After Kissing the World-Weary Female Supporting Character [Transmigration] - Chapter 76

“Ugh, my head hurts so much. I should’ve known better than to stay up late reading storybooks. It’s so bad for the body,” Song Xingzi rolled over, propping her head on the pillow, and continued to squint her eyes.

Last night, she picked up a storybook in the shabby rental house Uncle Niú had prepared for her. The frustrating plot kept her reading until midnight; she absolutely had to know the ending.

The consequence of staying up late was the splitting headache Song Xingzi now had. Her temples were throbbing and swollen as if someone were constantly jabbing them with a needle. Her eyelids were also abnormally heavy, stuck together as if glued.

Oddly, besides these normal reactions, her dantian was also painfully aching, like her inner core had been forcefully dug out.

Song Xingzi pressed her lower abdomen against the sheet. The soft touch slightly alleviated the pain.

“Ugh, Pine Nut, get up quickly. The sun’s about to hit your butt. When will you be able to open the shop if you keep sleeping?”

Song Xingzi, heavy with sleep, tried to encourage herself, then whined coyly: “Aiya, Little Pine Nut stayed up late. Just let me sleep for a little, tiny while more!”

As she spoke, Song Xingzi’s tail lifted, covering her waist, and she returned to her habitual side-sleeping position.

Tail? Wait a minute! How did I grow a tail just by staying up late?

Song Xingzi jumped up, instantly alert. She sat cross-legged on the bed, facing the mirror on top of the small wardrobe. The fluffy tail behind her swayed in the mirror.

The tail was white, with the tip stained a little red.

In addition, matching ears peeked out from her black hair.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah—Good heavens!” Song Xingzi grabbed her tail and shrieked. “Damn it, did my species change after just one sleep?”

Song Xingzi hugged her tail, staring at the red tip, rambling incoherently: “Oh my god, what should I do, what should I do? What did I transform into from a squirrel spirit? Ptooey, ptooey, it seems I’m still a squirrel spirit, just the color has changed.”

“No, I need to transform into my true form to see.”

Finally calming down, Song Xingzi ignored her heavy head and painful dantian. She muttered a spell. A flash of white light occurred. Along with the white squirrel-like creature that appeared in the mirror came Song Xingzi’s furious scream: “Ah—which damn murderer stole my inner core!!!!”

Her dantian, where a golden inner core should have floated, was empty. The spiritual power in her spirit pool was nearly dry, with only a shallow layer remaining.

The tearing sensation in her meridians from forcibly using magic made Song Xingzi roll around in pain, cursing as she did so: “****, dares to steal my inner core, **, actually snuck in late at night to dig it out, ****, I’ll see what kind of little pine nut you are, ****, don’t let me catch you, or you’ll see what I do to you!”

The cutely-over-the-top white squirrel-like creature rolled around in the fluffy blanket, its large tail sticking up, accompanied by regular sounds that ought to be censored. The scene was utterly comical.

As the pain in her meridians subsided, Song Xingzi crouched on the bed and finally remembered the fate awaiting her. She cried and cursed simultaneously: “**, I can’t open a shop anymore, ****, wuwuwu, I’ve only been out for one day and already encountered a heart-stealing thief! ***, I haven’t accomplished anything, haven’t earned a penny, haven’t experienced the bustling human world, ****, wooowaaah—Pine Nut doesn’t want to go back to the Demon Realm! The little demon spirits in Qīngqiū will definitely laugh me to death! Wuwuwu…”

Song Xingzi cried uncontrollably, like a child weighing several hundred pounds.

The sun had just risen when Song Xingzi discovered her inner core had been stolen. She started crying, moving from wailing to soft sobbing to tearless dry heaving, until she was satisfied and stopped her vocal exercises. It took a full four hours; it was now late morning.

Finally having cried enough, Song Xingzi habitually scratched her two little paws together, muttering to herself: “I can’t stay in the human world. I need to quickly think of an explanation before calling Uncle Niú, so I don’t get laughed at when I go back.”

“I encountered a rogue at night. When he discovered I was a demon, he didn’t crave my unparalleled beauty but wanted to dig out my inner core to extend his life! No, no, that’s too silly. And how could I possibly lose to a human? Next, next.”

“Being new here, I ran into a demon slayer. That demon slayer was not a good person. Seeing I was a newbie, he bullied me and took my inner core… No, no, even sillier! The demon slayer profession doesn’t even seem to exist in the human world anymore; they all work for the entity called ‘The State’.”

…

Song Xingzi rejected one script after another, finally deciding to tell Uncle Niú the truth. However, whether he would believe that someone could actually take her inner core while she slept was another matter.

Song Xingzi pulled the pager Uncle Niú gave her from under the pillow and dialed the Demon Realm Administrator’s exclusive private hotline: 00003800.

“The vast edge of the world is my love, the flowers are blooming at the foot of the continuous green mountains…”

The loud and rough (crossed out), and highly characteristic Uncle Niú music played for only a few seconds before the call was connected. A transparent human figure appeared mid-air.

Good heavens! It looks ordinary, but it’s actually smart and has a video function!

A bearded, stern-faced middle-aged man forced a gentle smile, showing his teeth in an expression that would make a child stop crying. He said in a deep voice: “It’s Pine Nut. Where are you? Stand in front of the phone.”

“Uncle Niú, wuwaa—”

Song Xingzi clumsily propped the pager upright. A tearful, squirrel-like creature appeared on the middle-aged man’s side.

“How many times have I told you, I am Kuí, not Niú (Cow)!” Kuí frowned, and combined with his fierce black beard, he looked even more like a mafia member who could scare children into silence.

Distracted by Kuí, Song Xingzi stopped crying and weakly argued: “But you look like a cow, and ‘Uncle Kuí’ sounds bad.”

“Wait a minute, Pine Nut, why have you shed your fur? Stand up and turn around so Uncle Kuí can see!”

Only then did Kuí notice Song Xingzi’s entirely white body with red ear tips. Has Pine Nut awakened the Treasure-Spitting Rat bloodline of Little Treasure Song? Isn’t it not time yet? When was the seal broken?

“I was just about to tell Uncle Niú. When I woke up, I found,” Song Xingzi was a little embarrassed. Her large tail stood up completely, the red tip right above her head, making it extremely conspicuous, “I found my inner core was dug out, and then, then I became like this.”

Kuí’s face instantly went cold: “What? Your inner core was dug out?”

Pine Nut really did awaken Little Treasure Song’s Treasure-Spitting Rat bloodline, but what about the inner core being dug out? Could it be that the awakening consumed too much spiritual power, causing the inner core to shrink? But how is that possible? Bloodline inheritance should bring significant benefits to Pine Nut. How could it backlash against her spiritual power?

Kuí’s face grew darker and darker. He asked sharply: “What exactly happened? If I remember correctly, I only sent you to the human world yesterday. Before a day has passed, how could your inner core be dug out? And while you were sleeping?”

I knew it. Uncle Niú definitely won’t believe me. What kind of demon would have their inner core taken while they slept without knowing it?

Song Xingzi spoke with a slight whimper: “I, I don’t know either.”

“Stop crying. Once you start, you can’t stop. I’ll come pick you up and take you back to the Demon Realm, to see Old Bái, to find out what’s going on.”

Kuí was worried about Song Xingzi’s physical condition. He activated the Administrator’s Emergency Unidirectional Teleportation Array, forming a sign with his hands. Golden lines floated in the void. He stepped into the rune array. With a flash of golden light, and before the video call disconnected, Kuí appeared out of thin air in Song Xingzi’s shabby rental house.

Song Xingzi jumped from the bed into Kuí’s arms, rubbing snot and tears all over him.

“Uncle Niú! Wuwuwu! I have no spiritual power! The spiritual power I saved for three or five hundred years is gone! Gone!!”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry. We’ll go find Old Bái and have him take a look at you.”

Kuí clumsily used his undershirt to wipe Song Xingzi’s tears. He hadn’t spent much time raising this child since he picked her up from the barren mountain, entrusting her entirely to the Nine-Tailed Fox and the Dream Bǎimò to raise. However, Song Xingzi was still very attached to him, practically treating him like a father.

Sigh, Little Treasure Song, not only did I pick up your daughter, but I also have to constantly clean up her messes. You can never repay what you owe me.

Upon hearing the name of the divine beast Bái Zé, Song Xingzi perked up: “Wuwuwu, is Uncle Niú taking me to see Grandpa Bái Zé? Can Grandpa Bái bring my inner core back? I heard Grandpa Bái has a Nüwa Stone. Will that help?”

“Don’t even think about the Nüwa Stone. It’s just a legend, fake. It might not come back. We’re having him check the reason, since you can’t explain anything.”

Kuí’s face turned cold. He was annoyed whenever Old Bái was mentioned. They were the same generation, yet that old man Bái Zé always transformed into a white-bearded grandpa to teach the young demon spirits, making the juniors call him “Grandpa Bái Zé, Grandpa Bái Zé,” needlessly advancing his generation! He even had the audacity to claim it was because he feared his “peerless divine appearance” would cause impure thoughts in the juniors.

Bah! He’s just old and cunning, old and scheming, determined to gain that slight advantage over us.

“Yīng yīng yīng, alright then,” Song Xingzi clutched Kuí’s clothes, skillfully finding a comfortable position to nestle in. “Then, Uncle Niú, will the other lily spirits and ginseng babies laugh at me?”

Danger! The child is starting to feel inferior! This is the time to encourage her!

Kuí said righteously: “Don’t pay too much attention to what others think. Walk your own path and let others talk.”

Song Xingzi: “…Yīng yīng yīng, I was not comforted at all. I feel even sadder.”

“My unidirectional teleportation array can only be used once a day. We’ll go to the nearest teleportation point first,” Kuí, completely unaware that his motivational speech was counterproductive, tucked the little squirrel under his armpit, his powerful arm contracting.

The familiar suffocating feeling returned. Song Xingzi clutched at her neck, struggling to protest: “Uncle Niú, Pine Nut is suffocating!”

“I know, I know, what a hassle,” Kuí grumbled, but his hand honestly changed from clasping to cradling, allowing the little squirrel to grip his thumb. Kuí then shot out of the rental house window like a whirlwind: “Hold tight. Uncle is taking you home.”

“Oh no, I’m stuck,” a trace of awkwardness appeared on Kuí’s tough face. “The Demon Realm Management Group is too stingy. What kind of garbage houses do they assign to the little demon spirits who just came down the mountain.”

Song Xingzi: “Heh heh, this one was actually fought for by you, Uncle Niú.”

Kuí sheepishly shrunk his body and muttered: “I’ll submit a suggestion when we get back and fight for better benefits for the newcomers.”

Kuí: “Alright, hold on tight. Kuí-brand airplane is taking off!”

The moment the words fell, the middle-aged man vanished, leaping between skyscrapers. In a flash, he traversed half the city. On a large billboard in the city center, an elegant female host was broadcasting the latest entertainment news:

“According to reports, Starlight’s well-known actress, Ji Ruyue, was accidentally injured during filming and fell into a coma. Now, let’s connect with the person in charge of the film crew…”

The giant screen behind the female host showed photos of the actress named Ji Ruyue: black hair, red lips, and slightly downward-curving eyes that showed a distinct sense of detachment and world-weariness.

She is so beautiful! Even more beautiful than Fox Sister!

Song Xingzi only caught a fleeting glimpse of the actress’s photo, yet a huge rush of joy and sorrow welled up in her heart. Complex emotions impacted her like a slowly rising tide.

“Uncle Niú…”

Song Xingzi couldn’t help but call out to the rapidly advancing Kuí. She suddenly felt a strong urge to stop, to look at the actress’s photo two more times, and to listen to a few more words about this actress.

“What’s wrong?”

Kuí stopped as expected, but the large billboard was already out of sight.

Song Xingzi said listlessly: “Nothing, Uncle Niú. Let’s go back.”

Kuí, being a typical straight man, didn’t detect the child’s abnormality, thinking she was just fooling around. He set off running even faster: “Don’t worry. We’ll be at the teleportation point soon. It’s not far, just outside the city.”

Song Xingzi didn’t answer him. Her small head was filled with the woman she had just briefly glimpsed: Who is Ji Ruyue? Why am I so sad? It hurts so much, like a piece of my heart was dug out.