Want to be human, but cube-like

Alex replied uncertainly.

"Phew—anyway, I have to go now."

Shaking her head, Xiangzi didn't want to delve any deeper. She tightened her small face, put on a cold expression, and stepped barefoot onto the cold wooden floor. She braced herself against the edge of the bed with both hands, wanting to stand up and leave.

"what?"

Alex was taken aback for a moment.

Wait a minute, isn't she the NPC who guides new players? Shouldn't she be giving me quests to deal with monsters like the ones we just encountered? Witches and familiars or something?

"You can't go!"

Several thoughts raced through her mind, and Alex blurted out a word of dissuasion.

She was still waiting for the other person to explain the worldview to her and what she was going to do next!

These words startled Xiangzi.

This...this is...kidnapping? Or is it lust? Are they trying to imprison me?

She shrank back, then clearly heard what the other person said, and several jumbled thoughts immediately popped into her mind.

"Why, why?"

The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. Xiangzi's face turned pale, and he asked in a trembling voice, trying to support himself.

"Forehead……"

This question stumped Alex.

Why is there any reason? I captured the villagers by my own skill, and they tried to escape. I locked them up. Isn't that the only right thing to do?

My mother has always done it this way.

But Alex thought about it for a moment.

The villagers who were arrested in the past never seemed to voice any objections; they were simply moved by boat and stayed wherever they were.

But this time, with such a strong sense of autonomy, she was a little unsure how to deal with it.

It seems my mother has never arrested this type of villager before.

No, could it be that...

"Aren't you a villager?"

Alex tentatively asked a question.

"Villagers...who do you mean?"

Xiangzi cautiously asked a question in return. She was a little hesitant to make any move to resist. If she angered the other party, she would be doomed. Her weak body with small arms and legs could not possibly fight against the other party's strong body.

"Not an NPC from the tutorial either? Don't you have any quests to give me?"

Disappointment flashed in Alex's eyes, and she asked a couple more questions.

"Ah... I'm so sorry, I don't quite understand. What do you mean...?"

After carefully considering his words, Xiangzi became increasingly flustered.

Is this kid engrossed in playing games? He's saying all sorts of strange things, he seems completely uncommunicative! Oh no, have I encountered a madman?!

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. Xiangzi's eyes darted around, and she began to look for an escape route.

"Well……"

Alex became troubled. She opened the minimap and looked at Xiangzi's big head, then looked at the name "[Toyokawa Xiangzi]" above Xiangzi's head. There was no prefix or suffix, so it didn't seem like a functional NPC.

Should we just let her leave like that?

But even without any other functions, it's so pretty that it would be quite pleasing to the eye to place it at the front desk as a decoration.

But she said she wanted to leave... Wouldn't it be a bad idea to just leave her here?

"So... you're just going to leave with this debuff on you, is that alright?"

Alex, still wanting to try a little harder, asked again.

"debuff?"

Having already decided in her heart that the other person had mental problems, Xiangzi dared not make any unnecessary movements, for fear of provoking a strong reaction from the other person. She carefully continued the conversation.

"It's that Witch's Kiss, or you could grab a hamburger before you go? Your health is a bit low too."

Alex had no idea what she was thinking. She glanced at the bright red "Witch's Kiss (166:21:06)" in the other person's status bar and kindly reminded her.

"magic……!"

Just as he opened his mouth, Xiangzi suddenly seemed to realize something, and his words stopped abruptly.

"I don't quite understand what you're saying, but thank you for your kindness. I'm not very hungry..."

She quickly moved on from the previous topic and politely declined the hamburger.

Xiangzi dared not eat food given by strangers, especially not from dangerous people like Alex, whom she had already deemed mentally unstable.

"Gu..."

Even when extremely hungry, it's the same.

"Can't you see it? This is it!"

Alex frowned, seemingly displeased that Xiangzi had glossed over the topic.

As she spoke, she leaned forward, pressed down on Xiangzi's shoulder, and reached out with her other hand to grab the hem of her nightgown, seemingly about to lift it up.

"ah!"

This almost terrified Xiangzi. Her face turned pale instantly, and she screamed instinctively, struggling to get up.

But Alex pressed him down hard, and he fell backward onto the bed without any resistance.

Alex also took the opportunity to raise one knee and press it against the edge of the bed, leaning over Xiangzi. Her tall figure immediately blocked out the light, and the shadow covered Xiangzi's entire body.

Me! Am I going to... tonight?!

Faced with Alex, Xiangzi, utterly powerless, was on the verge of tears, feeling that his future was likely to be bleak and hopeless.

Volume 1: Chapter 7 Not Wanting to Pay Wages

What would it be like to be pinned down on the bed by a foreign beauty who is at least 1.7 meters tall, looks like she exercises regularly, and is very strong?

On the side being pressed down, Xiangzi was only 1.55 meters tall. Even if she wore a bulky mascot costume and handed out flyers on the street, she might still be mocked by passing children for her short stature.

This means that even if Xiangzi stood in front of Alex and stood on tiptoe, he could only barely touch the tip of her small, delicate nose with his head.

If the other party were willing, they wouldn't even need to bend down; they could simply raise their hand and press hard on the back of her head to suffocate Xiangzi between those two mounds.

Yes, it's pretty much the same as it is now.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

Screaming frantically, Xiangzi slapped the other person with both hands, raised one foot, and stepped on Alex's lower abdomen, trying to kick her away.

Exhaustion and hunger left Xiangzi with very little strength, making it impossible for him to shake Alex's body. He could only use the soles of his feet to keep struggling against her snow-white abdomen.

"Take a look at this first."

Alex, however, was somewhat troubled by Xiangzi's strong reaction.

She ripped open Xiangzi's pajamas, exposing his fair abdomen to the air. The cool sensation made Xiangzi involuntarily contract his lower abdomen, and his cute belly button rose and fell with it.

"No, no...!"

With a sob already forming in his voice, Xiangzi closed his eyes tightly, squeezed out a few tears, and weakly pleaded.

She seemed completely oblivious to what Alex was saying.

"..."

Then the atmosphere in the room suddenly became quiet.

Alex also stopped moving, simply maintaining the position of one hand on Xiangzi's shoulder and the other hand lifting the hem of her clothes.

"...?"

After a long while without sensing any further action from the other party, Xiangzi narrowed one eye slightly in confusion.

Before her, Alex looked at her with some confusion, her eyes clear, completely unlike the desire-filled expression Xiangzi had imagined.

Looking down, although the hand did pull open the hem of her pajamas, it only pulled it up to expose her lower abdomen; her belly button and the area above it were still properly covered by the pajamas.

Therefore, Xiangzi immediately noticed a dark golden mark that had appeared on his lower abdomen, about four or five centimeters below his navel.

It emitted a faint glow and looked like a gold coin split in two, with messy patterns and designs on it. It was impossible to tell which country's currency it was; it looked more like the gold coin icon commonly seen in many games.

"What is this...?"

She froze, then subconsciously reached out and gently touched it with her fingertips.

It still had that smooth, tender feel, and you couldn't feel the pattern of the mark at all; it was like an image projected onto her lower abdomen.

But without a doubt, this is not a false illusion.

"It's called Witch's Kiss, but I don't know what its effect is. Have you sensed any unusual symptoms?"

Alex released her grip and stood up again.

"The mark went dark right after I killed that monster; it was glowing before."

She briefly recalled the particle effect emanating from Xiangzi's stomach when she met him in the alley, and then spoke.

Actually, the particle effect is quite nice, but it looks a bit strange when it appears on the lower abdomen.

Alex thought to herself.

"monster……"

Xiangzi paused, catching a key word Alex mentioned.

"...Was that thing in the alley earlier not an illusion?"

She always thought that she had simply fainted in the alley because she was too tired, and she regarded the strange things she saw before she lost consciousness as her dream.

"Hallucination? It can't be, right?"

Alex, on the other hand, began to not understand why she was asking that question.

"If the witch's kiss on you doesn't have that effect."

She recalled her previous conversation with Xiangzi and his status bar; there seemed to be nothing unusual.

No longer bound by the other party, Xiangzi subconsciously shrank back and straightened her disheveled clothes. Her face was slightly flushed, and she covered her forehead with a headache. Chaotic thoughts surged in the girl's heart, and she pondered for a moment.

"So, you're a magical girl?"

She asked tentatively in a low voice.

"Magic... girl?"

But Alex looked completely unfamiliar with the word. She blinked in confusion and looked at Xiangzi.

"So how...did you kill that monster?"

Xiangzi was surprised by the response and frowned, somewhat confused. She was beginning to suspect that Alex was deceiving her.

"He killed him with a knife."

Alex, however, acted as if it were perfectly normal. She pulled out a small iron knife that looked like it was used for chopping vegetables from somewhere, showed it to Xiangzi, and then put it away.

"..."

Faced with this seemingly joking response, Xiangzi didn't know how to reply, and she remained silent for a moment.

"Thank you so much for saving me, but I think it's time for me to leave."

But whether what the other party said was true or false, Xiangzi didn't need to care. She knew very well what she should do.

"I'm sorry, I don't have anything extra to offer as payment right now. I'll find a way to repay you later."

Taking a deep breath, Xiangzi made a soft promise. She straightened up again, her delicate body standing as straight as a pine tree that refused to bend.

"But the Witch's Kiss debuff on you still lasts for over 160 hours. Why don't you wait until the debuff disappears before you leave?"

Alex seemed genuinely keen to keep Xiangzi as a decorative item on the front desk. She glanced at the countdown timer on his status bar and said.