Gu Weilan looked at the dusty little wolf cub and didn’t drive him out.
Mainly because sleeping with her arms around the Qilin was... well, a bit too smooth. For a fluff-lover like her, hugging something furry was definitely much more comfortable! And so, Gu Weilan began her new nocturnal routine of sleeping with a beast in each arm.
Over the past few days, Gu Weilan had been checking into her classes on the academy’s Star Network, which made her incredibly hard for Gu Yaoqing to find. He went to her classroom several times looking for her, but never saw her!
He had clearly asked around and learned that Gu Weilan always attended classes in person. After all, being in the classroom allowed students to ask professors questions promptly. As a result, Gu Yaoqing camped out there for days without catching even a glimpse of her.
Nowadays, she spent her days happily multitasking—taking classes via her Light Brain while sunbathing and absorbing Star Cores. Of course Gu Yaoqing couldn’t find her!
But while Gu Yaoqing couldn’t find her, another Beastman did.
Gu Weilan heard her housekeeping robot report, "Master, a Beastman is visiting. It is your matched Beast Husband, Shen Mianzhou."
Gu Weilan raised an eyebrow. She looked at the holographic projection the robot displayed and saw a man with short, velvet-brown hair standing at the door of her villa.
His facial features weren’t of the bold, striking variety. He had blue-green doe eyes, a straight nose, and lips that were pursed nervously. His jawline was smooth—not sharp or chiseled like a sculpture, but rather giving off a gentle, mild aura. He wore a black and red combat uniform, his top tucked into cargo pants, which highlighted his excellent bodily proportions perfectly.
At 184 centimeters tall, it felt like 1.2 meters of that was just long legs. This striking physique suddenly added a bit of sharp contrast to his handsome, gentle face.
Looking at the visitor’s name, Gu Weilan frowned slightly.
Shen Mianzhou...? She couldn’t immediately put a face to the name.
After briefly searching her memory, she remembered. Ah, right! They had contacted each other on the Light Brain before. He seemed to have mentioned that he was out on a mission and would come find her as soon as possible.
She first had the housekeeping robot invite him inside. Her classes were currently still ongoing. Whether Shen Mianzhou had come to become her Beast Husband or to cancel their match, they would probably have to wait until her lunch break to talk in detail.
Shen Mianzhou walked into the living room and looked around at the clean, minimalist decor. He couldn’t help but scratch his head. It seemed like the place didn’t need him to tidy up, so what could he do?
The housekeeping robot left as soon as it delivered its message. Between it and another robot specialized in cleaning, maintaining a four-story villa every day kept them incredibly busy. Shen Mianzhou sat on the sofa, checked his Light Brain, and then got up, heading straight for the open kitchen.
From his Space Button, he took out vegetables and Star Beast Meat that had been treated for manic pollution, then immediately started washing and chopping.
Shen Mianzhou’s Fertility was very low. Furthermore, his Mother had never liked his Father. The education he received from childhood was that normal females all liked powerful predatory Beastmen; their Dream-Eating Tapir Clan was just a trash-tier species of Beastmen.
Therefore, when Shen Mianzhou was successfully matched with a Female Master, he was so moved he almost cried!
Beast God above! He finally had a home! Thus, as soon as he rushed back to the Central Star from the Deserted Star, the very first thing he did was come find his Female Master. He wanted to properly show off his cooking skills and leave a good impression on her, so that she wouldn’t reject him.
While preparing the ingredients, Shen Mianzhou secretly peeked at Gu Weilan, who was taking her class while sunbathing in the villa’s backyard.
She had long, straight black hair. Beneath her elegant eyebrows were a pair of almond-shaped eyes, a delicate nose, and rosy lips. The way she earnestly listened to the lecture was truly beautiful. Moreover, his Female Master was so fair. Her skin seemed to only get whiter even while basking under the sun.
Once the ingredients were ready, Shen Mianzhou began to cook. He had graduated from his Virtuous Husband course with a perfect score. He firmly believed that to capture a Female Master’s heart, one must first capture her stomach.
Because his Fertility was only a 3 and he didn’t belong to a powerful predatory species, he had to work incredibly hard to ensure his Female Master kept him during this trial marriage period.
When Gu Weilan’s morning classes finally wrapped up, she caught a faint whiff of food. But she remembered Housekeeper Zhan Ci had gone out today to handle some matters, hadn’t he?
She stood up, dusted the Star Core powder off her clothes, and the moment she stepped inside the villa, her stomach staged a rebellion, completely seduced by the rich, overpowering aroma of braised pork ribs. She swallowed hard. The moment she reached the dining room, Shen Mianzhou, wearing an obedient smile, pulled out the chair at the head of the table and waited for her to sit down.
Right at that moment, Xie Jing and Zhan Ci also returned.
As soon as he walked through the door, Xie Jing took out the food he had just brought back from his Space Button. "Female Master, I bought the specialty dishes from the most famous trending restaurant nearby!"
Only then did Zhan Heng step out from his quiet observation spot and walk up to Xie Jing. His red eyes glared angrily at his hapless younger brother, looking as though he was blaming him for not coming back later.
The Gray Wolf, Shi Lingfeng, also walked over. "Another Beast Husband has arrived at the house. He’s the only male who came looking for you in person and started flattering you, the Female Master, right from the start."
With just one sentence, Shi Lingfeng pointed out this newcomer’s advantage.
Xie Jing narrowed his phoenix eyes and looked down at the Gray Wolf cub, who was barely as tall as his calf. "What is his name? What does he do?"
Shi Lingfeng’s mature, steady voice carried a hint of vigilance. "He hasn’t spoken to us. While washing vegetables, he took one look at us and put on his earphones! He completely refused to communicate!"
Xie Jing hurriedly strode toward the dining room. There, he saw a wet-behind-the-ears male Beastman with a baby face eagerly serving food to Gu Weilan.
Meanwhile, Gu Weilan’s eyes were shining. She was clearly so captivated by his excellent cooking that she had forgotten everything else!
Xie Jing quickly walked over to the empty seat on Gu Weilan’s left. He hastily placed all the takeout dishes on the table: stir-fried mutated garlic scapes with cured meat, sautéed A-choy, and celery stir-fried with lily bulbs and wood ear mushrooms.
Gu Weilan nodded, the corners of her mouth stained with caramelized sugar sauce. "It’s so delicious! The food Shen Mianzhou makes is really tasty!"
Gu Weilan was deeply moved by the interstellar beast world’s system of matching and assigning Beast Husbands. Even though her previous Beast Husbands hadn’t been entirely satisfactory, Shen Mianzhou was genuinely great! It seemed like his entire heart and eyes were focused only on her.
Although coming from the Apocalypse meant Gu Weilan habitually kept her guard up against anyone who approached her, the rules here were different. In the interstellar beast world, if a male betrayed a female after they formed a bond and received an Engraving, and the female found out, she could directly erase the Engraving on her body. As a result, the male’s Beast Rank would instantly drop by a quarter!
Furthermore, males could not attack females. Any male who took the initiative to attack a female would be ganged up on by everyone else. If a male Beastman witnessed an attack and did not help the female stop the attacker, he would be punished as severely as the attacker himself.
In short, the laws of the interstellar beast world heavily favored females. Therefore, Gu Weilan wasn’t overly afraid of Shen Mianzhou’s sudden display of affection.
Gu Weilan picked up a piece of the mutated garlic scapes and meat with her chopsticks and placed it in Shen Mianzhou’s bowl. "Try this. I think this dish Xie Jing brought back is also pretty good! Can you make this?"
Shen Mianzhou took a bite and nodded at Gu Weilan. "I will do my best to learn this flavor profile! When I made this dish before, I added some spice, which might have masked the taste of the garlic scapes and cured meat."
Xie Jing pursed his lips and looked at Shen Mianzhou. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin slightly. "Your name is Shen Mianzhou? Looking at your clothes, you must be a Beastman from a Hunting Team, right?"
Shen Mianzhou gave a slight nod. "I don’t have access to the information of the Female Master’s other matched Beast Husbands. May I ask who you are?"
Xie Jing’s expression darkened. Gu Weilan had clearly just said that he was Xie Jing. Did this guy only hear the female Gu Weilan ask if he could make the dish, completely ignoring everything else?