I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 61

Chapter 61

“I met Xia Tian during a summer two years ago. That day, I accidentally wandered into a peach blossom grove and encountered a fox immortal.”

“At the time, I was with a film crew shooting scenes in the mountains, where we stayed for half a month.”

“After half a month, when it was time to leave, I couldn’t bear to part with it. I asked if we could meet again in the future. It gave me a handful of its fox fur and taught me a method: to create a statue of it and make daily incense offerings, so I could invite it home.”

“I agreed. After returning, I immediately made the statue and offered incense. Since then, it became the Household guardian spirit I worship.” Xia Ke’er said, “It treated me very well, always granting my every wish. At first, it was just an uncommon flower from the mountains, or a small insect it found beautiful. Later, it became a beautiful, expensive performance costume.”

“Then later, when I couldn’t perform the moves correctly and was severely scolded by the troupe leader, I hid under my blankets crying silently. I thought, if only I had superb dancing skills, the troupe leader wouldn’t scold me anymore. So I made a request to it, saying I wanted dancing skills that would normally require years of hard practice.”

“Later still, after gaining dancing skills, I felt I was still missing something. So I used the same method to gain fame. But when I became famous, I still felt it wasn’t enough – I wanted both fame and fortune… The more I gained, the richer my life became, but my desires also grew because I had seen more wonderful things.”

“I was losing control of myself, though everything was still fine at that point.”

“Until… about two months ago, when I woke up one morning to find my body covered in white fur.”

Xia Ke’er said: “At that time, I had no idea things would develop this way…”

On the first day they discovered her transformation, Xia Tian looked grim and told her they should part ways.

Now that she had achieved success – both fame and fortune – and had reached the standards of success in human society, continuing further would likely lead to trouble.

Xia Ke’er rejected its request.

Not only did she not agree with Xia Tian’s suggestion, she demanded even more.

Every time before the offering table, she would make a series of demands, increasingly detailed, increasingly demanding perfection – absolute perfection.

Xia Tian didn’t understand, but it never refused any of Xia Ke’er’s requests. So, under Xia Tian’s manipulation, the Butterfly Lovers dance drama became an instant hit.

Later, Xia Ke’er’s symptoms became increasingly severe.

She needed to drink live chicken blood to regain momentary calm. She had changed – she developed a deep craving for blood, a need for fresh blood.

Her beastly nature became more and more apparent, less and less human.

“Xia Tian once again proposed to terminate the contract, but I… but I know I can’t agree.” Xia Ke’er’s voice choked slightly. “Because if I agree, I will lose it.”

“Now I have everything, yet I’m still unsatisfied. The last thing I want is Xia Tian. I want it to never leave me.”

“I can’t convince myself to let go, I just want it! I can’t leave it!” Xia Ke’er’s voice suddenly turned frenzied. The previously calm fox face began to distort again, expression turning ferocious. “I don’t want to be separated from it!”

The Yin-Yang Exterior-Interior Needle that Ye Anran had applied to Xia Ke’er earlier showed signs of losing its effectiveness.

Ye Anran thought to herself that Xia Ke’er had become obsessed, bewitched.

Her contract with the fox shouldn’t be an ordinary Household guardian spirit worship contract.

This contract carried some sinister nature, capable of infinitely amplifying human desires, infinitely satisfying them, until unable to bear the backlash, one would inevitably head toward final delusion and then death.

Just as Ye Anran approached with the Silver Needle, intending to apply the needles to Xia Ke’er again, Xie Qingling stepped forward ahead of her, holding a knife. With one slash, she cut Xia Ke’er’s front paw.

The Blood Oath drank blood, red light flashed, and the “Respect” character’s red lines spread.

Simultaneously, a ghastly wound revealing white bone appeared on Xia Ke’er’s front paw.

The intense pain made Xia Ke’er’s face contort ferociously. She emitted infant-like cries, but the pain quickly calmed her down, with no further tendency toward frenzy.

“Calm now?” Xie Qingling asked coldly, withdrawing her knife.

In pain, Xia Ke’er indeed calmed down. However, her fox eyes now turned to Xie Qingling, watching her with extreme wariness, constantly fearing she might suddenly stab her again.

Meanwhile, Ye Anran looked utterly shocked.

“If you’re calm, then quickly tell me how to break the contract,” Xie Qingling said.

“I can’t do it, I really can’t, I can’t control myself…” Xia Ke’er murmured. “I just want it, I can’t give it up.”

She kept muttering incomprehensibly, crazily whispering, “I can’t lose it…”

Xie Qingling nodded and said, “I know what to do.”

“You can’t break the contract because you don’t want to let go. Then we just need to make you forget everything. If you never remember any Xia Tian, you won’t be bewitched like this, right?” This last sentence was directed at Ye Anran – this was her specialty.

Ye Anran nodded vigorously.

Yes, simply erase the memories. Not to mention Xia Tian, even if it were winter, autumn, spring, yesterday or tomorrow – if she remembered nothing about any “Tian”, how could she remain so obsessive?

But Xia Ke’er became so agitated her eyes turned red: “No! I don’t want to forget it! You can’t steal my memories! Being a fox is fine too! This way I can be with it! No one can separate us!”

Saying this, she jumped up from the bed, trying to escape.

“Truly incorrigible!” Xie Qingling’s face instantly darkened. With a flash of blade light, Xia Ke’er’s limbs were slashed with knife wounds.

Blood gushed out, and Xia Ke’er trembled in pain, unable to even stand steadily.

“If you remain obstinate and insist on turning into a monster, then I will eliminate you right here, on the spot.” Xie Qingling looked like a deity of slaughter. “I won’t let you take a single step away from this place, nor will I allow you to return to that fox’s side.”

Xia Ke’er cried out bitterly, “Why? Why must you keep us apart?”

She glared at Xie Qingling with resentment.

“If both of you were human, or both of you were monsters, if your existence had no impact on those around you, I wouldn’t interfere with whatever you choose to do. But” Xie Qingling paused, “your current state will only bring disaster to the people around you.”

“Human hearts are greedy, desires are endless. Gain one, and they’ll crave two. Attain two, and they’ll yearn for three. Insatiable and never fulfilled. Today they consume chickens, tomorrow they’ll devour humans.”

“Don’t you remember clearly how you gradually fell into this state? Did you ever imagine you’d become like this in the beginning? I simply don’t believe you can control the dopamine-driven reward circuit of your desires. Before you harm more people, I’ll kill you first. Since you’ve already become a monster, eliminating you wouldn’t violate any rules.”

Xie Qingling smiled faintly and continued, “Oh, right. It seems you still don’t know my identity. Let me introduce myself then.”

“I, Xie Qingling, am an order maintainer about to become fully certifieda highly dedicated professional.”

Xia Ke’er stared at her in terror, burying her face deep into the blankets while whimpering softly.

With all four limbs wounded, she could no longer move freely.

Ye Anran stood to the side, timid and not daring to utter a word.

She cautiously glanced at Xie Qingling and noticed her expression remained cold and composed, as if she wasn’t joking at all…

Xie Qingling suddenly said, “I will devote my entire life to the art of dance. I vowed to dedicate the most brilliant and beautiful years of my life to the stage I deeply love. Have you forgotten the words you once spoke? I truly misjudged you. Because you’re merely a hypocritical, cowardly, promise-breaking wretch. A lovestruck fool without any moral principles, selfish and self-serving. A thief who disregards others’ lives, disappoints your admirers, and shames those who see you as an idol. How innocent are the people harmed simply because they appreciated your dance? Your so-called happiness and love are built upon trampling the lives of others.”

“Wh-what are you saying?” Xia Ke’er became even more agitated than before, struggling to stand up and staining the bedsheets with blood. “Explain yourself clearly! You can’t slander me like this!”

“I didn’t slander you.” Xie Qingling glanced coldly at her and said, “To maintain your human form and fulfill those ridiculous, unrestrained wishes of yours, someone has already paid with their life. That was your fan. His health wasn’t good to begin with. He went through great hardships and spent over three thousand yuan to buy a mediocre seat from a scalper. After watching your performance of Butterfly Lovers, he praised your dancing endlessly on social media, saying he would attend your next show. But later, he never updated his social media account again, nor did he reappear in your audience seats. Because he died.”

“That person had all his Human Qi drained, turned into a dried-up corpse. He died a miserable death.”

The atmosphere suddenly turned stiff, as if even the air around them froze for a moment.

“I think if we don’t stop this in time, more people will die.” After speaking, Xie Qingling glanced at Ye Anran.

Ye Anran listened in stunned silence, thinking to herself that the logistics department was still tallying the number of sick peoplehow could there suddenly be a death victim? A three-thousand-yuan ticket for a back-row seatwasn’t that Dai Xingyu? That guy was still outside racking his brains to write his self-criticism.

But she quickly realized Xie Qingling had just lied. The audience member who died after watching Butterfly Lovers live was entirely fabricated by Xie Qingling.

Xie Qingling was breaking through Xia Ke’er’s psychological defensesthis was psychological warfare.

Ye Anran hurriedly nodded, adopting a mournful tone: “Yes, he died terribly. Even my medical skills couldn’t save him. I even attended his funeral, he…”

Xia Ke’er screamed, cutting off Ye Anran’s description. Her voice carried unbearable sharpness and pain as she frantically repeated: “You’re lying, you’re lying, you’re lying!!! What you’re saying isn’t true, wuuu…”

However, her voice lacked conviction and grew progressively quieter until she finally buried her face in the blanket, weeping bitterly.

Xie Qingling paid no attention to her crying, merely stating: “I’ll give you one night to think it over. If you refuse, I’ll kill you. A life for a lifethat’s fair. Think carefully.”

After speaking, Xie Qingling walked out of the bedroom and leaned against the corridor wall, her face dark and silent.

Not long after, Ye Anran opened the door and emerged as well.

Listening to the sobs coming from the bedroom, she whispered: “Qingling, you… what you said earlier, it wasn’t true, was it?”

“What?”

“Killing her.”

Xie Qingling didn’t answer but instead asked: “Senior Anran, how did the old department head die?”

Ye Anran shuddered, grief washing over her face: “He was… killed by a ghost. Died in the line of duty.”

“For ordinary people to become acquired Spirits, what’s the mortality rate?”

“Fifty percent.”

Ye Anran understood.

Though she had just joined the department recently, Xie Qingling had already pieced together clues from peripheral details to gain deeper understanding of this world.

She was very intelligent, and very perceptive.

“The blood of our predecessors cannot be shed in vain. If Xia Ke’er chooses to become a fox demon, I won’t stop hershe certainly has the freedom to make her own choicesbut I won’t let her go.”

“Winds arise from the tips of duckweed, waves form between faint ripples. Senior Anran, though I enjoy taking risks and often act recklessly, I am not a gambler. Life should not be used for betting or bearing risks.” Xie Qingling’s tone shifted abruptly. “Do you know why I adapted so quickly after joining the department?”

Ye Anran froze for a moment before asking blankly, “Why?”

“During my sophomore year, the university offered an anatomy course. Halfway through the semester, a girl from our program who had excellent grades in specialized courses transferred out.”

Ye Anran looked puzzled. Xie Qingling continued, “Because every experiment required us to use numerous animals. After experiments, if the animals were still alive, we had to ‘dispose’ of them. This tested one’s psychological resilience. That girl would tremble every time she made an incisionshe couldn’t bear the feeling of being an executioner taking lives. She developed psychological issues and eventually left.”

“But I was different. Every time I made an incision, it was swift and precise. Many male students who couldn’t bring themselves to do it would ask for my help, and I never refused nor felt any psychological pressure.” She looked at Ye Anran and said, “Because I knew that when I picked up the scalpel, it was never for the purpose of killing.”

For reasons unknown, Ye Anran’s eyes suddenly reddened. She wiped away impending tears and said, “I understand. I won’t let her go either.”

Xie Qingling nodded and fell silent, simply waiting.

At the very least, her statement about giving Xia Ke’er only one night to think it over was genuine.

When Xie Qingling spoke, she always meant every word.

The weeping continued until 2 a.m., when Xia Ke’er finally exhausted herself from cryingor perhaps finally reached a resolutionand her sobs ceased.

A hoarse voice emerged from inside.

She said, “Just kill me. A life for a lifeI have nothing more to say. I’ve failed the fans who liked and supported me… I… I don’t deserve to stand on stage.”

Xie Qingling and Ye Anran exchanged a glance before stepping inside.