Reaction?
There couldn’t possibly be a reaction.
Li Si was speechless.
In her sense, there were exactly five heads lined up outside the door.
What could she and He Zi possibly do just sleeping together as two girls?
They really thought they were veterans at this kind of game!
She had no idea what those two silly spore teammates were thinking, and why Ao Li An Na and the others had inexplicably reached an unspoken understanding with her current teammates to eavesdrop together.
“Um… do you want to take a shower… we could do it together…”
He Zi spoke up to ask.
“Sure.”
She never bathed outside, but conversely, she absolutely had to bathe in a safe zone.
Li Si didn’t mind showering together, since she often did this with Lili Ya, and it was a good way to build affection.
Of course, with Lili Ya it was affection, but with He Zi it was Recognition.
She figured she’d take this chance to try straightening He Zi out, since dangerous relationships seemed to easily put her in a passive position. Even if it was a game, Li Si wanted to hold the initiative.
Too bad straightening her out wasn’t going to be that easy.
After the shower, she’d expended tremendous effort—rubbing, kneading, helping scrub her back, helping brush her cat tail, even patiently using her own body to rub against the base of the tail—yet she was still 30% short of maxing out Recognition.
Fortunately, there were still a few hours before the next day. Without a second thought, Li Si threw herself into the role. She lay down on her side, silver hair cascading over her shoulders, eyes gentle and tender. In the steaming mist rising from her just-finished bath, she reached out and lightly patted the bed, signaling He Zi to come up.
“Um…”
He Zi’s face flushed red. The blush wasn’t from shyness though—she just hadn’t expected Li Si to be this skilled. Her tail had felt incredibly good being rubbed just now, like she’d received the most premium tail care at a top-tier spa.
“Um… Li Si… I want more…”
“Huh? More of what?”
Li Si tilted her head. They still had to go into the dungeon tomorrow, so she couldn’t afford to mess around.
“My… tail…”
“Oh~”
Li Si understood. Cat Beastmen were especially happy when their tails were rubbed, particularly the base. If you gently kneaded it with your fingertips and occasionally gave it a few strokes, it would make them involuntarily arch their backs in pleasure.
Of course, the prerequisite for this kind of rubbing was the Cat Beastman’s complete and total trust.
Just rubbing a tail was no problem for Li Si at all. Her dexterous fingers immediately wrapped around it, comforting it from front to back.
Not only did she use her palm to soothe it, she even used her thigh to gently squeeze it a few times.
After all, when petting a cat tail, what mattered was full wraparound contact, and thighs had the most flesh. Compared to her relatively bony palms, it was an entirely different kind of stimulation.
Quickly, very quickly, Li Si saw the results.
[He Zi Recognition +5%]
[He Zi Recognition +5%]
[He Zi Recognition +20%]
[He Zi Recognition 100%, obtained Child Coin*3]
“Mmm~ that feels so good~ ooh~”
As He Zi drifted into sleep with soft hums, Li Si gradually released her hand from the cat tail. Looking at He Zi, who finally seemed relaxed, she showed a gentle, motherly smile.
This girl was perfect in every way except that she couldn’t express her emotions. If you didn’t get inside her heart, you’d only ever see a cold, flawless face that handled everything perfectly—you’d never see her current sweet, innocent look.
Being kicked out of group after group was really infuriating, but at least among them, there was still someone who understood her, wasn’t there?
Li Si gently embraced that curled-up body, slowly using her legs to help open her up, allowing her to finally assume a completely relaxed sleeping posture in her dreams for the first time in a long while.
The next day, when Li Si woke up, her whole body was numb, her legs were itchy, her waist was tight, and she didn’t dare move a muscle. She looked down and saw a tail wrapped around her waist—so close, so damn close, just 0.01 centimeters away from doing something that would ruin her.
Li Si broke out in a cold sweat. She checked the adventure panel, which had been furiously pinging dangerous relationship alerts all night long.
Come to think of it, He Zi’s danger level was on par with Liewata’s—she’d almost let He Zi’s melancholy mask that fact.
Fortunately, this seemed to be unconscious behavior during sleep. He Zi appeared to be sleeping very well, but she was stirred awake by Li Si’s sudden shock.
The moment He Zi opened her eyes, she showed a blissful smile, then noticed Li Si’s terrified gaze. She instinctively looked down and immediately fell into an assassin’s silence.
The tail had already wrapped itself into the pink nightgown, and from the sensation at the tip, it seemed to have already touched Li Si’s bottom line.
“I-I-I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
Li Si reached out and rubbed those cat ears. Seeing that the tail had wrapped even tighter from nervousness, she thought for a moment and used a joke that wouldn’t make He Zi uncomfortable: “I don’t mind this, but we’re going to the Class Change Dungeon today. You don’t want me going in with weak legs, do you.”
“Hehe~ Mmm!”
He Zi smiled brightly, but the happy expression on her face quickly faded.
Li Si got up to change clothes and casually invited He Zi to have breakfast together.
He Zi didn’t respond.
Li Si felt something was off, but time was running short, and she was worried about Lili Ya and Liewata’s condition.
In her Mother’s Sense, those two had been crouching outside the door all night.
Li Si pulled open the door, and in an instant, five heads tumbled in all at once.
“What are you all—”
He Zi was completely stunned.
Ao Li An Na and the others had actually fallen through the doorway.
“Ah… is it over?”
Mei Fei Er wiped the drool from her sleepy face and immediately stood up, waving her hand: “Time to eat. We still need to go to the Class Change Dungeon later.”
“Ah… right right… dungeon, dungeon…”
Wei Ya’s big, naturally airheaded eyes were still hazy, but hearing Mei Fei Er’s words, she quickly nodded like a pecking chick and left with them.
“Ah… you’re all going to the dungeon too… also a Class Change Dungeon?”
Liewata acted as if nothing had happened, also wiped her drool, stood up, and chatted casually with Mei Fei Er.
“Ugh, we need to farm kill counts, or our team will be forcibly disbanded.”
“Ah, is that so…”
Lili Ya quietly agreed and weakly followed along.
A group of five people acted as if nothing had happened and were about to leave.
Li Si’s mouth twitched.
She reached out and grabbed those two silly spores who were following another team and yanked them back.
She quickly had them organize their supplies and prepare to head to the Class Change Dungeon.
After dealing with those two silly spores, she wanted to say something to He Zi, but when she turned around, He Zi was already gone.
Li Si looked at the empty corridor, then at her current teammates.
She hesitated for a moment, then decided not to bother with it anymore.
That’s what growth was—you had to learn to accept the decisions you made.
She yawned, confirmed the two were ready, picked up Yadana, whose belly had grown three sizes from eating popcorn all night, and decisively led the team out.
No sooner had they left the Inn than a holy light suddenly unfolded before them.
Li Si helplessly grabbed her hair.
Of course—if she stayed in the city even a little while longer, there was no hiding it from her.
“I’ll give you time, but I hope you can promise me one thing.”
A silver-haired, mature woman’s figure stepped out of the light, holding a staff.
Her appearance instantly drew countless gasps, but she paid them no mind.
She extended her hand toward the figure she’d been longing for day and night, offering a highest-grade invitation.
“In three days, I will formally inherit my master’s title. At the Investiture Ceremony, I’ve prepared a gift for you. I hope you can come—this celebration belongs to both of us.”