Love, Gun, Cupid

"Relationships below 50 are really hard to define. Let me give you two examples: Hehuan and Lin Jiade's initial relationship was 14, but now it has jumped to 53, while Mumian and Lin Jiade's initial relationship was 69, but now it has fallen to 27."

Reed Warbler shook her head: "Hmph, 27? I don't believe it. I'm the one who's been teaching him with all my heart and hoping he'll correct Kapok, but Kapok just beckons and he happily goes over to celebrate, as carefree as a husky."

Du Juan noticed the blind spot: "You've been at home the whole time, how did you know what was happening on the scene?"

“I…I was just afraid he’d slack off,” Wei Ying said, her eyes darting around. “So, I just cast a spell on him.”

"Our magic, when applied to mortals, becomes divine pronouncements."

"I know, sister, so I won't force him to do anything, I'll just check on him occasionally. But... why am I 30, even taller than that Kapok tree?"

The cuckoo could tell that the reed warbler was quite pleased with its stats being slightly higher than the kapok's. Cupid explained, "Lin Jiade and the kapok's stats are low because they haven't resolved their inner conflicts. Once they do, their stats will skyrocket."

"Well……"

"It seems you have some issues with their relationship?" Du Juan asked.

"That's right, I just can't stand Mumian. I don't like how she wins by using evil and heretical methods, and she even led Lin Jiade astray. He'll eventually fall to the same moral level as Mumian."

Du Juan said, "Then, let me talk about your and Lin Jiade's stats. It's very simple. Our parents are incompetent. Boys your age either chase after girls who are kinder than you, or they are so scared of you that they don't dare to talk to you at all. And in our family, we don't see our father for a long time..."

Poor Wei Ying, after arriving here, Lin Jiade is the first man you've ever interacted with normally in your long life. You don't fight with him, you're not afraid of him, he doesn't scold you for blowing up the school, and he doesn't neglect you..."

The reed warbler cried out, "He's prioritizing his girlfriend over his friends today!"

“Finally admitted it,” Du Juan said with a smile. “If you had said it from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to take such a roundabout route.”

Wei Ying, I hope you understand that since you came here, he has been the second person who has accompanied you the most. It is natural to want someone who has been with you for a longer time to become your friend. You can say it with your head held high.

Secondly, precisely because they are friends, there's a desire for the friend to be better off. How to make a friend better off naturally involves influencing them through words and actions. And when this desire intensifies, it can escalate into a desire for control.

"Control... my feelings for Lin Jiade?" Wei Ying asked, puzzled.

"You're upset tonight because he's broken free of your control and disobeyed your teachings; that's a manifestation of controlling nature. Like with friends, controlling nature isn't something to be ashamed of, at least not for us celestial inhabitants."

You know history better than I do, so you should know that the relationship between celestial observers and Homo sapiens is one of control. The heavens determined the way humanity has developed into what it is today, the heavens determined the depth that people's magic and witchcraft can reach, and the heavens projected themselves into human mythology and religion, subtly influencing the human spirit... Why is this so?

Because Homo sapiens is short-sighted, short-lived, fragile, and full of self-destructive genes, they would perish before venturing into the distant stars if left unchecked. Therefore, control is necessary to ensure their survival, prosperity, and happiness.

My sister, you shouldn't be ashamed of your controlling nature; on the contrary, you should rejoice, because you felt this way for the sake of your friend's happiness. It is noble, it is passionate, and it is a feeling you should continue to uphold.

"To maintain...control over Lin Jiade?"

“Our Lin Jiade is an easily manipulated person, and unfortunately, we are not the only ones who can manipulate him. Among those who influence him, there are those like us who want him to be happy and try to control him, as well as those who are dragging him down with their own selfish desires.”

Only under proper control can your friend be happy, and who represents what is proper? Naturally, it's you. Because you don't have those feelings for Lin Jiade, you see things more clearly than those directly involved.

“But I’m just an outsider,” said the reed warbler, “I shouldn’t…”

"So, can you bear to see Lin Jiade be consumed by a bad example?"

“Of course I don’t want to, but Lin Jiade is my sister’s contractor.”

“Because I am his contractor, every time I do something, I am seen as having ulterior motives.” Du Juan showed a dejected expression. “My position determines that my actions will be interpreted differently, so I cannot represent what is right, but you can, because you have no contract with him.”

“I will help my sister!” said the reed warbler. “Then, what is the right thing to do?”

"Ah, this has to start with the secret in Lin Jiade's heart. Find it, understand it. Only by understanding his life can we prescribe the right medicine."

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Heartless and Unfeeling (32→31)

The next day, Lin Jiade got up feeling groggy. Wei Ying looked at him calmly and said, "I'll give you five minutes. We'll go for a morning run. Remember to activate your energy instead of letting it lie dormant in your body."

"Ah, oh."

Wei Ying left first, and Lin Jiade looked at Du Juan and said, "Is she... different from yesterday?"

"Yes, because she's figured out one thing: how to treat you," Du Juan replied.

"Treat me? Do you mean give me orders right now?"

"It's her way of being nice, but as you can see, her social skills are just as terrible as someone of similar height, so it makes it seem like she's being mean to you."

Lin Jiade didn't see any sign that Wei Ying was trying to improve their relationship, but he sensed that Mo Li had been dissed by Du Juan again. Now, Mo Li was leaning against the doorframe, coldly watching Du Juan.

“Jasmine didn’t do anything to you, why do you keep bringing her up?” Lin Jiade said. “This time it’s your fault, Miss Dujuan.”

Du Juan put on a sad expression: "There's a saying here, 'Marry a wife and forget your mother,' which probably describes the current situation... But Lin Jiade doesn't seem to have forgotten; on the contrary, they seem even closer."

Du Juan pointed to her neck, where two different hickeys were located on either side of Lin Jiade's neck. Remembering yesterday's absurdity, Jasmine silently went to wash up, even stepping on Lin Jiade's foot as she passed by. Jianlan, on the other hand, remained calm... until she presented the burnt breakfast.

Lin Jiade was lucky to escape unscathed, while he was being tormented by Reedbird on the highway. Reedbird had devised a 6.7-kilometer route for him as his basic exercise routine on Saturdays and Sundays. According to her, once Lin Jiade's body had adapted to this level, she would responsibly wake him up every day to run that lap.

Lin Jiade had a habit of jogging in the morning, but for him, it was more like a way to maintain health. Now, however, jogging had become a form of torture. Fortunately, Wei Ying used a confusion spell to make the people around him ignore him, otherwise his face, which was covered in a mask of pain, would probably have become material for a meme.

To combat the pain, Lin Jiade could only run while pondering, and pondering easily led to heresies—Du Juan said that the reed warbler didn't know how to express goodwill, but as the older sister, she would definitely speak well of her younger sister, and one shouldn't believe everything she said.

Was Wei Ying really trying to be kind to him? Lin Jiade secretly glanced at Wei Ying and felt that she was indeed very happy, but it seemed like she was torturing him for her own amusement.

After a morning run, Lin Jiade was completely paralyzed at home. Wei Ying quickly wrote a list and handed it to Jian Lan. Jian Lan was surprised after reading it and said, "They're all things that can enhance male potency."

“It’s not for you guys to do that!” Wei Ying explained, blushing. “He’s too weak, from his stomach to his muscles, so he needs to consume more energy-rich foods to improve his energy replenishment efficiency, rather than letting carbohydrates make up the majority of his diet.”

Perhaps it's genetics, or perhaps it's a picky eating habit, but Lin Jiade has an inexplicable fondness for the carbohydrate parts of food. Now that Wei Ying doesn't let him eat more of it, it's like depriving him of half of his enjoyment.

“While it’s reasonable, Lin Jiade’s training should be gradual. There’s no need to be so impatient, as that would only cause him extra mental anguish,” Jianlan said.

Wei Ying remembered what her sister had said last night. She raised her head, stared at Jian Lan, and said, "Since it's right, we should stick to it. Your pampering of him will only turn him into a weakling who can't live without you."

The warbler was aggressive, forgetting that she was discussing Lin Jiade's life with his second girlfriend. The sword orchid magnanimously forgave her rudeness, while glancing in the direction of the cuckoo.

"So that's how it is. Jasmine represents the order of the family economy, and the introduction of Albizia is to break Jasmine's monopoly; I represent the order of the family knowledge, so I bewitched my young and ignorant sister to come out and teach Lin Jiade."

Similarly, the reason for rejecting Kapok, and even wanting to kill her in the Mirror Realm (information from a secret conversation between two people with spare time after Lin Jiade was ruined last night), is because Kapok existed before us and could potentially shake the order of power within your family.

Gladiolus understood Azalea's line of thought, but because she had succumbed to the influence of the oracle, she couldn't tell Lin Jiade the truth. So she looked at Lin Jiade: "What do you think?"

Lin Jiade had already pulled out his calculator (since he started learning magic, he had become increasingly skilled at assessing costs, it had practically become instinctive), and after a flurry of key presses, he calculated the result: according to the Reed Warbler's recipe, he would have to use up all the large amount of points he had gained from risking his life and damaging his equipment.

“You can’t eat that, you reed warbler.”

Lin Jiade did the math on the spot, and Wei Ying rolled her eyes. The young man's stubbornness and stinginess reinforced her belief that she was "right." Lin Jiade was thinking of a long-term strategy, allocating his assets evenly among equipment, food, and magic, and improving himself in a balanced way.

Spreading resources evenly isn't the worst option, but it's certainly the most mediocre. Wei Ying believes Lin Jiade should invest all his resources into a single area, making it his strength, so he can defeat Mu Mian and guide that strange woman back to the right path.

Therefore, although she was rejected by Lin Jiade again, she was not angry, but went about her own business. Jianlan glanced at Weiying with surprise, then left even more surprise for Dujuan.

"What's wrong?" Dujuan asked.

“That’s your sister,” Jianlan said.

"That's why I need to educate her, especially the kind of resilience training she lacks in her life. I want to show her with facts that if you can't get something through normal means, you have to compete for it and fight for it. If she just insists on what she thinks is right, then she will get nothing."

"If there's a one in ten thousand chance that your sister's feelings for Lin Jiade aren't control or friendship, but love, would you still accept her taking Lin Jiade away from you?" Jianlan asked.

“Of course,” Jianlan said with a smile. “The desires emanating from such a powerful opponent will transform into enormous energy for me to devour. I will defeat her, forgive her, embrace her, and then savor the energy she brings me.”

"Is there something wrong with the ethics of your celestial realm?"

“Judging us by the moral standards formed in the short lifespan of Homo sapiens, I don’t know who gave you that courage.” Dujuan lost interest in the conversation. “If there are no other questions, I’m going back now. I need to inform my parents about the reed warbler, although they probably won’t have any objections.”

Gladiolus's heart sank to the bottom upon hearing Azalea's answer. Azalea was heartless and ruthless; she could be cruel even to her own sister. What about them, the outsiders? What would she do to Lin Jiade?

Chapter Thirty: Drawing Lots

On Sunday evening, Lin Jiade watched a tense battle between Jasmine and Kapok. Jasmine's purpose was precisely this: she played the alien race to simulate the asymmetrical feeling of fighting against aliens for Kapok.

Among the 32 contestants in the main competition, there were quite a few from other races. This is because the highest title that the Empire bestows upon magic researchers and sorcerers outside the system ends here. It can be said that this is the highest honor that other races can obtain, so their enthusiasm for participating is even stronger than that of humans.

The alien races are more difficult to deal with than their own kind, mainly because of their completely unpredictable characteristics—such as Rafaam's shapeshifting ability. If Rafaam's original strength hadn't been insufficient, Mumu might have been eliminated in the first round of her promotion.

Just then, Jasmine also needed to use the fight for rehabilitation, and the two fought back and forth without going all out, making for a very exciting exchange. Lin Jiade cheered them on excitedly from the sidelines.

"Which side are you standing on?" Wei Ying asked.

“I’m on the side of the losers,” Lin Jiade replied.

Upon hearing this, Jasmine slipped and fell to the ground, signaling the end of the battle. Lin Jiade rushed over to help Jasmine up, offering words of comfort, but Jasmine clung to him, refusing to let go.

“This kind of training is not very meaningful. Do you want me to have a match with you?” Wei Ying asked.

“You are too strong; fighting you would be pointless. Besides, the moment is about to begin,” Mu Mian replied.

"what?"

"Lottery ceremony".

"What strange things are you humans up to now?"

Wei Ying chose to disappear from the spot. Lin Jiade scratched his head awkwardly. He took Jasmine's hand and went to the conference room. Jianlan walked over and said to Mumian, "I heard some interesting news. FN Company, which sponsors my STARS, is interested in customizing personal equipment for you. Of course, they are also one of the sponsors of this competition."

"Underhanded tactics?"

"This is a tradition. Although capital can't directly interfere with the outcome of the competition, they can still get what they want by finding spokespeople among the players. I asked Hehuan, and she said that FN Company and the veterans she serves are from the same faction. In other words, we're all in the same boat," Jianlan said.

"When will you and Hehuan...?"

"It was an exchange of benefits, a personal friendship. She was generally decent, and I liked working with people like her. Her family lacked reliable military force, while I lacked connections, so we hit it off immediately... especially after I gave her what she wanted."

As she spoke, Jianlan patted Lin Jiade on the shoulder: "I'm sorry you had to go through this. I'll give you a treat when we get back."

"???"

Lin Jiade was confused, so Jianlan continued, "Since you made it into the main competition, it proves that you have the potential to be promoted to a higher rank. So I will change my attitude and help you seriously."

"Thank you, what do you need in return?" Kapok asked.

"To protect the peace and stability of my life, Lin Jiade's life, and Jasmine's life, the more allies the better, and the stronger they are, the better. The more allies I find, the less effort Lin Jiade will have to put in. He's been being driven crazy by Wei Ying lately. Do you have any ideas?"

Mu Mian not only knew, but was very clear that Lin Jiade was a victim created by Wei Ying because Wei Ying disliked her but couldn't directly confront her. Wei Ying hoped to prove something through Lin Jiade, but in Mu Mian's eyes, that was nothing more than Wei Ying's naivety and arrogance.

Jianlan didn't ask any more questions. She went to sit in the corner, where the disadvantages brought by her 2.17-meter height were fully exposed. She looked up at the giant projection screen in the conference room, where Powerflix, an online platform only available to viewers in the Underworld, was broadcasting the lottery ceremony live.

The hosts of the lottery ceremony, Pan Zi and Ga Zi, are well-known in the Li world, and today's special guests, Shuang Zi and Yang Li, are no less famous than them. In order to capture the traffic of the lottery ceremony, Powerflix's preparations can be described as meticulous, as can be seen from the opening performance show by Jinlun Muscle.

Hehuan swallowed hard when she saw Jinlun's muscles, clearly showing her fondness for them. Then she glanced at Lin Jiade, seemingly imagining him shaking his muscles at her in the same way.

“It’s all so fancy,” Jasmine said. “I’m going to do my homework now. Let me know if you need anything.”

An empty seat appeared next to Lin Jiade, and Hehuan tried to move over, but the next second, Dujuan floated down... with two champagne glasses. She pushed one glass towards Lin Jiade, and the two clinked glasses. Hehuan bit her lip as she watched this scene, ignoring the sight of Jinlun's muscles that she had admired for a dozen seconds.

After a half-hour of ordinary yet confident talk show by the host, the drawing ceremony officially began. Slips of paper bearing the names of the thirty-two contestants were placed inside small golden balls. Panzi was responsible for drawing the opponents, while Ga Zi was responsible for the other white ball to determine the final venue and group assignments for the contestants.

The atmosphere became tense. Despite rumors that the draw ceremony was scripted and that the host would search the pool for preheated balls of a different temperature than the others, seemingly randomly drawn, the matchups were actually arranged by the organizers.

The rumors did nothing to ease the tense atmosphere. Unbeknownst to him, Lin Jiade's palms were sweating, and his energy was spreading outward uncontrollably. When it reached Hehuan, it made her feel thirsty.

Mu Mian remained remarkably calm, even when she was chosen as the seventh competitor and the club erupted in tense gasps, she remained silent.