Chapter 35: Huh? I Have No Heart Demon, Am I Supposed to Be Proud?

Ning Shengsheng hadn’t finished the burger in her mouth.

The scene changed.

Snowflakes fell on her shoulders. A chill, and she looked around. Before her was the wrought iron gate of a detached house.

She looked down. Her hands were swollen like carrots from the cold. She was wearing worn-out sneakers.

It was the night her grandmother had passed away.

She pressed her lips together tightly and rang the doorbell. A beautiful woman came out from inside, holding a little girl in her arms.

“It’s you?”

The woman looked at her with disdain and turned to call someone.

“Ning Tao, your ex-wife’s daughter is here.”

The two-year-old little girl curiously rattled the iron gate, blinking at her.

The woman stopped her and said in a disgusted tone, “Darling, don’t let the unlucky thing in. Come back with Mommy. It’s your birthday today, and we haven’t blown out the candles yet.”

She then turned and walked away, completely ignoring the freezing Ning Shengsheng outside.

Before long, a tall, handsome middle-aged man came out. This was her father, with whom she only had a blood relationship—a heartless man who had married the factory director’s daughter and ignored her and her grandmother.

“Shengsheng, why are you so thoughtless, coming to cause trouble at such an important moment for your father?”

“It’s Xiao Jiao’s birthday party today, and many important people have come. You go home first. We can talk about it another day.”

Another day?

Heh…

Ning Shengsheng: “Grandma is seriously ill in the hospital.”

The man was stunned for a moment, then took out five hundred yuan from his breast pocket.

“I know. You go back and take care of your grandmother. After the party is over and my promotion is confirmed, I’ll go.”

Even though she had been through it once before, Ning Shengsheng was still disgusted by his shamelessness.

Outside the illusion, the mirror demon was watching the show. “What a father. That little girl is so pitiful. Her heart demon is probably insurmountable~”

In the illusion, the man tossed the five hundred yuan through the crack in the gate as if giving alms and walked away without looking back.

“Dad.”

Ning Shengsheng pretended to be pitiful, her voice choked with tears.

The man turned back.

“I’m so cold. Can you let me warm up in the gatehouse? I’m afraid I’ll faint on the roadside and won’t be able to take care of your grandmother for you.”

The man hesitated for a moment. Fearing she would cause a bigger scene and disturb the distinguished guests inside, he nodded to the gatekeeper.

“Thank you.”

She lowered her head and wiped away the tears she had painstakingly squeezed out. Her expression held no sadness, only the excitement and glee of what she was about to do.

Last time, she had been unwilling and had tearfully asked him why. He was her father, yet he had ignored her and let her grandmother die in the hospital. He had thrown five hundred yuan and left, and because she was heartbroken, she had done nothing. She had always regretted not smashing up his house.

This time, even though she knew it was an illusion, she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine.

While the gatekeeper was playing on his phone, Ning Shengsheng ran past him in one go, following Ning Tao into the villa.

Inside the villa, the lights were bright and warm. A long table covered with a white cloth was laden with exquisite dishes and expensive red wine. A group of people in suits and leather shoes stood in the spotlight.

Hearing the commotion, everyone’s eyes turned to her. Ning Shengsheng smiled under Ning Tao’s disgusted gaze. Her smile was radiant.

“Dad—”

“Do your work partners know that you abandoned your wife and daughter, and that you don’t even care about your own seriously ill mother?”

“Ning Shengsheng! You’re talking nonsense! Get out!”

“Gatekeeper, throw her out!”

The man turned to explain, his face full of ingratiation. “I don’t know this girl. She’s crazy. I let her in because I saw she was almost frozen to death and felt sorry for her.”

“Dad, stop pretending. You said that after you cheated my stepmother’s family out of their fortune, you would come back to find me and my grandmother. Oh, and you also said that my stepmother has a bad temper and that you’ve been tired of her for a long time.” Ning Shengsheng said with a smile, a sense of satisfaction in her heart.

“You shut up!”

Just as the man’s hand was about to strike her, she fell backward, grabbed the white cloth, and pulled it hard. The dishes and red wine all crashed to the floor, and the bowls and plates shattered.

“Oops, how clumsy of me. If Dad hadn’t hit me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Ning Shengsheng, you—”

“Ning Tao!”

“You’re just a son-in-law who married into our family. Has my Jiang family given you too much face?” a man with graying hair scolded. “To have caused such a scandal, let’s find someone else for the general manager position.”

“Father-in-law! Please listen to my explanation…”

The scene was chaotic. Ning Shengsheng quietly turned and walked out of the villa. The snow was falling even heavier now.

She looked up at the snowy night sky, her almond eyes filled with tears. “Sixteen-year-old Ning Shengsheng, I’ve avenged you.”

“Although…”

“I know this is an illusion…”

“That’s enough, isn’t it…”

The unwillingness of the past shattered in the snowy night.

The mirror demon paced back and forth in front of the illusion, fuming.

“I’m supposed to make her be devoured by fear, but she’s using the illusion I created to fulfill her dreams.”

“I don’t believe you, little girl, have nothing scarier.”

It rummaged through Ning Shengsheng’s memories for a long time and found that this girl’s heart was pure and open, and she really had no dark secrets to fear.

“Is she even human?”

The mirror demon slumped to the ground, dejected.

In the illusion, Ning Shengsheng composed herself. “Hey, mirror demon, you’ve seen enough of the show. Your illusion can’t trap me. Let’s make a deal, how about that?”

After a moment of silence, a distant voice came from the sky.

“What is it?”

“It is said that the one who breaks your illusion can subdue you. Then let me be your master.”

“What—?” The mirror demon leaped up. “You think you can be my master? You’re dreaming!”

“What, are you going to break the rules of the mirror demon clan?” Ning Shengsheng’s eyes glinted with a sly light. “Even if you use a hundred illusions, you won’t be able to trap me.”

A dejected voice came from the sky.

“Why?!”

“How can you not have a heart demon? Every cultivator has dark thoughts. How can you not have any?”

“Because I have a strong digestive system.”

“What?”

“I like to eat. I digest food quickly, and I also digest negative emotions quickly. Before a heart demon can even grow, it’s digested by me.”

Mirror demon: “…” That’s a thing?

It was very frustrated. But it was true that the one who broke the illusion would become its master. This was a rule set by the ancestors.

The mirror demon was helpless. It pulled Ning Shengsheng out of the illusion.

Ning Shengsheng looked around curiously. This was a pure white space, and before her appeared a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old young man. The young man had a mirror-like pattern on his forehead and was dressed in a long black robe, sitting in mid-air in a mysterious manner. It was a pity that he had a baby face. Not only did he not feel mysterious and awe-inspiring, but he even looked a little cute and comical.

“Pfft—”

She burst out laughing.

“So you’re this young. Why did you turn into such an evil skeleton outside?”

“Laugh, laugh, laugh! What are you laughing at?”

“If I went out in my true form, people would definitely have the same reaction as you. How can I intimidate everyone then?”

The mirror demon jumped down and strode up to her, its eyes full of disdain.

“So annoying! A good-for-nothing like you, who hasn’t even opened their spiritual apertures, has actually become my master!”

“Ahhhhhhh…”

He covered his head with his hands and shouted in despair, “I’m going to lose face in front of all the other demons!”