The Devil's Contract Lover - Chapter 59

Yao Yuan suddenly opened her eyes, her head spinning from the pillow. It seemed she had just chatted for a long time with someone? Who was it… Her finger instantly slapped the person beside her, then curled back in fright.

“Xing Kong, put your clothes on for me!” She quickly covered her eyes: “Why aren’t you even wearing pajamas?”

“I was just processing that fellow’s aura.” All the flames on Xing Kong’s fingertips extinguished, and her complexion significantly improved. The visible disgust finally vanished.

Her gaze uncontrollably shifted downward, noticing that the mark of the wound on Xing Kong’s waist had faded considerably. Yao Yuan tentatively reached out; she was not stopped.

“Xing Kong, the wound on your waist seems to be healing quickly. Is it the Demon King’s power?”

“It’s not her doing. The divine power that you previously leaked has a non-discriminatory healing ability.” Xing Kong’s tone grew increasingly gentle, finally returning to its original state.

Yao Yuan was about to lie back down for more sleep when she suddenly realized something was amiss: the furnishings in the room had all become minimalist, no longer resembling the cute princess room from before. Even the size of the room didn’t match.

“Xing Kong, did you move houses?”

“Yes, I changed to a larger one. The previous house was too small with the addition of the two other humans.” Xing Kong looked expressionlessly towards the door: “I still need them for something now.”

It seemed she intended to keep the others long-term and had no choice but to use a larger house to increase the distance between them.

“Oh right, it’s best to get Big Orange to help the Group Leader. I wonder if he has recovered his memory of me.”

“No, I am not planning to pin my hopes on accelerating the magical era.” The Devil’s fingertip gently traced her cheek: “The contract will be completed soon.”

[You are already in love with me.] That statement wasn’t false; they both knew it.

However, when Yao Yuan looked up, no sign of wavering was visible: “Did you forget? The condition for the contract’s fulfillment is acknowledging that you are a great lover.”

“Am I not?” Xing Kong bent down, and a kiss lightly landed on her outer eye corner. A warm, ambiguous atmosphere rippled, brewing in the morning light.

“I am very strict.” Her fingernails dug tightly into her palm.

“That’s good. Your agreement and mine can take more time to fulfill.” The Devil stood up without lingering, walked to the windowsill, pulled open the curtains, revealing a seaside view visible from the bed through the French window.

“What method do you plan to use? The Demon King said banishing a Demon God is the easiest.” Yao Yuan also flipped out of bed, stepped into her slippers, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

“It’s very simple. I’ll reclaim it starting from the very existence. The pseudo-artifact has already been destroyed. Your sense of existence will no longer drain away. We just need more people to become aware of your existence.”

“Which means building a completely new social network?”

“No.”

Yao Yuan quickly understood why Xing Kong had kept Big Orange. She watched as the Devil walked out of the room, silently brought Big Orange over, and tossed him onto the floor.

The action was like this because Big Orange had truly transformed into Big Orange: a ginger cat. The ginger cat seemed to sense its life was threatened, decisively lay down on the spot, and played dead.

“He’s a devil, too?!”

“No, he’s a local yokai.” The Devil unceremoniously stepped on the cat’s tail: “Stop playing dead.” Somewhere along the line, Xing Kong had stopped bothering to maintain a gentle pretense.

Yao Yuan chuckled slightly, then quickly ran over to plead for him: “He didn’t bother you. Why hit him?”

“Think carefully: how did he end up like this?”

It wasn’t Xing Kong who hit him? Ah, that’s right, Xing Kong hasn’t left for the past two days. Yao Yuan looked down at the ginger cat playing dead: “He lost his memory too? But wasn’t the artifact destroyed by us?”

“Chu Yan isn’t dead yet.” The Devil lifted one of the cat’s ears: “If he can’t remember, I’ll send him into reincarnation.”

“Cough, cough, cough, who are you two.” Big Orange understood that the woman holding his ear was definitely not benevolent, so he lifted his eyelids and stopped playing dead.

“Your current caretakers.” Xing Kong carried him to the windowsill, facing the surging sea outside: “A piece of trash who loses his memory after being attacked by a mere artificial lifeform doesn’t need to live.”

The ginger cat quieted down. His ears twitched slightly, his whole body curled up, and his mouth opened and closed. Tiny magic floated around his body.

“Xiao Yuan, come here and prompt him.” Xing Kong looked towards Yao Yuan, who was guarding nearby: “The stripping of existence that occurred after the pseudo-artifact was destroyed is not absolute.”

“Okay, let me think… Should I tell him everything?” She took a few steps forward.

“No need. It’s a good chance to test the difficulty of recovery. Just give him a few keyword prompts.”

What words could encapsulate the relationship between the two of them?

Yao Yuan crouched down and looked the ginger cat in the eye: “You and I are partners who film videos together.”

“Filming videos…”

So the effect of ‘partner’ was not as good as ‘filming videos’! She didn’t get discouraged and nodded: “That’s right. We planned to film supernatural videos before, so you came to live at my house. Do you remember?”

The ginger cat shook his fur and tentatively stretched out his body: “I remember having you do some things. Yes, that’s definitely right.”

“That’s great. And Xiao Yu, do you remember her?”

“Oh right, Xiao Yu! Yes, yes, she’s still outside!” The ginger cat leaped up, instantly transforming from cat to human, and ran out the door with large strides.

“Honestly… How is Xiao Yu doing now?” Yao Yuan rubbed her head. She had collapsed into Xing Kong’s arms the moment she got back last night. Spacetime transitioning seems to consume internal magic power.

“Don’t worry about them for now. They will try their best to help us find the pseudo-god’s dog.” The Devil walked closer to her and suddenly draped a thin veil over her. After the magical curtain dissipated, a beautiful beige dress appeared on her body. The entire dress showed no logos; only the star-shaped metal clasp decorating the waist belt looked like an imprint.

Xing Kong released her hand with satisfaction: “Good. This is about right.”

“Why do I have to wear this?”

“To establish the ‘existence’ you convey to others.” The Devil pushed a laptop in front of Yao Yuan.

She looked down, and the website was the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center. As she kept looking, she couldn’t smile anymore: after four years of hard study in university, she couldn’t find her student status now.

“What about my ID card?!”

“It’s fine, all identification documents still exist.” Xing Kong closed the laptop indifferently: “We fought the pseudo-artifact inside the school. It didn’t have time to erase all your traces.”

“That’s good.” Yao Yuan let out a breath: “So, should we go to the school first to retrieve my student status…”

The Devil’s hand gently stroked her cheek. A familiar emotion floated in her scarlet eyes. She should have teased the other’s pretense, but this time, Xing Kong seemed to be serious.

“What are you doing?” She reached out and pressed down on the other’s wrist, but didn’t push it away.

“Do you truly wish to return to the track of the ‘past’?” Perhaps some people can deceive themselves, but no one can lie under the Devil’s gaze.

Yao Yuan could touch the true meaning in Xing Kong’s words: [Is this enough? Accepting all the lies, merely returning to the original state.]

Find the parents belonging to Shanshan, recover the life of lost bonds, be too lazy to imagine anything else, only indulge in their own romance, and finally be consumed by the Devil along with her divine power. That would be the easiest and most ignorant happiness.

“Xing Kong, what choice do you wish for me to make?” She looked up, meeting her gaze without evasion.

“Do you want to pin your wish on my choice?”

“No, my wish also includes you.” This bold confession was delivered without flinching, as the curtains were blown up by the wind through the glass.

“Good.” A gentle expression returned to Xing Kong’s face, and the furnishings of the entire room began to change one by one.

No longer a minimalist style or a pink vortex, fine, high-quality paint slowly spread out. Cool yet bright colors began to appear on the surrounding walls and in the quietly rising furniture.

Most of the furniture transformed into birch wood colors, the specific texture unknown. Patterns and carvings were inlaid with shimmering metal and artistically rich glass.

“Xing Kong, why make the house so exaggerated? What memory do you want me to recover…”

“A noble girl who inherited a large fortune and returned from studying abroad?” The Devil mischievously pinched her cheek, showing a hint of affection, but more so the attitude towards a cute kitten.

“When you just said those words.” Yao Yuan stood on her tiptoes: “The three descriptions of inheriting a large fortune, returned from studying abroad, and noble…” Her nose was almost touching the Devil’s chin.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s like how humans describe a cat.” She repeated flatly: “A Ragdoll originating from abroad, well socialized, with a pedigree certificate.”

“Close enough, hehe.” Xing Kong released her hand: “You are different. I have no interest in other humans. Whatever path they take is irrelevant to me.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll accept that statement.” Yao Yuan opened the window, and the two stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the wind.

“Speaking of which, if I’m going to pretend to be a beautiful girl who inherited an inheritance, what should I do first?”

“Magical plastic surgery.”

“Be serious!” Yao Yuan stamped her foot in frustration, and Xing Kong finally turned her head.

“First, you have to partially prompt the people you’ve previously interacted with, just like you did just now. I’ve also observed the progress of that ‘Golden Retriever’.”

“Huh?”

Knowing Yao Yuan hadn’t caught on, Xing Kong slowly explained: “Since the pseudo-artifact is in a destroyed state, and its master is not the controller of this world, any loss it caused is partially reversible.”

“So, as long as I prompt people who knew me before, I can reclaim my existence?”

“It’s not that simple, but the plasticity is very strong. Think about your interaction with that cat just now.” Xing Kong pointed her head.

“Hmm… Give me a hint? I thought Big Orange was just like that originally.” Yao Yuan couldn’t figure it out.

“His recollection of you was completely guided by you.” Xing Kong looked back at the coast: “You can absolutely use false hints to make them form a new, solid, corrected memory of you.”

“That sounds truly awful. So, what else is in your plan for me?” She deliberately crossed her hands like the Devil: “Bring it on, let me satisfy you one by one.”

“It shouldn’t be like this…” Yao Yuan’s legs felt weak as she walked down to the hall. Upstairs, she thought it was a normal sea-view villa, but upon descending, she found the size astonishing. But even this wasn’t the most exaggerated part.

“Miss, you’re awake.” Handsome servants were waiting downstairs. None of them had human auras; they felt more like some kind of personified plants.

“Xing Kong, these are magical dolls, right? Can you get rid of them? I don’t need them.” She retreated with a headache, but the Devil blocked her way out.

“That won’t do. You still have to meet other people tomorrow. They will be the perfect decorations.” Xing Kong took her hand, and her lips lightly touched Yao Yuan’s fingertips.

When she looked up, her lips carried the excitement of anticipating a good show: “Besides, they aren’t magical dolls. They are just familiars transformed from minor devils.”

“Ah—take them away—”