He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 114 Return

When I opened my eyes again, it was just beginning to get light.

The skin clinging to the scales felt cool and comfortable. Reluctantly, Ai carefully freed herself from the snake tail wrapped around her ankle. She poked half her head out from under the covers, her blue pupils widening in a daze as she stared blankly at the figure lying beside her.

This was, of course, the first time he had ever seen Miya sleeping: if the little snake had always given off a "weak" feeling, then her current unguarded posture made the girl look like a little animal that had found its home, calm and lazy, with an unnatural flush on her tender face.

She was holding a large gray tail in her arms. Seemingly startled by Ai's movements, Miya squirmed a few times before burying her entire head inside it again.

—Still sleeping.

The fox stared at the little snake for a long time, then silently narrowed its eyes—would this be considered a crime?

Thinking about what happened last night still felt unreal. When Ai Yi accidentally caught a glimpse of Miya's small, sharp teeth peeking out from her lips, she couldn't help but shudder.

—Little snake—So amazing.

While marveling at the peculiar physiological structure of snakes, I quietly used a cushion as a substitute to rescue my tail, carefully crawling down from the other side of the bed. After looking around under the bed and not finding my slippers, I simply walked barefoot out of the room, pattering along the living room, stepping on the wooden floor as I came out of the kitchen with a can of ice-cold beer in my hand, and finally strolled leisurely to the balcony.

Leaning against the railing of Gray Courtyard, Ai took a deep breath, and with a "click," pulled open the tab of the soda can, and dense foam gurgled out.

It was early morning.

The entire Gray Courtyard was quiet; no one else was awake yet, except for the gray mist lingering in the corner, which huddled together like a soft cat, purring contentedly.

Ai Yi's unfocused eyes stared blankly into the distance.

There is never any so-called "scenery" in the suburbs — but something called the change of seasons still shows its unparalleled presence. Under the dome, the mechanical structure that acts as the "heart" slowly starts up, faintly playing a rhythm from the slowly flashing breathing lights, like a giant beast awakening from its slumber.

The pitch-black earth remains the same, but the ever-brighter radiance emerges like a rising tide—although the distance between the two is narrow, there is still something like a "horizon" that is divided into upper and lower sections by a pure white boundary marker, adding a touch of novelty to this abandoned world.

This was the first time Ai had ever seriously appreciated a "Dawn" performance.

He slowly squinted, and light shone through his semi-circular pupil. The cracks around his eyes resembled an endless deep blue sea, and the pupil, with its mottled blood-red hue mixed with azure, looked like the rising sun. The center of his pupil was white as ointment, and the complex background colors were intertwined, making the boundaries of the pupil membrane indistinct.

The eye is the medium of the soul, and color is the form of a vessel.

The light screen then naturally appeared in front of Ai Yi in the next moment;

"Second Foundation: Strictness (Gevurah)"

"Severity: the right to weave the law, the power of judgment—the great power of creation is the flaws of a stubborn stone, the form after rough carving; it is the unchanging engraving and ruler, the immovable law, the resolute strictness, the web of evil and anger."

New Trait: Harshness

"Using 'purity' as the standard, wield the razor, and carve 'severity' into the very foundation of your soul. From this point on, what you cannot tolerate becomes the measure of 'evil,' without exception."

—The second base plate has been formed.

Ai silently watched the lines of writing emerge from the radiance. In the invisible realm, a new branch had sprouted from the right end of the sapling growing on the land of vessels. It was a beautiful and translucent blood-red color, like a ruby, yet it conveyed a kind of indescribable harshness.

—The experience bar has increased again—

The fox propped its chin on its hand and stretched half of its arm out onto the balcony.

Regardless of the criteria, the process from budding to growth is a realm of the mind—it doesn't even require the accumulation of knowledge or the transition of strength. When a certain barrier of the mind is overcome, it is similar to the growth of a tree, silently and invisibly welcoming a spiral ascent and leap.

The most "difficult" upgrade may also be the most "easy" one.

"But that's really fast."

Ai held the can in the air with two fingers and shook it, her tone slightly wistful, "Sure enough, if you cause a big enough mess, you'll get tons of experience points."

Although the time was short, during this period, the fox underwent a transformation from a "corporate slave living hand to mouth" to a "master of the suburbs." The "spiritual nourishment" it incubated during this time was immense. When Ai truly regarded this desire for "transformation" and "control" as her own rather than something external, the new branches of the tree were a response.

The fox narrowed its eyes as it watched the radiance gradually rise before it.

"As expected of you." "As expected of me—"

The light screen lit up at the same time, and Ai tilted her head. The beer she was holding halfway was gently caught by a light touch, and then collided with another aluminum foil can.

"Cheers!" A bright glow, waving its tentacles in front of him, then human-like, leaned back, poured its beer into the invisible ball of light, and gulped it down.

"[]~（▽）~*Ha~" He hiccuped using an emoticon.

"Little White?" Ai Yi was taken aback, then laughed, "What form is this?"

"The form in which you can eat — I thought it was a bit pitiful for you to be drinking alone here so early in the morning, so I'll just take a little pity on you and celebrate your level up."

"Just a celebration?" Ai pouted. "I have a feeling you're up to no good—"

Where?

The bloated ball of light, mimicking Ai, leaned against the railing and began to shake its head. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised."

Light Touch tossed his beer. "I really didn't expect you to complete the shaping of the second foundation so quickly. The formulation of the soul purity did provide you with a lot of nourishment, but your ability to actually take this step still makes me—well, look at you with new eyes."

"————" Ai listened quietly with a faint smile.

"After last night, even I felt that everything was developing rather rapidly. But your solid foundation tells me that accepting that little snake might be a revolutionary change for you."

Xiao Bai also had a touch of emotion in his voice: "Aiyi, you've finally started to truly see yourself as a member of this world, instead of resolutely detaching yourself. If before you treated others like a player placing an NPC, now you've started to use your own desires as a foundation, and regard the ground beneath your feet as reality."

"You're starting to learn to put down roots."

"Perhaps."

The fox took a sip of wine and remained noncommittal.

—The intercourse with Miya was Ai's first "initiative".

"Her name is branded alone on the pure white register. I am the god who promised to save her, and also her only support in this strange world."

The fox chuckled, "Whether it's out of pity or simply because he likes Xingyu—there's no point in explaining it—the little guy is just unbelievably cute."

—How can I possibly resist this?

Moreover, there is no need to deliberately avoid it.

"Love is a heavy thing, and a dangerous thing," Ai said in a deep voice.

Even great things die from love.

—It is a sharp knife pressed against each other's hearts. Before confirming one's own safety, no one dares to casually define an emotion as love. Avoidance is a mechanism of self-protection.

But if pleasure is a balm for one's soul and a promise of salvation for the other—even if it only goes as far as the physical body, it is enough to give the little snake a sense of security that is teetering on the brink of collapse.

"From the moment she arrived here, I could sense that Miya was uneasy. She hid her fear deep inside, using meekness and gentleness as a facade. Tsk, what an unreliable person she is."

"Just like I always have."

The fox sighed. "Even though she's so scared inside, she wipes away her tears and forces a smile, always appearing quiet and strong—it's honestly a bit cheesy, like a fallen heiress forced to live under someone else's roof and submit to the villain after her family's decline—oh dear, doesn't she know that's what excites me even more?"

Xiao Bai: "Something's not right with you."

"So—" Ai said, completely unconcerned about her dangerous statement, shaking her head, "My love is indeed childish, after all, I've only just begun to learn—but it's not that rare, much less sacred. It's just a little snake, surely I can afford to raise it? Anyway, its name is already on my household registration, it's only a matter of time—"

He stepped barefoot onto the railing, his long hair, which fell loosely over his shoulders, fluttering lightly in the chilly morning breeze.

"I used to desperately search for something to support my life—like a drowning person desperately looking for a piece of driftwood to escape the water and stop suffocating."

Ai understood the changes in her heart after that night, and realized that it could indeed be called a "transformation".

So Xiaobai continued, "And now, you're starting to try to become a 'fulcrum' for others."

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, but didn't deny it.

"Because from now on, I will be carrying even more people, not just driftwood, but the entire continent. I need to support them as they climb out of the eternal abyss of spiritual decline and return to the light illuminated by humanity."

The fox said quietly, "If I can't even give Miya a little love, how can I support the hopes and expectations of all living beings?"

—How am I supposed to overturn this ditch-like world?

Ai took a deep breath and looked at the distant horizon in the suburbs—a thin outline, devoid of any reference points, its fragmented colors dull and cold, utterly devoid of beauty.

"The dawn I know is not what it is now—" His gaze was icy.

Those are memories long gone. Back then, Zhou Yi, an ordinary person, also tried to travel the world. He once woke up in the crisp, clear hours of a winter mountain retreat and drew back the curtains at sunrise—he saw the boundary between the earth and the sky blurred in the hazy light curtain, and the outline of the sun's corona was lifted up along the distant white snow-capped peaks until it rendered the snow infinitely pure, like a sea of ​​surging gold.

Here, winter is the remains, the sun is the dead, the sky is ruins, and the earth is a question.

—Bullshit! Who allowed the world to become such a mess?! (pointing and gesturing)

"My ultimate goal is to become the great father of all mankind." Ai crushed the can in his hand, drank the wine in one gulp, and his eyes were like paint splashed on white paper, containing a terrifying madness and arrogance, as if something was about to hatch from it in the next second. But in the next instant, as if stopped, Ai sealed the embryonic form of the "vessel" back into the vessel.

—It's not time yet.

"Let's not talk about that now."

He regained his composure in the blink of an eye, casually changing the subject, "Speaking of which..."

The fox stretched, licked its lips, and sighed, "The little snake tastes really good—"

The light-touch next to him froze for a moment, and even from a shapeless ball of light, it could reveal a tangible "contempt": "Shrimp head."

"There are 3 hours left before the sewage is discharged."

At the end of the day, Ronan, who had been traveling for three days, finally returned to Gray Court and brought with him solid news: after the first round of selection, all the factions in the suburbs had submitted to Pure White.

Today, this dark land, rife with conflict, welcomes its sole master. From now on, gray will be the dominant color here. Even if violence is temporarily used as the "reason," their will has already been given to the ruthless king.

"How about this one?"

In the fox den, the large bed was covered with a pile of clothes in all sorts of colors. Miya was holding up a large black trench coat and calling out to the fox.

After seeing Ai shake her head, the little snake sadly folded up the clothes, "There's nothing else—the rest are all the clothes that Master usually wears."

"Just call him 'boss' normally."

The fox shuddered and cautiously glanced at a piece of glass buried in a pile of clothes beside it, observing it in the dark. Its already inorganic gaze looked even more dull.

Fearing she would have to explain strange things like "human origins" to a child later, Ai Yi chased Liuli out of the room and said helplessly, "Never mind, I'll take care of the clothes myself."

The promise made to Chief Steward Lin to "show off in public" has been made tonight, and I've decided to wear a candy-colored pajama set to assert my authority, which is a bit funny.

"But—" Miya wagged her tail, something on the tip of her tongue but unable to say it, so she could only mumble, "I feel—the clothes...can't save the boss's image, can they?"

The little snake looked troubled, and her question was perfectly reasonable.

Ai patted her face, stared at herself in the mirror for half a minute, and secretly asked Gray, "Why were you so dignified before?"

Gray: "Me? I don't care about that."

"But we still have to put on a show, right?" Ai tilted her head.

"Those who disrespect me are all dead," the gray voice said. "With more people dead, no one will dare question your image. Believe in the adaptability of rats—one day, they will regard your authority as the 'oxygen' they need to breathe, an indispensable thing, a necessity for survival."

"————" The fox pondered for a moment and felt that this made sense.

Without picking out any more clothes, she simply transformed a layer of fine, pure white scales into a long, solid-colored robe that trailed to the ground. As soon as Ai turned her head, she was hugged by Miya—the little snake rubbed its head against the fox's face, and the latter could only pat her hair and remind her helplessly, "Stay a little further away from me, something might get a little scary."

The next moment, Ai closed her eyes.

A chilling aura, seemingly freezing the soul, rose slowly from the void to the other side with an irresistible and terrifying force. Miya's scales suddenly burst open, and the entire snake visibly curled up, huddled in the corner, trembling.

Gray: "So, in the end, I have to do it?"

"No."

The next moment, a gentle warmth rises, turning its back on inhumanity, a scorching and turbid warmth like bathing in the blazing sun, a magnificent love that seems to encompass everything as its own.

"We unite."

Ai opened her eyes, and the inclusiveness of understanding and the harshness of severity completely dissolved into the same underlying tone in that gaze that was like an ever-ascending spiral.

Gray matter is his messenger; gray buries everything.

The entire outskirts trembled and creased under this rising will.

The "heart" buried deep beneath the earth faintly pulsates, as if black mud is flowing within it.

"What is that?!" The first to notice the change was the already budding, perceptive soul.

Ronan, who was still organizing the coronation ceremony, looked up amidst an overwhelming sense of unease. He squinted, his gaze fixed on something glaringly dark, casting a deep shadow.

"Turtle————"

Ronan felt a cold sweat break out on his brow—in any game, this would probably result in a health bar longer than the field of vision appearing in the center of the screen the next second.

"Boss—" he cried out in anguish.

"Isn't that a little scary?"

It was nearing dusk.

Facing the fading glow, Ai silently stepped out of Gray Court.