Chapter 46: Decompression Time

Chu Lingyan suddenly looked at Ye Ning.

One second she was tense and confrontational, and the next, she completely softened.

The young girl’s eyes were filled with joy, a smile so sweet it was almost illegal blooming on her face.

Even her voice turned soft, deliberately drawing out her words with a hint of playful coaxing.

“Sister Ye Ning~”

Before her words even faded, she lunged forward like a clingy little animal, latching onto Ye Ning’s left arm and pressing her entire body close.

She rubbed her cheek affectionately against Ye Ning’s shoulder and arm, squeezing with enough force to almost pull Ye Ning’s arm into her embrace.

“Let’s forget about that mean woman and go to school together, okay~”

She tilted her little face up, her sparkling eyes fixed on Ye Ning.

“Ah… o-okay.”

Caught off guard by her sudden shift, Ye Ning stiffened, a flustered look crossing her face. Internally, she was shocked.

‘This kid… just how strong is she?!’

She was being half-dragged, half-pulled forward by Chu Lingyan.

Just then, a soft, warm softness gently covered her right arm.

A steady, unyielding force pulled her forward momentum to a halt, planting her firmly in place.

Ye Ning instinctively turned her head to see Hua Niao smiling as she hugged her right arm, looking gentle and affectionate.

But there was no warmth in those beautiful eyes.

“Chu Lingyan,”

Hua Niao’s voice carried a hint of a smile, but her words held an undeniable forcefulness.

“It’s not very polite to just drag our Ningning away like that, you know.”

“Our?”

Hearing those two words, Chu Lingyan bristled instantly.

Her grip on Ye Ning’s left arm tightened as she lifted her chin and glared venomously at Hua Niao.

“When I was with Sister, you were probably still in some corner somewhere! Who do you think you are, daring to call Sister yours?”

Unfazed by her aggressive demeanor, Hua Niao smiled even sweeter.

Her tone was airy, but precisely hit Chu Lingyan’s sore spot.

“But she is living with me right now. And what’s more… she’s my little pet. She clings to me every day and can’t do without me.”

That was the killing blow.

Chu Lingyan’s face flushed bright red, spreading from her cheeks to her ears.

She trembled with rage, the black mist around her almost solidifying.

But she couldn’t find a single retort—she had to admit that Hua Niao was telling the truth.

Ye Ning was indeed staying with Hua Niao and was even dependent on her for mana replenishment.

“You’re blackmailing her with that contract!”

Chu Lingyan ground her teeth, her voice laced with grievance and anger.

“You must have used that contract to force Teacher to stay with you. Otherwise, she would never live with you!”

Hua Niao slowly shook her head, keeping that smiling expression.

Her tone was lazily provocative as she repeated the same phrase, deliberately provoking Chu Lingyan.

“Regardless of how I did it, she is mine now~”

“You’re shameless!”

“She’s mine~”

“You—you’re completely unreasonable!”

Chu Lingyan was, for once, seeing red.

Ye Ning, being pulled by one arm each, felt her head spin, their arguing filling her ears.

Unable to take it anymore, she finally exploded.

“Stop, stop, stop! Are you two little children?!”

In that instant, Ye Ning felt incredibly tall for the first time, like a stern parent managing two sulky kids.

Her entire demeanor screamed “I am very angry.”

She took a deep breath, trying to maintain her authority, and spoke seriously to them.

“Both of you! Stay put! No fighting! And stop pulling my arms!”

She paused slightly.

“…Please.”

The day’s conflict ended in a draw.

All the way to school, the gazes of nearby students drifted over, and whispers reached their ears.

“Wow… Ningning’s conquered another one…”

“That’s just how Ningning is. Very popular.”

“First it was Hua Niao, then Xu Zhihe, and now Chu Lingyan, who only transferred here yesterday…”

“All the beautiful girls are being conquered by our Ningning…”

Ye Ning stumbled, her face turning bright red.

“N-no! I-I’m a good kid!”

—

She finally got through the humiliating day.

By the time the bell rang and the classroom slowly emptied out, even Xu Zhihe had left early.

The large room was left with only Ye Ning, Hua Niao, and Chu Lingyan.

Ye Ning slumped dejectedly onto her desk, burying her face in her arms.

Her shoulders drooped as she muttered in a muffled voice, “I just established my good-girl image… and it’s completely ruined… All your fault! Both of you!”

Ye Ning suddenly lifted her head, anger gradually igniting in her eyes.

Her cheeks puffed out as she grew more upset thinking about it.

“No! I can’t take this! I suffered so much injustice today and got misunderstood by everyone. I need to find a place to vent!”

She grabbed Hua Niao’s arm, her eyes sparkling.

“Hua Niao! Do you have any leads today? Find me another cultist hideout! I need to let all my anger out!”

“There’s no helping you.”

—

“Hah Hah Hah Hah —”

An eerie, yet satisfied laugh echoed through the empty building.

A little pink-and-white ball of fur in a black robe charged out like a gust of wind.

Swinging her magic wand furiously, she slammed it down relentlessly onto the already lifeless carcass of a low-rank Disaster Beast lying on the ground.

Each blow used full force, a constant “Bang! Bang! Bang!” sound filling the air.

She smashed the beast’s body into pulp, leaving not even a single intact bone fragment.

The floor was covered in bloody, mangled remains.

It was a horrifying scene.

Standing by the side, Chu Lingyan’s eye twitched slightly.

A look of stunned helplessness crossed her face.

She quietly turned to Hua Niao, who was calmly munching on potato chips, and lowered her voice.

“Is Teacher… always like this? When she de-stresses, is she always this… crazy?”

Hua Niao had somehow produced a bag of chips from who-knows-where.

She tore it open and crunched them leisurely, completely unfazed by the carnage in front of her.

“You’ll get used to it. Your teacher is under a lot of pressure. She has to hide her identity, rely on me for mana replenishment, worry about being tracked down by her former teammates, and keep up her persona in her daily life. This is the only way she can relieve stress.”

She paused, then suddenly turned her head toward the corner where a few cultists were tied up, trembling in fear.

A smile spread across her face, her tone soft, yet carrying an undeniable pressure.

“Am I right?”

Looking at the pile of mangled Disaster Beast remains, then at Hua Niao’s beaming and murderously friendly smile, and finally at the crazy pink-and-white ball of fur who had just viciously beaten those corpses to a pulp, the cultists shook with terror, their teeth chattering.

They nodded desperately, their voices trembling.

“Y-yes! Stress relief is good! It’s good for your health! This young lady is absolutely right!”

They were terrified that one wrong word would lead to them being turned into another pile of pulp just like those beasts.

Ye Ning finally had enough. Hoisting her magic wand, she skipped back out from the scene.

The hem of her black robe was speckled with blood and dust, but her face was beaming with satisfaction.

“Hehehehe… That feels good~ I’ve finally let out all today’s anger!”

She walked over to Hua Niao and Chu Lingyan, casually dusting off her robe, and asked in a light tone, “Did you get any results from the interrogation? Did those cultists say anything useful?”

Chu Lingyan put away her stunned expression and nodded.

Her face grew serious as she spoke.

“We got everything, Teacher. They said they’re part of a new cult organization that’s been secretly gathering low-rank Disaster Beasts. They want to use the beasts’ power for some strange ritual. They don’t know the specifics of the ritual, just that they’re following orders from above.”

She frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over the bloody mess, her tone laced with worry.

“I just never imagined the current cults would have the ability to gather low-rank Disaster Beasts like this. They said summoning them requires a huge cost and has a very low success rate, but it still shows that things are getting worse.”

Chu Lingyan paused before adding, “It feels like everything is being orchestrated by an invisible hand behind the scenes. What we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Ye Ning’s smile faded as well.

She turned to look at the trembling cultists in the corner, crossing her arms and tilting her head.

Her tone was casually playful but carried a hint of pressure.

“Hey, is there anything else you haven’t told us? Come clean. Don’t think about holding anything back.”

Hearing this, the cultists shook their heads desperately, their faces twisting in dismay.

They looked like they were about to cry.

“We’ve truly confessed everything we know! We didn’t hold anything back! We’re just low-level grunts with no access to the core stuff!”

“I see…”

Ye Ning lightly nodded, her face expressionless.

But the next second, a slow, sinister grin spread across her lips.

She gave a slight wave of her magic wand.

“Since you don’t know anything else… then you can die now, okay.”