"Open the door."
"Community..."
"Delivering warmth."
That icy female voice, devoid of emotion yet carrying an unquestionable majesty, was like a frigid current from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, instantly freezing every sound and movement in the room.
Ling Xiaoye's sobbing abruptly ceased. His little mouth remained puckered, but he dared not make the slightest sound.
Su Wanqing held the child like a statue sealed in ice. Even her breathing had stopped, and her eyes held nothing but utter terror.
Even the pebble and the dudou inside the cloth bundle, which had just begun stirring again, seemed to be cowed by this sudden, even more terrifying presence. Their pulsing and red glow instantly subsided, leaving them utterly silent.
Ling Ye's heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an icy hand, nearly stopping altogether!
Community warmth?!
What the hell kind of warmth was that?!
That voice... that tone... that icy will that pierced through the door and ignored every barrier...
It was unmistakably that Madam, back after leaving!!!!
How had she found this place?! Hadn't they agreed on three days?! How long had it even been?! A few hours?!
Had the pebble's earlier agitation and long-distance resonance drawn her attention? Or had she never gone far at all, and been watching from the shadows the entire time?!
Ling Ye's mind raced madly, cold sweat sliding from his temples like a waterfall. His condition was at rock bottom, there were still two time bombs in the cloth bundle, and outside stood a fiend who could freeze him into an ice sculpture with the lift of her hand...
A dead end! This was a truly inescapable situation!
Open the door? That would be walking straight into a trap! In his current bedraggled state, with the things in the cloth bundle, there was no way he could explain himself!
Not open it? Given that Madam's temper, she could blast the entire building into the air the next second!
Just as Ling Ye was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan, nearly despairing—
His gaze suddenly fell upon the can of infant formula tossed in the corner, more than half of it still remaining after the dudou had used it!
An extremely bold, extremely insane idea—one that could only be described as courting death—flashed through his despairing mind like the last spark of a dying fire!
Since avoiding the issue and explaining himself were both dead ends... why not... take the initiative?! Fight magic with magic?! Use "maternal love" to counter "maternal love"?!
He was gambling!!!
A trace of the desperation of someone burning his boats flashed through Ling Ye's eyes! He suddenly drew a deep breath, snatched Ling Xiaoye from Su Wanqing's arms at the fastest speed of his life, and then, with lightning speed—
"Riiip—!"
He violently tore open the front of his gray robe, revealing his sturdy chest (though it looked a little pale at the moment).
Then, in a frantic flurry, he grabbed the can of formula and dumped a large amount of it all over his chest!
The white formula instantly coated his skin, even getting onto his chin!
Immediately afterward, he seized the child, who didn't even dare to cry, and firmly, forcefully... pressed Ling Xiaoye against his formula-covered chest!
The movement was so rough that it nearly flattened the child's nose!
Ling Xiaoye was stunned by the sudden "attack" and the strong milky smell. His little mouth smacked unconsciously, licking up a bit of formula. Then... driven by instinct, he began unconsciously searching for the "milk source" on Ling Ye's chest, his little head bobbing and nudging...
At the same time, Ling Ye's other hand plunged into the cloth bundle. Ignoring everything else, he forcibly communicated with the terrified dudou and sent over a hysterical thought: "Quick! Glow! Heat up! Simulate a heartbeat! Simulate the fluctuations of breastfeeding! Hurry!! Make it convincing!! Otherwise, we're all going to die!!!"
The dudou seemed to be terrified by the insane command and the terrifying killing intent outside the door. Its instinct for survival overwhelmed everything! It instantly erupted with unprecedented, warm red light, brimming with vitality (an extraordinary performance), pressed tightly against Ling Ye's chest (with the baby between them), and began simulating gentle heartbeat fluctuations and a strange energy rhythm... somewhat resembling "breastfeeding"...
Ling Ye immediately adjusted his facial expression, desperately forcing out a "kind" smile that he believed was filled with the radiance of "maternal love," though in reality it was horribly distorted. Holding Ling Xiaoye, who was still rooting around on his chest for milk, he took one halting step after another... toward the door!
Su Wanqing stared wide-eyed at this grandmaster's operation, which was practically a case of split personality, and at his bizarre expression. Her jaw nearly hit the floor!
Ling Ye reached the door, took another deep breath, and suddenly pulled it open!
Outside the door, just as expected, stood that Madam!
She was still a hazy projection in ceremonial robes, her features indistinct. Yet her icy eyes, like two blades tempered in ice, pierced through everything at once and landed on Ling Ye... and the infant in his arms who was "breastfeeding" from him!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Ling Ye's heart leapt into his throat, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back. His face, however, maintained a stiff "maternal smile." He even tried to act out "a new mother's panic and happiness" in an extremely awkward, trembling voice:
"Ah... i-is this... from the community...? Sorry... I'm breastfeeding right now... The child was hungry... Sorry for disturbing you..."
As he spoke, he unconsciously (or perhaps nervously) gently bounced the child in his arms.
The bouncing made Ling Xiaoye let out a little whimper. His tiny mouth continued unconsciously sucking on Ling Ye's formula-covered skin, leaving wet saliva marks behind.
Madam's icy gaze focused on Ling Ye's "nursing" chest like a scanner, then on the dudou emitting warm red light and breastfeeding-like fluctuations, and finally on the baby's satisfied(?) little face.
Her gaze was razor-sharp, as if it could see through every disguise.
Ling Ye felt as if he were about to suffocate. Every second dragged on like a century. He could almost feel that icy gaze scraping over his skin like a tangible force, inspecting every detail.
The dudou was performing beyond expectations. Its red glow and fluctuations were astonishingly stable, even simulating the sensation of milk's energy flow? (No one knew how it understood that.)
Ling Xiaoye was also extremely "cooperative." He was probably genuinely hungry, and was sucking with great vigor, producing faint sounds.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
The air itself seemed on the verge of freezing.
Just as Ling Ye was about to break, preparing to close his eyes and await death—
Madam's icy gaze seemed to... soften... ever so slightly?
Though it still held no warmth, that destructive killing intent that seemed ready to erupt at any moment appeared to have... subsided by the tiniest bit?
Her gaze slowly shifted from Ling Ye's chest to Ling Xiaoye's little face, faintly reddened from sucking so hard, and lingered there for a moment.
Then a voice that remained icy, yet seemed to contain slightly less hostility and a little more... indescribable... complicated emotion, slowly rang out:
"He... is eating... very urgently."
"Your... milk... seems... insufficient."
Ling Ye: "???"
Su Wanqing: "!!!"
Ling Ye's brain stalled for a second before wild delight surged into his heart! She believed him?! She had actually believed him?! She was even commenting on his milk supply?!
He hurriedly climbed up the metaphorical pole, forcing a guilty expression onto his face. "Y-yes... recently, I've had a bit too much internal heat... My milk supply has fallen a little short... I've made the child suffer..."
Madam fell silent for a moment, seemingly "examining" the quality of his milk.
A moment later, she spoke again. Her tone remained flat, but the words nearly turned Ling Ye to stone on the spot:
"If that is so..."
"This palace... shall bestow upon you..."
"A 'Ice Soul Lactation Secret Art'..."
"Cultivate it... diligently..."
"Do not... let... Little Ye... go hungry... again."
Before her words had even ended, without making the slightest movement, an extremely faint streak of light containing an essence of pure, frigid ice and a strange vitality instantly plunged into Ling Ye's brow!
Ling Ye's entire body jolted!
A complex stream of information, icy to the bone yet carrying a strange nourishing power, surged into his sea of consciousness like a tide!
That stream of information contained countless profound circulation routes, energy-conversion methods, and... all kinds of bizarre lists of foods and dietary recipes for "increasing milk supply" (including methods for refining the mammary glands of several primordial beasts)?!
Ice Soul... Lactation... Secret Art?!!
As Ling Ye sensed that technique in his mind—an extremely high-grade, unfathomably profound cultivation art whose purpose was utterly absurd—he was completely dumbfounded!
Was this Madam serious?!
She had actually imparted a cultivation art?! And one of this kind?!
This was more painful than killing him!!!
Madam, however, seemed entirely unaware that anything was wrong. After imparting the "secret art," she swept her gaze over Ling Ye's "breastfeeding" scene again, seeming slightly more satisfied.
But immediately afterward, her gaze shifted faintly toward the interior of the room, passing over the battered cloth bundle in the corner.
Ling Ye's heart leapt into his throat again!
The pebble inside the cloth bundle was temporarily quiet, but the Azure Lotus Basin was still faintly warm!
Fortunately, Madam's gaze merely swept over it without probing further. She seemed to have no interest in anything besides her "son."
Her figure began to fade slowly, as if preparing to leave.
Ling Ye let out a long breath in his heart, feeling as though he had just taken another stroll through the gates of hell.
However, at the final instant before Madam's projection completely vanished—
Her gaze seemed to inadvertently... catch sight of something that had slipped out when Ling Ye hurriedly tore open his robe, something that had always hung around his neck.
It was a...
small,
pitch-black,
object resembling the tooth of some beast,
strung on a rough leather cord...
pendant.
It looked utterly ordinary, even somewhat ugly.
However—
The instant Madam's gaze touched the beast-tooth pendant!!!
Her originally fading, cold, tranquil projection...
suddenly...
violently...
rippled!!!
It was as if a massive boulder had been thrown into a placid lake!
An indescribably complex mixture of utter shock, disbelief, reminiscence, and... a trace of indescribable sorrow and... fury... erupted from her blurred figure like a volcano!!!
Though she made no sound, Ling Ye clearly "felt" it!!
She...
recognized this pendant?!!
Ling Ye had obtained the pendant casually during a sign-in reward a very, very long time ago. He had worn it because he felt its material was unusual, never caring about its origins! How could she know about it?!
As Ling Ye watched in horror, Madam's fading figure suddenly condensed again! It became even more solid! Even colder!
She slowly, extremely slowly... raised one hand.
It was no longer casual, but carried a faint... tremor?
She pointed at the beast-tooth pendant around Ling Ye's neck.
A voice that seemed to be squeezed out from the deepest reaches of an eternal ice prison, filled with extreme repression and the calm before a storm, slowly rang out, one word at a time:
"This... thi... ng..."
"You..."
"Got... it..."
"Where...?"
Before you continue