“Hold on, hold on! I never said she’d end up brain-damaged, okay? Let me give you an example—if you wrote 100,000 words in one go, wouldn’t your brain feel like it’s about to explode?”
“Basically, her brain just took in too much information at once. She just needs a good night’s sleep and she’ll be fine.”
“As for her injuries, a retired healing-type magical girl from our hospital has already taken care of them. The best treatment for a magical girl’s wounds is still magical girl healing—it’s the fastest, most efficient, and cheapest method.”
“Is that… reliable? No medication needed?” Hui Feng wasn’t entirely convinced.
“What? You think I’m unreliable? This is proven knowledge from years of global research, alright? We’re a public hospital—we’re not here to make money off you. If we wanted to, trust me, we’d have plenty of ways.”
“Alright, alright, just sign the form. According to your insurance, the total cost for this treatment is 300 yuan. It’s really not going to bankrupt you.”
The Hui couple said no more—perhaps their worry really was a bit overblown.
They took the medical bill to the payment desk and settled the amount.
A new day’s sun crested the eastern horizon, its pale light gradually rising and shining into Ye Jinyi’s apartment.
Only after being bathed in sunlight for quite a while did Ye Jinyi finally sit up in bed, grumpy and unwilling.
“Morning~”
She rubbed her eyes, threw on her oversized T-shirt, and climbed out of bed.
After washing up in the bathroom, she changed into clean clothes.
It was already past 9 a.m., but Ye Jinyi didn’t feel any urgency.
After all, she now had more than enough free time—a minute or two didn’t matter.
Putting on her glasses and mask, pulling up her hood, Ye Jinyi grabbed the door handle and stepped out of her coffin room.
“Where should I go today?”
She thought about her plans as a sharp northern wind swept across her cheeks, brisk and refreshing.
With no destination in mind, she just followed her feet—whichever direction had the green light at the intersection, she took it.
She wandered aimlessly for who knows how long before suddenly stopping in her tracks.
She looked up at the building beside her— the library.
“How about… I just spend the day here?”
With her plan set, Ye Jinyi headed inside the library.
After a brief greeting with the librarian, she headed straight for the manga section, looking for something fun.
She picked a manga at random and found a free seat to sit down.
The story wasn’t complicated—if anything, it was a bit too simple.
It was one of those old-fashioned four-panel manga, short, clear, efficient little stories, each told in just four frames.
Effective, but never able to convey much depth.
Ye Jinyi flipped through page after page, chuckling occasionally, letting her time slip away without guilt.
When she reached the last page, she went back and reread it twice, somewhat reluctant to let it go.
But eventually, after all interest had faded, she returned it to its original spot.
As she was browsing for her next pick, she suddenly noticed something around the corner—a girl, sitting with her eyes closed, reading a book.
“Am I seeing that right?”
Ye Jinyi couldn’t believe her eyes.
She quietly walked closer and took a careful look.
No mistake—the girl wasn’t opening her eyes at all.
Ye Jinyi crept up in front of her and waved her small hand gently.
“You’re disturbing me.”
“Holy fuck!”
Startled, Ye Jinyi stumbled back a few steps.
She really was reading?!
“You can actually see the words on the page?”
Still suspicious, Ye Jinyi couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes.”
The girl didn’t argue—just turned the page of her book as if answering through action.
“By the way… are you human?”
At that question, the girl’s hand—which had been calmly flipping pages—suddenly trembled.
She lifted her head and opened eyes like deep violet abysses, gazing toward the sunlight streaming into the grand library.
“I’m not human. I never was.”
“Then are you a calamity?”
“No.”
Ye Jinyi was thrown for a loop.
Not human, not a calamity—then what was she?
“You want to know what I am?”
The girl turned her head to look at Ye Jinyi standing beside her.
“A demon. Does that answer satisfy you?”
“A demon?”
Ye Jinyi knew what that was—an embodiment of absolute evil created in various religions during the Dark Age.
Religions used these evil figures to contrast righteousness, to reinforce their authority and guide followers toward goodness.
But in Shenzhou, a country where religion wasn’t allowed to spread freely, most people didn’t believe in gods at all—Ye Jinyi included.
In a world without gods, how could there be demons?
“Yes… in a world without gods, how could there be demons?”
The girl echoed Ye Jinyi’s unspoken thoughts.
She stood up and returned the book to the shelf.
As Ye Jinyi watched her do so, she caught a glimpse of the title—The Bible.
That doesn’t match the character setting at all.
Ye Jinyi was momentarily speechless.
A demon… reading the Bible?
Does that even make sense?
That’s completely off-script!
She kept her thoughts to herself, but as she watched the girl, she couldn’t help noticing an air of solitude and pride in her.
She saw the girl wipe dust from the shelves, her tattered clothes blending with the dim lighting into a shadowy gray.
Ye Jinyi felt like she was looking at a drifter—someone unknown and uncared for, surviving in dust and silence.
But when she cradled a book and gazed out the window, she seemed like a dreamer who could do anything.
The girl returned the old scripture and took out a brand-new book, then sat down again.
“Want to read it together?”
“Mm!”
Ye Jinyi didn’t even have time to react.
Then she simply replied, “Sure.”
Ye Jinyi sat beside the girl, reading the book with her.
The girl still kept her eyes closed, calmly taking in the words on the page.
Ye Jinyi, on the other hand, wasn’t really paying attention to the book’s contents—instead, she kept sneaking glances at the girl’s eyes.
She wanted to figure out what this girl really was.
“You don’t enjoy reading, do you?”
The girl seemed to notice Ye Jinyi’s wandering focus, startling her into suddenly pretending to read seriously.
“You know, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to force yourself. I’m not making you read it.”
“It’s fine, I totally want to read!”
Ye Jinyi quickly said, pretending to be deeply engrossed in the text.
