After Entering a Romance Reality Show Disguised as a Man to Win Over All the Female Leads - Chapter 10

Bullet Chat:

【I… Did I hear that right? I must be hallucinating…】

【Why do I feel like the screen is… shaking?】

【Um, that’s not on you. It looks like the cameraman is shaking (.).】

Rong Yu’s lip twitched as she whispered a reminder: “We’re still live.”

As if finally realizing she had said something wrong, He Huaiting let out an “Oh,” showing no signs of regret. “Just a joke.”

Rong Yu: “.”

Bullet Chat:

【Your expression looks nothing like you’re joking.】

【…!??】

【That joke is not funny at all, hey!!!】

They were currently deep in the mountains. A cold wind blew across the lake, fluttering He Huaiting’s straight, pure-white hair like a sharp, awakening blade. The cameraman shuddered in fear.

Rong Yu rubbed her nose to change the subject: “Let’s just stick to seafood then. Let’s see if there are other ingredients; grilled fish alone is a bit too simple.” She thought for a moment. “There are four of us eating, so let’s try to find something bigger.”

He Huaiting nodded, scanned the surroundings, and turned toward a massive boulder by the far edge of the lake. The rock was taller than she was; once she stepped behind it, she was completely hidden. Rong Yu didn’t follow, worried about her being filmed doing something she shouldn’t, and the cameraman—already scared half to death by her earlier comment—didn’t dare follow either, keeping his lens fixed on Rong Yu.

Rong Yu peacefully crouched by the shore, flipping small stones to look for crabs. She actually found dozens of them, picking them up and putting them in a cage, planning to fry them later. Along the way, she scooped up nearly twenty small fish fry from the mud, enough to make a side dish.

She kept the grass carp, crabs, and fish fry in separate buckets and cages, fearing the crabs might nip the fish. Finally, she crouched by the lake to wash her hands. But as she washed, she suddenly smelled a heavy scent of blood. The odor was thick with rust and sea salt, drifting into her nostrils on the breeze and making her frown.

She then noticed a thick white mist rising from the lake surface. Following the scent of blood, it spread outward, quickly rising from her ankles to envelop her entire body. Rong Yu was only a meter away from the cameraman, but when she turned, he was gone. The mountains and the lake vanished; there was only chaotic white fog and the endless blue sky above.

The briny scent became so intense it felt physical. The heavy humidity condensed the mist into water droplets that clung to her, and her hair began to drip.

The next moment, she heard a boom like a clap of thunder—like dozens of elephants trumpeting at once—accompanied by the whistling wind and indecipherable, whispering wails. A gale whipped her clothes, and the smell of blood seemed to seep in from everywhere, climbing from her feet to her body.

A chill rose from the soles of her feet, crawling up her legs to her fingertips.

She wasn’t afraid, yet her body instinctively turned cold and numb—a primal reaction of the weak facing a predator. As the mist rose to shroud the sky, she vaguely saw a towering monster, as vast as the heavens and shaped like an octopus, looming behind the fog. The dark shadow shifted between blurriness and clarity. The monster suddenly threw its head back and roared, countless long, thick tentacles with suckers thrashing wildly as its screams pierced the sky.

It seemed to stand up behind the mist, its already terrifying form instantly swelling twofold.

Only then did Rong Yu see a slender, tall figure with a backpack standing by the lake on the water’s surface. Waves curled around her legs, her long white hair flowed like a waterfall over her shoulders, and her golden eyes shone through the mist like a brilliant autumn sun.

He Huaiting raised her sword—or rather, it seemed like more than just a sword. The blade emitted a clear white light that tore through the mist and split the sunlight. She swung the blade, and it felt as if the very heavens and earth were shifting, as if time itself was trembling. The swirling clouds were churned by the blade’s edge, and thousands of lights and shadows seemed to merge into the steel. As a sharp cry tore through the giant shadow, the abyssal black octopus exploded, its blood and sea-mist sweeping across the shore. The roar of the beast in its death throes was deafening.

Rong Yu was pushed back by the powerful sound waves, but then she saw He Huaiting in the center of the lake suddenly sheathe her sword and look back. In an instant, the wind stopped and the clouds settled. The turbulent lake smoothed out. From somewhere, the sound of birds chirping arose like jumping sparks, filling the mountains.

Rong Yu snapped awake.

The lake was still a lake, and the mountains were still mountains. Nothing had happened. She was still holding her buckets and cages, standing quietly on the shore.

She looked back at the cameraman; the timid man was still clutching his camera, appearing relatively calm. He clearly hadn’t seen the vision she just witnessed.

Then, He Huaiting stepped out from behind the boulder, dragging… a section of an octopus tentacle thicker than three adult thighs combined. Even a single sucker on it was larger than Rong Yu’s face.

The cameraman’s face turned green: “Miss—Miss He, you—you—”

The live stream was a string of screams:

【AHHHH what the hell is that!?】

【Holy crap, I’m stunned.】

【Goat. This thing is bigger than my dad (.).】

As He Huaiting pulled the severed tentacle completely from behind the rock, everyone saw the full meter-long piece. The cut was perfectly clean, clearly sliced by a blade. It twitched occasionally, and a semi-transparent milky mucus seeped out; it was obviously fresh.

He Huaiting said seriously and coldly: “I found this by accident.”

Cameraman: “…” He looked at the longsword He Huaiting hadn’t yet put away.

Sure. Whatever you say, I believe you.

The audience reacted similarly:

【Fine, fine, it’s whatever you say it is.】

【I get the logic, just put your sword away first. The camera is shaking so much I can’t see.】

【Regardless, that tentacle looks kind of tasty. It’s huge.】

He Huaiting didn’t look at the cameraman. Her golden eyes were fixed on Rong Yu as she walked closer, cradling the tentacle. “Is this okay?”

The massive chunk of meat, which certainly didn’t look like a normal octopus, twitched twice as she approached. The cameraman instinctively stepped back with a gasp.

Rong Yu didn’t retreat. Instead, she stepped forward and reached out to touch the tentacle in He Huaiting’s arms.

Her hands were long and fair, creating a stark contrast with the dark-brown monstrous remains. They looked like pearls on a rock, glowing white. He Huaiting couldn’t help but stare at those hands, watching the pinkish fingertips brush against the dark-brown and reddish suckers. She instinctively swallowed, her throat feeling tight.

Rong Yu examined the tentacle for a long time before giving a serious critique: “Usually, when they’re this big, they might not taste very good.”

Bullet Chat:

【??? Yubao, you can actually eat that??】

【Pfft, Rong Yu, you really are something else hhhhh.】

【She can’t eat it, not because it’s terrifying, but because it might not taste good. Absolute goat.】

The cameraman couldn’t help but interject: “It’s more than just not tasting good; it’s practically dark cuisine. It doesn’t look appetizing at all.”

He Huaiting looked down at the rejected tentacle in her hands. For some reason, her usually unshakeable heart felt a bit uncomfortable. She furrowed her brows in annoyance and turned, intending to throw the thing away.

Suddenly, a fair arm reached out and grabbed her forearm. “Wait.”

He Huaiting followed the hand up to its owner.

Rong Yu stared at the tentacle, musing for a moment. “Peel the skin off. Let me see it again.”

He Huaiting swung her sword, slicing a line down the middle. The dark brown flesh split to reveal a pinkish gap and translucent white meat beneath.

Rong Yu reached into the gap, peeling back a layer of the membrane. Once the menacing dark skin was removed, the flesh became a semi-transparent pink, looking no different from the octopus one would eat daily—only cleaner.

Rong Yu raised an eyebrow and swallowed. “Mm, looks good now. Let’s take it back.”

He Huaiting looked at her intently. “You aren’t afraid?”

Rong Yu tilted her head and smiled. “This is an ingredient Miss He selected personally. I have to work hard to turn it into a delicacy. Why would I be afraid?”

Those blue eyes were like a galaxy in the moonlight.

He Huaiting’s brow relaxed, and a very faint smile appeared on her lips. “Okay.”

If Mu Shuiqing was an exquisite, ethereal, and somewhat stoic beauty, He Huaiting was a cold and elegant stunner. Her silence usually kept people at a distance, but her smile was like melting ice.

Yet even while smiling, she looked like she was carrying a heavy mission. She looked very much like the Lian Langsheng of that period—the one whose family assets were being targeted by relatives and business associates, the one who had to grow strong enough to take everything back.

Rong Yu couldn’t help but think: If these four are all parts of Lian Langsheng’s consciousness, could they be splits of her personality? Mu Shuiqing represented her childhood; Lin Mengxing symbolized the person she wished she could become; what about He Huaiting?

Does she represent the version of herself that had to become strong during her difficult journey of growing up?

Rong Yu suppressed the bitterness in her heart and tried to find a topic to learn more about the person in front of her. “But, if you could tell me where you actually got this from, I might be able to cook it even better.”

As she spoke, she leaned closer to He Huaiting, her back to the camera. Her fingertips, resting on the tentacle, slid down to inadvertently brush against the back of the other woman’s hand.

He Huaiting was slightly taller. As Rong Yu looked up at her, their warm breaths mingled. It felt as if, with just a slight tilt of the head, they could share a deep kiss.

This realization made He Huaiting’s eyelashes flutter. Her arms tightened around the tentacle, but she didn’t pull her hand away from Rong Yu’s touch.