Sending little Xinglan to Shrek Academy-wasn't that just letting Shrek Academy corrupt her?!
"You don't want to go, Xinglan?" Xu Qingjia gently stroked his childhood friend's little head.
"No!" Ye Xinglan nodded emphatically, her azure eyes full of resistance, her delicate brows knotted tightly.
Teachers like rabid dogs.
Arrogant, overbearing students.
Shrek Academy's learning environment was awful.
"Then leave it to me." Xu Qingjia's voice rang with conviction.
As the Federation's newly appointed Holy Son, Xu Qingjia felt he had at least that much clout. After all, the Ye Family was no top-tier clan like the Shen and Xu Families. They had only one Super Douluo, a Three-Word Battle Armor Master. In a world of extraordinary powers, that level of strength meant the Ye Family could never wield much authority within the Federation.
It all depended on whether Ye Yuefather responded better to a soft touch or a firm hand.
Sending Ye Xinglan to Shrek Academy before her values had fully formed-how was that any different from throwing a child into a fire pit?
"Huh?" Ye Xinglan's eyes widened in surprise.
She had only wanted to vent her frustrations to a good friend. She had never expected Xu Qingjia to take the matter upon himself.
Xu Qingjia held her slightly cool little hand, gently brushing it with his fingertips. His voice was tender, yet carried unquestionable certainty. "Don't worry. There's nothing we can't resolve. I'll just have my father speak with yours about it."
Why have power if you don't use it?
"Mm." Ye Xinglan gazed at the supremely confident Xu Qingjia, stars sparkling in her azure eyes as she asked hopefully, "Can... can you really do that?"
"Of course." Xu Qingjia soothed his childhood friend.
Send little Xinglan to Shrek Academy? Better to keep her at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. With his connections and Ye Xinglan's own talent, the academy could easily allocate more resources to her. She would be far more comfortable there than at Shrek Academy.
Even now, Shrek Academy still had work-study students.
Aside from having to pay the full tuition, most work-study students were specially admitted to Shrek Academy for a particular skill, making them something like students admitted for special talents. But their living conditions were extremely harsh. The entire dormitory building had only one pipe supplying clean water, with no hot water at all. Boys and girls lived together, the dormitories were dilapidated, and crowds of students fought over a single toilet.
It was hard to imagine that, in such a technologically advanced age, a slum like this still existed-and inside the continent's foremost academy, no less.
"Your punishment is being sent to Shrek Academy to fight hundreds of people over one toilet!" At the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, that ranked among the most vicious curses imaginable.
Xu Qingjia glanced around the living room, suddenly remembering something. "By the way, where's Na'er?"
Ye Xinglan pointed toward Na'er's bedroom and said softly, "Na'er said she'd gotten sweaty and went to take a bath."
"Oh?" A hint of amusement flashed in Xu Qingjia's eyes. With Na'er's physique, how could she possibly have broken a sweat from walking a few steps outside?
Most likely, she was secretly talking to that "mother" of hers.
Recalling the White-Haired Dumpling's somewhat unusual behavior at noon, he had a thought. He sank his awareness into his Sea of Consciousness and opened the Book of Life and Death.
[Contacting Gu Yue]
Just as I thought.
Words continued to appear, one after another.
Meanwhile.
In the bathroom attached to Na'er's bedroom.
Water splashed through the mist-filled bathroom.
In the bathtub, the White-Haired Dumpling stretched her small body comfortably. The steam had flushed her fair, rosy little face crimson. Her jade-smooth shoulders remained above the water, droplets slowly sliding down her skin and catching the light with a crystalline gleam.
Gu Yue's cool voice reached Na'er's mind through the Silver Dragon Reverse Scale. "What's the situation?"
"The other party is extremely cunning." Na'er put aside her usual laziness, deliberately adopting a solemn, serious tone. "While keeping my identity concealed, I approached the target at the earliest opportunity..."
Na'er earnestly recounted the sequence of events she had fabricated.
In short, she had tried her best, but the other party had been too cunning, so she had failed.
Gu Yue was skeptical.
After all, she had previously received feedback from the Silver Dragon Reverse Scale and detected the aura of the Netherworld. Yet Na'er had reported that everything was normal. She had clearly been slacking off.
The White-Haired Dumpling resorted to tears first, tantrums second, and threats to hang herself third.
Sensing Gu Yue's distrust, the White-Haired Dumpling immediately switched modes. Her eyes reddened, and bean-sized tears rolled down her cheeks. Choking with grievance and helplessness, she tearfully denounced all the hardship and difficulty she had endured while "carrying out her mission."
She particularly emphasized that she had already secured the trust of the family she was staying with. This family enjoyed immense prestige and strength within the Sun Moon Federation. If she could use them as a stepping stone, establishing a foothold in the Federation would be much easier in the future, as would taking control of this human Sun Moon Federation.
"All right. I wasn't questioning you." Gu Yue's tone softened somewhat. Ultimately, she afforded this other self of hers a little more indulgence and trust. "Keep investigating over there. Even if you can't find the Netherworld's aura, you must use this family's influence to gain a higher position within the Sun Moon Federation."
After a pause, she added, "I recently came into contact with a religious order called the Netherworld Order. The deity they worship supposedly comes from the world of the dead, and is very likely connected to the Netherworld aura you sensed earlier. Rumor has it that high-ranking Federation officials stand behind this order. Find a way to investigate it secretly in the future."
In the end, Gu Yue chose to believe Na'er's account, assuming she had genuinely encountered a formidable opponent. Perhaps her earlier perfunctory response had merely been because the novelties of the human world had distracted her. She firmly believed that, as a part of herself-another her-Na'er would never betray or deceive her over something that concerned their grand plan.
The instant the conversation ended, the White-Haired Dumpling let out a long breath. Patting her still-flushed cheeks with her little hands, she muttered, "Phew, I finally managed to fool her.
"Na'er, oh, Na'er. You actually went and deceived Gu Yue."
She had actually deceived her other self because of a human child.
Na'er felt as though her mind were a complete muddle. Even she had no idea what she was thinking.
"I even wanted to kiss that human earlier."
Na'er recalled what had happened at noon.
Had... had she fallen for Xu Qingjia?!
"Mm..." A soft, adorably sweet whimper escaped Na'er's lips.
That was far, far too absurd!
She was the mighty Queen Na'er!
Yet the image of that aristocratic, black-haired boy calling her "Big Sister Na'er" rose uncontrollably in her mind.
"Hehe~" The White-Haired
Dumpling's lips unconsciously curved into a lovestruck smile. A glistening trickle of drool slipped from the corner of her mouth, her rosy little face filled with bashful delight.
Mm, no, no.
Na'er shook her little head fiercely, trying to throw the image out of her mind. Instead, it grew clearer, as though determined to engrave itself there.
But did this count as alchemy?
Na'er turned toward the full-length mirror in the bathroom.
The reflection of an adorable, rosy White-Haired Dumpling appeared in the glass.
"Gu Yue's the ancient fossil who's hundreds of thousands of years old. What's that got to do with me, Na'er?"
Meanwhile.
In the living room.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, Xu Qingjia watched the words continually appearing in the Book of Life and Death.
Bad news: someone around me had become hopelessly lovestruck.
Good news: I was the one she was lovestruck over.
"This feels pretty good."
Xu Qingjia murmured softly, the corners of his lips lifting into a pleased smile.
But there was still one problem.
Na'er could hide it for a while, but she couldn't keep it from Gu Yue forever.
The current Na'er had not been forcibly split off because of the Silver Dragon King's issues with human emotions, as she had been in the original story. Instead, the Silver Dragon King had separated Na'er so they could conveniently operate on two fronts. Gu Yue possessed the greater share of their essence, and could merge Na'er back into herself whenever she wished.
Surely he couldn't go to Gu Yue and say, "I really like Na'er, so just give up that portion of your essence."
It would be a miracle if the Silver Dragon King didn't fly into a rage on the spot.
He either had to make Gu Yue hopelessly lovestruck as well, or give Na'er more essence than Gu Yue possessed.
One step at a time. Once I'm strong enough, I can do anything.
Once the Netherworld Order became the Federation's state religion, the rate at which he gathered faith would undergo a qualitative leap.
I'm in Mingdu right now. Surely I won't come into contact with Gu Yue that soon, no matter how I look at it.