Tentacles and Succubus - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The First Encounter Between the Ancient God and the Woman

“O Great Anowei, supreme and immortal Master…”

Someone roused Anowei from the warm darkness.

The colossal entity upon the divine throne opened six blood-red eyes, looking down upon Her loyal believer.

“What is it?” She asked.

The believer’s smile was fervent and fanatical.

“I have found the final Soul-Contract fragment! It is in the hands of a woman! Reclaim it, and You shall completely break the seal, dominate all things once more, and let Chaos descend upon the world again!”

This was the eight-hundred-and-seventh version Anowei had heard regarding the location of the fragments. The Goddess of Chaos and Shadows repeated Her oracle for the eight-hundred-and-seventh time.

“Retrieve the fragment for Me, and I shall grant you endless wealth and eternal life.”

Many years later, the now gray-haired believer returned to report.

“Master, forgive me… I have failed Your trust. That woman uses bewitching sorcery to enchant hearts. I had no way to reclaim the fragment for You…”

Anowei loathed failure, but She loathed weakness even more.

Within the cold, damp stone temple, artifacts and jewels were piled like mountains. The Ancient God extended a tentacle as black as night, coiled it around a silver ewer engraved with a heptagram, and tossed it at the believer’s feet.

“Drink the water within this vessel. Any living thing shall perish instantly.”

The believer took the silver ewer and set out once more.

Many more years passed; suns rose and moons set, and bright mirrors gathered dust. The believer’s daughter finally found the entrance to the temple, presenting Anowei with a photograph and her mother’s suicide note.

On the creased photo paper, a woman’s smile was radiant. Hanging at her chest was a blood-red gemstone, glowing like fire and flame.

—The final Soul-Contract fragment, lost for a millennium.

“Who is she?” Anowei asked.

“Her name is Lin Yuanning. She is an actress.”

The air turned stagnant and windless, yet the magnificent shadows began to churn. A girl dressed in black, hands in her pockets, stepped down the stairs of the throne.

“Take me to her,” she said.

A few days later.

Outside the venue of the awards ceremony, the area was packed with a clamorous crowd. When the car came to a steady halt, Anowei pulled open the right-side door.

The bodyguard attire suited her well: a clean, sharp suit, short hair past her ears, and a cold, indifferent face. The tail of her left eyebrow was severed by a scar.

High heels encrusted with black diamond fragments stepped out of the car, landing firmly on the ground. The woman looked up and smiled at Anowei. Her features were beautiful to the point of being sharp, as if intended to wound the eyes of anyone daring to meet her gaze.

“Thank you.”

Anowei gave a slight nod and stepped aside to give the woman space.

From the moment Lin Yuanning stepped out of the car, the frantic sound of shutters never ceased for a second. The white light from the flashes was so dense it almost felt physical. The screams of hundreds of fans built a deafening wall of sound.

“Mommy! Mommy is so beautiful today!!”

“Mommy, do you remember me? I’ve come to see you again!”

Calling a woman to whom they had no blood relation “Mommy” seemed to be the way these humans expressed affection.

…Utterly absurd.

Anowei walked diagonally in front of Lin Yuanning, using her arm to block the overly excited crowd that kept pressing in, escorting the woman to the start of the red carpet. Moving through countless gazes filled with adoration, the woman in the black gown gradually drifted away, her hem swaying like dark light at the bottom of the ocean.

In her earpiece, the voice of the team captain, Li Yuan, came through. “Alright, the dirty work is done. You can take a break. Come to the lounge in a bit, I’ll buy you a Coke!”

“Copy that,” Anowei responded skillfully.

She hadn’t returned to the human world in quite some years; so far, her adaptation was going well enough.

As she approached the seating in the lounge, Li Yuan handed her a can. “Full-sugar Coke. Can you handle it?”

Anowei opened the can and poured the icy, sugary water into her mouth. To a God, there was truly no difference.

A cheer erupted from the audience seating ahead.

On the broadcast screen, Lin Yuanning was gracefully walking onto the stage to accept the “Best Actress” trophy from the presenter. The woman’s face, magnified several times by the lens, remained aggressively beautiful and flawless. The corners of her eyes swept upward sharply over deep, dark eyes; her skin was porcelain white with a translucent pearly glow, and her long hair flowed over one shoulder.

People loved her for being unapologetically beautiful and self-aware—like a dagger encrusted with jewels, she was both a supreme treasure and a lethal weapon. In the movie, she played a sharp undercover cop navigating the gray area between black and white, where good and evil were indistinguishable.

“…Thank you, Director Fei and Ming Xi, for letting me meet such a vivid character. Perhaps she is the one playing me, rather than me playing her.”

Listening to Lin Yuanning’s acceptance speech, Li Yuan let out a long sigh. “Ugh, every time someone wins an award, the schedule explodes. More overtime for us.”

Anowei gazed at the radiant woman on stage, her tone aloof.

“Perhaps not this time.”

The thief who harbored the Soul-Contract would surely pay the price.

“What do you mean?” Li Yuan turned to look at her.

“Nothing.”

Anowei took another sip of Coke. It wasn’t bad.

In the early hours of the morning, the bodyguards returned with Lin Yuanning to a villa on the slopes of Mount Baima in the Lanxing District. The building had three floors shaped like a capital “I.” Lin Yuanning and several personal assistants lived in the South Wing, while the bodyguards and other staff lived in the North Wing, connected by a long, narrow corridor.

The night was quiet enough. Only the night breeze swept through the woods, stirring the midsummer cicadas.

Anowei submerged into the shadows, moving through every lightless corner. The darkness whispered to her everything that had happened here, but all information regarding the Soul-Contract seemed to have been deliberately erased by someone, leaving no trace.

Except for that one thing—

In a cabinet in the drawing room, wisps of black mist drifted out. Anowei walked over and saw that familiar silver ewer, looking as bright as new. Unfortunately, it had failed its mission.

The Goddess’s fingertip tapped lightly on the cabinet door. The flowing shadows lifted the silver ewer, passed through the glass, and returned it to its Master’s hand.

Clatter—

From the room at the end of the corridor, the dull sound of something falling to the floor rang out. That was Lin Yuanning’s bedroom.

As Anowei approached, a woman’s voice actually sounded from behind the door: “Is someone outside?”

Anowei did not answer.

“Can anyone hear me? Can someone come in and help me?” the woman asked again, her tone so helpless.

It felt like a clumsy trap. But a God does not fear traps.

Anowei pushed open the unlocked door. A cloying fragrance surged toward her. Lin Yuanning was wearing an apricot-colored nightgown, slumped on the floor next to a fallen wooden table and scattered items.

Without her jewelry and heavy makeup, the woman’s features became plain, her face filled with exhaustion. Her sharpness had vanished; she seemed to have become a different person.

Their eyes met. The woman looked up at Anowei, tears seemingly glistening in her eyes, her voice soft and pleading.

“Could you give me a hand? My leg… I just had a cramp…”

“Me?” The God was somewhat taken aback.

The woman’s brow furrowed as she endured the pain, squeezing out half a smile. “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

After a moment of hesitation, Anowei stepped forward and walked toward the woman. In a lifespan longer than a planet’s, something like this was likely a first. She extended an arm.

The woman held her hand and struggled to regain her footing, but her right leg couldn’t bear any weight. Her body tilted, and she looked ready to fall to the floor again.

Reaction proved faster than consciousness—

Before the woman could fall again, Anowei caught her by the waist and pulled her into her embrace. The Goddess had certainly not intended to do this.

The room was filled with a strange scent, like roses so intense they were almost decaying. It had to be for some ulterior motive… such as affecting a God’s judgment.

The woman had just bathed. Nestled in her arms, she felt like a mass of soft mist. Her breath blew against the side of Anowei’s neck, as warm as a slow-burning fire.

“Thank you. Just hold me and we can shuffle over slowly like this…” The mist could still talk.

As she spoke, the woman tried to set off stumbling. Anowei had almost forgotten that even a God could sigh. She stopped Lin Yuanning’s absurd movement, swept the woman up in a princess carry, and in a few steps reached the bed, leaning down to place her on it.

Just as Anowei was about to stand up, she felt a slight resistance on her wrist—the woman’s fingers had hooked onto her cuff.

Anowei looked up, meeting the woman’s damp gaze. The woman asked her a question, perhaps out of apology, her voice even softer than before: “Sorry, I didn’t remember for a moment… what is your name?”

“Anowei.” The God disdained the use of fake names.

“What a beautiful name.” The woman seemed to have recovered slightly, offering a soft smile. “Thank you, Anowei. You should go back and get some rest.”

With that, the woman rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.

The dim desk lamp cast a warm shadow beneath the woman’s eyelashes. Her chest, beneath the silk duvet, rose and fell steadily with her breath, as peaceful as a child.

…Her innocence was her sin.

How did she dare show such an undefended sleeping face to a stranger?

And Anowei happened to know just how fragile the human species was. A frail shell of skin and bone wrapping a tiny soul and flesh; any kind of calamity could easily crush her.

The God stood by the bed, lingering in the gaudy, thick fragrance. Tentacles grew out of the darkness, writhing noiselessly, slowly approaching the woman’s throat.

If Anowei wished it, in the next second, this woman would turn to ash and fall into hell forever.

But…

She saw the woman’s pale, colorless lips and the faint fine lines at the corners of her eyes. A God need not kill an enemy so weak.

“Yuanning, why is the door open? What was that sound just now?” A voice came from the doorway.

The tentacles turned into black mist and dissipated instantly.

Ouyang Qingxue pushed the door open and entered. She was in her early forties and still wore the suit from her daytime work. She was the person closest to Lin Yuanning, serving as her assistant and housekeeper, as well as the head of the bodyguard team.

“Why are you here?” Ouyang Qingxue scrutinized Anowei warily.

The weary woman opened her eyes and defended her: “I fell just now. I asked her in to help.”

Ouyang Qingxue glanced outside the door. “The help is finished now.”

Anowei said nothing, turned, and left the room. Ouyang Qingxue followed her out.

“Please forgive my brashness, Master.”

When the two were hidden in the shadows of the corner, Ouyang Qingxue immediately knelt at Anowei’s feet, pious and submissive.

“After my mother died, Lin Yuanning moved the Soul-Contract. I don’t know where it is hidden. If we kill her now, we will likely lose the lead on the fragment. Please be patient a while longer; I will give everything to assist You in reclaiming the final fragment.”

Anowei had no desire to speak further with her. “Leave.”

“Yes, Master.”

Once Ouyang Qingxue’s figure had completely vanished, Anowei raised her right hand and made a grasping motion in the darkness.

The sensation of the mist still lingered on her fingertips. A God shouldn’t feel an itch.

When Ouyang Qingxue returned to Lin Yuanning’s bedroom, the woman was sitting at the vanity, carefully brushing her damp hair.

“Are you alright? Did she hurt you?” Ouyang Qingxue asked urgently.

Lin Yuanning put down the wooden comb and smiled through the mirror with a light, languid grace.

“Don’t be so nervous. Don’t you trust my acting skills anymore?”

“You haven’t dealt with her before. She is an extremely dangerous—”

“I know all that. No need to worry.” Lin Yuanning opened a drawer and took out a hair dryer. “Xiaoxue, come help me dry my hair.”

Seeing the woman so composed, Ouyang Qingxue paused for a moment before finally evening out her breath. She walked to the vanity and took the dryer from the woman’s hand.

“Yes, Mother.”