At the dining table.
Completely unaware that she had caused a huge disaster, Little Orange Cat happily ate her portion of meat, behaving no differently from an ordinary kitten.
Xi Nian, seated in a chair beside her, wore only pants, his upper body bare.
Diana, changed into a fresh set of loungewear, stood behind him and softly asked, "How do you feel now?"
"I feel like eating everything," Xi Nian said, facing the food on the table before him.
"Then eat," Diana said, taking a few steps back.
Xi Nian drew a deep breath, and then—
The skin on his back suddenly split apart like a grotesque, blood-filled maw. Eight tentacles twisted as they grew out, surging toward the dining table in front of him. Not only the food, but the plates, knives, forks, tablecloth, and everything else were devoured in one go.
It was all over in a single second.
After retracting the tentacles, Xi Nian looked no different from a normal person again, except for the soul-devouring cyan gleam flickering in his pupils.
"How was it?" Diana asked, her slender white fingers brushing across the skin of Xi Nian's back.
"I didn't feel anything at all." Xi Nian touched his stomach. "None of the things the tentacles devoured just now actually went into my stomach."
"Then I was right." Diana nodded and looked toward Little Orange Cat, who was happily eating. "She is an Essence Devourer Beast."
"An Essence Devourer Beast?" Xi Nian blinked.
"That's right. It's a species from outer space. My mother once mentioned them, though she didn't know much about them either. All I know is that Essence Devourer Beasts look like Earth cats, but possess terrifying abilities. They can devour enormous quantities of things into a dimension unique to their species."
"This species is dangerous." Diana narrowed her eyes in thought. "I just don't know why an extraterrestrial species like this has appeared on Earth."
"Really? I don't think Little Huang is as dangerous as you imagine." Xi Nian recalled, "If she really were dangerous, then when we first encountered her beside the park, she would have used her devouring ability to swallow me. Besides, in the bathroom just now, she only bit me like an ordinary cat. She didn't use her devouring ability then either."
"So you want to keep her?" Diana asked.
Xi Nian looked at the Little Orange Cat on the floor. "Since she's an alien species, wouldn't leaving her outside be even more dangerous? If we keep her with us, at least we can restrain and teach her."
"That makes sense." Diana agreed with him.
She also thought of something else.
If the Essence Devourer Beast truly liked Xi Nian, or even depended on him, then she could protect him at close range in the future, or serve as a medium for activating abilities.
"Then what are you planning to do tonight? Can you completely control the tentacles?" Diana raised a question.
"Probably... not." Xi Nian spread his hands. "As long as I get near something, the tentacles instinctively want to devour it, just as people breathe out of habit. This devouring instinct isn't so easy to control."
Just like when he had previously gained his aunt's Demigod abilities.
These powers and abilities had not been Xi Nian's from birth. He had acquired them suddenly, so he could not switch them on and off at will.
"I don't know whether it'll end after four hours," Xi Nian said uncertainly.
This time, it was not an indirect activation of an ability like last time, but a direct exchange of fluids with the Essence Devourer Beast.
If it lasted all night, he could forget about sleeping—lying in bed, the next second, he might devour and exile the bed into some unknown dimension.
Who could handle that?
"I do have a solution." Diana suddenly said.
In the room next to Xi Nian's, the air was filled with a distinctive violet fragrance.
Xi Nian lay beneath an ice-blue down comforter, his upper body still bare, faintly glimmering with hazy golden light. The Golden Lasso bound his body and arms, winding around his entire upper body in layer after layer.
Diana, now wearing a spaghetti-strap nightgown, leaned against the bed beside him and flipped through an archaeology book under the dim yellow light of the bedside lamp.
"Auntie, is this the solution you meant?" Xi Nian, unable to move, felt a headache coming on.
Xi Nian was speechless.
"Go to sleep," Diana said.
"Fine." Xi Nian closed his eyes.
It had been a long time since he had slept with his aunt.
So cozy—yeah, right.
Under the dim, warm glow, his aunt wore only a thin spaghetti-strap nightgown, her graceful, captivating curves fully visible. Below that, her long, fair legs were crossed together.
Who could fall asleep like this?
"What is it?" Diana was still turning pages.
"Nothing." Xi Nian had intended to brush it off, but the moment he opened his mouth, his words changed. "Auntie, you're so beautiful. I..."
In an instant, the air in the room fell into dead silence.
Diana's hand stopped turning the pages, and her exquisite face stiffened slightly.
Xi Nian's mind went completely blank.
He was dumbfounded!
Completely dumbfounded!!!
What had he just said?!
"You..." Diana's face reddened slightly. "Don't mind it. The thing binding you is the Lasso of Truth. Anyone bound by it will reveal the truth when questioned."
"Oh, is that so?" Xi Nian chuckled awkwardly, wishing he could crawl beneath the bed.
Don't mind it? How could he not mind it?!
"How was school today?" Diana deliberately changed the subject.
Bound by the Lasso of Truth, Xi Nian answered bluntly, "Nothing much. Gwen got angry for some reason. Also, a younger girl named Kara publicly confessed to me in front of everyone."
The room immediately fell into another subtle silence.
Diana did not know what she was thinking. After a moment of silence, she softly asked, "Then... do you like that girl?"
Xi Nian continued to reveal the truth without hesitation. "We've only met twice, so I can't really say whether I like or dislike her. But I have a fairly good impression of her."
"You are indeed old enough to date."
Diana closed her archaeology book and smiled faintly. "If you think a girl is good, make sure to take the initiative and seize the opportunity!"
"I think Auntie is very good," Xi Nian suddenly said.
Diana's body trembled slightly.
She set down the archaeology book in her hand, reached over to switch off the bedside lamp, and calmly said in the darkness, "Go to sleep early."
Xi Nian did not speak again.
Had that last sentence been a truth forcibly spoken under the Divine Power of the Lasso of Truth? Was it something he could only say by disregarding their relationship?
He did not know.
Xi Nian only knew that it was what he most wanted to convey at that moment.
Before you continue