Lilia stared at the colorful “Little Mountain” on the floor.
Yarn balls.
A pile of yarn balls, deliberately tangled into a mess, with countless dead knots tied.
She had pulled an all-nighter studying the Succubus Advancement Manual: How to Turn Innate Gifts into Weapons, practicing her acting skills the entire night.
She engraved “obedient,” “submissive,” and “pitifully lovable” deep into her bones.
She was ready.
Ready to face Lucia with a brand new attitude.
Ready to capture that perverted Demon King, and execute her grand Curvilinear Salvation Plan.
And the result?
The person ran off.
Lucia patted her own butt and went off to patrol the Ironblack Mountains.
Leaving this pile of junk for her.
This was humiliation.
Blatant humiliation.
Lucia was telling her in this way—
Don’t play any tricks. You’re just a cat. Play with your yarn balls obediently.
The tail behind her “whoosh”—stood on end, every strand bristling.
The cat ears on her head also perked up, turning into airplane ears.
“She’s toying with me, meow!”
Lilia clenched her fists, her knuckles cracking.
She wanted to set fire to the entire pile of yarn balls.
She wanted to charge into the Ironblack Mountains.
Blow up that Magitech Armament production line into smithereens.
She wanted—
“Miss?”
Lilith’s voice sounded.
Lilia shuddered, her mind instantly clearing.
No.
She couldn’t get angry.
Succubus Advancement Manual: How to Turn Innate Gifts into Weapons, Chapter 1, Article 1—”Anger is your weakest weapon, yet it’s the performance your enemy most wants to see.”
Lucia just wanted to see her explode.
Just wanted to see her flustered and raging helplessly.
If she lost her temper now, it would be exactly what that pervert wanted.
Last night’s efforts would be wasted.
Lilia closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
Her bristling tail slowly settled, returning to its normal state. The perked-up cat ears drooped weakly.
She turned around and forced a smile onto her face.
“It’s fine, meow!”
Her voice was soft and sticky, with a hint of cheer.
“This is the task my master left for me, meow! I’ll do my best to complete it, meow!”
Lilith stared at her for a few seconds.
There was no ripple in those deep purple eyes.
But Lilia swore she saw the corner of Lilith’s eye twitch.
“Then… do you need me to prepare refreshments for you, Miss?”
“Yes, meow!”
Lilia nodded vigorously.
“I want Strawberry Cake and Hot Milk! Thank you, Sister Lilith, meow!”
Turn grief and anger into appetite.
Lilith gave a bow and turned to leave.
The door closed.
The smile on Lilia’s face instantly collapsed.
She walked over to the “Little Mountain,” plopped down, and stared at the tangled mess before her.
How long would it take to untangle this?
Lilia shuddered, her mind instantly clearing.
No.
She couldn’t get angry.
Succubus Advancement Manual: How to Turn Innate Gifts into Weapons, Chapter 1, Article 1—”Anger is your weakest weapon, yet it’s the performance your enemy most wants to see.”
Lucia just wanted to see her explode.
Just wanted to see her flustered and raging helplessly.
If she lost her temper now, it would be exactly what that pervert wanted.
Last night’s efforts would be wasted.
Lilia closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
Her bristling tail slowly settled, returning to its normal state. The perked-up cat ears drooped weakly.
She turned around and forced a smile onto her face.
“It’s fine, meow!”
Her voice was soft and sticky, with a hint of cheer.
“This is the task my master left for me, meow! I’ll do my best to complete it, meow!”
Lilith stared at her for a few seconds.
There was no ripple in those deep purple eyes.
But Lilia swore she saw the corner of Lilith’s eye twitch.
“Then… do you need me to prepare refreshments for you, Miss?”
“Yes, meow!”
Lilia nodded vigorously.
“I want Strawberry Cake and Hot Milk! Thank you, Sister Lilith, meow!”
Turn grief and anger into appetite.
Lilith gave a bow and turned to leave.
The door closed.
The smile on Lilia’s face instantly collapsed.
She walked over to the “Little Mountain,” plopped down, and stared at the tangled mess before her.
How long would it take to untangle this?
By the time Lucia came back, she probably wouldn’t even have solved a tenth of it.
At that time, that pervert would definitely have a new reason to “punish” her.
Lilia grabbed a blue yarn ball at random.
The knots on it were insane, twisting and turning everywhere, with no sign of a loose end.
She pulled at it irritably.
The knot tightened.
“Damn it, meow!”
She picked up a red one—the situation was equally disastrous.
Lilia flopped down on the carpet in defeat, limbs spread, staring at the ceiling.
What now?
Was she really going to waste an entire day here battling this pile of junk?
No.
She was Lilia!
Once a hero named Link!
An elite with higher education knowledge from Modern Earth!
How could she be defeated by a mere pile of yarn balls?
Lilia sat up abruptly.
She stared at the yarn balls before her, but what floated through her mind was no longer “humiliation” or “punishment.”
But a pile of specialized terminology.
Rope Knot Theory.
Topology.
Spatial Geometry.
That’s right!
Isn’t this just a complex, multi-node, three-dimensional rope knot resolution problem?
Any complicated knot is composed of a few basic types of knots.
If you can find the pattern, you can discover the most efficient solution!
This isn’t punishment!
This is obviously an advanced-level challenge problem that Lucia gave her!
Lilia’s fighting spirit was ignited.
Her desire for conquest, which even she herself hadn’t realized, was completely provoked by this pile of yarn balls.
“Sister Lilith! Meow!”
She dashed to the door and shouted into the corridor.
Lilith appeared before her almost instantly, still holding the freshly prepared refreshments.
“Miss, what are your orders?”
“I need paper and pens, meow!”
Lilia’s eyes sparkled.
“As many as possible, meow!”
Lilith glanced at her, didn’t ask further, and soon returned with a thick stack of parchment and several charcoal pencils.
Lilia pushed the cake and milk aside, spread the parchment on the floor.
She sat cross-legged and began scribbling with the charcoal.
The most complex blue yarn ball was placed in front of her.
She carefully observed the path of every knot.
“This is a variant of a clove hitch, overlaid with a double loop knot…”
“This structure here is similar to a three-dimensional Chinese knot…”
As she analyzed, she drew diagrams of the knots on the paper.
She marked the interlacing order of each thread with arrows.
At first, it was just simple sketches.
Later, she even started introducing coordinate systems.
Trying to describe the topology of these knots with mathematical formulas.
She was completely absorbed.
Eating?
Forgotten.
Drinking water?
Forgotten.
Even going to the bathroom, she did at top speed, rushing back immediately to continue her “research.”
She classified all the yarn balls by knot complexity.
“Simple level: only three or fewer basic knots.”
“Normal level: three to five, with compound variations.”
“Difficult level: more than five, with false nodes and interference entanglements.”
“Hell level: that blue one—anti-human design, meow!”
Lilith stood in the corner of the room, watching all this.
The tiny figure sprawled on the carpet.
Sometimes writing furiously, sometimes contemplating a yarn ball in deep thought.
The parchment was covered with diagrams and formulas she couldn’t begin to understand, like ghostly scribbles.
She watched Lilia’s expression shift from irritation, to concentration, and finally to—fervor.
Was this really about unraveling yarn balls?
Lilith had served for hundreds of years, tending to countless nobles.
She’d never seen anyone treat such a childish task in this way.
She took a Message Crystal from her storage space.
She transmitted this absurd and bizarre scene to His Majesty the Demon King, far away in the Ironblack Mountains.
And at this moment, Lilia was completely unaware.
She was biting the end of a charcoal pencil, lost in thought before a parchment covered in complex functions.
“No… this algorithm is still too inefficient, meow.”
“If I introduce the Fibonacci Sequence to optimize the search path—”
“I can reduce the time complexity from O(n2) to O(n log n), meow!”
She tossed away the pencil in her mouth and picked up a new one.
“I got it! I got it, meow!”
“As long as I establish the correct mathematical model, I can find the optimal solution!”
“Lucia! Just you wait, meow!”
“I’ll perfectly solve the problem you set in no time, meow!”