A Penny Stumps the Brat
"Fine, since you asked so sincerely, I'll graciously tell you: one hundred thousand, cash," Li Xuan quoted calmly.
"One hundred thousand? Are you brain-dead?! A few lousy lyrics cost one hundred thousand? That's enough to have some fun with a shrine maiden at a shrine!" Yao stared at Li Xuan in disbelief.
"It's not expensive. My lyrics were originally written for a top-tier band. If you buy them, I definitely won't have time to write more anytime soon, and I'll have to pay a breach-of-contract penalty because of that. So I need at least one hundred thousand in cash before I can give you these lyrics," Li Xuan said without yielding.
"One hundred thousand... Can I write you an IOU?" Yao clutched her hair in agony. One hundred thousand really wasn't much to her. Setting aside the band's income, she made far more than that hunting magical creatures as a mercenary.
But like many young people who made a lot of money, Yao could never restrain her spending urges. The moment money reached her hands, she would squander it on lavish pleasures and luxuries. Once she spent it all, she would even borrow from her teammates.
So forget one hundred thousand—even one-tenth of that was more than she could immediately come up with.
"How about two hundred and fifty?" Yao turned her wallet inside out, but even counting the coins, she only found a little over two hundred.
"Miss, finish that drink and go home. If your mother finds out you've been fooling around in a bar, she'll definitely spank you."
Li Xuan had finally seen the brat get put in her place, and he immediately felt as though he had vented a long-held grudge. Even the bland sake in his cup suddenly tasted delicious.
"One hundred thousand, one hundred thousand! How am I supposed to get one hundred thousand?! I haven't even paid back what I already owe. Felia and Saroye definitely won't lend me any more, and borrowing from Black Cat feels like bullying a child... Aaaah!!! What a troublesome trashy old man! It'd be great if I could just kill him with one slash! A penny really does stump a beautiful girl... What kind of world is this?!"
Seeing that Li Xuan would not budge no matter what she tried, Yao scratched at her head in frustration. Yet as she did, she suddenly caught, from the corner of her eye, Li Xuan staring greedily at the armpit exposed when she raised her arm.
"What's this, old man? I thought you were some decent gentleman, but you're just a trashy shut-in pervert who stares at girls' armpits with lecherous eyes~" Yao immediately felt that she had found Li Xuan's weakness, and her arrogant grin returned.
"One hundred thousand! As long as it's one hundred thousand, I'll let you see the peach of the ultimate invincible musical beauty girl. How about it? That's a bargain, right?" As she spoke, Yao deliberately yawned with exaggerated movements, letting Li Xuan clearly see her armpit and the hint of sideboob visible beneath her short-sleeved uniform.
"Not worth it. Not even close," Li Xuan said disdainfully, shaking his head. It was not entirely against his conscience, either. He had groped Li Sijie's ample chest not long ago, and compared to that, Yao's breasts were only barely worth looking at.
"Then I'll show you under a beautiful girl's skirt! This is a rare sight that a virgin old man like you will never see in his life. That has to be worth one hundred thousand, right? Don't get so excited you fire right away!" Yao smugly lifted her JK skirt slightly, revealing two tender, fair legs brimming with youthful vitality.
"Not worth it. Far from it," Li Xuan said dismissively.
"Damn it... Then tell me, what would be worth one hundred thousand for you to see?!" Yao asked furiously.
"Let me think..." Li Xuan looked Yao up and down. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail behind her head. Beneath her tight JK uniform, she wore red-and-white striped thigh-high socks, and only one of her uniform shoes remained on her feet—the other had already been thrown into Li Xuan's cup to soak in liquor.
"How about this? If you can make me go biu with your feet, I'll consider the one hundred thousand in royalties paid. But I doubt you have that kind of nerve. So hurry home instead. Any later and you'll miss the bus," Li Xuan said in a mocking tone.
"Trashy old man, don't underestimate me! Isn't it just stepping on that ugly thing a few times? I'll do it!" Provoked by him, Yao became impulsive. She desperately wanted those lyrics, so she gritted her teeth and agreed.
"Disgusting old man, lie down nicely. It'll be over in just a few seconds." As Yao spoke, she removed the sock from the foot without a shoe, revealing a tiny, pale, tender foot.
Li Xuan sat up against the back of the sofa, loosened his belt, and waited for Yao's service. Her feet were not as graceful as Wu Yan's, nor as pleasing to look at as Li Sijie's, but her loli-sized body made them smaller and more delicate than either of theirs, as though they could stand in the palm of his hand.
"You're already reacting? How disgusting." Seeing the tent already raised in Li Xuan's pants, Yao could not help showing a look of disgust.
Just endure it and it'll be over. This useless old man can only last two or three minutes at most... He doesn't know who I am anyway. Once I finish my job and leave this city after a while, it'll be like nothing ever happened.
Yao comforted herself inwardly, then pinched Li Xuan's pants with her toes and slowly pulled them down.
"Your feet are quite nimble," Li Xuan praised.
"Hmph, did you need to tell me that?" Yao lifted her delicate foot and stepped on Li Xuan, only to immediately reveal a shocked expression. "No way? It's that big?"
Li Xuan said nothing, merely narrowing his eyes as he enjoyed her service. The brat who had been so arrogant moments ago was now forced to use her tender little feet to serve him in exchange for money to buy lyrics.
As long as he saw her unwilling, even slightly nauseated expression, Li Xuan felt as comfortable as if he were soaking in a hot spring.
"Hey, why aren't you finished yet? It's getting even bigger?" After absentmindedly fiddling with him for several minutes, Yao realized there was still no sign of Li Xuan going biu and began to grow impatient.
"Who knows? Maybe your service is too half-hearted. Perhaps showing me some rare sights would make me more interested," Li Xuan said with a wicked smile.
"Useless old man with nothing but dirty thoughts in his head... Seriously, what a pain." Yao angrily bared a mouthful of sharp shark teeth, but in order to end this service as soon as possible, she had no choice but to unfasten her buttons, pull down her top, and let Li Xuan admire her ( . )( . )
"Try a little harder. I can't feel much," Li Xuan urged.
"Got it... Stop talking. You're disgusting as hell." Yao rose and sat on the back of the sofa, removed the shoe from her other foot, and clamped Li Xuan between both feet, rubbing him hard.
Caught between two soft, tender little feet, Li Xuan immediately felt incomparably comfortable, but his expression remained restrained.
"Miss Trash, is that all you can do?" Li Xuan mocked Yao.
"Of course not! I... I haven't shown you my real skill yet! If I get serious, I'll turn you into a fountain in minutes!" The word "trash" stirred Yao's competitive spirit. No longer caring about shame or dignity, she directly peeled off Li Xuan's boxer briefs and began skin-to-skin contact.
Puppet Yao's "Yao"
Though only one layer of fabric had been removed, the difference in Li Xuan's sensations was like heaven and earth. After all, even the difference between wearing and not wearing an ultra-thin condom was like a vast chasm.
Li Xuan could no longer keep pretending to be composed. He drew in a deep breath and struggled to suppress the urge to erupt, while a look of enjoyment appeared on his face.
"Haha, so you've finally exposed your useless true nature! Are a loli's little feet really that comfortable? Or are you such a pathetic old man that your pitiful little toy is as trashy as you are?" Noticing Li Xuan's trembling and change in expression, Yao instantly resumed her arrogant look.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right about everything." Li Xuan did not argue with her. He simply watched her work hard to please him in order to show off her ability. Yao had been fiddling with him for so long that her feet were already sore, and fragrant sweat had unconsciously appeared on her face, yet she still pretended to be relaxed as she continued squeezing and teasing him.
Seriously... Why isn't it over yet? How long is this going to take? This useless old man has insane stamina! And it's so big. If it really went in, I'd definitely die, right? No, no, no, there's no way it could fit, right? It has to be deformed! A freak!
Yao frantically added drama in her mind, as if the sense of security she had painstakingly built up would collapse if she did not find some excuse to demean someone else.
Li Xuan had already seen through her thoughts from her expression. Seeing that she seemed to have been pushed to her limit, he stopped deliberately tormenting her and, once he felt a little stimulation, conveniently sprayed onto those soft little feet.
"Eww! That disgusting stuff got on my feet! Why didn't you warn me first?!" The arrogant expression on Yao's face instantly twisted. She picked up the expensive liquor in her cup and used it to rinse the sticky fluid from her feet.
"Ah, why won't it wash off? Why is it this sticky... Are you some glue-spraying monster? Aaaah! So annoying, so annoying~" Yao discovered that the liquor could not completely wash away the sticky sensation on her feet. Not wanting to touch it with her hands, she could only endure the discomfort and put her socks back on.
"Your payment. Take it." Li Xuan had already calmly pulled up his pants. He opened his computer, copied the lyrics onto the back of the drink menu, and handed them to Yao.
"Yes!" Yao excitedly picked up the lyrics and read through them once, then carefully tucked them into the pocket of her JK uniform. The hardship and humiliation from moments ago, along with the sticky sensation on the soles of her feet, seemed to vanish into thin air.
With this, even Felia would have to acknowledge her talent!
Yao felt overjoyed and turned to look at Li Xuan, who was adjusting his belt.
In her mind, this old man before her, having lost all value, no longer needed to live. The thought of him drunkenly bragging to his friends that he had traded a set of lyrics for service from her soles made Yao feel sick.
Yao lightly pushed the blade guard with her thumb, already entertaining the thought of killing him to silence him.
But just then, an earth-shattering boom suddenly came from outside the bar, followed by screams from the crowd.
Yao's perception was extraordinarily sharp, and she immediately sensed the aura of Evil Energy. Forgetting Li Xuan entirely, she rushed out of the private room and onto the street.
Naturally, the magical creature on the street had been arranged by Li Xuan. All Wu Yan needed was his command to open the passage and release it.
Li Xuan had already placed a Hunting Mark on Yao, so he wasted no more time. He instructed Wu Yan and Tan Xiang to withdraw with him to the Delusive Badlands, where they would watch Yao fight.
This time, the magical creature Li Xuan had created was far from ordinary. It had not only consumed a full 1,000 milliliters of Fallen Blood, but had also received temporary enhancement from Wine of Ecstasy. Speaking of which, this was Wine of Ecstasy's first appearance, and Li Xuan was greatly looking forward to its performance.
Looking at the magical creature before her, Yao frowned slightly. It resembled a rhinoceros beetle standing on four legs. Though it was only around three meters tall and did not look particularly huge, its body seemed specially designed to counter her slashes. It was covered from head to toe in heavy armor and looked like a tank.
"Magic power level... roughly Grade B. With its defense enhanced like this, it might be able to take one slash from me." Yao's frown quickly relaxed. No matter what, it was just a brainless insect-type magical creature. It could never be her opponent.
With that thought, Yao drew her long blade and instantly transformed.
From within the Delusive Badlands, Li Xuan nearly held his breath as he watched Yao's every movement. Usually, Sealing Type transformations were the slowest, so slow that the whole process could even be seen with the naked eye. Yet Yao's transformation had been completed almost instantly.
It seemed the system's information had been correct. Yao not only possessed the perception ability of the Sealing Type, but also the transformation speed and physical abilities of the Battle Type. She was truly the best of both worlds.
After transforming, Yao did not seem very different from before. Only her striped socks had become yellow leggings, her shoes had become strappy sandals, and her JK uniform had gained many thin lines as decoration. It seemed she had deliberately chosen her everyday clothes to resemble her transformed appearance.
"Die!"
With a flash of blade light, sparks flew from the rhinoceros beetle's body. Its powerful armor was cut more than ten centimeters deep, but not pierced through. It even swung its crab-claw-like forelimbs, which had been modified into weapons, at Yao.
"It can't be cut through?" Yao was startled. Unable to pull out her long blade in time, she could only abandon it and retreat more than ten meters away from the magical creature.
"A Grade B magical creature has this kind of hardness?" Yao stared at the long blade stuck in the creature's shell in disbelief. She had thought that even if the slash did not kill it, it would at least gravely wound it. Yet she had not expected that she could not even cut through its shell.
Seeing Yao's shocked expression, Li Xuan could not help curling his lips into a smile. This magical creature was a masterpiece into which he had poured considerable effort. Not only had its resistance to slashing been enhanced to the extreme, but the Wine of Ecstasy he used also temporarily reinforced its hardness. Though it could only last ten minutes, its boost was several times stronger than a long-term buff.
The rhinoceros beetle let out a long cry and charged fiercely toward Yao, aiming its huge horn at her.
"Hmph, don't get so smug just because you blocked one slash. Once I use a little of my real skill, taking down something like you will be over in an instant!" Yao drew a short blade with her right hand while hiding her left hand behind her back, fiddling with something.
In an instant, the rhinoceros beetle that had been charging so fiercely was suddenly fixed in place and unable to move. It could only struggle slightly all over, looking as though it had been frozen.
"That move again!" Li Xuan had experienced this move himself and knew how formidable it was, so he hurriedly looked at Yao's left hand hidden behind her back.
Sure enough, Yao's fingers held two long wooden pieces shaped like "X"s. Thin threads hung beneath the wooden pieces, and at the ends of those threads were two wooden puppet figures. One of them was posed exactly like the constantly struggling rhinoceros beetle.
In that instant, Li Xuan immediately understood why her nickname was "Puppet Yao." This method of manipulating puppets had to be the sealing magic that had immobilized him that day, while the two X-shaped wooden pieces, one above the other, just happened to form the character "Yao."
Lyrics "Written" with Feet
"Damn it, I never thought there'd come a day when I'd have to use this move on Grade B trash." Yao took a deep breath, held her short blade in a reverse grip, and lowered her stance, her eyes fixed firmly on the connection between the rhinoceros beetle's head armor and chest armor.
First Cry: One-Character Cut.
With a metallic clang, Li Xuan could not even see Yao's movement clearly before she had already flashed behind the rhinoceros beetle and elegantly sheathed her blade.
Looking again at the rhinoceros beetle from moments ago, its body had frozen completely still. Only after several seconds did its head slowly slide off its torso.
"That's it?" Li Xuan was shocked. He knew the rhinoceros beetle, whose only specialty was defense, could not possibly defeat Yao. Apart from serving as a rescue measure, he had sent it out mainly to gather information about her.
But he had never expected that the defense the Grade B magical creature had gained by sacrificing everything else would still be so utterly fragile before Yao's attack.
"That was magic just now, right? Magic cast through a sword?" Li Xuan turned and asked the magical girls behind him.
"That's right. Though she was very fast, it was obvious from the feeling she gave off that she had mobilized magic power," Tan Xiang, who was usually quiet, answered.
"At least she didn't just one-shot it with a normal attack... Forget it. We still got plenty of information. But we need to replenish the Fallen Blood we used this time as soon as possible—everyone, prepare to replenish magic!"
Li Xuan wrapped both arms around the three magical girls behind him. By now, the three magical girls understood what Li Xuan meant by "replenishing magic." Their faces flushed as they clung to him and began doing shameless things together.
While Li Xuan was vigorously replenishing magic, Yao returned in high spirits. She plunged into the villa's practice room, pulled out the lyrics, and tossed them onto the floor.
"Saroye! What did I tell you? Writing lyrics is easy as long as you have hands! A genius like me doesn't even need hands. Take a look at the lyrics I wrote with my feet!"
After saying that, Yao suddenly remembered that she really had exchanged her feet for these lyrics. A blush flashed across her face, and she hurriedly ran to grab her guitar, as though afraid her teammates would see her expression.
"Vodka Lime ×1, Tequila Sunrise ×1, Special Whiskey ×1... Are we really supposed to compose and perform music for this kind of thing?" Saroye picked up the white sheet from the floor and read it doubtfully.
"Read the back, you stupid pig!" Yao said as she took out her guitar and began tuning it.
Saroye frowned and turned the paper over. After reading only a few lines, her eyes widened as she looked at Yao. "Th-this really is excellent lyrics. Better than anything you've ever written. Did you really write this?"
"What do you mean, did I really write it? Can't I write good lyrics? That's called stereotyping! We're members of the same band, and you don't have even a little faith in me?" Yao immediately said excitedly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"No, no, I just thought the handwriting didn't look much like yours..." Saroye explained.
"Th-that's obviously because my handwriting is terrible! I was afraid you wouldn't be able to read it, so I had someone copy it out!" Yao blushed, but quickly came up with a fitting excuse.
"Let me see. How good can it be?" Felia put down her drumsticks and reached out with interest.
Saroye stepped forward and carefully handed the drink menu to Felia. After looking at it, Felia immediately frowned at Yao. "You went to a bar? And ordered this much alcohol?"
Yao froze for a moment. "Yeah, drinking gives me inspiration. Don't worry about that yet, just look at the lyrics!"
"So that bar let a minor in? I told you long ago that you're not allowed to drink before becoming an adult. Did you just let my words go in one ear and out the other?" Felia frowned and pulled a grenade launcher from beneath her skirt.
"Tell me which bar it was. I'll go give them some Kingdom of Sleeping Snow local specialties right now!"
"Why are you being so fierce? It's not like I did it on purpose. Bars don't have real-name registration systems. They'll sell to anyone with money," Yao said aggrievedly.
"There, there. Head pats. Don't be scared." Black Cat, who had been practicing piano, climbed onto the piano and reached out to stroke Yao's hair.
"W-who's scared?! A frail nun like that, I could cut her down with one slash—two at most!" Yao raised her voice, but her eyes darted away, not daring to look at Felia.
"Felia! Calm down. There might be Father God's lambs in that bar. How could we kill possible righteous people by mistake for the sinners of an entire city?" Seeing the situation going wrong, Saroye hurriedly held Felia's arm and tried to persuade her.
"This is something Father God does not wish to see. I'll forgive you this once, but if you dare drink again, I'll smash your guitar and kick you out of the band!" Felia said sternly.
"Hmph, it's not like I've ever thought playing in a band was fun..." Yao muttered under her breath.
"What are you muttering over there?" Felia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yao said she promises not to do it again," Black Cat gently explained for her.
"Fine, we'll set aside the drinking for now. The lyrics are very good. I'll compose music for them as soon as possible, and we'll perform it as a new song at next Wednesday's show." Felia put away the grenade launcher, and her tone softened.
"Also, you'll be the lead singer this time. After all, the original author understands the meaning of the lyrics best. Saroye, do you have any objections?"
"I've always been fine with anything," Saroye said calmly.
"Really?! This is amazing!" Yao had been utterly disappointed, but when she heard that Felia was still willing to use her lyrics and would even let her be the lead singer she had always dreamed of becoming, she became wildly excited. She grabbed Black Cat, who was lying on the piano, and hugged and kissed her.
"Yao~ Your saliva is getting on my face." Black Cat tried to push her away, but she was far too weak. Yao did not even notice her resistance.
"Alright, alright! Put Black Cat down and practice together! Next Wednesday will be the decisive moment. We have to make the audience remember the name 'King's Edict'!"
Felia began drumming first. Saroye immediately joined in with bass accompaniment, and Yao hurriedly carried Black Cat back to the piano, picked up her guitar, and began playing along.
Li Xuan, lying on his bed as he enjoyed Xu Rou's fully automatic magic replenishment service, watched everything that happened after Yao returned. It was his first time hearing the Witch Band perform. Though it could not be called heavenly music, the madness in their sound, as if it would destroy everything, still left him deeply shaken.
Even Black Cat, whom he had always thought of as soft and sweet, played with a wild frenzy. Her slender fingers leaped across the alternating black and white keys at astonishing speed, every strike precise and powerful.
Before you continue