Living with a Girl?

"Shouldn't Big Brother An Zhen explain things properly to Yutong?"

The little loli lightly patted her rumpled dress with her two slender hands, then crossed her arms, her expression cool.

Huo Yutong was not some clueless little fool.

Why had she suddenly appeared in such strange clothes, with her little feet in white stockings being held beneath his chin? And he already knew she was a girl—when had he found out? Had all of Big Brother An Zhen's kindness toward her been a lie?

"I really should explain."

An Zhen nodded gently, his expression serious.

"So, does little Yutong want to know why you appeared here, or whether my kindness toward you was real or fake?"

Her thin lips pressed together. The loli's heart was filled with mixed emotions. She did not even refute the way An Zhen addressed her, standing there at a loss.

Could this rare kindness possibly...

Huo Yutong did not have much, but everything she had was exceedingly precious to her.

With a reach of his hand, the loli two meters away instantly appeared in An Zhen's arms. Faced with Huo Yutong's struggles, the boy said, "You can think of this place as a dream world. It is an ability of my martial soul."

Snap!

An Zhen snapped his fingers.

A petite and adorable figure appeared before them, her skirts fluttering. Huo Yutong, who had been struggling, froze instantly, then widened her eyes. "Is that me?"

Other than the dress she wore, that figure was completely identical to her.

"Want to inspect her? Whether outside or inside, she has been recreated at a one-to-one scale~"

At An Zhen's will, the doll slowly walked over and grasped the hem of her dress with both hands.

"Don't!"

Her cheeks as red as apples, Huo Yutong reached out and covered An Zhen's eyes.

Why was she covering my eyes?

Shouldn't she be pushing the doll down instead?

Fine, then I won't look. It wasn't as if I hadn't seen it before.

He dismissed the doll.

"As for why little Yutong came here, perhaps it is because my strength improved and my martial soul developed a new ability."

It had been the same before. After obtaining his first soul ring, An Zhen had accidentally imprinted Meng Hongchen's template despite not having a second soul ring. The reason was that soul rings themselves were merely keys that unlocked this world's abilities for him. The abilities and authorities themselves were already within his body; he had always been capable of doing these things.

So aside from breakthroughs in Soul Power, soul rings were entirely optional to An Zhen.

"I see."

The loli sitting on An Zhen's thigh wore a thoughtful expression, her little feet in white stockings gently swaying in the air. Huo Yutong felt that it was like the lucid dreams her mother had told her about, where one could do anything in the dream.

However, what concerned her more now was this: "Then was Big Brother An Zhen's kindness toward me truly out of goodwill?"

"Not entirely."

A bad person...

Her deep blue eyes dimmed slightly, as though they had lost their light. The loli jumped down from An Zhen's thigh. "Thank you for your previous help, Student An Zhen. After we return, I will return your things. Whatever reward or anything else Student An Zhen wants, I will repay it."

An Zhen said nothing. Resting his chin on one hand, he watched the loli's retreating figure as she walked farther and farther away.

Before long, a door of light opened beside An Zhen. The dejected loli, walking with her head lowered, crashed directly into An Zhen's arms.

"Still haven't figured it out?"

With a helpless sigh, An Zhen gently tapped the loli's forehead. In his world, where did this little girl think she could go?

As the loli looked at him blankly, a pair of hands directly pulled her into an embrace. The scent of the opposite sex instantly enveloped Huo Yutong's senses. "When a boy treats a girl his own age very well, what do you think he is after?"

"?"

The loli was confused.

"Σ(°△°|||)︴"

The loli was shocked.

"(//▽//)"

The loli blushed.

Could it... could it be what she thought it was?

Her flushed little face quietly lifted, meeting a pair of eyes full of amusement. The timid little deer immediately lowered her head again.

"Yutong has never encountered this sort of thing before? Generally speaking, when a boy invites a girl to eat for no reason, it is basically a sign that he likes her."

At this age, if he had said such things in his previous life, both sets of parents would surely have given them a stern talking-to.

However, on this Romance Continent, it was perfectly normal—roughly equivalent to teenage romance in high school in his previous life.

"N-No."

"Oh? Then it seems I made my move first. In that case, this adorable girl belongs to me."

What kind of logic was that?

Her fair little hands pushed against An Zhen's chest. Beneath her crimson cheeks lay utterly helpless emotions, while her mind had turned to mush.

Huo Yutong greatly longed for the love Teacher Xiao Ya and Eldest Senior Brother had spoken of. But the sudden intimacy and another person's affection left the loli, who had never been exposed to such knowledge, in a panic.

"I'm sorry, Big Brother An Zhen. I don't know how to respond to you, but I don't want to accept your kindness for nothing. I will definitely repay you," the loli standing on the ground said earnestly. Besides, she did not think she had anything worth liking.

Having understood the reason, Huo Yutong unconsciously returned to her original form of address, yet she still intended to refuse his kindness.

"Alright." An Zhen nodded directly in agreement.

This self-respecting and determined little loli was wonderful.

But her refusal did not mean he could not treat her to things.

"However, I have a few questions too." An Zhen sat on the bed, a hint of confusion appearing on his youthful face. "Why did little Yutong disguise herself as a boy to come to Shrek Academy?"

"I..."

The loli was momentarily speechless.

"It's alright." An Zhen gently shook his head. "Everyone has their own secrets. I am not the kind of person who likes to dig into everything."

"But you came to Shrek Academy to become stronger, right? And if a roommate comes later, it will definitely be inconvenient."

"Mm."

The loli nodded seriously. "If a new roommate comes, I plan to sleep in my clothes every day."

"But that will still be inconvenient in the end. I have a suggestion: you can move into my dormitory. Actually, I had planned to tell you during the day, but I could not think of a suitable reason at the time. I was afraid little Yutong would misunderstand."

An Zhen remembered that in the original story, Wang Dong had arrived the day after Huo Yuhao. But with his involvement, he did not know whether they would still end up in the same dormitory. If they did, then so be it.

"Share a dormitory with Big Brother An Zhen?"

For some reason, Huo Yutong suddenly thought of the doll that looked exactly like her, as well as how Big Brother An Zhen had held her in his arms, her little feet in white stockings pressed against his chin, and these strange clothes she was wearing.

According to Big Brother An Zhen, her body here was equivalent to that doll's. Could it be that Big Brother An Zhen had learned her gender through this method?

"Big Brother An Zhen won't do anything strange to Yutong, right?" The loli tacitly accepted An Zhen's way of addressing her.

"Of course. That was only a doll before. As for the real Yutong, without Yutong's permission, I absolutely will not do anything improper."

"Then Yutong agrees."

Huo Yutong still decided to agree. Although Big Brother An Zhen had pressed her feet against his chin earlier and dressed that doll in such strange clothes, Big Brother An Zhen was a good person.

"Good!"

"Since that is settled, let's meditate and cultivate. My martial soul has the ability to speed up cultivation."