After the Black Moonlight’s "Death Escape" Failed [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Laying All the Cards on the Table

◎ Al is so good, I will never leave her behind again ◎

Upon realizing that Jiao Qingyin was not actually asleep, Al’s movements as she held her stiffened slightly.

The little snow leopard was warm. As Al’s fingers sank into the soft fur, she felt a smooth, velvety texture that was incredibly cozy. It didn’t just warm Al’s cold hands; it made her heart gradually heat up as well.

Al couldn’t resist glancing at the real-time calculation data. Seeing it steady at 43%, she felt a surge of intense nervousness and kissed the little snow leopard’s head again.

This time, the numerical value didn’t change with her movement. The only thing that changed was Jiao Qingyin’s ears—the round leopard ears flattened slightly, as if she were blushing. Al noticed this and forced herself to practice moderation, telling herself not to scare Jiao Qingyin, yet she couldn’t pull her gaze away.

So cute… If I touch them, will Jiao Jiao get angry? What if I pinch them, or kiss them again?

Would Jiao Jiao tolerate her transgressions just to keep up the act of being asleep?

If all of these were permissible, then… Al licked her canines. An impulse from deep within her bloodline began to stir. It was a habit of the wolf clan to use their mouths to confirm things they liked, and at this moment, Al really wanted to give those round little leopard ears a nibble.

If it weren’t for the fact that Jiao Qingyin had previously taught her not to act on every impulse, and not to bite things she liked just because she wanted to…

Al’s eyes glowed in the darkened room. Even though Jiao Qingyin had her eyes tightly shut, she felt a chill at the back of her head—an instinct that she was being stared at by a predator.

The timid nature of the snow leopard urged her to flee, but Jiao Qingyin, knowing Al would never hurt her, didn’t move. Inwardly, she wished for Al to hurry up and go to sleep instead of staring at her. That burning gaze felt like it was about to burn two holes in her back.

Al could sense that Jiao Qingyin was exhausted. Rationally, she didn’t want to disturb her rest, but… she ultimately couldn’t fully control herself. She unconsciously whispered to the little leopard in her arms: “…Jiao Jiao.”

The tip of the little leopard’s tail twitched.

Al called her name again.

Jiao Qingyin’s tail lightly swept across Al’s wrist a few times, then wrapped around her left arm. At first, the grip was loose, but after a few seconds, Jiao Qingyin tightened it—as if making a silent promise to stay by Al’s side.

Al’s eyes grew red. She buried her face in the soft fur of the snow leopard, her tear-stained eyelashes dampening the coat slightly.

A long time later, she spoke in a tiny, muffled voice:

“Jiao Jiao… don’t leave me again, okay?”

She pleaded in a low, sobbing voice. This fragile state bore no resemblance to the cold and ruthless Grand Magister Jiao Qingyin had seen in the System’s reports. Al would always turn her softest side toward Jiao Qingyin, even if she had been wounded for it before.

“Jiao Jiao… I really can’t live without you…”

The little leopard gave no response, appearing to be fully asleep. Only the real-time calculation value in the void quietly ticked forward a bit more.

Al had thought it would be impossible for her to sleep tonight, but the reality was that holding Jiao Qingyin—who was like a little warm heater—she fell into a deep slumber in the darkness shortly after lying down.

This was her first good night’s sleep in all these years. It was so incredibly stable that by the time Al woke up, it was already the next morning.

As her consciousness cleared and she saw the unfamiliar ceiling, realizing she wasn’t in the Prince’s Manor, Al recalled the events of yesterday and woke up completely in an instant.

Where is Jiao Qingyin—

Al panicked for a second until she felt a weight on her chest. Looking down, she found a little snow leopard biting her own tail, sleeping soundly. The morning light hit Jiao Qingyin, making her white fur shimmer and her black rosettes stand out. Perhaps because she had just bathed before bed, she looked even more like a little plush toy.

Al raised a hand and stroked Jiao Qingyin’s head with the grain of the fur. Seeing the other staying by her side upon waking up provided immense comfort to her mental state.

Soon, Jiao Qingyin woke up as well. She dizzily spat out the tail in her mouth and let out a massive yawn, revealing bright fangs and a pink tongue. Watching this, Al’s expression softened into a smile. “Jiao Jiao, good morning.”

“Ji-aow.” Good morning.

Jiao Qingyin instinctively replied to Al, but even after being picked up and tucked into Al’s arms, she still looked half-awake. She could feel Al using a warm towel to wipe her face and starting to brush her fur, but she was simply too lazy to move.

Mmh, it must be because this body is too small, that’s why I’m so lethargic, Jiao Qingyin thought, half-closing her eyes and shifting the blame entirely onto her physical form.

She didn’t realize that her front paws were moving, rhythmically kneading Al’s thigh with her paw pads—a standard feline “making biscuits” motion. Jiao Qingyin was unaware of what she was doing, but Al saw everything. She used a recording spell to save the scene, a silly smile appearing on her face.

The life of the woman and the leopard continued in a peaceful, tranquil atmosphere for nearly a month.

During this month, every day when Al woke up, she found Jiao Qingyin sleeping on top of her. Wherever she went, the little leopard was either on her head or her shoulder. Whether eating, bathing, traveling, or staying in the castle, Jiao Qingyin was always by her side. They were like two magnets, stuck together so tightly that no gap remained.

At first, Al was incredibly happy. Being able to find Jiao Qingyin and spend every day together, watching the sun rise and set, was something she hadn’t even dared to dream about.

However, as time passed, Al gradually began to feel anxious. Jiao Qingyin stayed by her side and never mentioned leaving or searching for her human body. The other acted as if she had forgotten how firm her resolve to leave had once been, appearing willing to live like this forever.

But the more beautiful this dream-like life became, the more Al feared the moment the bubble would burst. From some unknown point, she developed a habit of frequently checking the [Probability of Jiao Qingyin choosing to stay], almost to a neurotic degree.

No matter how many times she looked, the value remained stuck at 50%. It was like a heavy hammer, striking her over the head every time she began to indulge in happiness.

One day, the thing called the System seemed to decide this probability wouldn’t change anymore and stopped the real-time calculation. It didn’t realize its back-end had been infiltrated, nor did it realize it almost suffered a violent end at Al’s hands the moment it shut off the calculation.

Unable to see the probability of Jiao Qingyin staying, Al could only seek answers from Jiao Qingyin herself through their interactions. The little snow leopard’s attitude remained consistent, as if she had already chosen to stay forever. Al should have been happy, but instead, her anxiety grew day by day.

This anxiety reached its peak as the full moon approached. During the days of the full moon, Al’s personality would be influenced by her white wolf nature, becoming exceptionally sensitive. Without a partner to soothe her, she would experience symptoms similar to a fever.

Thus, on this night with the bright moon hanging high, Al woke up from a dream drenched in sweat.

She had dreamed of returning to the day she was supposed to first meet Jiao Qingyin, but the person who appeared before her was the real Ottilia Hughes. In the dream, she suffered through pain and humiliation, gathering strength from scratch and slowly growing powerful. Yet even when she finally stood at the peak of the world, she couldn’t find a shred of evidence that Jiao Qingyin had ever existed.

The more obsessive she became, the more she failed to grasp any trace of the other. The most terrifying part was that Al realized she was beginning to forget. First, she forgot Jiao Qingyin’s name, then her face. Finally, in endless loneliness and despair, clinging to one last hope, she chose to destroy the entire world and tear open the curtain to a new one. Al thought that perhaps in the next cycle of the world, she could reunite with Jiao Qingyin.

The dream was so realistic that Al couldn’t pull herself out of the emotions for a long time. She leaned against the headboard, panting, as large, disjointed patches of color floated before her eyes.

“Aow?” Al?

A milky cry brought Al back to her senses. Her vision refocused, landing on Jiao Qingyin, who had woken up at some point. The little leopard was clearly still sleepy, but she proactively nudged her way to Al’s side, resting her front paws on Al’s knees and looking up at her expectantly. “Ji-aow?” Are you okay?

“…” Al picked up the little snow leopard.

The leopard’s soft body stretched out like jelly. She blinked twice and didn’t struggle, for the first time allowing Al to bury her face in her white belly. Even when Al refused to lift her head, Jiao Qingyin only patted Al’s head with her tail and let out a “ji”: That tickles.

She had intended to stay awake and let Al vent her troubles, but Al made no sound, causing Jiao Qingyin to grow sleepier and sleepier until she finally fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up again, Jiao Qingyin remembered Al’s strangeness in the middle of the night and wanted to check on her. But as she looked up, she saw a familiar fireplace. There was no fire in the hearth, and it was empty and clean, but Jiao Qingyin recognized it instantly and realized where she was—the bedroom of the Prince’s Manor.

She immediately turned to find Al, but what met her eyes was—

Her own body.

The woman with long black hair had her eyes closed, lying motionless on the bed. She was covered by a thin blanket and looked peaceful at a glance, but close observation revealed no rise and fall of her chest, nor a beating pulse. She was like an exquisite doll.

Jiao Qingyin dazed for a few seconds before the System in her head began rapid scanning and reporting. The data showed her body’s condition was normal and ready for use at any time.

“Host, switch back to your body first, in case…”

The System’s words were cut off by a sudden “aowoo.” Jiao Qingyin perked up her ears, lowered her upper body, and looked over warily. She felt that “aowoo” sounded very familiar. In the next second, seeing the little wolf pup jump onto the bed, she instantly understood why.

“Ji!” Jiao Qingyin excitedly lunged forward.

Both were in their juvenile stages. Although the wolf pup had started to grow taller, the snow leopard was still relatively larger. She pinned the wolf pup down with her slight size advantage and cried out in surprise twice.

“Aowoo…” Buried under the fluff, Al’s voice sounded muffled.

“What did you call me?” Hearing the little wolf pup call her “Jiao Jiao,” Jiao Qingyin suddenly snapped back to reality.

Al froze for a second. She had just been given a warm, enthusiastic hug, and her heart was racing so fast that she had let the name slip. But she quickly covered for herself: “I heard… that human call you that. Am I not allowed to call you that?” After saying this, seeing Jiao Qingyin still staring at her, Al shifted her tone and added a sweet “aowoo” at the end.

Al deliberately compressed her size to return to the form Jiao Qingyin loved most back then. She wanted to use this method to win more affection and create more reasons for her to stay. But seeing Jiao Qingyin so happy now, she began to feel sour again; jealousy almost submerged her entire being.

Jiao Qingyin tilted her head, seemingly accepting Al’s explanation, but she still had many questions. “How did you recognize me?”

“…Because the scent is the same.”

“Then when you suddenly disappeared before, where did you go?”

“I… woke up and found myself… in a forest,” Al had acted in a hurry and hadn’t prepared a story at all, so she started to stutter. “Then I got lost… I looked for a long time and couldn’t find…”

Jiao Qingyin listened intently. Al paused several times, waiting for the other to interrupt or change the subject, but all she got was the little snow leopard’s focused nodding. This forced her to grit her teeth and weave the story together. Finally, by the time Al finished her lie, the wolf pup’s experience had become a version where she “woke up reborn in a forest, kicked tigers and punched dragons along the way, and endured untold hardships to finally return home and find her master.”

Whenever she lied to Jiao Qingyin, she couldn’t help but avoid her gaze. It was the same now; the white wolf pup’s tail was uncomfortably tucked, and her ears were flattened into “airplane ears,” looking extremely guilty.

Jiao Qingyin didn’t immediately respond. Her long leopard tail swept across the blanket, making a soft rustling sound that made the wolf pup Al increasingly embarrassed, almost wanting to shrink into a ball.

She waited through the silence for a long time before hearing movement—Jiao Qingyin took a few steps closer to her.

Then, the snow leopard’s voice entered her ears: “Al, these five years… have you had a very hard time?”

Al stiffened, thinking her identity had been discovered. But she quickly remembered that the little wolf pup’s name with Jiao Qingyin was also “Al,” so she forced herself to look up and meet the other’s gaze. Jiao Qingyin was gazing at her steadily, her jewel-like black eyes shimmering with a layer of light.

Al, who had intended to play the victim to gain sympathy, forgot her prepared lines the moment she met Jiao Qingyin’s eyes. She dazed for a moment before finding her voice.

“I’ve been fine, it’s just… I missed you very much.” After saying this, she slowly lowered her head, the entire wolf falling into a vortex of depression.

“Missing” was an understatement; there wasn’t a single moment she wasn’t thinking of Jiao Qingyin. Looking at her small front paws, Al suddenly regretted bringing Jiao Qingyin here.

She had woken up from her dream last night, and the fear from the dream combined with real-world anxiety made her finally decide to confirm directly whether Jiao Qingyin would leave once she got her body back. If the answer was “yes,” she would forcibly open a gate to another world, cut the connection between Jiao Qingyin and that “System,” and take her to a place where no one knew them, effectively kidnapping her.

If the answer was “no”… Al didn’t dare imagine such a possibility. She was afraid that if she imagined it too beautifully, the disillusionment would bring double the pain.

But now, Al only wanted to take Jiao Qingyin out of this room immediately and never come back. Drowning in an illusion of happiness was better than hearing Jiao Qingyin say she was going to abandon her again.

Al’s body trembled slightly. Since hearing her answer, Jiao Qingyin hadn’t made a sound, causing Al’s breathing to become more rapid, until—

The long fur on her neck was licked by Jiao Qingyin.

Using her barbed tongue, Jiao Qingyin began to smooth out Al’s messy fur bit by bit. Since it was her first time grooming another creature, her movements were clumsy but extremely careful.

She is comforting me. Al immediately understood the meaning Jiao Qingyin wanted to express through her awkward actions. The little leopard’s soft fur rubbed against her nose. With a body temperature slightly higher than the white wolf’s, Jiao Qingyin felt as though she was radiating light and heat at every moment.

Al slowly came to her senses. Those chaotic and sad thoughts were strangely straightened out by the little leopard’s pink tongue. Her heart thumping, she turned her head, wanting to lick the little snow leopard back, but she was pinned down by Jiao Qingyin’s paw.

The little leopard’s serious, milky voice rang in her ear: “Only I can lick you.”

Al couldn’t accept this. “Why?” She also wanted to lick Jiao Qingyin’s fur—and not just the fur, but the ears, the nose, the belly, the tail… every part of her body. Why wouldn’t she let her?

Jiao Qingyin didn’t know either. She liked grooming Al, but the thought of the other licking her back… an awkward feeling bubbled up in her heart. This feeling was similar to the discomfort she felt when Al placed her hand on top of her paw. So she shook her head firmly. “No.”

Al’s eyes turned red. Grooming each other was an important way to communicate affection. Jiao Qingyin licking her but not letting her lick back was equivalent to rejecting her love. Her heart, which had just been melted by the snow leopard, hardened again. Al quietly lowered her upper body. Once Jiao Qingyin finished licking her neck and was about to change positions, Al lunged and pinned the other down.

Jiao Qingyin was startled; the entire leopard shot up, but Al’s paws held her firmly. Thus, the leopard and the wolf tumbled to the foot of the bed together, falling into a heap.

“Ji!” Jiao Qingyin let out a low growl: Let go!

Al didn’t loosen her grip at all and took the opportunity to lick Jiao Qingyin’s head all over. Not only that, she opened her mouth wide and gave Jiao Qingyin’s ear an “ah-wu” bite.

Jiao Qingyin was stunned. In the next second, a nameless anger rose from her chest. she swung her paws and began to scrap with Al.

White fur and black-and-white mixed fur flew everywhere. By the time the two cubs finally separated, the bed was a disaster. Jiao Qingyin happened to take a step back and slapped her own body with a paw.

A sudden burst of colorful light shone. Al realized what had happened and frantically lunged toward Jiao Qingyin, but the snow leopard she had been wrestling with a moment ago had vanished. In her place was—

Feeling movement in the thin blanket under her feet, Al froze, staring at the blanket, not daring to look up. Jiao Qingyin was back in her body. Would she leave right now? Would she—

Al’s four limbs were suddenly suspended in the air. She was picked up.

“Al.”

The voice she had heard countless times in her dreams rang out. It was slightly husky, like someone just waking from a long sleep, with a lazy trailing note.

Al didn’t dare move. From her pointed ears to her long tail, every part of her body was tightly braced, as if afraid that any movement would break the dream before her.

Jiao Qingyin, who had just been so angry she wanted to pummel Al from a wolf pup into a little pig, found her mind much calmer after returning to her body. She selectively ignored the fur-covered bed and gave the wolf pup a thorough rubbing until the creature turned into a frizzled ball of fur before finally letting go.

Al, with her fur sticking out in all directions: “…”

Seeing Al looking dazed and not yet recovered, Jiao Qingyin turned her attention elsewhere. “System, where did the bionic snow leopard go?”

“Uh… Host, let me explain.”

Hearing the System stammer, Jiao Qingyin had a bad premonition. She took a deep breath and looked down…

She saw a white-and-black rosetted tail poking out from under the blanket, moving according to her will.

The System said guiltily: “Host, the average tail length of a snow leopard is 83% of its body length. Which means…”

Which meant Jiao Qingyin now possessed a leopard tail about 1.4 meters long. Jiao Qingyin reached up and, sure enough, felt furry ears. The System tried to explain further, but Jiao Qingyin was brought back to the moment by Al starting to struggle.

“Don’t want me to hold you?” Jiao Qingyin rubbed Al’s cheek and asked deliberately.

Al stopped moving. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be held; she wanted to leave the room, change back to her human form, and then rush back. She could actually change back to human form right now, but she was terrified that if Jiao Qingyin discovered she had been hiding her identity, she would be angry and hate both her human and wolf forms.

Once a lie is told, it takes countless lies to cover it up. Al regretted not telling Jiao Qingyin the truth sooner. There had been so many opportunities, yet she had dragged it out until today.

At this time, Jiao Qingyin pinched the flesh on Al’s chin and asked: “Al, do you know where that other Al went?”

Al shook her head slowly. Jiao Qingyin’s tail seemingly accidentally swept across Al’s back, causing the wolf’s tail to curl up.

“I have something I want to say to her. Go find her for me, okay?”

Hearing Jiao Qingyin’s words, the image of her wanting to “talk” back then flashed through Al’s mind again. The trauma left from that time made Al instantly tense her body.

No, I can’t let the same thing happen again—!

She let out a few “aowoos,” essentially saying she didn’t know where the human Al was.

Jiao Qingyin realized she could understand wolf-speak now. She immediately realized that when she was in snow leopard form, Al probably understood what she said too. Then she… Jiao Qingyin remembered how many truths she had babbled that she would normally never say. Her expression didn’t change, but her leopard ears grew scorching hot.

She stared at the wolf pup in her hands with deep eyes. “You don’t know where she is?”

Al nodded repeatedly.

“I see…” Jiao Qingyin’s expression didn’t show disappointment. She leaned against the headboard, her leopard ears twitching, which drew most of Al’s attention. Al was a bit mesmerized, and at that moment, she heard Jiao Qingyin say: “Then I’ll tell you first, okay?”

“Woo…!” Al realized what was happening and began to struggle, wanting to jump out of Jiao Qingyin’s embrace.

Jiao Qingyin seemed to have expected this. She lowered her head, kissed Al’s forehead, and rubbed her chin with her tail. Al stopped moving, as if a freezing spell had been cast on her. Jiao Qingyin curled her lips into a smile and held the little wolf up in front of her.

Al began to tremble. She didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear it—

But the first sentence out of Jiao Qingyin’s mouth made her eyes fly open:

“I want to tell Al… if you are willing to wait for me, I will return here after I finish the things I need to do.”

“It might take a long time, maybe years, maybe decades… but as long as I am alive, even if I only have half a breath left, I will come back.”

“When that time comes, I will stay by your side and never leave again.”

Jiao Qingyin stroked the little wolf’s head and asked softly: “Tell me, do you think Al would be willing?”

Al’s mind went blank, her heart thundering so loudly it seemed to drown out all other sounds. After a long while, she realized Jiao Qingyin was asking her a question. Willing? Of course she was—

“However,” Jiao Qingyin’s smiling words interrupted the Al who was about to speak, “even if Al isn’t willing, I will still come back. When the time comes… if she is still waiting for me, I’ll rush up and hug her immediately. If she has a new life…”

“Then I’ll watch her secretly from a corner, until my hair is all white and I have no strength left to watch.”

“—Al is so good, I will never leave her behind again.”