After leaving the team, the adventurer ladies regretted it deeply

World Tree, 20th Floor, Harmony Forest.

"General Xilin, here is an adventurer I've captured,"

the Six-Armed Demon said in a muffled voice, throwing a female adventurer, bound like a rice dumpling, to the ground.

The woman's face was filled with panic; her mouth was gagged with cloth, and she made 'mmph mmph' noises.

Looking up at the stunning pink-haired Succubus General, she trembled, and something, either urine or something else, began to trickle down between her thighs...

"What are you trying to say?"

The Succubus called General Xilin, curious, squatted down.

Like a mischievous child poking an ant, she prodded the female adventurer's cheek and giggled, "It would be a pity to be eaten by magical creatures."

Xilin removed the cloth from the female adventurer's mouth, and the latter immediately started to cry out in terror, "Please, don't eat me, my brother is waiting for me at home, wuwuwu..."

Just as Xilin was considering giving the female adventurer a painless rebirth, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head.

She bit her lip and pressed her hand to her forehead.

Fragments of memory, like scraps of paper fluttering in the air, kept flashing before her eyes.

Each scrap bearing a memory showed the same person.

"Lin Xi, time for your medication."

"I... seem to be a Healer, what about you?"

"How many times have I told you, don't get too close to demons."

"If you and Lia fell into the water, whom would you save? Of course, I would save both."

...

"General Xilin?"

The Six-Armed Demon scratched its head in confusion, it had heard that the new general was capricious, and it seemed to be true.

One moment it felt like General Xilin would send the human adventurer to hell, but the next, she was patting the person's head like a kitten, softly saying,

"Don't worry, I won't kill you.

Peach hearts glimmered in Xilin's eyes, casting a light onto the female adventurer, who began to feel heavier and heavier, and soon, she fell asleep with a snore.

"Throw her outside of Harmony Forest, the further the better."

"But, General, she is just a common human adventurer, why not just eat her?" the Six-Armed Demon asked, puzzled.

"Are you questioning me?"

Xilin revealed a cold smile, her spade-tipped tail, which had been perked up, completely drooped down.

The dark magic power around her seemed to transform into a ferocious beast, the mountainous heaviness of its pressure making all demons present shiver in their core.

One of His Majesty the Demon King's Twelve Belongings, indeed powerful, such terrible magic power, it must be at least of level 40!

"We will follow General's orders!" the Six-Armed Demon quickly lowered its head.

Among the group of demons, there was also a Witch wearing a Flower Cat mask.

As she bowed her head, she pondered secretly, "General Xilin seemed to change her mind when that adventurer mentioned her brother. Could it be that General Xilin has a brother too?"

Most Witches were originally human adventurers, and Lady Bai Mian was no exception.

But all Witches, upon meeting His Majesty the Demon King and receiving the baptism of the skill 'Light of the Demon God,' would let go of their human past and willingly become a proud Demon.

Even if Xilin had a brother, that would have been during her time as a human adventurer, it couldn't affect her now.

Lady Bai Mian, too, had been baptized with 'Light of the Demon God,' and still recalls that feeling vividly:

It was as if standing at the end of a long scale of memories, indifferently watching the memories at the starting point... The playfulness of her adventurer days could no longer cause any emotional ripples, just like watching someone else's memories.

Only such Witches can ensure they serve His Majesty the Demon King effectively.

Filled with doubt, Lady Bai Mian wondered, could it be that His Majesty the Demon King's baptism on General Xilin was not successful?

But such a matter, Lady Bai Mian dared not ask, nor dared to make known, for fear of being eliminated by General Xilin.

This Demon General, in her acts, was cruel; many demons who did not obey commands had been brutally killed by her.

For Xilin personally, she felt the 'Light of the Demon God' baptism was very successful.

Only, what she let go of were other adventurers, such as those from the Snow Goose Adventure Team.

Lia, Aiko, and Klrona.

To her, influenced by the baptism, they had become ordinary friends who were dispensable.

She hadn't forgotten Lin Xi's past, either.

It's just that the frail and incompetent girl had been locked away.

...

Two years ago.

In the washroom of a rental place in White Dove City.

"Don't you need my help?"

Sitting in front of the mirror, Lia tilted her head in surprise as she watched Lin Xi help dry her red hair. "Isn't it troublesome to wash your hair by yourself?"

Another girl was reflected in the mirror.

Black hair, a classic oval face, and when she smiled, shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks.

She tapped Lia's head lightly with a palm knife, "I'm not dummy Lia, I can obviously handle it on my own!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Calling me a dummy again!" Lia stood up annoyed, chasing after Lin Xi playfully.

The washroom was small, just large enough for the span of a hand, and as they chased each other around, they knocked over a wooden basket filled with dirty clothes; the mud from their boots also dirtied the floor.

"You two, stop it now, or the neighbors downstairs are going to come up and scold us!"

The door to the washroom was pushed open, and Lin Da entered with a thick Demon Beast Compendium in his hands, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head, helplessly amused by the two girls.

Stopping Lin Xi and Lia's playful fights had become a daily routine for the Snow Goose Adventure Team.

"She called me dummy first." Lia said with a dissatisfied face, pointing at Lin Xi who was making faces.

"That's because Lia is a dummy, one day she might anger brother to death."

Lin Xi hummed, searching through a basket of laundry, she found a pair of shorts with a teddy bear pattern, "Look brother, Lia is actually wearing this. I always thought it belonged to Klrona."

"Aaaah!" Lia, with flushed cheeks, chased after Lin Xi, and their battlefield moved from the washroom to the living room, running circles around Lin Da as if he were a pillar.

"Enough! Quiet down, both of you!"

A vein popped on Lin Da's forehead as he precisely caught them with both hands:

"Lia, don't lower yourself to Lin Xi's level; the more you chase her, the happier she gets!"

"Lin Xi, you should stop bullying Lia too!"

Lia huffed and glared at Lin Xi as if to say, 'Did you hear that? Behave from now on!'

Whereas Lin Xi made a funny face and sauntered proudly into the washroom, "I'm going to take a bath now, Lia, you better not sneak attack me!"

"I have my cultivation to attend to, and I can't be bothered with you!"

"Brother, you too, no entering, okay?"

The previously closed door suddenly opened, and Lin Xi popped her head out, laughing mischievously.

Lin Da's face darkened, but he didn't respond, returning to the sofa to study the Demon Beast Compendium.

Klrona lay on his thighs, facing up, engrossed in an old second-hand Magic Conductor Handheld Console.

Aiko was slicing cucumbers for a face mask, frowning at herself in the mirror with a white pimple at the corner of her mouth.

Seeing the joyful atmosphere in the living room, Lin Xi's smile deepened.

She closed the door to the washroom, took off her clothes, and approached the mirror.

"Everyone is so happy, I have to cheer up too."

In the mirror, a black thorn pattern emerged on the girl's chest.

They wound through the flesh like living things, their sharp barbs growing with the thorns, tearing the flesh and tormenting the soul as they spread.

Hidden under Lin Xi's smile was a pain that the others of Snow Goose could not imagine.

But Lin Xi, who had always been weak from birth, was used to this, and no one noticed anything odd about her.

Through her private investigations over the last few days, Lin Xi had finally understood what these black thorns were.

'Witch's Corruption'.