Chapter Seven: Xuanzi in Tears

The Bar With the Reversed Door was tucked away in a secluded spot. Aside from a bit of initial publicity by Lifus when it first opened, its survival depended almost entirely on word-of-mouth among loyal regulars, barely keeping the business afloat. Much of its meager success was due to the guarantee of genuine spirits offered at fair prices.

Of course, Lifus’s main reason for opening the bar was to give Xuanzhi something to occupy her time. Prolonged isolation was detrimental to her “condition,” not beneficial, and could only worsen it.

Yet contact with others posed another risk for Xuanzhi: intense emotional upheaval, which Lifus had always tried desperately to avoid.

But as the saying goes, if you walk by the river often enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet.

Tonight, at the usual spot where the regulars gathered, the Drunken Uncle was unusually absent. The short-haired woman was furiously berating the impeccably dressed gentleman, while inside the bar's elevated platform, the voluptuous woman—likely having squeezed her way through—was awkwardly trying to comfort Xuanzhi, whose body trembled.

This was the sign that Xuanzhi had lost control. Lifus ignored the possibility that their actions might alert ordinary patrons, and instantly appeared by Xuanzhi’s side.

The sexy woman known as "Big Waves" was startled by Lifus’s sudden appearance, but had no time to dwell on it. She and the other workaholics genuinely liked Xuanzhi, who was passionate yet always cautious. While Xuanzhi had cried before, the situation had never been as dire as this.

She couldn't say what was wrong exactly, but watching Xuanzhi cry at that moment, her heart twisted painfully, her brows and eyes twitching endlessly, as if something terrible was about to happen.

Lifus turned Xuanzhi’s body toward himself, carefully sensing her shifting emotions. His expression was darker than any the group had ever seen.

"Tell me, what did you do?"

Big Waves, already somewhat intimidated by Lifus, struggled to find words.

The short-haired woman, less perceptive, failed to notice Lifus’s hostility directed at their trio, and after shooting a glare at the suited man, turned away, hands on her hips, still fuming.

The gentleman spread one hand, his face helpless and slightly irritated. "I didn't realize the news about Little Sister would affect Xuanzhi so much. She’s just a young girl—so what if she cries? It’s not that big a deal! Little Sister’s disappeared and you don't seem half as upset..."

Lifus tapped gently on the mask covering Xuanzhi's face. Most patrons remained lost in their drinks and the mellow music; even Lifus had to concentrate fully to hear Xuanzhi’s faint murmurs beneath the mask.

"Brother..."

Lifus didn't even glance at the gentleman whose eyes were rimmed red, his tone icy. "What exactly did you tell her?"

The gentleman, his suppressed irritation finally boiling over, shouted, "What? You think I’d bully a young girl on purpose? Do you know I spent all day at the police station? If Little Sister hadn’t had my number in her phone, if the police hadn’t used it to find me, we wouldn’t even know she’s been missing for forty-eight hours!"

He lost all care for his image, loosening his tie and shirt buttons, the gelled hair falling over his forehead as he choked up. "The police said there was a lot of blood in her room, signs of struggle—she might..."

Trying to regain composure, he picked up a charmingly wrapped box from the platform. "This was on Little Sister’s vanity. I brought it back from the police station; it should be a gift she meant for Xuanzhi."

Little Sister was a sweet-faced girl from Sichuan who had come alone to the capital, juggling at least one extra job besides her main work, making her life busy and hard. Before tonight, she often came to the Bar With the Reversed Door for genuine, affordable drinks, and among these workaholics, she was Xuanzhi’s closest friend.

But Lifus never expected Xuanzhi to react so violently to her disappearance.

Suddenly, the gentleman froze as a pale, grayish hand reached out to take the gift from him. He realized, astonishingly, that it was the first time he’d ever seen Xuanzhi’s hand—so white, it looked corpse-like.

At that instant, Xuanzhi’s hand, emerging from her wide robe sleeve, halted; her body stopped trembling, as if petrified.

Only Lifus’s face changed dramatically. The gift was like the final straw breaking the camel’s back; Xuanzhi lost all self-control and began making meaningless guttural sounds.

Lifus sprang up, violently knocking the gift from the gentleman’s hand, shouting, "Take it away!"

He then lifted Xuanzhi’s small body, whispering over and over in her ear, "Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, brother’s here, brother’s here, Xuanzhi, don’t be afraid..."

Strangely, Xuanzhi’s body didn’t curl into Lifus’s embrace, remaining stiff and straight like a corpse.

Big Waves was the first to notice, and the fiery woman screamed in terror, hands clapped over her mouth.

This startled the other patrons, and panic—which spreads like poison—began to infect the crowd. As everyone turned strange eyes toward Xuanzhi, she seemed to sense it, her body shaking violently as though desperate to escape.

Lifus knew this was Xuanzhi’s subconscious reaction; her greatest fear was being treated as an outcast.

His anger, initially directed only at the gentleman and his friends, now extended to all the bar’s patrons. In an instant, the lively atmosphere dropped to freezing, and many shivered involuntarily. It was as if an invisible chill had filled the nearly four-hundred-square-meter space.

Lifus’s temperament was flawed.

The siblings’ lives bordered on seclusion. Since the bar opened five years ago, Xuanzhi had never stepped beyond the alley. Lifus was slightly better, occasionally interacting with a few friends like the butler, Old Ten, and Simple, but now, caught off guard by Xuanzhi’s sudden episode, his half-demon blood stirred with ferocity.

"Idiot! Get Xuanzhi back to the old house!"

The crowd encircled Lifus and Xuanzhi in the center of the bar, the shout coming from the doorway beyond the human wall.

In a rush, a path cleared through the crowd. Simple, dressed all in black, stood by the entry’s screen wall, urgency etched on his face.

Lifus snapped out of it, his rage evaporating, entering a zen-like calm; his gaze went dead and still, yet a single point of light in his eyes sharpened to a tangible intensity. He strode out, carrying Xuanzhi.

Simple moved forward to lead the way, but was stopped by an ancient, gnarled hand landing on his shoulder, freezing him as if struck by lightning.

It was Old Ten, the nearly ninety-year-old butler. His gaze was as focused as Lifus’s, but not silent—rather, it brimmed with invincible authority.

"Simple, it’s nothing personal, but it’s really not suitable for you to follow."

Simple had never heard Old Ten speak with such undeniable command, feeling as though a single frown would earn him a cracked skull.

Before he could reply, a woman’s hand lightly rested on Old Ten’s sinewy hand.

"Old Ten, ever the cautious one."

Old Ten turned to see a tall woman in a black coat, standing in a triangle with Simple and himself. Even hidden beneath the loose coat, her graceful figure was unmistakable, though her face was obscured by the shadows.

Old Ten seemed long acquainted with her, a rare hint of compassion in his tone. "Tian girl, your cold ailment still hasn’t improved?"

Lifus, already some distance away, called back without turning, "Old Ten, it’s fine."

Old Ten obeyed Lifus instantly, and released his grip.

Simple glanced at the old man, then hurried to catch up with Lifus.

The woman exhaled smoke, pinching her cigarette with a heavy ash, "Yes, this coat doesn’t really help."

The bar’s location was far from any bustling night market, with few people nearby and the hour late. Lifus leaped onto the old locust tree and vanished across the rooftops.

Unexpectedly, Simple—a mere ordinary man—followed Lifus’s movements and landed on the roof, keeping pace behind him. His speed wasn’t as extraordinary as Lifus’s, but still far beyond that of an average person.

Moments later, the two plunged into a wooded area on the outskirts of the capital, racing northwest toward the mountains.

The forest was vast, and as they reached its center, they glimpsed the old manor nestled in the morning mist halfway up the mountain.

But just then, both Lifus and Simple halted almost simultaneously. Especially Lifus—though only for a moment, his previously calm eyes flickered.

Simple barked, "Lifus! Don’t let your concern cloud your judgment. You know Xuanzhi’s condition—if you hesitate, I promise you’ll regret it!"

Lifus took a deep breath, laid Xuanzhi flat on an open patch of ground, and stepped back. "Retreat!"

Simple had already put some distance between himself and Xuanzhi when Lifus laid her down, and once they regrouped, the two were five hundred meters away from her.

Lifus pulled out a small transparent bottle he always carried, filled with a cloudy yellow liquid, and a handkerchief. He poured the liquid onto the cloth and pressed it firmly to his nose and mouth.

When he handed the bottle to Simple, Simple’s face scrunched in disgust, but he quickly tore a piece from his sleeve, soaked it, and covered his nose and mouth as Lifus had.

Soon, an invisible, intoxicating fragrance spread. Both were prepared—always ready to smell this seductive scent, because its presence signaled Xuanzhi’s monstrous transformation had resumed, and there was no longer any hope of calmly returning her to the old house.

The fragrance was powerfully alluring. Not only Simple, but any half-demon or monster would become spellbound, utterly devoted and obedient to its owner after even a whiff. The effect varied with constitution and willpower, but its irresistible potency made it a rare ability.

It was Xuanzhi’s body scent, a rare innate enchantment, with only one counter: the foul stench of urine.

Yes, the yellow liquid in the bottle was pure, carefully collected child’s urine by Lifus.

Lifus had faced this scene more than once; Simple had experienced it once as well. What terrified Simple most was not the seductive scent—he called it powerful enough to overwhelm even eunuchs—but the child’s urine that had made him retch for three days.

Fortunately, the fragrance quickly faded, replaced by the stench of rot from a corpse.

In a moment, Simple tossed aside his cloth and retched silently.

Most collapsing half-demons went through this phase: rapid putrefaction, death, then mutation into a monster driven only by instinct or desire.

The Boundary Stone called the monsters born of a half-demon’s collapse "mutants," distinguishing them from another kind, the "wild monsters," whose true origin remained unknown.

Between the two, the Boundary Stone’s people took mutants more seriously. Wild monsters possessed intelligence, rarely attacking cities, but mutants attacked indiscriminately, even suicidally, targeting any living thing in sight.

As for the root cause of mutants—or the collapse of half-demons—the Boundary Stone’s current conclusion was simple: the half-demon body cannot withstand the corrosion of demon blood, and the human genetic chain breaks irreversibly.

For five years, Lifus had hunted monsters, risking his life again and again, driven by the hope that the secretive half-demon families would help reverse Xuanzhi’s transformation.

The whole story flashed through Simple’s mind, and he whispered, "Afu, that should be enough. This time is different—we weren’t prepared. The sooner we subdue Xuanzhi, the more time we’ll have to respond."

Lifus was about to nod when a fox tail slithered through the woods like a serpent, wrapping itself around the tallest tree nearby. The next moment, a cry like a baby’s wail echoed from the canopy, resounding through the forest.