When I Lay Flat, the Female Lead Panicked - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Undercover

“I…” Her delicate, pink, and rose-like lips were pursed in nervousness.

The restaurant was filled with the noise of coming and going guests. But at this moment, it was as if all that commotion was automatically blocked out. The curious gazes of the few people at the table were all on Wen Nanshu.

Just as Luo Xiaoxiao was also looking at the female lead with anticipation, wondering how she would answer this somewhat ambiguous question, a chubby and a skinny figure, looking quite disheveled, drifted past the window on the street outside.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Her eyes narrowed in alarm. Luo Xiaoxiao accidentally choked on her saliva and started coughing violently.

Her coughing instantly drew everyone’s attention back to her.

“Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong? Did you catch a cold?”

Concerned, Qiutong’s gaze fell on Luo Xiaoxiao. She wondered if the window next to her was open too wide, causing Luo Xiaoxiao to catch a chill.

She was about to get up to close the window, but Luo Xiaoxiao reacted strongly. While coughing, she nervously tried to stop her.

“Cough, cough, wait! Cough, Sister Qiutong, wait! I, I’m fine. I, I just…”

Worried that Qiutong would see the chubby and skinny guys through the window, recognize their demonic identities, and in turn expose her own, Luo Xiaoxiao’s face turned red. She struggled for a long time before she finally managed to say, “I’m fine, I just need to go to the washroom.”

“Oh, okay. Then you should go quickly, Xiaoxiao. Don’t hold it in.”

Qiutong gave up the idea of getting up to close the window and smiled gently. In the end, she was afraid Luo Xiaoxiao wouldn’t be able to find the outhouse and reminded her, “The outhouse is just outside the back hall of the restaurant. Do you know the way? Do you want me to come with…”

“No! No need, Sister Qiutong. I can manage on my own. I, I’ll be right back!”

She gave a strained smile. And perhaps because of her guilty conscience, Luo Xiaoxiao felt as if she was fleeing in a panic as she quickly walked away.

“…” Seeing that the main person of the topic had left, the tension in her heart finally eased.

Wen Nanshu slowly let out a breath. Her momentarily blank mind now had a train of thought.

She looked composed and said calmly, “Miss Luo is very good, but there’s a difference between immortals and mortals. We and she are not meant to be together…”

…

At the same time, outside the restaurant, Luo Xiaoxiao.

She followed the chubby and skinny guys like a thief. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, she flashed over and dragged the two of them into a dim alley.

“!!!”

The sudden pull made them stagger a few steps. Looking at their surroundings, the chubby and skinny guys were stunned. They were wondering if the two of them had just run into a robbery.

They were about to turn their heads with a ferocious look, angry that they, dignified demons, would be dragged into an alley by mere mortals for a robbery.

But before they could even turn their heads, thump! thump! Two very loud and merciless blows landed on their heads.

Then, a familiar and annoyed voice rang out in their ears.

“Don’t you know who you are? How dare you run around in a human town under the jurisdiction of cultivators? Do you have a death wish?”

“Hmm? Young, young master?”

Stunned by the blow, they heard the voice. They turned their heads and looked at the beautiful girl, who was much shorter than them but was now full of a powerful aura, hands on her hips, lecturing them.

The skinny and chubby guys were pleasantly surprised, and their ferocious expressions instantly transformed into a look of exceptionally clear, innocent foolishness.

They stood obediently like elementary school students being punished to stand, heads bowed, not daring to utter a single word, letting Luo Xiaoxiao scold them.

Only after Luo Xiaoxiao had finished speaking did they dare to meekly justify themselves.

“Young master, we, weren’t we in a hurry to find you… And before we left, you gave us the Breath-Hiding Bead…”

“Hmph, you still have the nerve to mention it? It’s a good thing I found you first. If it were any other cultivator, your ashes would have been scattered long ago.”

She snorted in anger and folded her arms in annoyance.

Seeing that scolding these two was of no use, Luo Xiaoxiao sighed softly. Then, as if she had remembered something, she held out the hand with the storage bracelet.

The next second, a small, bulging pouch appeared in Luo Xiaoxiao’s hand.

“Here.”

She casually threw the pouch into the skinny monkey’s arms. Luo Xiaoxiao’s arrogant expression was mixed with a hint of awkwardness.

“Any one of these deep-sea luminous pearls is worth a fortune. These should be enough for you to live a very prosperous life back in the demon world.”

“Ah?” The skinny monkey looked at the pouch in his hand in confusion and asked in surprise.

“Young master? What does this mean? Why are you giving us these?”

“Because I’ve decided to go undercover in an immortal sect and learn human cultivation techniques. This journey is dangerous, and it’s not convenient to bring you two. So take this money, go back and wait for my orders. Don’t follow me for now.”

In order to get these two lackeys to stop causing trouble and cooperate with her plan to go and stay somewhere cool, Luo Xiaoxiao’s answer was matter-of-fact.

Of course, her choice of words was also very legitimate—undercover!

Hmph, hmph, the young master of the demon race goes undercover in an immortal sect to avenge her father.

This reason is so logical and justifiable.

“Ah? Undercover? Cultivating?!”

Their facial expressions lost control from the shock. The chubby and skinny guys were temporarily distracted from the sadness of being abandoned.

They looked at Luo Xiaoxiao as if she had lost her mind, with a look of wanting to speak but holding back.

“Yes, exactly! Cultivating!”

Her eyes lit up, and Luo Xiaoxiao’s answer was exceptionally firm.

Although this confident idea was something she had just come up with.

After all, the successful resolution of the An Family Village incident meant that she was about to part ways with the female lead and her companions.

In her original plan for survival, she just wanted to see the female lead, Wen Nanshu, get on good terms with her, then actively survive the death plot point, and then live a free and easy, lazy life.

But now… sigh, she was too naive.

Because even if the female lead didn’t want to kill her, there were still many bad guys who secretly wanted her life…(cat sigh.jpg)

If she wanted to be a lazy bum and survive, she needed to have a life to survive in the first place.

Not to mention the group of traitors in the demon race. Just the fact that the demonic being named Yuan strangely noticed her was terrifying enough.

And now, in both the demon world and the human world, there were evil spirits and ghosts like those in An Family Village, as well as countless potential threats.

She couldn’t possibly be expected to deal with these inhuman things herself, a weak college student who struggled with the 800-meter physical exam, could she?

So, after thinking and worrying all night, and with Cangruo’s reminder today, a light bulb went off in Luo Xiaoxiao’s head, and she came up with a terrible idea. That was—her lazy bum plan would be postponed. She was going to cultivate!

After all, to hide from the demonic being, the traitorous demons, and to survive until the female lead didn’t want to kill her, or even couldn’t bear to kill her, hiding in the Tianyan Sect and getting close to the female lead was the only choice.

And according to the setting, she was a half-human, half-demon. This meant that as long as she concealed her demonic energy, she could learn human cultivation techniques and be virtually indistinguishable from humans.

So for this plan to work, all she had to do was protect her identity and make sure her cover wasn’t blown in front of Wen Nanshu.

So she would become the female lead’s junior sister! Butter her up, make her unable to bear killing her! And she could also protect her from being harassed by these strange creatures.

Killing multiple birds with one stone!

Besides, hiding in the Tianyan Sect had another advantage. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is often the safest place.

It was not necessarily safer outside than in the Tianyan Sect. Luo Xiaoxiao understood the saying, “A man’s virtue is his guilt if he possesses a treasure.”

It was already bad enough that a squishy college student was inexplicably sent to a ghost place like the cultivation world, where powerhouses gathered. She also had so many treasures she had plundered from the demon palace.

It would be tough to go out there without some skills. She had to learn some ways to protect herself.

Otherwise, she could be robbed at any time…

She could handle one or two of those at the level of Hu Chou; she had plenty of protective artifacts, so she could still show off.

But if she ever ran into a hundred of them, she probably wouldn’t even know how she died.

At that time, she couldn’t possibly rely on the chubby and skinny guys, those two fools, to come and save her, could she?

It’s better to rely on herself than on others. She would find a way to enter the Tianyan Sect. While hiding and surviving, she would also learn some awesome and cool immortal techniques.

That way, after the female lead vanquished the new vicious demon lord and the demonic boss, and everything was calm and peaceful, she could escape and live her own happy life. That would be great.

Hehe, now who would be able to tell the difference between her and Einstein?

Luo Xiaoxiao felt so smart about her plan that her face was full of happiness. She had even imagined the cool scene of her holding a sword and showing off after she had mastered the skills.

But… before Luo Xiaoxiao could be immersed in the beautiful life she had envisioned for too long, a jarring, ugly wail quickly shattered her fantasy.

“No, young master, waaah, this is too dangerous. You must not do something so foolish as to go undercover and risk your life!”

“That’s right, young master. We only have you as our master, waaah. You can’t go to your death…”

“Young master…”

…

Her head was buzzing from the noise. Luo Xiaoxiao took two steps back in annoyance, covering her ears, and spun a tale with a straight face.

“What do you two know? Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. I’m going undercover to avenge my father. I must do this!”

She didn’t even need to draft her lies. Luo Xiaoxiao took on the air of a hero sacrificing herself. She managed to completely fool the skinny and chubby guys, who were touched to the core.

Waaah, so the young master’s laziness and desire to eat and sleep after the master’s death was actually her being depressed from immense grief!

They knew it! Their young master was not just some ordinary, heartless, and simple-minded person from the outside!

But despite being touched, the chubby and skinny guys still put Luo Xiaoxiao’s safety first. They moved forward and each grabbed one of Luo Xiaoxiao’s arms, earnestly advising her.

“Young master, although the ideal is good. You can’t go! With your rudimentary skills… maybe, maybe you should just give up and come back to the demon race with us.”

“That’s right, young master. Actually, there are still many loyal subordinates in the demon race who support our master… Although there are few of them, and there are only a few tens of thousands of demon soldiers, it’s still enough for you to be a king in a region. Young master, why don’t you give up on going undercover in the immortal world and come back with us to be a small tyrant in the demon race?”

“That’s right, young master. When we go back, we’ll continue to serve you. This matter of revenge must be planned for the long term. You can’t rush it.”

…

To be honest, when she heard “be a small tyrant,” her heart wavered a little. But what Luo Xiaoxiao had decided on, she rarely changed her mind about.

So, she put on a solemn, stubborn expression, as if she were about to follow the example of a certain overlord who committed suicide at the Wu River, her spirit unyielding.

“I’m not going back! You don’t understand! If heaven wants to destroy our demon race, what’s the point of me going back? How can I face the elders of Jiangdong?”

“Young master…”

Under the pressure of Luo Xiaoxiao’s aura, the chubby and skinny guys couldn’t help but cry.

But even in their emotion, they couldn’t help but ask, “Young master, what is Jiangdong? Is there such a place in the demon world?”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. It’s just my affectionate name for the demon race.”

“Oh… But young master, those despicable things in the demon race aren’t worth you feeling sorry for.”

“I…”

She was speechless, looking at the two people who had even scolded her as a side note and were quite proud of it. Luo Xiaoxiao was speechless.

She was about to vigorously try to instill the concept of “undercover” and its actual value in the chubby and skinny guys, hoping to convince them to return to the demon territory as soon as possible.

Suddenly! From the corner of Luo Xiaoxiao’s eye, she caught a glimpse.

She saw a few stunning figures at the alley entrance. They were just now appearing against the light, lined up, blocking the only exit.