The King of Black Fog

The Czar Princess didn't ask or say anything, kicking erratically with her feet, her small and delicate hands trying to pry Li Changzhou's large hand from her mouth.

All this struggle was no more effective than a tender trumpet sprout entangling a wire mesh, fruitlessly hoping to break it.

"Hey, buddy," a foreign couple approached.

Seeing Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan's appearance, they immediately concluded that the two were not human traffickers, so they asked, "What's the matter? Do you need help?"

"No, thank you. Someone is throwing a tantrum, she's already had three lollipops today," Yang Qinglan took Bi's lollipop and white crossbody bag, stood up, and answered with a smile.

The couple saw Bi fighting desperately not to let the adult (Yang Qinglan) take away her lollipop, and after it was taken, even frantically tried to snatch it back. Thus, they all smiled knowingly with an expression that said, 'Oh, I see, that's amusing.'

Li Changzhou gently patted Bi's back, continuously comforting her with layers of Bull Horn Spiral Force, at the gentlest force, into her body.

Soon, Bi's eyes brimmed with tears and her face turned red.

"Oh! Look, she's embarrassed!" an overseas woman teased loudly, provoking friendly laughter all around.

Bi glared at the foreign woman, wishing she could kill her.

"Not throwing a fit anymore?" Li Changzhou asked affectionately as he pinched her little nose.

"Let's go," he said, taking her hand and walking towards the edge of the crowd.

Yang Qinglan opened the crossbody bag and took out high-level lollipops to distribute to passers-by, declaring that Bi wouldn't be allowed to have anymore today.

"Ah—!" Bi turned her head and roared in their direction, like an enraged little golden retriever.

"Hahaha!" The front of the Tatar honey store was filled with laughter and joy, with puzzled pigeons glancing over.

Someone shouted, "I stopped liking lollipops when I was eight unless they're snatched from somebody else!"

The laughter grew louder.

Bi didn't call for help, the pain from the Bull Horn Spiral Force made her realize that it was useless to do so, she truly had become a captive.

She was dragged away by Li Changzhou, uncooperative as a child whose parents refused to buy a KFC kids meal.

"Eat it, it's sweet too," Yang Qinglan offered Tatar honey to Bi.

"Why are you giving this to her? Don't you like it?" Li Changzhou asked, puzzled.

"It has cinnamon powder, I get physiological discomfort from eating that."

"... You're giving me the leftovers?! You bitch! Slut! I'm going to kill you!" Bi raged.

The dignity of a Czar Princess, after all, was reduced to eating someone else's rejects.

"Don't talk like that," Li Changzhou chuckled, reassuringly tugging at her little hand, "You were about to eat it earlier anyway. Think of it as if you have a maid to test for poison—does your royal family have eunuchs who test for poison?"

"Damn you, who allowed you to touch me? Get your filthy paws off me!"

"..."

Is there such an expression as 'damn you' in Russian? Or is it that the game's translation is very down-to-earth?

Li Changzhou led Bi, with Yang Qinglan holding on to the Tatar honey and Bi's white little bag. If Bi were a little younger, they would be the picture of a family of three.

After winding through several streets, they found a deserted alley.

The sight of this rarely trodden dead-end turned Bi into an unyielding little piglet who refused to leave its pen, even squatting on the ground, dead set on lying down.

"Don't worry, if we wanted to harm you, we would've done it already," Li Changzhou assured, with sound reasoning.

"I don't believe you! I plan to teach you a lesson in this kind of alley!" Bi too, had her resolve.

Li Changzhou didn't care anymore, he pulled forcefully, and her petite body, as if welded to his, was dragged in.

Yang Qinglan followed and witnessed the Czar Princess's last struggle—her little hands desperately clutching the entrance wall.

She freed one hand to gently pry open Bi's fingers.

◇

Loft apartment.

Li Qianxia, having completed her task, came out of the shower wearing a large T-shirt and shorts, her slender legs exposed. She was sitting on the bed, drying her damp hair while watching television. She glanced up to see her brother and Qing Lan dragging a child into the bedroom (which was also the living room and kitchen).

Li Qianxia observed Bi's face painted with reluctance, then turned to Li Changzhou and asked, "Brother, are you really planning to imprison a woman using Photo Transmission?"

"Can we drop this subject?" It was the second time today that Li Changzhou was criticized, and he disapproved.

Bi shook off Li Changzhou's hand.

She rubbed her slightly pained wrist and looked around the environment, finally turning her gaze back to Li Qianxia.

After a cold look up and down, she let out a scornful laugh and said, "So, it's you, flea market trash."

"Bitch... trash?" Li Qianxia was stunned.

At that moment, she finally realized something was amiss, and pointed at Bi in horror, "Isn't that, isn't that the Czar Princess?!"

"Yeah, that's her," Yang Qinglan walked over to Li Qiangxia, "Want some? I bought it for you, but I couldn't resist and had a bite first."

She handed the tarte Tatin to Li Qianxia.

"Wow!" Li Qianxia immediately forgot about the Princess, tossed the towel aside, and caught the tarte Tatin with both hands, "Thank you, Qing Lan!"

She tasted it with relish, frowned, and doubted the flavor she was experiencing.

"How... Why does it taste like gingerbread?"

Bi sneered coldly, stabbing at Yang Qinglan with her words like a knife, "Whore. Liar."

Yang Qinglan turned a deaf ear, walking to the dining table and sitting down opposite Li Changzhou.

Li Changzhou took out a flask, poured two cups of snow mountain mineral water, and placed one in front of Yang Qinglan and one in front of himself.

The two drank a sip of water in unison.

"Bro, what's going on here?" Li Qianxia was reluctant to waste food and kept eating the tarte Tatin, signaling with her eyes towards the Czar Princess.

"Too dangerous." Li Changzhou put down his cup and sighed with a look of helplessness, "I was just enjoying my journey and discussing Kafka with Miss Yang, and then suddenly, the Czar Princess kidnapped us."

"That's about enough," Yang Qinglan reminded him not to quote "Let the Bullets Fly" twice in one day.

She recounted the day's events to Li Qianxia.

The Czar Princess wasn't interested in all this; during the conversation, she kicked off her little leather shoes, climbed onto the bed, and vented her frustration and anger at the remote control and television.

After hearing Yang Qinglan, Li Qianxia grew excited and sat down with her long legs beside Li Changzhou.

"So you're saying we can also subdue this Princess with A-level Instinct!" She placed the tarte Tatin in front of Li Changzhou and took away the snow mountain mineral water in front of him.

"The premise is that what Maria Yafelona said was true," Yang Qinglan pointed out the crux of the matter.

Li Qianxia gulped down the water, swallowed, and then in a low voice said, "Why not just take away her Telekinesis directly?"

"Are you going to kill her?" Yang Qinglan asked.

Li Qianxia's gaze shifted to the Czar Princess sulking on the bed: an eleven or twelve-year-old girl with golden hair and blue eyes, fair-skinned and tender, sitting cross-legged watching TV.

While she was observing Bi, Yang Qinglan was watching Li Changzhou.

He scooped up a spoonful of the tarte Tatin from the third hand, hesitated for a second, and then ate it with the bravado of swallowing poison.

He quickly also displayed a puzzled expression as if to say, 'What the heck is this?'

Yang Qinglan lifted her cup and drank a sip of snow mountain mineral water, which now had a hint of finally balanced flavor.

"Then—what about letting that Mafia Mistress, Ma, Maria... kill her?" Li Qianxia gingerly asked.

"You're giving the order?" Yang Qinglan asked again.

Li Qianxia fell silent.

"It's difficult." Li Changzhou struggled with the tarte Tatin, "Lollipops can't be taken into the instance; that's difficult. A skill that can only be used in reality, taking up one of my skill slots, that's difficult; and the most difficult thing is to kill a child."

He finished the tarte Tatin in two or three bites and snatched the snow mountain mineral water back from his sister and chugged down a big gulp.

"After killing so many people, at a life-or-death moment, still hesitating about killing one more kid," he said, "that's being overly sentimental."

"It's not being sentimental, it's having a bottom line," Yang Qinglan looked at him and said, her tone containing faint approval and admiration.

"So what do we do now? She's seen our faces, and once she's out, she'll definitely cause trouble for us." Li Qianxia didn't care whether her brother had a bottom line; her concern was their safety.

Not only is Bi an A-level Player, but she's also the Czar Princess.

"We'll play it by ear," Li Changzhou said, "If there's really no way out... I'll do it."

Both female college students stared at him.

"I'd rather bear the judgement of everyone than teach everyone to judge me," Li Changzhou picked up the flask and poured more water into his cup.

Yang Qinglan turned her eyes to the shocked Li Qianxia.

She said:

"Today, your brother used Photo Transmission four times. Now, he's an idiot with only 3 points of Intelligence—"

"There was a break in between, okay! I have an Intelligence of 5 now! Normal person!"

Yang Qinglan ignored someone and continued, "—he's just showing off. Let's ask for his own opinion again tonight."

The person in question...

Person in question: "..."