The villa's silence pressed heavily on Su Wanqing's heart, like a false calm after a storm. She curled up in the corner of the sofa, but her eyes kept sweeping uncontrollably over the "calamity" sprawled across the sofa, seemingly fast asleep, and those seemingly ordinary "daily necessities" in the corner that could easily destroy the world.
Every second felt as long as a century. The power within her flowed docilely, and her senses were so sharp that she could hear dust hitting the floor. Yet this transcendent perception brought her no joy, only deeper unease and... a complete loss of direction. What was she supposed to do? What could she do? Was she really supposed to keep watching the big shot sleep?
Just as Su Wanqing's nerves were about to snap under the strain of the deathly silence—
A barely audible, sleepy mumble came from Ling Ye's throat on the sofa. His eyes remained closed, and his brows drew together unconsciously, as if he had encountered something unpleasant in his dream.
"Mm... dry..."
A vague syllable slipped from his lips.
Dry?
Su Wanqing's heart leaped into her throat! Was the big shot thirsty?! Did he want water?! She almost instinctively rose to fetch some, but when her eyes touched the Chaos Green Lotus Basin, which still held traces of golden liquid, she stiffened hard—she couldn't use that basin! Absolutely not!
While she stood helplessly at a loss, Ling Ye's eyes... did not open. He seemed to be merely talking in his sleep. But his body, following that mumble, naturally... turned over on the sofa.
He went from lying on his side to lying more comfortably... on his back.
The most immediate result of that turn was that his face happened to point toward the enormous, silver-gray, double-door smart refrigerator in the open kitchen diagonally across the living room!
The refrigerator's cold, smooth metal doors reflected a blurry, dazzling patch of sunlight streaming in through the window. It landed precisely on Ling Ye's closed eyelids.
Ling Ye's brows drew together even tighter. Even in his sleep, he seemed displeased by the annoying patch of light. He smacked his lips unconsciously and turned his head slightly, trying to avoid it.
However, at that exact moment, the refrigerator's compressor automatically started up, producing an extremely faint low hum—a "vrrr" that was nevertheless crystal clear to beings with senses as extraordinary as Ling Ye and Su Wanqing's.
The hum was not loud, but in the living room's silence, where one could hear a pin drop, it sounded especially jarring.
Ling Ye's closed eyelids twitched.
Su Wanqing's heart shot into her throat! She didn't even dare breathe! It was over! Was the big shot about to wake up?! She stared fixedly at Ling Ye, terrified that those eyes, deep as the abyss of stars, would suddenly open the next second and bring unpredictable consequences.
Fortunately, Ling Ye only moved his eyelids without waking. Had the continuous, low hum caught his attention? Or was it... the alluring aura emitted by the cold metal box that stored "food"?
Under Su Wanqing's tense gaze, Ling Ye's hand, which had been hanging casually over the edge of the sofa, rose extremely slowly and unconsciously...
His index finger extended slightly.
Across a distance of nearly ten meters, he pointed casually... into the air... at the humming smart refrigerator diagonally across from him.
There was no radiance.
No fluctuation of energy.
Not even a breeze.
And yet—
"Beep."
An extremely faint electronic alert sounded, as if it had come from inside the refrigerator.
The next second, the refrigerator compressor's deep hum... stopped abruptly!
It hadn't merely stopped running! The entire refrigerator... had lost power?! Every temperature display and function indicator on the screen went out instantly! The silver-gray doors lost their high-tech sheen and became like those of an ordinary metal cabinet, standing there in utter silence. Even the faint warmth radiating from the interior light vanished instantly!
The entire refrigerator had transformed from a sophisticated modern appliance into a lump of... cold, silent metal!
Inside the refrigerator, the temperature, which had originally remained constant, began to rise slowly. The expensive ingredients, red wine, ice cream... stored within had quietly changed fate under that single point.
After Ling Ye made that gesture, he seemed to have dealt with a huge nuisance. His tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and the corners of his lips even lifted unconsciously into a satisfied curve. His breathing grew longer and steadier, as if he had fallen into an even deeper sleep.
Su Wanqing: "!!!"
She looked at the utterly dead refrigerator, then at Ling Ye sleeping even more soundly on the sofa. It was as if someone had poured icy water over her head; bone-deep chill crawled all over her body along her spine!
He had cut the power from across the room?!
No! It wasn't cutting the power! It was something even more thorough... a kind of "negation of existence"?!
Just because... it had been humming? Because it had disturbed his sleep?!
Then what if... what if she accidentally sneezed? Or her heartbeat was too loud? Would she also be "silenced" like this...?
Immense fear seized her again! She instinctively covered her mouth, making even her breathing as light and slow as possible, terrified that the slightest sound would summon that lethal finger!
At that moment, she understood with absolute clarity that in the eyes of this big shot, she might be no different in essence from that refrigerator. They were both part of the "environment"—useful, or... noisy.
Silence descended once more.
It was even more suffocating than before.
Su Wanqing curled up in the corner like a cold statue, not even daring to move her eyes carelessly.
Time trickled by, one second after another.
She didn't know how long had passed. Perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps as long as a century.
On the sofa, Ling Ye's breathing seemed to undergo an extremely subtle change. It was no longer absolutely steady, sunk in the breath of the cosmic womb, but carried a faint ripple... like the stirrings before awakening?
His eyelids twitched several more times, and his long lashes fluttered lightly like butterfly wings.
Then, amid the suffocating silence, those eyes, deep as ancient wells and reflecting the eternal starry sky... slowly... opened.
There was no confusion upon waking, only the calm of someone who had slept too long and seen through too much, along with... a hint of laziness from having just slept well.
His gaze first fell aimlessly on the magnificent crystal chandelier on the ceiling. It lingered there for several seconds, as if recalling where he was.
Then that calm gaze slowly shifted and naturally... landed on Su Wanqing, curled up in the corner with a deathly pale face, covering her mouth as if she had nearly stopped breathing.
Their eyes met.
Su Wanqing's heart stopped! Her mind went blank! He was awake! He was awake! What would happen next?!
Ling Ye looked at her terrified expression, as if she had seen a ghost, and his brows drew together almost imperceptibly. He seemed somewhat puzzled.
He opened his mouth. His newly awakened voice was slightly hoarse as it shattered the suffocating silence in the living room and asked a question that nearly made Su Wanqing collapse on the spot:
"Why... are you covering your mouth?" Pure confusion filled his eyes, as if he genuinely didn't understand why she was holding herself in such a strange pose. "Is there... a bad smell?"
Su Wanqing: "???"
A bad smell?!
She was covering her mouth because she was afraid of disturbing you, big shot! What did that have to do with a bad smell?!
However, before she could figure out how to answer this lethal question—
Ling Ye's nose suddenly twitched slightly, as if he had truly caught a scent in the air.
His gaze instantly shifted away from Su Wanqing and shot toward the dead smart refrigerator in the diagonally opposite kitchen, now reduced to a lump of cold metal, like a precise radar lock.
His eyes instantly became... sharp? They held the interest of someone who had... discovered prey?
"Huh?" he murmured in surprise, and his drowsiness seemed to vanish considerably.
He suddenly sat up from the sofa, his movements smooth and swift. His bare feet touched the carpet, and he stared fixedly at the refrigerator as if some priceless treasure were hidden inside.
"This iron box..." Ling Ye's voice carried the wonder of someone discovering a new toy, along with a trace of barely perceptible... excitement. "It seems to have the aura of... 'Ice Marrow' inside?"
Ice Marrow?!
What was that?! Su Wanqing was completely baffled.
Ling Ye ignored her. Pat-pat, pat-pat—he hurried barefoot toward the refrigerator he had personally "silenced." He circled the enormous double-door metal cabinet once, examining it like a rare beast. He even tapped curiously on the cold, silent doors with his finger, producing soft knocking sounds.
"Tsk, the shell's pretty thick." He appraised it, then reached out and gripped the refrigerator handle.
Su Wanqing's heart leaped into her throat! Was he going to open it?! Inside were... her ice cream, yogurt, and the premium Wagyu that had been air-freighted in yesterday!
However, Ling Ye gripped the handle and gave it a casual pull—
The door... did not budge.
It wasn't stuck. Rather... it was as if the door and the entire cabinet had been welded into a single piece, forming one complete block of metal! That casual point of his had apparently not merely stopped it from operating; on the level of certain rules, it had temporarily "denied" its property of being an "openable container"!
Ling Ye froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting it to fail to open. He looked at his hand, then at the refrigerator door, his brows furrowing again with a hint of displeasure.
"Troublesome."
He muttered the word. Then, under Su Wanqing's horrified gaze, he extended that finger again—the same index finger that had just stopped the refrigerator from across the room.
This time, he did not point from a distance. Instead... he lightly touched the spot where the refrigerator door lock was.
The instant his fingertip touched the metal, a layer of nearly imperceptible chaotic light flashed and vanished in the briefest moment.
"Click."
A faint, crisp sound rang out, as if some precise internal component had been forcibly reset into place.
Ling Ye gripped the handle again and pulled—
"Hiss—"
The refrigerator door opened in response!
A cloud of cold white mist mixed with the scents of various foods billowed out.
Ling Ye seemed not to smell those mundane foods at all. His gaze, like a spotlight, instantly locked onto a corner at the very back of the freezer!
Several boxes of high-end ice cream that Su Wanqing had bought earlier were stored there. They claimed to contain added glacial minerals...?
An astonishing light burst from Ling Ye's eyes! Ignoring the expensive premium ingredients beside them, he thrust his arm into the freezing compartment like lightning and precisely... grabbed one of the beautifully packaged boxes of ice cream!
"Found it!" His voice held the pure joy of a child discovering treasure!
He took out the box of ice cream without even glancing at the writing on the packaging and
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