The Courtesan
"Welcome, honored guest! Please, take a seat."
"I am Qingci. It is a pleasure to meet you, young master."
The pink gauze curtains looked utterly suggestive in the flickering candlelight. Dressed in a thin red gauze robe, the courtesan held Xu Chunliang's arm as she slowly sat down in a yellow rosewood official's hat chair.
Looking at Xu Chunliang's youthful, handsome face, the courtesan couldn't help poking out her bright red tongue.
Under the pink light, her lips were as red as blood.
Across from her, Xu Chunliang sat down with an expansive swagger, showing none of the bashfulness or blushing usual for a young man visiting a brothel for the first time.
The courtesan poured Xu Chunliang a cup of tea, then asked softly, "You look unfamiliar, young master. Is this your first time at the Bronze Sparrow Tower?"
Xu Chunliang picked up the cup and took a small sip before answering casually:
"Yes, it's my first time at a place like this. I'm a little nervous."
Before he could finish, Xu Chunliang's body jolted, and his eyes widened.
Pain!
Excruciating pain!
His stomach and intestines hurt as though a rusty steel rod had been thrust into them and was being stirred around madly.
Xu Chunliang stared at the wine cup before him, his face full of terror.
"The wine... is poisoned!"
Xu Chunliang's eyes grew unfocused, full of disbelief.
The courtesan rose with a smile. Ten sharp nails grew from her delicate hands as she walked toward Xu Chunliang.
Squelch!
His heart was crushed in her grip.
Xu Chunliang died.
The light remained pink and suggestive. In a blur, the courtesan in her sheer red gauze turned into a blue-and-white porcelain doll, crouching on the yellow rosewood table and gnawing on Xu Chunliang's body.
Blood sprayed wildly, staining the courtesan's already blood-red gauze robe...
The next instant, all of time and space began flowing backward like a tape rewinding, and everything returned to the beginning.
"Welcome, honored guest! Please, take a seat."
"I am Qingci. It is a pleasure to meet you, young master."
Xu Chunliang stood there in a daze, letting the courtesan hold his arm as he sat down on the stool, his thoughts in turmoil.
Three days ago, he had just finished taking the college entrance exam.
He had gone to an internet café with the girl he secretly liked, booking a private room for the whole night.
But before midnight, he had suddenly died the moment he reached out to hold her hand.
When he opened his eyes again, he had become a minor officer of the Demon-Slaying Bureau in Fan City.
Today, he had come to the Bronze Sparrow Tower to carry out a task his captain had assigned him.
He was to investigate the frequent disappearances of men in the city lately.
Looking at the courtesan speaking to him, Xu Chunliang felt somewhat dazed.
Was that a hallucination? Or a dream?
Or... is there something wrong with my brain? Did transmigrating drive me crazy?
He couldn't be sure.
He watched as the courtesan poured him a cup of tea, then asked softly, "You look unfamiliar, young master. Is this your first time at the Bronze Sparrow Tower?"
Xu Chunliang couldn't help shuddering.
Exactly the same!
Exactly the same as in the hallucination!
The same teacup, the same pale yellow tea, the same see-through red gauze outfit.
Wait, a see-through red gauze outfit?
Xu Chunliang couldn't resist taking another look.
Her snow-white, almost translucent skin rose and fell, pale blue veins gleaming through it.
Seeing the courtesan looking at him curiously, Xu Chunliang sheepishly pulled his gaze away from her chest,
and said with a smile:
"Yes, it's my first time. I'm a little shy."
He didn't drink the tea.
The courtesan smiled, picked up the cup with both hands, and rose to walk over to Xu Chunliang.
With a flirtatious smile, she leaned against him.
Holding out the cup with both hands, she asked softly:
"How should I address you, young master?"
Xu Chunliang took the cup in his left hand and wrapped his right arm around the courtesan's shoulders.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stroked her smooth, tender shoulder and held the cup out to her.
"My name is Xu Chunliang. I'm young, and I'm afraid of harming my kidneys, so I don't like drinking tea."
"Here, you drink it."
The courtesan gave a coquettish smile, took the cup, and set it on the table.
Gently stroking Xu Chunliang's neck with a jade hand, she said:
"Young Master Xu, you do love to joke. At your age, your kidneys are in their prime."
"Something like tea couldn't harm them."
Just as I thought! The tea is poisoned! She doesn't dare drink it either!
A burst of delight rose in Xu Chunliang's heart,
and then,
a sharp pain came from his neck. With difficulty, he turned to look at the courtesan in his arms.
A slender jade hand, white as cream and painted with blue fish patterns, had plunged into his neck.
It had severed his windpipe.
"Hah~"
"Hah~"
Xu Chunliang struggled to breathe, but every breath cruelly spurted out through the hole in his throat.
Squelch!
Blood sprayed as the courtesan crushed his heart once again.
"Welcome, honored guest! Please, take a seat."
Hearing the same voice again, Xu Chunliang's heart filled with fear.
What's happening to me? Am I caught in a loop?
Mother, how many lives do I have to test this with?
Have I gone mad?
"Doctor? Doctor? Save me!" Xu Chunliang shouted.
The courtesan in red looked at Xu Chunliang in bewilderment, unable to understand why he was calling for a doctor.
Could a doctor save him?
Once he entered her room, he was prey.
Prey had no chance of surviving.
She covered her blood-red mouth and giggled.
"Have some tea, young master."
She poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Xu Chunliang.
Without so much as glancing at the cup, Xu Chunliang pulled the courtesan into his arms.
Then, without hesitation, he held her head and kissed her bloody mouth.
A salty, metallic taste of blood entered Xu Chunliang's mouth.
The courtesan's eyes widened. She couldn't understand why the young man before her was so bold.
She wrapped both arms tightly around Xu Chunliang's slender body.
Her eyes turned red in an instant.
The nails on her left hand became five sharp shards of broken porcelain.
Squelch!
Yu Chunliang woke up again!
His dark, kind eyes were no longer calm.
A mad killing intent brewed in them.
He reached up and rubbed his chest, though it didn't hurt.
He sat down across from the courtesan.
"Is this your first visit, young master?" The moment the courtesan asked the question while pouring tea,
Xu Chunliang reached behind his waist and drew a small brass knife.
He lunged at the courtesan.
Strike first to gain the advantage!
Faced with Xu Chunliang's remarkably fierce knife attack, the courtesan smiled instead of showing fear.
She remained seated,
and the gauze robe around her body billowed up of its own accord.
Her slender body instantly drew taut like a fully drawn bow. Her left hand pulled back, then struck out in an instant.
Her nails, extended into five shards of broken porcelain, slammed into Xu Chunliang's chest like a thunderclap.
Squelch!
Once again, she crushed Xu Chunliang's heart in her hand.
Anger!
Helplessness!
Madness!
A tangle of emotions filled Xu Chunliang's heart.
He no longer had the presence of mind to think about whether he had fallen into some terrifying loop.
He just wanted to kill her,
or be killed by her!
Sitting down on the yellow rosewood chair, Xu Chunliang forced himself to calm down and think carefully.
He searched for a weakness in the courtesan.
He couldn't drink the tea!
He couldn't beat her in a fight!
What if he tried using his looks to seduce her?