"What are you going to do to my mother?"
Just as Su Yan used his materialized chains to bind the three figures—one adult and two children—into tight bundles, a sharp, youthful shout suddenly rang out from behind him.
Su Yan turned his head to look.
A cute young girl stood at the doorway, glaring at him with a face full of anger.
From her facial features, one could faintly see a resemblance to Kie Kamado.
Combined with her age, barring any surprises, this had to be the female lead of Demon Slayer, Nezuko Kamado.
Standing behind Nezuko were a younger boy and girl.
The two hid behind Nezuko, looking somewhat timid.
Yet, all three of them glared at Su Yan with unified hostility.
Seeing Su Yan look over, Nezuko did not make any sudden movements. While staring fiercely at him, she fulfilled her duty as the eldest daughter, shielding her younger siblings behind her.
"Mom?"
Perhaps because Shigeru Kamado had a more impulsive personality as a boy, seeing the pained expression on his mother's face made him lose control. He couldn't hold back and dashed toward her.
"Shigeru!"
Nezuko cried out anxiously, reaching out to stop him.
But she was a step too late and failed to grab her rushing brother.
Just as Shigeru was about to reach the three bound figures, a hand reached out from behind him, grabbing the back of his collar and lifting him entirely off the ground.
The owner of this hand was naturally Su Yan.
Su Yan did not want to waste another drop of demon blood turning this impulsive little guy into a demon. So, he lifted him by the collar and used a deft flick of his wrist to toss him back.
"Damn it!"
Shigeru cursed angrily and immediately tried to charge forward again.
But this time, he was held down by his older sister, Nezuko.
"Shigeru, calm down!"
Nezuko had already noticed that something was wrong.
Under normal circumstances, shouldn't their bound mother and brothers be saying something to them right now?
But they weren't.
Not only did they fail to react to their presence, but their faces were twisted into ferocious expressions she had never seen before.
They looked like mindless beasts.
It gave off an incredibly dangerous feeling.
That was why she intervened to stop Shigeru.
Furthermore, judging by the fact that Shigeru was tossed back without being harmed, the man in front of them might not be a bad person.
Thus, Nezuko calmed herself and cautiously probed Su Yan with a question. "Sir, could you please tell us what just happened?"
Su Yan smiled.
Originally, to avoid their interference, he had considered tying them up just like Kie and the others.
He hadn't expected the anime's female lead to be this smart.
Looking at it this way, perhaps he wouldn't need to lift a finger after all.
However, Su Yan had no intention of explaining. Human nature was just like that—people were always more willing to believe their own assumptions than the information provided by others.
So, rather than wasting his breath explaining a bunch of things that might not even convince them, it was better to let Nezuko and the others wait. Once their newly transformed family members regained their sanity, Kie Kamado could explain it herself.
Su Yan spoke in a calm tone. "Just stand to the side and watch quietly. Once your mother wakes up, she will naturally tell you what happened."
"How can we just stand here and watch?!"
Hearing this, the restrained Shigeru immediately yelled at Su Yan in frustration.
Nezuko scolded sternly, "Shigeru!!"
"But..."
As the eldest daughter, Nezuko held quite a bit of authority among her siblings. Seeing her sister getting angry, the fire Shigeru had just built up dissipated, and he muttered weakly.
"Say no more."
Before Shigeru could finish, Nezuko cut him off.
She knew very well that in this situation, their best hope was that the man in front of them wasn't a villain.
Otherwise, the combined strength of two girls and one young boy would absolutely be unable to resist him.
Moreover, Su Yan's suggestion to wait a while was actually beneficial to her.
If they could stall until their eldest brother, Tanjiro Kamado, returned from selling charcoal, they might have a chance. With the strength Tanjiro had built up from years of chopping wood, he might be able to overpower this man.
At the very least, their odds of winning would significantly increase.
As for running away?
Not to mention that their stamina was definitely inferior to an adult's, where could they even run to in the middle of the night deep in the mountains?
Furthermore, the dark forest wasn't necessarily safer than staying right here.
Therefore, Nezuko used the calmest tone she could muster to test Su Yan. "Sir, can you promise not to hurt us while we wait?"
"I can."
Su Yan nodded.
He didn't care about her little schemes, as long as they didn't bother him.
Hearing this, Nezuko breathed a sigh of relief.
However, she didn't completely drop her guard. While protecting her younger siblings behind her, she kept her eyes fixed on Su Yan.
But perhaps because her vigilance had relaxed slightly, she finally began to take in Su Yan's appearance.
Because she hadn't received much education, she couldn't think of any fancy adjectives to describe his looks.
Only one simple word surfaced in her mind.
Handsome.
In all her life, she had never seen a man better-looking than Su Yan.
Nezuko quietly watched Su Yan walk a short distance away.
Only then did she realize with a start that, aside from them, there was a small giant-like presence lurking in the dark night.
"Do you know any Blood Demon Arts?"
Su Yan didn't waste the waiting time. He turned and asked the demon, who had practically zero presence since earlier.
"No."
The demon's reply remained as cold and emotionless as before.
Hearing this, Su Yan felt a bit disappointed.
He lost the interest to ask any further questions.
He glanced at the demon before him.
Although he had extracted a significant amount of demon blood that Muzan had bestowed upon it to turn others into demons, that blood was meant for conversion, so naturally, the demon couldn't absorb it itself.
Coupled with the fact that it hadn't been a demon for very long, it was perfectly normal that it didn't know any Blood Demon Arts.
If he let the demon drink and digest the demon blood he held in his hands, it might be able to awaken a Blood Demon Art.
But that was obviously not a worthwhile trade.
He was better off saving this demon blood for experiments.
As for this demon?
He would just keep it around for Kie Kamado and the others to vent their frustrations on once they regained their sanity.
"Nezuko? Hanako? And Shigeru?"
Right at that moment, Kie Kamado finally began to slowly recover from her mindless state.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]