Half an hour later.
Bian Ying stood by the bed with a cold expression, directing the tentacles to change her bedding and sheets.
While they were at it, she also had them wash the four-piece bed set she had just stripped off.
Thanks to these tentacles, her sheets had become dripping wet.
She didn’t have a washing machine, so the tentacles had to wash everything by hand.
However, they were more than happy to do so, feeling as though their entire beings were enveloped by their Mother’s scent.
The true body of the Eight Evils, still trapped in the High-dimensional space, was incredibly jealous of this.
It thought, “Damn it!
What’s so great about these clones?
I must recover my strength as soon as possible and descend into Mother’s world with my true body.”
Bian Ying rummaged through the corner of the kitchen and dug out a packet of instant noodles that was about to expire.
Having something to eat was good enough.
After finishing her meal, she leaned back lazily in her chair to rest.
Before she could psych herself up to wash the dishes, a tentacle extended from the bathroom and placed the bowl in front of her into the sink.
“Mother, please rest~”
“…Mhm.” Bian Ying narrowed her eyes in comfort.
She thought about how she was actually living a good life thanks to a Deceit.
If her official employment notice came down next week, things would be even more wonderful.
*
Monday.
Bian Ying held her work report, awaiting her supervisor’s inspection.
Zhou Haizhi flipped through it back and forth several times.
He looked up at the nervous Bian Ying, smiled, and magnanimously let her off the hook.
“Not bad.”
“It’s all thanks to your excellent guidance, Boss.” Bian Ying breathed a sigh of relief, not forgetting to kiss up to her supervisor.
Zhou Haizhi let out a “HMPH HMPH.” He thought of how Tan Linyan had sought him out twice in a row on Saturday, asking exclusively about Bian Ying, and couldn’t help but clear his throat.
“Bian Ying…
I’ve been quite responsible when it comes to you, haven’t I?”
Bian Ying was perplexed, but under Zhou Haizhi’s meaningful gaze, she nodded anyway.
“Of course, you’ve always paid special attention to me.”
Every time he appeared in the office, it was as if he had planted a tracker on her.
He could always find her with pinpoint accuracy.
Wasn’t that “special attention”?
Moreover, he made it a point to call her name at every meeting, which had made her quite famous among the temporary workers.
Zhou Haizhi winked at her, his tone full of implication.
“Then, you and Captain Tan…”
“Huh?” Bian Ying hadn’t caught on yet.
“We are…
alumni?”
But Zhou Haizhi was clearly dissatisfied with this answer.
He shot her a knowing look and clicked his tongue. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
“Captain Tan is the Student Council President.
We’ve crossed paths a few times,” she explained.
“…That’s it?”
“Boss, what other answer do you want?” Bian Ying was at her wits’ end.
She and Tan Linyan had truly only met a few times.
Zhou Haizhi sat up straight in astonishment.
That shouldn’t be the case.
For a prodigy with a boundless future like Tan Linyan to care so much about Bian Ying, how could they not have a deep relationship?
“Forget it.” Zhou Haizhi waved his hand.
“Go back to work.
Stay safe during this period.
I’ll submit your materials for official employment.”
To avoid unnecessary panic, only the higher-ups knew that the “School Rules” Deceit had escaped.
Most employees thought this was just a routine spot check.
Bian Ying felt a surge of joy.
“Thank you so much, Boss!
You’re the best!”
Even her flattery sounded a lot more sincere.
The Deceit incident that erupted at Wuhai University had caused a massive fallout.
The assimilated students woke up after being injected with the serum in time, but many students still lost their lives.
The university directly granted all students a vacation and would only reopen after everything was fully reorganized.
Principal Lin committed suicide the moment he regained his senses.
With nowhere to turn to for their complaints, the parents could only be appeased to the best of the relevant departments’ abilities.
Perhaps because Zhou Haizhi was busy assisting with the aftermath, Bian Ying enjoyed several good days without her supervisor nitpicking and lecturing her.
As usual, she slipped away the moment it was time to clock out.
Her food reserves at home were running low.
After getting off the subway, Bian Ying planned to head to the discount store up ahead to stock up.
She walked forward while looking at her phone.
As she walked, a cold, gloomy aura suddenly shot up from her tailbone.
Looking at the deserted path ahead, goosebumps broke out all over her body.
This feeling was not unfamiliar.
Bian Ying decisively turned around to leave.
But the road behind her kept overlapping.
No matter how much she walked forward, she would always return to her original spot.
A spatial loop.
Although Deceits below the high-risk level didn’t have the ability to create a Deceit Domain, they could still generate small-scale anomalies.
“WHEEZE…”
“Hungry.”
It was a Deceit with a humanoid appearance.
Its entire skin was dark green and covered in varying sizes of pustules.
It had only one eye, which took up almost its entire face.
Its body crawled on the ground in an eerie, inhuman posture, its eye emitting a ghastly green light as it crept toward Bian Ying.
“So hungry…”
“Just my luck,” Bian Ying thought.
She took a short knife out of her bag and hid it behind her back.
She stood perfectly still with an expressionless face, waiting for the Deceit to crawl over.
However, before the Deceit could even reach her, a tentacle suddenly shot out from behind her phone.
It cleanly and efficiently swept up the Deceit in front of her, consuming it without leaving a single trace behind.
The anomaly vanished, leaving only residual Deceit concentrations in the air.
“…” Bian Ying pinched the tentacle protruding from her phone and asked speechlessly, “When did you hide in my phone?”
The tentacle carefully wrapped around her finger and rubbed against it ingratiatingly.
Immediately after, a line of text appeared on Bian Ying’s phone screen: [Protecting Mother!]
Bian Ying’s eyelids twitched at the thought of carrying a tentacle around inside the Deceit Investigation Bureau for an entire day.
She figured no one must have noticed; otherwise, she would have been arrested long ago.
She released the tentacle, and it retreated back into the phone, sending her another message: [Mother, we learned how to cook today.]
Cook?
The number of times Bian Ying had cooked could be counted on one hand.
Even if she had the skill, it still wasn’t as quick and convenient as going downstairs to buy a rice ball.
Then again, it had been a long time since she had eaten a hot, home-cooked meal.
Since she was about to become an official employee anyway, why not splurge a little?
The tentacles were all-around domestic helpers with strong learning capabilities, so their cooking definitely wouldn’t be bad either.
“Alright, send me the grocery list.”
Looking at the items on the list and checking her bank balance, Bian Ying generously detoured to the largest wet market in the Lower District.
By the time she returned carrying two large bags of ingredients, the Little Snail at home was already on standby.
Sensing Mother’s return, the true body of the Eight Evils awakened.
“Mother, you’ve worked hard today~”
Its dependent voice was incredibly clingy.
After listening to it for a while now, Bian Ying had almost forgotten its previously rebellious and untamed demeanor.
The tentacles divided the labor in an orderly fashion.
Two took the items from her hands, one brought over her slippers, another took the bag from her shoulder and hung it on the hook behind the door, and yet another offered her a cup of warm water…
The tentacles that didn’t manage to grab a chore watched this scene with envy and jealousy.
As soon as Bian Ying slumped onto the sofa, they scrambled over, massaging and relaxing her based on what they had learned from the internet recently.
“Mhm, so thoughtful.”
She patted the tips of the tentacles, and they nearly fainted from happiness.
Who said Deceits were bad?
This Deceit was absolutely fantastic!
From then on, Bian Ying lived a divine, emperor-like existence.