A melon forcibly plucked is never sweet

Fine, fine, fine. Your affection is dropping too, huh? All right.

A wicked smile curled Liu Hao's lips, but he did not lash out immediately. He merely said lightly:

"Force her? Who's forcing her? Not me~ Haven't I given her the right to choose? If she doesn't want to, she can absolutely refuse."

"You... shameless!"

Bibi Dong was so furious that she was momentarily speechless, unable to think of a rebuttal.

"Fine, I'm shameless." Liu Hao shrugged indifferently and smiled. "Your Holiness, I wonder if you know Yu Xiaogang?"

Xiaogang!?

Bibi Dong's expression changed, but she stubbornly denied it. "I don't know this person you're talking about. What are you trying to do?"

"Hehe, Your Holiness, you wouldn't want anything to happen to Yu Xiaogang, would you?"

Liu Hao fixed his gaze on Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes and smiled gently.

"I don't even know Yu Xiaogang. What does anything happening to him have to do with me?"

Bibi Dong snorted coldly, acting utterly unconcerned.

"Really? Then how about I go capture him right now and give him a good, thorough torturing right in front of you?"

Liu Hao turned, making as though to leave.

Seeing that he did not seem to be bluffing, Bibi Dong finally panicked. "Liu Hao! What exactly do you want?"

Bibi Dong's affection -5. Current affection: 19.

"What do I want? Don't you know perfectly well? I want to have an intimate exchange with you master and disciple, and talk about our dreams in life~" Liu Hao turned back with a broad smile and looked at the two women.

Bibi Dong clenched her teeth, glaring furiously at Liu Hao, her heart filled with despair.

Were she and her disciple really going to have to surrender themselves to this bastard today?

Hu Liena's feelings were complicated as well. When Bibi Dong appeared and confronted Liu Hao, she had breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she had misunderstood her teacher and thinking she was saved. Yet she had never expected that this devil would even do this to her teacher...

Bibi Dong's affection -10. Current affection: 9.

Hu Liena's affection -1. Current affection: -8.

"Neither of you is saying anything? Then I'll take your silence as agreement~"

Liu Hao flashed a wicked, seductive smile and slowly approached, reaching out his devilish hands with a nasty grin.

"No!"

Bibi Dong and Hu Liena cried out in alarm at the same time, their faces full of resistance.

Seeing Liu Hao's expression darken, Bibi Dong hurriedly said, "Liu Hao, with your tremendous strength, what kind of woman couldn't you have? Why insist on setting your sights on a withered flower like me?"

Before Liu Hao could answer, Hu Liena sensed danger in those words. She was no withered flower, after all-she was still an untouched maiden. Wasn't her teacher turning the spearhead toward her?

"Elder Liu Hao, haven't you heard the saying? A melon forcibly plucked is never sweet, and a woman you force won't be wet. The experience is bound to be awful. How about this? I'll agree to let you court me. Just don't use force, all right?"

In this desperate situation, Hu Liena's mind raced as she tried to buy time.

Seeing the two beauties looking so pitiful, Liu Hao's heart softened. The moral education he had received in his previous life kicked in, and he actually began reflecting on his behavior.

Wasn't this a little wrong of me? I'm acting like a villain, a bully, a beast...

All sorts of unflattering descriptions began surfacing in Liu Hao's mind.

What Bibi Dong had said did not matter to him. A withered flower? He did not care at all. As long as she was beautiful enough, he would happily drive even a seventh-hand Alto, let alone a secondhand one.

But Hu Liena did have a point. A melon forcibly plucked was never sweet. That saying referred to sweet melons: before they ripened, they were difficult to pick, and if forcibly picked and eaten, they would not be sweet at all, even tasting a little bitter. With ripe melons, however, the cells around the stem naturally aged and separated. Some would even "fall from the vine when ripe" on their own. A gentle twist would snap the stem, making them effortless to pick.

The same applied to cars. Forcibly starting a little car with no fuel left its body tense and made getting onto the road exceedingly difficult, without the slightest smoothness. It would not run smoothly either and could easily stall. More importantly, a little car driven by force would make terribly grating noises that put one in an irritable mood, unlike the soft sounds of a normally running car, which were soothing and pleasant to hear~

Maybe I should hold off for now?

Liu Hao looked at the two stunning women before him with mixed feelings, somewhat torn.

After all, their affection had already dropped into negative numbers. Raising it again would not be easy.

Huh? I've got it!

After pondering for a long while, inspiration flashed through Liu Hao's mind.

A melon forcibly plucked isn't sweet, but what if I don't need it to be sweet and only want to play with it?

Forcing a little car with no fuel to run makes for a bad experience, but what if I just use it as a little space to rest in when I'm tired?

"Hehe."

Liu Hao gave a cold chuckle, looked at Bibi Dong and Hu Liena, and said, "Fine. I won't force you to do that sort of thing."

But before the two women could breathe a sigh of relief, Liu Hao added, "However..."

"However what?"

"However, don't celebrate too soon."

The two women's hearts tightened, unsure what nasty idea Liu Hao had come up with now.

"Don't worry. It's nothing major. I just want you two to massage me and help me relax. How about it? That's not an unreasonable request, is it?"

"..."

The two women were stunned at first, but after nearly being forcibly plucked earlier, they found this request far less objectionable.

"All right."

As long as they were not... naturally, neither would refuse.

Afterward, Liu Hao lay on a soft couch newly brought into the Papal Palace and leisurely enjoyed Bibi Dong and Hu Liena's massage services.

Hu Liena massaged his head, shoulders, neck, and arms, while Bibi Dong kneaded his feet and legs...

At such close range, the two women's alluring natural scents, each distinct and charming in its own way, kept drifting into Liu Hao's nose, gradually relaxing his mind.

Their soft, delicate touch left Liu Hao feeling indescribably comfortable all over.

If any other Titled Douluo had dared provoke Bibi Dong and then expose their vulnerabilities so blatantly before her, she would have dared launch a surprise attack in retaliation-even if it were Qian Daoliu.

Yet faced with this detestable fellow, Bibi Dong did not dare make the slightest suspicious move.

Not only had she experienced Liu Hao's terrifying power firsthand, but her two powerful Spider Emperor martial souls also granted her a keen ability to sense danger.

If I attack, death is the only outcome!

That was the warning Bibi Dong sensed deep within her heart.

Seeing that even her teacher did not dare resist, Hu Liena dared not harbor the slightest rebellious thought either. She could only behave obediently and massage Liu Hao with utmost care.

Inside the bedchamber of the Eastern Palace in Heaven Dou City.

Xue Qinghe, the current crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, lived here.

At that moment, Xue Qinghe was sitting at his desk, attending to affairs of state.

His features were gentle, his face handsome, and his bearing refined, making others feel as though they were basking in a spring breeze.

When he worked earnestly, he possessed an even more distinctive charm.

Yet while attending to affairs of state, he was also thinking about someone.

That person was Liu Hao, Spirit Hall's newly appointed Ninth Elder, rumored to be a level 99 Limit Douluo.

As Qian Renxue, whose true identity was actually Spirit Hall's young mistress, she naturally had more detailed and reliable information.

That Ninth Elder was not merely a level 99 Limit Douluo-he was also only twelve years old, an utterly heaven-defying existence.

This dealt a tremendous blow to the proud heart of Qian Renxue, who had always considered herself the continent's greatest genius.

She had originally intended to attend the Ninth Elder's Enfeoffment Ceremony as the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire and see this peerless prodigy with her own eyes.

Unfortunately, citing concern for the safety of Xue Qinghe, the Heaven Dou Crown Prince, Xue Ye had sent Prince Xue Xing to attend instead.

This left Qian Renxue quite frustrated. She could only wait for a future opportunity to return to Spirit Hall and see him then.

"Xue'er, keeping busy?"

Suddenly, a familiar voice she had not heard in a long time rang out in Qian Renxue's mind.