The next day, around 4 p.m.
Ye Kui finally crawled out of bed, gasping for breath, his face pale as paper, supporting himself against the wall while rubbing his waist.
He hissed, unable to understand why his waist was so sore.
And… how did it suddenly become 4 p.m. the moment he opened his eyes?
According to his own estimation, he should’ve woken up around noon.
So tired.
It felt like he hadn’t slept at all—like his body had been run over by a steamroller, unable to even lift a finger.
Dragging his exhausted body, Ye Kui washed up, and sat his butt down on the old, worn-out sofa.
His gaze shifted to the side.
Inside the water tank, a small pink octopus swam back and forth, looking incredibly energetic, its tentacles constantly tapping the glass with a ding-ding sound.
It seemed to be greeting him.
Ye Kui smiled.
He stood up, took out the temporary feed he’d bought, and scattered a handful inside.
“Are you hungry? Go ahead and eat.”
Seeing the feed, Zina snorted inwardly.
She wouldn’t stoop to eating such cheap and non-nutritious stuff.
She was already full—thoroughly and nutritiously so.
Thinking of last night’s boldness, the little octopus’s color turned an even deeper pink, with a hint of red.
Ye Kui: ?
Ye Kui stroked his chin, feeling like… the little octopus was embarrassed?
He couldn’t understand.
Ye Kui assumed the little octopus was just not used to living in the tank.
He pulled out the leftover bread from the fridge and stuffed it into his mouth while turning on the TV.
Then, as Ye Kui watched the news report about a daring gang of criminals who robbed the Law Enforcement Bureau, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
It had begun.
But naturally, the ending was a failure.
At first, the robbers were on a roll, but then the Saintess appeared, and the situation was instantly reversed! The news anchor was going wild, passionately describing how timely the Saintess’s arrival was, how strong, how holy!A non-stop barrage of praise, overflowing with eloquence.
Ye Kui didn’t keep watching.
Instead, he pulled out his phone and calmly glanced at it.
As expected, the villain chat group had exploded.
[Silent Alliance (Qingluo City Branch)]
[Member A: AAAAAA! Rotten salted fish, did you not show up again?! You bastard, are you running away again?! Reply!!!]
[Member B: Damn it, why did the Saintess show up? We almost succeeded… I feel something’s off. She arrived too quickly, and later the Law Enforcement Bureau turned things around. Their moves were too smooth, like they’d rehearsed it. I suspect someone leaked our plan!]
[Member C: How did they know our plan? We only finalized it last night!]
[Member C: Also, Salted Fish Alchemist, you weren’t there…]
[Member C: So, it’s obvious. Salted Fish Alchemist, you’re a big-browed traitor……]
Ding dong!
[Salted Fish Alchemist: Saintess Luo Qiongyin wet the bed at age seven.]
[Salted Fish Alchemist: She liked to wear panties with little bears on them as a child.]
[Salted Fish Alchemist: Her favorite is Mango Cake.]
Ye Kui quickly uploaded three pieces of information about Luo Qiongyin.
Each one was genuine!
He wasn’t lying about the last one, either.
During the game, he’d checked Luo Qiongyin’s profile.
She loved Mango Cake the most, but after one bite, she suffered a severe allergic reaction.
She still loved it, but dared not eat it anymore.
[Salted Fish Alchemist: What did you just say about my big brows?]
[Member C: Big-browed… ultimate villain! I can’t believe you even dug up the Saintess’s childhood secrets?! Fine, fine, fine!]
[Member C: Salted Fish Alchemist, you don’t look like a spy to me!]
[Member C: If anyone says Salted Fish Alchemist is a spy, I’ll fight them!]
[Member C: To think the powerful, beautiful, flawless Saintess in everyone’s eyes wet the bed at age seven… Puhahaha! I’m dying of laughter! I’m going to find some netizens to push this to trending!]
Everyone in the chat group tended to believe this info.
After all, a bit of investigation would reveal the truth.
Verifying the authenticity wasn’t hard—the hard part was finding out in the first place.
Next, the group started spamming [Salted Fish Alchemist is too strong!].
Seeing this, Ye Kui thought he’d managed to bluff his way through.
Then, a certain self-proclaimed genius with no sense of tact brought the topic back.
[Department Chair: That aside, you haven’t explained why you didn’t show up!]
Ye Kui raised an eyebrow, looking at the guy named [Department Chair], sensing a certain hostility.
Before Ye Kui could say anything, the three lively group members jumped in to counterattack.
[Member A: Are you blind? This rotten salted fish is right in front of you. He was busy investigating the Saintess’s private matters. I believe he had his reasons!]
[Member B: Exactly! Besides, Salted Fish Alchemist is at the bottom of our group’s power rankings. Whether he’s here or not doesn’t make much difference.]
[Member C: Your words sound suspicious, clinging onto Salted Fish Alchemist like it’s his absence that caused our operation to fail… Could you be the real spy in the group?]
After reading it all, Ye Kui’s lips curled up slightly.
That’s why he said—everyone in this chat group was a talent, and their words were always amusing.
Then, the group erupted into a full-on argument.
It got pretty nasty—the three of them unleashed their firepower, even sending “kind regards” to [Department Chair]’s ancestors for eighteen generations.
Ye Kui turned off his phone, rubbed his waist, stood up, and rummaged through the cabinet, pulling out a handful of goji berries to soak in water.
He sipped slowly, savoring the taste.
At that moment, a shimmer of water on the tabletop caught Ye Kui’s eye.
Looking down, he saw a wet trail—a small pink creature had escaped from the tank and was crawling on the table before him, waving its tentacles.
Ye Kui lowered his other hand.
A soft little tentacle wound itself around his finger, gradually climbing into his palm.
Ye Kui lifted his forearm, gazing at the squishy little creature, and smiled gently.
“Zina, are you worried about me?”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a bit sore in the waist.”
A tentacle slowly reached upward, its tip pressing lightly against his face, sliding a few times as if asking, Really?
Ye Kui sighed.
As expected, having a little octopus as a pet was pretty nice—especially one that understood hot and cold.
At this moment, Zina secretly observed Ye Kui.
Seeing that he hadn’t discovered her guilty conscience, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, Ye Kui’s waist soreness was entirely her doing.
She’d gotten carried away, and by the time she came to her senses, it was already past 3 p.m.
Seeing Ye Kui hadn’t gone out, perfectly missing the timing, Zina snorted proudly to herself—she’d successfully held her master back! However, it was her fault for having peeked at his phone at the time.
After entering Sage Mode, Zina began overthinking, then… came to the conclusion that she needed to apologize to her master.
Yes, tonight she’d sneak into his room and sincerely admit her mistake.