In the past, Xu Chuyao had always looked down on the Academy Faction, thinking they were too old-fashioned, unable to adapt, stuck in their rigid routines, and simply not formidable enough.
But now, after being completely overpowered by Shen Ning with skills learned straight from textbooks, her entire worldview had been shaken to its core.
Of course, the impact on her body was even greater.
“Not running anymore?” Shen Ning leaned in and asked, “Can’t run, or can’t get up?”
“Ah ba ah ba…”
At that moment, Xu Chuyao suddenly lost her ability to speak, but her mind wasn’t blank—she was flooded with countless thoughts.
She remembered the people she’d toyed with in her previous life, those exasperated netizens, those furious gazes that seemed to pierce through time and space, all converging in the hands of this world’s heroine, lending her strength.
For a fleeting instant, Xu Chuyao even felt a hint of guilt.
“Sorry… sorry, is that okay…”
If last time’s punishment was astronomical, her thoughts wandering boundlessly under the influence of alcohol, then this time’s punishment was almost religious—under unbearable stimulation, humanity and morality briefly returned, bringing forth an impossible sense of repentance.
Then her little head lolled to the side, and she fainted…
“Get up!” Shen Ning gritted her teeth and shook her awake. “Who allowed you to fall asleep!”
“Listen, winter has left, and I awaken in some year, some month~”
Look at her, it’s just noon, barely 12 o’clock, and after finishing with love she already wants to nap? Where’s the justice in that.
“Ah… ah ba ah ba, ah ba (I already apologized, what more do you want).”
Unfortunately, Xu Chuyao couldn’t hear Broken Shadow’s singing, and Shen Ning couldn’t understand her ah ba ah ba gibberish.
If she could, maybe it would’ve made her even angrier.
“Zuo ba ah ba (It’s my fault, it’s my fault).”
“No sleeping!”
“Ah ming ya ba…”
“Get up! Run again!”
So the storm raged on again and again. Each time Xu Chuyao woke, she regained a bit more humanity. By the last apology she made in her heart, there was already a touch of sincerity.
But why did it have to be like this? She’d already apologized so sincerely, yet she still got dragged up to be punished again. What was the point of apologizing?
Maybe she shouldn’t apologize at all in the future.
With that thought, Xu Chuyao opened the System panel and checked her balance—
Holy crap, 40004+!
A huge surge of happiness instantly overwhelmed Yaoyao.
And then she fainted again.
This time, Shen Ning didn’t wake her. Because just now, in a sudden moment, the girl failed to dodge, and then—
[ Ding~ Congratulations on completing the Four-Star Milestone Mission: First Tasting. ]
Faced with this result, both she and her two shadows were stunned.
“This shouldn’t be,” Broken Shadow puzzled endlessly, “You clearly didn’t do anything, so how did you complete it?”
Physical pleasure could be explained, since that’s an objective metric—if your technique keeps improving, you’ll reach it eventually.
But how did you achieve joy of the heart?
“I don’t get it either. None of us do,” Sexually Repressed Shadow said. “So let’s just drag Yaoyao up and make love again—maybe then we’ll figure it out.”
Completely illogical, all tactics driven by emotion.
But whatever, done is done, and that’s good enough.
Shen Ning sat up beside her, rubbing her sore wrist, and looked at the rest of the System’s settlement.
[ Congratulations, Host, for completing the Four-Star Milestone Mission: First Tasting.
Reward: Partial spiritual power level. Current: Second Rank Peak.
Note: This power comes from you two years in the future.
Additionally, for completing a high-difficulty milestone mission (Four-Star or above) for the first time, special reward: Moonlight Ritual usable count +1
Current Moonlight Ritual uses: 2 ]
Moonlight Ritual? That was a skill awarded for an earlier achievement, but up to now she hadn’t used it, nor could she—because the skill description said [Only after understanding the meaning of the skill’s name can it be used].
So the special reward was basically useless for now; the main prize was still the rank-up.
Shen Ning felt pretty satisfied. The few skills she already had, with Broken Shadow’s help in developing them, were already enough—aiming for higher ranks was the best.
Come to think of it, she was supposed to reach Second Rank Peak two years later.
Two years from now, she’d be nearly twenty-one. Her pure talent really couldn’t compare to that Literary Saint Young General that little Snow mentioned…
“Are you in sage mode now? Thinking about all this nonsense.” Sexually Repressed Shadow said. “If you’re tired, sleep. If not, drag her up and make love a few more times.”
Shen Ning glanced at Xu Chuyao’s peaceful little face, and just couldn’t be that ruthless.
“By the way, am I strong enough now, in terms of the missing persons case?”
That question couldn’t be answered directly by the shadows. Sexually Repressed Shadow thought for a long time, then said to her:
“Yaoyao has done a lot of research on pre-spiritual era pop culture. She once mentioned Erxian Bridge.”
Her girlfriend was sleeping soundly beside her, soft snores rising and falling.
Looks like she wouldn’t get an answer now, so she might as well sleep first.
Just like last time, Shen Ning changed the bedding, helped her girlfriend into fresh panties, then lay down and hugged the softness, drifting off to sleep together.
Zzz7
A peaceful afternoon passed in the blink of an eye, and the starry, cloudless night went by with just a blink.
The next morning, Mi Xiaolu checked the time and thought 24 hours was a bit much, so she tentatively came over and knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
“Hello, is this Shen Ning’s bedroom? I have a roommate who’s gone missing, so I’m here to bail her out—ah, no, I mean, to claim her.”
Xu Chuyao, who had just woken up, didn’t even have time to joke about her plain white cotton panties. She clung to the wall, limping toward the door, tears welling up in her eyes:
“Xiao Lei, you… why did you only come now!”
You waited until the deed was done to come—couldn’t you have waited until I’d recovered?
Mi Xiaolu smiled and supported her friend, not answering the question.
If the deed wasn’t done yet, she wouldn’t have dared come either.
It took a lot of effort to get back to the dorm. Xu Chuyao struggled up onto her bed, burrowed under the covers, recalled yesterday’s events, and couldn’t help but shiver:
“It was so scary.”
At first, it was a full spiral, then suddenly a sharp right turn, three circles clockwise, three more counterclockwise, and every now and then a full-throttle acceleration, engine roaring.
If she didn’t know those were a girl’s hands, Xu Chuyao would’ve thought a drill instructor had come in.
“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?” Mi Xiaolu said coolly. “If you can endure so much suffering, it means you must have made her really, really angry.”
Now that’s logic.
Xu Chuyao glanced at her Counter Villain Value, over four thousand, and said with mixed feelings, “It really is a lot.”
A lot, and the punishment was real, too.
How bad was it? Let’s just say, for a moment there, Yaoyao not only started to repent, but even felt a little regret.
“This kind of thing can’t happen too often. If it does, I’ll turn into a hot weapon.” Xu Chuyao patted her flat little belly. “I need to recover a bit.”
Might as well do a draw first. Gulu gulu~ Ding!
Maybe she’d been too lucky with the last few ten-pulls, but this time even after more than twenty draws, there was no gold—just a few scattered small prizes, barely enough to reach Second Rank Mid-stage.
Even so, Xu Chuyao was fairly satisfied.
She’d gotten a bit stronger again. Next time, even if Shen Ning pounced on her, she’d have a bit more resistance.
Maybe she could even turn the tables.
After indulging in a few unrealistic fantasies, Xu Chuyao picked up her phone and found that her girlfriend, who’d been like a wild beast yesterday, had sent her two messages.
[Shen Ning: I saw the notice in the group chat. I know we’re meeting in the Meeting Room tomorrow.]
[Shen Ning: Also, what does Erxian Bridge mean?]
Well, where did she pick up that phrase?
Xu Chuyao picked up her phone and typed—
[Yaoyao Doesn’t Want to Eat Hands: The Erxian Bridge meme comes from a pre-spiritual era video, where a pedestrian asks a rickshaw driver if he can take him to Erxian Bridge. The driver replies, ‘I can, but only a little bit.’ The quirky accent and strange answer are just hilarious.]
After sending the message, Xu Chuyao froze. Wait, when did I become a meme encyclopedia? And this heroine, too—she was a beast yesterday, and today she’s messaging me about this, playing sage mode with me?
[Yaoyao Doesn’t Want to Eat Hands: That’s all you have to say? About what happened yesterday, don’t you have anything to say!]
In the girl’s bedroom, Shen Ning saw the first reply and immediately caught the point.
The missing persons case in the border district could be investigated, but only a little bit—meaning her current strength still wasn’t enough.
Even Second Rank Peak wasn’t enough to touch this case—did she have to reach Third Rank?
Three years ago, the missing persons case that started the same time she entered the Academy, and was closely tied to her, seemed like a huge vortex, growing ever larger.
Then she saw Xu Chuyao’s second message.
Sexually Repressed Shadow sneered: “She dares ask us, but doesn’t think about what she herself did. Just ask her directly if she enjoyed it.”
Broken Shadow shook her head: “Yesterday’s indulgence already shamed the literati, I shouldn’t continue to let myself go, lest I fall further… Wait, why did you send that out!”
The always literary Broken Shadow had let something slip.
Shen Ning was startled, because the shadow spoke in her ear, sounding like a voice rising from her own mind. Her hands unconsciously typed it out on her phone, then she absentmindedly hit send.
But Broken Shadow still had a solution: “No worries, if you accidentally sent the wrong message, you can fix it. Just long-press and then tap… Not delete! Recall!”
Shen Ning wasn’t very good with her phone.
“Recall? How do I recall?”
“You already deleted it, so now you can’t see it yourself, and there’s no way to recall it.”
On the other side, Xu Chuyao stared at her phone’s new message, her little face flushing red with anger and embarrassment.
[Shen Ning: Did you enjoy it?]