My Human Identity Was Exposed by an Evil Spirit Wife

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Don’t Be Afraid, Dad—There’s Revival Too

As soon as those words were spoken, Tuantuan felt that ethereal voice vanish all at once.

She remained kneeling on the ground, waiting for the other party’s response.

"What if... what if I want your life? Offer yourself to me, merge with me of your own will, and strengthen me."

There was not much silence—the next thing Tuantuan heard was the person’s voice, opening straight away with a demand for her life.

Tuantuan was taken aback, her mind becoming dazed.

An evil spirit’s path to growth, aside from absorbing human negative emotions, had another way to become stronger.

Of the negative emotions, fear was especially desirable.

The other method was to absorb other evil spirits, using them to nourish oneself.

But evil spirits would resist. The risk of failure was high, and they might face backlash at any time.

So typically, evil spirits would not try to forcibly consume others like this.

Unless,

Unless the evil spirit consents to be devoured.

But nobody in this world is a fool; willingly being devoured—this almost never happens.

Ding Ning lay on Jiang Che’s back, her eyes fixed on the Crystal Ball in her hands.

In the scene reflected inside the Crystal Ball, Tuantuan hung her head, motionless.

Then, a voice echoed in both Jiang Che and Ding Ning’s minds.

Ding Ning could monitor everything in her domain. The audience couldn’t hear the inner conversations between Jiang Che and Tuantuan, but she could hear them clear as day.

"Daddy, remember to find the teddy bear and hide it somewhere only you know, okay?"

She cast a reluctant glance at the teddy bear she was hugging to her chest, her fingers unconsciously squeezing the teddy bear’s head.

Even without anyone warming it with their body heat, the plush toy seemed to carry a gentle warmth.

Ding Ning saw Tuantuan squeezing the toy, hugging it reluctantly.

Then the stuffed animal began to glow, and Tuantuan’s aura grew noticeably weaker—clearly, the recent action had cost her dearly.

You should know, even when faced with special combination moves from humans, she could always handle them with ease.

But now, with just one move, she was thrown directly into a weakened state.

Ding Ning received this information at once through the Crystal Ball.

Instantly, a message appeared in Jiang Che’s mind as well.

[Skill acquired: Rebirth.]

[After death, revive at the location of the doll, restoring 80% of your state.]

[Note: Don’t be scared, Daddy, there’s still Rebirth, okay?]

Rebirth was one of Tuantuan’s own skills—she had two Spirit Bodies for rebirth in total. If she kept growing, she could get more. So one could say that she truly possessed immortality.

The reason she only appeared at night wasn’t because she wasn’t strong enough, but because she simply wanted to keep her head down, survive quietly until she could create hundreds of Spirit Bodies for rebirth; then, wherever she went, she would have nothing to fear.

But she hadn’t truly grown yet. Now, giving one Spirit Body to Jiang Che was already pushing her limits.

Ding Ning froze. She’d thought Tuantuan would refuse after some hesitation and thought.

She never expected that, in the end, Tuantuan would actually give Jiang Che a life-saving skill. Even if it could only be used once, to a human, this was already a priceless gift.

Jiang Che’s running steps suddenly halted. He stared in confusion at the skill in his mind, an inexplicable foreboding arising—it felt as if he was about to lose something important.

"Tuantuan?" Jiang Che called out softly.

"What is it, Daddy?"

"That skill... what is it?" Jiang Che wanted to ask, but didn’t know where to start. It felt as if opening his mouth would only lead to a farewell.

"That’s Tuantuan’s trump card!" Tuantuan didn’t say anything more.

She rose to her feet and stood still, staring into the void. "Mister, I accept your offer. You must also agree to let him go."

Ding Ning watched Tuantuan stand up in the Crystal Ball, her gaze open and honest.

Going to her death unflinchingly.

"Is it worth it?" she asked in confusion.

An evil spirit giving up her own powerful and long life just for a human’s brief and laughable one? She had never heard of such a thing, nor seen it before.

"Though fear makes me stronger, ever since I met him I realized, the taste of fear really is quite unpleasant."

"It’s the first time anyone’s ever given me a gift. I really like it." She hugged the teddy bear, unable to help rubbing her cheek against it.

Though they’d only been together for a day, she truly craved this feeling of warmth.

Usually, she stayed hidden underground, only emerging from the darkness to toy with Survivors when they entered a Dungeon.

The life of lurking in the shadows was just far too boring.

Tuantuan kept her eyes closed, but for a long time she still couldn’t feel the sensation of death upon her.

She opened her eyes in confusion, and saw Jiang Che’s path ahead begin to change. Whereas before their distance had only ever been increasing, now it was suddenly shrinking as if space itself was being folded.

Just a few breaths later, she saw Jiang Che appear right in front of her.

"Tuantuan!" Carrying Ding Ning on his back, Jiang Che saw the girl appear so suddenly and rushed forward with surprise and delight.

Tuantuan was still puzzling over what was happening, when she saw Jiang Che run quickly to her side and set Ding Ning down.

"I’m so happy, baby—we’re finally a family together again." Ding Ning pretended to lean weakly on Jiang Che, then beckoned to Tuantuan. "Come here, sweetheart, Mommy missed you so much."

Tuantuan stared blankly at the scene before her, but her legs moved of their own accord as she walked over and burrowed into Ding Ning’s arms.

This woman—

For the first time, Tuantuan felt the true power of this "adult"—the ability to control her so completely.

Probably, there weren’t many people in the Dungeon who could rival her.

Tuantuan lay in her embrace, looking up at her in confusion.

Ding Ning seemed not to notice her stare, simply reaching out to pinch her cheek. "You’ve gotten thinner."

Jiang Che looked at the touching mother-daughter pair before him, a gentle warmth blossoming inside.

Suddenly remembering something, he quickly pulled a blue rose-shaped gemstone brooch from his suitcase and offered it to Ding Ning.

"What’s this?" Ding Ning cocked her head.

"It’s a present I got for you. I know it was rushed, but this was the best-looking thing I could find."

Jiang Che looked at Ding Ning with hopeful, sparkling eyes. He’d once sneaked into the Anding District when the nurses weren’t looking—this trinket had always been on display there.

The rich liked to show off their collections when they had nothing better to do.

On one hand to boast, on the other because they hoped to trade for special Dungeon items that Survivors carried, to see if anyone was willing to swap.

Since you could only carry one piece of active equipment at a time...

Acquiring too many active items was pointless—they might as well trade for something they liked instead.

No one ever traded their passive equipment.

In this era consumed by the supernatural, wealth truly became just a worldly possession with no real meaning.

The rich put their precious items on display.

That, too, was a way for them to cooperate: rather than belittle each other’s collections, they would make every valuable item seem even more precious.

This piece had always sat in the case, on the highest, most eye-catching shelf.

Sufficient proof of its value.

Ding Ning gazed at the blue rose brooch before her, meeting Jiang Che’s bright, expectant eyes.

At that moment, she felt as though a beam of light shot straight into her heart.

In this blood-drenched, murderous Dungeon, the warmth and peace of her own little domain had been decorated in imitation of the Human Realm, a false veneer painted over a landscape of gore and corpses.

But in this made-up castle, now there was something real at last.

And that was his heart.