Outside the Teaching Building in C University’s Outer Courtyard, the area was a mess.
A knocked-over trash can had spilled garbage across the ground.
Trees uprooted by the roots.
Bicycles twisted into scrap metal by some unknown force.
Under the moonlight, a disheveled Gu Ye looked at her hand. Her skin was covered in strange light-brown liquid that sizzled corrosively, still bubbling with odd white foam.
She tsked and quickly withdrew her tentacles to block it.
Opposite Gu Ye, the Cake-Head Monster perched on a streetlamp, overlooking her. It tilted its head, watching everything.
The Box-Head Monsters dropped a mass of flames. Soon, orange flames surged toward Gu Ye at the center with overwhelming pressure.
The air’s moisture thickened, carrying a strange fishy smell—the deep sea’s scent—as it rolled in and barely extinguished the flames.
The Cake-Head Monster looked at the disheveled Gu Ye before it with some confusion, its eyes full of disappointment.
A monster with such a strong aura turned out to be just average.
What a waste of effort.
It had squandered another opportunity to tailor Rules perfectly.
Main God above.
‘……Well, it’s fine anyway.’ The Cake-Head Monster’s mouth opened and closed, expelling another burst of reddish-brown slime—this time determined to devour that power completely.
It had fallen just a little short; the range of its Rule influence would have covered the entire C University Emerald Lake District.
Only by devouring could it cleanse all evil—that was Its duty.
That was the reason the Main God had granted It new life!
The sickly sweet smell in the air acted like a sedative drug. Although Gu Ye dodged successfully, she felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
In a daze, Gu Ye seemed to see Yue Yiyue.
Standing amid the flames, Yue Yiyue laughed brightly and waved to her. “Come on.”
‘Let’s go together.’
Sensing its master had entered a strange state, a particularly thick tentacle inexplicably appeared behind the one the Cake-Head Monster had grabbed and began gnawing on it.
With a casual strike, it sent the Cake-Head flying and briefly created a twisted spatial wormhole.
The somewhat weak tentacles froze in place.
The thick tentacle knocked on them, and they grudgingly vanished into the air, carrying Gu Ye—who had fallen into the illusion nearby—with them.
————
When her feet touched the ground, Gu Ye still hadn’t shaken off that disgusting smell.
Her stomach especially went mad after catching that scent, twisting as if it wanted to digest her other organs too.
The deep wound on her arm, visible down to the bone, reminded her that she had been careless.
After quickly stitching up her stomach and leaning against the wall to rest for a moment, Gu Ye finally had time to survey her surroundings.
It was a spacious hallway.
Everything around was very clean.
The air carried familiar scents.
That soothed her.
Gu Ye narrowed her eyes and looked at the familiar door number—it was the Nest……
The familiar Nest……
With her last bit of strength, Gu Ye crawled up and pressed the doorbell……
————
Inside the room, the first doorbell rang, and Yue Yiyue glanced at the time—7:30.
No phone call, so it definitely wasn’t takeout.
Leaning against the bed, she listened carefully. Another doorbell rang.
Gu Nanqiu narrowed her eyes, feeling the unusual burning sensation on her arm intensify.
She had no choice but to crawl out of Yue Yiyue’s arms, muttering a curse under her breath: “I’ll go open the door.”
“Be careful.” Yue Yiyue grabbed a hammer from the nearby cabinet with some worry and followed behind Gu Nanqiu: “Things haven’t been peaceful lately. Don’t just open the door for anyone.”
Noticing the thing in Yue Yiyue’s hand and her vigilant look, Gu Nanqiu couldn’t help laughing: “Relax, it’s Gu Ye.”
“She got a minor injury that won’t cause any big problems and told me she was coming over to rest.”
As Gu Nanqiu spoke, she opened the door and caught the already unconscious Gu Ye: “See? Just a little injury.”
……
To be honest, Yue Yiyue didn’t believe it.
Gu Ye’s face was covered in blood and grime, and a large red patch on her arm looked just like a burn from something.
There were many small cuts elsewhere, probably from glass shards or maybe metal.
In any case, this was definitely not the minor injury Gu Nanqiu was talking about.
“Nanqiu, take Gu Ye to the master bedroom. I’ll get the medicine.” Yue Yiyue grabbed the home medical kit and rushed to the bathroom to fill a basin with warm water.
There were extra duvet covers at home; it didn’t matter if they got dirty.
She could just throw the padding away and buy a new one later.
Yue Yiyue grabbed a few soft tissue papers, picked up the basin, and rushed into the room: “Nanqiu, what medicine should we use for this? Burn ointment, or?”
“Yiyue, wipe her body down first. I’ll go get the medicine ointment—it’s a family heirloom.”
The various wounds on Gu Ye’s body didn’t seem man-made.
Yue Yiyue gently lifted Gu Ye’s clothes as much as possible, exposing her soft abdomen.
This body looked underfed, with little meat on it.
Yue Yiyue glanced once and then began using sterilized tweezers to pick out the fragments.
Her hands were steady and quick, as if she had done this many times before.
Ten minutes later, Yue Yiyue checked the rest of Gu Ye’s body. Only some deeper wounds still oozed faint red blood; the others were fine.
Stretching lazily, she turned and saw Gu Nanqiu standing nearby with a box. “Yiyue, you’ve worked hard. I’ll handle the medicine now.”
“What happened to Gu Ye?” Yue Yiyue frowned at Gu Nanqiu: “And how did you know she was coming?”
“Also, when did you two get in touch?”
After calming down, Yue Yiyue realized there were too many suspicious points.
She asked them straightforwardly.
Even though deep down she felt Gu Nanqiu wouldn’t tell the truth.
“She got injured a bit while doing a good deed. Nothing serious. She messaged me on WeChat right before you woke up. I thought she’d arrive later.”
Gu Nanqiu pulled up the WeChat interface, still showing Gu Ye asking if the takeout could include an extra portion for her.
Everything here felt off, yet it also seemed like there was no problem.
Yue Yiyue nodded hesitantly: “Okay, you apply the medicine first. We can talk about the rest later.”
————
“Yiyue, why aren’t you going back to your room tonight?” Gu Nanqiu stood in the master bedroom doorway, looking at the woman lying neatly covered on the lazy sofa. She gripped the doorframe, gazing at Yue Yiyue with some resentment.
She resembled a resentful wife who had finally waited for her beloved, only to get stood up and left alone to sleep.
Yue Yiyue shook her head: “I’m sleeping here tonight, keeping watch.”
“If anything happens to Gu Ye at night, I can notice right away. You’ve worked hard today too, Nanqiu. I know if I didn’t come, with your personality, you’d definitely make several trips over tonight.”
Yue Yiyue spoke earnestly, full of concern for both Gu Nanqiu and Gu Ye.
Gu Nanqiu didn’t know what to say for a moment and froze in place.
Who would care about Gu Ye’s life or death?
If worst came to worst, just dump her in some corner. She wouldn’t really die anyway; at most, she’d have to eat some random junk to regenerate.
But Yue Yiyue had put it that way.
Could she say no?
No, that would be out of character and arouse Yue Yiyue’s suspicions.
She had to become the version of herself that Yue Yiyue liked.
But letting herself sleep alone? Gu Nanqiu definitely wouldn’t be content with that.
Damn it, Yiyue had already loosened up……
“Nanqiu, I know you’re very worried about Gu Ye, but you’ve been through a lot today too and must be tired. I’ve rested this afternoon, so leave the night watch to me.”
“Do you think I can’t handle it?”
Seeing the woman standing motionless at the door, Yue Yiyue propped herself up and looked at Gu Nanqiu with some confusion.
“No, nothing like that.” Gu Nanqiu denied immediately, a standard smile appearing on that perfect face: “I thought about it, and it might be good if we all sleep in this room.”
“The bed is so big. Gu Ye can sleep on one side, I’ll sleep in the middle, and you on the other side.”
“Of course, for certain reasons, you might easily roll off the bed, but it’s fine. I’ll hold onto you, nice and careful.”
————
When Gu Ye woke up, most of her body had already been repaired with Gu Nanqiu’s help.
She just didn’t dare touch the external wounds, fearing Yue Yiyue would notice something off when she woke.
She lowered her head and fiddled with Yue Yiyue’s soft hair.
It was something Gu Nanqiu had handed over in the middle of the night.
Although the other was very reluctant, considering harmony between them, one hugged for the first half of the night, the other for the second half.
This exceeded Gu Ye’s expectations—she was too happy, even. The beating she took yesterday felt worth it.
But what wasn’t great was that part of her power had been devoured, making that thing a bit stronger……
Thinking of this, she sat up guiltily, vacating the spot beside Yue Yiyue, not daring to look at Gu Nanqiu.
Back then, she had insisted she grew fast, no worse than her, and could definitely protect Yiyue, play the good NPC role, and follow her plot.
But last night, when she disrupted the Cake-Head’s Rule, she got thoroughly played.
Zhou Qingyi was really unlucky—why did she have to pick that Strawberry Cake laced with oranges?
“You just woke up, so it’s normal if you’re not up to it yet. Once we return to the Main Body, everything will be back to normal, and we can all properly love Yiyue.” Gu Nanqiu got up, walked to Gu Ye’s side, and checked her body again.
The body Yue Yiyue liked couldn’t have any flaws. Even wounds had to be ones left by Yiyue herself.
She didn’t mock or blame this little Chaos that had gained consciousness from smelling Yue Yiyue’s scent.
Looking at this face identical to her own.
Just thinking about how Yue Yiyue had cared for Gu Ye so much last night made her excited to wrap Yiyue up entirely and savor every bit of her.
As expected, no matter what version of herself it was, Yiyue would pamper it.
This feeling was too great. Gu Nanqiu happily headed to the kitchen to make breakfast, incidentally splitting off a strand of power for the weakened child.
For the time being, Gu Ye would make a good fighter.
————
When Yue Yiyue woke up, Gu Ye sat on the sofa, watching Tom and Jerry with relish.
A half-drunk glass of milk sat beside her.
Seeing Yue Yiyue come out, Gu Ye grinned and pointed to the sandwiches on the table: “Gu Nanqiu went out to buy groceries. She’ll be back soon.”
“Thanks.” Yue Yiyue took a sandwich and sat on the other end of the sofa, looking at the still-spirited Gu Ye: “What exactly happened last night? Do you need me to call the police for you?”
“Or was what you encountered not normal—something ordinary people would find hard to believe?”
Yue Yiyue probed gently and reassured her: “I’ll help you however I can, Gu Ye. You don’t need to be afraid.”
“I got beat up by those Box-Head Monsters. I ran for a long time before escaping.” Gu Ye knew what answer Yue Yiyue wanted to hear and skipped the fight details, looking at her pitifully: “They wanted to cleanse all the sins in C University, and I happened to pass by and saw them going after Zhou Qingyi in the Outer Courtyard. I saw an injustice and wanted to help, but ended up like this……”
“Whine~, Big Sis Yiyue, my hand still hurts a bit. Can you blow on it for me?”
