Chapter 187 - 186: I Don’t Care About Your Permission

After getting the scarf, Jian Yu went to deliver it to Pei Yin.

The door to the laboratory opened to reveal a corpse.

Jian Yu was highly adaptable. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d seen such a scene.

But... she still felt a little sick to her stomach.

She planned to leave right after delivering it.

Pei Yin grabbed her. "Since you’re here, stay a while longer."

He washed his hands and changed clothes, then scooped Jian Yu up and placed her on an elevated platform nearby.

"It’s beautiful." He touched the scarf admiringly, the corners of his mouth curling up uncontrollably.

Growing up, no one had ever given him something like this.

Si Xu’s words had filled Pei Yin with confidence, and he now felt he was devastatingly handsome.

He struck a suave pose, bracing one hand on the platform and leaning his face closer. "Are you worried about me? Afraid I’ll get cold?"

Jian Yu was sitting high up. She leaned back, her eyes lowered to stare at Pei Yin’s confident smile.

The Pei Yin she’d seen before had a raw, unapologetic beauty, like a venomous-tongued imperial consort casually cursing someone out while cracking sunflower seeds.

But now, with a smile in his eyes, Pei Yin was inexplicably alluring.

It was just that Jian Yu found the words coming out of his mouth a little hard to stomach.

Jian Yu stared at him, her face impassive. "Why are you suddenly being so cheesy?"

’That might have been a bit rude.’

The awkwardness after she spoke was so thick that she looked down at her skirt.

When people get embarrassed, they tend to fidget.

Pei Yin stiffly pulled his hand back. His voice was rigid, full of grievance. "That was a horrible thing to say."

Jian Yu’s fingers froze. She felt a laugh bubbling up.

She couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Her voice was still cool, but it held a new note of familiarity. "Not as horrible as you. Who could possibly say things more horrible than you?"

Pei Yin rarely saw Jian Yu smile. It was a natural smile, her gaze wasn’t awkward, and her voice had lost its usual coldness. She spoke at a calm, even pace.

Most importantly, as he gazed at Jian Yu, Pei Yin felt like he was falling into her eyes. Her gaze was filled to the brim with him, and only him.

Pei Yin scratched his head, embarrassed, his neck slowly flushing red.

Jian Yu bent over, intending to jump down on her own.

She had never tried using Instant Teleportation from a height to the ground before.

His eyes flickering with alarm, Pei Yin wrapped an arm around her waist. "Easy there, my treasure."

"I know what I’m doing." Jian Yu placed a hand on Pei Yin’s shoulder and sat back down on the platform.

Maybe the flirtatious stage was over. Aside from Xi Yu, Ling Yanzhi and Pei Yin rarely called her "baby" in that clingy way anymore.

When Pei Yin blurted out "our treasure" or "my treasure," it lacked the amorous undertones from before, carrying more of a lighthearted, open teasing instead.

The tips of Jian Yu’s ears turned red, and a ripple of emotion disturbed the surface of her large, lustrous eyes.

She pressed her lips together tightly. Her face was expressionless, but her whole demeanor suddenly seemed incredibly docile and pure.

Pei Yin swallowed hard as he stared at Jian Yu.

He despised how quickly he was falling for her and scorned his lack of self-control in the face of such beauty.

Pei Yin raised a hand to lower the platform’s height.

His gaze was aggressive. "Can I kiss you?"

Jian Yu looked up at him, puzzled. "If you don’t want to, you don’t have to."

She couldn’t understand his train of thought.

Jian Yu lowered her lashes, her voice carrying a slight chill. "You never asked before when you kissed me."

Pei Yin scoffed, then scoffed again. "It’s precisely because I didn’t ask that you’re always giving me that sour look! You’re only cold to me. You even give that bastard Si Xu, who forces himself on people, more attention than me!"

Pei Yin looked at Jian Yu, a flicker of unease on his face. "If I don’t ask, you’ll just give me the cold shoulder again."

He muttered under his breath, "It’s always like this. They kiss you the same way, so why am I the only one who gets the bad treatment?"

Pei Yin rolled his eyes. It was a slow, deliberate movement, his pupils drifting upward in a clear show of petulance.

He was a strange mix of angry, aggrieved, and moody. He had the pouty immaturity of an eighteen-year-old college student, but the physical strength of the great general Zhang Fei.

’It was a surprisingly coquettish eye-roll,’ Jian Yu thought. ’I could never make a face like that.’

Pei Yin started speaking rapidly. "I think you should be nicer to me. You can’t just be nice to Ling Yanzhi and the others all the time. The few of us are all..."

Perhaps it was the slightly choked, jealous, and clingy quality of his voice, but it all came out as a long, drawn-out whine.

Listening to him gave Jian Yu a headache; her brain felt fuzzy.

With a cold expression, Jian Yu glanced at Pei Yin, then raised her hand and pressed it against the back of his neck, cutting him off.

With a slight tug, she pulled him right down.

"!" Pei Yin’s mouth fell slightly open.

He didn’t resist, letting himself fall but using his Soul Power to stabilize his body so he wouldn’t crush her.

His usual glibness vanished, replaced by a stutter. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Jian Yu tilted her head back, her hand still pressing him down.

She admitted to herself that she hadn’t treated Pei Yin well.

’Pei Yin’s affection wasn’t pure, and she wanted him to know that she had no intention of—and no need to—yield to his desires.’

’She hoped he would be less flippant. He couldn’t just blame his lack of respect on her being ’too docile.’’

Seeing that Pei Yin was about to launch into another tirade,

Jian Yu arched her back, rose up, and quickly silenced him with a kiss.

Unpracticed in forceful kissing, Jian Yu found herself a little breathless.

She saw Pei Yin looking dazed.

Jian Yu nervously rubbed her fingertips together.

’She stole a glance at him, wondering if her bold move had been any good.’

At a loss for what to do, Jian Yu reached for Pei Yin’s hand.

Pei Yin was stupefied by the kiss.

Coming to his senses, he mumbled as he hugged Jian Yu, "You didn’t let me kiss you last time, but this time I finally could. I think I’m the most pitiful one among them."

Si Xu flew in, and his face darkened at the sight.

He marched over and separated them like a jealous husband.

Pei Yin was pissed. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Si Xu’s gaze was dark. "I forbid it."

Pei Yin picked Jian Yu up and set her down. "I don’t give a damn if you forbid it or not. We’ll kiss if we want to. If you don’t like watching, then gouge your eyes out."

Si Xu repeated, "I forbid it."

Pei Yin nonchalantly toyed with the gold chain around his neck. "And who are you? Believe it or not, if I say the word, you’ll be rolling right out of Zone 5. Forbid this, forbid that... why don’t you just change your name to ’Forbid’?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Jian Yu spotted Xu Jianjuan, her hair a mess.

She distanced herself from the men’s squabble and walked over to Xu Jianjuan. "What happened to you?"

Xu Jianjuan found a spot to squat down. She ran her fingers through her long hair, straightening it before tying it back into a ponytail. Her voice was cold and hard. "Maybe I’m just gutless. I’ve been afraid of heights since I was a kid."

Jian Yu: "..."

’Who do you think you’re insulting?!’

Hearing Xu Jianjuan’s voice, Si Xu remembered he was there on official business.

He eyed Xu Jianjuan sideways and said to Pei Yin, "There’s something strange about her."

The arrogant air around Pei Yin dissipated. "I know. She had an encounter with a Soul Ghost. The Alliance said that since she’s one of our academy’s students, her observation period for being entangled with a Soul Ghost Body can be conducted here. No need to take her into custody."

"The people in charge of observing her are a few upperclassmen and some military cadets stationed here by the Alliance for protection. I’m sure there won’t be any major issues."

Si Xu frowned. "She has the scent of Ting Ying and Ah Qi on her."

He emphasized, "Before today, neither I nor Ah Qi have had any contact with her."

Pei Yin’s nonchalant expression vanished. "Let me see."

He summoned Ting Ying with a serious expression.

Xu Jianjuan pressed her lips together, terrified they would discover she had been reborn.

’She could choose to stay silent, but what if Pei Yin and the others brainwashed or hypnotized her into telling them?’

As Ting Ying drew closer, Xu Jianjuan grew so nervous she felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest.