Chapter 36

Gong Dongling naturally had selfish thoughts of her own, but faced with Xie Yu, the junior sister who trusted and depended on her, she could not possibly let her make such a promise just because of Gong Dongling’s own desires.

“I’m only your senior sister. I shouldn’t be pointing fingers at your feelings in the first place. The reason I stopped you from being with Ji Yuran is because I understand what kind of person he is. He’s unreliable. If A-Yu has someone she likes, and that person is an upright gentleman, why would I oppose it?”

As Gong Dongling spoke, the heat in her heart gradually cooled. She also understood that her desire to obtain warmth from Xie Yu was somewhat laughable. After all, they were not even people of the same world.

Thinking this, Gong Dongling moved her fingers slightly, wanting to slowly withdraw her hand from Xie Yu’s grip.

But unexpectedly, Xie Yu held it tightly, leaving her no room to break free. Gong Dongling raised her head and met Xie Yu’s bottomless eyes.

Xie Yu gripped her hand and refused to let her leave. There was no emotion in her eyes, only a dense, unmelting black.

This was what made Xie Yu feel even more despair. Gong Dongling would forever look at her, care for her, and even educate her from the position of an elder and senior. From beginning to end, in Senior Sister’s heart, she was only a younger sister, a child who needed her protection. She would never become the person Senior Sister liked.

Whenever Xie Yu wanted to get a little closer to Gong Dongling and mustered up the courage to hint at her feelings, Senior Sister would use her identity as a senior to build a high wall between them, leaving Xie Yu unable to advance or retreat.

Xie Yu would often grow greedy. She could not help thinking, Didn’t Senior Sister come here for me alone? Didn’t she say she would never despise me? Then why does she keep taking half a step back every time?

After seeing through Gong Dongling’s view of her, Xie Yu suddenly understood. Perhaps even she herself bailiantales.comhad been trapped by this identity of senior and junior sisters, which was why she had kept that humble, weak appearance from the past in front of Senior Sister.

Xie Yu knew where her own schemes lay. She had used weakness to gain Senior Sister’s attention. But that was the way a small animal wagged its tail and begged for pity. It was temporary. It was not a long-term method to keep someone bound by her side, because one day, the other person would become bored, abandon her, and find a new “pet.”

Was it only if she became strong enough that Senior Sister would belong to her alone forever?

Xie Yu did not realize that in the process of awakening, the last pure land in her heart had also been stained black. She had been completely assimilated into the shadow of the evil god.

At the same time, the system attached to Gong Dongling suddenly woke.

It could sense that some subtle change had occurred in Xie Yu’s body, but the blackening alarm had not sounded. Logically speaking, nothing should happen.

It even activated data monitoring on Xie Yu, yet there was still no reaction.

With this unease, the system filled out a report about the suspected “bug” that had appeared in Xie Yu and submitted it to the Transmigration Administration, hoping the administration could discover the suspicious point. However, this kind of review and investigation process was very slow. The system did not know when it would receive a reply again.

“Mmph—A-Yu, you’re hurting me…” Gong Dongling saw that Xie Yu had stayed silent for a long time, her whole atmosphere somewhat wrong. At last, when she could not endure it anymore, she softly reminded Xie Yu, her voice unconsciously carrying a slight, aggrieved nasal tone.

Xie Yu abruptly came back to herself. Senior Sister’s soft, pleading tone made her breathing stumble by several beats. Clearly, she was very susceptible to this. By conditioned reflex, she loosened her hand.

But next, her gaze landed straight on the faint read the original at bailiantales.com red mark she had gripped onto that slender, fair wrist. She only felt that the color looked a little alluring.

From that color, she seemed to feel an unspeakable pleasure. Ever since she discarded the hierarchy of their identities toward Senior Sister, nothing could stop the selfish desire in Xie Yu’s heart from growing wildly.

She even wanted to see Senior Sister’s whole body stained with that red flush.

Gong Dongling naturally took this opportunity to quickly pull her hand back and tuck it carefully into her sleeve. For a moment, she did not know how to continue this conversation.

But Xie Yu suddenly spoke. “Does Senior Sister really want to know who the person I like is?”

“Who?” Gong Dongling was also surprised. Her interest was indeed stirred, and she asked without thinking.

“Come closer to me. I’ll tell you secretly.” As she spoke, Xie Yu leaned forward slightly, inch by inch, drawing close to Gong Dongling’s ear.

Gong Dongling’s ears were very sensitive. The scorching breath made them turn completely red. She subconsciously wanted to retreat, but Xie Yu stopped her with a single reach of her hand.

As if sensing something, a layer of mist gradually rose in Gong Dongling’s eyes. She said softly, “N-No…”

But Xie Yu still parted her lips and teeth, biting the very tip of her ear. She deliberately rubbed and worried it for a moment with bad intentions before finally letting go and saying coldly, word by word, beside her ear, “At the very least, that person would have to be more intimate with me than we are right now before they could be someone I liked. Don’t you think so, Senior Sister?”

The words “Senior Sister” were spoken with particular lingering tenderness, completely different from the [bailiantales.com]sincere respect with which she had called her that before.

By the time Gong Dongling covered her ear and woke from her blank-minded state, Xie Yu had already retreated far to the side. Her expression was still tense from anger.

Xie Yu… Why did she bite the tip of my ear?!

Only then did Gong Dongling belatedly realize that Xie Yu really was angry. This was the first time since the two of them reconciled that Xie Yu had been so bold toward her. Gong Dongling instantly understood as well. Xie Yu’s actions just now were because she had been furious and unable to defend herself, so she proved it to Gong Dongling.

But even so, Gong Dongling had almost been unable to control the surges of heat and wild thoughts rising in her heart because of that intimate contact.

She could only force herself to temporarily throw all of this to the back of her mind and carefully recall what had happened before.

Judging by all of Xie Yu’s reactions, she really had not rekindled anything with Ji Yuran. Clearly, the system’s warning had been wrong. For some reason, the plot had been changed by some kind of butterfly effect, and midway through correcting itself, it had been forcibly bent back.

Since it had not happened, Gong Dongling felt both happy and sorrowful. She was happy because Xie Yu had once again escaped the shadow of the angst novel. She was sorrowful because she had rashly brought up something completely groundless, and the person in question was Xie Yu’s enemy. No wonder Xie Yu was angry!

If someone suddenly asked Gong Dongling whether she liked Ji Yuran, she would also wonder if the other person had some serious illness.

Once this realization that the clown was actually herself came out, Gong Dongling could not tell whether it was this embarrassment or the intimate contact with Xie Yu just now that made her cheeks heat so quickly.

While inwardly complaining about [bailiantales.com]the unreliable system, she hesitated, wanting to explain to Xie Yu.

Xie Yu seemed to see Gong Dongling’s awkwardness. Her long, narrow eyes lifted slightly, revealing a bit of teasing. A faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, yet unlike before, she did not forgive Senior Sister so easily. “Senior Sister wrongly accused me this time. Shouldn’t there be some compensation?”

After all, she could not let go of any opportunity to slowly bind Senior Sister to her side.

Gong Dongling only felt that Xie Yu had become more oppressive than before. But this matter was indeed her fault. Compensation was only proper. Thinking this, although she felt somewhat uneasy, she still nodded hastily.

“Then can Senior Sister give me the Dream-Congealing Pearl from the Xuanji Grass?” Xie Yu gazed at Gong Dongling and quietly waited for her answer.

Gong Dongling had not expected Xie Yu to suddenly ask for this. She did not even know what the Dream-Congealing Pearl was, so she asked, “What is the Dream-Congealing Pearl?”

“It’s the light pearl condensed by the Xuanji Grass before it was picked. I only learned about it recently. It should be with Senior Sister, right? It doesn’t belong to any part of the Xuanji Grass, but it has a hypnotic effect. Ever since I was young, I’ve had many nightmares and couldn’t sleep at night, so I want to take this chance to obtain that pearl.”

Hearing Xie Yu say this, Gong Dongling suddenly remembered. When she had picked the Xuanji Grass, a silver light pearl had fallen into her hand. At the time, she had not known what it was and had casually placed it into a small bottle.

She only remembered that she had indeed fallen straight into sleep after touching the Dream-Congealing Pearl. Looking at it this way, the Dream-Congealing Pearl really did have the effect of calming the mind and inducing sleep.

Gong Dongling found the long-forgotten Dream-Congealing Pearl in her storage ring and handed it to Xie Yu. “If A-Yu wants it, you can just tell me directly. You don’t need to ask for it in the form of compensation.”

Xie Yu only shook her head slightly bailiantales.com and smiled. “Because it’s very important to me, it wouldn’t be right to ask for it without reason.”

Because everything she had told Senior Sister was a lie. This pearl did not have any calming effect at all. It had only one function: it could record the dreams of everyone who entered the illusion. She had accidentally seen this in a book.

Xu Ruozhen and Ji Yuran both understood Senior Sister so thoroughly. Xie Yu was unwilling to accept that.

She wanted to secretly understand Gong Dongling’s past, wanted to personally experience her childhood and girlhood. It was as if after seeing that part of her memories, she too would become the person closest to Senior Sister.

The reason Xie Yu had been unwilling to take the Dream-Congealing Pearl before was precisely because her reverence toward Senior Sister had stopped her. And now, what she wanted to break was exactly that.

Gong Dongling knew nothing of this and even handed the pearl containing her real-world memories to Xie Yu.

Xie Yu carefully put the item away, barely able to suppress the anticipation in her heart.

“Senior Sister, let’s go back. The lake wind outside is cold. If you stay here any longer, you’ll catch a cold,” Xie Yu reminded her. She could not wait to return to her room and properly look at the Dream-Congealing Pearl.

Gong Dongling naturally wished she could end this awkward and confused topic as soon as possible, so she quickly agreed. Just as she was about to walk forward, she discovered that Xie Yu was standing at the side, quietly looking at her bare feet.

“Can Senior Sister walk back like that?” Xie Yu laughed softly, her meaning clear. She was referring to how Gong Dongling had tripped over the rocks the moment she saw Xie Yu earlier.

“I walked here like this, so why wouldn’t I be able to walk back? Just now, it was because my legs had gone numb from sitting, and I got excited when I saw you. That’s why it happened…” Gong Dongling guiltily raised her hand and rubbed the ear tip Xie Yu had bitten, only feeling that the damned heat was creeping up again.

Because Xie Yu kept staring at them, Gong Dongling’s small jade-like toes unconsciously curled inward. She only felt that no matter what Xie Yu did today, it felt strange.

Author’s Note:
This is all Senior Sister’s own doing for being such a block of wood, hahahahaha.