Volume Nine: The Years I Was a Witch
The Little Witch
“In this world, I truly have hated her, so it’s no injustice that she blackened.” Wen Nuan opened her eyes and said in a heavy voice.
The System sighed: 【In this world, you… were too serious.】
Wen Nuan pressed her aching forehead and got up, looking at the blazing sun outside the window.
“Something I’d never had before, that I finally managed to get… it really is easy to lose track of what’s real and what’s an illusion.”
In this world, she once had a pair of parents who would moisten each other with spittle1 and who doted on her especially.
Unfortunately, she was so greedy as to have no satiety, and in the end, she couldn’t hold on to anything.
The doorbell rang.
Wen Nuan took a deep breath. The rush of air into her throat triggered a violent coughing fit.
Clutching the pain in her chest, she coughed as she turned and went downstairs to open the door.
The moment the door opened, she saw a flustered woman gazing at her with eyes full of hope, while a swinging and dangling2 man standing to the side had a flash of stunned admiration in his eyes when he looked at Wen Nuan.
The woman was just about to speak when she saw Wen Nuan shake her head at her, her gaze falling somewhere behind her.
“The Hunting Bureau.”
Wen Nuan’s voice was hoarse from coughing, making her sound like an old woman in her twilight years.
Hearing the name, the woman’s body trembled with fear, but the man beside her just stared in confusion at the dozen or so people emerging from the jungle behind them.
He muttered, “The Hunting Bureau? Mom, are these… a hunting party?”
A flash of shock crossed the woman’s eyes. Her brow furrowed. “I… I guess you could say that.”
The man turned to Wen Nuan and said with a grin, “Mom, who’s this pretty little big sister3?”
He held out his hand and introduced himself. “Little big sister, my name is Ding Nisheng4.”
Ding Nisheng didn’t get Wen Nuan’s self-introduction; instead, he got a smack on the head from his mom.
The woman said urgently, “What are you yelling nonsense for!? This is your Paternal Great-Aunt5, greet her now!”
Paternal Great-Aunt?
Ding Nisheng knew he had a paternal great-aunt, but he’d never met her in his life.
And now his mom was telling him that this beautiful young woman was his over-fifty-years-old paternal great-aunt?
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Ding Nisheng rubbed his head and said in shock, “Mom, are you pulling my leg? This little big sister looks younger than me! She’s 20 at most. How could she possibly be my paternal great-aunt?”
The woman was so angry with her unfilial son6 that she showed the whites of her eyes7. She looked at Wen Nuan, embarrassed, and said apologetically, “Auntie Ning8, my son is missing a string9. Please don’t lower yourself to his level.”
When Ding Nisheng heard his own mom call the pretty little big sister “Auntie Ning,” his eyes went wide with shock. He couldn’t help but cry out, “She… she’s really my paternal great-aunt?”
The result was another heavy smack from his mother.
“One who does not know is not guilty10. Biqin11, let it go,” Wen Nuan said, intervening.
Don’t want her to beat the male lead stupid.
Biqin lowered her hand. She looked nervously at the dozen or so people who had arrived. “Auntie Ning, are they here to…”
Wen Nuan’s eyes narrowed. “Mobilize an army and condemn a crime12.”
Biqin’s expression changed, and she tightened her grip on Ding Nisheng’s hand.
Ding Nisheng, on the other hand, just stared at everyone with a look of utter confusion13.
A man in a leather jacket stepped out from the group of a dozen. He had a buzz cut, a pair of deep and complex eyes, a high-bridged nose, and thick brows over large eyes. From his features, you could tell he was mixed-race.
He walked up to Wen Nuan, took out a bag of crushed powder, and said with a grave expression, “She… has awoken.”
Wen Nuan said, “I know.”
The man pointed at Ding Nisheng. “He’s the one who let her out.”
They had matched the blood left in the restricted zone, and the result was Ding Nisheng.
Ding Nisheng slapped the man’s hand away and said belligerently, “Who are you pointing at?!”
The man’s brow furrowed tightly as he said angrily, “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve caused?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ding Nisheng said, exasperated. “Do I know you? Who are you to point fingers at me!”
The man was incensed by Ding Nisheng’s nonchalant and domineering attitude. “You—”
“He’s been hypnotized. Naturally, he doesn’t know,” Wen Nuan said coolly.
The man paused. No wonder Ding Nisheng didn’t seem the least bit terrified or afraid. He’d been hypnotized.
Ding Nisheng was completely lost. “Little… What are you all talking about? What hypnotism?”
He really couldn’t bring himself to call her paternal great-aunt.
He had just gotten back from a trip when his mom dragged him all the way to this villa in the woods.
“Come in and talk.” The mountain wind made Wen Nuan cough a few more times. She turned and went back inside.
Biqin led Ding Nisheng into the villa and sat on the sofa by the fireplace. The man entered by himself and sat opposite Ding Nisheng. The rest of the people he’d brought with him spontaneously surrounded the villa, remaining on high alert.
Wen Nuan sat in the host’s seat, her face looking even paler after her coughing fit.
Seeing her fragile state, Ding Nisheng picked up the thermos on the table and poured her a cup of hot water. “…Have a drink.”
Knowing her son’s bad habits, Biqin secretly jabbed him in the waist and said sternly, “Behave yourself!”
“Thank you,” Wen Nuan said without taking the cup, lifting her chin. “Just put it on the table.”
Ding Nisheng awkwardly placed the cup in front of Wen Nuan and rubbed the soft flesh of his waist.
Seeing Wen Nuan’s pale complexion, the man asked with concern, “Miss Ning, are you feeling all right?”
Wen Nuan said faintly, “An old ailment. Thank you for your concern, Aiwen14… cough cough…”
Aiwen placed the bag of powder on the table and said in a low voice, “The curse crystal was shattered badly. By the time we arrived, she was no longer in the restricted zone.”
He glanced at Ding Nisheng. “The restricted zone is under strict guard, but he and his friends snuck in and used a bloodletting to break her seal.”
Ding Nisheng looked at Aiwen, bewildered and annoyed. “What on earth are you talking about? What restricted zone? What bloodletting?”
“Did you just get back from a trip?”
Ding Nisheng frowned. “Yeah, so what? You want to control where I go on vacation, too!?”
Aiwen’s expression was grim. “Did you go to She Mountain15?”
“How did you know?” Ding Nisheng’s face changed, and he said angrily, “Are you fucking investigating me?”
“You went to She Mountain, trespassed in a forbidden area, and let her out with a bloodletting, and you still dare say it’s not your responsibility!?” Aiwen roared.
“I don’t understand a damn thing you’re saying,” Ding Nisheng said, pulling out his phone to call the police. “You’re a lunatic. When the cops get here, you can go spout your fucking nonsense to them.”
“Enough!” Biqin snatched his phone away and looked at Wen Nuan nervously. “Auntie Ning, I really didn’t know what to do, so I brought him here for you to take a look.”
“Ding Nisheng,” Wen Nuan called out softly.
The previously agitated Ding Nisheng suddenly grew calm. He stared blankly at Wen Nuan and answered in a low voice, “Here.”
Wen Nuan raised her eyes. Her lips moved, emitting a faint sound.
She rubbed her fingers together, and a snap of her fingers startled Ding Nisheng awake.
He suddenly collapsed weakly onto the sofa, his expression terrified. He clutched his neck and screamed, “Aaaah! A monster… there’s a monster… ahhh…”
“She killed a lot of people! She killed everyone in the tour group, drank all their blood…”
“She has fangs… her eyes are blood-red… she… her body was all shriveled up, and then it swelled up after she drank the blood…”
“She… she bit me, too, she drank my blood…”
Ding Nisheng curled up in a corner, trembling nonstop, his eyes filled with terror.
Hearing Ding Nisheng’s description, Aiwen’s expression grew even more solemn.
Biqin hugged Ding Nisheng tightly, comforting him. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, A-Sheng, Mommy’s here.”
Wen Nuan stood up, placed a fingertip on Ding Nisheng’s brow, and whispered, “Calm.”
Ding Nisheng gradually calmed down. He huddled in Biqin’s arms, looking nervously at Wen Nuan and Aiwen.
He remembered the terrifying event.
Three days ago, he and a group of adventure-loving donkey friend16 had gone to She Mountain for fun. Someone suddenly brought up the topic of vampires, saying that a vampire was sealed deep within She Mountain. They organized everyone to go exploring to see if this vampire rumor was just wind from an empty hole17.
Ding Nisheng had a strong taste for the bizarre, so he naturally went exploring with them. The group wandered through She Mountain and accidentally discovered a guarded, restricted zone. This didn’t make them give up; instead, it only fueled their curiosity.
The group decided that one person would lure the guards away while the others took the chance to slip inside.
They entered the restricted zone and found only a structure that looked like a sacrificial altar. It was extremely dilapidated, like an abandoned, unfinished building.
Just as they were about to leave, they were tripped by the surrounding vines. Their palms were cut, and blood spilled onto the ground. They didn’t notice that the blood was being absorbed by the platform.
They heard a very heavy breathing sound, like a suffocating person suddenly getting a gulp of fresh air.
It was coarse and labored, and it sounded particularly jarring in the gloomy forest.
The platform under their feet suddenly cracked. Terrified, the group tried to flee, but they couldn’t outrun the speed of the fissures and all fell into the pit below the platform.
What happened in the pit was too terrifying and bloody. Ding Nisheng watched with his own eyes as his companions were drained of all their blood by that red-eyed woman. He couldn’t escape her grasp. The woman bit down hard on his neck, and the feeling of those sharp fangs piercing his artery still made him ache faintly now.
He could feel the loss of his blood and hear the swallowing sounds next to his ear. Every gulp made his heart scared and his flesh jump18.
After that, he passed out from blood loss. When he woke up again, he was inexplicably on a public road, with no memory of what had happened in the restricted zone.
Hearing Ding Nisheng’s account, everyone’s heart sank.
Aiwen raised a question. “Why did she let you go?”
Everyone else had been drained of their blood, but Ding Nisheng was the only one who came back alive. No matter how you looked at it, it was strange.
Ding Nisheng shouted in a panic, “How should I know!?”
Just as Aiwen was about to say more, Wen Nuan spoke. “I’ll handle this matter. He is my relative. You can place his crime on my head.”
Biqin looked at Wen Nuan with a troubled expression, moved. “Auntie Ning, I’m sorry. We’ve made things difficult for you.”
Wen Nuan shook her head. “It’s fine.”
Aiwen explained, “We’re not here to mobilize an army and condemn a crime. We came to ask you to act and bring her to justice. If you can’t execute her, suppressing her would also be acceptable.”
“Do you know how many witches died suppressing her back then?”
Aiwen’s expression changed. He recalled the numbers recorded in the Bureau’s archives.
He said with difficulty, “But there are very few witches left who can contend with her. The rest of the new generation of witches can’t even withstand a single blow from her. We had no choice but to come to you.”
The water on the table had grown cold. Wen Nuan picked it up and took a sip. “Fifty witches, and I was the only one who survived unscathed. The rest either died of exhaustion or suffered massive damage to their powers, living out their days barely hanging on.”
“Tell me, how am I supposed to fight her all by myself?”
Aiwen clenched his fists. “But… you’re the one who understands her best. You were the one who proposed the spell to seal her back then. Do you really have no other way?”
Wen Nuan slowly let out a breath. “It’s getting dark. The mountain roads are difficult at night. I won’t see you out.”
Aiwen gave Wen Nuan a deep look, then turned and left, helpless.
Biqin bowed to Wen Nuan. She was about to leave with Ding Nisheng when he stopped, looked at Wen Nuan, and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”
He had caused a great disaster, yet he was making someone else pay the price.
Wen Nuan lowered her eyes and said nothing.
Biqin immediately pulled Ding Nisheng out of the villa, afraid that it would get too dark to travel.
After they left, Wen Nuan remained sitting in the living room, watching the flickering flames in the fireplace as her eyes were gradually consumed by the night.
The grandfather clock on the wall chimed. The hands stopped at 12. Along with the sound of the clock came a knock on the door.
Wen Nuan got up and walked to the door.
The person knocking was very patient, their movements gentle, tap after tap, adding a touch of horror to the silent, midnight forest.
Wen Nuan sighed, opened the door, and looked coldly at the woman before her.
The woman didn’t mind Wen Nuan’s coldness. Instead, she broke into a brilliant smile, the fresh blood at the corner of her mouth not yet wiped away. She raised a hand and waved at Wen Nuan.
She laughed excitedly, “Long time no see, my little witch.”
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