My feet dangled over the edge of the bed, my body half-reclined in the sofa chair. I looked up at the fox spirit, not directly at her face, but at the two objects nearly touching my head. I pushed aside the obstructing items, frowning at the fox spirit and asked, "If you adopt this identity, you'll have to be restrained from now on. Can you handle it?"
A fox spirit cultivated for a thousand years. In life, there was more than just Chen Lu. Chen Lu was destined to be merely a passerby for her. The fox spirit, in order to help us establish a foothold in Shengjing, had to compromise and willingly offer her "masculine charm" to Chen Lu.
This is the information age, the digital age. Identity cards need to be swiped everywhere. If the fox spirit wanted to move unimpeded, she had to maintain the same gender and appearance as the information on her ID card.
The fox spirit gave a seductive smile and, as if by magic, reached between the two objects and produced another ID card, flashing it before my eyes.
I took the ID card. It still carried the fox spirit's body temperature and scent, a very peculiar smell, like musk. Too much of it could make one fantasize. Perhaps this body odor she secreted stimulated certain human hormones – in both men and women. That's why Chen Lu had fallen for it.
But it had no effect on me. Perhaps I had become accustomed to it from frequent physical contact with the fox spirit.
I took a deep breath of "immortal air," put the ID card aside, and looked closely. The address, the photo, and the birth date were the same. The only difference was that the gender had changed from male to female, and the name from Chai Xukun to Chai Likun.
"An illusion? You know that trick too?" I couldn't help but laugh. "That's too naive. You think changing your name is enough? Second-generation ID cards have chips in them. The information in the chip corresponds one-to-one with the owner's identity information."
"No, no," the fox spirit took back the ID card. "They are twin siblings. I bought two, getting an 80% discount, so I bought both. Don't believe me, look for yourself."
She placed both ID cards before my eyes. I compared them. It was true. The people in the two photos, though similar and appearing to be the same person at first glance, had subtle differences in their facial features. The sister's photo was very soft, with willow-leaf eyebrows and a full mid-face. The brother's photo had slightly more defined eyebrows, and a very faint vertical line in the mid-face. Truly, they were sword eyebrows, pointing slightly upwards.
"Alright, then how should I address you in front of outsiders from now on?" I asked with a smile. Before, I had called the fox spirit "Lao Liu" (Old Six) directly, following Yaoyao.
The fox spirit looked from one ID card to the other. "Hmm... Got it! Anyway, it's either Xukun or Likun. Just call me Kunkun. It's gender-neutral and sounds a bit cute!"
"...You are so beautiful!" I sang.
The fox spirit feigned shyness. "Oh, you're teasing me! I'll be going back now. I still need to register my streamer information. I'll send you everyone's new identities later."
The fox spirit re-wrapped herself in front of me, changed back into male attire, and went to the conference room.
Not long after, she sent a photo. Nine ID cards, with their corresponding new owners written beside them.
The eldest, the snake spirit, was named "Wang Liya."
The second, the deer spirit, was named "Lu Qingshuang," even using a homophonous surname.
The third, the tiger spirit, was named "Tong Xuan."
The fourth, the bear spirit, also got a name with "Meng" in it, not Xiong Xiaomeng, but "Wang Mengmeng."
The fifth, the eagle spirit, was named "Chen Yanan," making it sound like she was my aunt, as my mother's name was "Chen Yajin."
The sixth, the fox spirit, as mentioned, was "Chai Likun," or "Chai Xukun." Kunkun it is.
The seventh, the sable spirit, that blood-sucking scarf, was named "Yang Zizi," which fit her identity as a "purple sable."
When I saw the eighth, the weasel spirit's name, I almost burst out laughing. Did such a name actually exist? A young girl was named "Huang Xiaoxian."
After all, the eighth was "Huang Daxian" (Great Immortal Huang). It was acceptable. She could play the innocent, and she was indeed quite young, second only to Xiong Xiaomeng among the eight demons.
Finally, there was Yaoyao. She couldn't find a name with "Yao" in it, but she did manage to get a surname "Jin" and was named "Jin Shan."
The name was very positive, like green waters, green mountains, golden mountains, and silver mountains.
My memory isn't very good, so I can't remember so many changes at once. I had to use my phone to edit their contact names one by one. From now on, our entire team would have to get used to these names. Four hundred years ago, they were all demons from the Bai Shan Hei Shui (White Mountains and Black Waters) region, most with Manchu names. Their original names were difficult to pronounce. These would be their new names after their four-hundred-year seal expired and they were reborn...