First Snow suddenly saw Adele smiling at her.

Instead of feeling the “friendliness” Adele wanted to convey, she felt a chill down her spine, even though she was already covered in fur. But after transforming into a cat-girl, it was smooth and delicate skin, meow.

She shrugged, unable to stop Adele from approaching.

Just as Adele’s lips were about to touch her cheek, First Snow closed her eyes, half shy, half surprised.

However, Adele’s lips brushed past her cheek.

Finally landing beside her ear.

The smooth, human-like little ear made Adele want to gently suck on it.

 

Wasn’t it natural for cat-girls to have four ears?

“…”

The fact that it wasn’t a kiss made First Snow feel a little strange.

But she immediately perked up her ears, listening attentively to Adele’s soft whispers.

“Mmm…”

“Oh~”

“I will, meow!”

 

Hearing First Snow’s promise, Adele nodded with satisfaction.

“That’s right, First Snow is the best.”

“Ehehe~”

First Snow was very happy that she could please Adele by just doing these little things within her capabilities.

As for Adele, she felt a little guilty for tricking the little girl into doing something not so good.

But… if this action could really achieve her desired goal, then this little bit of guilt was better than letting Adele regret it in the future.

First Snow obeyed Adele’s words, transformed into a small Cat-Bird, flapped her wings, and flew out of the dormitory window, heading towards the home she shared with Xiao Wei.

 

Half an hour later, from First Snow’s little paws, Adele received what she wanted.

………………

During these few days, Li Lige’s life seemed very ordinary.

Even more ordinary than her past self, not at all like a fallen witch.

The woman drank coffee, strolled through the campus filled with memories of her and her friends, walked through the streets where fallen leaves and flower petals had once danced.

She even rented a homestay, checking out in two days.

This evening, as night fell like water, before it got completely dark, she felt a sudden urge to cook a table full of dishes.

 

The aroma of the food filled the entire homestay.

But it was deserted, only she was there, holding a bowl of fragrant rice, eating with gusto.

A sudden knock on the door came at this moment. She opened the door with her usual smile.

Even without looking through the peephole, she could guess who it was.

And if she looked through the peephole, it would be even more obvious.

Because through the peephole, she could only see a head with smooth black hair… it could only be her.

“Weiran, why do you have the time to freeload off your senior today?”

 

The door opened, and if you looked straight ahead, you wouldn’t see anyone.

But if you lowered your head, you could see the petite girl looking up at her with a “looking at trash” expression.

However, all she could see was Li Lige’s overly ample… you know.

Height had always been the weakness of this student council president.

In contrast, Li Lige was the kind of person who fit the standard image of a student council president in most people’s minds, a mature woman with long black straight hair and a capable and decent demeanor in all aspects.

But what she lacked in height, she made up for in strength.

Wen Weiran was probably the most talented girl Li Lige had ever met in her many years.

 

And the human higher-ups were also cultivating and valuing her as the “sword of humanity.”

This was the absolute reason why Li Lige handed over the position of student council president to her.

Otherwise – this arrogant little brat was annoying as hell.

But it was already good enough that she didn’t directly draw her sword and attack Li Lige.

As a witch, Li Lige had already become a foreign race, not human.

Those who saw her should kill her without mercy.

But the defense forces in Dongdu had let her roam free until today.

 

It was hard to say that Wen Weiran wasn’t involved.

“Is there no place for me?”

After the door opened, Wen Weiran looked at Li Lige’s face and said something that seemed confusing.

But Li Lige’s expression froze slightly.

After a while, she recovered her usual expression and smiled faintly.

“Of course there is, I’ll go get you some rice, you… just sit anywhere.”

There were five chairs at the dining table, and Wen Weiran knew that no matter which chair she sat in, it wouldn’t be appropriate.

 

But she still sat down, wanting to force her way into that memory.

That memory… that Li Lige couldn’t let go of, with her four companions.

Although this would make Wen Weiran even more annoying, if she could make Senior Li Lige change her mind and accept the organization’s “de-witchification” treatment in this way, then even if Senior Li Lige hated her to the core, it wouldn’t matter.

Wen Weiran looked at the dishes carefully prepared by Li Lige, still steaming hot, filled with a warm, everyday atmosphere.

She, who was always seen as a cold and emotionless ice cube, couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

Li Lige brought her a bowl of rice and handed her a pair of chopsticks.

Wen Weiran didn’t say anything, she just took them naturally, and then, together with Li Lige, they silently started eating their dinner.

 

Li Lige was also quite helpless about this.

But the other party was her junior after all, it wasn’t a big deal to treat her to a meal.

She was just afraid that after eating, Wen Weiran wouldn’t leave and would start chattering about irrelevant things.

That was pointless.

Because from the moment that incident happened, from the moment Li Lige became a witch, there was no room for maneuver.

Wen Weiran, I appreciate your good intentions.

But that’s all.

 

The dinner ended quietly in an awkward silence.

Although they didn’t say anything, Wen Weiran knew that she had received Li Lige’s response.

She took a deep breath, put down her chopsticks, stood up from her seat, lowered her head, and said in a cold voice,

“Since that’s the case, from tomorrow onwards, we are mortal enemies, Senior Li Lige.”

The petite girl paused, a rare look of regret on her face, then continued,

“This is also the last time I’ll call you senior.”

Li Lige smiled, a mixture of sentimentality and bitterness.

 

“You didn’t call me senior many times before.”

“Also, this seems a bit different from what you said before, ‘Mercy to foreign races is cruelty to humans,’ Weiran.”

She also used this address that proved their past close relationship.

Even if this annoying and arrogant junior refused to call her senior, Li Lige, as the senior, would still tolerate and take care of her.

Li Lige also seemed very calm.

“To be honest, I don’t mind, even if you draw your sword against me now, I won’t blame you.”

“How long has it been since we last sparred?”

 

“Two years.” Wen Weiran said the number calmly.

“It’s been two years, that time in the academy was truly memorable.”

“If it’s inconvenient here, you can choose the location.”

But Wen Weiran had already shown that she didn’t want to listen to Li Lige anymore.

She jumped off the chair and turned to leave, ignoring Li Lige’s attempts to stop her.

What a strange scene, the executor Wen Weiran and the witch Li Lige, who was the target of execution.

It was the former who avoided the fight, and Li Lige who sought it.

 

She was tempting Wen Weiran to draw her sword, but if she did, everything would end today.

Wen Weiran wasn’t arrogant, but her sword could cut through everything, including those cherished memories.

“Wen Weiran.” Li Lige called out her name, as if trying to stop her.

Trying to stop her as a senior.

She didn’t want Wen Weiran to continue being in a difficult position.

Li Lige, as the former student council president, knew how much pressure Wen Weiran, who had let her go time and time again, was facing.

Pressure from the academy, from the organization, from her companions.

 

For her, for a… fallen witch.

She didn’t think it was worth it.

“You will regret it, Wen Weiran.”

“Every extra day you give a wanted criminal like me is another day of potential crisis and disaster for this world… isn’t it?”

Wen Weiran didn’t turn back, but her words were thought-provoking.

“But this crisis was created by us humans ourselves, wasn’t it?”

“…”

 

It was always humans themselves who created witches.

That’s why Wen Weiran couldn’t bring herself to be ruthless towards witches.

………………

After Wen Weiran left the homestay, Li Lige silently cleaned up the remaining dishes.

She wrapped the leftovers in plastic wrap and put them in the homestay’s refrigerator.

If she had the chance tomorrow, she would reheat them and eat them.

And if she didn’t have the chance, Li Lige didn’t want them to be thrown away as garbage by the homestay owner.

 

If they were left in the refrigerator, Li Lige would always remember them, would care about them.

Was this considered the last bit of attachment she had left for her life?

If it was, then her life was truly pathetic.

In the end, there were no close friends or family, no pets or plants to accompany her.

There were only a few dishes she made herself.

In the depths of the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, silently waiting for her return.

The meaning of her existence was just for a few plates of cold leftovers.

 

Just thinking about it made her feel that…

It was better to end this kind of life.

Li Lige smiled self-deprecatingly, and the only ones who saw this smile were the dishes in the refrigerator.

Then, with a soft “bang,” the refrigerator door closed. Li Lige looked at the lights of thousands of homes outside the window, her gaze fixed on the emptiness, as if she was looking at something, but also as if she wasn’t looking at anything.

After a while, she rubbed her eyes, feeling a sudden wave of drowsiness.

Then, she turned and left the living room, preparing to go back to her bedroom for a short nap.

She didn’t turn off the living room light.

As if she could deceive herself in this way.

Pretending that someone had left the light on for her.

Pretending that she had left a light on for someone who was coming home.

In the not-so-distant past, there was indeed someone who would complain softly about Li Lige not leaving the light on for her when she came home.

Complaining that Li Lige only cared about herself, that she wouldn’t cook or clean at home, that she was a lazy little worm who needed to be taken care of.

No matter how capable and efficient you were outside, it was all fake.

The lazy you at home was the real you.

But because there was someone else to take care of her then, she didn’t feel that time was precious.

It was wasted and squandered.

Those wasted moments were then romanticized in her memories as fragments of happiness.

Even though there were no onions in dinner, Li Lige, who buried her face in the pillow, suddenly felt her eyes welling up.

She started coughing, coughing violently.

There was no one to hand her water, no one to pat her back.

Memories surged forth unexpectedly.

When someone left, at first, you might not even feel anything, just an emptiness in your heart, no pain.

It wasn’t until you found traces she had left behind at home, recalling the days you spent together, that the emptiness in your heart was filled brick by brick.

Only then could you truly understand what it meant to be “heartbroken.”

That girl with short, light golden hair would never return to Li Lige’s side.

Her name was Qi Li, and she was the minister of the logistics department during Li Lige’s tenure as student council president.

But everyone in the student council just called her Li Lige’s personal secretary.

At that time, she was so embarrassed that she chased after those who called her by that nickname, the surrounding laughter seemed to travel through time and space, still faintly echoing in Li Lige’s ears.

After that year’s student council graduated, Qi Li and three other members stayed by Li Lige’s side, forming an exploration team with her.

And all the changes began with their last exploration mission, slowly unfolding.

The so-called exploration team was a completely different position from the defense team stationed in the city, responsible for protecting the city’s peace and eliminating foreign races hiding in the shadows.

Perhaps those who stayed in the city envied the exploration teams who traveled all over the world, seeing beautiful scenery.

And the members of the exploration teams envied those who could stay in big cities, enjoying a comfortable life, without having to live in fear like them every day.

Li Lige, as an outstanding graduate of Cromwell Academy, shouldn’t have been buried in an exploration team.

But because she wanted to fulfill Qi Li’s wish to travel the world, Li Lige chose to join the exploration team, becoming Qi Li’s shield and sword.

After all, Qi Li’s special ability was analytical ability, which was very suitable for exploration teams, while Li Lige was strong in combat.

The five-member team that grew up together crossed mountains and rivers, vast grasslands and snow-capped mountains, and discovered a lot of important information for humanity.

At the same time, another exploration team sent news that they had discovered an ancient ruin.

Ancient ruins were very likely to contain items left over from the glorious magic era, so they were of high importance.

Li Lige and the other four were sent to communicate and cooperate with the other exploration team, to explore the interior of the ruin and find the crucial relic items for the country.

But when they arrived at the location of the ancient ruin, they couldn’t find any trace of the other exploration team.

From this moment on, Li Lige had some doubts.

But Qi Li, who trusted the organization from the bottom of her heart, believed the false information from the mastermind behind the scenes, mistakenly thinking that the ruin was safe, and led the four of them into the ancient ruin.

At first, they were very successful, and even found some precious relic items, everyone was very excited.

However, perhaps it was the legendary intuition, Li Lige tried to stop Qi Li and the others from going deeper into the ruin.

After discussing it, Qi Li and the others decided to listen to Li Lige, who had always been their leader.

But at this time, the mastermind behind the scenes, not satisfied with just these meager gains, deceived Qi Li and the others into going deeper into the ruin.

On one side was the urging and orders from the organization, on the other side was Li Lige’s intuition.

The group had a heated discussion, some decided to retreat, and some decided to move forward.

Qi Li was one of the latter.

But she, who always lacked assertiveness, left the decision to Li Lige.

Looking at Qi Li’s unwilling eyes, Li Lige wavered in her intuition that had been honed through many dangerous situations, coupled with her desire to fulfill Qi Li’s exploration wish, Li Lige finally made the decision… that she would regret for the rest of her life.

The five-member team continued forward.

In the deepest part of the ancient ruin, they found the bodies of the other five members of the exploration team, who had entered the ruin from another entrance.

Boundless horror struck their hearts.

But the intelligence clearly stated that these five people had safely returned to headquarters.

Therefore, there was only one answer, someone with high authority within the organization had lied to them.

It was for something that existed in the depths of the ancient ruin!

To satisfy their desires, exploration teams were like consumables, they could be sacrificed at will!

And they finally saw what the mastermind behind the scenes desired.

They saw – a dazzling, death-bringing angel.