The package has assigned me way too many objects.

Her previous composure had turned into a disheveled mess, her neatly tied hair was now soaked and dripping with water, her once-perfect yukata was now disheveled and wet, and the neckline of her yukata, which had been conservatively closed, was now open, revealing her delicate collarbone and a half-full breast that was almost falling out of the collar.

She sat on the ground by the shore with a troubled expression, her two plump, snow-white legs reflecting the shimmering hot spring water, their fair skin glowing with a rosy hue from the steam rising from the hot spring.

"Monsters?" Chu Yinan asked curiously, even though his understanding told him it was impossible, those myths and legends floated into his drowsy mind.

"Yes, I am a monster that eats children. Why am I out so late? What if I fall into the water and no one knows?"

The woman spoke calmly, trying to scare the child. She changed her posture, bent her legs, and reached down to remove the water-soaked foot bags from her feet, revealing a pair of incredibly beautiful feet.

Beside them, the little white fox that Chu Yinan had been chasing earlier appeared, carrying a dry towel from somewhere and handing it to the woman's lap. The woman took the towel and used it to wipe Chu Yinan's head, then took off his soaking wet clothes and wrapped them around his body.

"Is he the leader of the fox spirits?" Chu Yinan asked curiously. He realized that he and the other person had been on completely different wavelengths during their brief conversation. "I couldn't sleep at night, so I came here when I saw the lights."

"Oh, I see. It's been a long time since any strangers have come here. Are you having fun?"

"It's alright. It's only the first day. No, it's past midnight now, so it's the second day. During the day, I just walked around. My sister wanted to gather information, and she was planning to hear some legends and stories from the villagers, but we didn't hear a single one."

"That would be such a pity. The most beautiful place in the mountains is at the top. If you can get up early, you can see a beautiful sunrise from the top. And the view of the terraced fields at the foot of the mountain in the evening is also very beautiful. Unfortunately, there are not many people farming now, so you can't see the autumn rice swaying in the breeze."

The steaming white mist in the hot spring suddenly dissipated, and a wind picked up, carrying a chilly feeling. Chu Yinan suddenly sneezed, and the woman, seeing this, put the little boy who had just been dried into the hot spring.

"If you were going to put me in the hot spring, why did you dry me off just now?"

"Because I'm clean, I can cook you up and eat you."

The woman was very calm when she joked, just like the trees in this historic scenic area, which are serene throughout the four seasons and occasionally respond to the playful breeze with the rustling of their leaves. Logically speaking, joking with such a calm expression should be quite strange, but Chu Yinan felt no sense of crisis whatsoever.

Perhaps it was because the soaking wet yukata outlined the round and full shape of the hot spring house female monster's buttocks that she was probably a good monster!

"What should I call you? Should I call you sister?" After soaking in the hot spring, Chu Yinan felt warm all of a sudden. He lay on the rocks on the shore, filled with curiosity about this woman.

How old are you this year?

"I'm almost an adult, I'm not a child anymore."

In fact, Chu Yinan had been saying since he was ten years old that he was preparing to become an adult. If he officially becomes an adult in the future, then his self-introduction on his birthday will become "I have been an adult for a long time".

"Just about to turn 18? Then you should call me auntie. Here, the age of 16 has been the legal age for boys for a long time. You should call me grandma instead."

"Then I'll still call you Auntie... Monster Auntie, your feet are so beautiful, where do you get them pampered? I'd like to ask my sister and Aunt Liu to get them pampered too, to make them even better."

Testimonials

(In my opinion) It's ready to be released.

I originally had high ambitions before starting the book, and I was determined to make it to S-rank, but after some consideration, I gave up.

For a considerable period last year, I was busy with my own things, so I basically would go offline to watch classes after updating every day. I didn't have much free time to read the books on the site (in fact, I didn't read many books outside the site either, because I really didn't have time). As a result, when I was preparing to write a new book, I found that I couldn't figure out the themes and preferences on the site anymore.

So I continued to write according to my own preferences.

Originally, I had thought about writing something with a more ancient Chinese style, as a challenge to try again, probably something like martial arts or cultivation.

When thinking about the female protagonist, I naturally wrote down strange ideas such as "I want the female teacher's wife" and "Even if the enemy is bad, their beautiful maternal relatives are also worth considering".

In the end, I didn't start writing because I didn't know what kind of plot to write, so I chose to write a slice-of-life story that was "free-spirited".

I initially intended to focus on writing about girls, but then I thought about fleshing out the plot a bit, which resulted in those few jet-out mystery stories.

But I can't say it's entirely my own inspiration. Although I don't read mystery novels much anymore, some impressions left in my mind by works I've read before sometimes come back to me when I'm thinking about them.

It's like piecing together a plot that can be used to secretly pad out the word count. After all, even if I looked at the scripts for ten years, I still couldn't write a work like the classics by Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Those mystery novelists are just too amazing!

Therefore, this book is mainly targeted at girls, with occasional bursts of inspiration interspersed to fill the word count with some unrestrained and free-spirited content.

I haven't received any feedback yet, and my writing is getting worse and worse. I can only say I'll keep trying.

(The work is not expected to be a long novel, so it may not exceed 100 million words when it is finished, but this is only a possibility, because I am not yet good at controlling the pacing of the work.)

However, I will still do my best in portraying the female lead, because the inspiration for those girls comes from the themes or character elements of the doujinshi I like.

(Summary) In short, it will be available tonight. I hope that readers who can afford it will come and support it.

Chapter 105 Disappearance

"Feet? This is probably hereditary. I can't tell you where to get treatment. Maybe AI will tell you the answer."

It's hereditary, which is a bit of a shame. But can female demons give birth to baby demons? Will there be a low birth rate in demon society as well? Chu Yinan only hopes that this excellent gene can be passed down.

Chu Yinan didn't have much of an opinion about the beautiful feet of his older sister and Aunt Liu; they were both very pretty. However, the female monster's feet were too strikingly beautiful, almost like a model designed according to perfect proportions, yet they possessed a realism that was hard to surpass.

"Your face is very red. Did you drink a lot of wine? Children shouldn't drink alcohol, otherwise the smell of alcohol will attract monsters." The woman took a wooden ladle, scooped up a small ladle of water and poured it on his head to warm the part of him that was above the water.

The aroma of wine?

Chu Yinan had previously read relevant papers and examined the scientific aspects of folk legends.

The saying "bad feng shui can easily lead to illness and disaster" is a superstitious belief. However, if we interpret it from a modern perspective, it can be understood as poor lighting and ventilation in a house, which can easily lead to illness if lived in for a long time.

The saying "If a child doesn't cover himself properly while sleeping, a monster will eat his belly button" is actually using the power of legend to remind children to cover themselves properly, otherwise they will catch a cold.

So, when this monster aunt mentioned "the aroma of wine attracts demons," was she actually trying to warn him not to drink alcohol?

"I didn't drink much; I just heard that the local specialty wine is sour, so I ordered a little to try..."

Chu Yinan yawned, his dizziness growing stronger. Was it the lack of oxygen from the bath that made him so sleepy? But his attention wasn't on that at all; he was more curious about the female monster's contradictory stance.

"Ha—Auntie Monster, why do you say that children who smell good wine are easily targeted by monsters, while at the same time reminding me not to drink alcohol? Aren't you a monster?"

The woman and boy's question-and-answer session maintained a gentle pace, not like they were deliberately thinking about an explanation, but rather like they were slowly and deliberately expressing their thoughts amidst the ripples of a pool.

"Because monsters like to devour children all by themselves and don't want to share them with others."

Oh, so that's the reason... Chu Yinan nodded indifferently, completely excluding herself from the category of children:

"I can hear so many stories from you, much more interesting than those from the villagers. Do you monsters have any other interesting tales?"

This time, a different expression finally appeared on the woman's calm face at the hot spring inn. There was a hint of helplessness amidst her confusion, as if she was annoyed that this child had so many questions.

"Then I'll have to think back. There have been so many boring days that I can hardly tell what's interesting and what's boring anymore."

"Okay, I'll wait a bit. Don't dwell on it for too long, haha—" Chu Yinan yawned again, focusing his attention on the little foxes. Actually, some of them seemed to be cats? Chu Yinan had to admit that he had misjudged them.

While chatting, the surrounding animals gathered around. Chu Yinan was surprised that a fox and a cat could get along like this. He first reached out and grabbed a kitten to hold for a while. When he got tired of holding it, he switched to holding a fox. The animals were quite cooperative and much more obedient than the barking kittens in the pet store.

"I struggle to bathe them, how come you can so easily carry the kitten and fox into the hot spring?" The yokai aunt at the hot spring house reached out to pick up the cats watching from the shore, but the cats immediately ran away.

She lowered her arms in disappointment, feeling even more depressed. Chu Yinan looked at her and it seemed she had no way to deal with these little animals.

"Don't monsters eat these cats and foxes? Also, are you done reminiscing?" Chu Yinan urged, thinking that he should go and show off the little stories he had heard to Yu Tang when it got light.

"These small animals have no meat, so they don't taste as good as tender and delicate children."

Perhaps considering that Chu Yinan's height might cause him to choke on water if he sat on the steps in the water, the serene and graceful woman held Chu Yinan on her lap.

"I'll tell you a story that happened a long time ago to a declining landlord family. After I finish, you have to go back to sleep, okay?"

Chu Yinan did not answer immediately, but instead asked, "Where does the story take place?"

"The landlord's mansion was used as an inn and hot spring resort."

"Has a monster killed someone?"

"Perhaps? There was a mysterious case at the mansion where a faceless corpse was found."

"That's a good idea! Tell me quickly!"

......

*

"Get up."

He could hear his sister's voice and that familiar warm breath. Chu Yinan was certain that Yu Tang was waking him up again, and she was deliberately blowing on his ear.

"Could it be a hangover? He usually wakes up before dawn and goes to brush his teeth and wash his face by himself." The voice belonged to Aunt Liu, and Chu Yinan felt her pinch his cheek.

"But why are you sweating so much? Did you have a nightmare? Chu Nan, if you don't get up, I'm going to bite your ear." The older sister threatened, already holding her younger brother's ear, ready to bite at any moment.

Chu Yinan thought to himself that the monster aunt was right; there really were monsters in this world that ate children, and this person was most likely Yu Tang.

He slowly sat up, his mind quickly clearing from the daze. He wiped his neck and found his hands were wet, exclaiming in surprise:

"Yutang, did you spit on me in the middle of the night? Why is my forehead all wet?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Bei Yutang, who had just been gently nibbling at his younger brother's ear, began to nibble on it expressionlessly. Ears were his weakness; Chu Yinan's toes clenched tightly, and he shrank his neck, pleading for help from Yan Liu.

"Aunt Liu, Yu Tang bit me!"

Unexpectedly, Yan Liu pounced on him and started nibbling on his other ear.

After making a fuss for a while, Yan Liu and Bei Yutang finally let the little devil who was sleeping in late go.

The older sister picked up the clothes her younger brother had kicked aside, threw them on his head, and said speechlessly:

"I used to think you slept quite well. Are you a light sleeper? Or was it too hot last night? Why did you leave your clothes lying around?"

"I fell into the hot spring, and my clothes are soaked... Wait, how did I get back last night? I can't remember." Chu Yinan felt that she shouldn't have been drowsy; her mind was clear.

Yan Liu and Bei Yutang exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes. Yan Liu took out a few tissues to wipe his sweat, and said at the same time:

"Looks like those two small glasses of wine you drank last night made you dizzy. The hot spring in our room won't open until this afternoon. Where are you going to find a hot spring in the middle of the night?"

“There’s a hot spring house right next door, and there’s a female demon inside who’s a little shorter than Aunt Liu.” Chu Yinan gestured with his hand.

Chapter 106 Confession

"Looks like you really had a nightmare. Little Chunan, have you forgotten what that old woman said when we came here? That hot spring house has been in disrepair for years!"

After Yan Liu reminded him, Chu Yinan remembered that there was indeed such a thing.

But if that's really the case, then what did he encounter last night? Was it just a dream? Or was there really a monster?

He didn't dwell on it too much, just replied, "Then it might really be a dream," and then got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and went to have breakfast with them.

There's a small town at the foot of the mountain, which functions similarly to a temporary service station along a long-distance highway. There aren't many people, but at least some people will ride bicycles or other zero-emission vehicles past the roadside, and it does give you the feeling of returning to human society from a secluded vacation.

After a simple breakfast, Chu Yinan accompanied Yan Liu and Bei Yutang to stroll around the neighborhood. They wanted to buy some clothes, but unfortunately, there were few styles available, and most of the clothes were quite old. It was difficult to find anything they liked, so they had to return to the guesthouse disappointed and try to satisfy their shopping desires by shopping online.

Chu Yinan used the excuse of going out for a stroll to leave the guesthouse and returned to the entrance of the hot spring house, but the dilapidated scene in front of him made him very depressed.

"Strange? Could it be that I was dreaming while drunk? Or did I go to the wrong place?"