Chapter 401 Rely on Me!

That night was really stifling.

Ling Mo’s remark left Xia Xinyan at a loss—given Monica’s abilities, even the soundproofing materials wouldn’t be able to muffle her hearing, right? After all, it was quite likely that this fellow wasn’t even human anymore.

So, under the humiliation of the night and until Monica left, she faced two choices, and in a stifled state, Xia Xinyan reluctantly chose the former.

—Mainly because her mind was still in shambles from the previous night’s memories, she even forgot that she had the ability to transform into a cat.

Well, it wasn’t so much forgetting, considering that she only transformed back because Ling Mo tricked her, then caught her by the tail—though it was ultimately her choice to revert to human form. But… hmm, this psychology is a bit like “once bitten, twice shy.” Now, aside from when she needed to fight, she was quite hesitant to activate her catgirl form in front of Ling Mo.

She worried he would grab her tail again—though this sensitive condition could be suppressed by entering combat mode, once in combat mode, her tail became lethal. She could control it not to harm herself, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t hurt others if it reacted. If she accidentally hurt Ling Mo…

So the best approach was to just avoid activating her catgirl form in front of him.

At this point, Xia Xinyan realized she had unknowingly considered Ling Mo’s safety this much.

Could this be taken as proof that her concern for Ling Mo had gradually seeped deep into her heart without her noticing?

She wasn’t quite sure about this.

It seemed ever since she realized her feelings were changing, she had been rather muddled regarding her own thoughts in this aspect, basically behaving on instinct—one could say she was being led along by Ling Mo.

This struck her as quite odd.

Fortunately, tonight Ling Mo didn’t do anything she found more bizarre; he just honestly held her in his arms as they slept through the night.

Initially, she had been quite anxious, worried he might do something embarrassing to her, even playing out several response scenarios in her mind—then she realized she was battling her own thoughts; Ling Mo had no intention of progressing any further.

Instead, it made her mind seem a bit perverted.

After a while, it seemed Ling Mo had definitely fallen asleep, and Xia Xinyan didn’t try to climb out. Instead, she relaxed and nestled in his arms, drifting off to sleep.

As for the protagonist of Ling Mo’s terrifying remark that startled Xia Xinyan into compliance, Monica, who was believed to have exceptional hearing, was already sound asleep in her bunk after the plane took off.

She even praised the fat guy and the others, remarking on how good the soundproofing was since they couldn’t even hear the sound of the propellers.

Of course, with such excellent soundproofing, Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo didn’t catch that compliment.

The night passed quite peacefully.

Though danger lurked everywhere in the Dark Zone, the skies above remained a haven. Even in her past life, Xia Xinyan hardly encountered flying demons, let alone massive aerial armies. However, just because it was up in the air didn’t mean it was entirely worry-free; many demons, though unable to fly, had ways to attack aerial targets—like EMP attacks and such—so one could only say the skies were relatively safer than the ground.

Plus, with Tianji as the onboard AI, they avoided a lot of dangerous areas, extending the flight time somewhat, but making the journey quite calm.

When the plane reached the outskirts of Cang Hai City, dawn was breaking, and those waiting here had already received the news and were ready to welcome them.

After waiting a minute in front of the gradually landing helicopter, the cockpit door slowly slid open, and Ling Mo was the first to step down, immediately receiving the respect of everyone present: “Greetings, Boss!”

Ling Mo: “…Hello, is everyone doing well?”

When did he acquire the title of “Boss”?

“We’re doing great,” a burly man at the front excitedly nodded, “After receiving Boss Zhang’s message, I immediately brought my brothers back here to guard Cang Hai City, and so far we haven’t detected any abnormalities.”

Who wouldn’t be excited? Standing in front was the dual leader of both the Eagles Alliance and the Chicks—a true leader, a head above Boss Zhang.

And most importantly, all the high-level rewards from the Eagles Alliance came exclusively from this young leader, including those battle armor units that every member faction desired.

Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover… At Ling Mo’s age, he was still pondering how to find a good job.

Sigh…

Cough, back to the topic.

If he could present himself well in front of Ling Mo, perhaps after this operation in Cang Hai City, they would have a chance at earning battle armor rewards too.

How could they not respect him? Especially upon hearing that all Chicks upper management were mobilized for this operation, the burly man hurriedly had his brothers tidy up their appearances to leave the best first impression on Ling Mo.

It felt like they were being inspected by a leader.

However, Ling Mo himself obviously didn’t grasp the significance, nor did he care about such trivial matters; as long as they did well, there would naturally be rewards.

What mattered most now—

He slowly walked towards the tail cargo door of the helicopter, quietly watching as the cargo door descended.

Soon after, a group of people appeared before everyone at the door.

The fat guy tugged at his slightly disheveled clothes, ruffled his tousled hair, and cleared his throat: “You all did well, we’ll be taking over here from now on.”

He couldn’t quite understand why this group didn’t call him when they woke up. It wasn’t until the cargo door began lowering that Bai Yu pushed him awake, leaving him no chance to tidy himself up.

What an embarrassing situation.

However, this appearance looked quite different in the eyes of the burly man—this was a strong person, disheveled yet still exuding a carefree aura.

Next, the fat guy proceeded with the handover, discussing the intelligence in Cang Hai City; remote reporting could never match the efficiency of face-to-face communication. This was his area of expertise, and Ling Mo wouldn’t interfere too much.

He returned to the cockpit to find Xia Xinyan.

At that moment, Xia Xinyan was sitting up in bed, wrapped in a blanket, staring blankly.

She felt she was really getting lazy.

She only woke up because of the noises made when Ling Mo got up and left the plane—if this were her past life, with her level of vigilance, she would’ve probably died ten times over.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Mo sat down beside her and asked softly.

Xia Xinyan tilted her head to look at him for a while.

Then, in a low voice, she muttered, “I feel like I’m becoming more and more relaxed around you.”

Ling Mo paused for a moment.

Xia Xinyan’s emotions were a bit puzzling: “That’s not a good thing; I…”

“No, it’s a good thing! This proves Xinyan has fully accepted me, so she can relax around me, right?” Ling Mo suddenly smiled, “So don’t worry, Xinyan, as long as I’m here, I will never let anything happen to you, so… just lean on me; you don’t have to be so tense.”

   

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