"I don't know this immobilization technique, wouldn't that make all my years of effort a waste?" Mu Anxiao remained seated.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit looked at Mu Anxiao, still seated, and asked, "Why aren't you getting up?"
"I was trying to escape earlier, and that guy caught me and brought me back," Mu Anxiao pointed at Yan.
Yan stood up, glanced at Mu Anxiao, and said, "I believe you're in the same predicament as me. If we make another mistake, there will be no chance of survival, so I caught her."
Seeing Yan's shameless lying, Mu Anxiao's strained heart relaxed.
"Don't you not have any demon arts?" The red-clothed rabbit spirit furrowed her brows slightly. "How did you catch her?"
Yan showed no signs of guilt and said, "I know a bit of immobilization technique too; it's about the same as what she knows."
"I'm immobilized," Mu Anxiao chimed in to play along.
"If you immobilized her, why can she still speak?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked, looking at Mu Anxiao.
Yan replied, "My demon arts aren't that exquisite; I can only immobilize half of her, so it's like this."
The red-clothed rabbit spirit chuckled at Yan's explanation, then stepped forward and crouched in front of Mu Anxiao, saying, "So this is what you've come to."
"I'm still alive, of course, this is what I've come to," Mu Anxiao said with a smile.
"You'd better not try any tricks, or I won't let you off easily," the red-clothed rabbit spirit glared at Mu Anxiao.
"You're getting revenge on me!" Mu Anxiao exposed the red-clothed rabbit spirit's petty thoughts.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit calmly watched Mu Anxiao's smug expression after being exposed and said, "Yes, I am getting revenge on you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been targeted by that great demon. It's all your fault."
"When you were trying to harm me, did you ever consider how much I hated you?" Mu Anxiao deliberately said.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit coldly replied, "No, I didn't."
"I knew you wouldn't, you wretched rabbit," Mu Anxiao said, turning her face away.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit glanced at Mu Anxiao's profile and snorted, "Remember this: if you don't make my life easy, I won't make yours easy either."
"Whether life is easy or not is another matter. Right now, I'm particularly curious about something," Mu Anxiao met the red-clothed rabbit spirit's eyes again. "Aren't you one of the rabbits by your queen's side? Why isn't she helping you?"
"How do you know she's not helping me?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked in surprise.
"I just know," Mu Anxiao nodded.
"You..."
"Don't 'you' me. Hurry back and spruce yourself up, lest you anger that 'Piao' and have no one to blame but yourself," Mu Anxiao deliberately interrupted.
"You..." The red-clothed rabbit spirit was taken aback by Mu Anxiao's words and paused before asking, "Are you concerned about me?"
"Although you're quite annoying, thinking about your current predicament, which is similar to mine before I revealed myself, so..." Mu Anxiao twisted her mouth. "Caring about you isn't impossible."
"Don't you hate me?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked softly.
"Hate? Is that a word one can just casually say? Besides," Mu Anxiao gave a dry laugh, "we're not that familiar. If we have to talk about hate, it's not realistic, is it?"
The red-clothed rabbit spirit fell silent.
Then, Yan suddenly said, "I hate you!"
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao calmly turned to Yan and said, "I know you hate me; after all, I did capture your mother."
"What do you mean?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked, bewildered.
They fell silent.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit looked at them, utterly confused. Then, something occurred to her, and she said, "Mu Anxiao, can you tell me the Rabbit Queen's secret?"
"Secret?" Mu Anxiao came back to her senses and repeated the word. She lowered her eyes and smiled, "Don't you hate me to the bone? Now that you're suddenly asking this, I really don't know how to answer you."
"I merely dislike you; I haven't reached the point of hating you. Can you tell me... her secret?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit said sincerely.
"Did your queen abandon you?" Mu Anxiao asked directly.
Yan pursed her lips.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit was silent for a moment and said, "Yes, I was also abandoned. The queen told me to scram."
"And so you scrambled," Mu Anxiao said.
The red-clothed rabbit spirit lowered her head and said, "I never thought I'd be handed over to a great demon by the Queen. I admit I made a mistake, but... this method was also her idea. Moreover, she's the one who told me not to bring you food. In the end, all the blame fell on me. It's so unfair."
"Do you know why I took off those rabbit furs?" Mu Anxiao asked.
"You deliberately wanted to get me killed," the red-clothed rabbit spirit stated bluntly.
Mu Anxiao pursed her lips and said, "I didn't intend to harm you because, in my eyes, you and the Rabbit Queen were very close friends. Even if I did that, she wouldn't do anything to you. Who knew," Mu Anxiao spread her hands, "that the outcome would be different from what I expected."
"Why did you do it?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked.
Mu Anxiao glanced at Yan and said, "I didn't want to die."
"Did you ever consider the consequences of your actions?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked, staring intently at Mu Anxiao's face.
Mu Anxiao lowered her gaze and said, "That idea was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I thought I'd be let go, but who knew..."
"The consequences of your actions will surely lead to a more tragic end," the red-clothed rabbit spirit suddenly turned serious.
Mu Anxiao feigned astonishment. "What do you mean by that?"
"Once upon a time, there was a girl similar to you. Because there were too few female rabbits here, the Rabbit Queen tricked a female demon and transformed her into a rabbit spirit, just like you. That girl, by accident while serving tea, exposed herself and was killed on the spot by the great demon, her soul scattered," the red-clothed rabbit spirit said with firm eyes.
"That's not right. If what you're saying is true, then he could have killed me right then and there, but he didn't," Mu Anxiao voiced her doubt.
"I don't know. Perhaps he felt you were still somewhat useful!" the red-clothed rabbit spirit said uncertainly.
Mu Anxiao nodded along with the red-clothed rabbit spirit's suggestion. "Oh, I see."
"Aren't you afraid?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked, looking at the remarkably unfazed Mu Anxiao in surprise.
Mu Anxiao shrugged her shoulders. "At this point, what good would being afraid do?"
"If you don't reveal your identity, he might not kill you for now," the red-clothed rabbit spirit said.
Mu Anxiao's brows furrowed. "Didn't you say that any small demon who served him tea was killed? Now you're suddenly saying this. Honestly, I'm quite confused?"