Hearing this, Yaxiu felt a little touched.
So he wasn't the only one who cared about the team—Felix did, too!
Even though Felix's way of looking out for the team was somewhat bizarre, and she was firmly convinced he was the greatest source of turmoil—when the actual source of turmoil was clearly stuffed inside the wardrobe—her good intentions still deserved recognition!
Yaxiu let out a long breath and smiled warmly. "Felix, I appreciate the thought, but you really don't need to do this. I promise I won't actively tempt them—"
"If this were before, I might have believed you. But now you can wear yourself out half the night all on your own. Do you honestly think I'd trust your self-control?" Felix's tone dripped with skepticism. "If we don't regularly take care of your rampant desires, you're definitely going to turn into a rutting beast!"
"You... fine, fine, I agree," Yaxiu said, brushing it off just to appease her. "I promise I'll take good care of it."
"Then you have to do it every single day. When you're done, tell me which photos you liked best and which one you finished to." Felix's voice held a trace of embarrassment, yet sounded completely firm. "Since you've agreed, you should be able to manage at least that much, right?"
Yaxiu choked. "Why would I ever do that?"
"First, for supervision. Second, to gather data on your kinks and uncover your latent interests," Felix stated with utter conviction. "A lot of the time, people don't actually know what they like until they encounter it, their minds go blank, and they're moved by a beauty they've never seen before. It's just like cooking. By analyzing your favorite dishes, I can customize the meals that suit you best.
"Besides, I've only just started learning how to take selfies. I need customer feedback to improve my technique."
*Even if that makes sense, isn't telling that kind of information to a girl way too bizarre?!*
Still, there was no need for Yaxiu to push back too hard. After all, Felix's 'self-sacrifice plan' would be snuffed out in the cradle by the operators tomorrow anyway. So he simply said, "Alright, alright. But I'm really not the type to do daily quests. Most of the time I'm very restrained. Tonight was an exception, so don't treat it like a regular routine!"
"I'll make sure you do your daily quests!" Felix declared with absolute confidence.
*Could you please not make it sound like an epic battle shonen cry?!*
"Then I won't disturb you any longer. Enjoy using them." Felix rose to leave.
Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight, at long last, a girl was actually leaving normally. It hadn't been easy...
"Where did you put your clothes?" Felix suddenly asked.
"No idea. Probably dropped on the floor?" Yaxiu replied casually. His clothes had vanished the moment he met the Sword Princess—truly mysterious.
"Then leave them. We'll take them to be washed tomorrow," Felix said. "To keep you from passing out right after you're done, I'd better fetch you some clothes first."
"Oh," Yaxiu replied offhandedly. But the moment he heard footsteps heading toward the wardrobe, his brain finally registered what was happening.
"Wait!"
Just as Felix reached out to open the wardrobe in the dark, Yaxiu decisively wrapped an arm around her waist and spun her around. He moved so swiftly and urgently that the completely unprepared Felix tumbled straight into his embrace. The moment she brushed against his warm, bare skin, she froze as if struck by lightning.
"Sorry," Yaxiu said, instantly releasing her. "I'll get dressed myself. You don't need to look for clothes for me."
"You grabbed me just to stop me from finding some clothes?" Felix asked faintly. "Doing things like this will get me cursed out by the Sword Princess and the others.
"I'm just a measly Sanctuary stage. I can't withstand a demigod's wrath."
"I'll explain it to them, so don't worry," Yaxiu said.
Felix shook her head. "I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried about them. You can't even control yourself in front of me; I have zero doubt you'd lose all reason in front of them."
Yaxiu desperately wanted to explain, but stopping someone from grabbing clothes sounded far too ridiculous as an excuse. He could only swallow the wrongful accusation in silence.
Felix sighed softly. "I really shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. How could a bottomless trash bin like you ever be satisfied with that level of spice?"
Yaxiu couldn't help defending himself. "No, those photos were plenty scandalous."
"Wait a moment."
The rustle of fabric rubbing together whispered through the darkness, scratching at the senses. Yaxiu had no idea what was going on until someone grabbed his hand. His miracle bracelet was unlocked, flipping directly to the camera interface.
Yet because the lights were off, the screen showed pitch-black darkness.
Felix let go of his hand. After a few seconds, she said, "Press the shutter."
Yaxiu did as told. The flash went off with a snap, illuminating the scene before his eyes.
The blonde girl had completely stripped off her garments. Her arms were wrapped across her chest, pressing upward against her soft, snowy-white mounds, making them appear even more gathered and voluptuous. Her proud, breathtaking curves were laid bare before Yaxiu's eyes. Turning her head to the side, she lightly bit her lower lip, her gaze fraught with hesitation and embarrassment, which only made her look all the more alluring.
This sight was captured clearly in the miracle bracelet's photograph, preserved as an eternal snapshot.
The moment the flash died down, Felix scrambled back into her clothes. Trying her best to sound nonchalant, she said, "Happy birthday. Take your time enjoying it."
Then she fled the tent in a near panic, even stumbling on her way out.
With the final visitor gone, silence returned to the tent. Yaxiu stared at the freshly captured photo on the light screen. He had to admit it was truly a flawless work of art. Beyond Felix's beauty and cuteness, it also captured the four operators inside the wardrobe behind her, each wearing a distinctly different expression. It was at once intoxicatingly seductive and bizarrely supernatural—practically a horror romance story.
At this point, Yaxiu simply flipped on the light and sighed. "Silver Lantern, set up a silence barrier and a light-shielding barrier... Honestly, I don't think it matters whether we hide it from them anymore."
The Silver Lantern's power quietly expanded throughout the tent, cutting off all sound and light completely.
Weise said, "Finally, we can talk."
Vichy asked, "Who hit my head just now?"
Diya complained, "I was suffocating in there! Yaxiu, couldn't you get a bigger wardrobe?"
Sonia snapped, "The rest of you, get dressed properly!"
They were still in the exact same state they had been in before squeezing into the wardrobe. Only Vichy still had her maid outfit on, though the top was rolled down to her waist. While Sonia and Diya were each wearing only a single garment, everything that needed covering was covered. As for Weise, though she technically had two items on, one of them was her glasses, which only made her look extraordinarily alluring.
They exchanged glances, then slowly dispersed to take positions at the four corners of the bed. Having hidden in the wardrobe for so long, everyone looked a bit disheveled, their clothing in disarray. Yet once they confronted one another out in the open, their momentum instantly surged back, fully displaying the grandeur of demigods.
They glared at Yaxiu. Yaxiu sat upright, sipping his pineapple juice. After pondering for a moment, he finally spoke. "You guys—"
"Quiet, you don't get to speak," Sonia said, stripping him of his speaking privileges on the spot. "Vichy, just hours ago you were advising us to keep our distance from Yaxiu. Why did you sneak in for zero-distance contact in the dead of night?"
Diya chimed in, "Yeah, exactly! You're so sinister, tricking us into staying chaste while refusing to abstain yourself!"
Weise added, "You even told us to carefully consider whether our feelings for Yaxiu were truly indispensable. Turns out you found him so indispensable you couldn't even hold out until tomorrow morning!"
Vichy scoffed, "You have the nerve to blame me? When I proposed it, every single one of you agreed, yet you all showed up earlier than I did... After gorging yourselves to your hearts' content, now you turn around and criticize me for eating the leftovers?"
Yaxiu shouted, "Hey!"
Vichy continued, "Even if I'm at fault, I'm fourth in line at worst! The first one to break the rule is the one who committed the heinous crime!"
Diya said, "Sword Princess, I have to criticize you here. You were actually the first one to break the rules. I thought I was impatient enough, but you... Sigh, to think I ended up unlocking an indirect kiss with the Sword Princess tonight."
Sonia blushed all the way to the tips of her ears and fumed, "Don't bring up the indirect kiss!"
Weise looked puzzled. "Haven't we all already unlocked indirect kisses ages ago?"
Vichy possessed keen insight. She twitched her nose and instantly caught on. "Did the Sword Princess not rinse her mouth yet...?"
Before the maid could finish, Sonia snatched Yaxiu's drink cup, gulped down half a cup of pineapple juice, and, still unable to vent her frustration, grabbed Yaxiu's arm and bit down. Knowing Sonia had suffered a massive loss of face, Yaxiu stroked her head, pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her gently to soothe her mood.
"Still, who would have thought the dignified Spectre Prophet would be so... cute when in love?" Weise clicked her tongue. "I thought you were the type to put a chain around someone's neck and mistake domination for love."
"If only I could—" Vichy blurted out, catching herself immediately. "Think whatever you want. I just came to conduct a regular transaction with Yaxiu."
"Silver Lantern, you have no right to talk either," Diya said with dripping sarcasm. "You actually played the pity card to make Yaxiu feel guilty, thinking he wronged you and needed to make it up to you... Big liar!"
"Witch, did you forget you directly threatened Yaxiu and practically forced him into submission?" Sonia said coldly. "You're the worst of them all!"
The four looked at each other, suddenly realizing that continuing this conversation would only make things increasingly awkward. Everyone held dirt on everyone else. If everything was dragged out into the open, every single one of them would lose face—even Sonia bore the crime of 'first blood tonight.'
"What do we do now?" Weise changed the subject. "Should we just pretend nothing happened tonight?"
Diya immediately hopped on board. "Sure! We can keep having the Gospel God monitor him. From now on, whenever someone steps foot into Yaxiu's tent, it'll trigger an alarm to notify everyone!"
"Wait, earlier Yaxiu suddenly asked me if I'd cracked the Gospel God's detection, which means you've all cracked it?" Away from Yaxiu's embrace, Vichy's intellect returned to its proper level. "The Gospel God's monitoring is completely useless against you. I object!"
"Indeed," Sonia said, hugging Yaxiu tightly. "From now on, we must establish a far more airtight supervision system!"
"Why don't we just drop it? Forget about staying chaste. Let's take turns, one person each night," Diya tossed out an outrageous proposal. "I don't want to abstain anymore anyway."
"Absolutely not!" Sonia declared resolutely. "We must see this through!"
"Is there really any point to a rule that's doomed to be broken?" Weise persuaded as well.
"I will keep my eyes glued to you all, and of course, you can keep your eyes glued to me," the red-haired girl said with ironclad determination. "I will not allow what happened tonight to occur ever again!"
Everyone was utterly speechless. She would rather starve alongside them than let anyone else get a bite—what kind of mutually assured destruction tactic was this?!
However, when Vichy saw the indignant look on Sonia's face, she immediately understood that the Sword Princess was simply furious. She wasn't even mad at Yaxiu; she was mad at herself for failing to seize the opportunity.
If she hadn't come tonight, she could have seized upon the mistakes of the other three and blown them out of proportion, even forcing Yaxiu to swear never to go near them. But not only had the Sword Princess come, she had been the very first one, occupying the lowest possible position on the moral high ground. Thus, even if she was bursting with rage, she had no right to throw a tantrum. Who told her to be the first rule-breaker?
That was why she wanted to set another abstinence trap. If anyone dared stretch out a claw, she would chop it off without mercy!
"Every rule has loopholes, especially when Yaxiu is asleep. An enclosed space provides the greatest room for exploitation," Diya said with utter seriousness. "How about this: I'll make the sacrifice and sleep with Yaxiu every night to monitor him for you!"
Weise suddenly spoke up. "The Witch is right."
"Huh?!" Everyone's gazes snapped onto Weise, as though searching for puppet strings controlled by the Witch.
"As long as Yaxiu has an enclosed resting space, what happened tonight will inevitably occur," Weise said. "Therefore, the best method of supervision is to place him where everyone can see him at a glance. For instance... having Yaxiu sleep out in the open, right next to the campfire. That way, if anyone tries anything, everyone will see it."
Yaxiu froze.
The operators began pondering the feasibility of this plan. Sonia turned toward Yaxiu. "What do you think?"
"I think," Yaxiu said with utmost sincerity, "Felix's suggestion was actually pretty good."
Chapter 1135