After hanging up the phone, I took my mobile and returned to Lin Xi's room. She had already fallen asleep. I placed the phone on her bedside table, tiptoed out, and closed the door. This time, I didn't leave a gap but shut it tightly. I activated my Qi-sensing technique to test if the door could block it, but it couldn't. Lin Xi's purple Qi was clearly visible, as was the aura of the Whale God nearby, which had already transformed into mid-stage purple Qi. It wasn't even comparable to Long Yue's. To become human, it seemed she had paid a heavy price. I truly wondered what she was after. But I could understand; a non-demon, how could they know the joy of being a demon?
I used the coffee table as a stepstool and curled up on the sofa. The temperature outside began to drop. I closed the window, feeling increasingly cold. I tried using the air conditioner, but it was quite noisy, waking up Chen Ke on the bed. She mumbled, asking if it was morning.
"No, you keep sleeping," I replied.
"It's so cold, come sleep here," Chen Ke shifted to the side, making a large space for me on the bed. "Don't catch a cold."
I hesitated. If it were anyone else, even Lin Xi, I might have made do. It was precisely because Chen Ke was a newcomer, and I wasn't very familiar with her, that I found it difficult to act.
However, in the end, I couldn't resist the (cold's coercion) Chen Ke's temptation. Damn it, I think I got the parentheses backward. Finally, I got up, lay on the bed, and reached out to turn off the light.
In the darkness, everything was still clearly visible. Chen Ke pulled the blanket over, covering my body. But the blanket was a bit small, and she was far from me. I saw that only a small strip of the blanket remained on her side, so I reached out from under the covers and pulled her into the blanket to prevent her from catching a chill.
Chen Ke misunderstood my intention, perhaps thinking I wanted to do something strange. Her expression was a bit conflicted. As if making a decision, she bit her lip and snuggled into my arms.
"Don't misunderstand, I didn't mean anything by it," I whispered.
"I didn't misunderstand," Chen Ke insisted, "It's just for warmth, hehe..."
Nothing happened overnight. Truly, only some subtle flirtations occurred, no deep intimacy.
After tossing and turning for half the night, around one in the morning, Chen Ke got tired and fell asleep on her side. I also fell into an exhausted sleep.
I didn't sleep long before waking up. It was still before dawn, but I felt exceptionally energetic, as if I had slept until ten o'clock on a Saturday morning and was full of vigor.
I guessed this was also related to the Whale God's demon core.
Chen Ke was still asleep. There was another person in the room; Ya Nan was curled up on the sofa, sleeping with her head tilted. I got up, scooped her up by her knees, and held her. Ya Nan remained curled in my arms and sleepily opened one eye. "Boss, what is it?"
"Go sleep in the bed, I'm going for a run."
Ya Nan opened her other eye. "I'll go with you."
"No need," I smiled. "With Qi-sensing, I won't fall into any dangerous situations."
Ya Nan thought for a moment, then closed her eyes, reassured.
I tucked her into the blanket. Chen Ke probably thought I had returned from the restroom and rolled over, pulling Ya Nan into her arms. Ya Nan opened one eye again, glanced at Chen Ke clinging to her, and then turned away. The two of them faced each other, hugging tightly. In the mountain morning without air conditioning, this should be warmer.
I glanced at the room next door. Lin Xi was already up and walking towards the door. The Whale God's aura had dropped back to early-stage purple Qi, similar to Lin Xi's complexion. I didn't know if it would continue to drop. I hoped it wouldn't. If it dropped further, I'd even worry about her survival. Although she had entrusted her demon core to me, others didn't know that. Especially those demon hunters. What if some brave ones tried to target her and killed her?
I wasn't worried about the demon hunter organizations having experts above purple Qi. It was the Whale God's strength, after dropping from black Qi to purple Qi, that made me fear she couldn't withstand the technological and ruthless tactics of the demon hunters. Long Yue had already shown me the strength of the demon hunters. Besides a large number of purple Qi cultivators, their firepower was also exceptionally powerful!
Lin Xi opened the door and emerged, already dressed. "Going for a run? Let's go together, I also have a morning running habit."
She wasn't really going for a run, but rather to protect the "reincarnated Bai Ze." I suspected that protecting and winning over Bai Ze was a new mission for Lin Xi, the captain of the Bordered Yellow Banner.
Regardless, with a beautiful woman accompanying me for a run, I certainly wouldn't mind.
However, when I went to the restroom to wash up, I inadvertently discovered a small problem: why had my face returned to normal?
Did Chen Ke prick me with needles in the middle of the night?
I didn't recall it happening. I had pricked her a few times, but I hadn't broken the skin.