System Task: Night Raid on Zhang Lexuan

When someone was alone, no matter how great their grievances were, they would silently endure them themselves. But when someone stood by their side, listened earnestly, and offered comfort,

then the grievances and pain would pour forth like floodwater released from a dam, and tears would no longer represent weakness.

Instead,

they meant someone cared.

Zhang Lexuan looked at Su Ling beside her and tipped back another mouthful of wine. An extremely soft sob escaped her throat despite her efforts to control it.

"Over these past twenty years, no matter how lively Shrek was, whenever I woke in the middle of the night, there was only loneliness and a cold breeze beside me..."

As she spoke slowly, Su Ling could feel the loneliness she had suppressed for more than twenty years rushing toward him along with the scent of wine.

It felt like the times he had once drunk alone in a cramped rental apartment, accompanied only by the empty notification bar on his phone.

Su Ling picked up the bottle and filled her cup, then filled his own. Without a word, he raised his head and drained the wine.

Then, he reached out and tucked the damp strands of hair by Zhang Lexuan's temple behind her ear, his fingertips brushing against the burning heat of her ear.

"From now on, I'm here."

There were no sweet nothings prepared in advance, only four simple words spoken straight from his heart.

Su Ling did not know how to comfort someone properly. No one had ever taught him, nor had he ever experienced it himself.

But he knew that companionship was worth more than a thousand words.

Zhang Lexuan suddenly raised her head and looked at Su Ling, whose brows were furrowed and whose eyes were filled with heartache. Her eyes were red around the rims.

At last,

the tears she had held back could no longer be contained and spilled down her face.

It was as though those four words had drained all strength from her. She collapsed into Su Ling's arms, wrapped both arms tightly around his waist, buried her face against his chest, and trembled violently.

Su Ling's body stiffened for a moment.

He lowered his head to look at the sobbing beauty in his arms. In the end, he slowly closed his arms around her, drawing her slender back into his embrace and allowing her to wrinkle the back of his shirt in her grip.

"Su Ling... thank you..."

Zhang Lexuan choked out the words in broken intervals.

At this moment, the senior sister revered by Shrek's Inner Court was nowhere to be seen. There was only a shattered, lonely little girl.

Su Ling opened his mouth, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He sighed helplessly in his heart, then moved a hand to her back and gently stroked it.

Gradually,

Zhang Lexuan's sobbing tremors grew weaker and weaker. As if she had fallen asleep, she lay quietly buried against Su Ling's chest, and her tightly clenched arms gradually lost their strength.

The room fell silent.

Su Ling stopped patting her back and looked at Zhang Lexuan pressed against his chest. Her breathing became increasingly even.

"She really fell asleep..."

Su Ling chuckled softly and waited for a moment.

Moving gently, he carried Zhang Lexuan to her bedroom, removed her slippers, straightened her legs, and tucked her beneath the blanket.

Her eyelashes were still damp, but the corners of her lips curled up slightly. Lying there quietly, she looked like a sleeping beauty.

Su Ling looked away, turned around, and returned to the dining table. Rolling up his sleeves, he began cleaning up.

At the same time,

several hundred meters away, Xuan Zi, seated on a rooftop, spat out the wine in his mouth with a puff. His entire face was filled with frustration at Su Ling's failure to live up to expectations.

Using his spiritual sense, what had he seen?

That brat Su was actually acting like a nanny!

Was washing dishes and wiping tables what that brat was supposed to be doing!?

Hurry up and get into the bedroom to be intimate with Lexuan, damn it!

Xuan Zi was frantic, but he could not exactly go instigate him face-to-face. He could only pace anxiously back and forth across the rooftop.

The view returned to the wooden cabin.

Su Ling had already cleaned up the dining table and kitchen. He now sat in the living room, his gaze fixed on a potted plant as he remained silent for a long while.

He was not spacing out. The system upgrade had been completed!

[ Ding, system upgrade complete! Would the host like an introduction to all new functions? ]

"Give me the important parts."

[ Simplifying the information for the host... ]

[ Ding, after this system upgrade, weekly strategy missions will be unlocked for the host. Three interaction missions involving bonded goddesses will be refreshed every week. Completing them will yield generous rewards! ]

[ Furthermore, increasing favorability will no longer grant additional Strategy Points. The method of obtaining Strategy Points will change to the host's various interactions with goddesses, such as stirring up different emotions. (There is no upper limit to the Strategy Points obtained through this method!) ]

[ Finally, goddess achievements have been added. Each goddess has different achievements. (For example: nurture one into a Limit Douluo.) Completing them will yield substantial rewards! ]

Listening to the detailed explanation of the upgrade in his ears and looking at the virtual interface visible only to him, Su Ling's eyes lit up.

"The changes and additions are all beneficial without any drawbacks. This system upgrade really gave me a surprise!"

"No time to waste. Let's check the new weekly missions."

Suppressing his excitement, Su Ling moved his thoughts.

[ Weekly Strategy Missions ]

[ Reset time: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes ]

[ Mission One: Cui Yajie's family has returned to its peak, and she has already decided to sincerely invite you to Shrek City after school tomorrow to thank you.

Agree to go shopping with Cui Yajie, and choose clothes for her during the outing, including shoes, stockings, and dresses...

(Difficulty: B-rank) Completion reward: 200 Strategy Points ]

[ Mission Two: Wang Dong'er covets your handsome appearance and considers you her exclusive possession. At this moment, she is dreaming of making you wait on her.

Make her dream come true. Wash her feet personally, massage her shoulders and back, then kiss the tops of her feet and call her Princess...

(Difficulty: A-rank) Completion reward: 400 Strategy Points, Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer ]

[ Mission Three: Zhang Lexuan has already fallen in love with you. She woke up when you carried her into the bedroom earlier, and she is currently pretending to be drunk while anticipating your nighttime attack.

Satisfy her. Do something you consider improper to her, making her blush and her heartbeat accelerate...

(Difficulty: B-rank) Completion reward: 300 Strategy Points ]

Looking at the missions before him, Su Ling rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment. He already had an idea.

"I can go shopping with Cui Yajie. It works out perfectly—I can head to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion with Tang Ya and the others after we return."

Su Ling took one look at the second mission and immediately passed on it. If it were just washing her feet and massaging her shoulders, he could accept that.

But he also had to kiss the tops of her feet and call her Princess...

Forget it. It was not like he lacked those 400 Strategy Points.

As for the last one.

"Do something improper to Zhang Lexuan..." Su Ling looked toward the bedroom and unconsciously swallowed.

He and Zhang Lexuan had already kissed. Doing something a little improper probably would not be a big problem.

Besides, the system said she had fallen in love with him and was pretending to sleep while waiting for him to enter the bedroom!

"I probably won't get beaten up, right..."

Having made up his mind, Su Ling rose and headed toward the bedroom. His face remained calm, but his steps unconsciously became light and stealthy.

In the distance,

Xuan Zi, who had been anxiously watching, sensed Su Ling walking toward the bedroom. He froze, and joy abruptly spread across his face.

Had that brat Su finally caught on!?

Inside the wooden cabin's bedroom.

Su Ling walked to the bedside and lowered his head to gaze at Zhang Lexuan on the bed. The window curtains swayed gently, and silvery moonlight fell across her beautiful face.

If not for the system's prompt, he would probably have been fooled by Zhang Lexuan's act.

Look at that—even breathing, eyelashes trembling at just the right moments. She looked no different from someone truly asleep.

At this moment, Zhang Lexuan, seven parts awake and three parts drunk, quietly opened her eyes a barely noticeable crack.

When she saw Su Ling staring at her, she hurriedly shut them again and continued pretending to sleep. Yet her heart could no longer restrain itself, pounding faster and faster.