Little Pink Starfish

In a room of a restaurant under the Frost Mercenary Group, a tall and burly man sat on the sofa. In front of him was a young man with a gentle and kind face, smiling warmly from time to time: “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt in a moment. Be careful next time you go kill zombies.”

The man laughed heartily: “Of course, of course, truly worthy of…”
Huh? Why no response?
Just as he lifted his head to ask, he found that the young ability user treating him had a slight change in expression.

The man was a little puzzled: “Mr. Su?”
Su Qingyan’s expression was a bit strained. He slowly withdrew the hands he had already extended and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, I suddenly feel a bit unwell… I’ll go ask A Qiao to come treat you. Please don’t mind.”

The man was stunned. He didn’t quite understand why the treatment, which would only take a short while, couldn’t be completed, but this ability was convenient and quick, and Su’s reputation was good. Plus, this was Frost Mercenary Group’s territory, so he couldn’t cause trouble. So he agreed: “Alright, that’s not a big deal…”

Su Qingyan’s expression stiffened for a moment.
Not a big deal? Was his spiritual spring water no different from Meng Qiao’s mutated water-type ability? What a joke! If it weren’t for suppressing Meng Qiao, how could he be willing to use his spiritual spring!

To maintain his image, Su Qingyan said a few kind words before leaving the room.
Once Meng Qiao heard he wasn’t feeling well, of course he urged him to go rest, and treating a mercenary or two was no big deal for him.
So, he asked someone nearby to keep watch over the shop and quickly went in himself.

Inside the room, Meng Qiao immediately recognized the man: “Hey, Big Strong, who broke your arm again? Always coming over to trouble our Qingyan, you’ve got some guts, huh!”

The man called Big Strong quickly waved his hand: “I didn’t mean to! And I’m bringing you guys business too!”
Since Meng Qiao was someone their boss liked, he didn’t dare be disrespectful—yes, he was from the Thunder Mercenary Group. His attitude toward Meng Qiao was a bit flattering, but clearly more familiar than with Su Qingyan.

Meng Qiao raised an eyebrow, smacked Big Strong’s arm with a slap, and only after the man cried out in pain, did he impatiently start healing him.
Big Strong scratched the back of his head and dared not say a word, but in his heart he had already silently repeated several times: “Sister-in-law is right, sister-in-law does it right.”

Outside, Su Qingyan passed by the doorway, and because of his keen senses, he also heard the voices coming from inside. He secretly gritted his teeth, cursed Big Strong as a brute, then quickly found another empty room, went in and locked the door.

As soon as he entered, Su Qingyan collapsed to the ground.
At this time, how could he possibly maintain his usual elegance? He only gripped tightly the bead string on his wrist with one hand, and kept chanting in his heart: Go in, go in, I want to go into the space!

But, no reaction.
How could that be?
Su Qingyan’s face turned pale, cold sweat soaking his back.

Clearly, he was able to enter just earlier. He had only gone out once today. Why couldn’t he enter the space now?
In the previous life, Meng Qiao had never encountered this kind of problem!

Impossible, impossible…
The heavens couldn’t possibly be unfair to him!

Su Qingyan showed a twisted smile.
He grabbed a knife nearby and slashed fiercely at his palm.

In an instant, bright red blood dripped rapidly, falling onto the bead string.
But this time, unlike before when it absorbed the blood, the bead string showed no reaction… No! No no no, why is this happening?

A deep panic crept into Su Qingyan’s heart.
The supplies he collected, his spiritual spring, his countless food—all inside.
If he lost this space, how would he cultivate in the future? He couldn’t stay at Qi Training level two forever! Without the spiritual spring, he would never make progress again! And without it, his healing ability would disappear forever…

You couldn’t blame him for being afraid.
Even if Su Qingyan’s will was strong and his character was sinister, he was still just an ordinary person who hadn’t awakened an ability.
The so-called healing ability was, in truth, him using one of the few spells he had—Clear Wind Spell—with his mere Qi Training level two cultivation, while simultaneously extracting spiritual spring water with his thoughts and sprinkling it into the breeze to imitate the effect.

But now, it no longer worked.

Originally, the reason Su Qingyan imitated it was not only to raise his status, but also to outshine Meng Qiao in his area of expertise. But this was, after all, external power. Once lost, he was powerless. His own cultivation at Qi Training level two only made him physically stronger than average, far from enough for effective combat. Currently, he had only one attack spell… the most basic Wind Spiral Spell, which was about the same as a wind blade used by a wind-type ability user.
Did his water ability suddenly become wind-type now?
That was too…

Thinking further, now without enough food, he would have to exert much effort just to survive, like many others. He could no longer maintain his relaxed and carefree posture… Su Qingyan’s body trembled slightly.
At this moment, an indescribable fear rose in his heart.

If only things were still the same.
At this point, how could he think about how to trample Meng Qiao underfoot? After forcibly suppressing his strong jealousy, Su Qingyan knew he had to come up with a perfect plan to make that fool Meng Qiao protect him.
Meng Qiao, Meng Qiao…

---

Gu felt suffocated.
Someone stood by his side serving him meticulously during meals, someone followed him step by step while walking, someone stared at him all night while he took naps, and even outside the latrine, someone squatted at the door waiting…

Gu Bai wanted to explode.
I say, handsome, do you seriously have nothing else to do? Hanging around Laozi like this every day is seriously shame-play okay! Just thinking about it makes me want to cover my face, turn away, and draw circles in the corner!

But, he was helpless to explode.
Wearing a poker face, Gu Bai always seemed like he wanted to say something but held back… No, actually he didn’t want to hold back—it was that every time he was about to speak, the other party would already change the topic with all kinds of gentleness and attentiveness!
Totally no way out.

Gu Bai felt like he had met his nemesis.
Then, a chilling fear rose in his heart…

Yes, he remembered—damn it, the world he transmigrated into was a danmei novel!
This guy looked just like a gay!
Even the straight couples he’d seen in his past life weren’t this cheesy okay!

Does it mean… in a danmei world, even brotherhood is this oddly expressed? Is he just not used to this world?
Or is it that in this world, there simply is no pure friendship between men?
Damn it, friendship and brotherhood are just kids, cruel heavens please spare them!

However, since the other party never actually expressed any affection, Gu Bai could only remain silent.
——Damn it, even if he wanted to hand out a “nice guy” card, there was no chance! This guy didn’t even look like a good guy! And if he said “Laozi refuses,” it might come off as self-important. Worst of all, what if after he refused, the guy said, “you were imagining things”? That would be humiliating!

So tragic…

After taking a fruit fed to him by the handsome youth, Gu Bai painfully covered his face.
Laozi has truly fallen!
With no ten maidservants, this guy alone was doing the work of four and still had energy left!
Even washing Laozi’s clothes and pants inside and out—how could he bring himself to do that!
Was there no dignity left for high-level ability users?

With a sigh, Gu Bai pushed away the fruit tray, stood up, and prepared to go for a walk.
Speaking of which, what was going on now with that black-hearted lotus who had lost the space?
He was mildly curious.

---

Gu Bai brought his loyal new little brother onto the street.
Wherever they passed, countless ambiguous gazes followed…

Gu Bai: What the hell are these people staring at! Believe it or not, Laozi will gouge out those eyes, throw them on the ground, and stomp them one by one into a satisfying pop!
…No no no, Laozi’s not a psycho, can’t actually do that.

↓
The real psycho followed behind him, in a very good mood.
So many people thought gege was his… how nice.
Just like back in Tiandu City.
Everyone, very perceptive.

Gu Bai strolled casually until he arrived at the entrance of his restaurant.

Today was quite strange—just standing at the entrance, he saw a row of big burly men in black trench coats guarding the place. Anyone seeing it would think this was Thunder Mercenary Group territory.
But in reality, Gu Bai knew—it was because their captain was deliberately seducing a man here.

Gu Bai arrived at the door, and the entire row of big men looked… not at him, but at the handsome youth behind him.
The lewdness in their gazes practically oozed out—damn!
Look! What the hell are you looking at!

Gu Bai was hopeless toward this danmei world!
What to do—he was once again starting to doubt the morals of that youth whose name was just like his childhood sworn brother’s…

Taking a deep breath, he shook off the thought and walked into the restaurant under those burning stares.

Sure enough, Yin Jiu was sitting at his exclusive seat—which had the widest view and allowed him to fix his sneaky eyes on Meng Qiao at all times.
What was odd this time was that Meng Qiao was also sitting opposite him, frowning and looking worried.

After Gu Bai entered, his white clothes seemed to brighten the whole hall, of course immediately attracting many people’s attention.
Meng Qiao also turned his head, and upon seeing Gu Bai, he stood up at once, joyfully calling out: “Big brother!”

Yin Jiu’s face darkened.
The person he liked was actually this dependent on someone else—just thinking about it made him feel annoyed.
Of course, when he saw someone following behind Gu Bai, and that person’s twisted possessiveness was practically tangible, his mood improved a bit.

…As a macho man, Yin Jiu rarely complained inwardly: Heh, no matter how much A Qiao relies on you, you’ll still be taken away and pinned down? Thinking of that day, I’m still uneasy. A Qiao is mine!

Gu Bai had no idea what the macho Yin Jiu was thinking. He just slightly bowed his head with a poker face, looking at Meng Qiao: “What’s wrong with you?”

Yin Jiu: Wo cao, I’m seriously pissed off!
Qiguan Rui’s gaze grew deeper.