“Isn’t that a bit too direct?”
Because the girl sent those few words on her phone as soon as she woke up in the morning, even before getting out of bed, none of the reflections reacted immediately.
The Broken Shadow thought that was hardly poetic at all, while the Sexually Repressed Shadow gave a thumbs-up: “That’s how it should be. Love should be shouted out loud.”
The Milk Tea Reflection looked up briefly, then immediately went back to peacefully sleeping, knowing that beauty rest must be sufficient.
Shen Ning herself said nothing, quietly slipping the phone back under her pillow as if nothing had happened.
Why send a message so suddenly right after waking up?
During these past few days of major operations, the girl realized a very basic problem—effort must be mutual. To properly support her girlfriend’s choice of comics and maintain trust, she had to read them herself.
So… she just sent the message.
If your girlfriend invites you to a game, are you going to accept or not? Hurry up and say something.
“Then will you… I mean, do you agree?” Mi Xiaolu peeked out from under the covers, trying to probe.
It wasn’t that she was lazy in bed; mainly, she felt like this place was becoming unbearable, so she wanted to savor the warmth of her nest while she still could.
“I’m not saying I don’t want to, but I have to go check.” Xu Chuyao rolled over and got out of bed. “See what’s wrong with Shen Ning.”
“You’re going to look for her? Aren’t you afraid?”
“An upright person isn’t afraid of their shadow being crooked. What’s there to fear?”
Chuyao hadn’t triggered any Counter Villain Value, which meant she hadn’t done anything bad yet—there was nothing to be afraid of.
Mi Xiaolu watched her leave with worried eyes, wondering if her roommate would come back today. But soon, she noticed something else.
“Teacher, do we finally not have to use our dorm room anymore?”
Her heart warmed.
Because just down the same dormitory building, Xu Chuyao didn’t even bother changing clothes—she wore her loose off-shoulder top and shorts, her white legs glaringly visible as she strode down the hallway, passing several early-rising female classmates along the way.
“Xu Chuyao, it’s rare to see you up this early.”
“Is it? Actually, I get up early pretty often.”
“Where are you headed?”
“To another dorm to find someone.”
Although Xu Chuyao didn’t know them, those girls all recognized her—and even knew that dressed like this, roaming the dorm hallway, she was going to visit a certain room.
“Pure-hearted Little Sister is lucky again.”
“I wonder how they do it.”
“You want to know? I have a video here.”
“No thanks, I don’t watch those.”
Every interview Shen Ning gave mentioned her girlfriend. Everyone knew she was the Pure Love War God, a distant Three-stage Record Refresher, and because of that, she’d become more down-to-earth than before.
“So nice. I want a girlfriend as flawless and well-endowed as Xu Chuyao.”
“What rank are you dreaming at… Wait, are you a girl?”
“Just saying. Don’t look at me like that.”
“I want a partner who fights desperately to get stronger, constantly breaking records, so I don’t have to try.”
“Good idea, but sister, what’s your cup size?”
The girls’ dorm was lively as usual, filled with laughter and chatter, but where was the Pure-hearted Little Sister?
Shen Ning was still lying in bed, covered with a small quilt, occasionally pulling her hand from under the pillow to glance at her phone.
“She still hasn’t replied to my message.”
The Sexually Repressed Shadow was indifferent: “Chuyao loves to sleep in; you know that. Ninety-nine percent of the time, she’s still not awake at this hour.”
“No.” Shen Ning stared at her phone screen. “It says the message was read, just not replied to.”
“Seriously? What are the odds? One percent?”
The girl had no time to argue probability with her reflections. The screen’s glow illuminated her downcast face, her flushed cheeks lacking any vitality.
She was clearly awake, so why not reply? Was she busy with something else? Was she talking to someone else? Like the plot in the first comic she’d sent two days ago…
The fate shifted suddenly.
“Shen Ning, I’m here to see what’s wrong with you… and, what’s wrong with you?” Xu Chuyao stood at the door, knocking while speaking. The first question asked why she sent that message; the second asked why her Counter Villain Value had just jumped by 100 points.
The door suddenly swung open, fast as if it were automatic, and Shen Ning sat up abruptly, eyes shining with surprise.
“You came straight over? I thought… I thought you’d just send a message.”
Xu Chuyao glanced at her, then at the door, blinking in confusion.
“Let’s not talk about messages first—what about this?”
The door lock had been violently destroyed. Heaven only knew what kind of brutal wind pressure it had faced—someone unaware might think it was Shen Ning’s very first Wind Arrow attack on it.
“It’s fine.” Shen Ning touched her ear. “It should be fine.”
Luckily, it hadn’t become inflamed.
She was talking about her own ear.
Regarding the mental process of “worrying the girlfriend is talking to someone else and ignoring her messages, getting jealous; then suddenly hearing the girlfriend’s voice outside the door, heart pounding uncontrollably, disregarding everything to open the door immediately and prove she wasn’t hallucinating—what’s the use of a door anyway!”—this was definitely not something to confess.
Otherwise, she’d be mocked for at least a month.
“Were you always like this?” The Sexually Repressed Shadow scratched its head. “Why suddenly so jealous lately?”
Compared to the unrestrained style of the Sexually Repressed Shadow, the more artistic reflection was more delicate: “She only fully recognized her feelings for Chuyao the night she reached Third Rank. Before that, she was still wrestling with these questions.”
Love or no love for Chuyao, how much she loved her, and whether she could continue loving her.
After Third Rank, after the Freiden Free City incident, the crisis was temporarily lifted. She could live her life, truly think of things as Chuyao’s girlfriend, and legitimately enjoy herself.
“Especially since someone keeps stirring up trouble and fanning the flames, making her paranoid.” The Broken Shadow glanced sideways. “No need to mention me.”
“I—I was just joking. She already likes to get jealous herself, how can you blame me?” The Sexually Repressed Shadow protested. “And the jealousy over video game gear? That was my idea?”
Their conversation didn’t affect Shen Ning, who was now fully focused on Xu Chuyao.
From a flushed face lost in wild thoughts lying in bed, to surprise and despair at hearing her girlfriend’s voice, to the awkward unease of being caught reckless, now to a reluctant half-smile—
“What are you so focused on a broken door lock for?”
[Counter Villain Value +50]
Xu Chuyao blinked in surprise. “Ah?”
No, why…
Sexually Repressed Shadow: “See, see? That’s real jealousy, not my fault.”
Broken Shadow was speechless.
A few minutes later, Xu Chuyao sat on her girlfriend’s bed, watching her use a bedsheet and a few chopsticks to nail it over the door, replacing the door’s function to protect privacy.
A makeshift solution. It didn’t matter—class would start soon, and few people would be in the dorm.
Xu Chuyao rubbed her palms on her thighs, regretting taking off her shoes and climbing up here. For the first time in her life, she thought sitting in a chair was quite nice—lying down was uncomfortable, but at least you didn’t have to worry about being pushed off…
“Why did you come straight here?” Shen Ning turned to ask. “Did it work out?”
About the question whether she accepted or not.
“No, I just came to see if you’re okay. Why you suddenly said that kind of thing.”
Chuyao was worried about her mental state.
“So, what’s your answer?” Shen Ning walked back and sat on the edge of the bed, calmly looking at her. “Do you agree?”
Xu Chuyao regretted it. She realized that maybe not doing anything bad wasn’t safe either, but seeing her girlfriend’s calm face, she tried to gently refuse.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Almost instant response and question.
“Because… because suddenly bringing it up feels weird. Nothing’s wrong.”
“But aren’t we lovers? Doing it is normal, right?”
Hearing Shen Ning’s quick words, both reflections were shocked.
“How are you so experienced?”
The Broken Shadow, who only knew shy hand-holding and blushing kisses, couldn’t accept this worldview.
Xu Chuyao was also stunned, stammering, “Normal… it’s normal, but it’s morning, so the timing isn’t right.”
“Why not right?”
“Because after, you want to sleep, and it wastes a lot of daytime.”
Hearing this, Shen Ning tilted her head slightly. “But you don’t do it usually, and you nap in the morning. Getting up early is just occasional.”
Why did I come to Shen Ning’s dorm room? Xu Chuyao couldn’t help but wonder.
But the girl seemed to understand her expression, speaking lightly: “If you’d come a little later just now, I would have come to your dorm to find you.”
A certain water-blue-haired girl who was just about to go back to sleep shivered.
Xu Chuyao quietly looked around and sighed.
The curtains were drawn, windows shut tight, and the door had just been blocked with a bedsheet. The white-haired girl seemed casually seated at the edge of the bed, but the bed was against the wall, so sitting like that completely blocked the way for a certain thunderous girl to get down.
Chuyao considered herself lucky. Today’s matter was one that couldn’t be avoided.
“Since that ketchup incident last time, up until now,” Xu Chuyao carefully looked at her girlfriend and asked, “I haven’t done anything bad, right?”
Shen Ning met her gaze seriously: “You just thought about it. After reading so many comics these days, don’t tell me you didn’t want to.”
So that’s it. Indeed, recalling the things she’d read these past two days, Chuyao did feel something.
“Then you can’t be like before, okay? Because I haven’t done anything bad yet.”
Good.
With her girlfriend’s assurance, Xu Chuyao relaxed and lay down, even slipping off her shorts.
As the female lead, her words carried great weight; she shouldn’t go back on them.
Soon, she felt the girl climbing onto the bed. In the chilly March morning, her warm breath slowly brushed over her navel, swept across the skin on her thighs, and passed over the snow mountain cherry tree.
“Hoo—hmm.”
Shen Ning truly didn’t go back on her word. Having promised not to be like before, she gently began to trace a melody, her fair hands accompanied by the lingering notes of Canon Melody—the C chord’s echo, the cello’s steadiness, and the tuba’s low croak—composing a piece named “Hoo Hwa Hoo Hymn… Woo Waa Zaai.”
Now the feeling really came alive.
This rhythm, accompanied by musical notes, made Xu Chuyao think of the first comic her girlfriend had sent two days ago—her body seemed to be opening a live performance, growing intense, slowly approaching that climax named…
“Wait!” The Sexually Repressed Shadow suddenly shouted, “What are you doing? Are you really getting into it? Don’t forget the Tactical Plan!”
Focused on the music, Shen Ning paused reluctantly.
“Hmph!”
“Hoo hm, hoo… hymn?”
Xu Chuyao looked up at the girl, dazed.
“What?”
Why did she suddenly stop playing?
Shen Ning propped herself up on her elbows, half sitting, half lying on the bed, hands spread on the mattress.
“Tired,” she said.