Chapter 49

Thanks to the octopus butler, who loyally sold out his friends, the chandelier ghost was quickly singled out by Yue Yin.

Dragged down from the chandelier, she was hauled by the neck to a chair, too terrified to move a muscle.

The chandelier ghost gripped a math worksheet, scratching away in desperation, almost tearing her hair out in frustration.

Meanwhile, Yue Yin continued gaming, occasionally glancing over with an annoyed look. “Hurry up! I’ve got loads more homework to get through.”

These monsters were writing far too slowly. At this rate, she wouldn’t even make it home in time for her favorite TV show.

The chandelier ghost’s hand trembled slightly as she gripped the pen, lips pressed into a thin line. This was too much!

It was Yue Yin’s homework—she wasn’t doing it herself and was even pressuring them while she played games on the side. Did she think they were her slaves?

A fire rose in the chandelier ghost’s heart, and she abruptly stood up.

Under the wide-eyed stares of the other monsters, she walked over to Yue Yin and gestured animatedly, grumbling in garbled sounds.

Yue Yin looked up from her game, nodding thoughtfully. “You’re right; good idea.”

She waved to the monsters crouched nearby. “Don’t just stand there. All of you, get over here and start writing.”

The sooner they finished, the sooner she could go home and sleep.

The other monsters were stunned. Wasn’t loyalty supposed to be sacred among them?

Half an hour later…

A collection of grotesque creatures huddled around the dining table, each with a worksheet clutched awkwardly in their misshapen claws.

Yue Yin watched over them, expression calm. Sensing her intense gaze, the monsters worked faster, beads of sweat forming as they raced through each problem.

She smiled and said, “No slacking, alright? If too many answers are wrong and I get yelled at by the teacher…”

She looked them over, smiling sweetly, “You’ll all suffer terribly.”

The monsters buried their heads, terrified, scribbling away in utter silence, fearing she’d dispose of them at the slightest error.

But, of course, a high school senior’s workload is endless. Practice books for every subject, sheet after sheet of mock exams, mistake analysis—homework piled high.

And these creatures were mostly illiterate, more familiar with terrifying humans than with solving chemistry equations.

The conjoined twins were the first to break down, tears streaming down their faces. “I don’t want to do this anymore, wahhhhh!”

They were already struggling, but Yue Yin had handed them double the work, expecting each head to manage a separate worksheet, forcing all four hands to work at once.

But by human standards, they were just elementary schoolers!

“Wahhh, I don’t want to do this! I don’t want school!” One head sobbed, while the other three hands kept copying answers onto the worksheet.

Their life was truly tragic.

Born in a hospital, they’d been too weak to manage even a single human meal. When they sensed an investigator from the Paranormal Incident Management nearby, they fled for fear of being eradicated.

Since escaping, the twins survived by scavenging behind other monsters, dreaming occasionally of eating a human one day.

When the octopus butler invited everyone to the mansion for fresh human meat, they shamelessly tagged along with the chandelier ghost. But just as they entered, Yue Yin captured and beat them up before they’d even had a bite.

The more they thought about it, the more miserable they felt, huddling on the chair and crying even as they kept working.

Another monster, tongue too long, had dribbled on Yue Yin’s worksheet and paid the ultimate price. Its head had hit the floor with a sickening thud, splattering blood onto the twins’ faces.

The human girl was terrifying. They wanted to go home.

The twins cried harder, tears soaking their papers.

Yueyin, noticing their distress, sighed. “Oh, don’t cry. I’m making you do homework for your own good, you know?”

The conjoined twins looked up in confusion, a snot bubble forming at their nose.

Yue Yin squatted beside them, palms open. “You’re so young. How can you get by without an education? Don’t you know how harsh the world is these days?”

Recalling her homeroom teacher’s recent lecture, Yue Yin echoed, “If you don’t work hard in school, how will you get a job in the future? How will you get smart? If you’re not smart, how will you catch people and eat meat?”

Her tone was sincere, and the conjoined twins blinked through their tears. “But we don’t need jobs…”

They were monsters, not office-bound humans.

Yue Yin paused.

Right. These creatures weren’t human. They didn’t need school, homework, or exams. Now that she thought about it, their lives seemed much simpler and happier than hers.

She clicked her tongue, feeling slightly bitter.

Slowly standing up, she decided that if she couldn’t be happy, neither could they.

Noticing the puzzled looks of the monsters, she said nonchalantly, “Well, you need them now.”

The conjoined twins blinked at her, still confused.

Waving her hand, Yue Yin smiled. “From now on, you’re all my homework crew.”

With Jiang Suliu still nowhere to be seen, she might as well keep some of them around to handle her workload.

The monsters were left dumbfounded, realizing they were now condemned to this torturous life.

The room grew tense, filled with hostility as they glared at Yue Yin, now their most hated foe.

Yue Yin wasn’t fazed in the least.

Monsters, after all, were embodiments of negativity itself. They were rational, cunning, treacherous, and would never be swayed by kindness.

They might weep, beg for mercy, promise to reform, even express guilt for their deeds, but none of that could mask their true, predatory nature.

As the name suggests, evil incarnates as “malevolent.”

Throughout history, numerous ability-users have tried to reform the malevolent spirits, yet without exception, every attempt has failed. When the Vice Minister initially enforced the creation of forbidden items, many ability-users opposed it vehemently.

Malevolent spirits will never change for the better. Even if it has fought alongside ability-users for years and formed life-and-death bonds, if given the chance, it would ruthlessly tear off the head of any kind-hearted ability-user with savage delight.

Malevolent is not a pet, whether a small or large creature. It is the embodiment of negative emotions.

Upon hearing Yue Yin’s words, the atmosphere among the malevolent creatures instantly shifted. Though they sat on their chairs, appearing timid with downcast faces, their eyes hidden in the shadows gleamed with barely concealed greed and resentment, ready to strike at any moment.

The mud malice lurking in the corner couldn’t resist any longer and, its shadowy, spiked head lunged at Yue Yin.

Yue Yin casually picked up her game console and, without turning her head, grabbed the grotesque mud malice mid-lunge.

She glanced at the moonlight outside the window, tightening her grip. “It’s not a full moon tonight, so I can kill freely.”

She knew what malevolent spirit was—this filthy bunch of unquenchable monsters that could never be sated.

But it didn’t matter. After all, she herself was no saint.

The mud malice slowly melted in her grasp, turning into a pool of black, oozing sludge. The once restless energy of the other malevolent creatures immediately shrank, and they dared not move a muscle.

Yue Yin looked down at the decaying pool and smiled. “Maybe you’ll do better in your next life.”

With this group dealt with, Yue Yin had the leisure to deal with the people outside.

Turning to the octopus butler, she instructed, “Grilled Calamari, go free the people in the basement and have the homework delivered to my place by morning.”

With that, she turned and walked towards the door, unconcerned that the malevolent creatures might defy her.

The octopus butler watched her leave with a look of silent resentment, muttering, “Grilled Calamari? You’re Grilled Calamari! Your whole family is Grilled Calamari! I keep telling you, I’m an octopus! Octopus!”

“Wait! What’s her name? Where does she even live?” he finally realized, looking at the pile of homework in his tentacles and the already vanished Yue Yin, frozen in bewilderment.

How was he supposed to know Yue Yin’s name and where she lived so he could deliver the homework?

And she was a student who had school tomorrow! If she didn’t get her homework before class…

The octopus butler shivered, immediately springing up to chase after her. But before he could take two steps, he felt a powerful energy surge.

An S-rank!

As a B-rank malice, he rarely encountered A-rank malevolent spirits or ability-users. When he did spot them from afar, he always turned and fled. It was precisely this that had allowed him to live safely within the Jiang household for so long.

He had never seen an S-rank presence before, but the moment he felt the overpowering aura outside, he immediately thought, “S-rank!”

Before he could gather himself, another overwhelming S-rank presence emerged!

What in the world? Wasn’t this city supposed to be devoid of S-rank beings? How could two suddenly appear at once? Were they handing out S-ranks for free?

All the malice creatures in the room curled up, holding their breaths, not daring to make a sound, afraid they’d be noticed by the two S-rank powerhouses outside and become collateral damage in a fight.

Time seemed to slow until the two powerful presences finally moved away, allowing the creatures inside to breathe a sigh of relief.

Unable to contain her frustration, the chandelier ghost slapped the octopus butler.

It was all his fault! He had lured them to the Jiang residence with promises of fun and good food, only for them to end up ambushed by Yueyin. They hadn’t even had a bite of meat, and they had narrowly avoided becoming cannon fodder between two S-ranks.

If they hadn’t known the octopus butler for years, they’d have thought he was in cahoots with Yueyin!

The octopus butler held his cheek in shock. “Why’d you hit me?!”

He hadn’t done anything to deserve this!

Before he could finish, the other malice creatures swarmed him, shouting, “Traitor! Spy!”

“Yeah! ‘Brothers for life,’ huh? What a joke! Try calling that when you won’t even pick up the phone!”