Returning to the present, Yutang felt a blush rise to her lovely face as she met Jiang Hua's smiling gaze; the memory of those lewd, erotic moments lingered in her mind.
In truth, Yutang had sought out the "Old Monster" Jiang out of sheer necessity. With Aunt Yingji away for the past two days, she had sensed someone spying on Yingluo Manor. After a few brief skirmishes, she had identified the intruder as Shen Weiwei.
The young girl's feelings toward Shen Weiwei were complex—a mix of guilt, wariness, and even a sense of mutual understanding.
Her guilt stemmed from the fact that, although both had been held captive by the power of Lust, Yutang had not been entirely helpless; to some extent, she had even fueled the situation, seizing the opportunity to fulfill her own desires.
Shen Weiwei had effectively served as her cover, sharing the moment they both gave their virginity to their brother that night.
As for her wariness—that went without saying. Having become the embodiment of "Envy" within the Seven Deadly Sins, Shen Weiwei's actions defied all reason. She posed a threat to their brother, and Yutang herself was a thorn in her side—or rather, the person Shen Weiwei envied and loathed above all others.
The sense of mutual understanding arose because, during their time in the clutches of Lust, they had indeed become friends. Yet, it was precisely that friendship—and the deep familiarity that came with it—that made their true natures so apparent; to Yutang, it seemed as though an unfathomable abyss lay hidden beneath Shen Weiwei's gentle, graceful exterior.
This unbridgeable chasm prevented them from ever becoming true, close confidantes.
Now, she was the only one who could step forward to thwart Shen Weiwei's plans. She could not rely on anyone else for this; she had witnessed how Aunt Yingji was helping her cope with the corrosive influence of Envy—essentially using her own body to shoulder the burden of that corruption.
While that act moved her deeply, it offered no effective solution to the threat Shen Weiwei posed. That left only one final option...
She had no choice but to use her own body as currency to bargain with the old monster for the power to contend with Shen Weiwei. "I knew you would come."
Yutang gazed reproachfully at the old man; she had never imagined that, after escaping, she would one day return—and of her own volition, effectively throwing herself into his arms. She felt a deep sense of foreboding, as if taking this step meant crossing a point of no return.
She tugged at the delicate straps on her shoulders and pulled them outward; the gossamer-thin veil instantly slid off her exquisitely sculpted, smooth, naked body, unable to cling to her flawless skin.
Her snow-white, naked form, set against the backdrop of her raven-black hair, was a vision of breathtaking, seductive beauty.
The double doors closed on their own, shielding the goddess-like scene within, while a sigh drifted out: "You've truly grown up; you're even more beautiful than your sister was back then..."
Moments later, the wet sounds of a passionate kiss and the soft, maidenly moans of the young woman began to drift from the room... followed by a long, trembling cry—"Mmm-ah..."—as she seemed to sink fully down onto him.
There was a trace of inexplicable sorrow in that sound, as if something truly irreversible had come to pass.
...
Back at Lingxiu's home, Li Dong was investigating the premises.
The place was deserted, though clear traces of recent habitation remained; the faint, distinct scents of the various young women still lingered in the bedroom.
Yet, they had already been taken away. Some time had passed since his encounter with Shen Weiwei in the abandoned building; he had intended to forcibly detain her, but in the end, he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it.
Perhaps even if he had acted, he wouldn't have succeeded. The power of Envy came and went without a trace; that purple mist was akin to a separate dimension, allowing for instantaneous travel anywhere—making Envy the most elusive of the Seven Deadly Sins. Years ago, had he not cornered the previous incarnation of "Envy" in a completely uninhabited area—where he could unleash his Yang True Qi to its absolute limit, obliterating both the entity and everything within a radius of several hundred meters—killing her would have been impossible.
Although the building where they fought was derelict, it was not far from the bustling city center; collateral damage was a real risk... and one certainly couldn't unleash an attack with the destructive power of a tactical nuclear weapon within the city limits.
Moreover, he still harbored feelings of guilt and a soft spot for Shen Weiwei, which meant he was destined to let her slip away.
Yet, he hadn't expected that just before vanishing into the purple mist, Shen Weiwei would coyly tell him to go check on Lingxiu's home... A foreboding sense of dread immediately washed over Li Dong.
Sure enough, when he rushed back to Lingxiu's place, he found that Lingxiu and her sister—along with the mother-daughter duo, Yelena and Alice, whom he had entrusted to their care—had all disappeared.
It was then that Li Dong truly grasped the full meaning of the title "Witch of Envy."
Andrei, whom he had counted on as an ally, had also seemingly fallen into Shen Weiwei's clutches, and now the mother and daughter were gone too... Plagued by guilt, Li Dong had even set aside other critical matters to spend the past few days tracking Shen Weiwei's movements; despite uncovering various clues, he had ultimately failed to locate her.
What Li Dong did not know, however, was the massive transformation that had taken place in Black Street—an area he hadn't had the chance to investigate over the last few days...
Black Street—perhaps it could no longer be called Black Street.
The area had undergone a complete metamorphosis; though only a few days had passed since that "explosion," the place had changed so drastically that even Li Zhiyu, were he to come back to life, wouldn't recognize it.