Xie Xie couldn't be bothered with keeping up his aloof image anymore.
He held a chicken leg in one hand and a bowl of soup in the other, eating until his mouth glistened with grease.
The two of them sat on either side of Lin An, looking like they'd just been released from a refugee camp.
Even though they'd already eaten breakfast.
Even though they were so stuffed they felt like throwing up.
But... this was top-tier medicinal cuisine, at a table costing 190,000.
Who cared about dignity?
Xie Xie shoveled food into his mouth, with only one thought on his mind.
Why had he eaten breakfast so quickly? If he hadn't, he could've squeezed in a couple more bites.
In the end, the three of them gave it everything they had, but plenty of untouched dishes still remained on the table.
Lin An glanced at them, then turned toward the students at the nearby tables.
"You can split up all the untouched food."
The students at the tables froze.
Then they swarmed over.
Dignity?
What did they need dignity for?
They didn't have enough dignity to cover a month's living expenses.
A walking god of wealth like this? Please, trample all over my dignity!
The students were fighting over the food with gusto.
Lin An got up and left the table, heading toward the classroom.
Gu Yue immediately followed.
After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped and turned to look at Tang Wulin and Xie Xie behind her.
"You two—"
She lifted her foot without changing expression.
One kick apiece, swift and clean.
"Get lost."
Tang Wulin staggered two steps from the kick and covered his butt, not daring to say a word.
Xie Xie had it worse. He was already stuffed, and that kick nearly sent his chicken leg flying back out.
The two exchanged a look. They were furious but didn't dare say a thing, so they could only trail along from a distance.
After kicking them, Gu Yue turned and caught up with Lin An, then wrapped both arms around his.
She clung to him tightly, pressing her whole body against his.
Lin An tugged at his arm, but couldn't pull it free.
He tugged again.
Gu Yue's face suddenly went pale, and she let out a retch.
Lin An stopped moving.
He lowered his gaze to Gu Yue's visibly bulging stomach, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
That silly dragon... just how much had she eaten?
Seeing that he'd stopped struggling, Gu Yue's lips curled up ever so slightly. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.
"Hehe..."
She let out another silly laugh.
Her grin lasted less than three seconds before a cramp in her stomach cut it short.
She gritted her teeth, fighting back her nausea and the pain in her stomach. Her steps wavered, and she practically hung off Lin An.
The communicator in her pocket vibrated furiously.
Bzz, bzz, bzz—
She didn't even need to look to know. More warnings, more fines.
A cold glint flashed through Gu Yue's eyes, then vanished in an instant.
She lifted her head, her expression stiffening into one of bashful embarrassment.
"Honey..."
Her voice turned syrupy sweet, full of pleading.
"I think I'm over 800,000 in debt."
She pulled Lin An's arm closer to her chest and gazed up at him imploringly.
"Could you help me get rid of the fines? And stop them from fining me again..."
She paused.
Suddenly, her face burned red. The blush spread from her ears down to her neck, and her voice grew shy and hesitant.
"If you help me get rid of the fines—"
"Tonight, you can do whatever you want to me."
Lin An stopped in his tracks.
He turned and looked at her without expression.
"The Federation set up this defensive program to target any ordinary person who touches me without authorization."
His tone was as flat as if he were reading from an instruction manual.
"It won't work on desperate criminals like the Holy Spirit Cult, but for someone like you, who keeps getting handsy—"
He pulled his arm free.
"It catches you every time."
Gu Yue froze.
For several seconds, she just stood there, but her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Does that mean—"
Her breathing quickened, and her voice trembled as if she'd just discovered a huge loophole.
"As long as I'm not afraid of the fines, I can hug you whenever I want?"
Lin An's eyelid twitched. He hadn't even had time to speak—
Gu Yue had already flung herself into his arms, wrapped both arms tightly around his waist, and rubbed and nudged her silver head against his chest. Her cheek pressed against his, soft and warm.
"Honey—"
Her voice came from his chest, muffled and full of scorching breath.
"I'm completely broke now. You'll have to support me from now on."
"Tonight, I'm moving in with you."
Lin An's face went completely dark.
So she was just gonna roll over and play dead, huh?
If she couldn't win, she'd just smash the pot and break it, huh?
"Get lost."
He pushed at her, but she wouldn't budge.
"Figure it out yourself."
"But I can't even pay my dorm fees anymore—"
Gu Yue lifted her head and gazed at him with teary eyes. The tip of her nose was red, and her lips were pressed into a pitiful little line.
"I'm behind on my utilities, too, and my meal card's been frozen—"
"Can you really bear to let me end up on the street, a stray dragon that nobody wants?"
Her voice was soft and pitiful, and paired with that exquisite face, it packed twice the punch.
Lin An looked at her without expression.
"I can."
"And besides, who's your husband?"
Gu Yue's mouth turned down, and her eyes grew even mistier.
Looking at her like that, Lin An suddenly thought of the Battle Armor.
Dragon scales were essential among its main materials.
He was silent for two seconds, then changed his mind.
"It's not impossible to get rid of your fines."
Gu Yue immediately perked up.
"Give me your scales."
Gu Yue's body stiffened slightly.
Just for an instant.
Then her breathing suddenly grew heavier, and turbulent emotions surged in her eyes, as if she were struggling to suppress something about to spill over.
Among dragons, lovers exchanged scales.
It was the oldest and most solemn token of love.
Not only could they sense each other's location and condition, they could also teleport to each other's side at any time.
This was...
Gu Yue stared at Lin An's calm face, her thoughts in chaos.
He didn't look like he was confessing his feelings.
He didn't even have much of an expression.
But—what if?
What if he'd actually remembered a few things, even if he hadn't remembered everything yet?
What if this was just his clumsy way of keeping a token close to him?
Besides—
If she could sense his condition through the scale...
She glanced down at the row of fine notices on her communicator, and a cold smile curved her lips.
Wasn't this just another way of being inseparable?
"Here."
She suddenly spoke.
Her voice trembled with barely contained emotion.
The next instant, a flash of silver flickered from her fingertips.
A scale landed in her palm.
It was oval and the size of her palm, pure silver-white, its surface shimmering like the stars.
An ancient, desolate pressure spread through the air, making it feel as though the world itself had frozen.
Lin An took the scale.
It was cold and heavy in his hand, heavier than any metal.
He could clearly sense the immense energy within it, along with an ancient will from the primordial age.
This quality... wasn't right.
He looked up at Gu Yue and saw that her eyes were red-rimmed, her lips pressed tightly together, as if she were holding back profound reluctance.
"This is your Reverse Scale, isn't it?"
Lin An frowned.
A dragon could barely find a few Reverse Scales on its entire body.
He'd only asked for an ordinary scale. Who told her to pluck out the most precious one?
Gu Yue blinked, forced back her tears, and nodded firmly.
"An'an—"
Her voice was soft and pitiful, full of pleading.
"My scales are really important to me. Please, please don't sell it."
Lin An looked at the silver scale in his hand. After a moment of silence, his tone softened.
"Don't worry. I'm not short on money."
The scale was meant to be used to forge Battle Armor in the first place, but Gu Yue's trust in him, given so freely—
It really did pluck at a string somewhere in his heart.
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