Chapter 156

Chapter 24: Reference

　　Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes and lowered her voice, “What did you say to take just now?”

　　She suspected she had misheard.

　　Mainly because Xiaoling thought that someone like Bai Ling, a cold-faced, emotionless killer—at least that’s how she appeared on the outside and used to be.

　　If it were someone like her, saying she was bored and came over asking Xiaoling to shoot a set of risqué福利 photos, Xiaoling could understand. But… wedding photos?

　　”What’s wrong,” Bai Ling frowned with her usual cold face, “is it such a hard question to answer?”

　　Though her face remained pale, the red glow in her eyes had intensified, like a pair of glowing red indicators.

　　Warning! Warning!

　　”No no no, I’m just a little surprised,” Yuan Xiaoling quickly said, “Why did you suddenly think of this?”

　　Bai Ling hesitated for a moment.

　　Yeah, why exactly?

　　She didn’t know why, but after walking down the stairs and out of the dormitory building, when she looked up at the cotton candy-like clouds, this idea suddenly popped into her mind.

　　It was like the impulse you get when sleeplessly scrolling through gacha game pages late at night, or hearing potato chips on discount while passing by a supermarket, or not having any action for three days and seeing Xiaoling’s color pictures… that kind of irrational urge grew wildly like weeds, unstoppable.

　　In short, no reason, just thought of it.

　　”You don’t need to worry about it,” Bai Ling replied, “just tell me what you think.”

　　Of course I think it’s bad, Yuan Xiaoling thought silently. There are still so many things left undone. And as for wedding dresses, she herself didn’t care much, but the issue is Bai Ling’s Dabeitu is still “growing.” If we customize now, it might be too small later.

　　”I think we can put it aside for now…”

　　Warning! Warning!

　　”Put what aside?”

　　”Just relax, it’s not a bad idea.”

　　Yuan Xiaoling rubbed her hands, “Do you suddenly have this idea because you’ve made some sort of plan?”

　　Hearing an affirmative reply, Bai Ling’s expression immediately brightened, and the red glow in her eyes faded.

　　”Not exactly a plan, just a friend recommended a wedding photography studio to me, said it was pretty good, suggested I give it a try.”

　　So it was a friend who started this fire, Yuan Xiaoling muttered under her breath,

　　”Bad influence.”

　　Bai Ling raised an eyebrow, “What did you say?”

　　”I mean, your friends are really great mentors,” Yuan Xiaoling sighed, “maybe you won’t find such good friends again in a lifetime.”

　　”That’s not necessarily true,” Bai Ling casually said, “if you want to meet them, come with me tomorrow.”

　　She didn’t suspect Yuan Xiaoling’s original words, because she didn’t realize how much Xiaoling’s subtlety had improved.

　　Afterwards, they discussed the time and decided it would be a few days or a week later. Too long and they wouldn’t be able to wait, too short and they wouldn’t be prepared.

　　”I checked before, these kinds of wedding photography stores usually recommend package deals, discounts for wedding dresses plus photography combos. But we won’t use theirs, we’ll customize our own.”

　　Although Bai Ling’s voice was calm, Yuan Xiaoling could hear the excitement in it, like a gamer discussing their dream build.

　　Yuan Xiaoling yawned and reminded her, “Your set should be slightly bigger than the current one, because… puberty.”

　　Another dose of lemon water, and it will grow again.

　　Bai Ling rolled her eyes and didn’t care, thinking to herself, it’s not that easy to grow, do you think you’re steaming buns?

　　”You don’t need to worry about mine, rather yours,” she glanced at Dabeitu, “you can’t buy them, you have to custom make them.”

　　Being so big yet having a slender waist, it’s impossible to find something suitable off the rack.

　　Yuan Xiaoling had no objections to this, but she was curious:

　　”When did you learn how to design wedding dresses?”

　　”Something so simple, just casually looking at books is enough.” Bai Ling said calmly.

　　Actually, she didn’t know how, but if she admitted it, it would seem like a whim rather than careful consideration.

　　No problem, ask if you don’t know.

　　After finishing talking, Bai Ling left with a reminder, “Get up early tomorrow, don’t stay up late.”

　　Not long after she left, two roommates returned.

　　”Xiaoling, it’s time to get up and eat,” Qiao Lili said, “we came back specially to call you, let’s go to the cafeteria together.”

　　The broadcasting department clearly had classes in the morning, and more obviously, Yuan Xiaoling didn’t attend.

　　”By the way, we saw Bai Ling on our way back,” Gu Hui asked, “did she come… once?”

　　Originally, she wanted to ask if Bai Ling came once, but upon reflection, it shouldn’t happen in broad daylight.

　　”Yes, she just left,” Yuan Xiaoling flipped over, got up from the bed, and placed her little feet on the edge of the bed, “I don’t know what’s going on, she suddenly became interested in wedding dresses.”

　　With all this photography and customization, you’d think she picked up a part-time job.

　　Gu Hui and Qiao Lili exchanged glances.

　　No wonder they saw Bai Ling rushing back with a focused look, ignoring greetings, deep in thought.

　　”It’s not bad, right?”

　　On the other side, Bai Ling simply took her meal to an empty classroom in the cafeteria. To prevent interruptions, she even activated a cognitive interference spiritual field.

　　She called it “Do Not Disturb Mode.”

　　As it turned out, reading books alone doesn’t teach you how to design. Bai Ling thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with any good plans. In the end, she took out her mobile phone and decided to seek help from netizens.

　　First, she registered a new account, then found a random homepage-pushed forum, and posted:

　　[Recently getting married, but my wife’s chest is too big, can’t find a suitable wedding dress, planning to custom make one, any recommendations?]

　　Soon, she received a bunch of replies—

　　[That big? Real or fake?]

　　[I don’t believe it, show me.]

　　[Pretty please let me see, pretty please, I’ll die if I don’t.]

　　Dream on!

　　Bai Ling snorted coldly and put down her phone to continue eating.

　　After she finished eating, she picked up her phone again and scrolled through the replies. There were even more unserious ones. Finally, she found one at the bottom:

　　[No jokes, seriously speaking, is she really that big?]

　　Bai Ling tapped her fingers and replied: [Really big]

　　Thinking for a moment, she added an exclamation mark at the end.

　　[Really big!]

　　A few minutes later, there was a new reply. This one seemed to offer genuine advice, and Bai Ling perked up.

　　[Suggest you download a game called “Azur Lane,” various wedding outfits inside, maybe it can inspire you. Also, many skins that aren’t wedding dresses are also suitable for customization.]

　　Bai Ling put away her phone and headed back to the dormitory after tidying up.

　　Learned something.

　　Around noon, Miss Water Dragon’s forces, which currently lacked an official name, so they were temporarily referred to as such.

　　At the closest base near Tianhai University, a few people were quietly discussing.

　　A five-digit expenditure may not seem significant for a base’s finances, but since it was used by White Miss.

　　”White Miss bought a fully completed character collection game account.”

　　”What game?”

　　”Azur Lane.”

　　”Hmm, probably to study excellent experiences from peers, since Yuan Miss is also working on a game recently.”

　　”Such an old game, what can you possibly learn? The game mechanics are outdated.”

　　”To study character illustrations.”

　　”…”

　　Seems to make sense.

　　…

　　Some new people arrived in Tianhai City.

　　Of course, as a large coastal city, Tianhai’s airport, train station, and port have people coming and going every day.

　　But they were special.

　　In the unnamed neighborhood in the eastern district, some expressionless people gradually entered the gate. Someone greeted them at the front, leading them to their respective rest rooms.

　　Excitedly, Xin Lan said beside the stone steps, “Great, Yun Liang finally has powerful subordinates.”

　　Though unaware of the situation, judging from their spirited appearance, their faces brimming with killing intent, they were definitely not to be trifled with.

　　In comparison, the reconnaissance team from last time could only be considered “digging, climbing trees, planting flowers, and eating mud,” no wonder they were wiped out instantly.

　　The guard yawned without saying anything.

　　Anyway, they were just the gatekeepers; how many fighters came didn’t concern them.

　　However, Xin Lan was right about one thing—these people were indeed extraordinary. A few years ago, they participated in the Spring Sea Battle, suffered elemental erosion, underwent partial bodily mutations, hence their current state.

　　The mutation endowed them with eerie powers and rid them of human frailty, making them very strong.

　　Moreover, there were quite a number of them.

　　”This time, Yuan Xiaoling will surely drink a bitter cup,” Xin Lan said excitedly, “and see if she keeps being arrogant!”

　　The guard glanced at her curiously and asked, “Do you have any grudge against that Water Dragon Miss?”

　　”Grudge? Us? No, she’s Yun Liang’s enemy, so it’s normal for me to be hostile towards her, right?” Xin Lan said.

　　”Ah, that’s how it is.”

　　The guard clicked his tongue and didn’t say much more.

　　He thought to himself, if you and her didn’t have any personal vendetta, would you hate her so much, cursing her without even pretending to be polite?

　　…

　　This time, Yuan Xiaoling behaved well, didn’t stay up late, went to sleep early, and woke up at dawn the next day.

　　But she waited until almost nine o’clock before receiving a message on her phone.

　　[Bai Ling: Time to go, come to the school gate.]

　　She didn’t even bother to come to the dormitory to wake her up.

　　Curiously, Yuan Xiaoling came to the school gate, got into the car’s passenger seat, and saw Bai Ling yawning.

　　”Did you stay up late last night?”

　　”No,” Bai Ling denied outright, “just played… looked at my phone a bit longer.”

　　Strictly speaking, she wasn’t really playing games; she was just looking at character skins.

　　”Why don’t you go back and sleep for a bit?” Yuan Xiaoling suggested.

　　Bai Ling shook her head, “No need, I’ll be fine soon.”

　　She was a Mental-type Spiritual Energy Manipulator, her spirit was good. Besides, she handled high-pressure situations perfectly before, like when she reincarnated and spent twelve hours chatting with Yuan Xiaoling, still radiant afterward.

　　It can’t be that her body can’t handle too much citrus, right?

　　Thinking about this, Bai Ling felt suddenly invigorated, as if her body was trying to prove itself.

　　”We’ll go to the central district base to find someone, then let her lead us to another person, a family member of a victim from the Four Squares Academy incident.” She briefly summarized today’s mission.

　　Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes, “You mean those people you’ve been talking about, the mental anchors?”

　　”Yes.”