Chapter 132

Chapter 3: When’s It Happening?

　　Bai Ling was starting to regret her decision.

　　She thought avoiding Yuan Xiaoling’s relatives would keep her from awkward situations. But staying at the beach hotel and chatting with Xiaoling’s two roommates about everyday life proved her wrong.

　　”Bai Ling, you’ve been to Yuan Xiaoling’s place already, how do you find her family?”

　　”…Pretty good. Oh, just call me by my name.”

　　Adding ‘classmate’ afterward makes it sound like I’m some kind of smart home AI or something.

　　”How so? Tell us more,” Qiao Lili asked curiously. “Xiaoling mentioned her dad was super happy. Why is that?”

　　Bai Ling hesitated for a moment before muttering quietly, “Because of Honkai Impact 3.”

　　Even though badmouthing the future father-in-law isn’t great, this was exactly what Xiaoling had said.

　　So it probably doesn’t count as badmouthing…

　　Qiao Lili looked utterly astonished, surprised that someone from such a prestigious family could spend all day gaming.

　　Gu Hui wasn’t familiar with those games and didn’t want to jump to conclusions, so she asked about something else: “I heard Xiaoling’s family is an ancient lineage of awakened ones. Is that true?”

　　Bai Ling twitched the corner of her mouth. “True, but they’re called Spiritual Energy Manipulators.”

　　Don’t always throw around ‘awakened’—you don’t even know what they’re awakening from!

　　”Really? Like in novels! So their family must have a strict hierarchy, right?”

　　”…Not really.”

　　It is pretty strict, like that one night when Uncle hosted a welcoming dinner and Xiaoling didn’t show up, so no one touched their chopsticks.

　　Yeah, strict alright, but there’s something weird about the ranking system.

　　”So you must’ve gone through some tough trials to gain their approval, right?”

　　”…Not really.”

　　I stayed there for a few days doing nothing. All I did when I entered was use my spiritual power to clash with Grandpa, letting him know I’m an 18-year-old Fifth-tier girl.

　　If you wanna call it a trial, sure. But if you ask me if it was hard, nah, it was basically just showing off my stat sheet.

　　”So when are you guys getting married?”

　　”Huh? What?” Bai Ling blinked in surprise.

　　Wait a minute, how’d the topic suddenly jump here?

　　”Didn’t you say?” Qiao Lili replied matter-of-factly. “You’ve met the parents, got the bracelet.”

　　Even Gu Hui nodded, finding it reasonable.

　　All the steps are done; all the prerequisites submitted. If not for marriage, why bother with all that?

　　Bai Ling froze.

　　Following their logic, if it wasn’t for marriage, why go back to meet the family and get mission props (bracelets)?

　　That actually makes sense…

　　”I… don’t know, ask her,” Bai Ling stiffly replied. “Yuan Xiaoling brought me back.”

　　Everything, from meeting the family to going home, even visiting grandpa at the flower garden, was Xiaoling’s idea.

　　Ling has no clue.

　　”That means Xiaoling has this in mind,” Qiao Lili said. “Did she tell you when she plans to do it?”

　　Bai Ling shook her head.

　　How would she know?

　　…………

　　At the Grand Hotel, after eating a bit of food, everyone calmed down. Yuan Xiaoling then revealed her plan, which was the same thing discussed earlier—operating a game soon to be released.

　　Yuan Tong glanced around at his fellow brothers and sighed, “Cousin Xiaoling, I thought your talk about acquiring a gaming company was just a cover-up.”

　　Turns out, they were really making a game.

　　”Don’t underestimate this,” Yuan Xiaoling said. “There’s deep meaning behind it. You’ll understand soon.”

　　Truthfully, she didn’t know much about the deeper meaning either, until Luo Zou Cheng and Wu Bian praised her plan, saying it was brilliant, worthy of the wise Water Goddess who effortlessly came up with a multi-purpose strategy.

　　After hearing their analysis, Yuan Xiaoling started to wonder if she might truly be a genius.

　　”We’ll discuss the details in a couple of days. Today, we’re all exhausted from travel. Let’s eat well and rest.”

　　After entertaining her distant cousins, Yuan Xiaoling packed up and left.

　　Meanwhile, on the other side of Tianhai City, near the mountains in the East District, in a secluded yet decent residential area where hardly anyone could be seen, only two guards kept watch, constantly yawning.

　　This was the base of Yun Family’s vanguard force. Back when Yun He was around, nights were quiet. Now that Yun He is gone, the remaining people felt even more listless.

　　”Where did Mr. Yun He go? The night before he left, he told us not to sleep too deeply because the ceasefire would end soon and we needed to be ready.”

　　”Yeah, we thought our break was over, but instead, we got another vacation.”

　　”This is what they call destiny being unpredictable, huh.”

　　The two chatted aimlessly. Since Yun He’s death, no one knew what to do next. Occasionally asking their superior only yielded four words—

　　”Patiently wait.”

　　”Do you think we’ll be waiting forever?”

　　The guard on the left rubbed his eyes and suddenly noticed a tall, handsome man walking into the neighborhood with a pure-looking girl.

　　”Hey, what are you doing here? This is private property…”

　　His companion slapped his hand and respectfully greeted the newcomer: “Young Master!”

　　He reacted quickly, having seen the photo before.

　　His companion quickly followed suit, calling out “Young Master!”

　　Now both understood. This was none other than Yun Liang, one of the future leaders of the Yun Family and the person their superior told them to “patiently wait” for.

　　As for the girl beside Yun Liang, they didn’t recognize her, nor did it matter.

　　”Young Master, since Mr. Yun He arrived, we’ve been following his orders and waiting for you.”

　　The guard introduced as he led him inside: “But recently, Mr. Yun He fought someone and unfortunately met his demise.”

　　Then he recounted what he knew: the local forces of Tianhai City, the Fourth-tier powerhouse known as the Water Goddess. That day, Mr. Yun He went to Four Squares Academy and never returned.

　　”At that time, the weather on the mountain changed dramatically, and a heavy rainstorm occurred. Mr. Yun He and several followers were drowned in the storm. It must have been the so-called goddess Yuan Xiaoling who acted.”

　　”I see,” Yun Liang raised an eyelid. “I’ve traveled a long way today and am quite tired. We’ll talk in a few days.”

　　The two guards lingered behind, looking at each other in confusion.

　　Seems like Young Master isn’t particularly concerned about Mr. Yun He’s death.

　　On the contrary, the girl beside him—Xin Lan secretly memorized these words.

　　Yuan Xiaoling, isn’t that the name of the blonde big-chested girl hanging around Bai Ling? Great! Tomorrow, she can help Brother Yun Liang gather intelligence on the enemy and make him impressed.

　　Xin Lan was about to accomplish something.

　　…………

　　Back at the beach hotel, Yuan Xiaoling returned and first checked in on her roommates, asking if they were satisfied.

　　Of course, Gu Hui and Qiao Lili were pleased. They’d already tried the dorm beds and gave high praise to the waterbeds at the hotel.

　　They also said some cryptic things like, “Why haven’t you told Bai Ling anything?” and “Are you preparing a surprise?” leaving Yuan Xiaoling utterly confused.

　　Returning to her own room, she saw Bai Ling lying quietly on the bed, scrolling through her phone, seemingly engrossed.

　　Yuan Xiaoling carefully observed. Bai Ling’s state was calm—steady breathing, serene expression, relaxed demeanor. No signs of stress.

　　Good, no need to endure punishment tonight.

　　Relieved, Xiaoling prepared to sneak onto the bed quietly but suddenly heard Bai Ling say:

　　”You’re back.”

　　”Yes,” the Blonde-haired Maiden blinked. “I’m back.”

　　Bai Ling stared at her expressionlessly for a while, making Xiaoling feel a little nervous.

　　No way, everything’s normal, there’s no reason she should react like this just seeing me.

　　Fortunately, Bai Ling didn’t do anything unusual. She simply asked, “Is there something you need to tell me?”

　　Yuan Xiaoling paused.

　　”Emmmmmm… I just visited a few cousins, everyone’s doing fine.”

　　Bai Ling crossed her arms. Not that.

　　”What else?”

　　”Can you give me a hint?” Yuan Xiaoling asked.

　　How am I supposed to know when you just randomly ask like this?

　　”Let me ask you this—are you planning something?” Bai Ling offered a hint.

　　”Of course! And you already know—I’m launching an open-world game and getting full support from the Tianhai municipal government…”

　　”Not that.”

　　Unable to hold back any longer, Bai Ling interrupted her and asked directly: “When you last took me home, were you preparing a wedding feast? When is it happening?”