The Plan Went Unbelievably Smoothly

It was quite a while before Lin Qingzhou finally took a deep breath. The restless agitation churning in his chest was at last forced down.

He made himself calm down, his fingertips unconsciously clenching until they went white. His mind kept turning over the plan that wagered everything.

Honestly, if the plan worked, he could defy fate and change his life in one fell swoop, escaping the wretched destiny of never becoming a Soul Master. The benefits were so tempting he hardly needed to think about them.

But when he really examined it, the odds of success were pitifully low. Calling it a narrow escape from death wouldn't be an exaggeration. If anything went even slightly wrong, there was a very good chance he wouldn't make it out alive.

His fingers clenched until his knuckles turned bluish. After running through the possibilities countless times, he still ended up with two fatal problems—ones he couldn't avoid or get around.

First, was that fellow Di Tian always watching Na'er from the shadows? If he really dared to force Na'er to make a sacrifice, could Gu Yue, far away in the Star Dou Forest, sense it in time?

A sacrifice was no small matter. It was a cataclysmic event for the Soul Beast Realm, especially with the Silver Dragon King's source power tied to Na'er.

Even if he was lucky enough to absorb the Silver Dragon King Bloodline and successfully awaken a Martial Soul, Gu Yue would probably pinpoint his location the very next second. Then this Dragon God's avatar would hunt him down without cease, and he wouldn't have anywhere to hide.

Second, why had Na'er suddenly come to Aolai City when she'd been perfectly fine? The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Could God King Tang have secretly arranged it all behind the scenes?

It wasn't that he was determined to see conspiracies everywhere. The distance between the two places was simply absurd.

The Star Dou Forest was on the original Douluo Continent, while Aolai City was on the Sun Moon Continent. Thousands of miles of ocean lay between them. For a little girl who couldn't even protect herself to drift all that way alone—it looked like a deliberately arranged trap from every angle.

Lin Qingzhou stared out the window in silence for a long while. In the end, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

It seemed he could only go stake out the area around the school Tang Wulin attended, scout it in advance, and figure out the lay of the land.

The plan to get to Na'er first would officially begin tomorrow. He couldn't put it off any longer.

Even though he'd never been able to become a Soul Master, he'd never stopped keeping an eye on Tang Wulin's movements. So he knew perfectly well that Na'er hadn't arrived in Aolai City yet.

But according to the original story, she would show up within the next few days. He couldn't afford to hesitate any longer.

For several days in a row, he went to stake out the area near the school. Without much effort, he actually found little Na'er huddled in a corner by the street, filthy from head to toe.

One thing puzzled him, though. The moment Na'er saw him, her eyes filled with instinctive fear. Her whole body was tense, like a Soul Beast that had run into its natural enemy. She seemed to have an inexplicable, innate wariness of his aura.

At the time, Lin Qingzhou had been so focused on his plan that he hadn't given this small oddity a second thought. He'd simply assumed that after wandering for so long, the little girl was afraid of strangers.

He deliberately reined in every trace of his presence that might make her uneasy, forced himself to act as tenderly as possible, and patiently coaxed her, little by little, into lowering her guard.

In the end, Na'er had been alone and helpless for far too long, with no one to care for her or look after her. After all that, she finally let down her defenses and followed close behind him back to the villa.

The whole process went so smoothly it didn't seem real. It even left Lin Qingzhou feeling uneasy, with the sense that something was wrong.

But things had already come this far. The arrow was on the string, and there was no turning back. He hastily tidied up the guest room, and by the time he was done, Na'er had already fallen fast asleep in the little bed.

Lin Qingzhou stood at the guest-room doorway without going in, watching her quietly. Even asleep, the little girl's brow was faintly furrowed, her small face full of unease. The sight weighed heavily on his heart.

His thoughts were a complete mess—confusion, guilt, and obsession all tangled together. After a long while, he let out a heavy sigh and murmured, "Sigh, what a sin."

Lin Qingzhou couldn't help mocking himself inwardly. What a hypocrite, trying to look noble after doing something vile. He'd already made up his mind, yet he still felt sorry for her.

Early the next morning, the villa's dining room was unusually quiet. Lin Qingzhou and little Na'er sat across from each other, staring at each other without either of them speaking first.

Na'er gripped her little spoon tightly, her small face tense with unease.

After hesitating for a long time, she timidly raised a small hand and pointed at the sandwich in front of Lin Qingzhou. Her voice was soft, with a cautious, tentative note. "Um... big brother... are you going to eat that?"

Lin Qingzhou was at a loss for words. Seeing her looking at it so eagerly while not daring to move, he felt his heart soften for some inexplicable reason. He simply pushed his plate right in front of her and said flatly, "Go ahead. I'm not hungry."

He stayed right where he was and watched quietly as Na'er, like a famished little beast, bent her head and devoured everything on the table. Her cheeks puffed out, making her look like a little squirrel frantically stashing food. It was both funny and heartbreaking.

Lin Qingzhou's mouth twitched. Then he suddenly slapped his forehead. He'd almost forgotten—Na'er had been a foodie even as a child in the original story, and that didn't seem to have changed at all as she grew up.

He grumbled inwardly, This is bad. If I keep this little girl by my side, I'll have to spend a fortune just feeding her. That's no small expense.

Watching the little girl finish her food, looking satisfied and obedient, Lin Qingzhou felt the taut string inside him—wound tight for days—gradually loosen without him noticing.

At first, when he'd approached Na'er, there hadn't been a shred of sincerity in his heart. It had all been cold calculation and exploitation; he'd been thinking only of using her Silver Dragon King Bloodline to defy fate and change his life.

But now, meeting those clear, bright eyes, free of any impurity and still carrying a trace of timidity, watching her carefully fill her stomach as if afraid of upsetting him—

The chilling plans he'd gone over and over in his mind no longer seemed quite so glaring. Somehow, a faint warmth had settled over them.

He raised a hand and rubbed his aching temples. The weighty words he'd spoken last night—"What a sin"—rose in his mind once more.

This time, though, there was less self-reproach and more of a tenderness he couldn't quite put into words, something he didn't even notice himself.

Na'er swallowed her last bite of food before belatedly realizing that she'd eaten everything on the table.

She panicked at once. Her little hands nervously clutched the hem of her clothes, and her fair cheeks flushed bright red. She lowered her head and didn't dare look at Lin Qingzhou. Her voice was faint as a mosquito's, full of guilt and fear.

"Big brother, I'm sorry. I—I was so hungry..."