Chapter 32: Flirtatious Player!

Xiao Yueluo’s body trembled slightly.

She looked up, forcing a stiff smile onto her face: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.

Just saw you standing there not saying a word for ages.”

Bai Yue walked up to Xiao Yueluo and studied her expression carefully.

Xiao Yueluo’s eyes were bloodshot, and her lips bore a pale mark from where she had been biting them.

“You don’t look so good.

Feeling unwell?”

Bai Yue asked, deliberately feigning ignorance.

“No.”

Xiao Yueluo averted her gaze, her eyes involuntarily drifting toward Su Qingyan, who was still scribbling furiously at the table.

Bai Yue raised an eyebrow slightly.

In the game, Xiao Yueluo was a textbook tsundere character who would instinctively refute everything—meaning she often said the exact opposite of what she meant.

She had strong pride, hated backing down, and loved to push back against others.

In other words, she kept everything bottled up inside and struggled on her own.

Bai Yue vaguely recalled a CG in the game where the original owner used Su Qingyan to threaten Xiao Yueluo and then… took advantage of her.

That scene was recorded by someone else and used to blackmail her.

Because of her pride, Xiao Yueluo didn’t seek help from her master in the Du Xian Sect, and ended up becoming a tool for everyone’s use.

Eventually, she was even sold off for spirit stones, becoming a public outlet for the entire sect—one of the more tragic bad endings in the game.

That was just the kind of world this was.

Sigh.

To prevent that from happening, she needed to properly correct this personality of hers.

With that thought, Bai Yue let out a scoff and mercilessly tore through Xiao Yueluo’s facade: “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

Xiao Yueluo whipped her head around, staring at Bai Yue with a flash of panic and the irritation of being exposed: “What nonsense are you talking?!”

“Nonsense?”

Bai Yue stepped closer, lowering her voice so only the two of them could hear.

“You see her like this now—see that she no longer needs your comfort, see her getting lost in those few scribbles I casually drew.

You feel like she doesn’t need you anymore, like your role as her ‘protector’ has been taken away, right?”

“I don’t!”

Xiao Yueluo gritted her teeth, but her retort lacked conviction.

“Don’t bother pretending.

The cultivation world has always been about survival of the fittest.

No matter how close you two are, you can’t protect her forever.”

Bai Yue straightened up, her tone turning cold and hard.

“Besides, she doesn’t need your protection.

What she needs is a stage where she can realize her own value.”

Bai Yue’s words were like a rusty knife—dull yet cruel—cutting away the last fig leaf over Xiao Yueluo’s heart.

Xiao Yueluo fell silent.

She couldn’t argue.

Because she knew Bai Yue was telling the truth.

“What is your real goal?

Even though you clearly…”

She ground her teeth, the words forcing their way out between her clenched jaws, carrying a barely suppressed tremor.

“Goal?”

Bai Yue chuckled lightly, twirling a strand of hair that hung over her chest.

“What if I told you I simply saw her talent and wanted to nurture it?

Would you believe me?”

“I don’t.”

Xiao Yueluo answered without hesitation.

“Suit yourself.”

Bai Yue spread her hands, her tone frivolous and malicious.

“Anyway, we have a contract.

She was always mine to begin with.”

“You—” Xiao Yueluo choked on her words, her fingers tightening around her sword hilt.

“Bai Yue!”

Just as the tension between them was about to boil over, Su Qingyan’s voice cut in.

She was clutching the now heavily annotated talisman paper, rushing over to Bai Yue like a whirlwind and grabbing her by the arms.

“I’ve got it!

To solve the high-temperature overload problem, we can add a miniature ice-formation array on the outer layer of the cylinder.

Using suction, we can guide the superheated steam out while also creating a cooling cycle!”

Su Qingyan’s eyes were blazing, faint red rings around them from intense concentration.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

Bai Yue quickly interrupted, leaning her head back to dodge the talisman paper that was almost shoved up her nose.

She glanced at her sleeve, which was being firmly clutched, then at Xiao Yueluo, whose face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.

“Ahem.”

Bai Yue deliberately cleared her throat, gesturing with her chin toward Xiao Yueluo for Su Qingyan’s benefit—wanting her to check on her wife.

But Xiao Yueluo saw Bai Yue’s gesture as nothing but provocation.

She bit her lower lip hard, saying nothing.

Watching Su Qingyan look at Bai Yue with eyes full of dependence and fervor, the sour ache in her heart nearly drowned her.

I was here first.

All along, it was me who accompanied her through those long, bitter nights.

Xiao Yueluo took a deep breath, forcing down the lump in her throat, and turned to walk toward the door.

“Yueluo?”

Su Qingyan finally noticed something was wrong and called out instinctively.

“I’m fine.”

Xiao Yueluo paused but didn’t turn around.

“I’m going outside to get some air.

Qingyan, you… you go ahead and keep working.”

With that, she walked quickly out of the yard.

Her retreating figure looked almost like she was fleeing in defeat.

The room fell quiet.

Su Qingyan’s hand was still frozen in midair, the talisman paper forgotten.

She stared blankly at the disappearing figure beyond the gate, her earlier fervor gradually replaced by worry.

“Yueluo… what’s wrong with her?”

Su Qingyan turned to Bai Yue, her tone anxious.

“Is it because… I neglected her?”

Seeing Su Qingyan’s expression, Bai Yue silently sighed.

This blockhead—a genius in research, but in matters of the heart, she was like a piece of uncarvable rotten wood.

“Don’t overthink it.”

Bai Yue reached over and pulled the talisman paper from Su Qingyan’s hand, scanning it briefly.

“Good idea, but the formation core could use a little adjustment.

You work on the designs yourself for now and stay put in the room.”

“But Yueluo is—”

“I’ll go.”

Bai Yue interrupted, patting her shoulder.

“With you two dancing around each other like this, without me pushing things along, you’d never get anywhere.”

Su Qingyan nodded, half-understanding.

Though her heart was still uneasy, Bai Yue’s words carried a strange reassurance.

Bai Yue turned and walked out of the room, following the bluestone path toward the back courtyard.

By the dry well in the backyard, Xiao Yueluo sat alone in the chilly wind.

She stared at the solitary moon in the night sky, silently drawing her sword and carving a deep gash into the green tiles beside her.

“Bai Yue…” She muttered the name under her breath, a storm of complex emotions churning in her eyes.

“She said she had ‘designs’ on me…” Xiao Yueluo stared at the gash on the tile, her chest heaving.

“And now she’s going after my dear Qingyan too.

Not only is she a pervert, she’s a flirtatious player!”

And Qingyan too!

All she sees are those silly formations and gears.

I stormed off in a huff, and she didn’t even bother to chase after me!

“I’m done with both of you.”

Xiao Yueluo fumed, slamming her sword back into its scabbard with a heavy clang.

“Hmph.”

She turned her head away, wrapped her arms around her knees, and buried her face deep into them as she sat on the cold stone steps.

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