Newbie Quest, Hundredfold Critical Hit!

The moonlight fell precisely upon Su Chen's face.

Bibi Dong stood at the doorway, her gaze lingering on his face for half a second longer than she intended.

She had seen too many men.

Qian Xunji had been considered handsome in his youth, the Great High Priest possessed a steady temperament, and even a boorish brute like Tang Hao could barely be called sturdy.

But the face before her was different from all of them.

It was too clean.

It was like a piece of warm jade that had never been tainted by the mundane world.

On the light screen, the favorability number remained steadily at -10.

Su Chen saw it clearly.

Still clutching the broom, he made the most cowardly judgment in a flash of lightning.

He let go of the broom, bent his knees, and with a dull "thud," threw himself flat onto the wooden floor.

"I did not know Your Holiness the Pope would grace me with your presence late at night; this subordinate deserves to die!"

His voice trembled, his waist bent like a boiled shrimp, and he wished he could shrink into a crack in the floor.

His acting was pushed to the absolute limit.

Bibi Dong stood at the doorway, looking down from on high at the humble figure on the ground.

Her divine sense swept over him; there was not a shred of soul power fluctuation in his body—he didn't even have the qualifications to be a soul master.

A pure piece of trash.

In her mind, the system's crimson countdown was still flashing frantically.

Bibi Dong took a deep breath, her fingertips digging into her palms. She used the greatest restraint of her life to squeeze two words through her teeth.

"Rise."

She paused for two seconds, as if it had taken all her strength.

"This Seat... is thirsty."

The tail end of those last three words carried a tremor she hadn't even noticed herself.

Su Chen, of course, did not care.

His attention was entirely on the light screen before him.

[Bibi Dong's current inner monologue: Hurry up! Say it and leave! Once this damn tea is poured, This Seat will leave immediately. No one will ever know about tonight!]

[Current emotions: Humiliation 91% / Agitation 67% / Fear 42%]

That "Fear 42%" caught Su Chen's attention.

She wasn't afraid of him, a mere chore boy; she was afraid of the soul-crushing punishment that would follow a failed mission.

Su Chen understood this perfectly.

He scrambled up from the floor, trembling, still keeping his waist bent and his head lowered, taking small, shuffling steps toward the tea table.

Every step felt like walking on the tip of a blade, light and slow.

Reaching the tea table, he reached out to touch the tea canister.

As expected, he grasped at empty air.

Su Chen wore an appropriately troubled and terrified expression, bent down, and began rummaging through the cabinets.

The first shelf: nothing.

The second shelf: still nothing.

His movements were as slow as Tai Chi; for every compartment he searched, he carefully returned the items to their original places, terrified of making the slightest sound that might disturb the Pope behind him.

On the light screen, the countdown ruthlessly ticked down to five minutes.

Standing by the door, Bibi Dong's brows knitted into a knot.

She watched that piece of trash slowly rummaging through the cabinets, her nails already piercing her palms, bringing a sharp, stinging pain.

In her mind, the blood-red line [Mission Time Remaining: 5:00] flashed frantically, and the warning of the Soul-Devouring Pain felt like ten thousand steel needles piercing the depths of her soul.

She remembered that pain.

Just a mere warning had nearly made her collapse on the spot.

If it were the full seventy-two hours...

Bibi Dong's throat moved uncontrollably.

Just then, Su Chen "finally" unearthed the dust-covered tea canister from the deepest corner of the cabinet.

He straightened his back and, as if holding a rare treasure, carefully placed the canister on the tea table.

Then, with a precise flick of his wrist.

"Clack!"

The tea canister struck the corner of the table, its lid flying off with a sharp clatter as dried tea leaves scattered across the floor in an instant.

Su Chen drew a sharp breath, his voice laced with twelve parts terror and trembling.

"Y-Your Holiness, please forgive me! This subordinate... this subordinate's hand slipped..."

He dropped to his knees with a heavy thud, scrambling frantically to gather the tea leaves from the floor.

One grain.

Then another.

He pinched them up with his fingertips, moving with agonizing care as he placed them back into the canister.

That snail-like pace caused Bibi Dong's breathing to fall into complete disarray.

The countdown on the light screen skipped past four minutes.

Three minutes.

Bibi Dong's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

She stared fixedly at the figure kneeling obediently on the floor, the wicked fire in her chest threatening to burn right through her skull.

Humiliation?

It had long since been crushed to dust by a more primal emotion.

Fear!

Pure, unadulterated fear of having her soul completely torn apart!

Three minutes!

Only three minutes left!

Bibi Dong moved.

She rushed forward like a gust of wind, shoving aside Su Chen, who was still "diligently" picking up tea leaves.

She didn't hold back an ounce of her strength.

Su Chen stumbled and slammed into the bookshelf with a dull thud.

"Get lost! This Seat will do it myself!"

Her voice was sharp, hurried, and completely distorted; not a shred of the composed, calculating Pope remained.

Su Chen leaned against the bookshelf, maintaining a vacant expression of being "scared witless," his eyes wide and round.

Yet, his gaze was fixed precisely on the light screen.

[Bibi Dong's current emotions: Agitation 97% / Fear 89% / Humiliation 36%]

[Internal Monologue: I can't worry about that now! Dignity, prestige—in the face of the Soul-Devouring Pain, they are worth nothing!]

Su Chen watched that 97% agitation level and nearly laughed out loud.

Good grief, he had almost pushed it too far.

Bibi Dong grabbed the coarse ceramic kettle from the tea tray, which contained the cold boiled water Su Chen had prepared that afternoon.

She lifted the kettle and poured it into the lonely teacup.

Her hand was shaking.

The stream of water wavered, splashing several droplets that bloomed into dark watermarks on her moon-white skirt.

She didn't even notice.

After pouring the water, Bibi Dong gripped the coarse ceramic cup tightly, her chest heaving violently.

The countdown continued to tick down.

One minute.

The system remained completely unresponsive.

Bibi Dong's pupils shrank to pinpricks!

She suddenly looked down at the cup, then back at Su Chen, who was "shivering" against the bookshelf.

In a flash of lightning-quick realization, she understood everything.

The mission stated: "Pour a cup of tea for Su Chen."

It wasn't for herself.

It was... for him!

Bibi Dong spun around abruptly, rushing to Su Chen in two strides.

She shoved the teacup toward his lips with brutal force.

The rim of the cup knocked against his lower lip, the impact far from gentle.

Her face flushed a deep crimson, the heat spreading from her earlobes down to her neck, her gaze nailed to the wall as she dared not look into Su Chen's eyes.

"You... you must be thirsty too! Drink!"

Her tone was as forceful as a command, yet the end of her sentence trembled uncontrollably.

Su Chen felt the icy touch of the cup's rim, along with the fleeting, gentle warmth of her fingertips as they accidentally brushed against his jaw.

In that very instant, Bibi Dong froze completely.

The moment her fingertips touched Su Chen's skin, an aura—incredibly restrained yet unimaginably vast—surged from the point of contact, pouring into her divine consciousness like a tidal wave!

That was not soul power!

It was an existence of a higher dimension! It was more ancient than the divine might of the Rakshasa God, more vast and desolate than Di Tian of the Star Dou Forest; it felt as if an entire universe of star seas was silently collapsing and rotating within his body!

Bibi Dong's pupils shrank to pinpricks, her heart nearly stopping.

The Lord of Creation... could it be real?!

She instinctively wanted to pull her hand away, but only a dozen seconds remained on the countdown.

Su Chen did not give her the chance to hesitate.

He played his part flawlessly, putting on an expression of being flattered and too terrified to disobey, as he tremblingly drank a mouthful of cold tea from her hand.

The next second.

Two distinct mechanical voices exploded simultaneously within their minds!

[Ding! Novice tutorial mission complete. Reward distribution in progress: 10% of the Rakshasa God's evil intent removed!]

This was what Bibi Dong heard.

As for Su Chen, he heard another voice that made his heart surge with excitement.

[Detection: Binder No. 001 Bibi Dong has completed the mission. The Lord of Creation's hundredfold critical return has been triggered!]