"Since you already know everything... why bother playing gas with ?" Xin ifang’s voice was shaky, her eyes glassy with frustration, but Wang Xiao only shrugged.
Guilt trips never worked on him, and crocodile tears even less.
"Don’t flatter yourself. I just follow the clues," he said, voice light, "You... rushed to marry off your own daughter. Why? You went out of your way to find a man who’d been hunting for a bride with a very specific birthdate, across the entire country. You knew what he was, hell, Murong was a freak, a collector, murdering girls for months, draining their lives just to squeeze a little more out of them."
"This wasn’t so one-night slaughter. He took his ti. Months of horror, each victim left emptier than the last."
He paced a little, almost talking to himself. "You wanna know how I found out? I was digging into that company my mother’s been fighting in court. Kidnapped their CEO, a real fun lady, by the way, and stumbled into a ss even I didn’t want. Turns out, their little biotech operation was propped up by so bastard guardian, Renji. He paid with his life for trying to play , but not before I found Murong’s na in their files. Turns out, Murong was protecting that company, making sure they supplied him with exactly the kind of girls he needed... For his strange rituals."
He shot his aunt a knowing smile. "If I hadn’t gotten in the way, your daughter would be dead by now. Married into the Murong family, gone within a year, body and soul, drained dry."
"Why,?" Wang Xiao’s voice slowed, "Why’d you throw her to the wolves?"
Xin ifang’s face darkened, a storm brewing behind her eyes. "You know everything about , but can’t figure out this one thing?" she whispered, almost in disbelief.
Wang Xiao just shrugged, a crooked smile playing on his lips. "Curiosity. It’s a nasty habit."
His smile was anything but friendly.
Xin ifang could see through it, he didn’t buy her bullshit for a second.
She stared at him, hatred and fear warring on her face. "Which god are you?" she demanded, voice trembling, suddenly not so sure of her own footing.
"You’re not just so mortal brat. You’re one of us, aren’t you?"
Before Wang Xiao could answer, Xueying tried to jump in, pride glittering in her eyes, but Wang Xiao shut her up with a glance. "Not now, Xueying. Go wait outside." She pouted, wanting to hear more, but Wang Xiao’s will was law.
In truth, Wang Xiao would’ve happily dropped the bomb about who he was, but there was soone else in the room, Ning Xue, still stuck watching, silent and tense.
Letting her figure it out was half the fun.
Xin ifang gave up, exhaling hard. "You ever heard of Zeus?"
Wang Xiao cocked an eyebrow. "You an the one I killed not long ago? Not the original, but the body’s the sa. Real boring guy..."
"!!"
A chill crept up Xin ifang’s spine.
She wasn’t sure if he was joking, or if she should be afraid.
She ignored her daughter’s frantic, confused glances and went on, her voice cold, "Back in the day, when Zeus tried to... you know, force himself on , you know who helped him find ? Tryche. His own daughter. Her blessing let him track down, and when he did..."
Wang Xiao didn’t even look surprised. "Zeus, raping won? I’m shocked!"
Xin ifang, "Tryche betrayed , so yeah, maybe I wanted revenge. Maybe I wanted my daughter to taste her own fate. And Murong, Tantalus, he’s a monster in his own right. I knew what I was doing."
Wang Xiao rolled his eyes. "You were going to marry your own kid to her worst nightmare, all for so ancient grudge? Petty as hell... I expected sothing smarter."
"Humph. Call it what you want. In my shoes, maybe you’d do the sa."
"Can we skip the soap opera?" Wang Xiao groaned, massaging his temples. "Tantalus, Tryche, Zeus, none of it matters. Your daughter’s alive, mostly thanks to , and I am bored, because you can’t tell a good story!"
"!?"
Xin ifang was still reeling, trying to piece together everything Wang Xiao had said, when he suddenly closed the distance, fast, no warning.
BAM!
His fist crashed into her stomach, the sound echoed off the walls.
"Ugh!"
The breath whooshed out of her, and she dropped to her knees, arms wrapping instinctively around her belly. She looked up at him, shock and pain in her eyes, lips trembling.
Tears prickled at the corners.
Behind them, Qian Yaoyao stared, frozen against the wall, her own fear rising.
Wang Xiao just stood over Xin ifang, voice cold but disturbingly casual. "What’s with that look? Don’t tell the mighty Nesis can’t even take a punch. I told you, I’m bored. So do sothing entertaining, would you?"
His tone was so flat, almost teasing, like he expected her to laugh it off or snap right back.
Xin ifang gritted her teeth, forcing herself upright, grieve flashing in eyes that shimred with both anger and humiliation. "You... unfilial brat... Is this how you treat your elders?"
Wang Xiao only shrugged, smiling and cruel, "Depends on the ti of day. Sotis, I’m in the mood for filial piety. Sotis, I’m not."
Xin ifang’s lips trembled, her teeth biting down hard enough to draw a bead of scarlet, striking, sensual, a hint of pain blooming into charm. "I... I am still your elder... There’s no need for this animosity between us. Just... who exactly are you?" Her voice faltered, but her gaze stayed, pupils dilating, as if sensing the coiled dragon inside him.
She wasn’t lying; despite that awakening in her blood, the old Nesis was still more shadow than substance.
Wang Xiao watched her, amused. He wasn’t fooled for a second by her act, her dignity was as thin as the silk cloth on her thighs. Truth was, he was only venting, bored after Xin Hanqin’s abrupt departure, and sothing about Xin ifang’s body, so similar, even sharing the sa family na, echoed Xin Hanqin, stirring a cruel an impulse within him.
He crouched low, invading her space, their faces inches apart. Her eyes, dark gold, uncanny, like molten honey swirling with sothing dangerous, locked onto him. In that reflection, Xin ifang saw her own face.
Her hair, black as midnight, spilled over her shoulders, silk against silk. The pale line of her neck fluttered with a racing pulse. Her dress, too fine and thin, bared the snowy skin of her thighs where the slit had ridden up. Her legs, long and delicate, sprawled open, not quite a surrender.
Wang Xiao’s gaze traced her legs without sha, on the faint sheen of sweat, the bare stretch of thigh, the trembling at her collarbone.
He smiled, "If you keep looking at like that, Aunt, I might just forget which side of the family I’m on."
Xin ifang forced a shaky laugh, blood-red lips twisting into sothing sharp. "You n... always desperate to dominate the ones you can’t control..."
Her eyes narrowed, and the old wickedness flickered there, the ancient Nesis who made gods kneel and mortals bleed. She could feel his gaze, hungry, unafraid, stripping her of the dignity of kin, seeing only a woman worth conquering.
’Good,’ she thought, ’let him forget I’m blood. That’s when n beco the most careless. The most easy to manipulate. I can play that card, and buy myself ti to escape...’
Yet beneath the mask, terror stared at her.
She wanted, for a split second, to dash from the room and demand answers from Artemis, Eveline, ’Who the hell is inside my nephew’s skin?’
But when she cast her goddess’s gaze, eyes glowing gold, searching for a fate she could twist, a shudder ran through her.
She saw not a future, but a vortex of endless crimson, a mass of carnage, possibility collapsed into an eternal, bloody lake. Every path led to death, ruin, or worse. Nesis, for the first ti, felt truly outmatched.
She forced a smile, desperate for composure.
"My dear nephew... tell , was Rui good to you?" Her words purred out, sweet and calculated.
Wang Xiao arched an eyebrow, lips quirking. "Hmm?"
Just as she opened her mouth to reveal more, perhaps to distract, perhaps to threaten,.a sharp, invisible pain lanced through her mind. mories tumbled and twisted: images of her daughter’s phone, Rui’s face, flashes of secret photos and forbidden smiles, then everything faded into a haze.
Nesis’s eyes snapped to Wang Xiao, terror rippling in her.
’Did he just... sneak into my mory? Steal it from inside my head?’
He didn’t so much as blink. "Whether she was good or not, what’s it matter to you?"
Xin ifang’s smile cracked. Mind still spinning, her fiery golden gaze slipped behind Wang Xiao, retreating not in defeat, but like a snake searching for a new opening.
Her gaze flicked to where Qian Yaoyao stood, confused but intent, caught in the crossfire.
Xin ifang let her lips curl into a sly smile, false hope, a final gambit. Qian Yaoyao’s own mouth trembled, daring to hope her mother had found a way out.
But the next words turned her to ice.
"Yaoyao... You can have Yaoyao."
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