Gu Weilan added, "Oh, he’s not my Beast Husband. We’ve already canceled our match. He is now my Beast Husband’s younger brother, named Xie Jing. That Mo Qilin is my Beast Husband, Zhan Heng. And that Gray Wolf is also my Beast Husband, Shi Lingfeng."
After happily feeding herself until she was full, Gu Weilan patted Shen Mianzhou’s shoulder. "Get along well, you guys! I have classes this afternoon!"
As soon as she left, the obedient, baby-faced smile on Shen Mianzhou’s face slowly faded. He looked at Zhan Heng, then at Xie Jing, whose jaw was clenched in anger, and his fingers curled involuntarily. Then he glanced at Shi Lingfeng, who was staring at him coldly with wolfish eyes, and his lower eyelids couldn’t help but narrow.
They were all predatory Beastmen! This made Shen Mianzhou’s wariness and inferiority complex even more severe. He knew he had to perform exceptionally well for his Female Master to keep him around.
After reviewing her books on planting and cultivation, Gu Weilan had just opened her Light Brain to enter the academy’s online class when her communication app started popping up with constant messages. Frowning, she set it straight to Do Not Disturb mode. She had to focus on her class—the professor was teaching purely practical knowledge today!
Since Pharmacy inevitably dealt with medicinal plants, their electives naturally included a course on the cultivation and identification of medicinal herbs. Gu Weilan was incredibly glad she had chosen this elective! Otherwise, when that broken pomegranate of a system belatedly informed her that she could cultivate the Original Liquid Raw Material Plants needed for the Incubation Pods, she wouldn’t have known the first thing about it and would have been completely in the dark.
As expected, no one could be fully relied upon—not even a close companion like the system. It would crash, drop the ball, and forget critical reminders. These couple of letdowns quickly snapped Gu Weilan out of the complacency brought on by her safe environment, fully reviving her vigilance.
As the old saying goes, to forge iron, one must be strong oneself. Gu Weilan quickly adjusted her mindset. She knew that as long as she reverted to her old state of treating everything as a tool and only valuing its utility, she would never be disappointed by anything again.
Still, having a system was better than nothing. Back in the Apocalypse, she had long grown weary of merely surviving. A decade had passed, yet the mutations of flora, fauna, and zombies never ceased. The scientists hadn’t rested either, but the enemy kept evolving endlessly. So, when the system offered to take her away, she had agreed in a daze.
Now, living a second life with delicious food and handsome men matched to her by the Beast God System, she genuinely felt that these days weren’t bad at all.
Filled with gratitude, Gu Weilan spent the entire afternoon diligently jotting down every knowledge point the professor mentioned until the class finally ended. Only then did she open her Light Brain. Seeing several message notifications, the first ones to catch her eye were from Xuanshuo.
Xuanshuo: [Lady Female Master, I’ve been working hard to hunt Star Beasts these past few days! Once I save up enough for travel expenses, I’ll be able to come see you!]
Xuanshuo: [You wouldn’t look down on me, right? I even have to struggle to save up a mere ninety-seven thousand for the trip.]
Xuanshuo: [Why aren’t you replying, Lady Female Master? Am I no longer your cute little ape? Tearful.GIF]
Gu Weilan took a deep breath and replied: [I was in class just now. Keep it up, little ape! Encouragement.GIF]
She wondered if Xuanshuo honestly thought she would generously fork over the ninety-seven thousand just because he subtly hinted at his travel expenses. Did she look like an easy mark? He really never got tired of playing the poor and pitiful card!
Ironically, Xuanshuo had been thinking exactly that. Finding Gu Weilan completely unwilling to part with a single dime left him utterly speechless.
The other messages were from Lu Xuyin: [I think your Fertility is too low. I would rather form a bond with a high-fertility male Beastman than choose you. If you know what’s good for you, you’d better cancel our match quickly.]
Lu Xuyin: [Are you ignoring me because you have your sights set on my powerful bloodline?]
Lu Xuyin: [Take a good look in the mirror, would you? If you don’t have one at home, surely you can piss in a puddle and check your reflection?]
Lu Xuyin: [You don’t seriously think that by staying silent and waiting it out, I’ll eventually be willing to form a bond with you, do you?]
Lu Xuyin: [As a female, you should still have some sense of shame, don’t you think?]
Gu Weilan frowned. She felt that Lu Xuyin was acting rather strange. When she tried to send him a message, a red exclamation mark popped up!
[Notification: You are on the other party’s blacklist and cannot chat at this time, dear.]
Gu Weilan was confused, but respected his choice. Could someone else have taken his Light Brain? His tone and attitude were completely different from last week! Just last week, he had explicitly told her that he would come see her as soon as he finished his family business.
After some thought, she decided against immediately clicking to cancel the match, planning to wait a few days and see how the situation unfolded. However, as Gu Weilan casually scrolled down her Light Brain’s contact list, she noticed a problem. In the row of profile pictures on the right, two had gone black!
Shen Mianzhou had been standing nearby for a while. Noticing that his Female Master seemed to have finished class but was still chatting with other Beastmen on her Light Brain, he hadn’t rashly interrupted. Now that she wore a perplexed expression, he knew his moment to shine had arrived!
Stepping forward, Shen Mianzhou dropped to one knee before Gu Weilan, who was sitting on a soft beanbag chair, and pushed the tray in his hands a few inches forward. "Esteemed Female Master, do you need to hydrate? This is freshly squeezed juice I made!"
Gu Weilan raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. This Beast Husband truly had an excellent sense of service! She loved it!
A faint smile curled her rosy lips as she picked up the resin cup from Shen Mianzhou’s tray and took a sip of the sweet and sour juice. It tasted like a special blend of passion fruit, mango, and blueberry. The flavors melded perfectly together—sweet, tart, and exactly to her liking!
Gu Weilan covertly assessed Shen Mianzhou, who had changed into a tailored, British-style butler suit. She thought he really knew how to clean up—or rather, he had the physique for it! He wore the fashionable suit with a unique flair.
The suit jacket was black, but the lapels on both sides were made of dark green silk. The breast pocket was edged with a one-centimeter-wide strip of the same dark green silk, holding a neatly folded pocket square. A leaping silver metal deer was pinned to the collar, and a silver chain hung from the auspicious cloud motif beneath the deer’s hooves. The chain connected to the lower pocket on the opposite side, concealing whatever was tucked inside.
"Shen Mianzhou? Do you know what it means when a Light Brain profile picture goes black?" Gu Weilan smoothly withdrew her gaze.
At this moment, she somewhat understood the famous quote from that old imperial TV drama: Nothing else matters; I simply appreciate the effort put into pleasing me!
Tsk—who wouldn’t like that? Gu Weilan certainly liked it!
Meanwhile, the needy, affectionate expression on Shen Mianzhou’s face gradually faded. He looked at Gu Weilan and pursed his lips. "Did the profile picture of a Beastman who is very important to you go black, Female Master?"
Gu Weilan frowned slightly and thought about it for a moment. "It’s fine, I guess. We’re just acquaintances?"
Shen Mianzhou quietly breathed a sigh of relief. "When a profile picture goes black, it means they have returned to the embrace of the Beast God."
Gu Weilan didn’t understand right away and even flashed a look of curiosity. But realization dawned on her a second later, and she couldn’t help but ask for confirmation. "You mean... they’re dead?"