Gu Yue: "You Got So Pretty and Won't Even Let Me Lick You! You Dog, You've Gone Too Far!"

Gu Yue had been sprawled on the floor, unwilling to pay him any attention.

Then she caught that scent.

Fragrant.

The scent of meat.

Not the perfunctory industrial seasoning of instant noodles.

It was the real thing—the savory aroma of fat caramelizing under high heat.

Gu Yue's head snapped up with a whoosh.

She saw Lin Yan standing before her, holding an oil-paper parcel.

The parcel was open, and inside lay a large roasted chicken drumstick, golden and dripping with oil.

"This is for you." Lin Yan held the drumstick out to her.

Gu Yue froze.

Her paw stretched halfway out, then drew back again.

Her silver eyes were filled with wariness—since when had this animal ever been so generous?

But that smell was simply too much.

Drool began spilling from her mouth uncontrollably, and a suspicious rumble came from her throat.

In the end, hunger overcame reason.

She extended both front paws, carefully took the drumstick, and lowered her head for a bite.

Her teeth pierced the crisp, charred skin, and scorching meat juices burst across her tongue.

Gu Yue's eyes instantly reddened.

Sob, sob.

She was moved to tears.

Ever since she had followed this animal, she had eaten instant noodles and gnawed mushrooms every day. Even adding an egg once in a while counted as a holiday.

She had nearly forgotten what meat tasted like.

She viciously raised her head, glaring at Lin Yan with silver eyes brimming with tears as she mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Hmph... Don't think you can buy off this dragon with that. Foolish human, you will pay for your arrogance."

Her mouth was talking tough, but it never stopped chewing.

She took small bites, chewing slowly and carefully, even using her tongue to pick every last shred of meat from between the bones.

It had been a long time since she had eaten anything this seriously.

Because she had no idea where the next meal of meat would come from, she had to cherish this one.

This was the first rule of survival she had learned after following that animal.

As she ate, she looked up, wanting to see what Lin Yan was doing.

Then she froze.

The setting sun slanted in through the window and fell across Lin Yan's profile.

He was looking down at the empty wallet in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed, his lashes casting faint shadows beneath his eyes.

That face—no, this was not the face she remembered.

What had Lin Yan looked like before?

Thin, pale, with an unshakable gloom between his brows.

He had been passably handsome, perhaps, but definitely not enough to make people unable to look away.

Yet the person standing before her now—

His features were still those same features, his contours still those same contours.

But every flaw, every imperfection, seemed to have been wiped away by an invisible hand.

His skin was no longer the sickly waxen yellow of malnutrition, but had a warm, jade-like texture.

The curve of his brow bone was just right, his jawline clean and sharp, and his eyes were deeper than before.

He wore an old school uniform faded white from washing, standing in a shabby kitchen with peeling walls and a broken lightbulb behind him.

Yet none of that ruin could suppress the natural aura he carried.

It was a perfection beyond the bounds of human aesthetics, something close to divinity.

Had this human always been this handsome?

Gu Yue felt her heartbeat skip.

Then it began racing madly.

No, no, no.

She was the noble Silver Dragon King, ruler of all soul beasts, half of the Dragon God.

What handsome men had she not seen?

Then why was her tail no longer listening to her?

Why had her paws already started moving toward Lin Yan on their own?

By the time she realized what was happening, she had already scampered up to Lin Yan, tilted up her head, and stuck out her tongue to lick his face.

Without even looking up, Lin Yan punched her on the head.

A dull thunk rang out.

Gu Yue was knocked into a backward somersault and landed sprawled on the floor, clutching her head with both front paws as she looked at him with teary eyes.

"Eat your chicken. Who are you trying to rub your greasy face on?"

"Sob..."

Gu Yue covered the huge bump swelling on her head, her tail trembling with grievance.

"You got so pretty and won't even let a dragon lick you! You dog, you've gone too far!"

"This dragon just drained all the elemental power in the world for you! That was all the reserves I'd built up over so many days!"

"I've lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and I've never been this tired in my life! Ever since I started following you, what kind of miserable days have I been living?"

The more she spoke, the more worked up she became. Her voice grew louder and louder, while more and more tears gathered in her eyes.

But even she could not tell whether those tears came from grievance or guilt.

For that brief instant, she really had been dazzled by his face.

Lin Yan looked at her speechlessly.

What she said did make him feel a little guilty.

She really had just emptied all her reserves for his sake.

Then he had turned around and punched her. That did seem a little excessive.

He gave a dry cough, turned his head away, and said nothing more.

Gu Yue was clever. She instantly caught that trace of guilt.

She grumbled as she scooted closer. While he was not paying attention, she swiftly licked his cheek.

Then she shot three meters away, squatted atop the stove, and licked her lips in satisfaction.

Her tail wagged behind her like a propeller.

Worth it.

Expressionless, Lin Yan wiped the drool and grease from his face with the back of his hand and gave her a look that said, Just you wait.

But he really did not chase after her to hit her again.

Gu Yue grew even smugger. Her tail wagged more merrily, and even the chicken drumstick tasted better as she gnawed on it.

Unlike this carefree, foolish dragon, Lin Yan was not feeling relaxed at all.

The soul ring issue had been settled, and he had broken through the level-ten bottleneck.

The moment the god-given soul ring entered his body, his Soul Power had broken through level ten. Now, he stood firmly at the threshold of level eleven.

His first soul ring was a ten-year silver-white soul ring, with seven-colored elemental radiance flowing across its surface.

But so what?

He was still poor.

So poor that he could not even afford his next meal.

When his mother ran away, she took everything in the house that could be moved and mortgaged every asset that could be pawned.

He had spent his last dozen or so yuan on the chicken drumstick and noodles. Now, he could not even dig out a single coin from his body.

He owed five hundred thousand.

His school registration had been canceled.

His path as a soul master had barely begun before it slammed into the wall of survival.

At that moment, his stomach growled, loud and long.

Gu Yue, who had been gnawing on the chicken drumstick, abruptly stopped.

She raised her head, and Lin Yan's expressionless face was reflected in her silver pupils.

He said nothing, and his expression did not change in the slightest.

But her ears were sharp. She had heard that rumble from his stomach perfectly clearly.

From beginning to end, he had only bought one chicken drumstick.

And he had given it to her.

Gu Yue lowered her head and looked at the half-eaten drumstick in her paws.

There was still plenty of meat on the bone, and the skin remained golden and crisp, glistening with oil beneath the light.

She swallowed, then raised her head again and held out half the drumstick.

Her voice was soft, so soft that it sounded as if the words had slipped out by accident. "Hungry? There's half left. Mama's giving it to you."