After finishing her conversation with An Lan, Mu Bai arrived at the dormitory.
Regarding expanding the team, she was most concerned about Ye Yuan’s thoughts, but she couldn’t say the other two teammates’ opinions were unimportant.
She still needed to respect them.
Tang Shifu was showering, so only Mo Cha was here.
However, Mu Bai thought Tang Shifu wouldn’t have any issues either.
She had been the most enthusiastic about merging teams in the first place.
Given her personality, if the new teammate was strong enough and wouldn’t affect the team atmosphere, she would most likely be all for it.
The one Mu Bai was unsure about was actually Mo Cha.
When others were around, at first glance, the distance between Mo Cha and her seemed normal, but once they were alone in a space, the sense of distance would suddenly disappear.
Under normal circumstances, even the closest friends leave each other personal space, but Mo Cha sometimes did things that even friends would consider lacking restraint.
In contrast, the impression Mo Cha gave Mu Bai was that she had an extremely strong sense of boundaries.
That is to say, those deliberate acts of getting closer were all intentional.
At first, Mu Bai thought Mo Cha might simply be mischievously flirting with her, or maybe she found her appearance cute, like those girls in school who liked to stick together and mess around, just more reserved when others were around.
She started noticing from the last promotion when she obtained a new Talent.
Mo Cha’s feelings for her were not ordinary friendship, but something beyond close friendship.
This was rather strange.
Even with Tang Shifu, they had become close friends only after going through trials together.
Only Mo Cha—Mu Bai felt there was no shared hardship or secret between them, yet she was consistently a close friend.
‘She likes me!’
When this thought surfaced, Mu Bai was startled.
She subconsciously reflected on whether she was being delusional, but this explanation seemed the most likely.
How could ordinary friendly affection grow so rapidly?
Then it was very likely a type of affection beyond friendship…
Of course, Mo Cha had a good sense of the big picture.
Compared to Ye Yuan, who was a bit love-brained, and Tang Shifu, whose emotions weren’t as delicate, Mo Cha was the one Mu Bai felt most at ease with.
Because this person wouldn’t do irrational things, and often made Mu Bai feel that she was willing to let Mu Bai be the leader, as if she didn’t like being too assertive, actively yielding the stage to Mu Bai.
If analyzed purely from the team’s interest, given Mo Cha’s rationality and personality, she wouldn’t oppose continuing to merge teams.
Now their personal interests and team interests were firmly tied together, but adding emotional factors made it different.
Mu Bai wanted to test the waters.
Not just to strive for a better team, but to prevent the team from imploding.
Perhaps the probability was only a tiny bit, but as long as it wasn’t zero, she had to take precautions in advance.
A winning streak couldn’t be taken lightly…
That a beautiful girl of Mo Cha’s caliber had unusual feelings for her—it wasn’t that Mu Bai felt no smugness at all, but she even less wanted to see teammates fall out because of her presence.
‘Wait… this kind of thinking feels so tea.’
“Chacha, what do you think about continuing to merge teams?”
Mu Bai got straight to the point.
Though she was direct, she wasn’t blunt.
She asked about the practical matter, but what she really cared about wasn’t that, and she hoped to glean some hints from the answer.
“It’s pretty good.”
Mo Cha was in a good mood seeing the little cake come to her doorstep, speaking with a smile.
‘Ah, that feeling again.’
Even though she wasn’t too close and the other hadn’t done anything excessive, she inexplicably felt a hint of aggression in her tone and gaze.
Mu Bai instinctively lowered her head to avoid eye contact.
‘Can’t handle this.’
She clearly didn’t want it to become like this, but the atmosphere, just from the smile in Mo Cha’s eyes and the upturn in her tone, already felt somewhat ambiguous.
The physical sensation became warmer, and she could smell the fragrance of Mo Cha’s pajamas in the air.
Her voice and tone were also comfortable.
Each sense was only slightly different from usual, but combined, it became ambiguous.
Before she could figure out how to continue asking, Mu Bai heard words that made her heart skip a beat.
“Why are you staring at my collarbone?”
Mo Cha asked with amusement in her eyes.
This question directly disrupted Mu Bai’s thoughts, and she lost her rhythm immediately.
“Ah…?”
She couldn’t think of a suitable excuse for a while.
This question was asked as if joking, but it put Mu Bai in an quite awkward position.
If she admitted it, she’d be caught.
If she denied it, her gaze had indeed been on the other’s collarbone, making it seem like she was shy and denying being caught red-handed.
Before Mu Bai could answer, Mo Cha leaned in, reducing the distance to less than half a meter.
It seemed like she wanted to observe the expression in Mu Bai’s eyes, but in reality, it was like she was actively leaning in to let Mu Bai see the hidden seam of her pajama collar.
Fortunately, Mu Bai’s composure was maxed out, and she resolutely moved her gaze upward… then met Mo Cha’s eyes directly, face to face, only a few dozen centimeters apart.
Mu Bai: “…”
‘Got caught.’
‘This girl… her social skills are quite advanced, completely beyond my ability to handle.’
“Not saying anything? So you were deliberately looking?”
Mo Cha pressed teasingly.
“Cough… I came to you mainly to hear your thoughts on the new teammate.”
Mu Bai tried to forcefully regain her rhythm.
Fortunately, Mo Cha didn’t dwell on the previous slip, but instead seemed to ponder seriously.
Mu Bai breathed a sigh of relief.
But then she felt troubled.
Now she could be sure that Mo Cha did have some impure intentions towards her, and the other seemed not to care at all that she realized it.
On the contrary, it was like she deliberately let Mu Bai discover it, with no attempt to hide.
Actually, thinking carefully, Mo Cha hadn’t hidden it before either; Mu Bai had just been finding excuses to deceive herself…
At the start of merging teams, she could say she was overwhelmed by Mo Cha’s enthusiasm, but gradually it turned into a bit of avoidance.
After all, Ye Yuan was already giving her a headache.
If she added another one, Mu Bai completely dared not think about what it would evolve into.
Now, Mu Bai no longer had any reason to continue ignoring Mo Cha’s intentions.
She just hadn’t figured out how to bring it up and then tactfully let Mo Cha understand her stance.
If the team really evolved into a relationship like a girl band, the future would be a complete mess…
Mu Bai thought she was still rational, because compared to the pursuit of beautiful things, she could soberly perceive the preciousness of life.
“New teammate, Luo Huang?”
Mo Cha inquired.