Late Night Secret Talk

Hoo~

The cold wind of the autumn night poured in through the broken windows as if it were free of charge, blowing away the last remnants of the violent heatwave outside the Library Pavilion.

Su Chen sat steadily on the bamboo chair, tucking away the amused glint of a spectator in his eyes.

He did not rush to move, instead closing his eyes to sink his mental energy into the deepest reaches of his Sea of Divine Consciousness.

In that vast space of consciousness, the "Fire Source Seed" he had just obtained was radiating a profound, dark red halo.

With a flick of his will, Su Chen summoned the "Angel Feather" he had intercepted earlier.

As the dark red and pure gold—two tyrannical and peerless sacred powers—made contact, they showed no signs of repulsion. Instead, as if pulled by an ancient gravitational force, both submerged into that fragment of the World Tree Origin that had been playing dead for so long.

Hum!

A complex, emerald-green array pattern instantly lit up on the withered, rough bark.

The pulse of the life origin was clearer at this moment than it had ever been.

Su Chen could clearly feel that the evolution path of the World Tree, which had troubled him for so long, had finally stabilized.

He had just suppressed the restless soul power within his body, preparing to go back to being a qualified slacker for a while.

Suddenly, an extremely faint sound of footsteps came from outside the door.

The footsteps were steady, step by step, yet they carried an irrepressible aura of fury.

They were completely different from the metallic clanking of a Judgment Knight's armor.

These footsteps passed straight through the layers of blockades outside and finally stopped before the dilapidated wooden door of the Library Pavilion.

Creak.

The wooden door was pushed open slowly.

A gust of cold wind rolled in with the night, causing the bean-sized oil lamp on the tea table to flicker wildly, turning the shadows on the wall into clawing, demonic shapes.

The familiar and oppressive figure of Bibi Dong crossed the threshold and stepped inside.

Su Chen's eyelids lifted slightly, and the moment his gaze collided with hers, his heart skipped a beat.

Tonight, Bibi Dong was not wearing those glittering papal robes that seemed designed to carve the word "power" onto her forehead.

She had changed into dark, unadorned casual attire, the form-fitting cut accentuating her breathtaking curves and long legs to the fullest.

What was even more dire was that her hands were empty; she wasn't carrying that heavy food box.

Without a second thought, Su Chen summoned the "Eye of Omniscience" within his Sea of Divine Consciousness.

A pale blue light screen popped up instantly.

[Target: Binder No. 001 · Bibi Dong]
[Current System Status: No active system tasks]

Seeing this line, Su Chen's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

No task countdown.

No threat of punishment.

No external force compelling her.

Good grief!

For the first time in sixteen whole years, this Pope, who had always placed interests and power above all else, had stepped into this dilapidated room purely of her own volition and emotion.

Bibi Dong walked to the tea table, reached out to pull back the bamboo chair opposite Su Chen, and sat down directly.

She did not speak.

In the cramped space, the air pressure plummeted to freezing.

Bibi Dong leaned forward slightly, her back straight as a rod, her bottomless phoenix eyes fixed firmly on Su Chen's face in the dim light.

Her gaze no longer held the humiliation or perfunctoriness of her past missions, nor the condescension of a superior bestowing a favor.

Now, there was only a knife-like scrutiny, repression, and a complex emotion that defied description.

A suffocating, dangerous aura centered on her silently enveloped the entire room.

Su Chen felt as if his breathing had stopped; the air had become as thick as mercury. He maintained his slightly flustered posture, not daring to move a muscle.

A full half-cup of tea's time passed.

The silence in the Library Pavilion was deathly, with only the wick of the oil lamp "popping" and crackling.

Finally, Bibi Dong broke the silence that could drive a man mad.

She raised her right hand, her slender fingers unconsciously stroking the armrest of the bamboo chair with such force that her knuckles turned white.

"You must have seen the commotion tonight."

Bibi Dong's voice was very soft, as flat as a straight line, devoid of any emotion.

She stared fixedly into Su Chen's eyes, her speech slow, each word like a block of ice crashing hard against the floor.

"What do you think of that... Liu Erlong?"

The moment the words fell.

Su Chen's fingers, resting on his knees, stiffened.

In his Sea of Divine Consciousness, the edge of the "Eye of Omniscience" light screen flashed with dazzling red light like crazy!

[Monitoring current emotional state...]

[Alertness: Extremely High!]

[Probing Intent: Extremely Strong!]

This was not a casual question at all.

This was a deadly "trick question" steeped in the gunpowder of a love triangle!

Su Chen understood Bibi Dong too well.

This woman was filled with a fear of betrayal and a pathological obsession deep in her bones.

As long as he dared to say the wrong thing now, as long as his tone revealed even the slightest bit of admiration for Liu Erlong's wildness, her flamboyance, or even her appearance...

The woman before him would absolutely blacken out on the spot, unleash Rakshasa Death Qi, and blow up this Library Pavilion along with him!

There was no time to hesitate!

Facing this life-threatening probe, Su Chen's body reacted instantly.

His shoulders suddenly hunched inward, his back stooped, and his head bowed deeply.

His ten fingers were tightly intertwined, and his entire being was like a pathetic wretch scared to the brink of collapse.

His voice trembled, carrying the terror and cowardice he had practiced countless times, etched into his DNA.

"Your... Your Eminence..."

Su Chen swallowed hard, his voice as small as a mosquito's buzz, "Your subordinate... Your subordinate is just a useless person without even a spirit ring. Outside just now, there was fire and dragons, and it almost scared your subordinate to death..."

He paused, burying his head even lower, his tone conveying extreme humility and dependence.

"Your subordinate was so scared at the time that he didn't even dare to look out the window. How... how could I dare to comment on such a great figure... My life was given by you, Your Eminence. In my eyes, there is only your protection."

This flawless, textbook-level declaration of survival instinct struck precisely at Bibi Dong's most sensitive nerve.

Bibi Dong's ice-cold face finally showed a subtle shift.

Her tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed with the words "only your protection."

The oppressive atmosphere in the room seemed to dissipate slightly.

However, just as Su Chen thought he had survived another ordeal with his perfect "useless persona"...

"Beep!"

The Eye of Omniscience's radar suddenly erupted with the highest level of red light, almost blinding him.

In the center of the light screen, on Bibi Dong's data panel, a string of scarlet numbers frantically jumped.

[Current Jealousy Value: 62%!(Continuously climbing)]

Below the numbers, a bold pop-up window followed closely:

[Emotional State Analysis: Officially evolved from "passive dependence" to "exclusive possessiveness"!]

Good heavens!

Su Chen's heart churned like a stormy sea, the corners of his eyes twitching uncontrollably.

Looking at those words, he finally understood.

The feelings of this cold-blooded Pope had undergone a fundamental transformation.

Before, under the system's punishment, she had passively come to him for warmth.

But now, not only had she come on her own, but her subconscious had begun to reject any existence that tried to approach him!

Even if Liu Erlong had only glanced at him from three hundred paces away, it could trigger such strong possessiveness!

Bibi Dong didn't ask further.

Su Chen's cowardly yet loyal answer had soothed her surface emotions. But she was clearly not ready to face the tumultuous, unfamiliar, and uncontrollable possessiveness churning deep within her heart.

She suddenly stood up, the bamboo chair behind her emitting a harsh scraping sound.

Without a word, without even looking at Su Chen again, she turned directly and strode towards the door.

Su Chen slowly raised his head.

His gaze fell on Bibi Dong's retreating back, and he keenly observed that the usually composed Pope's departure was tinged with an unprecedented stiffness and panic.

Her hands, hanging by her sides, were clenched into fists due to extreme unnaturalness.

She was... fleeing in disarray.

The wooden door creaked shut, sealing out the night wind.

Inside the Library Pavilion, silence returned.

Su Chen let out a long breath, slumping back against the chair as if he had lost all his bones.

Before his retinas, the light screen of the Eye of Omniscience remained illuminated. Three high-risk coordinates representing Bibi Dong, Qian Renxue, and Liu Erlong were flashing red frantically on the map of Martial Soul City, each one like a powder keg ready to detonate at any moment.

Su Chen raised a hand, rubbing his throbbing temples with a sense of powerlessness as a bitter smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Hiss... that's three now."

He muttered to himself in the empty room, his voice filled with self-mockery, "The management cost for this high-level fishpond is getting a bit out of hand."

Meanwhile.

Deep within the vast night hundreds of miles away from Martial Soul City.

Several ghostly black shadows were traveling at high speed through the ancient trees that blotted out the sky, landing without a sound.

The leader wore a wide, pitch-black cloak, completely concealing that iconic golden hair.

Only his gaze, flashing occasionally like a falcon in the night, remained fixed firmly on the distant horizon.

Qian Daoliu.

In order to unearth all the secrets hidden behind Su Chen's "special constitution," this Great Worship of Martial Soul Hall had chosen not to continue playing those meaningless, overt games with Bibi Dong in the city.

He had taken several of the most loyal core members of the Worship Hall and left the city overnight.

Avoiding all eyes and ears of Martial Soul Hall, they transformed into phantoms in the night, sneaking quietly toward the old site where Su Chen had been discovered sixteen years ago, and further still, into the darker, unknown depths where no one else dared to tread.