned.

She’d thought she was a fox fallen on hard times, at the mercy of Ye Zhibai. Without her old powers, she wouldn’t be able to fight back even if Ye Zhibai messed with her like before.

But she’d never expected Ye Zhibai not to take revenge.

Instead, Ye Zhibai slowly raised her hands and tied the collar of the fox-girl’s nightgown, keeping it from slipping down.

Once she’d finished, Ye Zhibai obediently stepped back twice.

Then she tilted her head and explained.

“At first... I really hated you. I suddenly turned into a girl, and I wanted to kill you... But my family’s pretty great... So, thank you.”

“Oh... Oh?”

Ye Zhibai had been standing for a while, and this body was starting to tire.

With the fox-girl watching her in confusion, she slowly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

She’d meant what she said just now.

Being turned into a girl without her consent... Yeah, that was infuriating.

But when she thought about it carefully, did Ye Zhibai really have that many choices?

There was the poverty she’d suffered in her past life, for one. She’d been so poor that she might never have managed to turn her life around, even if she’d spent all of it trying.

To put it more bluntly, she’d been hit and killed by a car... It’d be a bit unreasonable to keep demanding this and that after that.

So, the fact that a god had given her a new life and a family was already something worth being grateful for, wasn’t it?

Right... Poor Ye Zhibai had always been easy to please.

The fox-girl’s tail peeked out from behind her nightgown again and swished rapidly from side to side.

A relaxed smile gradually spread across her cute little face. Her bare feet lightly tapped the floor as she trotted over to Ye Zhibai, looking her up and down and clicking her tongue in amazement.

“Well, well! You looked so fierce in the Heavenly Realm today, and you kept calling us a wretched ball of light. Who’d have thought you were actually a good person?”

“......”

“Hee-hee! You should’ve said so earlier! If we’d known, why would we have held back?”

Anger...

Blood pressure rising...

But the fox-girl was getting more and more carried away, and there was no stopping her.

She even patted Ye Zhibai on the shoulder and laughed, showing off her little canine teeth.

“Exactly! Hahaha! So what if you turned into a girl? You got the better end of the deal! Good, good! Knowing how to be satisfied makes you a fine human! We approve of you! You... Meow?!”

Ye Zhibai couldn’t take it anymore.

She seized her chance and grabbed the fox-girl’s tail just as it was swishing like an electric fan...

A cold glint flashed in Ye Zhibai’s eyes.

“Your ears are sensitive, but your tail’s fine, right?”

“The tail’s sensitive too... Eek!! Don’t pinch it!! We’re sorry!! We’re really sorry!! Aaaah!!”

.....................

The bratty fox-girl finally toppled over onto the floor, twitching and unable to speak.

Only then did Ye Zhibai finally feel the anger in her heart ease.

One thing at a time. It was true that she was satisfied with her situation—but it was also true that she resented being turned into a girl!

That’ll teach you to act so smug!