Shen Mengli as the Representative

After another round of discussions, everyone successfully reached a consensus. If anyone, for any reason, caused harm to Ye Feng or developed a "darkened" mentality again, they would be permanently banished, losing any chance to approach him ever again.

"Hmm..."

As Ye Feng sat on the sofa lost in thought, he suddenly felt four pairs of eyes fixed intently on him.

"Ahem..."

Ye Feng moistened his dry lips, a sense of unease washing over him. He quickly stood up from the edge of the sofa.

"Um... I suddenly feel like taking a walk outside. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head out now."

"......"

To his surprise, when he mentioned leaving, not a single person made a move to stop him. Relieved, he hurriedly walked out of the living room.

"Don’t... don’t any of you have something to say?"

As the atmosphere grew stiflingly silent, the anxious Su Yuxin finally spoke up. She craned her neck to peer in the direction Ye Feng had left, but he was already long gone.

"Yuxin, it’s time we discuss some serious matters now. Before anything else, we should set some rules to maintain order."

"Exactly. Li Mucheng is right. Since Ye Feng has already accepted us, the next step is for us to change ourselves. Aside from Li Mucheng, none of us have made any progress. We need to figure out a solution together."

"I agree."

Shen Mengli glanced at Xie Yuyan sitting across from her and nodded. Just as Xie Yuyan was about to respond to Shen Mengli’s support, Shen Mengli suddenly spoke again.

"But no one is allowed to sneak off alone—we’ve already had one incident of ‘stealing a bite’!"

"Why are you still hung up on that...?"

Xie Yuyan rolled her eyes helplessly. Though she knew Shen Mengli was teasing her, she didn’t want Li Mucheng and Su Yuxin to misunderstand because of this.

"Still, who set the trap afterward? And let’s not forget, I wasn’t the first one to ‘steal a bite,’ you know~"

"Wha—!"

Shen Mengli’s body stiffened in shock. She blinked rapidly before falling silent. Only Li Mucheng and Su Yuxin exchanged puzzled looks.

......

"Progress..."

As Ye Feng strolled through the manor, the system’s interface flickered in his mind. Strangely, after all this time, the system remained unresponsive, as if it had vanished. Was it finally letting him off the hook? Given its usual behavior, he should’ve been scrambling to earn survival points by now.

While idly scrolling through the system, he suddenly remembered that aside from affection levels, there were also titles to unlock. Currently, apart from Xie Yuyan and Li Mucheng’s titles, there was one called "Shadowed Figure." He had previously tried telling the system that this title belonged to Shen Mengli or Su Yuxin, but it didn’t register—as if the system could discern his true thoughts.

"Who knows what the point of collecting these titles is? Hopefully, there’s some worthwhile reward."

With three titles already revealed, only the "Shadowed Figure" remained. The lack of any new developments after so long made Ye Feng slightly uneasy.

Would the system drop some major bombshell at the worst possible moment? If so, that’d be troublesome. But no matter what, I’ll protect every single one of them!

Clearly, Ye Feng no longer wavered as he once did. If anything, these experiences had solidified his resolve.

"The real problem is figuring out what to do next. We can’t just gather every day to discuss this and that—it’ll only lead to trouble eventually."

Just as Ye Feng muttered to himself and prepared to head back inside, a figure suddenly appeared before him. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Shen Mengli.

"Mengli? What are you doing here?"

"Xiao Feng~"

The moment she saw him, Shen Mengli happily ran over, arms outstretched in a "hug me" gesture.

"Gimme a hug~"

"Alright."

Ye Feng didn’t refuse—who could say no to an adorable girl asking for a warm embrace?

Once he lifted Shen Mengli into his arms, he asked, "Why’d you come out? Did something happen?"

"Of course not~"

Shen Mengli wrapped her arms around Ye Feng’s neck, pressing her head against his chest. She nuzzled her nose against his neck, sniffing his scent like a curious little animal.

"Mengli, stop fooling around."

The ticklish sensation made Ye Feng turn his head away bashfully. He tightened his hold on her, afraid he might accidentally drop her.

"I’m not fooling around! This is our alone time, Xiao Feng. Of course I want to be with you~"

"Alone time? What are you talking about, Mengli?"

Baffled by her strange phrasing, Ye Feng frowned slightly.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you! After everyone’s discussion, I’m now the one closest to you, Xiao Feng. It’s officially recognized by everyone~"

Shen Mengli puffed out her chest proudly, as if proving her status to him.

"W-Wait! Mengli, hold on a second!"

Utterly confused, Ye Feng carried her to a nearby bench and tried to set her down on the seat beside him. But Shen Mengli clung tightly, refusing to let go.

"Ask your questions if you must, but I’m not getting down!"

"Fine, fine."

Ye Feng gave up and let her stay seated on his lap, supporting her waist as he asked,

"So, can you explain why you all discussed this in the first place?"