Can't Three People Be Together?

The black shadow departed, and the suffocating pressure of the Title Douluo dissipated along with it.

Lin Yi let out the breath he had been forcefully holding, unable to stop himself from coughing a few more times as a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Although he had relied on multiple layers of defense to withstand that strike, how could a sneak attack fueled by the rage of a Title Douluo be easy to endure? His internal organs had already suffered a shock.

"Don't move!" Seeing his condition, Zhu Zhuqing's cold voice carried a hint of imperceptible anxiety. She hurriedly helped him sit down on a stone bench.

Lin Yi waved his hand, signaling that he was fine. He took a deep breath, and his Snow Lotus Martial Soul began to circulate naturally within him, especially his first soul skill, which had been strengthened by the Snow Lotus True Body—Healing Light. A soft white halo emanated from his body, flowing like warm spring water through his damaged meridians and internal organs. This pure life energy efficiently repaired the injuries and dispelled the destructive energy left behind by the cold sword qi.

In just a moment, his pale complexion regained a hint of ruddiness, and his breathing stabilized. With the support of his level seventy-nine soul power, the healing effect of the Snow Lotus was extremely remarkable.

Zhu Zhuqing watched quietly from the side. Seeing him recover so quickly, her tightly wound heartstrings relaxed slightly, but her cold eyes remained fixed on Lin Yi's face, carrying a complex and indescribable emotion.

The courtyard fell into silence, save for the rustling of the valley breeze brushing against the Spirit Grass.

After a long while, Zhu Zhuqing suddenly spoke in a low voice. Her tone was colder than usual, yet it seemed to be suppressing something: "Just now... why didn't you dodge? You took a strike from a Douluo head-on just to shield me? Do you have any idea that you could have died?"

Lin Yi was in the middle of sensing the healing progress of his internal injuries. Hearing this, he was slightly taken aback and looked up at her.

Zhu Zhuqing stood there, her posture as straight as a pine, her black tight-fitting outfit outlining her graceful curves. However, her gaze was no longer the pure coldness or resignation of the past; instead, it held a hint of... confusion, or perhaps even a faint trace of grievance?

He thought for a moment, feeling there was nothing to hide, and replied truthfully: "The target of that strike was me; you just happened to be standing nearby.

You had nothing to do with these grudges to begin with, and it was I who dragged you into this. How could I let you get hurt because of me?

It was just a subconscious reaction. I couldn't just watch you..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. Protecting the innocent people around him was an almost instinctive behavior for him, especially when he had the ability to do so.

It was the same when he saved Zhu Zhuqing, and it was the same when he pushed her away just now.

"Nothing to do with me... a subconscious reaction..." Zhu Zhuqing repeated these words in a murmur, and a faint, yet infinitely bitter, arc suddenly appeared at the corners of her lips.

She raised her eyes, looking straight at Lin Yi. That gaze seemed to pierce through his calm exterior, seeing something deep within his heart that he himself had never stopped to contemplate.

"Lin Yi." For the first time, she called his name so clearly, without any title, her voice carrying a desperate, burning-the-bridges kind of resolve: "Do you really think... I am just an irrelevant 'maid' who needs your subconscious protection?"

Lin Yi was stumped by her sudden question.

He looked at Zhu Zhuqing—this cold, stubborn girl with a difficult background. From the beginning, when he had bound her to his side with favors and conditions, and she had silently fulfilled her duties as a "maid," to now... he suddenly realized that he had never truly thought about what was going on deep inside her heart.

"I..." Lin Yi opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for how to answer.

To say he only saw her as a maid?

That seemed too cold, and it wasn't entirely the truth. To say he had other feelings? He couldn't even sort that out himself.

Seeing his rare loss for words, the bitterness in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes deepened, yet she seemed to have set down some heavy burden.

She turned her head slightly, avoiding his probing gaze. Her voice was so soft it felt as if it might dissipate into the wind at any moment, yet it reached Lin Yi's ears with absolute clarity: "I know, I can't compare to Xiao Wu.

She is pure, bright, like sunshine.

I see the feelings between you two." Her voice carried a faint, imperceptible tremor: "I never thought to compete with her for anything, and I would never try to break you two apart."

She paused, as if using all her strength to say the words hidden in the deepest part of her heart—words she had even tried to deny to herself:

"I just... I just couldn't control myself... and let you into my heart."

Boom!

These words were like a thunderclap, exploding in Lin Yi's mind without warning!

He was completely stunned, staring at Zhu Zhuqing in a daze, as if seeing this cold girl who had been silently following him for the first time.

Let him into... her heart?

What did that mean?

Was it the meaning he understood?

The girl he had bound with the name of a "three-year maid," the one he thought might harbor resentment toward him... he never expected that she would actually... hold such feelings for him?

The immense shock left his mind blank; he even forgot to react.

He looked at Zhu Zhuqing's slightly reddened earlobes and her tightly pursed lips, which betrayed her nervousness and stubbornness, and a monstrous wave surged in his heart.

When did it start?

Was it because he saved her? Or had something quietly changed during these day-to-day interactions?

However, just as the atmosphere froze and Lin Yi's mind was in turmoil:

"Eh? Zhuqing, you like Lin Yi too?"

A crisp female voice, carrying a bit of curiosity, a bit of innocence, and even a bit of... excitement?

It came from the courtyard entrance without warning!

The two of them were struck as if by lightning and whipped their heads around to look.

They saw that Xiao Wu had returned at some point. She was leaning against the courtyard entrance, her hands behind her back, tilting her head. Her large eyes blinked as she looked at the stiff-faced Lin Yi, then at the red-eared Zhu Zhuqing, who looked like she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. There was not a trace of anger or jealousy on her face; instead, it was filled with... the novelty of discovering an interesting secret!

She had clearly heard Zhu Zhuqing's last sentence!

Zhu Zhuqing's face turned from red to white, and from white back to red. Shame, embarrassment, and a sense of utter humiliation intertwined, leaving her almost unable to breathe.

Her most secret, most vulnerable, and what she thought would be forever-buried feelings had been exposed in such a way, so bluntly, by one of the very people involved!

Lin Yi felt his scalp tingle, feeling as if he were being roasted over an open fire.

What... what kind of situation was this?

Xiao Wu, however, seemed completely oblivious to the bizarre and excruciatingly awkward atmosphere. She skipped inside, naturally hooked her arm through Lin Yi's, and then looked at Zhu Zhuqing, who was wishing she could shrink into nothingness. Tilting her head, she spoke with that unique, pure, and straightforward logic characteristic of a soul beast, dropping a bombshell:

"Why hide it if you like him? Isn't that so uncomfortable?" She wrinkled her petite nose, seemingly unable to comprehend Zhu Zhuqing's restrained approach. "We soul... er, I mean, I think that liking someone is just liking someone. Isn't it better to be open and honest about it?"

She shook Lin Yi's arm, looked up at him with earnest, wide eyes, and offered a suggestion that instantly petrified both Lin Yi and Zhu Zhuqing, shattering their worldviews:

"Lin Yi, Zhuqing is quite good, too. She's pretty, strong, and likes you so much.

Anyway, since you're so capable, it shouldn't matter if you like one more, right? Can't the three of us just be together?"

Pfft—!

Lin Yi nearly choked to death on his own saliva! He stared wide-eyed at Xiao Wu, who was looking up at him with an expression that screamed, "I'm so open-minded and sensible, praise me!" His brain completely crashed.

The three... the three of them together?!

What kind of outrageous words were these?!

Xiao Wu, what is wrong with your train of thought?!

Is this a solution a human could even come up with?! Oh wait, she isn't human...

Zhu Zhuqing was struck as if by lightning, her entire body freezing. For the first time, her cold, aloof face wore an expression of such dull, utter disbelief.

She looked at Xiao Wu as if she were staring at a prehistoric monster.

She had anticipated that Xiao Wu might be angry, sad, or repulsed; she had even prepared herself to be humiliated or driven away... but she never, in her wildest dreams, expected such a... shocking "proposal"!

The air in the courtyard seemed to have frozen solid.

Lin Yi looked at the innocent—or perhaps uniquely wired—Xiao Wu, then at the mortified Zhu Zhuqing, whose worldview seemed to be collapsing and rebuilding itself. He felt a massive headache coming on.

What kind of mess is this?!

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to break the suffocatingly strange atmosphere, only to find that any words felt pale and powerless at this moment.

Seeing him remain silent for so long, Xiao Wu assumed he was seriously considering it and added another line that nearly made Lin Yi cough up blood: "Look, Zhuqing takes such good care of us usually! With her around, I'd have another sister, too!"

Lin Yi: "..." He felt he needed to calm down—desperately.

As for Zhu Zhuqing, after the initial earth-shattering shock and shame, she looked into Xiao Wu's clear, slightly naive eyes, which held no trace of pretense. The immense sense of absurdity in her heart strangely diluted some of the humiliation.

She suddenly realized that Xiao Wu... really seemed to think this way?

She wasn't mocking or testing her; she genuinely believed... that this was feasible?

This realization left Zhu Zhuqing's already chaotic heart in an even greater tangle.