The Devil's Contract Lover - Chapter 29

Don’t despair, I still have… arcane power! The four words, “Fundamentals of Magic,” rushed into her mind. The supernatural strength, which she had only practiced for two hours, gave her immense confidence. At this moment, Magic Exists in the World felt like a potent, effective tranquilizer.

Yao Yuan understood that techniques requiring three to five years of practice certainly wouldn’t be very effective now, but the mere existence of something made a huge difference.

The night before last, she had seen titles like “The Binding Spell” in that book. If it could just work for a few seconds, she might avoid the worst possible fate.

While she was lost in fantasy, the old woman and the old man seemed to have reached a complete breakdown in their negotiations, with a massive disagreement over the final 150 yuan difference.

“You want 52,850 for this mangy little donkey?! You’ve got donkey dung for a heart!” The old woman grabbed Yao Yuan’s shiny black long hair. After pulling it a couple of times, she found it was smooth and soft, clearly not dyed, and her face instantly darkened.

“Ow, ow, ow! It hurts!” Yao Yuan seized the opportunity to suggest, “Can you let me go? I’ll give you much more money! My… my relatives are extremely rich!”

The old woman didn’t even twitch an eyelid: “Keep your mouth shut, little donkey cub. I’ll tell you the truth: want to go back? You’ll be a beast of burden this life, and maybe be reborn well in the next!”

Hearing this, she obediently closed her mouth, avoiding the risk of these people hitting her. If she appeared weaker, she would have a better chance to escape.

“What about the other one? At least offer half price.”

“Half price again? Might as well give her to you for free!”

“Fine, if you dare give her away, I dare take her.”

They wrangled fiercely with words, and finally, the injured girl’s price was settled at 36,400. The old man held fast to one point: a young girl is a marketable commodity anywhere; if they pressed the price any lower, he would rather sell her to those who run brothels.

“Black-hearted old ghost! How dare you ask this price for a girl who hasn’t even been to college? Aren’t you afraid the little ghost will be sold to a cursed place and the hellfire will burn your paws? I’m short on cash; at most, I can pay half first,” the old woman spat.

“Others might be short of money, but not you, sister,” the old man wasn’t annoyed at all: “If even my sister doesn’t have the money, then I’ll just have to sell all the goods to those outsiders.”

“Selling to those robe-wearing outsiders, aren’t you afraid of getting a rotten**-hole?” The old woman grew anxious: “Those cryptic people might be connected to bad spirits. Doing business with them? Bad luck! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!” She violently spat several times on the ground.

“Whoever pays is my relative,” the old man smacked his lips: “Who knows what they want with those young girls, but it’s good as long as they don’t come out alive.”

“Utterly wicked,” the old woman put on a facade of false pity, patting her chest.

“Stop the nonsense. Do you want those two girls or not? If you want them, money in one hand, goods in the other.” The old man stretched out a grimy paw.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I? Blind, are you deaf? Bring the money over.” The old woman’s shrill tone suddenly softened.

“Coming.” A rough voice sounded outside the door, followed by the sound of shoe soles scraping. A young man with a square jaw and thick eyebrows walked into the warehouse.

The righteousness of his brows and facial features was completely ruined by the deep indentations on both sides of his nose and the downward pull of his lips, revealing a savage disposition.

The young man silently dropped an old box and counted the money bill by bill in front of the others.

“Truly worthy of a high school graduate; that demeanor and math skill are just different,” the robust man praised.

His sudden flattery earned a cold laugh from the old woman: “The matter from last time isn’t over yet. If you don’t keep a close eye on your wife, the whole village will be finished.”

The robust man touched his nose awkwardly and said no more.

After the exchange was complete, Yao Yuan and the bound girl were shoved onto a modified transport truck, and they drove toward the distant mountains with a rattling sound.

The truck only stopped once halfway for a bathroom break. The rest of the time, the two people in the front didn’t exchange a single word with the girls tied up in the cargo box.

She didn’t know how far they had traveled on the mountain roads, riding from early morning until noon, when the truck finally stopped. Looking ahead, she could see a small mountain village.

The old woman climbed down from the front and glared fiercely at Yao Yuan and the girl: “Blind (Mángzi), untie them.”

The young man named Blind drew a sharp knife. He stared intently at Yao Yuan for a few moments, then sliced down with the knife, and the rope tied behind her back snapped.

Yao Yuan couldn’t help but ponder: What if I used this chance to take the old woman hostage? Forget it. Don’t court death. The old woman is probably stronger than me, and besides, the man clearly looks like a ruthless character.

The girl had more ropes tied around her. Blind had to cut several times before he could free her from the trussed bonds.

The girl’s first instinct was to lift her legs and try to run, but the old woman grabbed her hair and viciously slapped her face three times on each side before she stopped.

Yao Yuan watched with dread: “Stop hitting her! You’ll injure her badly!” She truly felt sorry for the young girl, who should have been in school but was deceived and brought to this godforsaken place.

“As long as I can survive a few more days, hold on until Xing Kong (Star Sky) finds us, everyone will be safe.”

“You want to be hit too?” The old woman raised her hand high.

Yao Yuan closed her eyes: Hit me. Go ahead and hit me. I can heal anyway. Maybe a few more hits will knock the water out of my head. Next time, even if it kills me, I won’t trust strangers, and I certainly won’t run toward a place with no surveillance cameras.

“Grandma, we don’t have extra medicine at home,” Blind reminded her coldly.

“Oh, so the blockhead knows how to care for his ‘wife’ now,” the old woman rolled her eyes: “Good grandson, it’s not that Grandma doesn’t care for you. Women you catch… don’t get so hopelessly infatuated. Have you forgotten what happened with your mother?”

“I know,” Blind said word by word, “Grandma, I won’t forget your instruction.”

“That’s good.” The old woman pulled two steamed buns from her bundle and threw them on the ground: “Eat.” She called to Yao Yuan and the girl like she was calling pigs and dogs.

Yao Yuan was still hesitating, but the girl, driven mad by anger, lifted her foot and violently stomped on one of the steamed buns.

Without the old woman needing to order him, Blind suddenly grabbed the girl’s collar from behind and pressed her to the ground. Amidst Yao Yuan’s screams, the girl’s head was viciously slammed into the flattened steamed bun.

“Eat, hurry and eat! Who do you think you are? Wasting food! You have to eat it even if it’s stomped flat, even if it’s thrown in the latrine, you’d still have to eat it!” The old woman’s two eyes shone with a green light, like a desperate gambler watching a dying fighting cock.

Yao Yuan rushed over to pull the girl off the ground, arguing as she pulled: “You can’t eat a stepped-on bun! It’ll cause diarrhea, and there’s no hospital here. If she dies from eating it, your money will be wasted.”

“None of your business!” The old woman slapped Yao Yuan. Yet, she showed a satisfied expression: “Fine, she can starve. Are you going to eat?” Her eyes were full of threat, and her somewhat large foot kicked at the wrapper of the other bun.

Yao Yuan desperately wanted to shout, “Then I won’t eat either!”

But under the pulsating prompt of her instinct, she feigned a submissive expression, picked up the bun that hadn’t been stomped: “I’ll eat.”

Taking a bite, the bun in her mouth was saltier than any food she had ever tasted.

For the first time, her anticipation of waiting for Xing Kong was delayed, replaced by another obsession: No matter if the Devil wakes up, no matter when, no matter how great the danger… she must escape!