Chapter Twenty-Two: The Sudden Appearance of a Demonic Beast

“Squeak!” Just as Nangong Yuchen turned to leave, the wooden door of the café behind him creaked open. Out stepped a young woman in her twenties, dressed in a maid’s outfit.

“Little Chenchen!”

“Hm?” Hearing the familiar voice, Nangong Yuchen stopped immediately and turned around in delight. “So you’re here, Sister Yue! Why isn’t the café open today?”

“Oh! Something happened in the store, so we didn’t open for business. You came to collect your wages, didn’t you?” Xia Yue looked at the returning Nangong Yuchen and smiled as usual.

“Yeah!” Nangong Yuchen nodded and followed Xia Yue inside.

The interior was dimly lit by weak colored lights, casting a faint gloom. After closing the wooden door, Xia Yue followed behind Nangong Yuchen, and in her eyes flickered a strange, eerie glow.

“Huh? Sister Yue, isn’t the boss and Brother Hao here?”

Nangong Yuchen walked behind the bar and found the room empty save for the chairs. It felt oddly oppressive, as if something unseen weighed upon him.

“Mhm.” Xia Yue nodded, stepped behind the bar, took an envelope from a drawer, and handed it to Nangong Yuchen. “Here’s your salary.”

“Thank you, Sister Yue!” Nangong Yuchen grinned, clutching the thick envelope.

Although he had sold Cheng Tianyou’s mecha and still had over three hundred thousand in his account, after visiting Mecha City, he knew that amount was trivial—barely enough to buy a decent mecha, much less cover the nutrition supplements he and Kexin needed. So, to him, these three thousand yuan were quite substantial!

“No problem! Nangong Yuchen, what are your plans now?” Xia Yue asked with a gentle smile, her eyes lingering curiously on the handsome youth before her.

“I plan to train hard and break through to the first tier as soon as possible!” Confidence radiated from Nangong Yuchen’s face. Ever since he had fortuitously obtained Cheng Tianyou’s nutrition supplements, his physical abilities had soared. Now, the breakthrough to the first tier was within reach, and his self-assurance came from deep within.

After chatting for a while, Nangong Yuchen noticed it was getting late and decided to take his leave. “Sister Yue, I’ll head home now. I’ll come visit you all when I get the chance.”

He waved to Xia Yue and walked toward the door.

Tap, tap...

He’d barely taken a few steps when a sudden tension gripped his heart. The oppressive feeling he’d noticed earlier magnified until it made his scalp tingle. Instinctively, he spun around and saw Xia Yue still standing behind the bar—but her smile had turned strangely sinister.

Thud! Nangong Yuchen’s heart began pounding wildly. The atmosphere in the room and Xia Yue’s unsettling smile sent chills down his spine; cold sweat poured from his forehead.

Then, a shocking sight made his pupils contract—Xia Yue’s beautiful eyes glowed green! Her entire head started to change: her once-black hair turned tawny, and her ears morphed into cat ears!

“Who... who are you really?” Nangong Yuchen stammered, his legs weak, retreating hastily to the wooden door. He found it locked and terror swept over him, threatening to crush his mind.

“I’m your Sister Yue, of course!” Xia Yue leapt nimbly from behind the bar, leisurely swaying her furry tail as she approached Nangong Yuchen.

As she drew near, Nangong Yuchen finally saw her transformation clearly. Her once-soft skin had turned a dark violet, her pupils were vertical slits glowing green, sharp teeth protruded from her lips—no trace of humanity remained. Most terrifying of all were the long, razor-like claws on her hands, glinting coldly in the dim light.

“A monster... you’re a monster... beast?” Nangong Yuchen’s lips trembled, his face pale. He couldn’t believe that after three months of acquaintance, Xia Yue was actually a beast—and one he'd never even heard of, capable of freely taking human form!

Tap, tap...

Xia Yue was now right in front of him. She grinned, baring a row of pointed teeth, then bent down and pressed herself against Nangong Yuchen, her voice low and eerie, “I’m still your Sister Yue—do you really need to be so afraid of me?”

With that, she pressed her cat paw gently under his chin, forcing it upward. Her claws broke the skin, and blood began to flow.

Seeing this, Xia Yue’s expression grew excited. She bent lower, extending her agile tongue to lick the wound.

As the blood entered her mouth, her body shivered with delight. “Such delicious blood! Tell me, little Chenchen—should I eat you right now, or keep you around to savor your blood day by day?”

Nangong Yuchen’s body had gone limp from fear, his mind blank, unable to resist. Staring at her violet skin, magnified in his pupils, he felt suffocated.

At that moment, another beast emerged from the shadows—a towering, muscular creature, nearly two meters tall, standing upright like a human, but with a wolf’s head and torso.

“Since you’ve revealed yourself, let’s finish this quickly. Things have been unstable these days,” the wolf-beast spoke, and Nangong Yuchen recognized the voice immediately—it was Chen Hao.

“Tsk, if you hadn’t lost control and started eating humans, would you have drawn their attention?” Xia Yue retorted unhappily, but her spirits brightened as she looked at Nangong Yuchen, her tongue flicking across his face as if savoring her meal.

“Hmph! Don’t forget Lady Marianne’s instructions before she left,” Chen Hao’s voice carried a faint threat. He radiated a killing intent and bloodlust, utterly different from the man he’d been before.

Though Xia Yue was displeased, the mention of Lady Marianne stopped her. She stood up, steeling herself, then raised her right paw and swiped at Nangong Yuchen’s neck.

The imminent threat of death jolted Nangong Yuchen from his daze. As the deadly claws grew larger in his vision, a fierce will to survive surged within him—“I can’t die here!”

In that desperate moment, he threw up his left arm to block Xia Yue’s strike, then pushed off the floor with his right hand and leapt toward the café window.

“Hm?” Neither of them expected him to resist in the midst of terror. In the next instant, Chen Hao acted, swinging his massive fist at Nangong Yuchen.

Cautious as ever, Chen Hao didn’t want any complications during these critical days. Before Xia Yue could move, he struck first.

Bang! Unable to dodge, Nangong Yuchen twisted to block, but the sheer force sent him flying like a cannonball, smashing chairs as he crashed to the ground.

“Not bad, but still too weak,” Chen Hao muttered. Without waiting for Nangong Yuchen to rise, he charged again. His fists transformed into wolf claws, swiping at the fallen youth.

“Sigh, little Chenchen, looks like I won’t get to savor your delicious blood slowly,” Xia Yue said regretfully, watching Chen Hao’s claws descend.

Bang!

At the very brink of Nangong Yuchen’s demise, the locked wooden door suddenly exploded. A purple figure flashed in from outside, moving with blinding speed. In an instant, she stood beside Nangong Yuchen, and with a swift kick, sent the unprepared Chen Hao flying.