Because Song Chao liked to stay in the water in his "Beast Form," Tu Jian's space also contained several fish tanks filled with water.
It was Qibao who had discovered Song Chao's Aberrant Beast identity and stopped him from continuing his misdeeds, so Tu Jian was willing to accept Qibao's temporary custody of Song Chao and her assessment of Qibao's qualifications as his successor supervisor. But having witnessed Song Chao being knocked unconscious by Qibao and losing his scales, Tu Jian couldn't deny her heartache for Song Chao or her resentment toward Qibao.
Even before the apocalypse, Tu Jian wasn't the type to suppress her feelings, and after the apocalypse, with her increased strength, her temper had grown increasingly direct.
After a slight jab at Qibao, Tu Jian immediately released a water tank and carried the golden carp lying alone on the ground into it.
The golden carp floated quietly in the center of the water, just as he did when he slept.
Noticing Qibao's gaze, Tu Jian explained in a low voice to the carp in the tank: "In this apocalypse environment, Aberrant Beasts eat people, and some people eat people too. If Song Chao had snuck into Jiangcheng to hunt humans for food, I would have killed him long ago. But in the six months since he slipped in, he's been at odds with no one—he only wanted to do tasks and earn Credits for his daily needs. After he got together with me, he hasn't committed any illegal acts either. So even if we can no longer be together as lovers, I will still regard him as a friend, and I can't calmly accept him being injured by you all—unless he truly deserved it."
Qibao had never had friends, but she could see Tu Jian's heartache and protectiveness toward Song Chao, and she could see Tu Jian's feelings for him.
Qibao pointed at the mess filling the room and said, "In my eyes, he and Yin Mo are both Aberrant Beasts. They damaged your property—they deserve punishment."
Tu Jian said, "From what I know of Song Chao, he wouldn't provoke others on his own initiative, let alone damage my property. Perhaps before you resorted to force, you should have asked for clarification."
Qibao: "…"
She wanted to say with the same firm tone that Yin Mo wouldn't bully Song Chao on his own initiative, but the Snake Demon was full of mischief—it was precisely because he went on strike that Qibao had released Song Chao in the first place.
Just then, the golden carp in the water flicked its tail. Slowly waking up, Song Chao saw the two people standing near the fish tank. With a darting motion, he swam over to Tu Jian's side, poked his head out of the water, and wept fish tears: "Take me away with you—they hit me!"
Tu Jian said, "Explain clearly."
So Song Chao recounted everything he had heard, from the beginning: first, Yin Mo had suggested that Qibao release him, her prisoner, to serve her—including with his looks; then Qibao, wearing only her sleepwear, seemed to be either testing his restraint or genuinely interested in that sort of thing; and finally, no sooner had Qibao entered the tower than Yin Mo opened his mouth to eat him…
In nature, water snakes naturally hunt carp as food, and even on the Cultivation Continent, Song Chao's instinctive fear of the Snake Demon as a Carp Demon was only natural—unless his strength clearly surpassed the Snake Demon's.
While explaining, the golden carp kept his tail pointed at Qibao in her sleepwear.
Tu Jian's gaze swept quickly over Qibao.
Qibao: "…I never even regarded him as a person, let alone had any interest in his looks."
Tu Jian believed her—after all, that Aberrant Beast snake named Yin Mo had also been in the room, and Qibao didn't seem like the type of woman with such heavy tastes.
"I believe what you've said, but Yin Mo bullying Song Chao is a fact, and your handling of the situation also lacked fairness. For Song Chao's safety, I suggest that I take over his supervision early, and once your assessment period ends, we can formally discuss what to do with him."
Returning courtesy for courtesy—Tu Jian was willing to trust her character, and Qibao was willing to trust that Tu Jian wouldn't secretly let Song Chao go. She nodded.
Tu Jian's Spatial Crystal Core couldn't hold living creatures, so she had Song Chao jump out and transform into his human form.
After coming out, Song Chao clutched one side of his shoulder with a pained expression—the spot where the pagoda had struck him.
Tu Jian led him toward the third floor while contacting the housekeeper: "The guest room for Miss Qibao needs to be cleaned up again, and send a car to pick up Dr. Liu."
Qibao checked the time—it was almost 10 PM. Tu Jian could arrange for her hired housekeeper to work overtime without a second thought, but Qibao felt too embarrassed to trouble the housekeeper to clean up her guest room again.
She stood at the door, firmly declining the housekeeper's service, then retreated into the room and closed the door.
The room was in complete disarray. The two-meter bed that had originally stood in the center was broken in half, the chair at the desk had been smashed by a heavy object, and water that Song Chao had brought in for his own comfort was everywhere—the white walls and ceiling were splattered with droplets, and even more fish scales were scattered across the floor…
Qibao searched carefully and finally found two black snake scales—knocked off by her pagoda.
Her Spiritual Sense swept into the first-floor space of the tower. The great black serpent lay motionless on the ground, still in the same position as when she had collected him.
Qibao couldn't tell whether Yin Mo was faking it, because knowing his strength was greater than Song Chao's, she had struck him with even more force.
On second thought, it was she who had first suspected Yin Mo of ulterior motives, which made the snake demon angry enough to go on strike. So Qibao didn't wake Yin Mo up. She picked up the damaged items in the room one by one, cleaned the floor, and then replaced them with her own stock of comparable quality. Just as she finished and sat down on a chair to rest, through the floor-to-ceiling window, Qibao saw the butler leading a middle-aged woman inside.
Dr. Liu, a healing-type ability user?
Qibao first changed into a skirt, then went into the first-floor tower space. Standing there, she patted Yin Mo's hundred-meter-long snake body: "Wake up. I'm taking you to get treatment."
Qibao truly didn't think such minor injuries would affect two Millennial Great Demons, but Tu Jian had gone out of his way to treat Song Chao. If Song Chao ended up lively and bouncing around while Yin Mo couldn't straighten his back for a while, Yin Mo would definitely call her ruthless and cold-hearted, then continue his strike.
The snake body under her palm shifted slightly, and Yin Mo's gloomy voice came from up ahead: "Treat what? You might as well just kill me outright and save yourself the Credits."
Qibao: "Stop with the angry talk. If you hadn't bullied Song Chao, would I have hit you?"
Yin Mo: "Who bullied him? I was sleepy and yawned with my mouth open. He suddenly grew huge and smacked me with his tail. Am I not allowed to fight back?"
Qibao: "…"
The giant snake let out a cold laugh: "Fine, he's such a good demon. He said I bullied him and you believed it. Since that's the case, you don't need to treat me at all. Just kill me and be done with it."
With that, the giant snake shrank into a thin snake as slender as an arm, voluntarily offering the spot seven inches from its head to Qibao's feet, lying perfectly still as if waiting for death.
When it came to being passive-aggressive, Qibao had never seen anyone better than this snake demon. Unable to sort out this account or soothe the snake demon for the moment, Qibao simply gathered the thin snake on the ground into a coil like a rope, scooped it into her arms, and left the tower, hurrying down the stairs. A high-level healer was extremely efficient—she was afraid that if she was even a little slow, Dr. Liu would have already healed Song Chao and left.
Yin Mo's snake head happened to rest on Qibao's right arm. Her dress was short-sleeved, and the bare skin of her arm was smooth and warm.
Thanks to the special structure of his eyes, Yin Mo could see Qibao above him without lifting his head. The silly tower only remembered to change clothes but forgot to comb her hair. Her hair, blown fluffy and then pressed against a pillow, was a bit messy. On top of that, she'd broken a sweat cleaning by herself, and one strand was stuck to her rosy cheek.
She seemed worried about missing the healer, clattering down the stairs while craning her neck to look below.
She cared about him this much. Yin Mo felt satisfied and rubbed his snake head against her arm.
The cool, smooth scales caused a faint tickle. Qibao looked down and saw Yin Mo's head sliding weakly down her arm, then mustering enough strength to crawl back up to its original spot.
Was this a concussion?
But she hadn't hit his head.
Over by the sofa in the hall, Song Chao, sitting beside Tu Jian, was receiving ability healing from Dr. Liu. Whether it was the minor flesh wounds Yin Mo had inflicted or the severe bruising Qibao had caused, with Dr. Liu's A-rank healing ability, it would only take a minute or two to fix.
Sure enough, by the time Qibao had run down two flights of stairs, Dr. Liu had already withdrawn her hand.
Tu Jian: "Please wait a moment. I have another guest who needs treatment."
Song Chao shot a resentful look over—why help the snake demon who bullied him?
Tu Jian gave him a reassuring glance, then stood up to greet Qibao. With a look that seemed concerned but was actually scrutinizing, he examined the black Aberrant Beast in her arms: "Is he badly hurt too?"
Qibao held Yin Mo with one arm and took out two large scales she'd picked up in the room with the other. Just one of them was worth all the small fish scales Song Chao had shed, and the base of the scales carried fresh bits of flesh.
Tu Jian: "…Did Song Chao do that?"
Qibao: "…I did."
At that moment, Tu Jian both admired Qibao's composure in the face of two top-tier handsome faces and resolved that he would never let Qibao take Song Chao away.
After Dr. Liu finished treating Yin Mo, Qibao continued holding the snake with one arm while opening her wristband with the other: "Thank you. I'll transfer the treatment fee to you."
Dr. Liu smiled: "No need. You're the general's guests—I was just helping out."
Tu Jian also stopped Qibao from being polite.
The butler went to see Dr. Liu out. With no outsiders left, Song Chao glared angrily at the bundle in Qibao's arms, while Yin Mo raised his snake head and flicked his tongue at him: "You accuse me of bullying you? Clearly you're as timid as a mouse, mistaking my yawn for an attack."
Song Chao: "Who yawns by deliberately enlarging their head first?"
Yin Mo: "That's my business how I yawn. Before you attacked me, I never touched you at all."
Song Chao couldn't argue with him, so he looked at Tu Jian.
Yin Mo looked up at Qibao, then lowered his head and buried it into his own coiled body, looking dejected as if he knew Qibao wouldn't back him up.
Qibao wasn't fooled by his act, but was a snake demon making a face at a carp demon really such a great offense? If Song Chao had a bit more courage, Yin Mo certainly wouldn't have actually bitten him.
"It's getting late. Let's all go rest." Qibao was the first to speak to Tu Jian.
Tu Jian didn't want to dwell on a misunderstanding that sounded more and more like a childish squabble, so he nodded.
In front of Tu Jian and Song Chao, Qibao spared Yin Mo's dignity, but the moment they returned to the room, she flung the snake demon from her arms onto the floor and warned him with a stern face: "If you ever provoke others again on your own initiative, in whatever form, I will punish you first."
Yin Mo argued back defiantly: "He provoked me first! You don't know—while I was washing your clothes without a single complaint, he showed off to me all by himself about how great General Tu is to him. If it were you, wouldn't you be angry?"
Qibao understood: "So you're feeling envious and jealous."
Yin Mo: "Yes, who told me I wasn't as lucky as him, to meet someone strong who likes him, cares about him, and can even help him fight for freedom?"
Qibao thought back to the Li Hongda father-and-son pair he had encountered, and said with a hint of sympathy: "There's nothing to be done. That's just your fate."
Yin Mo slapped his tail once, turned around, and went off to find a place to sleep.
Finally, it was quiet. Qibao also returned to the tower.
The next morning after waking up, Qibao came out of the tower and found that Yin Mo wasn't in the room. After washing her face and changing clothes, Qibao went downstairs and found Yin Mo in the kitchen on the first floor. The snake demon in a black shirt stood with both hands in his pockets beside the carp demon in a white silk shirt, the latter holding a spoon and stirring something.
Qibao moved closer and heard Song Chao explaining soup-cooking techniques.
Then she looked at Yin Mo's profile—feigning disdain but actually listening intently—and thought to herself, this is bad. Could this scheming snake demon be trying to learn the carp demon's skills, only to seduce Tu Jian and take his place?