Chapter 15: Trapped Here
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation.
When Yu Sheng first heard the girl speak her own name, he couldn’t help feeling that she was rather blunt. Did she really call herself “Fox”? It took him a few questions, asked with as much care as he could manage, before he understood that she wasn’t saying “Fox,” but “Foxy.”
Her name was Foxy. It sounded odd, yet somehow it suited a girl who had so many long, swishing tails.
“My name is Yu Sheng,” he said, settling himself down on a broken piece of stone beside her in the wrecked old temple. With a careful tone, he tried to explain where he came from. “I’m from… well, I don’t know if you’ll understand this, but I’m from ‘outside.’ And not just outside the valley, but beyond it.”
When Foxy heard this, her eyes grew round and bright with amazement. Right away, she seemed to grasp what he meant. She understood the idea of “outside,” and the way her face changed showed that she already knew about that mysterious place. It was as if the mere thought of it carried a heavy meaning for her.
Foxy took another delicate nibble of the chocolate that Yu Sheng had given her. She kept her gaze fixed on his face, still wide-eyed. “How did you get in?” she asked, voice trembling with hope. “Do you… do you know the way out? Is it… up in the sky?”
As they talked, Yu Sheng noticed that Foxy began to speak more easily, as if she were slowly remembering how to hold a proper conversation. Her voice, timid and stammering at first, grew a touch steadier.
Yu Sheng was puzzled. “Up in the sky? Why would you think that?” he asked gently.
Foxy lowered her voice, as though she was afraid someone might overhear them. She spoke slowly, each word seeming to cost her some effort. “The immortal said, before he died, that we all came from the sky. But then the sky went dark, and we couldn’t go back,” she explained, her eyes distant and sad. “After that, the ground became dangerous—poisonous, even. Many who came here with us died… and we couldn’t go home.”
Yu Sheng listened closely, though he felt more and more confused. He tried to piece together what she meant. Irene had called this place the “Otherworld,” and now it was clear there was a far more complicated history hidden in this valley. Foxy’s past seemed wrapped in mystery, as layered and tangled as her many tails.
She was trapped here, just like him.
Yet when he asked more detailed questions—where exactly this “sky” was, who all those other people might have been—Foxy’s answers became jumbled, her words tripping over one another. It was as if her memories were piles of broken objects that no one had bothered to sort.
“The sky… it’s just the sky,” Foxy insisted, gesturing vaguely with both hands. “I’ve tried for years to go back. I tried jumping. I hit something invisible and it hurt. Others… they don’t remember at all. There was my dad, my mom, the immortal, and more of us. We arrived here in a big ship…”
Her voice trailed off, then she suddenly straightened and pointed toward the valley’s black depths. “Over there, the ship fell and became part of the mountain. My dad always wanted to return for something. But then… later… something killed everyone, and no one could find a way back into the ship.”
The things Foxy said made Yu Sheng shiver. He could picture a terrible scene: a vessel crashing, survivors frightened and scattered, something lurking in the dark corners of the valley. He felt a chill creep along his spine.
He tried to make sense of it all. Even if he didn’t fully understand what an “immortal” was or how a sky could “go dark,” he could guess a few things: Many years ago, Foxy and her family, along with someone she called an immortal, had come to this valley on a large flying craft. Back then, the valley wasn’t the wasted land it was now. Something dreadful happened—Foxy called it the sky going dark—trapping them here. Then came dangerous changes to the land and a powerful enemy that wiped nearly everyone out.
In the end, Foxy was the only survivor.
But Yu Sheng had to admit that he was filling in the blanks himself. Her words were muddled, full of holes. Foxy’s own understanding seemed blurred by countless lonely years. She didn’t fully remember the truth, and what bits she did recall were patchy and uncertain.
Still, one thing was plain: this girl’s mind was hurting, weighed down by fear and confusion.
“How long have you been trapped here?” Yu Sheng asked, his voice gentle with concern.
“I don’t know. A very long time,” Foxy said, shaking her head slowly. She cradled the half-piece of chocolate as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. “Nothing here changes much, so I cannot count days. When I’m too hungry, I faint. Then when I wake up, it feels like a very long time has passed.”
Yu Sheng frowned. He looked at her ragged clothing and the haunted emptiness in her eyes. She must have been stuck here for far longer than he dared to guess—maybe years upon years.
“How have you survived all this time?” he asked softly. “What have you been eating? Have you been scraping by on anything left behind in these ruins?” He peered around the broken temple, which offered no sign of edible plants or food.
Foxy shook her head. “No, there’s nothing to eat here,” she replied. “Sometimes there are fruits in the forest, but they’re all poisonous. If I eat them, I pass out. Almost everything here is poisonous, except the water. Most of the time, I’m just hungry.”
But then a tiny spark of pride shone in her eyes. She tapped her own chest. “Still, I’m a demon. We don’t starve to death. Being hungry hurts, but it won’t kill me.”
Her face fell again, as though recalling something dreadful. Suddenly, she sprang to her feet and darted toward a crumbling heap of bricks and rubble. She rummaged through it until she found a small bag of old kitchen scraps. She clutched it tightly, holding it up like a cherished keepsake.
“It’s still edible,” she said seriously, showing it to Yu Sheng.
Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but no words came. He wanted to give her proper food, to promise her a safe way out, but he had nothing. He was barely managing to keep himself alive and had no gateway back to his own world, let alone hers.
Foxy suddenly spoke again, her voice earnest: “Benevolent One…”
Yu Sheng blinked, startled. “What did you call me?”
“Benevolent One,” she repeated sincerely. “My mom said anyone who helps you is your Benevolent One. You gave me food, so you’re kind.”
Yu Sheng waved his hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. “That’s too much. Just call me Yu Sheng. It’s what I’m used to.”
“Ah, alright… Bene…” Foxy tried to change what she called him, but ended up mumbling quietly. She hesitated, then pointed at Yu Sheng’s finger with a worried look. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking truly ashamed.
Yu Sheng raised his eyebrow in confusion, then followed her gaze to the small wound on his finger. It was from when Foxy had bitten him earlier in her desperate scramble for food. Oddly enough, the wound was already healed, just a bit of dried blood left as proof. He wiped it away. “I’m fine, really,” he assured her. “Just a tiny scratch.”
Foxy looked troubled. “Benevolent One, are you sure? A demon’s bite can be dangerous. It can injure a person’s core energy, make it hard to heal…”
Yu Sheng held up his hand again, showing the smooth skin where the cut had been. “Look, I’m all better. No problem at all.”
Foxy’s eyes widened. “It’s really healed!” she gasped. “Are you an immortal too, Benevolent One?”
Yu Sheng laughed awkwardly. “No, I’m not an immortal. I’m not even sure what that really means to you. Is an immortal someone who has trained to live forever? But why would an immortal be traveling with… demons?” He paused, recalling what she said before. “You mentioned you were all together on that ship. But from the stories I’ve heard, immortals and demons don’t exactly make friendly travel companions.”
This was what had been bothering him all along. He’d always known tales where immortals battled demons, not traveled side by side with them. It made no sense.
Foxy looked puzzled, as though trying to remember some faraway dream. Then she said, uncertainly, “Because… he was the Tour Guide Immortal.”
Yu Sheng’s jaw nearly dropped. A Tour Guide Immortal? He felt as if he’d just stumbled into a story far stranger than anything he could have imagined. No matter how many times he asked for clarification, Foxy’s answer stayed the same.
There really had been an immortal who acted as a “tour guide.” From what Foxy said, it sounded like a group of demons and at least one immortal had come here on some kind of guided trip.
Yu Sheng had imagined a grand, complicated saga of immortals and demons, a tale that spanned thousands of words and many grand battles. Now it turned out they had been on some sort of “tour,” possibly one arranged at a cheap price with no proper safeguards. If it had been a bargain tour—99 coins for four days, no stops at shopping districts—then nothing about it could truly be called “reasonable.” But somehow, it had happened.
He sat there, letting the cool night breeze drift through the ruined temple, trying to process this strange turn of events. This world felt more twisted and baffling with each passing minute.
Then Foxy tugged at his sleeve, her voice soft again. “Benevolent One…” she whispered.
“Just call me Yu Sheng,” he said wearily. “What is it?”
Foxy placed a hand on her belly, grimacing. “Benevolent One, my stomach hurts.”
Yu Sheng stared at her, then at the half-eaten chocolate in her hand. The terrible thought flashed through his mind: was chocolate bad for demons like Foxy?
Panicking, he reached for the chocolate. “Stop eating that!” he cried, sweat breaking out on his forehead. “It might be harming you—”
But before he could finish, Foxy let out a low, feral growl, like a small but fierce guard dog. She leapt forward, sank her sharp teeth into his hand, and bit down hard.
“Ow!” Yu Sheng yelped, his voice echoing through the ruins.
In that instant, Foxy’s pained whimper was drowned out entirely by Yu Sheng’s much louder scream.
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