Chapter 303 - 296: Big Rat, Big Rat, The Great Melon-Eating Method

Song Ciwan felt as if she had traveled through time and space once again.

Her consciousness drifted, and her perspective seemed to follow that of the Second Young Master, her gaze first falling upon a pair of jade-white feet.

They were truly a pair of perfectly proportioned, exquisitely shaped bare feet, as if sculpted and polished by the hands of a divine artisan.

The Second Young Master had suffered immense pain, but in this moment, as his eyes rested on those jade-like feet, he couldn’t help but feel an infinite sense of fascination.

Those perfect feet landed lightly on a scarlet carpet. Then, looking down from above, one of them extended and gently lifted the Second Young Master’s chin.

"You poor little thing..."

A lazy, gentle voice, as if dredged up from a spring stream, rang out. The woman’s tone was languid, yet tinged with a soft sneer and a smile. "You poor little thing. Look at this miserable state. It’s almost too much to bear."

Forced to raise his head, the Second Young Master’s gaze shifted upward, and he saw a face of divine, otherworldly beauty.

It was utterly radiant, magnificently beautiful. To compare it to flowers in full bloom would be too vulgar; to liken it to a clear breeze and a bright moon would be too plain...

The woman’s face held an elegance within its vibrancy, a gentleness within its glamour, and a charm within its softness. She was so beautiful it could be a weapon.

At that moment, this weapon struck the Second Young Master head-on. Even though he was so young, his small self already seemed to understand the meaning of innocent obsession.

He looked up, disheveled and wretched, listening to the woman’s soft, laughing words. He only said, dazed, "As long as Mother Consort is happy, I am not suffering. If Mother Consort pities your son, please grant me two more days to serve you in the palace."

...

Song Ciwan had been immersed in the Second Young Master’s tragic and pitiful state. She had inexplicably found countless excuses for him, even having the thought that she shouldn’t kill him...

Fortunately, in that same instant, the Second Young Master’s words shattered all of her wavering resolve.

That last scene contained far too much information.

Song Ciwan felt like she had just stumbled upon some earth-shattering gossip!

Unfortunately, she didn’t get the full story. The scene from moments ago suddenly cracked and scattered like a dried-up riverbed.

The vision vanished, and Song Ciwan couldn’t see what happened next.

But it didn’t matter. Though that scene was incomplete, more fragmented images soon came swirling toward her.

In a pitch-black tunnel, a small figure was wriggling and crawling, inch by inch.

He had been crawling for a very, very long time, but he just couldn’t escape this endless maze.

There was nothing in the maze—no food, no light, no sense of direction, no other people, and none of those bizarre, terrifying monsters.

There was only the quiet sound of dripping water, echoing in this directionless, dark world... DRIP... DRIP...

DRIP!

DRIP!

What kind of feeling was that?

It was the feeling of being abandoned by the entire world, of being on the verge of madness at any moment.

That steady, distant sound of water might seem calming at first, but anyone who listened to it for too long, endlessly, would surely go insane.

Especially in this maze-like world with no direction, no light, and seemingly no end.

Song Ciwan had already started to detach from her empathy for the Second Young Master. After all, the drama she’d just witnessed was a bit too juicy. She’d gotten a huge mouthful, and all she could remember was the shock of it. How could she remember to keep pitying the Second Young Master?

In a place Song Ciwan hadn’t noticed, within her Sea of Consciousness, the black spot on a corner of the verdant Heart Demon Seed began to show signs of fading.

But this fading came to an abrupt halt the moment this dark, maze-like world appeared.

In reality, the formless struggle between Song Ciwan and the Second Young Master was still ongoing.

And in the ever-changing Heart Demon Realm, Song Ciwan once again seemed to experience the Second Young Master’s pain, feeling his hatred and despair.

DRIP!

DRIP!

The terrifying dripping sound continued for an unknown length of time. Just as the Second Young Master’s limbs were worn raw and his head was splitting with pain—a pain so great he could no longer remain silent—he began to cry, to roar, to scream, and then to beg for mercy—

"Mother Consort, save your son!"

"Mother Consort, I was wrong! I’ll never do it again! I’m not human, I’m your little rat!"

"Mother Consort, let me out! I won’t be human anymore! I’m a little rat! Please let me go, let me go..."

At that moment, the gentle female voice sounded again.

The woman chuckled softly, her voice gentle but laced with a cutting edge. "Good child. Since you’re a little rat, how could you be afraid of the dark?"

"A good little rat can crawl out on its own. A good little rat knows how to dig holes. Tell me, isn’t that right?"

In the pitch-black maze, the Second Young Master’s limbs were stained with blood, his body covered in sores.

He raised his head and followed the voice, repeating mechanically, "Yes... that’s right. A good little rat can dig its own holes. I can get out! Mother Consort, I can get out!"

As he spoke, he became inexplicably joyful.

And so, Song Ciwan watched as his body, prostrate on the ground, began to undergo a distinct change.

His head grew pointed, his body sprouted fur, and a long, thin tail grew from his tailbone. His limbs turned into rat-like paws, and two large front teeth protruded from his pointy mouth. Soon, he had transformed into a black rat the size of a palm!

The black rat set its four paws in motion, digging furiously at the dirt.

SCRABBLE SCRABBLE SCRABBLE!

He channeled the instincts of his species to their absolute limit. Before long, he had dug a deep hole in the pitch-black maze.

The hole went straight up. An unknown amount of time passed—perhaps a long time, perhaps just a short while, or maybe just the blink of an eye—and the digging black rat broke through the entire maze!

The black rat scurried up the tunnel and leaped out in a flash.

Ahead, in the brightest area, appeared an incredibly beautiful, lotus-like face.

As if seeing his dearest kin in the world, the black rat leaped with a SWOOSH into the pair of snow-white, open palms.

The smooth, white hands cradled the little black rat as the woman praised him gently, "What a good child. You really did it!"

The black rat collapsed blissfully into the woman’s warm, fragrant palms, rubbing his tiny head against her delicate skin. Squeaking, he spoke in a human voice, pleading with joy, "Mother Consort, your son did it! I beg for your favor."

Song Ciwan was speechless.

An indescribable urge to shout a curse welled up inside her, one that you’d quickly have to pretend was just the name of a common plant.

The scene shattered again. Having been fed one bizarre piece of drama after another, Song Ciwan felt as if her brain was running out of storage space.

This world was just too strange; there were always things that a normal person couldn’t possibly understand.

Immersed in the Heart Demon Realm, Song Ciwan still hadn’t noticed that after this scene, the black spot in her Sea of Consciousness had faded once again.

Her relationship with the fragmented images gradually shifted from an immersive experience to that of a detached observer.

Countless strange images continued to fly at her like snowflakes. The more Song Ciwan watched, the more "plants" she felt like shouting, until eventually, she ran out of "plants" and was left with nothing but profound speechlessness.