Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Three months later, in Gloomy Bone City, a town at the border of the Nether Spring Kingdom and the Gold Crow Kingdom…
Illuminated by the pale moonlight, the entire city was enveloped in a hazy mist of blood. Screams and cries were echoing everywhere, and cold wind was blowing, accompanied by the occasional explosions and the noises of the collapsing houses and caves.
Lei Lan used all the strength of the tiger demon inside her blood and dashed here and there in the debris. In her haste, even her white nurse hat fell to the ground, revealing two sharp-tipped cat ears that were shivering in the cold wind.
Pu!
She was tripped over by a dry branch and fell to the ground before rolling into a half-collapsed cave. She got bruises all over her body because of the sharp remnants in the cave, but she covered her mouth hard and did not dare moan in pain even though tears were rushing out of her eyes.
Looking outside through the gaps of the cave, she noticed that the three bloody moons in the sky were as blurred as the past.
However, Lei Lan felt that the whole world that she was familiar with had been swallowed by violent turbulence and crushed into pieces, never to be recovered again, ever since she picked the mysterious blood-eyed young man on the mountain more than half a year ago!
The cat-eared Lei Lan had been an ordinary chaotic-blood demon in a barren mountain village named Dry Leaf Village deep inside the Hundred Desolation Mountain. She had lived together with her elder brother, Lei Qi, and her younger brother, Lei Chuang. Her life had been simple and peaceful.
She had once spent an entire day climbing the highest mountain to the east of the village and looked at the horizon from the peak. But all that she could see was more mountains, each higher than the last.
She had thought that she would grow old and die in the Hundred Desolation Mountain as her ancestors did, and she had never imagined what the world outside of the mountains would be like.
However, more than half a year ago, after a great forest fire, a mysterious blood-eyed young man barged into her small world.
At that time, Lei Qi, her elder brother, had been spellbound and joined the organization of rebellions known as the Blade of Chaos. He had even taken part in the Riot of Bloody Blade.
To avoid suspicion and to make it easier for her younger brother, Lei Chuang, to join the coalition army of demons, she came up with the idea to pretend that the blood-eyed young man who had lost his memories was her elder brother, Lei Qi.
But everything that happened later was far beyond Lei Lan’s imagination.
Jin Xinyue, the most honorable princess of the Gold Crow Kingdom, set foot in the sterile village of chaotic-blood demons before vanishing into the Hundred Desolation Mountain together with the mysterious blood-eyed young man!
Later, quite a few batches of soldiers and many well-known big shots dropped by her small village.
Many troops were recruiting soldiers in the village, too.
However, her younger brother, who had always craved to join the army, suddenly became reluctant. He even fled into the mountain and went missing when the coalition army of demons began enlisting soldiers by force.
Before he went away, he left a letter for her sister.
According to the letter, he had met the real Lei Qi and learned a lot of things from him.
As it turned out, everything that the Pantheon of Demons said was false. The ‘Legends of Ancient Demons’, the ‘obliteration, rebirth, immortality’ theory, and all the other propaganda were out-and-out lies!
Now, he was going to look for the truth together with their big brother.
When the situation was less dire, and after they were settled, they would come and pick up Lei Lan, too.
The departure of the two males in her family, and especially the letter that her younger brother left for her, cast the innocent cat-eared girl into deep confusion. She was both worried and angry that her simple-headed young brother had been brainwashed by the fallacies.
At that time, Lei Lan did not know that greater changes were awaiting her and everybody else in the village.
After her brother ran away, the situation became tenser by the day.
It was said that a great war against the Heaven’s Origin Sector was coming close, and all demons would be drafted. The males would go to the frontline as soldiers, and the females would stay in the rear and do the burdensome work in place of the males.
Upon hearing the news, many villagers fled into the mountain like her young brother Lei Chuang had done.
But Lei Lan had hesitated for a few days. She had been scared that, if she ran away, her brothers would not find her when they came back home.
As it turned out, the day she made up her mind to run away, she encountered an aggressive slave-catching team when she just got out of the village.
Lei Lan and the remaining villagers all ended up being slaves. The reason was that a lot of soldiers from their village had deserted, which was a huge disrespect for the Pantheon of Demons.
After that, Lei Lan was like a boat that lost all the momentum. She flowed along with the current in the scary river with shocking tides.
She was moved to various places. Eventually, she found herself in a household of silver-blood demons in a major city in the Gold Crow Kingdom, where she worked as a maid.
Lei Lan did not complain too much about being a maid because she was completely fascinated by the dazzling, bizarre city.
In the eyes of the cat-eared girl who had been born and raised in a mountain village, what a prosperous metropolis it was!
Seven Gold Crow Woods covered a territory of dozens of square kilometers. Like seven super skyscrapers, they constituted the main trunks of the city. The branches extended out through the twigs and vines, interweaving into a three-dimensional downtown.
In the gaps of the branches were the tireless flying demon beasts. In a traffic jam, the flying demon beasts that were resting on the branches were heavy enough to break the thickest branch. The glamorous, nest-like villas were glittering in the middle of the vines, adorned by petals and feathers in the most fabulous way. At night, the fireflies would turn the city into an ocean of light. Different feathers would reflect different colors under the light, making the city a paradise on the earth!
Her surprise when she saw the uncanny items in her master’s house need not be mentioned.
There was a certain bug that would utter beautiful music when its stomach was pressed softly.
There was also a beetle that had a big belly. The shell on its back could be automatically opened. After one put cold food into it, the food would be heated by the high-temperature chemical reactions in the belly of the beetle in only ten seconds!
There was yet another round, fat bug that had almost twenty tentacles and looked like a jellyfish. Normally, it was soaked in a special solution. But as long as one stuck two of its tentacles to one’s temples, one would be able to see pictures as if one were dreaming, including oceans, sky, and vivid towns where the small figures were even moving!
It was said the bug was named Phantom Wave Insect, which was specially created for television purpose.
Every night after dinner, everybody in the household would gather around the big jellyfish and attach the tentacles to their heads, watching and listening attentively. Now and then, they would also nod and comment on the latest events.
At that time, Lei Lan did not know exactly what ‘television’ was.
There were too many new items in the city that she did not know before. She was like a sponge that was thrown back into the water after being burnt by the sunlight for three days. She absorbed everything hungrily and did not have much time to consider the situation she was in.
Lei Lan was smart and as cute as a red apple. The lady of the house was quite fond of her. Her life in the city was not too difficult. Although her meals were mostly leftover, that was even better than her food when she was still in the village.
She worked as a maid for several months, but she never saw the husband of the family. It was said that the husband was a high official in the army who commanded several thousand soldiers. Whenever the lady of the house brought him up, she was always glowing with pride.
Lei Lan thought that she was going to stay in the household for a long time, and she was considering how she could find her brothers.
However, abrupt changes took place again.
One day, the city was in chaos. A team of ferocious soldiers broke into the house. The soldiers were not the members of the Feather Clan with wings but bull-headed demons with horns on their head.
The lady’s hair was messy, and she was taken away as if she were a mad woman. The entire house was turned upside down. The usually arrogant young masters and ladies were all shrinking their wings lethargically, unable to raise their head, like hens that were suffering a plague.
It was not until later that Lei Lan learn that the coalition army of demons had suffered a great setback in a place named Eye of Blood Demon. The reason for the setback was that some bad guys were stirring trouble. The husband of the household was one of the bad guys who was formally known as an accomplice of Elder Nether Spring!
In the period, accomplices of Elder Nether Spring were being searched on a large scale in the city. As far as Lei Lan could recall, its scale was even larger than the search for the members of the Blade of Chaos.
As a maid, she certainly had a few friends who were maids in other households.
According to the news from them, in only half a month, many magnificent, influential noble families were uprooted, and all their belonging were confiscated, without leaving a single feather.
Lei Lan was a bit scared. She recalled the time when she was captured by the slave-catching team again.
However, the investigators were rather polite to the maids, especially the newly-arrived slaves such as Lei Lan. After keeping them in custody and checking their identity over several days, they were ready to set all the slaves free.
“You are not slaves in the first place. It was all the fault of Elder Nether Spring. Now, the truth has been revealed. You are all innocent and have been set free. Go home!” an old lady of the goat clan with a long beard told them.
But Lei Lan did not know where she should go to.
When the villagers were captured, Dry Leaf Village had been burnt to the ground by the slave-catching team. Even if she went back home, how was she going to make a living in the debris?
She was homeless now.
A lot of maids shared similar situations with her. Then, the old lady asked them whether or not they would like to work as nurses.
According to the old lady, a large-scale plague had broken out in the Nether Spring Kingdom, which would probably spread to other kingdoms and even the entire Blood Demon Sector.
The plague was quite contagious and had obvious symptoms. Those who contracted the disease would lose their mind and turn crazy.
The soldiers would deal with the disease on the frontline, but a lot of skilled doctors and nurses were also required to treat the paints. However, the Blood Demon Sector had never been faced with such a widespread epidemic and was seriously lacking adequate medical equipment.
Of course, it was very dangerous to work as such a nurse, but the salary was quite enticing. With a first-rate performance, one might also be officially recruited by the coalition army and granted the corresponding benefits.
Lei Lan was greatly interested by the high pay. Since she was homeless anyway, she gritted her teeth and volunteered to be a nurse to fight against something named the Demon God Virus, which she had never heard of before!
