The Devil's Contract Lover - Chapter 40

Do you want to learn magic? Of course, she did.

However, when Yao Yuan stared into the deep eyes of Xing Kong, she felt fear: She was very afraid that Xing Kong would look at her with the same gaze she used to look at others. She didn’t like that look.

She didn’t know when, but the illusions of temptation had become ineffective on her.

“Xing Kong, be normal. I won’t run away.”

“You don’t like me this way?” The distant look in Xing Kong’s eyes disappeared, replaced by affection and innocence.

“I like the way you are now. Let’s talk properly about the solution we just discussed. I want to know the second method.” She withdrew her hand from the relaxed restraint and wrapped her arms around the devil’s neck.

They changed into a more comfortable position. Xing Kong leaned back against the pillow, her right arm embracing Yao Yuan. “It’s very simple. I will create an entirely new magic circuit for you.”

Something felt wrong. Yao Yuan asked hesitantly, “But will that be okay? I have trouble even sensing magic right now.”

“There won’t be any problem. You just lack practice. When it comes to talent, you won’t lose to anyone else.”

Receiving affirmation from the professional, she couldn’t help but feel happy. “Won’t that be too much trouble for you? And is it necessary? I could originally practice the basic spells that Da Ju gave me.”

“The mana in this world is too scattered. It requires a lot of time to consolidate it within the body. Maybe ten years from now, you’ll be able to easily cast a fireball,” Xing Kong said, giving a hint.

It would take ten years just to cast a small fireball… A terrible scene suddenly flashed through Yao Yuan’s mind.

One moment, she was surrounded by twenty-seven or twenty-eight muscular men, being brutally beaten with folding stools. The next moment, the indistinct face of Chu Yan was sneering, chopping her into chaos-flavored filling with a folding knife.

Then, while rolling on the ground, she shouts, “The ten-year period is up! Look, Fireball Spell!” A tiny spark of flame appears in her palm with a pop, and then is immediately extinguished with a whoosh.

…That’s truly awful!

“Xing Kong, I want to…”

“Don’t rush to think. Sharing magic is also very good.” The devil’s finger touched her lips, her tone growing increasingly doting. “You are my lovely lover. You don’t need to work so hard.”

[A provocation.] A flash of intuition passed through her mind.

Yao Yuan’s mood suddenly improved: This time, Xing Kong did not immediately choose the most convenient method. Whether she was genuinely starting to care about her safety or learning to respect her, it was a good sign.

“I’ve made up my mind. Please help me reshape the circuit!” She bit her teeth, firm in her decision.

Is it still too late to regret? Yao Yuan lay trembling in the empty bathtub.

If she were still in the bathroom, she wouldn’t be so afraid, but the bathtub had been moved to the basement by Xing Kong.

“Bear with it. It will be over quickly. Do you feel the bathtub lacks a little atmosphere?” Xing Kong thoughtfully snapped her fingers.

Snap. The ceramic bathtub transformed into a rectangular, open-topped, square iron box, looking remarkably like some kind of poured-metal torture device.

This joke was not funny at all. Yao Yuan was biting her lip, on the verge of crying out. The iron box slowly grew in size amidst her sobs.

When the size of the iron box changed from a bathtub to an aquarium, the devil leaped in.

A liquid slightly cooler than body temperature slowly submerged the interior. Yao Yuan felt a cold body in the liquid. The sensation of drowning left her devoid of any romantic feelings, and she clung to Xing Kong’s body like seaweed.

[It will hurt a lot, a pain like skin being peeled and bones being cracked.] Intuition threatened in her ear.

The next second, the pain truly began. There was no numb or tingling transition; the first jolt hurt far more than an intramuscular injection. However, the crushing pain predicted by intuition never arrived—because she had passed out.

Yao Yuan finally opened her eyes after an unknown period. Her head was dizzy and throbbing. It seemed she had slept for too long.

“Morning. It’s 2 PM on Tuesday,” Xing Kong, sitting by the bedside, handed her a freshly peeled apple.

“Morning? It’s not morning!” She nearly fell off the bed. Sleeping for a full day and night—what was going on? Oh, right, shaping the magic circuit!

Recalling what happened before she fell asleep, Yao Yuan excitedly touched her arm. “Xing Kong, do I have a new circuit now?”

“Yes.” A slice of apple automatically flew into her mouth. “If you don’t believe me, you can try guiding the magic.”

She quickly closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering rapidly. After sensing for a long time, her stomach still felt empty. Apart from the slice of apple she had just swallowed, she couldn’t perceive anything else.

Without waiting for her to complain, Xing Kong directly pinched her ring finger. As the first thin thread of magic entered, all the nodes in her body responded to each other for the first time, like rising stars at dawn.

Although she didn’t understand magic, she could foresee the exhilarating feeling of casting a spell using a fully connected circuit: If she could let drops of magic fill the entire track, she could surely whip up a firestorm, couldn’t she?

After Xing Kong released her, Yao Yuan happily climbed up and bit into the apple. “It only hurt for a split second! It was just the process that was terrifying.”

While she was in a good mood, munching on the apple, the devil suddenly spoke slowly and told a story.

A long, long time ago, in a certain magical world, everyone had a complete magic circuit. Some were blocked, others were connected.

There was a young nobleman who had no magic talent. He learned that he only needed to possess a fully connected circuit to cast spells, so he began searching for a way to connect his circuit.

He heard that only truly great mages could create artificial magic circuits, so he sold his ancestral castle and lands. He spent several years searching and finally found a Arch-Mage one day before he came of age.

The Arch-Mage was quite surprised. He said, “You are truly lucky. If you had come after turning into an adult, connecting it would have been exceedingly difficult.”

The young man was very happy. He handed all his gold coins to the mage and was granted this precious opportunity.

The mage selected a special day, using divination to find the most suitable time in a century to connect the magic circuit.

On that day, the young man was allowed to enter the mage tower. Several dozen boys and girls lay on a wide, sunken stone platform on the first floor. The mage had hired many assistants to earn this generous reward.

The young man felt reassured. He lay flat on the blood pool platform, preparing to quietly wait for the moment to be ripe.

However, soon screams rose and fell because when the water in the blood pool surged up, they realized it was all acid.

The listener couldn’t help but interrupt, “Wait, it was acid? Then was the liquid from yesterday also acid?”

“Yes, of course, it was acid. Using acid to dissolve the outer layer is much simpler than dissolving it with magic.” The devil smiled, seeming to draw enjoyment even from the pain in the story.

Yao Yuan forced herself to ask, “Are you saying that the outer layer refers to skin and flesh?”

“More or less, but it’s a different layer.” Xing Kong continued to smile. “Do you want to keep listening?”

“Please continue…”

The acid slowly dissolved the medium between the soul, body, and circuit. Immediately after, the assistants began to serve them with magic cutting knives. The young man had paid the most, so the Arch-Mage personally began editing his circuit.

Modifying the circuit was slow and precise, but the rate of circuit growth in a high concentration of magic was remarkable. During the four hours of carving, breaking, cutting, splicing, and rebirth occurred repeatedly.

The young man ultimately succeeded in gaining a fully connected magic circuit, at the cost of his severely damaged mind. Every day of his short life, he was only conscious for three hours.

Even so, he was the luckiest of all the children.

Half of the children died during the dissolution stage, mostly because their constitution was unsuitable. The acid tolerance test could only screen out those with allergies, not those who were insufficiently adaptable.

Most of the rest also failed to survive the most difficult four hours. Among those who lived, only the young man gained a complete, connected circuit. The others all had varying degrees of problems with their limbs.

After the neural connections and circuits were thoroughly destroyed, they could not regenerate, and humans could never retain the corresponding organs.

“Is the story over?”

“It is. What are your thoughts?” Xing Kong wiped the apple residue from her lover’s mouth with a handkerchief.

“First, I’m quite curious why you would tell a story that has nothing to do with you…”

“Who says it has nothing to do with me?”

“Huh?”

The devil put away the handkerchief. “I taught them the method for connecting magic circuits. It was a decent transaction.”

Yao Yuan paused for a few seconds, then continued to ask the question that concerned her the most: “And, I want to know… why didn’t I feel pain? The people in the story surely wouldn’t have been foolish enough to not use anesthesia if they could.”

“Indeed. The pain of reshaping the circuit cannot be alleviated by any magic or physical anesthesia. A sensation that acts on the soul level will still take effect even if one passes out.”

“So how did you manage it?” She had a bad feeling.

“We are currently in a contract state. I can choose to bear the pain for you.” Her tone was even flatter than when telling the story.

Yao Yuan was speechless for a moment. Xing Kong had just said it out loud. Her own speculation did include a similar reason, but who would have thought the devil would choose to reveal her trump card right now?

Everything was the devil’s own doing, yet she still owed Xing Kong so much. Why discard such a good card at this moment? Shouldn’t she have chosen the time when she was most vulnerable to play it, completely crushing any obstacles?

“Why did you tell me directly?” She bit her lip but still couldn’t help asking, because… she couldn’t be insincere with her sincere lover.

“Which part?” Xing Kong narrowed her eyes slightly, observing Yao Yuan’s expression with interest.

“The part about sharing the pain.” Yao Yuan felt a moment of confusion.

[Is this still not love? How strict is my definition of love?] Self-blame flooded her heart.

“Are you overthinking things?” The devil playfully lifted her chin. “Ah, I almost forgot. Humans are creatures who find it difficult to enjoy suffering.”

“Xing Kong.”

“Hmm.”

“Are you… a masochist? Ow, ow, ow! Don’t pinch me~” She covered her cheek with a wronged expression. “You were the one who said something misleading first.”

“Don’t let your imagination run wild.” The devil lay back on the pillow. “A weak-willed human like you would definitely not be able to withstand any pain. How could I possibly tear up the contract?”

“Well, what if I were super strong-willed? Don’t say you’ll guess!” Yao Yuan puffed her cheeks and lay on the pillow, wrapping her fingers around Xing Kong’s long hair.

“That’s a point. Watching humans struggle at their limit is truly fascinating.” The devil’s illusory smile became real with malice. “Just contemplating how much pain it would take to completely destroy them is… utterly delightful.”

The fingers hooking the long hair slowly let go. Yao Yuan instinctively shrank back but was held in place by a force.

The devil whispered in her ear, “But I don’t want to see you struggle, because…”

“Xing Kong…” A tear welled up in her eye. She reached out her arms to the devil.

“You’d look terrible when you struggle.”

After a pillow fight, Yao Yuan, through pouting and coaxing, managed to ask, “Do we have to start with the most ordinary lover relationship?”

If she were the devil, she would definitely save that card for later and use it in a combo with the pain-sharing.

“That’s why I was so eager to repay the debt,” When the devil turned her head, the fire in her eyes was exceptionally clear. “It was my mistake to put a contractor without the ability to defend herself in danger.”

“Are you saying that once I have magic abilities, I’ll have to solve any danger I encounter myself?” The girl pressed against the pillow insisted.

“No. Let’s start our carefree relationship, Xiao Yuan.” The devil easily lifted the pillow and caught her lover mid-air. “Trust is a promise.”