To avoid being seen as Qibao's lackey, Yin Mo even changed into a different set of clothes. After leaving the hotel, he no longer wanted to drive that ordinary off-road vehicle either. Instead, he brought out his treasured black Phantom—a car he'd kept hidden for so long, afraid some rich brat would try to snatch it away.
The luxury car, five or six meters long, spotlessly clean and gleaming black, appeared out of thin air and immediately captured the attention of every passerby.
Qibao, who had seen plenty on the Cultivation Continent but had only ever ridden in two dusty off-road vehicles since arriving here, was also dazzled by this new car. She couldn't help but walk a full circle around it.
Yin Mo stood by the passenger side, and when she finished her admiring lap, he opened the door for her while speaking in a low voice: "These really are things I salvaged from the Waste City, but they're not junk. They're luxury items that even high-level Ability Users would struggle to collect without spending a great deal of time. You can think of them like the Spiritual Artifacts and Magic Treasures that cultivators fight over in Secret Realms."
Yin Mo had even higher standards. When it came to luxury cars, he wouldn't settle for one someone else had driven until it was worn out. He looked for new ones—preferably brand-new cars still for sale at dealerships. Lucky for him, when he'd come down from the mountains, the apocalypse had only been underway for three years, and most clothing and mechanical supplies hadn't yet deteriorated. Had he known Qibao liked pretty clothes and jewelry, he could have grabbed a pile for her and saved himself a chunk of Credits.
Qibao wasn't really listening to what he was saying. She eagerly brushed past him and climbed inside. As her body sank slightly into the leather passenger seat, she immediately felt the difference between a luxury car and an ordinary one.
Watching Yin Mo get in from the other side, Qibao asked, "Was the car that got stolen from you even better than this one?"
Yin Mo: "This one is more comfortable to sit in, but it's only suitable for driving inside the base. That one could be driven out of the base—it's a luxury off-road vehicle."
Qibao patted the armrest and made up her mind. "Alright, after breakfast I'll go with you to get your car back."
The two of them ate and traveled together, so Yin Mo's car was essentially hers as well. Qibao refused to let her luxury car continue to be monopolized by some rich brat.
She'd had him in her grasp for three days now, and after three long days, he'd finally heard something he wanted to hear. The corner of his mouth curled up. He didn't even mind the two faint gray footprints her little high heels had left on his floor mat as he started the engine and drove toward the breakfast place he frequented.
It was only two or three kilometers away. Yin Mo hadn't even finished savoring the envious looks from passersby when they arrived.
This was Breakfast Street. The shop owners were all skilled cooks, but to stay in business steadily, they all had some backing behind them.
The street wasn't wide. Yin Mo put away the car at the entrance and walked forward with Qibao.
Someone whistled at Qibao. Yin Mo suddenly transformed into a massive black serpent as thick as a water barrel, nearly scaring every pedestrian on the street to death.
Seeing that the foul-smelling, repulsive male Ability Users had all settled down, Yin Mo shifted back to human form and reached out to drape an arm around Qibao's shoulders.
Qibao raised an eyebrow.
Yin Mo kept his arm there with a perfectly composed expression, speaking with great conviction: "They're afraid of me. Now they think you're my woman, so they won't dare harass you with their eyes anymore."
Qibao understood. She suddenly released her pagoda and, controlling the force, slammed it into Yin Mo's back, knocking him straight back into his original form. The barrel-thick serpent lay sprawled on the ground, twitching.
Qibao patted the snake's body. "Shrink down. Don't block people's way."
Yin Mo endured the pain and shrank to the thickness of an arm, about three meters long. Since the blow had landed on his midsection, he barely managed to lift a section of his body and demanded angrily, "Why did you hit me?"
Qibao: "Because you were getting handsy with me."
Plenty of diners around were eavesdropping, so Yin Mo switched to Telepathy: "…Didn't you say you're a pagoda and I'm a demon, so we don't need to follow mortal rules?"
Qibao: "That's right, but I also have a pagoda rule: I don't like being touched without permission."
Many cultivators had vied for her over the years. Qibao only allowed people she found agreeable to get close to her. What was called "recognizing a master" was actually Qibao's process of getting to know the other party through Contract Binding. If she discovered the person was wicked and not a good sort, Qibao would voluntarily break the contract, and the cultivator's Divine Soul would suffer Backlash as a result. Unable to touch her any longer, they could only leave in dejection. If a cultivator's Divine Soul was too weak, there had even been a few cases where they died directly from the Backlash.
The dull pain in his body was gradually fading. Yin Mo twisted his head to look at his snake back and muttered quietly, "Last night you had me blow-dry your hair."
Qibao heard him. She bent down, grabbed the snake just below the head, and lifted most of his body up like a rope. Staring into Yin Mo's wide-open serpent eyes, she said, "What I tell you to do, you do. What I haven't permitted, you'd best keep yourself in line."
Yin Mo was furious. He didn't find her aura soft, or sweet, or fragrant in the slightest anymore!
Having finished disciplining him, Qibao let go and told him to change back so he wouldn't scare the humans who were afraid of snakes.
Yin Mo stayed lying on the ground without moving. "My back hurts. Even if I change back, I won't be able to stand steady."
Qibao: "Then I'll put you in the pagoda, and you can guide me with Telepathy."
Yin Mo: "I can't see anything from in there. How am I supposed to guide you?"
Qibao: "What's the shop called?"
Yin Mo: "Never memorized it. Every time I go, I just recognize the owner's face."
Qibao thought for a moment, letting him shrink further until she deemed it small enough, then held the tiny coiled snake in her palm, leaving only half of its head poking out from the gap between her thumb and index finger so he could recognize people—ordinary snakes had poor eyesight, but a thousand-year Snake Demon had long since used Spiritual Power to temper his body to perfection, so such worries didn't apply to him.
Yin Mo was completely enveloped in a warm palm that radiated Spiritual Qi. The moment he was grasped, he instinctively wriggled to adjust to a comfortable position, but unexpectedly, that movement caused his snake scales to brush against the delicate skin around him, abruptly reminding him of what he'd done in the shower last night.
His serpentine body went limp. Yin Mo glanced up at the woman above him and snorted coldly, "I have a rule too—I don't like people touching me without permission."
Qibao: "Then walk on your own. You think I want to touch you?"
Yin Mo was so furious he wanted to bite her.
But he didn't dare. Instead, he squirmed in her palm, trying to scrape her hand with his hard scales to make it hurt.
Qibao felt ticklish and suddenly clenched her fist tight.
Yin Mo felt both pain and an indescribable sensation—strange and odd—so he simply gave up and stopped moving.
"This is the place."
Catching a familiar aroma, Yin Mo told Qibao to let him go, then reappeared beside her in a pose with one hand rubbing his back.
Qibao was looking at the sign above the shop door. The characters here were similar to those on the Cultivation Continent, so she had no trouble reading them, but before she could make them out, Yin Mo pushed her forward: "No need to look—their breakfast has only three things worth eating."
Settling into a four-person table that had just been vacated, Yin Mo called out an order to the busy owner inside: "Two signature sets."
Confirming the owner had heard him, Yin Mo turned around and stared gloomily at Qibao across the table. "You're paying for this meal."
Qibao didn't argue with him. Instead, she observed the breakfast at the neighboring table—a large bowl of noodles, a plate of four steamed buns, and a plate of golden-red food.
Yin Mo: "Tangyou baba—sweet ones. The noodles are rice noodles made from rice."
Qibao felt even hungrier.
When their two sets arrived, the rice noodles and steamed buns were steaming hot and clearly scalding, so Qibao first picked up a baba with her own chopsticks.
Yin Mo watched her sparkling eyes, watched her lips—which were actually quite pretty when she wasn't talking—part, then watched her "thud" the chopsticks down, foolishly sucking in air at him as a thin layer of tears quickly welled up in her eyes.
She looked rather pitiful like that. Yin Mo took out a bottle of water from his space, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to her.
Qibao gulped down a third of the bottle, but her lips still burned painfully. Seeing this, Yin Mo handed her an ice pop to press against her mouth—his Internal Space could keep food in the same state it was stored for about a month, which was why he used to stock up a month's worth of food at the base before leaving.
Qibao held the ice pop against her lips with one hand while glaring tearfully at the Snake Demon who was clearly enjoying the show: "You did that on purpose—you didn't warn me!"
She had never experienced such high heat before.
Yin Mo: "You just smashed me, so why would I warn you? A prisoner has no such obligation."
Qibao couldn't argue with that. Her lashes drooped, and two pea-sized tears fell.
Yin Mo: "…I nearly lost half my life to your smashing and didn't cry. You're a proper—an S-Rank Powerhouse. Don't be so delicate."
Qibao ignored him. She didn't understand "delicate" or not—she was in pain, and the tears came on their own, beyond her control.
Yin Mo pressed down on her wrist holding the ice pop and looked again—the middle of her upper and lower lips had turned red from the burn, like shrimp that had touched boiling water. She really was more delicate than ordinary humans, including himself, a thousand-year Snake Demon.
"Don't just press it—take a bite and try. Maybe if your heart cools down, your mouth won't hurt as much." Yin Mo tore open the ice pop wrapper, revealing the orange-yellow mango-flavored popsicle inside.
Qibao barely bit a few teeth marks into it before getting brain-freeze again. She pushed his hand away and refused to eat any more no matter what.
Yin Mo: "…How about you abandon this physical body, return to the tower, and contract with me again? I promise I'll listen to you—go wherever you want, including helping you catch the Ox Demon and the others."
He urged her through Telepathy.
Qibao kicked him in the shin under the table.
His persuasion failed. Yin Mo straightened his own bowl, lifted a strand of rice noodles with his chopsticks to let it cool slightly, and started eating.
Qibao was starving. Watching him eat so happily, once her lips felt less painful, she copied Yin Mo's movements—cooling the noodles first before eating.
Yin Mo lowered his head slightly and looked up at her.
The rice noodles were at just the right temperature, but they were sour and spicy. Fortunately, Qibao had already experienced spiciness from Lu Feng's team's boxed meals, so she only sucked in a breath and didn't complain further.
Yin Mo breathed a sigh of relief and focused on his own food. As he ate, a startled cry came from the Tower Spirit miss across the table—this time she'd been clumsy with the noodles and splattered a few drops of soup onto her chest, leaving dark red oil stains on the pale yellow fabric.
Qibao pressed her lips together and looked at Yin Mo.
Yin Mo: "…That's not my fault. You're just clumsy."
Qibao: "Can it be washed off? If not, I'll go buy an identical one."
Yin Mo: "…Eat first. I'll deal with it for you once we're in the car."
Qibao was still not entirely happy, eating with restraint, observing Yin Mo's eating style as she did so.
Yin Mo's table manners were learned from wealthy characters in TV dramas—either emperors and royalty, or aristocratic families. If it weren't for the fact that there were too many high-level Ability Users in the Inner Ring for him to secure the status he deserved, he wouldn't have come to this Mid Ring street-side shop that had good flavor but only mediocre ambiance.
Taking advantage of Qibao's ignorance, Yin Mo produced a white cloth napkin, walked over, and tied it around her neck. Though his intentions were good, it made her mismatched appearance even more conspicuous in this small shop—so conspicuous that Yin Mo wished he could pretend not to know her.
Qibao found it quite convenient. In a good mood, she smiled at Yin Mo and said, "Thank you."
Yin Mo twitched the corner of his mouth.
She ate slowly, and Yin Mo grew bored waiting, so he went to the owner's window and scanned the QR code to pay.
The owner remembered him too. Glancing toward the table, he smiled and congratulated him: "Not bad, you found yourself such a pretty girlfriend. Didn't expect you knew how to take care of someone."
Yin Mo snorted. "I wouldn't dare reach that high."
Pretty she was, and fragrant too, but too fierce—his snake scales weren't that hard, and they couldn't withstand being smashed.
The owner paused for a moment, then encouraged him: "No worries, take it slow. Girls these days care more about a sense of security. Your ability level is high, so just treat her well on a regular basis, and once she's moved, it'll work out."
Another customer placed an order, and the owner turned to attend to it.
Yin Mo sat back down across from Qibao, watching her scoop up the last spoonful of soup. After drinking it, her lips were even redder, resembling the color of fresh strawberries.
"Delicious. Let's come back for this tomorrow morning." Unfastening the napkin and returning it to Yin Mo, Qibao said with a satisfied expression.
Yin Mo took the napkin without responding to that remark, leading her out instead.
Once they exited the street and got into the car, Qibao immediately returned to the tower to change into a dress.
Yin Mo looked at the golden treasure tower standing in the passenger seat, recalled the owner's words, and snorted again.
A sense of security, indeed. With an Innate Magic Treasure Tower possessing absolute defense, it was others who would be begging her for protection.