Ye Zhibai slept soundly.
Counting both this life and her previous one, it was rare for her to sleep so peacefully.
Her old apartment had been a rundown mess, with howling winds rattling the windows at night and offering zero sense of security. She could never truly relax enough to sleep deeply.
But last night, in that serene room filled with the scent of flowers and a luxuriously soft bed, Ye Zhibai had experienced exquisite slumber for the first time.
In such an environment, she had a dream.
She dreamed of standing on an endless plain, the air fresh and comfortable, not a cloud in the vast blue sky, her view stretching to the horizon.
When had she ever beheld such stunning natural beauty?
Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t help but trot across the grassland.
Her silver hair trailed behind her, dragging a faint silver glow that shimmered against the sky and rivaled the distant sea, while all around her, the world lay in perfect silence.
Occasionally, a flock of sheep would pass by, and Ye Zhibai would reach out to pet their horns. It was incredibly soothing.
But… these were sheep horns, weren’t they? Why did they feel so soft and fluffy, just like fox ears?
And these sheep had been letting out these weird, breathy little moans from the start. How strange.
Ye Zhibai was utterly delighted, rubbing those horns for what felt like ages.
But suddenly—
The clear sky darkened.
Ye Zhibai froze, faintly hearing something enormous approaching from behind, growing louder and closer.
Startled, she whipped her head around.
She nearly died of fright!
A wild horse, mad with frenzy, was charging straight at her!
She wanted to dodge… to run!
But her feet wouldn’t move. All she could do was stand there in burning panic, awaiting her doom as the terrifying momentum closed in—and just as it was about to slam into her—
The horse turned into a massive truck!
Boom!
As expected, she was sent flying.
She traced a silver arc through the air—just as in reality.
But in the dream… there was no pain.
Airborne in the dream, Ye Zhibai’s gaze went blank as her head lolled to the side.
It was as if she saw a familiar yet distant female figure on the plain below, arms outstretched, sprinting desperately toward her.
As if trying to hold on to something, urgency and helplessness etched into every motion.
She couldn’t hear the words, but from the shape of the mouth on that obscured face, Ye Zhibai could make out what she was anxiously shouting:
Xiao Bai.
Such a familiar name… so nostalgic?
Ye Zhibai narrowed her eyes, feeling the flow of the wind.
Oh, wait—there was no wind in the dream.
Hang on… she got hit by a truck, so why hadn’t she landed yet?
Truck…
A truck?!
The moment this hazy realization dawned—that she was dreaming—the dream shattered.
Ye Zhibai awoke magnificently from her slumber!!
“Ah!!”
“Ow?!”
Crash-clang-thud!
The instant Ye Zhibai’s eyes snapped open, jolted awake by the nightmare, her arms and legs shot out straight in a reflexive spasm—the instinctive thrash of someone purging terror from a bad dream!
Even before she was fully awake, she heard a pitiful wail from the foot of the bed.
Followed by the clattering tumble of something soft rolling off and hitting the floor, somersaulting several times.
By the sound of it, it hurt.
Did I… just kick something?
Ye Zhibai’s bleary vision sharpened, taking in the pink walls and ceiling instead of the dilapidated apartment roof she used to wake up to every day.
Oh, right… she remembered now.
I’d turned into a girl and moved into my own room.
When did I even fall asleep yesterday…? I think it was while Yun’er was telling me stories—must’ve drifted off without realizing.
Before Ye Zhibai could rub the sleep from her eyes, a voice drifted from the bedside.
A light, ethereal tone brimming with resentment yet impossibly cute.
“You damn human… waa… you hurt me so bad… Are you a donkey or something?! Kicking at a god left and right! If you can’t sleep properly, just don’t sleep at all! You’re a menace to the realm!”
How was I menacing the realm just by sleeping?!
Guang Yu’s voice snapped Ye Zhibai fully awake.
She bolted upright, ignoring the thin sheen of nightmare sweat on her forehead, and looked straight toward the bed’s edge.
There sat Guang Yu in her true fox girl form, wearing a downsized version of Ye Zhibai’s nightgown. She clutched her rear, eyes squinted in pain, glaring daggers at Ye Zhibai—who had no clue what grave sin she’d committed!
And on her face… a bizarre flush. Her ears twitched wildly, and there was drool at the corner of her mouth she hadn’t wiped away.
Uh, had she just woken up too?
“Guang Yu, what happened to you?”
“You’re asking me?! You kicked me right off the bed, and now you’re asking me?! Have you no shame?!”
“Shame’s right here.” Ye Zhibai patted her own cool little cheek in response.
But as Guang Yu struggled to climb back up, she had just one word for her.
“Grovel.”
Even though Guang Yu was the one crawling right now.
Only then did Ye Zhibai feel the lingering impact on her bare sole.
She slowly realized:
Her sleeping position must’ve been awful—she’d kicked Guang Yu right off the bed!
In moments like this, the proper response was a sincere apology.
“Didn’t kill you, did I?”
“Hey?!”
“Ah, no…! I meant… sorry.”
“……”
—Apology
Guang Yu was too lazy to bicker with this fumbling fool who couldn’t even string words together properly.
She swished her big tail, clambered back onto the bed, and with a huff, pressed her left hand to her sore butt and her right to the back of her neck.
Wah, those brutal humans—yesterday, the Ye Sisters had jabbed needles right into the nape of her neck!
Well… after sharing her memory of the Heavenly Realm trial with Ye Zhibai yesterday, and linking it to Ye Zhibai’s human knowledge, Guang Yu had sorta understood. Adopted cats needed vaccines—it was a necessary thing.
Ye Zhibai’s peripheral vision stayed glued to Guang Yu’s swishing tail.
Even after half a day together yesterday… her presence still felt like something out of a dream. Hmm?
No.
Ye Zhibai suddenly frowned.
A sense of wrongness prickled at her.
She reached into her covers.
Not only was the spot where she’d lain warm, but the space beside her was too.
And what she’d kicked… had been humanoid Guang Yu, not cat form. Which meant…
Last night, she wouldn’t have slept in this form on the bed… would she?
It seemed unlikely, but Ye Zhibai decided to ask anyway.
“Guang Yu… where did you sleep last night?”
This scummy fox girl might not be the same species as human girls, but she was still a girl!
Waking up to find another girl in your bed… that was a new life achievement unlocked.
Guang Yu kicked her little legs idly for a moment, then huffed, turning her head away to avoid Ye Zhibai’s eyes, lips pursed as she answered.
“Hmph… It’s all because you went to sleep too early yesterday! I wanted to complain to you— you and your sister jabbed four needles into the back of my neck! Four needles! What kind of demons are you humans…? Oh, what’d you ask again?”
“I said… why were you sleeping in my bed…?” Ye Zhibai went straight for it.
“Tch.”
“?”
Guang Yu clicked her tongue and clammed up.
How was she supposed to explain this?!
Shifting to and maintaining human form was pretty energy-intensive, so Guang Yu had gone back to kitten mode for sleep.
Curled up at the foot of the bed.
But then… deep into the night, Ye Zhibai started mumbling and thrashing!
Well, not exactly thrashing.
Anyway… she seemed to be softly calling out someone’s name.
And making these uneasy sounds.
Don’t let the dumb-cute looks fool you—deprived of her powers or not, she was still a deity.
“God loves the world” wasn’t just empty words.
Deities could sense human joys and sorrows.
This human had just gotten obliterated by a truck, inexplicably revived in this body, thrust into a new world. Sleeping alone, of course she’d feel uneasy in her dreams.
No helping it.
At first, Guang Yu hadn’t planned to intervene.
But Ye Zhibai sounded more and more tormented, and Guang Yu couldn’t just lie there anymore.
She figured… she’d screwed up big time and needed Ye Zhibai’s help to get back to the Heavenly Realm.
So taking care of Ye Zhibai’s emotional state was part of the deal, right?
Thus, kitten-form Guang Yu crawled into Ye Zhibai’s covers and snuggled up beside her, trying to offer some warmth.
But then—
She nearly got crushed by Ye Zhibai rolling over!
Shaken, Guang Yu had no choice but to burn extra energy and shift back to human form.
Gently hugging Ye Zhibai, giving her a sense of security to calm her and let her sleep soundly.
Before long, Guang Yu nodded off too.
And that… was the whole story of last night.
No way in hell was Guang Yu telling Ye Zhibai the full truth!
Way too embarrassing!
But then… Ye Zhibai’s eyes lit up. She scooted over to the scummy fox and patted her dainty shoulder.
“No matter what… thanks for last night.”
“Thanks for what?!”
“I don’t even know exactly, but I… kinda saw what you did. Right here.” Ye Zhibai tapped her temple.
“?!’
Guang Yu paled in shock!
Damn it all! She’d forgotten!
After sharing her Heavenly Realm ordeal with Ye Zhibai yesterday, she’d neglected to close the link!
The memory share was two-way for a short time— if she could see it, so could Ye Zhibai!
Guang Yu wasted no words. A flash of blue light gleamed in her eyes once more as her fox face flushed bright red. She extended two fingers into the void, mimicking the motion of snipping something cleanly in two.
What she severed was the temporary pathway linking their minds.
Suddenly, Ye Zhibai could no longer sense what Guang Yu was thinking.
Guang Yu lowered her little paws and hung her head low, her brown bangs draping over half of her eyes.
She bared her little tiger fangs and asked in a trembling voice, “You… what else did you see?”
“Well… a little more… but it’s not really convenient to say, is it…?”
“Forget it!!! Forget it right now!!”
The fox rolled shamelessly on the ground, throwing a full tantrum!
If only she could, Guang Yu would have begged Ye Zhibai to wipe her memories on the spot—by force if necessary!
Wuwuwu… Last night, while she slept, this human had clutched her tight.
A hug was bad enough, but she kept kneading and rubbing Guang Yu’s fox ears nonstop!
Worse still, she even slipped the tip of one ear into her mouth and nibbled it gently!
Fox ears weren’t food!
In short, Guang Yu had endured a full night of torment at the hands of the utterly oblivious Ye Zhibai.
That pathetic moment when she’d nearly surrendered to this wretched human—and those strange, intoxicating sensations… Ye Zhibai must have shared every bit of it and known all along.
Hm?
Shared?
The scummy fox belatedly realized what that meant and whipped her head toward Ye Zhibai.
Those sensations from yesterday… Guang Yu knew exactly how potent they were.
Ye Zhibai’s innate chill made it subtle, but upon closer inspection, her face bore the faintest blush!
Guang Yu let out a sly, sleazy chuckle.
She reached out and, without warning, lightly poked the smooth expanse of Ye Zhibai’s thigh beneath her nightdress!
Then… Ye Zhibai’s entire body jolted sharply!
“Ah…”
“Uh…?”
That crisp, chilling little moan from Ye Zhibai left Guang Yu momentarily stunned.
She withdrew her finger and scratched her cheek with it, glancing away as her fox ears twitched. With a wistful sigh, she murmured, “Well… no wonder that Ye Zhiyun sneaked in to steal a kiss from you while you slept yesterday. Sure enough, it’s impressive…”
“……”
It seemed Ye Zhibai had just overheard something utterly earth-shattering.
