Qilin, Danger!

Su Bai set down his lunchbox and walked over to the phone.

It was an old phone Qilin had deliberately left behind before she went out. She'd used it before, and it was fully charged. She'd said it would make it easier to reach him if anything came up.

At that moment, the phone rang.

Su Bai picked it up and answered. Since it was a flip phone, the speaker was loud, so he didn't hold it to his ear.

As soon as he answered and turned on the speaker, Qilin's voice came through:

"Little Brother Su Bai? Can you hear me?"

"Mm, I can hear you, Qilin." Su Bai nodded as he replied.

"Good... Did you get the lunch the restaurant downstairs delivered?" Hearing Su Bai's voice, Qilin smiled slightly before asking.

"Mm, I just got it. I did what you said and checked through the peephole for a while before opening the door to get it."

For some reason, Qilin couldn't shake the feeling that his tone carried a sense of "mission accomplished, waiting for praise."

Without meaning to, she pictured Su Bai's handsome, refined face, brimming with anticipation as if he were waiting for her to reward him.

Good grief... I can barely handle this.

Just then, He Weilan pushed the door open.

"Qilin, lunch is—"

She hadn't finished speaking when she noticed something was off about Qilin. Her phone was pressed to her ear, so she was clearly on a call, but her cheeks were flushed, and a smile she couldn't quite place tugged at the corners of her mouth.

He Weilan immediately wore an expression that said, "I get it," and cleared her throat.

"Oh, so you're busy with something important. I won't disturb you, then. I'll bring your lunch back for you later."

With that, she stepped out and casually closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Weilan!"

Realizing she'd been misunderstood, Qilin opened her mouth to explain, but Weilan had already gone. All she could do was sigh helplessly.

"Qilin?"

Su Bai's puzzled voice came from the other end of the call.

"Weilan... who's that?"

Qilin smiled as she explained, "She's a coworker. She just came to get me."

"Oh." Su Bai didn't react much.

"Wait for me to get back tonight, and I'll take you to the Snack Street downstairs. Think of it as a reward for completing your mission. How does that sound?" Qilin said after a moment's thought.

"Really?!" The words "Snack Street" immediately lit up Su Bai's voice.

"Of course." Qilin couldn't help laughing. He was just like a child—his thoughts were pure, and everything he was thinking showed plainly on his face, without a hint of pretense.

"Okay, go eat before it gets cold. I need to go eat, too," Qilin said gently.

"Mm! Bye, Qilin!"

"Mm, bye."

After saying goodbye to Qilin, Su Bai happily dug into his lunch.

In less than ten minutes, he'd polished off every bite.

Then he continued writing in his diary.

[The lunch Qilin ordered for me arrived. It was delicious. But I think Qilin's cooking tastes even better.]

As Qilin ate with He Weilan, she felt the diary's familiar ripple in her mind and immediately focused on it.

When she read what Su Bai had written, her heart gave a faint flutter. A warm feeling welled up inside her, and the corners of her mouth lifted without her realizing it.

Seeing this, He Weilan couldn't resist teasing her.

"Oho, what good thing happened to our Miss Qilin? Your smile's about to reach the sky."

"Weilan, what are you talking about?" Qilin chided her softly, a little embarrassed.

"All right, all right, I'll stop." He Weilan laughed and waved a hand, then leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"When did you start dating?"

Qilin feigned composure. "When did I start what? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Still pretending? I was wondering why you suddenly changed your hairstyle today and even covered your forehead. So you're dating someone~" He Weilan wore an expression that said, "I saw right through you."

Qilin could only smile helplessly.

The truth was, she'd covered her forehead because of the Sound Mark.

If she didn't cover it, it might attract unnecessary attention at work. After all, she was "Qilin."

Compared with Qilin's sweet little exchange, the other women reading the diary reacted in all sorts of different ways.

Angel Zhixin: (So you disappeared halfway through writing because you went to eat...)

A Li: (Mm, what an interesting young man... But it looks like that girl named Qilin is "keeping" him? I'm so jealous.)

[Qilin said she'd take me to the Snack Street downstairs after work. Hehe, Qilin is so nice to me.]

[But Qilin won't get off work for ages...]

[Hm? What did you say, Xiao Xue?]

Since Su Bai wrote the diary through his thoughts, his conversations with Xiao Xue were also recorded without him realizing it.

[No snacks tonight? Why not?]

The women could more or less guess that Su Bai was speaking to Xiao Xue, but they had no way of knowing exactly what Xiao Xue had said. They could only infer it from Su Bai's reactions.

Qilin was puzzled, too. Why would Xiao Xue say she couldn't have snacks tonight? Qilin wasn't one to go back on her word.

[Huh? Because Qilin will be in danger tonight?]

Those words made Qilin's heart leap into her throat.

Danger? What kind of danger? An attack by an enemy? A sudden assault? Or a car accident?

[Taotie? But why would the Taotie, a mythical beast, target Qilin?]

Taotie!?

Qilin's heart sank.

That was a mythical beast from legend... Why would it have its sights on her? Aside from becoming a "Resonator" with Su Bai's help, there was nothing special about her that would draw the attention of such a being.

And how could the Four Fiends of myth appear in the real world?!

Unlike Su Bai's confusion and Qilin's alarm, some of the women understood the truth as soon as they saw the word "Taotie."

On a certain isolated island, Angel Azhui lifted her head to gaze at the sky. Her eyes seemed to pierce through the atmosphere and reach into the depths of space.

"When he says 'Taotie,' he must mean the Taotie of the Netherworld Civilization... Are they descending on Earth tonight...?"

Azhui, who had only just returned to Earth, sighed softly.

She knew the Taotie would attack tonight not only because she'd already received the relevant intelligence, but also because, after obtaining the Diary Instance, she'd immediately thought of an order Queen Keisha had given not long ago—

"Juxia City, Qilin, Su Bai."

Azhui had immediately thought of Juxia City, which she'd visited during her time on Earth, and hurried back.

After activating the Eye of Insight to scan the area, she failed to find Su Bai, but found Qilin instead. She looked exactly like the image Queen Keisha had provided. In the Dark Plane beside Qilin was a blurry, unresolvable "mosaic."

Azhui guessed that it was probably Su Bai.

As for why she couldn't analyze him, she assumed it was some kind of special concealment that came with being a transmigrator.

She still hadn't figured out how to report this to Queen Keisha when the diary suddenly revealed something like this...