Lin An wiped the toothpaste foam from the corner of his mouth and looked at the string of messages, speechless.
He scrolled up through the chat history.
He carefully reread everything he'd sent.
"Mm."
"Very impressive."
And a smiling emoji.
Five words and one emoji in total.
How had she managed to read so much into that?
Lin An rubbed his temples and began to reply.
"Thanks. But there's no need."
Six words. That was plenty.
Send.
On the other end of the communicator, Gu Yue sprang upright in bed.
He thanked me!
Does that mean... he's accepted me?
Gu Yue's violet eyes shone almost blindingly. Her heart pounded faster, and an unnatural flush rose across her face.
She took a deep breath, fingers trembling as she typed.
She was going to strike while the iron was hot and make the request she'd been plotting for ages—
"Then can I move in and live with you?"
Send.
A tiny red exclamation mark appeared beside the message.
[Delivery failed]
Gu Yue froze for a moment, her pupils suddenly contracting.
Had he blocked her?
Her first reaction was panic.
But before she could think it through, two notifications popped up in quick succession.
[Data Charge Notice: Your account is overdue by 347,000 Federal Credits. Service has been suspended. Please top up immediately to restore access.]
Gu Yue's expression stiffened.
What was this supposed to be?
Three hundred and forty-seven thousand?
She was overdue?
She was just about to take a closer look when the second notification appeared right after it.
[Federal Communications Administration · Violation Warning]
"High-frequency harassing messages have been detected being sent to 'Lin An' (a core member of the Universal Group and listed in the Federation's S+ Commercial Security Registry), a Level One protected person of the Federation. A total of 47 messages have been sent. You are suspected of violating Articles 7 and 12 of the Federal Important Personnel Protection Act."
"Your account has been flagged as a 'Potential Risk Contact,' and your communications functions have been frozen."
"Please pay the fine of 350,000 Federal Credits within 24 hours. Otherwise, your case will be referred to the academy for a school-wide public reprimand and entered into your personal credit record."
Gu Yue's pupils suddenly contracted.
Her lips trembled.
"H-Harassment?"
Her voice shot up a full octave.
She sprang out of bed.
Her silver hair flared wildly, and Soul Power churned around her uncontrollably.
"I'm sending messages to my husband, and you're telling me it's harassment?!"
Gu Yue shook with rage.
She, the Co-Lord of Soul Beasts, the dignified Silver Dragon King, who had lived for countless tens of thousands of years—
Had actually been labeled a "Potential Risk Contact" by an institution in the human world?
And fined?
And publicly reprimanded before the whole school?
And had it entered into her credit record?!
Her face flushed red, and she couldn't tell whether it was from anger or grievance.
Her eyes reddened, and her teeth clenched with a grinding sound.
The communicator in her hand creaked under the strain as its casing threatened to give way.
This wretched, filthy human world!
One day—
"AAAH!!!"
She punched the bedside table.
A chunk of its surface caved in.
"Di Tian!"
Gu Yue's voice was cold, like ice shards forced through clenched teeth.
A shadow silently coalesced behind her.
Di Tian dropped to one knee, sweat beading on his forehead.
It had been a long time since he'd seen the Lord so furious.
"Investigate this for me."
Gu Yue turned around, her silver hair stirring without a breeze, killing intent glinting in her violet eyes.
"I want to see who's messing with me."
"Then, my lord... are you still paying the fine?" Di Tian asked, steeling himself.
"Pay? Why should I pay? I'm talking to my husband! Why should I be fined?"
Gu Yue was beside herself with rage, a dangerous light flashing in her eyes.
"Let me find out who's pulling the strings, and I'll make them pay."
The more Gu Yue thought about it, the angrier she became.
She'd been this close—just this close to moving in with Lin An.
And now it had all been ruined.
Boys' dormitory.
Lin An leaned against the headboard.
His mother's voice came through the communicator.
"Son, are you all right? Don't worry, I've already had them fine her into bankruptcy. If she can't pay off the debt—"
The voice paused, shifting from anger to coldness.
"She can only be dismantled by the company and sold off."
Lin An pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless.
"Come on, it's really not that serious."
He even felt a little dissatisfied.
It had always been like this, from the time he was a child.
His communicator had been implanted with a monitoring program, and every message he sent or received was watched by the family security system.
That was why he didn't dare reply to Gu Yue too often.
"Not that serious?"
Lin An's mother's voice suddenly rose, fierce with a mother bear's protectiveness.
"Those lowly barbarians from the backwater even called you their husband! Listen to me, you'd better be careful. Who knows how many people have their eyes on you now, waiting to drag you off, have you father a hundred or eighty children, and then split the child support!"
Lin An opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but decided anything he said would be pointless.
"Do you have any idea I haven't slept all night?"
There was unmistakable anger and lingering fear in his mother's voice.
"When I heard someone was harassing my son, my blood pressure shot up to 200! If the alarm hadn't gone off, I wouldn't have known those country bumpkins had already gotten their hooks into you!"
She took a deep breath, as if trying to tamp down her anger.
"And she even made up some story about being your husband in a past life, meeting again after reincarnating ten thousand years later—as if my son were an idiot?"
"I know, I know."
Lin An yawned, making no effort to hide how perfunctory he was being.
"Get some rest. It's almost dawn."
"Rest? How can I rest? I'm too angry to sleep!"
At the thought of some wild boar from the outside trying to root around in her precious little cabbage, whom she'd spoiled rotten, Lin An's mother almost wished she could crawl through the communications signal and kill the boy herself.
Lin An's mouth twitched. He silently hung up.
The dorm room fell quiet.
Leaning against the headboard, he thought it over, then turned his communicator back on.
He decided to pay Gu Yue's fine for her.
After all, she really hadn't meant any harm.
She just wasn't very bright.
He opened the payment screen and tapped through a few options.
After paying the 350,000-credit fine, he tossed the communicator beside his pillow and turned over to sleep.
Morning.
Just after daybreak, two hurried sets of footsteps sounded in the hallway.
They drew closer.
Then stopped outside Lin An's dorm room.
Tang Wulin stood at the door, clutching a bag of breakfast.
The buns were still hot.
Xie Xie stood beside him, an awkward reluctance on his cool, stern face.
He was carrying food too—soy milk, fried dough sticks, and a box of cut fruit.
The two exchanged a glance.
"Stand farther away," Xie Xie said under his breath, his gaze unfriendly.
"Why should I? I got here first." Tang Wulin stuck out his neck, his face flushed.
"First? You've been pacing around here since five. You think I didn't see you?"
"You showed up at five ten too!"
They argued in hushed voices, neither willing to give an inch.
Just then, the sound of high heels striking the floor came from the far end of the hallway.
Crisp.
Hurrying.
As if trampling a ball of fire.
Gu Yue appeared around the corner.
Her silver hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes were bloodshot.
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