Three Great Dating Spots

"First, you have to keep it a secret that I brought you out to have fun in the human world. Whatever you do, don't tell Di Tian and the others. You'll be fine, but I'll be punished."

Chen An's gaze wandered as he used the pretense of whispering to casually rest his elbow on her shoulder.

Whenever Na'er drew close to him, the scale fused with dragon scales on his chest would grow faintly warm. The comfortable sensation was even stronger than soaking in a river.

By that logic, touching Gu Yue should have had the same effect.

But Gu Yue was cold and hard to talk to. Na'er was much easier to handle.

"Second: we each play our own part. When Di Tian and the others are around, I'll call you My Lord, and you can call me by my name as usual. But when outsiders are present, I'll call you by name, and you call me big brother."

Na'er nodded lightly, then suddenly noticed a problem and turned to him with an odd look.

"I remember you were that... uh, salted fish?"

"Carp. My name is Chen An."

"Okay, Chen An." Na'er held out her pinky and pointed at the blurry words on the back of his robe. "You... aren't a lolicon, are you?"

Chen An froze for two seconds. "Who taught you that word?"

He turned around and saw a faded line printed on the back of the robe that had been blown in by the wind. It was blurry, but still barely readable—I'm a lolicon.

Chen An hurriedly lowered his voice to explain, "I picked up this robe!"

Na'er shrank back a little, still looking at him strangely.

Chen An tried to salvage his image. "Since we'll be spending time together, we need a fake identity. Siblings are the most reasonable option."

After thinking it over, Na'er reluctantly decided to believe him, considering he had given her buns to eat.

"Fine, but if they find out about this, won't you..."

Showing her concern, she exaggeratedly made a throat-slitting gesture.

By rank, Chen An was only at the hundred-thousand-year level. He was the first one bold enough to ignore the hierarchy and force such a connection. Even a scolding would be a light punishment.

Chen An waved it off.

"This is the third thing I wanted to mention. You don't have any direct subordinates, so when we get back, talk to Di Tian and have him make me one of yours. He won't refuse.

"That way, I'll only take orders from you and have much more freedom. Later, I'll also have an excuse to visit you and secretly take you out to have fun.

"Think about it. In that forest, who else would abduct—ptui! Who else would let you have fun and buy you delicious food like I do?"

Na'er stared at Chen An with one eye wide and the other narrowed. Chen An looked back at Na'er with utter sincerity.

As if they had tuned into the same frequency, they leaned their shoulders and heads together. She copied Chen An, lowering her voice more and more.

"You've even dropped the honorifics. Are you always this arrogant when you privately call people by name?"

"It's fine. There are only a handful of soul beasts that have reached the hundred-thousand-year level anyway. Besides, they won't beat me to death."

"You're a strange soul beast."

"You flatter me."

Chen An stretched out his arm, and an unopened cream bun slipped from his sleeve into his hand. He held it out to her mouth.

"So, do you agree to my request?"

Na'er glanced at the bun and pretended not to care. "I'm not falling for that."

Seeing his plan fail, Chen An immediately sighed in disappointment and turned around to tear open the wrapper.

"Then I can only eat it myself."

"Hey! Wait!" Seeing the food at her mouth about to fly away, Na'er reached out and grabbed his robe.

Though she was the one benefiting, she somehow felt like he had taken a huge advantage of her.

Chen An held back his smile and turned around. "Have you thought it through?"

Na'er glanced at the bun, then side-eyed the ground. "I'll see how you behave. It's not, not because it tastes good..."

Plan successful.

Chen An handed her the bun untouched. Na'er happily accepted it, and the two headed down the street together.

"By the way, you came alone and must have spent a long time looking for me. But where did you get the money? You actually bought so much food?"

"Oh, that? Heaven's secrets must not be revealed."

[Sequence Talent 199: Luck (Level 2)]

Chen An looked around, bent down, and rose with a Federal Credit in his hand. He flicked the dirt off it, then thought of Na'er. She was still rather dirty.

Maybe he should get her a new outfit first? As for what kind...

The two passed a children's clothing store, and Chen An's attention was caught by a discounted dress.

Turning his head, he saw Na'er holding up a wrapper and pouring food crumbs into her mouth. An idea suddenly struck him.

"Come here."

Chen An dragged Na'er in front of a mirror. She still had half a mouthful of bread crumbs and asked indistinctly, "What?"

Chen An did not answer. He merely held the pale white dress up in front of her.

"Put it on." He patted Na'er on the head.

Na'er looked down at her grimy sleeves, then at the pretty dress in the mirror.

A hint of longing flashed through her clear purple eyes, but her words remained stubborn. "No. Too troublesome."

"It's free."

"...Fine."

A few minutes later, when the freshly changed Na'er stepped out of the fitting room, Chen An was unusually stunned for a moment.

The grime had been washed from her face, her silver hair was combed neat and glossy, and the pale white dress made her skin look like snow. She resembled a perfect little porcelain doll.

Only her eyes, which remained watchfully fixed on the food in Chen An's hands, still retained a touch of wildness.

Chen An was very satisfied. He casually bought a strawberry ice cream and stuffed it into her hand as hush money.

"Where would you like to go next?"

At his words, Na'er lightly glanced at Chen An and revealed a mischievous smile.

On a bright afternoon in Shrek City, even the wind became gentle.

The aquarium.

Behind the enormous acrylic glass wall, schools of brightly colored fish swam past.

Na'er pressed herself against the glass until her nose was flattened, then pointed at a plump fish and asked, "Can this be eaten?"

Chen An answered calmly, "No. It's a protected animal."

"Oh." Na'er reluctantly withdrew her gaze, then fixed it on a swimming stingray. "What about that one?"

"That one has cartilage. The texture isn't good."

"How do you know? Have you eaten one?"

"Don't ask."

The screening room was pitch-black, and the sound effects boomed.

Chen An picked a recently popular blockbuster. It was about monsters called the Abyss invading the continent before being saved by the male and female leads.

It was something Na'er had never seen before, and she sat there dumbfounded the entire time.

When a gigantic mushroom cloud exploded across the screen, she turned her head and said to Chen An with great seriousness, "If we attacked, we'd definitely be more powerful than that."

Chen An hurriedly grabbed a handful of popcorn and covered her mouth. "Shh—this isn't our territory. Keep a low profile, keep a low profile."

Na'er blinked, curled her tongue around the popcorn, and accidentally licked his palm. Chen An jerked his hand back as if electrocuted.

As the sun set, the sky was dyed orange-red, and the Ferris wheel slowly turned.

This was the highest point of Shrek Amusement Park. The cramped cabin slowly rose, and the city's prosperity spread out beneath them.

Na'er leaned against the window, curiously watching the streams of traffic grow smaller and smaller.

"You can see so far from here!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, you can see far." Chen An smiled in agreement, then lowered his head and counted his remaining Federal Credits.

To save enough money to offer her terms that would move her, he had spent the past few days bathing in public places. Even his cloth robe had been an outfit blown in from the wilderness.

After just one day of taking her around, he was already about to spend all his savings. He had not prepared himself mentally enough.

Just then, Na'er suddenly reached out and grabbed the cabin window latch.

With a click, she actually pushed the window open a crack.

A powerful evening wind instantly rushed in and tousled her silver hair.

Na'er was halfway out of the cabin, arms spread wide as she shouted excitedly, "I'm flying—!"

Chen An jumped in fright. He grabbed Na'er by the back of her collar and yanked her back like a kitten, then slammed the window shut.

Na'er covered her face and shrank miserably into the corner, but her eyes gleamed with the sly delight of a successful prank.

She discovered that seeing this guy named Chen An worry about her was even more fun than all that delicious food.

The cabin reached its highest point. The sun had completely set, and the brilliant starry sky seemed close enough to touch.

Chen An gazed at the sky, casting the matter of capturing the "beggar" from his mind as he fully enjoyed the freedom of the moment.