A shriveled bean sprout, seemingly devoid of moisture, like a young girl of seven or eight, pulled her knees in, and was slowly lifted by an invisible force from the molten lava-encircled center in a semi-curled posture.
Her face, smaller than an adult man's palm, was buried in her seaweed-like long hair and arms. The semi-curled young girl appeared to be in hibernation. The slender, elongated form of a young girl had shrunk into a short, stout body. Her unnaturally pale skin, as if emitting a faint fluorescence, displayed an ultimate and fragile beauty, as if she would shatter like colored glass at the slightest touch.
Three masks of various shapes materialized from the void, circling the young girl like silent, guarding knights, yet they bore a hint of faint emptiness, as if something was missing.
“Mian Ling Qi!”
The giant snake and the man’s pupils contracted, uttering these three words almost simultaneously.
Unlike the giant snake’s pure shock, the joy bursting from the man’s eyes was almost overflowing.
Noticing the joy on the man’s face, the giant snake cast a suspicious glance, “Old bat, this little one isn’t from your clan of demons, and you’re still this happy?”
The man merely smiled and remained silent.
He was different from it. Before being drawn into this world, the giant snake was also a great demon in its own right.
After being swept into the torrent of time and space and arriving in this world, it was called a Primordial Beast by the earliest humans of this world.
He had once had the privilege of hearing about the legends of exotic beasts from the Shan Hai Jing in that beautiful country across the sea. Many of the ancient demonic beasts depicted in the illustrations of the Shan Hai Jing were originally demons. Although the names differed from country to country, tracing their lineage, they were either gods or demons.
He had transmigrated by soul. In a sense, it was a body transmigration, but the original consciousness of this body had always been the dominant one. If he hadn’t been schemed against during the divine assessment and was currently unable to wake up, he might not have been able to control this body.
“She’s about to wake up.”
The man, who happened to notice the young cub’s closed eyelids beginning to tremble slightly, interjected. The giant snake turned its head, its massive snake eyes fixed on the young cub.
The young girl opened her eyes, like blue sapphires washed clean by water, as clear as a shallow stream, carrying a cluelessness that was incongruous with the fierce and cruel nature of demons.
The first thing that entered her sight were the giant snake’s enormous, terrifying eyes. Her eyes widened slightly, her blue eyes widening to their fullest. With almost a thought, the masks protecting her flew towards the giant snake’s face.
The giant snake: “!”
It instinctively swung its thick, long tail in front of its head. Three dull thuds echoed in its ears, demonstrating the ferocity of the masks’ force.
But for the giant snake, these were all harmless.
“This cub has a terrible temper, she even has morning rage.”
The giant snake glared at the little one with annoyance.
The man glanced at the giant snake and said to the wary little one, “Do you remember what happened before you fell unconscious?”
“Who are you?”
Instead of directly answering the man’s question, Tang Sui watched him vigilantly.
The man was silent for a second and spoke the name, “My name is Tang Chen.”
Tang Chen…
This name was so familiar… It sounded like he had heard it somewhere…
The unfamiliar yet strangely familiar name made Tang Sui’s already hazy brain begin to ache. A look of pain appeared on her tender face as she clutched her aching head.
“Sizzle!”
Splattering molten lava sent forth scorching sparks. When Tang Sui’s peripheral vision caught the scorching lava, which was less than half a meter away from her, she instinctively wanted to move away.
“Molten lava?!”
Without needing any point of contact, Tang Sui hovered in mid-air, spread out her hands, and looked in astonishment at her hands, which showed no signs of burns. She had clearly been splashed just now?
And…
“How… can I fly?” This didn’t seem very scientific.
This thought instinctively popped into Tang Sui’s mind, and then she was stunned again.
Science… what is that?
The bewildered and helpless look on her face was observed by both the snake and the man.
This cub seemed a bit off.
The two non-humans exchanged glances. Tang Chen, whose outer appearance was still human, pondered for a moment and said, “Do you remember your name?”
Tang Sui looked up, meeting the thoughtful gazes of the man and the snake. She pursed her lips, and just as she was about to say she didn’t know, a blood-red character suddenly appeared in her mind—
Sui.
It was like a brand imprinted on her soul. Even if she forgot everything else, she would never forget her name.
Her eyes unfocused, her pupils devoid of clarity, as if entranced, she softly replied, “My name is… Sui.”
Neither the man nor the snake doubted Tang Sui’s words, because the moment they thought of this name in their hearts, they also felt a mysterious power.
Very well.
It seemed this little cub had truly lost her memory, to the point of forgetting that demons are not supposed to easily reveal their true names, lest they be captured by ill-intentioned humans as shikigami or cursed.
Understanding this, the giant snake decisively made up its mind to teach this little cub a lesson.
But as it moved its head, the bat-like wings behind Tang Chen trembled, bringing him closer to Tang Sui.
Then, it watched with its own eyes as its old friend reached out a large, calloused hand towards the little cub, his expression calm but with an unrefusable air. He said to Tang Sui, “Your name must never be known to others, understand? From today onwards, you will take my surname Tang, and your name will be Tang Sui.”
“You should also be able to feel it, there is a blood connection between you and me, we are kin.”
“From now on, I will teach you the laws and methods of survival here. Will you come with me?”
Tang Sui looked at the hand Tang Chen extended, then at the man’s demeanor, which clearly left no room for refusal. After a moment of thought, she tentatively placed her small, short hand on his.
“Okay.”
Although she didn’t know why, she seemed to have deviated from being a normal human. But as the man called “Tang Chen” said, she did feel a sense of closeness from him. That should be… the blood connection he mentioned, right?
—Author’s Notes—
Amnesiac Sui √ Same surname, different disguise~
Only one update today, but it’s okay! Tomorrow! It’s Friday! Survive today and it’s the weekend! I’ll make up for it with three updates tomorrow!