The Overbearing Undercover Agent
Xu Shulou held a skull in one hand while gesturing to her junior sister with the other.
Fortunately, Bai Roushuang understood her intentions perfectly. Seizing the moment while the skull stood bewildered, she pulled open the trapdoor on the ground, exchanged a glance with her senior sister, and without hesitation, leaped down.
She felt herself falling for what seemed like an eternity. At first, she was nervous, but by the middle, she grew bored. She had no idea where she was descending to—below her, the ground was nowhere in sight, and above, her senior sister had vanished. A droplet of water trickled down the wall of the pit, matching her speed perfectly. Bai Roushuang reached out and lightly tapped it, causing the droplet to scatter into tiny beads.
Now even her sole companion was gone. Just as Bai Roushuang lamented this, her feet suddenly hit solid ground. She barely had time to react before her legs buckled, and she face-planted onto the floor.
Pushing herself up, she glanced around. Seeing no immediate danger, she simply lay there, waiting for her senior sister to fall down after her.
Xu Shulou descended not long after, her green robes fluttering like a leaf as she landed gracefully on her feet. She looked at her junior sister with a pair of beautiful eyes. "Why are you lying on the ground?"
Bai Roushuang sighed and picked herself up. "Is this the demon realm?"
The sky here was gloomy, like the overcast gloom before a storm in the mortal world. Not far away, a bustling street was filled with pedestrians and vendors hawking their wares, much like a lively mortal marketplace.
"It looks almost the same as the mortal world," Bai Roushuang remarked in surprise. "Except some people have extra arms or heads. I always imagined the demon realm as a desolate wasteland, shrouded in bloody mist, reeking of decay, with pools of blood and chunks of flesh everywhere, and the air filled with the screams of tortured souls."
"...That’s the underworld you’re describing."
Bai Roushuang chuckled sheepishly. "Well, this is much better. As long as we keep a low profile, we should blend right in."
"Mm."
Her attention was soon captured by something bizarre. "Huh? What’s that?"
A round eyeball, veined with red streaks and dangling a few sinewy strands, floated past them. About the size of a mortal-world soccer ball, it trailed closely behind a demon. When the demon stopped to browse a street vendor’s stall, the eyeball nudged its arm gently, as if begging for affection.
"That’s their spirit pet—or rather, demon pet."
The demon pets here were all sorts of strange. After walking a few steps, Bai Roushuang spotted an ugly fish flying through the air. Its jagged teeth protruded from its lips, and a single tentacle extended from its head, tipped with a glowing orb like a tiny lantern. Beneath its belly, a small puddle of water followed it as it swam through the air, ensuring it was always submerged.
Bai Roushuang grimaced at its wrinkled skin. "So ugly."
Xu Shulou mused, "Probably has a nice texture, though."
"..."
A street vendor banged a gong and shouted, "New play—The Lament of Love! A tale of passion and heartbreak, now showing! Step right in, folks! Those with money, spare some coins; those without, spare some demonic energy! The Large Intestine Troupe—even the Demon Lord approves!"
"The demon realm has theater too?" Bai Roushuang was astonished. "It really is just like the mortal world."
Xu Shulou shrugged. "Demons need entertainment too."
Unable to resist their curiosity, the two stepped into the theater named Large Intestine and took their seats. After watching for a while, they realized the play was about a demon being deceived and betrayed by a mortal.
Bai Roushuang’s lips twitched. These kinds of melodramatic love stories were universally popular—no matter which realm you were in, you couldn’t escape them.
Soon, a martial character appeared on stage—a cultivator. The deceitful mortal begged the cultivator for help, and without hesitation, the cultivator turned on the demon, intent on killing it.
Bai Roushuang inwardly scoffed. So, in demon realm stories, cultivators and mortals were the villains.
The demon pleaded pitifully with the mortal, begging for mercy on the grounds of their past intimacy. Its sorrowful expression and heart-wrenching performance moved the demon audience to tears. A nearby eyeball-shaped demon pet began crying too, drenching its owner in tears. Bai Roushuang, sitting close by, also got splashed.
Below the stage, another demon was selling snacks. Bai Roushuang wondered if they were similar to mortal theater snacks like peanuts or fried dough. She leaned over to look—only to recoil at the sight of hairless, mouse-like creatures writhing violently in the basket. The demon beside her bought a few and popped them into its mouth one by one, eliciting shrill screams from the snacks.
Bai Roushuang quickly averted her gaze, focusing intently on the stage.
Next came a vendor selling drinks. She didn’t dare look this time, but Xu Shulou bought a cup and took a sip of the green, slimy liquid. "Tastes like snot," she remarked.
"..." Bai Roushuang stared at her. "How can you just try anything?"
Xu Shulou grinned. "It’s fun."
The play reached its climax as the demon fled, constantly changing disguises to evade the cultivator’s pursuit. The grand finale featured a face-changing act woven into the chase.
The beautiful female lead waved a hand before her face—and instantly transformed into a burly, bearded man. Another wave, and she became a giant, crawling worm.
Bai Roushuang was awestruck. "How do they do that?"
Xu Shulou whispered, "That must be a skinned demon—unique to the demon realm."
"Skinned?" Bai Roushuang shuddered, recalling a horror story she’d read. "They’re not using... human skin, are they?"
"Hey, watch your words! Are you here to cause trouble on behalf of another troupe?" A member of the theater crew nearby scowled. "What era do you think this is? Human skin? We use pigskin—meticulously painted by hand! It takes way more skill than just peeling off a ready-made human hide!"
"...My apologies." Bai Roushuang flushed in embarrassment.
After a pause, she asked, "By the way, why is your troupe called Large Intestine?"
"You’ve never heard of the famous Melancholy Bowels Troupe in the mortal world?" The demon scoffed. "We named ours after that."
"...Brilliant."
Bai Roushuang turned her attention back to the stage. The demon, now battered and bruised, had finally escaped the cultivator and returned to the demon realm.
A dissatisfied audience member grumbled, "Why doesn’t it take revenge on that mortal and cultivator?"
"Ah, you don’t know? The higher-ups won’t allow revenge plots anymore. They’re afraid if these plays reach the cultivation realm, they’ll think we’re plotting something."
"Why? We haven’t done anything!"
"Who knows? Every decade or so, rumors spread that the cultivation realm is about to invade us. No idea if it’s true."
"..."
As the performance on stage came to an end, Bai Roushuang, who had just wronged someone, now wanted to make amends by offering a reward, though she wasn’t entirely sure if they accepted spirit stones here.
Xu Shulou reminded her from the side, "Both mortal gold and spirit stones from the cultivation realm are accepted here."
To be cautious, Bai Roushuang took out a piece of gold. The performer on stage immediately gave her a flirtatious glance. "Would the young lady like any other kind of service?"
Bai Roushuang shuddered, rubbing her arms to ward off the goosebumps. "Are you a man or a woman?"
"We of the Skinned Ones don’t distinguish between genders. If the guest prefers a male demon, I’ll become one. If you’d rather see a female demon, I can do that too. Or if you have any other preferences—say, a skeleton or a rotting corpse—I can oblige."
As his face began to decay from the eye sockets, a maggot squirmed inside, seemingly ready to crawl out at any moment. Bai Roushuang hastily waved her hands. "No, no, that won’t be necessary!"
"Are you sure?" The performer crooked a finger, beckoning her closer. "I quite like your type—one head, two eyes. Simple and neat."
Bai Roushuang forced a dry laugh. "That’s… quite the broad dating pool you have."
The performer flicked a handkerchief, sending a fragrant breeze her way. "Last time, I slept with someone who had three heads. All three mouths came at me at once—utterly suffocating. You, with just one head, are much more pleasant. A proper face."
"..." Bai Roushuang’s expression turned wooden. "I’m leaving!"
"Tch, no fun!" The performer stomped away in a huff after her cold rejection.
Wiping sweat from her brow, Bai Roushuang muttered, "The demons here are… enthusiastic."
"Seems like they genuinely took a liking to you," Xu Shulou explained with a smile. "In the demon realm, they believe in seizing pleasure in the moment. If they fancy someone, they’ll act on it immediately."
"..." Bai Roushuang shivered. "Shijie, you have to protect me."
The two left the theater and wandered the streets at leisure. Xu Shulou was particularly intrigued by the food hawked by street vendors, stopping frequently to look. One vendor called out to them, "Young ladies, care for a bowl of thick phlegm-flavored soup?"
Bai Roushuang struggled to comprehend. "...Are there other flavors?"
"We also have earth-flavored worm soup, though it’s not as popular as the phlegm one. Would you like to try it?"
"No, thank you," Bai Roushuang replied, forcing herself not to show disgust to avoid blowing their cover. "We’ll… keep browsing."
As they walked, they failed to notice the uneasy expressions of the demons around them.
"Isn’t that Xu Shoulou? I thought she looked familiar back in the theater."
"Who?"
"A ruthless cultivator. Even in the cultivation realm, many fear her!" his two-headed, three-armed, four-eyed companion chimed in. "How do you not know this? Haven’t you seen the wanted posters at the border exits warning us to steer clear of dangerous cultivators?"
"Who bothers memorizing those? So… does she eat children?"
"Probably?"
"Then why is she in the demon realm? Not enough kids in the cultivation world to satisfy her?"
"How should I know? Maybe she’s here as a spy?"
"What does she want with us?! Ugh, terrifying."
"Don’t look at her! Keep walking, eyes straight ahead. Whatever you do, don’t let them realize we’ve figured out who they are."
The companion got tangled in the convoluted phrasing. "Huh?"
Meanwhile, Xu Shoulou, the alleged spy, strolled boldly down the street, while the demons—the supposed rulers of this land—shrank back, shoulders hunched, carefully skirting around her.
"Does it feel like people are watching us?" Bai Roushuang glanced around nervously. "I’m so on edge—we’re surrounded by demons."
The passing demons trembled just as much. "We’re so on edge—there’s a Xu Shoulou right here."
