"Whoa, all I've sensed along the way was demonic aura, without a soul in sight. I thought the place was haunted. Didn't expect to actually find someone here."
Zhou You sized up the woman opposite him.
She said nothing, however, merely watching him in silence.
A long while passed.
In the end, Zhou You spoke first.
"Who are you?"
The snake demon curled up her body. The chains piercing her shoulder blades glowed faintly blue, clearly enchanted, yet she was still smiling, even flicking out her forked tongue as she spoke.
"Then let me introduce myself. My surname is Lou, given name Xun. I used to be the public relations manager at the Big Rich Company..."
"Wait, public relations manager? I think I've heard of you... You're the one who defected?"
"That's right."
"...How'd you end up like this?"
The snake demon surnamed Lou tried to shrug, but perhaps because of the intense pain, the movement looked rather comical. In the end, she could only let her shoulders droop helplessly and say,
"Defecting obviously meant they'd come after me. With my abilities, I shouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state, but something unexpected distracted me along the way. And the result... Well, as you can see, here I am."
Zhou You neither agreed nor disagreed. He did not put down Duanxie, either, but sat cross-legged opposite her and asked,
"Then, sorry for the trouble, but would you explain?"
"Explain what?"
"Anything. For example, why you risked being hunted down to leave the Big Tycoon Group, what these experiments with humans and demons are about, or how you can help me find that Mr. Wichai..."
The snake demon opened her mouth, but the blue light grew increasingly intense, preventing her from uttering another word.
In the end, she could