“Ah, Sister Lu Ran, sorry for keeping you waiting. I just woke up and I’m still a bit dazed!”
Having just experienced a rather ambiguous commotion while getting out of bed, and after letting her guest wait outside for quite a while, Su Qi—ever the introvert—opened the door and admitted her fault right away.
After inviting Lu Ran to sit on the sofa, An Xiaoling, whose cheeks were tinged a delicate pink, poured her a glass of ice-cold cola.
Maybe it was because the tasks at the Adventurers’ Guild were particularly busy these days.
As the guild’s poster girl, Lu Ran exchanged only a few pleasantries before getting straight to the point about her visit.
“Su Qi, the main reason I’m here today is because of the recent dispute among ability users. According to Mo Yu and Lin Xue from the Adventurers’ Guild, your neighbor, Gu Wen Yin, has done some rather extreme things to you over the past few days. As the person involved, your view is particularly important. You can choose psychological compensation and have Gu Wen Yin pay you a sum of money, or opt for criminal charges so she faces the proper consequences.”
Hearing the name Gu Wen Yin from Lu Ran’s lips—a name as familiar as any could be—Su Qi’s body instinctively shrank back, a hint of fear in his eyes, no doubt because of his captivity these last two days.
Yet in his mind, he saw the face of Sister Wen Yin, with that gentle, intellectual smile.
In truth, after spending a day with An Xiaoling, playing and calming down, Su Qi, while still thinking Sister Wen Yin’s yandere behavior was excessive, tried to look at things rationally from her perspective.
He considered: for ten years, she’d harbored feelings for someone she could never bring herself to harm.
Then, all of a sudden, that person distanced himself, got teleported by a Teleportation Array with life or death uncertain, and, upon returning safely, accidentally discovered her yandere collection, was frightened, and then, on top of it all, he put on that Dangerous Wedding Dress that boosted favorability.
Maybe all these factors were what triggered Sister Wen Yin’s descent into her yandere state.
Thinking this through, Su Qi quickly made up his mind about Lu Ran’s question of punishing Gu Wen Yin.
With a gentle wave of his fair, petite hand, Su Qi replied, “Um… Sister Lu Ran, there’s really no need for punishment. I think Sister Wen Yin acted that way in part because of her own abilities; it was beyond her control. And I wasn’t really hurt in any meaningful way, so it’s better not to punish her.”
Sitting obediently beside Su Qi like a good little sister, An Xiaoling couldn’t help but pout at this simple decision to forgive “that woman.” After all, she’d seen Su Qi’s pitiful state with her own eyes just the day before.
Letting the culprit Gu Wen Yin off so easily seemed far too lenient.
But when she looked into Su Qi’s eyes, she saw the conflict and pain within.
In the end, An Xiaoling said nothing more.
After all, as a web novel author—one who specialized in girls’ love stories—An Xiaoling understood a maiden’s heart. She could see that deep down, Su Qi still liked her Sister Wen Yin.
Realizing this, An Xiaoling unconsciously bit her finger, feeling the pressure.
Just yesterday, after picking up Su Qi, An Xiaoqian thought her only rivals were Mo Yu and Lin Xue. But now, it looked like Sister Wen Yin hadn’t been eliminated at all and might just make a comeback!
No way, I have to speed up my own strategy.
But how should I go about it?
And Lin Xue, the lightbulb, would be back soon too. Seriously… why was she only gone for a day?
That’s not enough—three days at the very least!
As for the little devil brewing inside An Xiaoling’s black-hearted mind, Lu Ran, as the guild’s poster girl, had no idea.
Hearing Su Qi’s decision not to pursue punishment, Lu Ran slowly pulled a Reconciliation Agreement from her bag and placed it on the table.
“Su Qi, since you’ve decided to forgive her, please sign this Forgiveness Letter. Once you sign, the guild will release the three ability users who have already been punished for the incident.”
Guiding Su Qi, she watched as Su Qi wrote her name in elegant, delicate calligraphy.
Once the Forgiveness Letter was put away, perhaps because of Su Qi’s gentle and approachable aura, or maybe his polite and humble attitude, Lu Ran found herself especially fond of him.
As the guild’s poster girl, after stowing away the Forgiveness Letter, she uncharacteristically offered a few words of advice.
“Su Qi, for your own safety, you shouldn’t go home right now, nor should you meet Gu Wen Yin alone. It’s better to stay with the Cangyou Wildcat Team for the time being. And do keep your distance from the boys too—your aura is a bit too soft and cute. If you’re alone with someone, it’s all too easy for them to bully you!”
Me? Soft and cute? Easy to bully?
Hearing Lu Ran’s objective evaluation, which she’d only received a few times before, Su Qi’s head slowly sprouted a big question mark, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He knew he wasn’t cut out to be a muscleman, but soft and cute? Easy to bully? Was that really how others saw him?
While Su Qi was still surprised, Lu Ran, likely swamped with matters from the Adventurers’ Guild, finished her glass of iced cola from An Xiaoling and stood up to leave.
Seeing this, Su Qi wanted to correct Lu Ran’s view of him, but thinking of the business she had to attend to, he could only rise and escort her to the door.
As he saw her out, Lu Ran seemed to remember something. She reached into her bag again and took out a small phone—Su Qi’s, which had been lost in the Saint Ruins.
“Su Qi, this is your phone, right? Mo Yu asked me to return it to you. I almost forgot. Don’t be so careless next time, okay?”
After reminding Su Qi once more, Lu Ran—ever the working woman—took the elevator upstairs to the Adventurers’ Guild.
After saying goodbye, Su Qi walked back to the sofa in the living room, phone in hand.
Because of the earlier skirt incident with An Xiaoling, now whenever Su Qi looked at her, he couldn’t help but recall that alluring, criminally tempting fair-skinned scene—and An Xiaoling’s adorable, sensitive reaction after getting out.
Worse yet, with those memories coming to mind, Su Qi felt a faint thrill and realized his brain was automatically conjuring up scenarios where he bullied the black-hearted little loli An Xiaoling until she babbled nonsense.
Ugh… Something’s wrong with me!
Shaking his head to rid himself of those criminal imaginings, Su Qi, with nothing else to do, decided to open his long-lost little phone and watch some short videos to distract himself.
Following his usual routine, he opened DouDou Short Video and checked the trending list for anything interesting.
At the sight of the top three trending topics, Su Qi paused in surprise:
① “Shocking! A Dragon Egg Appears in the Saint Ruins. Is a New Giant Dragon About to Descend?”
② “Unprecedented Battle! Magical Girl VS Blood Princess VS Queen”
③ “Delicious Night Market Bento Skyrockets in Price, Rumored to Taste Like Happiness”
Clicking the first trending video, Su Qi saw a candid shot of the Giant Dragon and the Golden Egg he’d once seen.
But unlike that day, the golden patterns on the Dragon Egg were much clearer now—clearly, the time for the little dragon to hatch was drawing near.
In addition, the majestic Giant Dragon had many more scars than before.
Seeing this photo, Su Qi couldn’t help but furrow his brow, recalling that day with the Teleportation Array and the flying beast snatching the Dragon Egg.
The World of Magical Beasts really was complicated.
For this little dragon to be born safely, it seemed like it was going to be a real challenge!
But thinking about it, this wasn’t something a newbie Adventurer like himself needed to worry about.
He’d probably never get close to a Giant Dragon in his life.
After scrolling past, Su Qi swiped to the second trending video.
Accompanied by stirring BGM, the short video flashed images of Gu Wen Yin, Mo Yu, and Lin Xue—three beautiful girls battling it out.
It had to be said, all three were transformation-type ability users who could fly, and all were in the bloom of youth.
Every photo looked like a carefully crafted game CG, exquisitely detailed, each frame both beautiful and cool.
In the barrage of comments, many clueless onlookers speculated that they must be filming some TV drama.