I am NOT a Demon Queen!

Su Yao returned from the sterile laboratory back to the dampness of a Shenzhen backstreet. The chemical tang of Xiao Bai’s lab still lingered in her nostrils. She pulled out her phone. Her thumb jabbed at the screen. She selected Baoqing’s number from her contacts and put the phone to her ear.

It rang only once before the pawnshop keeper’s voice came through. “Su Yao! Did you finally decide to pawn something? I’ve a lovely market for celestial artifacts these days.”

“Baoqing,” Su Yao cut in. “You lied to me.”

“Lied? My dear, I’m hurt! I’m a purveyor of truths, wrapped in occasional embellishments for flavor. What specifically are you accusing me of?”

“You told me Xiao Bai was in Shenzhen selling ‘everyday items’. You failed to mention that her everyday items include specialized neurotoxins and spiritual poisons. She’s running a venom business under the alias ‘Viper’.”

Baoqing’s laughed. “Oh, that! Well, ‘everyday’ is such a flexible term. For an ancient white snake demon, poisons are as commonplace as rice. But you have to admit her work is top-notch. The artistry! Such precision!”

“Artistry? She sold a custom blend to the black robes. They used it in an attempt to assassinate Xie Jing.”

“Aha! And I assume it failed spectacularly? Xie Jing is quite unkillable. So no harm done. Besides, Xiao Bai has to earn a living. The rent in Shenzhen is astronomical.”

“Your lack of disclosure compromised my operations. I had to threaten her to get information.”

“See? Problem solved. Now, was there anything else? I’ve a potential buyer for a Tang dynasty hairpin, and I need to authenticate it.”

“I expect complete accuracy when I ask for intelligence from now on. Not your sanitized versions designed to amuse yourself.”

“Of course. Next time, I’ll include the material safety data sheets.” Baoqing hung up.

Su Yao shoved the phone back into her pocket. The black robes were adapting, and her so-called allies were playing games.

The details from Xiao Bai arrived in Su Yao’s encrypted inbox with a soft chime. She scanned the financial trails and encrypted communications. Her initial plan was simple.

Appear at 3 a.m., shatter a few priceless vases, make them rethink their life choices. Simple.

Then she saw the client’s identity. The payment came as a direct corporate transfer from the business account of ‘Hei Mang Luo’ (黑芒楼).

Hei Mang Luo, the Black Citadel. On the authorized signatory, the name on the account was the company’s founder and CEO Zhao Ze.

Su Yao stood still in the alley. The founder was a young CEO operating out of a skyscraper in one of the most modern cities on earth.

She smiled. The plan for a simple scare evaporated.

“So the head of the snake wears a suit and sits in a corner office,” she murmured to herself. “And he was foolish enough to use his own company’s funds to buy poison from a demon.”

He had delivered himself to her on a silver platter wrapped in corporate paperwork.

She pulled out her phone and typed a message to Zhang Wei.

Xiao Ling: The investigation is over. I’ve the source. Stand by for regime change.

Su Yao phased into the penthouse. The air shimmered around the minimalist space, lit only by the city lights of Shenzhen sprawling below. There was nothing personal or breakable. Whoever lived here planned for intrusion.

A young man in a tailored black suit stood with his back to her, gazing out at the skyline.

“Xue Qing,” he said. “Or should I say, Su Yao. I’ve been waiting for you.”

He turned, smiling. “You see, I figured it out. The entropy field is reactive. The more one pursues you, the more catastrophic the backlash. It’s a brilliant defense. But like any system, it has a flaw. It only works if you’re the one being pursued.”

Gesturing to the room around them, he spread his hands. “So I changed the variables. I made the transaction traceable so you can find me. By coming here, drawn by my bait, you have placed yourself in the role of the pursuer. The entropy field is neutralized. Your greatest weapon is useless.”

“It’s over,” he chuckled. “Your legend ends tonight. In my home. On my terms.”

He finished his monologue, his chest puffed. His smile faltered as he looked at her up and down.

The woman standing before him resembled the actress Xue Qing, but the aura was different. The spiritual pressure in the room felt like the edge of a blade pressed against his soul.

“You,” he whispered. “You’re not her.”

“Disappointed?”

“Doesn’t matter. A fox is still a fox. Now die.”

With a speed that defied physics, he closed the distance between them. His fist lanced toward her chest. Su Yao crossed her arms, blocking the blow, but the impact sent a shockwave through the penthouse. The floor-to-ceiling window behind her shattered.

A flurry of punches and kicks followed, each strike carrying the weight of a truck.

“One hundred squats! One hundred push-ups! One hundred pull-ups! Every single day! Ten-kilometer run! No air conditioning! No heater! Forging this body into the ultimate weapon to purge your kind!”

His fist connected with her guard again. This time, the concrete floor beneath her feet cracked. She was fighting a mortal who had honed his physical vessel to challenge an ancient demon through insane willpower and a regimen ripped from a manga.

Su Yao’s eyes narrowed. No human could reach this level with that childish routine alone.

Even demons had limits. This was something else.

Zhao Ze exhaled. “Don’t look at me like that. The CX-9 compound accelerated things. That’s all. The foundation is still mine.”

Su Yao phased back, creating distance. Zhao Ze’s body was a fortress, his will an unbreakable blade. Against all odds, he was a genuine threat.

The young CEO stood amidst the wreckage of his own home, barely winded. His torn suit revealed corded muscle. “Your tricks are useless here, fox. This is a battle of pure power. And my power is absolute.”

“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Su Yao said, deflecting another of his bone-shattering punches with a flick of her wrist. A shimmering barrier of foxfire erupted around her and absorbed the force of the blow.

“Of course you would know about corruption!” Zhao Ze snarled. He spun into a kick aimed at her head. “My ancestor, Li Xuan’s first disciple, tried to warn him about your kind! He was disgraced, cast out for speaking the truth! Our family has carried that shame for generations!”

Su Yao phased backward, avoiding the kick. Her brow furrowed. “What disciple? There was no such person.”

“Lies!” he roared, pressing his attack with a series of rapid jabs that tore through the air. “His name was Zhao Tao! He served Li Xuan faithfully until you poisoned his mind!”

“Zhao Tao?” Su Yao repeated. “I’ve never heard of him. Your history is as flawed as your technique.”

“You erased him! Just like you try to erase all who oppose you!” His muscles bulged. He unleashed a thunderous punch that shattered the remaining windows, sending glass cascading down into the night. “But I remember! I’ve forged this body into a weapon just for this moment!”

Su Yao let her spiritual pressure swell. The air grew thick and heavy around them. “Your body is impressive for a human,” she conceded, “but it’s still just a body.”

She closed the distance in an instant. Her hand wreathed in blue foxfire struck his chest. He grunted, stumbling back as internal energy warred with his physical fortitude.

“You can’t break me!” he shouted, shaking off the effects and charging again. “I’ve endured pain you can’t imagine!”

“And I’ve endured eternity,” Su Yao replied. Her form blurred as she avoided his strikes and countered with energy-draining touches. Each contact siphoned a fraction of his vitality, but he was like a bottomless well. His willpower fueled his resilience.

The battle raged across the penthouse. Zhao Ze was relentless. Su Yao tested his limits and learned his patterns, all while the name Zhao Tao echoed in her mind.

A disciple she never knew? Unless the story was fabricated to justify this vendetta.

For now, she had to focus. This human was unlike any she had faced.

Zhao Ze predicted Su Yao’s phasing. As she reappeared, he was already there. His fist slammed into her shoulder with a crack that echoed through the ruined penthouse.

It was the first solid hit he’d landed. The impact forced a sharp exhale from her lips. He pressed the advantage, driving her back toward a corner where the structural pillars met.

“See?!” he roared. “Your tricks are useless! This is the power of human resolve!”

Su Yao sighed. “Enough. You wish to see power? I will show you the gulf between a tempered mortal and a force of nature.”

With that, the air around her began to warp. The spilled glass on the floor trembled and rose, hovering in a sudden vacuum. A pressure descended, so immense that Zhao Ze’s knees buckled for a fraction of a second. The lights of Shenzhen flickered then died for a block in every direction, plunging the area into an eerie half-light.

Nine magnificent tails fanned out behind her. Each one shimmered with captured starlight and swirling foxfire. Her eyes glowed with the chill light of a dead star.

The spiritual pressure in the room became a physical weight, crushing the air from Zhao Ze’s lungs. His honed muscles screamed in protest. Every cell in his body howled a primal warning.

His fist which had cracked concrete now struck a barrier of solidified light around her and shattered his own wrist. He screamed and tried a spinning kick.

One of her tails moved. It caught his leg, and the sound of breaking bone echoed. He was thrown across the room, smashing through what was left of his kitchen.

He pushed himself up. “I! WILL! NOT! FALL!” he bellowed, channeling every ounce of his remaining energy into a final, desperate charge.

A single tail lashed out to coil around him mid-charge. It lifted him into the air, constricting. The foxfire leached the heat and energy from his body. He struggled against the cosmic force holding him.

“The gulf,” Su Yao’s voice echoed, “is infinite.”

She was about to deliver the final blow when a scent of iron and cheap cologne cut through the aura of blood.

A figure phased into the center of the wrecked penthouse, holding up a glowing government badge.

“Xiao Ling! Stand down!” Zhang Wei shouted. “He’s the majority shareholder of Tezca! Alan Mask’s primary backer! If you kill him, the global economy destabilizes! We need him alive for questioning!”

Su Yao’s eyes shifted from Zhao Ze to Zhang Wei. The tail holding Zhao Ze tightened, making him gasp.

“The global economy,” she repeated. “Is that my concern now?”

Zhang Wei held his ground as sweat beaded on his forehead. “He’s connected to Tezca and the Aesthetes! His death could trigger a financial collapse! We need him alive to unravel their network!”

Su Yao looked at the CEO. “What is your true motivation? Who are you really doing this for?”

Zhao Ze laughed, dangling in the coil of her tail. “Her,” he gasped. “It’s always been about her.”

Zhang Wei stepped forward. “Her? Who?”

“There’s a nine-tailed fox,” Zhao Ze confessed. “I met her during a business trip to the mountains. She was perfection. I fell for her, but she rejected me. Said I was just an unworthy mortal.”

He continued. “So I decided to prove my worth. I would purge the world of other foxes, especially the ones she might see as rivals, to show her that I could be her equal. That I could protect her from any threat.”

“And does she know what you’re doing?” Su Yao asked. “This campaign of yours?”

“No,” Zhao Ze said. “It’s supposed to be a surprise. When I’ve eliminated enough of your kind, I’ll confess to her again. She’ll have to accept me after seeing my dedication and power.”

Su Yao’s tail loosened. “Where is she now?”

“She’s on vacation in Nova Moskva.” Zhao Ze’s eyes widened. He tried to stop, but the words spilled out in a wheeze. “I was going to join her after I dealt with you.”

Zhang Wei paled. “Nova Moskva? That’s where Cheng Lian is. But she’s human, isn’t she? Or is she?”