This is the confidence that playing galgames has brought him.

Su Qi raised an eyebrow. "What, not allowed? Eldest brother is like a father, and fatherly love... cough."

Liu Yuan stared at him, skepticism in her eyes. "Since when do you care about my safety? Usually, you can’t even be bothered to cook, holed up in your room tinkering with who-knows-what."

Su Qi pocketed his phone and slumped back onto the couch, his tone returning to its usual laziness.

"Special circumstances. Who knows what kind of trouble might pop up in the Origin Realm? I don’t like the idea of you going alone."

A warmth flickered in Liu Yuan’s chest, softening her voice. "The instructor leading the team is at the sixth tier. An E-rank Origin Realm’s limit is only around the fourth tier—there’s practically no chance of anything going wrong."

"The school wouldn’t joke about our safety."

"Relax."

Su Qi grinned. "I’m also sixth tier."

Liu Yuan: ???

Wait, seriously?

Su Qi actually had sixth-tier strength???

Now that she thought about it, hadn’t Old Li once mentioned offhand that Su Qi used to be some kind of genius?

With that in mind, it didn’t seem so far-fetched.

So she reached for his phone.

Su Qi yanked it back, eyeing her warily. "What are you doing?"

[Delight +66]

Liu Yuan rolled her eyes, exasperation creeping into her voice. "The digital signature. Weren’t you just insisting on being my guardian?"

Only then did Su Qi relax, handing the phone over.

For a second, he’d thought she wanted to keep reading Fate’s Horizon to see how the story played out.

Liu Yuan took the phone, pulling up the guardian agreement page. As she filled in the details, she muttered, "We’re gathering at six tomorrow morning. Don’t be late."

Su Qi took the phone back and waved lazily. "Relax, when have I ever been late?"

Liu Yuan didn’t hesitate to call him out. "When have you ever been on time?"

Su Qi didn’t respond, merely stretching with a yawn before heading toward the front door.

……

She wasn’t sure why Su Qi had suddenly made this request.

But it was a good thing.

Liu Yuan’s reasoning for signing went like this:

First, while the instructor was sixth-tier, each teacher had too many students to oversee. Their movements would inevitably be restricted to ensure they stayed within the instructor’s support range, which limited the effectiveness of the training.

Second…

There was the daily "adventure" nonsense.

Having Su Qi as a designated target would solve a lot of headaches.

Compared to suddenly being told to approach strangers and do random, awkward tasks…

She’d rather deal with Su Qi’s antics.

Might as well treat him like a portable charger!

Then Liu Yuan quickly pulled out her phone, eager to chat with her brother.

If she didn’t talk to him now, she wouldn’t see him again for over a month…

But after sending four or five messages, there was still no reply.

Right. He was probably busy with something—unlike Su Qi, who had all the time in the world.

……

Weird.

Really weird.

Noon had long since turned to evening.

Yet Liu Yuan’s messaging app remained dead silent.

She couldn’t hold back any longer and sent another flurry of texts.

[Iris: Brother, brother, brother, where are you today?]

[Iris: Still not back yet?]

[Iris: Missed call.]

[Iris: Crying cat sticker]

[Iris: White stockings photo]

[Iris: I was wrong, next time you want to see, I’ll take the pic right away—no teasing.]

[Iris: ……]

She didn’t see herself as being pathetic.

It was just that the love she believed in, the emotional world she embraced, was like a tranquil lake.

And someone kept stirring up ripples across its surface.

But… this feeling was so genuine, so real it defied words—close enough to touch, yet separated by a phone screen, slipping through her fingers.

Combined with her lack of romantic experience, this sense of near-yet-far distance, along with the insecurity from her guesses about his identity…

All of it made her more prone to anxiety than most people in relationships.

She feared love might vanish without warning, like a sudden tornado—

Leaving behind only wrecked memories.

……

Meanwhile.

Su Qi, who had just finished shopping for outdoor supplies, checked his phone and paled at the flood of unread messages.

[IWantSleep: ……]

[IWantSleep: Got caught up in something important, forgot to check my phone…]

[IWantSleep: Don’t cry, Little Yuan. Don’t cry.]

But Su Qi was different. He knew exactly why that tornado had formed, how it gathered strength.

He’d ride its momentum, using a few tricks to make it even more spectacular—until it swept everything into the sky!

In love, sometimes a little "white lie" could heighten the joy.

So this time, he didn’t tell the truth.

An ordinary person in Su Qi’s shoes would’ve panicked at Little Yuan’s bombardment of messages.

They’d rush to explain: I got permission to enter the Origin Realm! We won’t be apart for over a month—I was just shopping for gear earlier, so I missed your texts.

But Su Qi disagreed.

Far better to wait until tomorrow morning, after Little Yuan entered the Origin Realm, and then send her a single message:

‘This is the gift I promised you yesterday.’

‘Spent the whole day stealing the Origin Realm’s signal tower for you~’

This was the confidence his years of playing galgames had given him.

……

The moment his reply came through, the gloom in Liu Yuan’s eyes melted into longing.

A small smile tugged at her lips as a ripple of happiness spread through her chest, widening endlessly.