Can't Exploit the Bug

Saturday afternoon, the school bell rang out like a kind of musical rest.

The junior year schedule was packed tight all week, not even sparing Saturday. The only silver lining was... no evening self-study sessions.

This was also Lin Mo's last day before his departure.

Unfortunately, neither Xie Yuling nor Jiang Yunlu had spoken to him.

The precocious Ning Qingcheng sat cross-legged on the sofa, curled up like a lazy kitten, but her eyes were bright and sharp. She stared straight at him. "You're just going to leave without a word? Are you really not going to say anything to them?"

Lin Mo paused what he was doing.

"Say what?"

He turned his head, his face expressionless. "Talk to Xie Yuling about who I should ultimately choose? Or talk to Jiang Yunlu and persuade her to calm down and stop overthinking things?"

He twitched the corner of his mouth in self-deprecation.

"There are some things that can't be said. The moment I open my mouth, this fragile balance we have right now will shatter."

Rather than that, it was better to let time run its course. They would figure it out eventually, or at least, there would eventually be an outcome.

Lin Mo stopped dwelling on it. He fished a small wooden box out of his pocket and handed it over.

"For you."

Ning Qingcheng didn't move; she just tilted her head and looked at him.

Lin Mo opened the box, revealing two pills the size of longans, radiating a warm, gentle luster.

"Inside are two Body Strengthening Pills. Take them in two doses, with a ten-day interval between each."

Ning Qingcheng froze for a moment. She looked up at Lin Mo, then immediately crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him with a look of high alert.

"Senior Brother."

She spoke with utmost seriousness, her tone carrying a tragic sense of facing death unflinchingly. "You're a great guy, and you're pretty handsome, but I really can't accept a scumbag. I despise this kind of cast-a-wide-net behavior!"

A vein throbbed on Lin Mo's forehead.

He really wanted to smack her, but he couldn't actually hit the little brat.

He curled his finger and flicked her forehead.

"Ouch!"

Ning Qingcheng clutched her forehead, tears almost welling up from the pain, and glared at him fiercely.

"What on earth is going on inside that head of yours?"

Lin Mo irritably shoved the box into her arms. "These are sect benefits! Remember, you are a member of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect."

Hearing the words "sect benefits," the little girl's expression did a complete one-eighty. The vigilance and tragic resolve from a moment ago vanished without a trace, replaced by a beaming smile.

She grabbed the wooden box, rubbing it fondly, humming an off-key tune.

But her joy lasted barely two seconds before she looked up again, a trace of pure confusion in her clear eyes.

"Senior Brother, since they are benefits, and such good stuff at that, why don't you share some with Sister Yuling and Sister Yunlu?"

This question hit the bullseye.

Lin Mo sighed inwardly. These Body Strengthening Pills were of no use to him anymore, and it would naturally be best if he could give them to the two girls.

The problem was, items from the system couldn't be gifted to just anyone.

He could give them to Ning Qingcheng purely because of the Master-Disciple system's mechanics. A master rewarding a disciple with resources was perfectly justified.

But giving them to others? No way.

"Sect rules."

Lin Mo spouted nonsense without batting an eye. "Sect resources are strictly forbidden from being shared with outsiders. If discovered, the light punishment is having your cultivation crippled; the severe punishment is being expelled from the sect. Understand?"

He deliberately emphasized his tone, trying to use intimidation to stifle the girl's curiosity.

In reality, he was secretly wondering if it was possible to use Ning Qingcheng as a middleman to pass the items on.

The moment this thought popped into his head...

Buzz!

The system, which hadn't made a peep in ages, suddenly sounded a cold warning in his mind without any prior indication.

[Warning: Host, please do not attempt to bypass system restrictions in any form. If discovered, severe punishment will be administered.]

Lin Mo's expression stiffened for a second.

Good grief, I just thought about it, I didn't actually do it. That counts too?

This system is stricter than the world police!

Lin Mo sighed and patted Ning Qingcheng's head.

"Alright, I'm heading out."

Ning Qingcheng didn't let go. Her fingertips gripped the hem of his shirt. The pull wasn't strong, but it conveyed a sense of reluctance to see him leave.

"Senior Brother, you're leaving for Tianjing tomorrow. Are things with Sister Yuling and Sister Yunlu... really going to be okay?"

The little girl looked up, her eyes filled with unconcealed worry.

"You're just a kid, don't worry about adult matters." Lin Mo pulled his shirt back, his voice carrying an unquestionable lightness. "I know what I'm doing."

With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.

This disciple was great in every way, except she worried about him too much.

Just as he reached the top of the stairs, a faint but familiar ripple of divine sense swept past, then retracted like a frightened rabbit.

It was Xie Yuling's.

That girl was still secretly observing him from upstairs.

Lin Mo pretended not to notice, his footsteps unbroken as he headed straight downstairs.

At this moment, Xie Yuling was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Xie Yuling was hugging a throw pillow, curled up in a corner of the sofa, her gaze drifting as she stared at the muted commercials on the TV.

Zheng Yuan came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of sliced cantaloupe and placed it in front of her.

"Tell me, what exactly is going on between you and that boy Lin Mo? During the entire meal, you were pouting so hard your lips could touch the sky, and you didn't say a single word."

"Nothing," Xie Yuling turned her head the other way and replied sullenly. "I just don't want to talk to him."

Zheng Yuan laughed in exasperation and pointed toward the kitchen.

"Don't want to talk to him? Then who was the one happily eating the shrimp he bought? Out of the whole table, you ate the most."

These words were like stepping on a cat's tail.

Xie Yuling's face instantly flushed red, burning from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears.

"I ate his food to give him an out! To tell him that my anger has mostly faded and he can come coax me now! But that block of wood, what does he know!"

Seeing her daughter's duplicitous behavior, Zheng Yuan felt both annoyed and amused. She reached out and poked her forehead.

"You silly girl, do you really think he's a block of wood? He bought shrimp for you; isn't that him yielding first? Yet here you are, still being stubborn with him."

Zheng Yuan sighed and earnestly dropped a bombshell.

"He's leaving for Tianjing tomorrow, to an unfamiliar place. What if, and I'm just saying what if, there's some unreserved little girl over there who is more proactive and cuter than you, and she just snatches him away? You won't even have a place to cry."

This was truly a precision strike.

Zheng Yuan genuinely viewed Lin Mo as a prospective son-in-law, and she was terrified that her proud daughter would ruin a perfectly good match.

Sure enough, Xie Yuling's sore spot was hit. Her pout deepened, and she squeezed the pillow in her hands until it deformed.

"No! He has to come and talk to me first! Otherwise, I absolutely won't talk to him!"

This was her final bit of stubbornness.

At the landing of the stairs, Lin Mo, who had heard the mother and daughter's conversation downstairs loud and clear, didn't even pause his steps.

He merely smiled silently.

This little girl sure had a lot going on in her head.

A signal? An out?

Fine, then.