Zhu Niao took a shower, then returned to her room, still haunted by the dazzling, snowy-white beauty she’d just seen.
It was the first time she had ever seen a young man’s body in real life—completely naked.
Aside from the long hair, there wasn’t a single stray hair anywhere.
Even if it was her own body.
She’d seen herself while changing clothes before, but never in such detail as during that shower.
The female body really was more delicate than the male one—just an accidental touch could send a tingly jolt straight through her brain.
And the visual impact was no small part of it either.
As Zhu Niao would put it: definitely premium-tier in the domestic paid zone, members-only content.
Earlier, she had found a somewhat normal-looking nightdress in the wardrobe—though the spaghetti strap design still made her feel like the neckline up top was far too exposed.
Grabbing the hairdryer—now somehow pink—Zhu Niao followed a tutorial video, trying to blow-dry her long hair as instructed, despite the annoying roar of the machine.
Everything had to be learned from scratch, but thankfully, living on her own after running away from home had trained her in self-reliance.
Once her hair was dry, Zhu Niao started checking over the rest of her room.
Most of the usable items remained, but all her personal things had been replaced with frilly, girly versions.
At this point, she even started to think:
If that unreliable rookie goddess were willing to provide financial support while I’m doing these romance missions…
Then I’d be willing to tough it out and date Gou Yu for the rest of my life.
She figured Gou Yu—who was just as broke as she was—would probably understand.
That was settled.
Tonight, she’d dream about becoming the richest person in the world.
Like a hamster burrowing into its little nest, Zhu Niao curled up tightly in her blanket and reached out one hand to turn off the light.
As darkness enveloped the room, she quickly shut her eyes before she could see anything squirming in the shadows.
She was afraid of the dark—but after running away from home, she’d trained herself not to be.
Her thoughts slowly sank into the depths of sleep, and she drifted off with dreams of unimaginable wealth.
In her dream, she saw someone familiar.
Her best bro, Gou Yu, stood silently at the foot of her bed.
The darkness obscured his expression.
Before Zhu Niao could even lament her continued poverty in the dream, the figure at the end of her bed suddenly moved.
It was her best bro, Gou Yu.
He climbed onto her bed.
A chill of dread crept up Zhu Niao’s spine.
Something felt very wrong.
“N-no, bro… that pretty girl who wanted to add you? Yeah, I stopped her, but it was for your own good! What if she’d scammed you?” she stammered in a panic.
She tried to back away, but her limbs wouldn’t move.
She could only watch helplessly as Gou Yu’s shadow loomed closer.
“No, please… bro, if you’re desperate, I’ll scrape up some cash for you to go out, just don’t—don’t do this!”
Her voice trembled, her whole body shivering—not from cold, but from fear.
“You wanted your body back, didn’t you?” Gou Yu’s low voice rasped against her ear like a devil’s whisper.
“Well, here’s your chance.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant…” she tried to shake her head, but even that was impossible.
She could only watch, paralyzed and terrified, as his hand reached toward her then, finally, with a jolt—
“No—stop!”
She screamed herself awake.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Gou Yu shaking her shoulders with a worried look on his face.
“Finally! I just came to get you for school, and then I heard you yelling like crazy. Nightmare?”
Zhu Niao, still dazed, could only blink in confusion.
She looked down at Gou Yu’s hands, which were gripping her shoulders.
For a moment, Gou Yu’s figure seemed to overlap with the darkness from her dream.
In an instant, Zhu Niao’s hair stood on end, and she snapped into a combat stance.
“Get the hell away from me!”
A precise kidney strike sent Gou Yu curling up on the floor, clutching his stomach.
Zhu Niao instinctively shrank her neck after the blow.
Maybe… she’d hit a little too hard.
Well, not that Gou Yu’s kidneys were that delicate anyway, right?
“Y-You okay, old dog?” she asked hesitantly.
“Still alive…”
Gou Yu groaned, reaching out a hand toward her, as if asking to be pulled up—but the moment Zhu Niao saw his hand coming, she instinctively shrank back.
Gou Yu’s outstretched hand turned into a middle finger, and he slowly got to his feet and wobbled out of the room.
Apparently, all the psychological damage from her nightmare had been taken out on Gou Yu.
Of course, aside from the fear, there was another lingering sensation from the dream that was hard to ignore—the tingling, numbing afterglow.
Like now—her sticky awareness, and the damp patch on her underwear.
Zhu Niao blushed faintly, a hint of dazed recall flickering in her expression.
Not gonna lie, being a girl… kinda felt better than being a guy.
The last time she’d woken up needing to change her underwear was back when she’d dreamt about getting frisky with that biology teacher from her favorite movie.
And now it was freaking Gou Yu.
She knew clearly now—this was all because of that damn romantic mission the probationary goddess had dumped on her.
That dream only made it clearer: she wasn’t ready.
Not ready to complete the mission just to get her body back.
She wasn’t as calm as she appeared.
She couldn’t really accept becoming a girl—she was just forcing herself to adapt.
After changing into fresh underwear and that same white dress, Zhu Niao washed up quickly and got on Gou Yu’s fine-inducing electric scooter.
“Let’s go. Time to face the new semester. I’m totally gonna focus on my studies this term.” Gou Yu grinned as he firmly pressed the helmet down on Zhu Niao’s head.
Half an hour later, Zhu Niao was watching Gou Yu nod off in class like a woodpecker on the brink of a breakdown.
“If you’re gonna sleep, just sleep. If the teacher calls on you, I’ll cover. What the hell were you doing last night, anyway?”
She nudged the mentally collapsing Gou Yu with her elbow.
To her left sat Gou Yu. To her right were her three dormmates.
“What? You should’ve said so earlier.”
Hearing this, Liu Xie slumped over the desk and instantly started snoring.
Then their petite dorm leader Yang Shuli also tried to join in on the nap, but got yanked upright by the stone-faced Ye Qingchang.
“I mean, last night I…” Gou Yu tried to explain.
He obviously couldn’t admit that he’d dreamt about Zhu Niao—and not exactly in a wholesome way either.
No wonder he couldn’t fall asleep and spent half the night tossing and turning.
“No need to say anything.” Zhu Niao cut him off without even looking at him.
“Huh?”
“Secret Investigator: The Fiery Kunoichi,” Zhu Niao stated coldly, sentencing him to death with a single title.
“Tch—can we settle this peacefully?” Gou Yu instantly folded.
“You connected to my Bluetooth last night.”
“I knew something was weird with the sound.”
“Oh, and don’t forget—you’re helping me carry clothes from the girls’ dorm later.” Zhu Niao added with a casual note.
“Got it, got it.” Gou Yu knew this was his cue to obediently shut up and go to sleep.
“Oh~?”
Just as Liu Xie was about to fall asleep, her face lit up with amusement.
“Oh~”