When the Tsundere Rival Turns Into a Cat - Chapter 33

Xuan Yu glanced at the glowing sphere at her fingertips—the extracted memories about the demon tribe from Zheng Wenbai’s mind. With a light pinch, the sphere dispersed into fading sparks, vanishing instantly.

This meant Zheng Wenbai would awaken with no recollection of these memories.

She then approached Ding Pei, who shook his head vehemently. “No! Xuan Yu, for the sake of our years of friendship, just kill me instead!”

“Ding Pei, this was your choice. The demon tribe gave you chances,” Xuan Yu replied impassively as White Crane and the Ox Demon restrained Ding Pei from behind, leaving him no room to struggle.

Ding Pei resisted far more fiercely than Zheng Wenbai, and with far more demon-related memories to extract, the process proved significantly harder.

When Xuan Yu pressed her fingertips to Ding Pei’s forehead, it took three full seconds of struggle before he collapsed unconscious like Zheng Wenbai. As a ping-pong-ball-sized orb of light emerged from between Ding Pei’s brows, two tears streaked down from the corners of his eyes.

Even Xuan Yu hesitated momentarily as she examined the glowing sphere—it contained over forty years of Ding Pei’s memories, nearly his entire life.

But her hesitation lasted only a moment before she crushed the sphere between her fingers. The scattered sparks fell before Ding Pei’s face and extinguished, erasing everything.

“They’ll wake in about half an hour. Now we must finish up—take Zheng Wenbai to the faculty apartments, move Ding Pei to the inner bedroom, remove all traces of the demon tribe, and clean up the rest,” Xuan Yu commanded, prompting immediate action from the group.

Li Xingcan and Jiang Qingyue stood beside Xuan Yu. When she turned to face them, Li Xingcan’s heart skipped a beat.

“Aunt Xuan! There’s still an unprocessed list at the school—perhaps I can help with that!” he volunteered hastily, buying whatever time he could.

As expected, Xuan Yu nodded. “Then you’ll accompany us to the school later.”

Li Xingcan nodded eagerly.

Once all demon-related items were removed from Ding Pei’s home, Xuan Yu’s gaze settled on the vine-covered shelf—where a photo of Ding Pei and Yu’er remained, their only photograph together.

As Xuan Yu reached for it, Jiang Qingyue intervened. “Must we really take this? It’s not demon-related or harmful—just a photo. Bringing it back would only mean its destruction.”

“But leaving it serves no purpose. Ding Pei won’t remember Yu’er—to him, it’ll just be a picture with a stranger,” Xuan Yu reasoned, yet ultimately left the photo behind. After careful inspection, she removed it from the frame and tucked it into a flower-care book, at least preserving it for him.

With everything settled, the group departed Ding Pei’s home with Zheng Wenbai.

On the way to the school, Li Xingcan couldn’t help stealing glances at Jiang Qingyue. How could this person remain so calm? After delivering Zheng Wenbai, he would be next.

Fortunately, it was the weekend, leaving the school deserted—perfect for their operation.

Jiang Qingyue knew the passcode to Zheng Wenbai’s apartment. After ensuring his safe return, they cleared any demon-related items from his home, packed Jiang Qingyue’s belongings into a suitcase, and prepared to leave.

After completing these tasks, Li Xingcan led the group to the principal’s office.

They opened Ding Pei’s computer, located the list of information regarding the demon race, and permanently deleted it. They also searched for any other content related to demons and erased it all.

Once everything was done, they restored the office to its original state.

After leaving the principal’s office, Xuan Yu turned to Li Xingcan again.

“Xingcan, thank you for your help today.”

“No big deal,” Li Xingcan replied with a smile. “Aunt Xuan Yu, can I keep my memories?”

“No.” Xuan Yu didn’t hesitate. “Haven’t you learned from the examples of Ding Pei and Zheng Wenbai?”

“I’m not like them,” Li Xingcan quickly explained. “I don’t have anyone I’m madly in love with, nor do I hold any deep hatred for the demon race. I just think this experience is fascinating. Besides, your kind will soon be cut off from the human world—even if I wanted to find you, I wouldn’t be able to. And even if I went around telling people, they’d just think I was crazy.”

Xuan Yu studied Li Xingcan, who was arguing her case. “We’ll discuss this later. Right now, we need to deal with the other people who know about this. Tomorrow is Monday, and school starts as usual. You go to class normally. I’ll have to arrange a leave of absence for Qingyue, and we’ll see then.”

At that moment, Bai He approached and informed Xuan Yu that everything was ready. Xuan Yu nodded.

“Xingcan, we’ll be leaving now. Let Qingyue stay at your place for now. We should be back by next Wednesday—see you then.”

After a brief exchange, Xuan Yu and the others departed.

Knowing they were busy—likely needing to track down people like Fu Duosui and erase their memories—Li Xingcan didn’t press further. At the very least, Xuan Yu’s response had left some room for negotiation.

As they drove off, Li Xingcan and Jiang Qingyue walked back, pulling Qingyue’s suitcase behind them. Li Xingcan’s place wasn’t far anyway.

The area was already remote, and even on a weekend, there were hardly any people around. The road was quiet, the only sound being the rolling of the suitcase wheels. Occasionally, a leaf would spiral down silently.

Li Xingcan looked up just as a breeze swept by. The scorching heat of late summer was no match for the early autumn chill, and dressed in just a T-shirt and shorts, she felt a little cold.

Rubbing her hands together, she glanced at Jiang Qingyue beside her, who was dressed similarly. She wondered if Qingyue was cold too.

Before she could ask, Li Xingcan noticed that Qingyue seemed lost in thought, her absentminded expression tinged with sadness.

Li Xingcan hesitated, suddenly recalling what she had said to Xuan Yu in her haste—that she didn’t have anyone she was madly in love with…

Could that be why Qingyue was upset?

It was entirely possible. If someone she liked had said something like that in front of her, she’d definitely feel hurt, thinking they didn’t return her feelings.

Stealing another careful glance at Qingyue, Li Xingcan felt guilty but didn’t know how to comfort her.

By the time Li Xingcan had looked at Qingyue for the dozenth time, the latter—already downcast about taking a leave of absence—finally noticed.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Caught, Li Xingcan swallowed hard. “Are you… feeling sad right now?”

Jiang Qingyue felt a warmth in her heart. She hadn’t expected Li Xingcan to notice her mood, but this was something no one could change, and there was no need to trouble Li Xingcan with it.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. I’ve known about it for a while.”

“You’ve known for a while?” Li Xingcan was startled. Did Jiang Qingyue know she didn’t like her?

“Of course?” Jiang Qingyue gave Li Xingcan a strange look. Why was she acting so odd? Hadn’t this been discussed back when they were in the demon realm?

Li Xingcan choked up. It was true—she had always treated Jiang Qingyue poorly before, and even now, she hadn’t improved much. How could Jiang Qingyue not know?

“I’m sorry…”

Feeling even worse, Li Xingcan didn’t know what to say to Jiang Qingyue, only managing to force out those two words.

“Why are you apologizing? This has nothing to do with you. It’s my own issue. Don’t worry, I’m just upset for now. I’ll get over it soon.”

Jiang Qingyue thought Li Xingcan was apologizing for not being able to help, but there was no need—this was the demon realm’s rule, not something Li Xingcan could change.

To Li Xingcan, however, Jiang Qingyue’s response sounded like forced strength. Watching her comfort her instead, Li Xingcan took a deep breath. “Actually, this matter isn’t completely set in stone.”

Jiang Qingyue’s eyes briefly lit up before she shook her head. If she returned to the demon realm, she would have to drop out of school—there was no way around that. “Let’s just forget it.”

“Don’t give up so soon. We at least have a few more days, don’t we?” Even if a few days wouldn’t be enough for her to fall for Jiang Qingyue, at the very least, she could try her best to treat her well during that time and ease her sorrow.

“Let’s not bother. What exactly are you trying to do?”

Jiang Qingyue was completely lost. She didn’t think a few days would make the demon realm change its mind—Li Xingcan didn’t even have the ability to go there herself.

“Don’t worry about it. Just wait and see.”

Li Xingcan took the suitcase from Jiang Qingyue’s hands, starting with small gestures. “Let me carry this for you.”