Chapter 23: Bath Time

After Ye Jinyi gave her answer, the receptionist looked a bit concerned.

“Sweetie, I really think you should come back with your parents next time.”

“Uwah!”

That one sentence hit Ye Jinyi with a devastating 999-point emotional crit.

Why was the whole world bullying her for not having parents?

She’d had enough.

Not being allowed into conventions was one thing—but now even bathhouses were rejecting her?

Was there no justice left in this world?

“No! No! No!” Ye Jinyi threw a mini tantrum.

“I just want to take a bath! What’s wrong with that?!”

“But it’s dangerous to be alone, little one.”

The receptionist still tried to turn her away.

If anything happened, she couldn’t take on that kind of responsibility.

“Wuu~ wuu~”

Tears began to well up in Ye Jinyi’s eyes—cheap, but effective.

“Please, sis, be kind. I can take care of myself.”

“Ugh…”

The receptionist faltered. The girl wasn’t really asking for much, and she wasn’t wrong either. But if she sold that ticket and something did happen, she’d be the one held responsible.

And these days, everyone knew what parents were like—if something happened to their kid, you’d better get comfy in court, because they’d sue you down to your reincarnation.

Still, the receptionist held her ground, refusing to sell Ye Jinyi a ticket.

But after enough crying, begging, and theatrical pleading, she finally caved—at least a little.

“Alright then… do your parents even know you came here alone?”

“I don’t have parents.”

Ye Jinyi stated it plainly. She’d been living like this for years and didn’t see it as shameful anymore.

“I see. That’ll be 10 yuan for the half-price ticket. Cash or mobile pay?”

The moment she heard Ye Jinyi had no parents, the receptionist’s concern vanished.

No one to sue? Fine, let her in. A sale’s a sale, after all.

“Payment and collection.”

Ye Jinyi instantly stopped crying like flipping a switch, pulled out her phone, and got ready to pay.

She opened her QR code and handed it over for scanning.

Once the payment went through, the receptionist handed her a locker wristband and a ticket.

“Turn left to change shoes. Baths are on the second floor.”

“Thanks, big sis!”

Ye Jinyi quickly grabbed the wristband and ticket, afraid the offer might be taken back at any second.

She headed to the shoe counter, took off her little leather shoes, and handed them to the attendant auntie.

The auntie knowingly tossed her a pair of tiny slippers.

After changing into the slippers, Ye Jinyi grabbed her bath tote and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Once there, she saw the curtain hanging at the entrance, bearing two characters.

【Women’s Bath】

The legendary nyu-tou, the holy grail of LSP fantasies.

No one knew what wonders lay behind those curtains, but all believed in one thing.

“This… is the mythical realm of beautiful girls?!”

Just thinking about entering the women’s bath made Ye Jinyi, still a technical virgin, feel a tingle of excitement.

“No! What am I even thinking?!”

Ye Jinyi quickly stopped herself from entertaining such dangerous thoughts.

“T-The cutest girl in the world… s-she’s already right here with me!”

Whether she was the cutest could be debated, but if it was about being the best at justifying things to herself—Ye Jinyi was definitely a top contender.

She shook her head vigorously, trying to chase away the nonsense crowding her brain.

“Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter! I’m a girl now too—nothing to be embarrassed about!”

Once that clicked, she took a deep breath to bolster her courage, then lifted the curtain and walked into the bath area.

Beautiful girls, here I come!

But the moment she entered the bathhouse, her fantasy was instantly shattered.

There were little girls, teen girls, adult women… and elderly women.

But anyone who could reasonably be described with the word “beautiful”?

Ye Jinyi couldn’t spot a single one.

Only then did she understand that beauty is relative—and maybe her current body’s base stats were just too high.

If she were still in her old macho male form, she might’ve really had… reactions in a place like this.

Though of course, there’s always the possibility that her “dragon” had been confiscated.

Ye Jinyi undressed, found her locker, stored her clothes, and stepped into the bathhouse’s soaking pool.

“So comfortable~”

The moment she slipped into the hot spring, all the fatigue in her body seemed to vanish completely.

Her hair floated up on the surface of the water, drifting gently with the ripples.

Ye Jinyi curled up in the water, quietly soaking in the peace.

But the comfort didn’t last long—soon, she began to feel unwell.

Her eyes shot open. The water around her looked… slightly dark.

“Huh?”

Ye Jinyi stood up in a panic.

Just as she tried to figure out what was going on, a faint streak of pale yellow passed the edge of her vision.

She grabbed it.

It was her hair.

“It’s fading…”

Half-black, half-blonde—she knew immediately what was happening.

And the worst part?

She had come here specifically to wash her hair!

Her hair had been unbearable lately—that’s what finally pushed her to go to a bathhouse.

And she’d dyed it in the first place to hide her identity!

If it washed out now, that was really bad news.

“I mean, I can’t just let bugs start living in my hair, right?”

At that moment, whether to wash or not wash, both paths felt like one-way tickets to ruin.

“Sigh~”

Ye Jinyi let out a long sigh, climbed out of the soaking pool, and walked over to grab a towel from the rack just outside. She wrapped her hair in it while looking into a mirror, then returned to the bath.

“I suddenly understand why girls in manga always wrap themselves in towels while bathing…”

Today, in the bathhouse, Ye Jinyi learned yet another piece of inaccurate manga logic.

After who knows how long, she started to feel dizzy and nauseated.

She knew this was the steam getting to her. It was time to get out of the pool.

Leaving the water, she returned to her locker, scanned her wristband to unlock it, and pulled out her bath tote.

Shutting the locker door, Ye Jinyi brought her bath tote back into the bath area, found an empty shower corner, placed the bag down, and jumped to turn on the faucet.

Warm water poured down through the showerhead from above.