The Same Night, Different Dormitories

The faint fragrance and milky scent amidst the young girl's hair swept into his nasal cavity with extreme dominance, and Lin Yan only felt the vital energy and blood in all the meridians of his body surging wildly.

Soon, his entire face was completely flushed.

Faced with temptation, he would certainly not say "no"!

However... tea must be brewed slowly, and haste ruins the taste.

Merely obtaining Zhu Zhuqing's body was too simple for him; what Lin Yan truly needed was the favorability from the system's task.

Looking at the favorability in the system Panel that reached as high as 70%, Lin Yan deliberately feigned a troubled posture and said.

Favorability: 70%

"You..."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back!"

"Being with me means that not only will you have to evade Dai Mubai's sight for the time being, but even Rongrong's side will require you to handle the concealment work well in a short period."

"To put it bluntly... you might end up being an obscure mistress in the shadows!"

Unsurprisingly, Zhu Zhuqing hesitated significantly upon hearing these words.

Her original intention was to seek Lin Yan's help to shake off Dai Mubai and the royal family, thereby living a free life.

Yet if things were to turn out just as Lin Yan had implied, would everything she had done still hold any meaning?

The alluring facade the young girl had originally fumed was gradually freezing, and this time, she finally revealed her true self before Lin Yan.

This was precisely the purpose of Lin Yan uttering these words.

He straightened his upper body, placed his hands on the young girl's plump hips to meet her gaze, and spoke.

"Think it through before making a decision. Right now, you can get down from me and return my things, and I can pretend nothing ever happened."

Lin Yan deliberately rested his hands on the other's snow-white skin and heavily emphasized in his words that she must return his belongings. The purpose of doing so was to tell Zhu Zhuqing: her upcoming response would propel the two of them toward different endings tonight.

The air welcomed another brief silence.

"Turning back now... is it still not too late?"

Thoughts churned a thousand times in Zhu Zhuqing's heart. To be honest, Lin Yan's reaction caught her completely off guard.

In her impression, Lin Yan was merely a Healing Soul Master who always wore a good-natured persona and maintained a warm smile for everyone.

Zhu Zhuqing had originally thought that although she paid a price in her "cooperation" with Lin Yan, she could at least retain the initiative—much like all the combination pairings of Support Soul Masters and Combat Soul Masters on the mainland, in which case she wouldn't be wronging herself too much.

Yet seeing things now...

The Lin Yan before her eyes did not seem so simple, and regarding this transaction, she was very likely jumping out of one fire pit straight into another.

"So, do we really have to do this?"

At this moment, beneath Zhu Zhuqing was Lin Yan's scorching palm, and before her was a pair of aggressively glowing golden pupils; the young girl had already plunged into a state of immense entanglement.

On one hand, from others' evaluations, Zhu Zhuqing knew Lin Yan was probably a mild-tempered person, and being with him meant she would likely be the dominant party—meaning Zhu Zhuqing had assumed she would hold the initiative with Lin Yan.

On the other hand, judging from Lin Yan's current reaction and attitude, he was clearly no pushover. If she truly offered her body tonight, there was no telling to what extent she would be completely devoured and consumed down the road.

Yet... she had already come this far; could Lin Yan really pretend tonight that nothing had happened? Even if he could, wouldn't she still have to face Dai Mubai afterwards?

Thinking of this, a flash of determination crossed the young girl's purple pupils.

"I've thought it through!"

The next second, Zhu Zhuqing's previously rigid body gradually softened, and the weight of her plump hips in Lin Yan's palms grew increasingly solid.

Under the moonlight, on the sofa, their lips met.

"Lin Yan! You'll definitely help me and treat me well, right..."

"Mhm, wait a minute... Can you bring out your Martial Soul? I want to see your tail."

Meanwhile, inside the Girls' Dormitory.

Ning Rongrong poked her small head out to glance at Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu's beds. In the darkness, she could vaguely see the two quilts lying motionless, and there were also distinct, faint sounds of snoring in the air.

"Xiao Wu? Zhuqing? Are you asleep?"

She probed in a soft voice, and naturally, no one answered inside the dormitory.

"Looks like they're both asleep, hehe."

The young girl chuckled covertly, then took two golden feathers out from her Storage Ring.

These were precisely the first and second soul skills Lin Yan had given her previously to help relieve fatigue: one could smooth away physical exhaustion, and the other possessed calming and refreshing effects.

But if both were used together...

"I didn't expect that using two feathers with different effects simultaneously would yield this kind of feedback."

Ning Rongrong gripped both feathers tightly with one hand while her other hand stealthily reached beneath the quilt.

Having finished all this, she closed her pretty eyes, and inside the dormitory, which previously held only faint snoring, there also emerged a succession of muffled groans as faint as a mosquito's hum...

A cool breeze swept past, and the night grew deeper.

Two different dormitories concealed two different people, yet the scenes filling their minds were entirely identical.

"Lin Yan... I like you so much..."

Early the next morning.

"The Star Dou Great Forest is extremely perilous. Today's soul-hunting will be led by Teacher Zhao."

Flender assembled everyone early in the morning.

Today was the day to hunt a soul ring for Oscar. Just like in the original work, the soul-hunting operation was led by Zhao Wuji, with the Star Dou Great Forest as their destination.

At this moment, counting the original Shrek Seven Monsters and Lin Yan, a total of eight disciples stood neatly in a row, receiving Flender's exhortations.

"You little rascals, don't you dare think you have a bit of strength and stop listening to commands!"

"Especially you, Tang San!"

Flender gave Tang San a particularly heavy reminder! With no other choice, so far everyone else was law-abiding and executing his teaching plan step by step, save for Tang San...

Every other day he would find some crooked way to trouble Lin Yan.

On this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest, what Flender feared most was Tang San making a temporary impulse along the way and striking directly at Lin Yan! For this reason, he had deliberately repeated warnings to Zhao Wuji several times over the past few days.

The early morning air was exceptionally cool, and Flender chattered endlessly ahead about precautions, while everyone in the team held varying thoughts and whispered quietly among themselves.

Ning Rongrong stood between Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu, whispering to Zhu Zhuqing.

"Zhuqing, how come I noticed your walking posture looks a bit weird this morning? Did you injure your leg?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Zhuqing, whose standing posture was already somewhat awkward, grew even more tense. As if someone had discovered some unspeakable secret, her gaze could not stop darting away.

"N-nothing, I bumped into the corner of the bed just now."

Ning Rongrong never expected her casual inquiry would make the other party so nervous. Out of kindness, she once again displayed concern.

"Ah? Is it serious? Or should I have Lin Yan give you a treatment?"

"No need, no need. I'll be fine after resting a bit."

Zhu Zhuqing's expression turned awkward; the more Ning Rongrong cared about her and looked at her leg, the more guilty her conscience became.

At that moment, she only wished to disband the team as soon as possible and put some distance between herself and Ning Rongrong.

Yet who would have thought Ning Rongrong would act as if she were competing with her? The more Zhu Zhuqing dodged, the more proactive Ning Rongrong became, finally pulling a feather directly out of her Storage Ring.

"Then use this!"