"Your words make sense; we can't kill them, nor can we fight them, and if we reason with them, they won't listen," the wolf demon held its head. "Dealing with humans is truly a tough business."
"Indeed, dealing with demons is so much better. One fight and the matter is settled. Besides, demons are foolish and easily appeased, while humans are cunning and sometimes quite difficult to appease," Mu Anxiao couldn't help but sigh.
The moment Mu Anxiao spoke, the wolf demon frowned and asked, "Old Man Mu, why do your words make me feel so strange?"
"It's because we thought of the same thing, hence you feel this way," Mu Anxiao said subtly.
The wolf demon pondered for a moment and nodded, "Hmm, perhaps it's because we thought of the same thing."
Mu Anxiao breathed a sigh of relief.
A quarter of an hour later, Mu Anxiao left the inn with the wolf demon. The wolf demon walked beside Mu Anxiao and asked, "What are you doing?"
"First, we'll take down all the wanted posters, then we'll talk about other things."
"If you take them down, they'll just put them back up," the wolf demon said softly.
Mu Anxiao stared ahead as they walked and said, "There are no photocopiers here; they all draw them by hand. If we take them all down now, even if they draw and paste new ones, it won't be until the day after tomorrow."
"Your reasoning is sound," the wolf demon agreed.
"Naturally, who do you think I am?" Mu Anxiao said, suddenly stopping in the middle of the road.
The wolf demon stopped closely behind and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Turn your head," Mu Anxiao reminded him.
The wolf demon frowned, turned his head to look at the portrait pasted on the wall, and exclaimed in surprise, "Uh, that's me." Saying so, he glanced around slyly and hurried forward, directly tearing down the portrait.
Just as Mu Anxiao was about to step forward, an old man walked up to the wolf demon and asked, "What are you doing?"
Upon hearing this, the wolf demon turned to the old man who had asked and hesitated, saying, "Oh, I'm not doing anything."
"Not doing anything? Then why are you tearing this down?" the old man pointed to the crumpled portrait in the wolf demon's hand.
The wolf demon consciously put his hands behind his back and said, "I found this person familiar. I wanted to report him."
"There's no reward," the old man said.
"What do you mean?" the wolf demon asked, confused.
The old man beckoned, "Come here a bit."
The wolf demon, seeing the old man's gesture, obediently bent down and leaned closer to the old man, "Speak."
"Let me tell you, the people in that village are all stingy. Even if you help them, you won't get anything out of it. Rather than that, you might as well turn a blind eye. Even if you see something, pretend you didn't. Otherwise, if you offend the culprit, you won't be thanked by the villagers either, and in the end, you'll only be the one who suffers," the old man whispered.
The wolf demon looked at the old man up close and said, "You mean... you don't want me to interfere?"
"Mm, don't bother. Listen to your old grandpa and you'll have enough to eat." The old man gently patted the wolf demon's chest with the back of his hand and walked away.
The wolf demon straightened up and watched the old man's receding figure, a smile creeping onto his lips, "That old man is interesting."
"What did he tell you?" Mu Anxiao walked up beside the wolf demon and asked.
The wolf demon said, "He told me not to interfere with this matter. Are there still good people in this world?"
"Oh," Mu Anxiao nodded.
The wolf demon raised his hand and pulled at the corner of his face covering, saying, "So, does that mean I can show my true face now? Even if they see me, they won't say anything."
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao quickly reached out and grabbed the wolf demon's wrist, saying, "I advise you not to. That's just the old man's opinion; others might not think the same way."
The wolf demon hesitated for a moment and said, "You make sense."
Mu Anxiao withdrew her hand.
The wolf demon looked around and said, "Tell me, how should I destroy all these portraits on the wall?"
"To avoid interacting with people, I think you should use your demonic arts," Mu Anxiao suggested.
The wolf demon looked down at the portrait he had crumpled in his hand and nodded, "Hmm, you're right."
"I'll wait for you. You can start," Mu Anxiao said softly.
The wolf demon nodded, handed the crumpled portrait to Mu Anxiao, and said, "I'm going."
Mu Anxiao nodded, holding the portrait, and stepped back a few paces, saying, "There's an open space ahead. Gather all the portraits there and burn them with your demonic fire."
The wolf demon agreed with a sound, "Okay," and turned to leave.
Half an hour later, the wolf demon used demonic wind to gather all the portraits one by one in the open space.
Mu Anxiao stood in place and looked at the pile of portraits, saying, "I didn't expect them to be so diligent to draw so many." As she spoke, she looked up at the wolf demon floating invisibly in the sky, then quickly turned and ran off.
After Mu Anxiao ran off, the wolf demon casually tossed his demonic fire towards the pile of portraits, and they began to burn.
Mu Anxiao stopped in the distance, watching the spectacular scene before her, and seeing the wolf demon disappear above, she breathed a sigh of relief.
However, just as one trouble ended, another began. Three passing constables happened to witness this scene. They stopped together, exchanged glances, and then Constable Number One shouted, "What are you doing?"
Mu Anxiao was startled and pointed to herself, "Are you asking me?"
"Not you, who else? A ghost?" Constable Number One walked around the nearly burnt-out pile of portraits and stepped in front of Mu Anxiao, "You set this fire."
"It wasn't me," Mu Anxiao shook her head.
"Not you?" Constable Number One narrowed his eyes. "Do you think I'm blind? You're the only one here, and this is the only fire in front of you. Who are you trying to fool by saying it wasn't you?"
"I..." Mu Anxiao was at a loss for words.
"Come with me," Constable Number One grabbed Mu Anxiao's arm.
Mu Anxiao frowned and forcefully shook off Constable Number One's hand, saying, "On what grounds are you arresting me?"
"You committed arson," Constable Number One said sternly.
"Which eye did you see me committing arson with?" Mu Anxiao retorted.
"Both eyes. And they saw it too," Constable Number One said, gesturing to the other two constables who were watching them from not far away.
Mu Anxiao followed Constable Number One's gaze to the two constables who were watching them menacingly and sighed, "Alright, consider me unlucky."
"Let's go," Constable Number One grabbed Mu Anxiao's arm again.
And so, Mu Anxiao was unreasonably imprisoned in the worst female cell.
"What's the charge?" the female warden walked up to Constable Number One and glanced at Mu Anxiao, asking.
Mu Anxiao looked at the female warden before her, whose teeth were yellow and whose figure was stout, and felt a sense of disgust.
"Arson."
"Arson?" the female warden said lazily, looking at Mu Anxiao, "What's your name?"
Mu Anxiao shook her head.
The female warden's eyes widened, "Speak up. If you don't, you'll get the whip." Saying so, she raised the long whip coiled in her hand.
Mu Anxiao glanced at the whip and said without hesitation, "My name is Shi Yi."