Erase your own existence with your own hands
Xixi's nails dug deep into her palms, and blood dripped through her fingers onto the exposed roots of the Tree of Life, where it was instantly absorbed. She raised her head, and Xiyin's face looked particularly pale in the moonlight.
"You knew it a long time ago..." Xixi's voice was trembling, "but you kept it from me?"
Xi Yin reached out to wipe the tears from her face, but was slapped away: "What will it change if I tell you? Will it make you live in pain every day?"
"So you just watch me live like a fool?" Xixi suddenly raised her voice, "Watching me foolishly pester you with questions all day long?"
The branches of the Tree of Life shook violently, and the drooping threads wrapped around Xixi's wrists like living things. Xi Yin hurriedly made hand gestures and chanted an incantation, and the threads reluctantly untied themselves.
"That's not the case." Xi Yin took a deep breath. "Every time you reincarnated, someone tried to tell you the truth, but every time you..."
"How is everything?"
"They all chose to end their lives." Xi Yin turned his face away. "The most tragic one was when you pierced your throat with your own demon horn."
Xixi stumbled back two steps, her lower back bumping into something hard. She looked back—a stone tablet half-buried in the earth, densely engraved with names, each followed by a date. The most recent one was four months ago, the day her body had awakened.
"This is......"
"Generations of your tribe have sacrificed for you." Xi Yin's voice was so soft it sounded like a sigh. "Every time you are about to awaken, ten of your tribesmen die. Their hearts are transported through the Tree of Life to your 'heart' buried deep at the bottom of the tree."
Her reincarnation requires the hearts of her tribe members, and her survival also requires the hearts of her tribe members, but her tribe members cannot survive without her.
Xixi's stomach twisted in pain, and she knelt on the ground and retched, but nothing came out. Yes, a monster without even a heart, what could it vomit out?
No wonder her memory was so vague. She thought she was unwilling to go to the human world, so she stayed quietly under the Tree of Life, waiting for her spiritual power to be exhausted and waiting for death.
So, was her death so painful?
It is obvious that none of this was her own will, and she is also a victim, but she has to atone for her sins again and again. The saddest thing is that she has no way to free herself, neither her tribe members nor herself.
By the way, Lin Mo...
"Lin Mo..." She suddenly grabbed the hem of Xi Yin's skirt, "What role does he play in this matter?"
Xi Yin's expression instantly turned ferocious. "Lin family lackeys! They've been responsible for supervising the Tree of Life for generations, ensuring the normal operation of the 'heart'."
Originally, they thought that Xixi needed to sacrifice her tribesmen just because she was reincarnated, but it took them a long time to discover that humans not only captured many young succubi for their own amusement, but also abandoned some succubi they were tired of playing with to the Lin family for experiments, using transfer spells to extract their vitality and then digging out their hearts.
Only trees of life with sufficient vitality are able to absorb the nutrients in the heart they provide.
The tree roots suddenly surged, revealing a hidden compartment. Xi Yin pulled out a leather notebook. The gold-stamped word "Lin" on the cover shone coldly in the moonlight.
"This was stolen from Lin Mo's lab." She flipped open a notebook filled with densely packed data. "Look here—'The seventy-second experiment proves that the best time to harvest a succubus' heart is during the full moon, when the magic purity can reach 97%'."
Sissi's vision blurred. She remembered the marks under the collarbones of the succubi in the basement. They were not ordinary scars, but picking marks.
"So those imprisoned tribesmen..."
"Some were bought by high-ranking officials as playthings," Xi Yin dug her nails into the leather cover of the notebook, "and some were sent as food."
"But...why would he do this to me..." Xixi paused for a few seconds, then struggled to ask the question she was having trouble speaking, "What's in it for the benefit?"
He picked the hearts of his tribesmen to provide her with nutrition, but why did he choose her?
The tree of life, is it necessary to have it?
Seeing that she was getting too stubborn, Xi Yin sneered and said coldly, "It's for themselves, not for you."
"We've been investigating this for a long time. I told you some succubi are bought by high-ranking officials and nobles as playthings, right? Their house is a trading place for succubi. No matter if they are men or women, they can't escape their clutches."
"If your heart is gone and the succubus clan is destroyed, where will they make deals?"
"So that's why?" Xixi had long noticed that succubi were too dependent on humans, had no freedom, and had a strong sense of restraint, so she was always unwilling to force herself.
If I hadn't met Gu Tinglan, I would have probably exhausted my spiritual power and disappeared long ago.
Then she will harm her people and sacrifice them for her.
"So, do you want to continue living, or are you looking forward to something else?" After calming down, Xixi did not intend to escape. Instead, she wanted to ask everything clearly so that she could find the best solution.
"We look forward to the annihilation of the succubus clan." Xi Yin said calmly.
Xixi was stunned for a moment, then she asked carefully, "Was it the decision made by your higher-level succubus, or was it the will of all the tribe members?"
Xi Yin didn't expect her to be so cautious. His eyes softened, but his voice was strong and powerful, "All the tribesmen."
"Then why did you choose to sacrifice your tribesmen to help me reincarnate? You could have just ignored me." Xixi asked.
"Because that wasn't a sacrifice, it was the command of the Tree of Life. As long as it gained vitality from the Lin family, it had the power to bind us."
"So, the biggest problem now is to disrupt the Lin family's plan to pick fruits on the full moon night, right?"
"Um."
Looking at Xixi's expression which remained unchanged, Xiyin suddenly felt a little regretful about telling her. She was obviously very happy. Maybe it would have been better to tell her later.
But because of her calmness and determination, Xi Yin sincerely felt that this time the tribe could finally be permanently liberated.
"Aren't you... afraid?" Xi Yin turned to leave, then stopped and asked her with his back to her.
"What?" Xixi asked in confusion.
"Erase your own existence with your own hands."
“…” Xixi was silent.
If he had told her this earlier, before he met Gu Tinglan, she would have no regrets, but it happened to be after she met Gu Tinglan.
She was worried about what to do if Gu Tinglan couldn't stay with her for too long, but she didn't expect that she would leave him first.
However, perhaps Gu Tinglan would have some solution?
"There's nothing to be afraid of," said Xixi.
At least she lives much better than her tribe members, so what does she have to be afraid of?
——
Xixi stood downstairs, suddenly afraid to go up. If even Xiyin was lying to her, what about Gu Tinglan? What was that human who always looked at her so tenderly planning?
"Are you planning to be a mushroom down there for the rest of your life?"
A familiar voice came from above. Xixi looked up and saw Gu Tinglan leaning on the balcony, holding her favorite strawberry milk. The moonlight cast a silver edge on him, making him look too good to be true.
"You..." Her voice was hoarse, "You know everything, right?"
Gu Tinglan's expression froze for a moment, then he turned and went back into the house. A moment later, the door dinged open, and he walked out in slippers, with that ridiculous carrot apron still hanging around his neck.
"Let's go up first." He reached out to pull her.
Xixi stepped back suddenly: "Answer me!"
The night wind blew away her words. Gu Tinglan's hand hovered in the air, then slowly dropped. "Yes, I know everything."
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