The message was followed by an address for a hotel in the city center.

Jiang Qingli clicked on the sender’s profile and found it completely blank, like a new account.

She frowned and typed a guess: [Ye Linyuan?]

There was no reply. The rain stopped abruptly as they reached the garage.

Gu Nian closed the umbrella and looked at her expectantly. "Sister, Housekeeper Yin doesn’t know your picnic was canceled. Why don’t we go on a date..."

BUZZ—

Her terminal vibrated again.

Jiang Qingli quickly opened the message and saw the reply: [Hmph. Not completely stupid, then.]

Jiang Qingli: "..."

’It’s been a few days, and that snake is still as infuriating as ever.’

She forcefully typed: [I. Am. NOT. Coming. To. Find. You!]

After replying, she stuffed her terminal into her pocket and looked at Gu Nian. "What were you trying to tell me just now?"

A flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes, but Gu Nian just smiled and pursed his lips. "It’s nothing. Let’s talk in the car."

Gu Nian pulled Jiang Qingli into the car.

After fastening her seatbelt, she couldn’t resist pulling out her terminal for another look.

Ye Linyuan hadn’t replied.

’That snake’s words always leave me speechless, but he usually replies to my messages in a second. Even if he doesn’t send words, he sends a large sum of money.’

’For him to suddenly not reply... could something have really happened to him?’

A thought struck her. She opened the Star Network, entered several layers of passwords, and saw that Ye Linyuan’s pollution value had shot back up to 75%!

’But it dropped so much last time. What happened...?’

She anxiously bit her lower lip.

"Sister..." A slender finger reached out. Gu Nian gently stroked her lip. "If you keep biting, you’ll draw blood."

"Sorry, Gu Nian." Jiang Qingli grabbed his hand, her words coming out in a rush. "Ye Linyuan’s pollution value suddenly spiked. I have to go find him now..."

Halfway through her sentence, she noticed that the shoulder of Gu Nian’s shirt was a little wet.

He had been holding the umbrella tilted in her direction the entire time.

An apologetic look filled her eyes.

"It’s alright, sister." Gu Nian held her fingers, the pad of his thumb caressing her delicate skin. "Where is he? I’ll take you."

Jiang Qingli froze for a moment.

Ever since Gu Nian came to the Upper City District, he had been well-behaved outside the academy. But he also seized every possible opportunity to cling to her, acting as if he’d die if they were separated for even a second.

Jiang Qingli had suspected several times that he was touch-starved.

He had been so looking forward to tonight. Before they left this morning, he had even asked her several times if his outfit looked good, only satisfied after getting her approval. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’I never thought he’d offer to take me to find Ye Linyuan.’

Jiang Qingli waved her hand. "It’s fine. Just give me the car, and I’ll go by myself. I’ll have Yi Nuo come pick you up later..."

"Sister, let me go with you." Gu Nian placed a light kiss in her palm, his voice soft and gentle. "Housekeeper Yin isn’t here. If I don’t go, who will protect you?"

He was clearly a fragile white rabbit, with a humble status and a low Superpower Level.

Yet, when he said he wanted to protect her, his soft tone left no room for doubt.

Jiang Qingli nodded. "Okay."

The next second, she looked at Gu Nian hesitantly. "Do you know how to drive?"

Gu Nian, who was just about to start the car, froze. He pursed his lips, looking embarrassed. "I... was about to activate the autopilot."

In the end, the autopilot delivered them precisely to the hotel Ye Linyuan had sent in his message.

Opening the car door, Gu Nian and Jiang Qingli entered the hotel together.

As they walked to the elevator bank, Gu Nian’s gaze swept over their surroundings, lingering for a moment.

Around the corner, several shadows lay in wait, the air thick with a barely suppressed killing intent.

DING—

The elevator doors opened.

Jiang Qingli strode inside, only looking up to realize Gu Nian was still standing outside the elevator.

"Why aren’t you getting in?" Jiang Qingli beckoned to him. "Hurry, hurry."

"I’m sorry, sister." The white rabbit of a boy put his hands together, a look of apology and grievance on his face. "I just remembered I left something in the car. I have to go get it. You go see Uncle Ye first~ I’ll be right there to meet you!"

As he spoke, he pressed the close-door button.

The instant the elevator doors slid completely shut, the obedient, adorable smile vanished from Gu Nian’s face.

He sighed and walked slowly toward the shadows around the corner.

The door to the top-floor private room was ajar.

Jiang Qingli took a personal alarm from her bag and approached cautiously.

Perhaps anticipating her wariness, the tip of a snake tail dangled by the door, as if to welcome her.

When Jiang Qingli saw that tail, she knew it was Ye Linyuan.

She walked into the room, and just as she closed the door, a snake tail coiled around her.

She was pulled down onto the soft bedding, a low, raspy voice sounding by her ear. "So slow."

His tone was cold and deep, yet he leaned in close, a cool snake’s tongue tracing the shell of her ear.

As he pressed down on her, Jiang Qingli smelled the heavy scent of blood and reached out to push him. "Where are you hurt? Let me see..."

Her fingers had barely moved before they were caught.

Slender fingers forced their way between hers as his lips crushed down on her own, forcing her to share his breath.

A long time passed before they finally separated.

Jiang Qingli was panting, but she still had the presence of mind to think of other things. "I-I just realized my terminal is in the car. Lend me yours, I need to tell Gu Nian..."

"Jiang Qingli." He said her name, the fingers digging into her waist tightening. "The only person you should be worrying about right now is me."

The snake tail was coiled around her waist, every inch of it pressed tightly against her, radiating a snake’s intense and dark possessiveness.

Jiang Qingli’s breathing was a mess. She tried to speak several times but was forced to swallow her words. And yet, he had the nerve to give her a dead-serious reminder—

"Focus."

...

「The next morning.」

Jiang Qingli awoke, sore all over.

Cracking her eyes open, she was met with a pair of golden, vertical pupils.

As her senses returned, Jiang Qingli asked in a hoarse voice, "Where’s Gu Nian?"

The curve of Ye Linyuan’s lips instantly flattened when he heard the name. "I don’t know," he said coldly.

Jiang Qingli was immediately distressed.

Last night, after Ye Linyuan had finished kissing her, he had forced her to enter his Spiritual Domain to heal him. He was covered in injuries from god-knows-where. By the time she finished, it was nearly dawn, and she had passed out from sheer exhaustion.

’The little rabbit must be worried sick. I need to get my terminal from the car downstairs and contact him. I have to make it up to him this time...’

After ordering breakfast for the still-recovering Ye Linyuan, Jiang Qingli pushed open the door.

She had just taken a step when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure curled up in a ball by the door.

Jiang Qingli froze at the sight.

She called out his name in disbelief. "Gu Nian?"

"Ah, sister..."

The curled-up boy’s eyelashes trembled as he lifted his eyes to look at her.

The boy’s eyes were slightly red-rimmed, and he was still wearing last night’s now-wrinkled shirt.

Yet he seemed completely unbothered, even curling his lips into a smile. "Morning, sister."

Jiang Qingli’s knuckles whitened around the doorknob. "Did you... wait here for me all night?"

"I slept in the car last night. I just came up," Gu Nian said, blinking and smiling at her. "The back seat is really soft. I slept very well, so you don’t have to worry, sister."

Looking at the faint dark circles under his eyes, Jiang Qingli felt a pang of guilt.

She helped Gu Nian to his feet and asked apologetically, "Is there any gift you’d like?"

"I do." Gu Nian leaned in and gave her a very light kiss on the cheek, his voice as sweet as ever. "Thank you, sister. You’re the best to me~"

Just as she was about to ask what he wanted, a round robot stopped beside them. "Hello, your white porridge is ready."

Jiang Qingli glanced back at Ye Linyuan. He was still lying in bed, his face pale.

’He doesn’t look like he has the strength to eat...’

"Sister, you worked hard last night. Why don’t you go take a bath and rest for a bit?" Gu Nian said considerately, as if he had read her mind. "I’ll go feed Uncle Ye."

Before Jiang Qingli could refuse, he pushed her toward the bathroom, picked up the bowl of porridge himself, and said with a beaming smile, "I guarantee the mission will be a success~"

The sound of trickling water began.

Gu Nian closed the door and walked to the bedside, staring down at the weakened Ye Linyuan, a dark light swirling in his eyes.

Sensing the hostility, the snake’s pair of golden, vertical pupils swept over him before lazily dropping back to the terminal.

’What a pretentious old man.’

Gu Nian ground his teeth silently.

’It’s bad enough he’s so old, but all he does is cause trouble for sister and make her work so hard.’

"Get out." Ye Linyuan didn’t even lift his eyelids. "Otherwise, I don’t mind cleaning house for her."

Hearing this, Gu Nian let out a cold laugh. "You’ve got some nerve."

A look of disgust appeared on his pure, handsome face.

He ground out through his teeth, "I was outside the door last night and took care of at least three groups of Assassins for you. And you still have the audacity to talk about ’cleaning house’?"

"In this family, aren’t you the useless piece of trash that needs to be cleaned out?"