The little girl bit her lip as if gathering her courage. After a long pause, she took small, hesitant steps toward Ji Chenai, her voice barely audible. “D-did you turn them into that?”

Turn them into that? Ji Chenai thought for a moment and understood what she meant. He asked, “What’s your name?”

The girl shook her head, reluctant to share her name but feeling it would be impolite not to, she mumbled. “My sister said I shouldn’t tell my name to a demon.”

Ji Chenai couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Seeing his bright smile, the girl’s fear eased a little, and she took a few more steps closer, whispering. “I’m here to apologize for them… C-can you make them normal again?”

Ji Chenai suspected this was the effect of his “Devil’s Smile” skill. He had once asked Xiao Qi what these abilities truly meant, but Xiao Qi had brushed him off with vague answers. He asked, “What happened to them?”

The girl replied. “They’ve been acting really strange…”

Ji Chenai asked. “How are they acting strange?”

The little girl replied. “They laugh all day, don’t go to school anymore, and whenever they see trash, they pick it up. If they see someone doing something wrong, they rush over to stop them…”

As Ji Chenai listened to her description, he suddenly realized just how fitting the name of the skill was—“Devil’s Smile.” Only a devil could smile like that.

Since this girl bore him no ill will, she hadn’t been affected by the skill.

The smile on Ji Chenai’s face faded a little. He said, “They’ve started doing good deeds. Isn’t that a good thing? Do you really want them to go back to how they were?”

The girl hesitated, then finally whispered. “I-I know they were wrong that day, and they’re usually pretty annoying… but if Xiao Lei keeps acting this way, my sister will be heartbroken. She’s really good to me…”

Seeing the little girl’s cautious demeanor, Ji Chenai felt an inexplicable surge of frustration. Was this how he used to be? Even after being hurt, even when faced with misunderstanding, he had still tried to smile and face the world.

He absentmindedly touched his leg and said calmly, “If you really want them to go back to how they were, it’s not impossible.”

The girl’s eyes lit up with hope.

Ji Chenai motioned for her to come closer, then said. “But there’s a price to pay.”

The girl froze, clearly not understanding.

At that moment, Ji Chenai pulled a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket and said to her. “My gloves are dirty.”

The girl hesitated, then weakly replied. “I-I can clean them for you.”

Ji Chenai shook his head, his expression radiating a coldness that made the little girl shrink back. “No,” he said, “I need a new pair—made from your skin.”

Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes almost instantly. Stammering, she whispered. “Y-you really are a demon.”

Suppressing his urge to laugh, Ji Chenai let out a deliberately ominous chuckle. “If I weren’t a demon, how could I have turned them into that?”

—