Lin Yu stared at the other hand now resting on his own: "???"
Seriously?
This time, he had given a clear, directed request!
Obviously.
That line was meant for the little mutt, Little Yu'er.
Mao Ruirui's sudden move.
Left the puppy utterly bewildered!
It tilted its head, paw hovering mid-air, beady eyes fixed on Mao Ruirui, its tail frozen mid-wag.
The expression practically screamed:
"Uh, sis?
Pretty sure I’ve never fought or snatched anything from you?
So why’re you cutting in on the male human’s affection like this?
Rude much…
Why don’t you two just go hold hands somewhere else?
Flirting right in front of a dog?
A dog’s life is still a life, you know!
I’m out! Send me back to the countryside!"
Mao Ruirui’s cheeks gradually warmed: "..."
Placing her hand there was easy—pulling it back? Not so much.
What was wrong with her?!
The moment she heard Lin Yu’s tender "put your hand here,"
Her body moved on pure instinct, zero overthinking.
How could a guy’s voice be so gentle…
Now what?
Snatching her hand back and calling it a misunderstanding…
Wouldn’t that just make her look like an idiot?
Would Little Yu even buy that?
He might think…
She was trying to take advantage of him!
Scrambling for an out, Mao Ruirui blurted:
"Any time…"
Lin Yu raised a brow: "Huh?"
Mao Ruirui straightened up: "Oh, uh… maybe you haven’t seen it? N-never mind… just a dumb joke."
As she began retracting her hand,
Lin Yu chimed in: "Any place…"
Mao Ruirui’s eyes lit up: "!!!"
He knows it?!
Since when was Little Yu into stuff like this?
She pressed her palm tighter against his: "Super detective…"
Lin Yu: "On the case!"
They both turned to Little Yu'er.
The pup, looking like it was humoring two overgrown kids, reluctantly placed its paw on top.
"Woof!"
It even threw in a spirited bark for good measure.
Lin Yu chuckled, withdrawing his hand.
Well played.
Ruirui-jie’s quick thinking was impressive.
She’d somehow salvaged the awkwardness.
This "Paw Patrol Saves the Day" moment further confirmed the terrifying power of the Beast Command.
Time to test further…
"Good boy, go play in your crate. I’ll check on you later."
Little Yu'er happily trotted to the crate, tail wagging nonstop.
Meanwhile, Mao Ruirui remained crouched, motionless this time.
Her expression showed no signs of battling "rationality."
Meaning… this "command" didn’t register?
Lin Yu mentally dissected it—
Was it because "in your crate" explicitly targeted the dog?
After all,
No sane human would willingly "play" in a crate.
He silently apologized to Ruirui-jie in his heart.
To verify, he addressed Little Yu'er again:
"Turn around, lift your chin—let’s get you comfy."
As he spoke,
Lin Yu deliberately avoided looking at Mao Ruirui,
Instead scratching the pup’s neck with feigned focus.
Even peripherally,
He could see Mao Ruirui shuffling into position, tilting her head toward his side.
The movement was fleeting—
She quickly reset, assuming he hadn’t noticed.
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Bingo!
So ambiguous phrasing was the key?
Yikes.
His relationship with Ruirui-jie was firmly in "good friends" territory.
Nowhere near romantic!
Yet her reactions outdid even his flirty roommates…
Like her body was sprinting ahead of her brain.
This was a full-blown test of Lin Yu’s morals.
It reminded him of those ethical dilemmas:
"You have a button. Press it, and any girl obeys you—even offers… Do you press it?"
Mao Ruirui: "!!!"
Reaching out earlier was already bizarre enough.
Now what was she doing—offering her neck?!
Recalling her behavior…
Lin Yu’s tone and gestures had been unbearably tender.
In that moment,
Her traitorous brain whispered:
"I wish he’d pamper me like that…"
Thank goodness he didn’t see!
How would she even explain this?
Was years of singlehood warping her mind into thirsting over her cute neighbor?!
Gnawing her finger, Mao Ruirui studied Lin Yu with conflicted eyes.
Her zero dating experience left her clueless about these feelings.
But—
No other guy had ever made her react this way.
Let alone spark…
thoughts of being touched.
Could this be… a crush?
The more she dwelled, the more flustered she grew.
Her teeth worried at her finger, tangled in confusion.
Lin Yu paused petting Little Yu'er, glancing at Ruirui-jie’s bewildered face.
Confused?
Good.
Some things thrive in chaos—overthinking kills the magic.
Sigh.
And the chaos was just getting started.
"Ruirui-jie, Little Yu'er’s adorable."
"Thanks for inviting me over to see him."
"Watching him happy and healthy makes me happy too."
Lin Yu spoke earnestly.
If Mao Ruirui truly just wanted to show him the dog,
This reply gave her an easy out.
Hearing this,
Mao Ruirui yanked her finger free, forcing a smile:
"Yeah, he’s even livelier with you around."
"See how well he follows your commands?"
"Actually, Little Yu… I asked you here for another reason…"
There it was.
Just a dog visit wouldn’t warrant the effort.
An additional agenda made sense.
"Ruirui-jie, just say what’s on your mind."
"Need my help with something?"
Mao Ruirui stood abruptly, shifting the mood:
"Gosh, I’ve been rambling—"
"Come sit, Little Yu. Let’s talk properly."
She guided him to the table.
Lin Yu wasn’t one to wait passively.
He pulled up Mao Ruirui’s info panel,
Actively scanning for new quest triggers.
…
(Bonus chapter delivered! More battles tomorrow—goodnight, all!)
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
