Ineffective Warmth and Ineffective Common Sense (Continued and Continued and Continued)

"Open the door."

"Community..."

"Delivering warmth."

That cold, emotionless, yet undeniably authoritative female voice, like a frigid current from the deepest abyss, instantly froze all sounds and movements in the room.

Ling Xiaoye's sobs abruptly ceased. His small mouth remained puckered, but he dared not make a sound.

Su Wanqing, holding the child, was like an ice-bound statue. Even her breathing had stopped, her eyes filled only with extreme fear.

Even the stones and the bellyband inside the cloth bag, which had just become restless again, seemed to be awestruck by this sudden, higher-level terrifying existence. Their pulsations and red light instantly retracted, becoming silent.

Ling Ye's heart felt as if it were clutched tightly by a cold, large hand, almost stopping its beat!

Community delivering warmth?!

Delivering what kind of warmth?!

This voice... this tone... this icy will that pierced through the door, disregarding all barriers...

It was clearly that Madam, returning after leaving!

How did she find this place?! Wasn't it agreed that she'd be gone for three days?! How long has it been?! A few hours?!

Was it the stones' restlessness and the remote resonance just now that attracted her attention? Or had she never left, observing from the shadows the entire time?!

Ling Ye's mind raced wildly, cold sweat pouring down his temples like a waterfall. He was in an extremely poor state, with two ticking time bombs in the cloth bag, and outside stood a malevolent star who could freeze him into an ice sculpture with a raise of her hand...

Desperate! This was a true situation with no chance of survival!

Open the door? That would be walking right into a trap! In his current disheveled state, with the items in the bag, he couldn't possibly explain himself!

Don't open the door? Given that Madam's temper, she could level the entire building in the next second!

Just as Ling Ye was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, almost despairing--

His gaze suddenly fell upon the half-used can of milk powder, tossed in the corner, that the bellyband had just used!

An extremely bold, extremely crazy idea, one that could be considered courting death, flashed in his desperate mind like a dying ember!

Since escape and explanation were both dead ends... why not... take the initiative?! Fight magic with magic?! Use "mother's love" against "mother's love"?!

He was gambling!

A hint of desperate madness flashed in Ling Ye's eyes! He took a deep breath, grabbed Ling Xiaoye from Su Wanqing's arms with the fastest speed he had ever mustered, and then, with lightning speed--

"Riiip--!"

He roughly tore open the front of his gray robe, revealing his sturdy chest (though it looked somewhat pale at the moment).

Then, he fumbled and haphazardly poured a large amount of milk powder onto his chest!

The white powder instantly coated his skin, even getting onto his chin!

Next, he tightly, forcefully... pressed the crying-but-daring-not-to-cry Ling Xiaoye onto his milk powder-covered chest!

The action was so rough it almost flattened the child's nose!

Ling Xiaoye was stunned by this sudden "attack" and the strong smell of milk. His little mouth unconsciously smacked, tasting a bit of the powder, and then... instinctively, he began to search for the "milk source" on his chest, his little head nudging...

At the same time, Ling Ye's other hand shot into the cloth bag, desperately forcing communication with the terrified bellyband, transmitting a hysterical thought: "Quick! Glow! Emit heat! Simulate a heartbeat! Simulate the fluctuations of breastfeeding! Quick!! Act the part!! Otherwise, we'll all die!!!"

The bellyband seemed to be terrified by this insane command and the terrifying killing intent outside the door. Its survival instinct overwhelmed everything else! It instantly erupted with an unprecedented, warm, life-infused red light (performing beyond its capabilities), clinging tightly to Ling Ye's chest (through the baby), and began to simulate gentle heartbeat fluctuations and a... strange, "breastfeeding-like" energy rhythm...

Ling Ye instantly adjusted his facial expression, trying his best to force out a (what he thought was) "loving" smile filled with "maternal love" but was actually incredibly twisted, holding Ling Xiaoye, who was still nuzzling his chest searching for milk, and walked step by step... towards the door!

Su Wanqing stared at the boss's almost schizophrenic actions and bizarre expression, her eyes wide, her jaw almost hitting the floor!

Ling Ye reached the door, took another deep breath, and abruptly pulled it open!

Outside, Madam was indeed standing there!

She was still a phantom projection in palace attire, her face blurred, but her cold eyes, like two blades quenched in ice, instantly pierced through everything and fell upon Ling Ye... and the infant he was "breastfeeding" in his arms!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Ling Ye's heart leaped into his throat, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat, but his face maintained a stiff "loving smile." He even used an extremely awkward, trembling voice to try and portray the "flustered yet happy new mother":

"Ah... it's... it's the community... sorry... I'm feeding the baby right now... the child is hungry... sorry for disturbing you..."

As he spoke, he subconsciously (or perhaps nervously) gently bounced the child in his arms.

Ling Xiaoye grunted at the bouncing, his little mouth still unconsciously sucking on Ling Ye's milk powder-covered skin, leaving wet saliva marks.

Madam's cold gaze, like a scanner, was fixed on Ling Ye's "breastfeeding" chest, the bellyband emitting warm red light and breastfeeding fluctuations, and the infant's satisfied(?) little face.

Her gaze was extremely sharp, as if it could see through all disguises.

Ling Ye felt like he was suffocating, each second stretching out like a century. He could almost feel the icy gaze scraping over his skin like a tangible substance, examining every detail.

The bellyband performed beyond its capabilities, its red light and fluctuations astonishingly stable, even simulating the energy flow of milk? (He didn't know how it understood that either).

Ling Xiaoye was also extremely "cooperative," probably genuinely hungry, gnawing with all his might, making faint sucking sounds.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

The air itself felt frozen.

Just as Ling Ye was about to collapse, ready to close his eyes and await death—

The Madam's icy gaze seemed to... slightly... soften by a sliver?

Though still devoid of warmth, the destructive killing intent that could erupt at any moment seemed to have... receded by a tiny bit?

Her line of sight slowly moved from Ling Ye's chest to Ling Xiaoye's small face, which was slightly red from sucking vigorously, and lingered for a moment.

Then, a voice, still cold but seemingly less sharp and with a hint of... indescribable... complex emotion, slowly sounded:

"He... eats... very eagerly."

"Your... milk... appears... insufficient."

Ling Ye: "???"

Su Wanqing: "!!!"

Ling Ye's brain froze for a second, then pure ecstasy surged through him! She believed him?! She actually believed him?! And was even commenting on the milk?!

He quickly seized the opportunity, putting on a (forced) ashamed expression: "Yes... yes... I've been a bit too heaty lately... the milk supply can't quite keep up... making the child suffer..."

The Madam was silent for a moment, seemingly "observing" the quality of the milk.

After a moment, she spoke again, her tone still flat, but uttered a sentence that almost turned Ling Ye to stone on the spot:

"Since that is the case..."

"This Empress... shall... bestow upon you..."

"A 'Ice Soul Lactation Secret Art'..."

"Cultivate it... diligently..."

"Do not... let Little Ye go hungry again."

Before her voice even faded, and without any visible movement, an extremely subtle stream of light, containing extremely pure, ice-cold Origin energy and a peculiar vitality, instantly entered Ling Ye's brow!

Ling Ye's entire body trembled violently!

A chilling, bone-piercing, yet strangely nourishing stream of complex information surged into his sea of consciousness like a tide!

The information stream contained countless profound cultivation routes, energy conversion methods, and... various bizarre "milk-boosting" ingredient lists and dietary recipes (even including methods for refining the mammary glands of several primordial beasts)?!

Ice Soul... Lactation... Secret Art?!!

Ling Ye felt the extremely high-grade, unfathomably profound, yet ridiculously purposeful cultivation technique in his mind, and was utterly dumbfounded!

Was this Madam... serious?!

She's actually bestowing a cultivation technique?! And this kind of technique?!

This was more agonizing than killing him!!!

However, the Madam seemed to think nothing was amiss. After imparting the "secret art," her gaze swept over the "nursing" scene once more, appearing slightly satisfied.

But then, her gaze shifted slightly towards the interior of the room, sweeping over the worn cloth bundle in the corner.

Ling Ye's heart instantly tensed up again!

The pebbles in the cloth bundle were temporarily quiet, but the Green Lotus Basin was still emitting a faint warmth!

Fortunately, the Madam's gaze merely passed over it and didn't probe deeper, as if she had no interest in anything other than her "son."

Her figure began to slowly fade, seemingly preparing to leave.

Ling Ye let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as though he had just walked through the gates of hell and back.

However, in the very last moment before the Madam's projection completely dissipated—

Her gaze, seemingly inadvertently... fell upon something that had slipped out of Ling Ye's hastily torn-open collar and had been hanging around his neck...

It was a...

Small, Pitch-black, Like the tooth of some beast, Strung on a rough leather cord...

Pendant.

It looked unremarkable, even a bit ugly.

However—

The instant the Madam's gaze fell upon this beast tooth pendant!!!

Her projection, which was already fading, cold and calm...

Suddenly...

Violently...

Flickered!!!

It was as if a boulder had been thrown into a calm lake!

An indescribable, extremely complex mix of extreme shock, disbelief, recollection, and... a trace of... unspeakable... sadness and... rage erupted from her indistinct figure like a volcano!!!

Although there was no sound, Ling Ye clearly "felt" it!!

She...

Recognized this pendant?!

He had obtained this pendant a very, very long time ago through some random sign-in. He thought the material was special, so he wore it, never bothering to investigate its origin! How could she?!

Under Ling Ye's terrified gaze, the Madam's figure, which was about to dissipate, suddenly solidified again! More solid than before! Colder than before!

She slowly, extremely slowly... raised a hand.

No longer casual as before, but with a... slight... tremor?

She pointed at the beast tooth pendant on Ling Ye's neck.

A voice, as if squeezed from the deepest part of an eternal ice prison, carrying extreme repression and the calm before a storm, spoke word by word, slowly:

"This... thing..."

"You..."

"Where..."

"Did... you... get... it...?"