You Know the Story Won't Be Any Good If You Don't Make the First Move!

The two of them had their own thoughts, and fell silent at the same time.

Rose could stay quiet as long as she wanted, but Ashe couldn't. She was still thinking about her Side Quest to tame a wild horse.

If Ashe didn't make the first move, how could she know how exciting the story would be?

She walked right up beside Rose, before Rose had a chance to react.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ashe took Rose's soft hand. Mm, it was so soft.

Even after years of military training, Rose's hands were still fair, smooth, and slender, thanks to her Super Gene.

They didn't have the thick calluses of people who regularly handled guns.

"I was just planning to work out. You're heading out too, Rose. What are you going to do?"

The moment Ashe took her hand, Rose came back to her senses.

Ashe gently tugged her along, but for some reason, Rose had no urge to pull away.

When Ashe asked what she was going to do, Rose had been about to answer that she was going to pick Ge Xiaolun up and take him to the dorm.

But the words caught in her throat. Her parted red lips wavered, then closed again.

Somewhere in her heart, Rose instinctively felt that going to pick Ge Xiaolun up without telling Ashe would be a betrayal of Ashe.

Damn, what am I thinking?

She forced the jumble of thoughts from her mind.

Parting her red lips, Rose put on a cool expression and said, "Ajie asked me to pick up Ge Xiaolun—the college student we brought out of the police station that day. He's also a student at Super Seminary."

"I didn't want to go, but there's no helping it. He's important to the academy. When Ajie recruited him..."

"He used me...and you, to trick him into joining. I should at least go pick him up, so we can finish tricking him...recruiting him."

Rose had thought she'd just give a casual answer, but she didn't know why she'd ended up explaining everything in such detail.

Her cool, sharp eyes stayed fixed on the road, but she couldn't help sneaking glances at Ashe to see how she'd react.

Rose bit down lightly on her jelly-like red lips, catching a faint taste of roses.

She couldn't help thinking that she'd have to reapply her lipstick later.

Walking alongside Rose, Ashe already knew she was going to pick up Ge Xiaolun.

After all, Rose's outfit was distinctive. In the entire series, she'd only worn it once—when she went to pick up Ge Xiaolun.

Still, Ashe was a little surprised that Rose would complain to her. Don't underestimate the significance of that little detail.

In the original story, Rose never complained to anyone. Even with her own father, all she ever showed was her uncertainty.

"Oh? He sold me out too?"

"What, Ajie didn't tell Ge Xiaolun that after he enrolled, we'd be by his side to tutor him one-on-one?"

"How did you know?" Rose looked at Ashe, her eyes widening without meaning to.

Ashe explained casually, "It's just a reasonable guess."

"After all, this might sound a little vain, but I know how pretty I am."

"That day when we went to pick up Ge Xiaolun, he stared at you—and at us. How could Ajie have missed that?"

"It makes sense to use that to their advantage."

Since she'd started interacting with Morgana yesterday, Ashe had realized even more clearly that she couldn't judge her situation by the relationships in the original story.

After all, in the original story, who had ever kissed Morgana?

Now Ashe was the butterfly causing the butterfly effect.

The stronger she got, the farther her influence would spread. It was no surprise that Ajie had changed his pitch to Ge Xiaolun.

"You're not bothered?" Rose asked curiously. She hadn't expected Ashe to be so nonchalant.

When Ajie had used her to persuade Ge Xiaolun, she'd been so annoyed she'd kicked Ajie and made a few sarcastic remarks to Ge Xiaolun. Could Ashe really put up with it?

"How could I not be bothered?" Ashe wasn't the sort of person who let others make things up about her.

"Here, take a look!" She pulled out her phone and showed it to Rose.

"Ajie's coming to pick me up for a checkup later anyway. He wants to give Ge Xiaolun one-on-one service, right?"

"I'll help him!" Ashe said with a kind smile.

For some reason, even though Ashe was smiling and her tone was calm, Rose couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to Ajie.

But Rose felt no sympathy for him. She didn't care whether Ajie suffered.

In fact, she sounded a little excited as she turned to Ashe.

Meeting Ashe's gaze, Rose asked seriously, "Want me to help?"

"Of course!"

Ashe answered without hesitation, then discussed her plans with Rose.

Meanwhile, aboard the Ju Xia Hao, Lena and the others were watching footage of Ashe's battle from the day before.

When the video ended, Dukao looked over at Lian Feng.

"Lian Feng, any news? Has Deno Three still not found the beast warrior?"

"No." Lian Feng shook her head.

She handed Dukao the scan report from Deno Three.

"Since yesterday, Deno Three has been scanning Earth for other Dark Energy signatures and reports from eyewitnesses."

"But unfortunately, it's as if the other party has vanished from Earth. We haven't found a single lead."

"Keep monitoring. At least until Xiong Bing Lian has some combat capability, we need to stay cautious."

"Yes!"

After giving Lian Feng his order in a serious tone, Dukao turned to Lena.

Seeing that she was still staring at the screen, he asked, "Lena, what do you think?"

"So cool—oh, no. Ahem." She'd almost blurted out what she really thought.

Lena looked at Dukao, who was watching her attentively.

She thought for a moment, then quickly put to use the skill she'd developed back in Lieyang, while zoning out during lessons from the Grandmasters.

It was the kind of answer that sounded like a response but didn't actually say anything important—a stock evasive reply familiar to just about every student who'd ever tuned out in class.

"She's strong, has a lot of potential, and should be given priority for further development."

"Mm-hmm, exactly. Ashe really is a welcome surprise for us." Dukao nodded at Lena's answer.

Then he continued.

"Although she isn't on our system's roster, Ashe's demonstrated strength far exceeds our expectations."

"If Earth had more time and resources, we really should give her proper training. We've practically struck gold."

"But unfortunately, right now we can only meet the basic requirements."

"Lena, this girl already asked for more training and access to permissions. I'll have to trouble you to put some extra thought into that."

"Give her a variety of training plans."

"The teachers at Earth's Super Seminary...no, we've been out of touch with the forefront of the universe for too long."

Dukao gave a self-deprecating smile. A hint of sorrow flickered across his face, then swiftly gave way to resolve.

Dukao spoke in a grave tone.

"Sure! Leave it to your goddess!" Lena replied enthusiastically, patting her chest with confidence.

"Mm, then I'll leave it to you." Dukao nodded, thought for a moment, then continued.

"Ajie will bring her here later for another physical examination. You can meet her beforehand."

"A checkup?" Lena glanced at Ashe on the screen.

"No need to go to all that trouble. Your goddess can just give her a charge, and I guarantee she'll be back to full strength."

"That works too." Dukao didn't refuse. He knew Ashe had basically taken on six Taotie without a scratch.

He'd planned to have Ashe come in just to be safe.

Now that Lena had offered to recharge her, there was basically no need for an examination.

After all, Super Soldiers could heal themselves. It was just a matter of whether they had enough energy, and how quickly they could recover.

"By the way, Ajie was supposed to pick Ashe up and bring her here."

"Actually, there's no need for that now. Ajie's free, so have him take you over instead."

"Great! I'll get going, then. Bye!"

"Mm-hmm. Go on, Lena. I'm counting on you to look after those kids!"

Dukao waved in response, and Lena hurried out of the conference room.

Thinking about seeing Ashe soon, Lena couldn't help feeling excited.

Why?

The reason was simple.

For a well-behaved girl raised under strict rules, who was the most appealing kind of person?

A cool, handsome girl who was rebellious and free-spirited, of course.

Ever since Lena had learned about the way Ashe had lived her life, she'd felt a thrill of excitement.

It wasn't that she'd developed feelings for Ashe. Rather, she longed for the way Ashe lived.

Free and unrestrained, doing whatever she wanted!

For Lena, who had been given an elite education and raised under strict discipline from childhood, that kind of life was irresistibly alluring.

Otherwise, Lena wouldn't have been so eager to come to Earth Star.

Aside from the fact that, as a main god, she had so little authority and couldn't get anything done, another reason was the constant pressure and strict teaching she'd endured. For a main god who wasn't all that old, it had left her feeling stifled.

Full of anticipation, Lena found Ajie, and the two of them headed to Super Seminary.

Meanwhile, outside Huang Village,

Seizing his chance, he had transformed the lone Yu Baosheng into Ato.

Ato, his expression grave, looked at the crocodile beside Queen who had been eating the whole time.

He asked solemnly, "Queen, is this our new companion?"

"That's right!" Morgana nodded firmly, then meaningfully touched her lips!