One day after being sent back by Su Ruo.
Bai Lili lay on the sofa playing with her phone, completely unaware of Qing Hanyin standing behind her.
Qing Hanyin, dressed in a maid outfit, placed a cut fruit platter within Bai Lili’s reach. She looked at Bai Lili, feeling that this life really had changed a lot.
She felt a bit lost, wondering what she should do now. After being reborn, she wanted to change something, but she found that nothing had changed—she was still the same as always.
Qing Hanyin thought carefully. It wasn’t that nothing had changed; maybe she just hadn’t found the right direction.
Bai Lili, lying on the sofa, sensed a strong gaze coming from Qing Hanyin. She turned over, tilted her head, and asked.
“What’s up? Is something wrong, Hanyin?”
Qing Hanyin nodded, then shook her head. She didn’t know what to say.
Bai Lili looked at her, unable to tell if something was happening or not. She got up from the sofa, took a piece of fruit from the platter, and ate it.
Seeing this, Qing Hanyin felt that among the three of them, her progress in winning Bai Lili over was the slowest. The urgent task was to raise Bai Lili’s affinity—otherwise, she’d be left with scraps while the other two took the whole pot.
Qing Hanyin recalled something in her mind, though she wasn’t sure if it was reliable. She had seen before that if one’s mental power was high enough and their control precise enough, they could plant suggestions in others. The requirements were very strict, but it could only change things the target didn’t strongly resist.
Qing Hanyin wanted to try. She attempted to alter Bai Lili’s way of addressing her—calling her “classmate” was still too distant.
Bai Lili sat there eating fruit. She felt a slight daze, then nothing happened. She turned to look at Qing Hanyin and said.
“Hanyin, what are you standing there for? Come sit and have some fruit.”
Qing Hanyin saw that the suggestion had worked and felt a secret joy, but on the surface she still looked cold, like a true expressionless maid, dutiful and diligent.
Bai Lili ate some fruit and thought about grabbing a snack. She felt an inexplicable urge to get something from the fridge. As she walked toward it, she seemed to trip over something and fell straight into Qing Hanyin’s arms.
Bai Lili looked up at the person she had bumped into and saw that she was fine, so she relaxed. ‘A lowly Level 2 like me managing to injure a Level 4 Qing Hanyin would really be something.’
Even though she thought that, she still thanked her.
“Hanyin, thanks. If I hadn’t fallen into your arms, I might have performed a perfect faceplant.”
After saying that, Bai Lili looked back at the spot where she had tripped. There was nothing there. She scratched her head in confusion.
‘That’s weird. I clearly felt something there.’
‘Could it be that I really am that dumb loli who trips over nothing?’
Qing Hanyin was relieved that Bai Lili hadn’t suspected her. After all, Bai Lili was still simple and easy to fool.
Seeing that Bai Lili didn’t mind physical contact, Qing Hanyin was happy. In her last life, she hadn’t been proactive enough, and Lilith had stolen the lead.
This time, even if she couldn’t stop Lilith, she would at least get a share.
For the rest of the time, Bai Lili kept falling into Qing Hanyin’s arms for various reasons. Although she found Qing Hanyin’s embrace quite soft, it got embarrassing after too many times.
Still, Bai Lili didn’t suspect Qing Hanyin at all. She thought Qing Hanyin was trustworthy. ‘So many strange things today,’ Bai Lili thought.
Even though she was confused, she just couldn’t bring herself to suspect Qing Hanyin. Her mind felt hazy, yet she couldn’t pinpoint why—as if something was blocking her thoughts.
Qing Hanyin decided she had done enough and stopped the suggestion. She wanted to win Bai Lili over fair and square, not by controlling her in the shadows.
Bai Lili felt another mental blur, then her mind became clearer than before. But the effect of Qing Hanyin’s suggestion remained, since it had only changed a form of address, something Bai Lili didn’t really resist.
Seeing Bai Lili recover, Qing Hanyin went into the kitchen to start dinner. After all, they say the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach. Since Lilith and Su Ruo weren’t good cooks, that opportunity fell to her.
Fortunately, today there was no interference from Lilith or Su Ruo. Lilith had been busy with something mysterious lately, and Su Ruo had been in a great mood since she returned yesterday, going out early this morning for unknown reasons. But Qing Hanyin had a hunch that it all had to do with Bai Lili.
Still, none of that mattered as much as the threat of Long Chen. His unpredictability was too great. Qing Hanyin thought to herself that if possible, she wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible. In her last life, because of Long Chen, she ended up with the lowest favorability. She remembered that Long Chen had been killed by the Academy Director herself. The Academy Director rarely intervened.
That meant Long Chen had done something that threatened the world. Most of the incidents he caused had instead become trials for the students. Fortunately, everything had turned out fine in the end.
(But the Academy Director wasn’t omnipotent. Later on, both Lilith and Su Ruo far surpassed her in strength, though she herself was still very powerful.)
Bai Lili sprawled on the sofa, suddenly feeling like the core protagonist of a romance novel. She remembered that in novels, vampires and nine-tailed foxes were naturally skilled at influencing minds, and Qing Hanyin was a psychic. Using mental abilities would be child’s play for them.
Thinking that, Bai Lili breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest lightly.
“Good thing they haven’t used those abilities on me. Otherwise, I’d really become a protagonist with no control over myself.”
The thought of being completely controlled and losing her autonomy made Bai Lili shudder. Fortunately, the three of them were all gentle so far, without any extreme or obsessive ideas. Lilith hadn’t shown the paranoid and domineering side from her dream.
“See? Dreams aren’t real. How could Lilith be as dark as in my dreams? She looks so cheerful now.”
Little did Bai Lili know, she would later regret that thought. There was no such thing as sunshine and innocence—it was all an act.
At that thought, Bai Lili realized she hadn’t seen much of Lilith lately. It seemed Lilith was practicing some kind of magic, though Bai Lili didn’t know what exactly.
Anyway, Lilith was being mysterious, and Su Ruo seemed busy too. At least Bai Lili didn’t know what Su Ruo was up to.
Then it hit her—next week, they had to go to the Level 3 hunting zone. The Academy Director had assigned them a mission, saying a Level 4 magical beast had appeared there.
It was meant as a trial for them. And the name the Academy Director gave that beast was absurd. Bai Lili’s mouth twitched when she saw it. The Academy Director had called it “War Correspondent.”
Bai Lili was baffled. She wondered what kind of magical beast would be named “War Correspondent.”
But she would find out when they went next week.
The afternoon sunlight fell on Bai Lili’s face. She turned over comfortably and suddenly realized what the biggest difference was between her and the heroines.
Lilith, Su Ruo, and Qing Hanyin all had things to do. Here she was, lying around like a lazy dog, not knowing what to do. She wanted to do something, but she just didn’t feel like moving.
Bai Lili murmured to herself.
“I’ve turned into a lazy dog, but lying flat feels so good.”
After saying that, she rubbed her head against the pillow. Her ears twitched occasionally, and her big tail swayed. The sunlight warmed her body, and she closed her eyes in comfort.
Just as Bai Lili was nuzzling the pillow, Lilith came back from outside. She glanced at Bai Lili still lying on the sofa. Though she wanted to take a picture of Bai Lili in that moment, she had more important things to do.
So Lilith didn’t linger and hurried to her bedroom. Bai Lili noticed that this time, Lilith didn’t come to stick to her.
Even though Bai Lili was curious about what Lilith was doing, she knew to respect Lilith’s privacy.
At that moment, in Lilith’s room, she was drawing an unknown magic circle on her desk. It looked very complex, woven from various interlocking symbols.
Lilith stared at the magic circle in her hands. Her face flushed unnaturally, her eyes filled with longing, and she muttered to herself.
“Finally finished it. Blood Clan magic—a contract from the depths of the soul. Each soul can only bind one person. This is a magic used only in Blood Clan marriage proposals.”
Lilith thought about it, and the corners of her mouth lifted. She imagined Bai Lili, completely unaware, being tricked into signing it. Then she would know exactly where Bai Lili was at all times.
First, she needed to test if the magic circle worked. She dripped her own blood onto it. The paper bearing the circle floated in the air, and the circle emitted a red glow.
Then nothing happened. Lilith thought to herself, ‘This situation… it seems I’ve already bound someone.’
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