The chaotic, dramatic turn of events he had anticipated did not happen.
Instead, Director-General Shen simply pulled Bai Xiaodu back and held him in her arms like a plush doll.
She gently patted his back, soothing his anxiety as tenderly as if he were a bewildered infant.
She waited patiently until Bai Xiaodu adjusted himself into a comfortable sleeping position.
Only then did she close her eyes and fall into a deep sleep, resting her head near his.
Fortunately, neither of them snored.
Nor did they grind their teeth.
Nor did they talk or make weird noises in their sleep.
There was only the sound of their soft, gentle breathing, steady and slow.
It was quite nice.
The sky gradually brightened as morning arrived.
Director-General Shen sat at the table again, quietly flipping through the coverless book.
As Bai Xiaodu chopped vegetables and blanched them, the faceless chef watched his incredibly skilled movements without turning its head, letting out a robotic sigh of admiration.
“How many dishes do you have to cook to get this good? To become a master?”
“You learn after being cursed at enough. But those people are incredibly foul-mouthed. It's so nasty, and the most annoying part is that you can't even talk back.”
“That's fine. I don't have a mother, and I don't have those parts anyway.”
“Haha, what a coincidence. Neither do I.”
The morning was dedicated to their regular volleyball practice using 【Mage Hand】.
Director-General Shen was still wearing her familiar black swimsuit-style underwear.
Her curves were perfectly defined, her skin fair and smooth. Paired with her perpetually cold, exquisite face, a single glance was enough to leave one parched.
But he couldn't score.
Bai Xiaodu tried countless methods.
These included, but were not limited to: faking an illness and shouting to distract her before suddenly spiking the ball; pretending to be depressed and secretly using a red pen to draw self-harm cuts on his wrist at night, claiming he would jump off a building if she didn't let him score; and getting so desperate that he tried to block her using the Roaming Dragon Technique, only to be kicked away like a stray dog and having his ears pulled for cheating...
No matter what he did, he couldn't get the ball past her.
However, as his mastery of 【Mage Hand】 grew, Director-General Shen would occasionally pant slightly and almost miss a shot.
Bai Xiaodu was quite pleased with himself because of this for a while.
That was, until he tried serving with his old, clumsy technique, only to find that Director-General Shen still panted in exactly the same way.
He realized she was completely faking it.
It was like a partner who felt absolutely nothing from their boyfriend's clumsy performance, yet still made compliant noises just to boost his ego.
Wait, wasn't this supposed to be his job, though?
Seeing that she had even copied this tactic, Bai Xiaodu came to terms with it.
She was helping him train, after all. There was no shame in it.
As long as his training progress was promising, that was all that mattered.
He could now easily summon four or five hands at once.
He could even stack them and make them perform all sorts of lifelike actions and subtle movements with a single thought.
His proficiency with Freezing Ray had increased so rapidly before because of his accumulated experience.
The mastery speed he showed with Gust was considered normal, and even then, Bai Xiaodu was among the very best.
The afternoon training was also fixed. Bai Xiaodu would consume the red dragon-lineage dragon beast materials prepared by Director-General Shen, then sit cross-legged and practice the Dragon-Burning Refining Art.
His body temperature would rapidly spike.
Bai Xiaodu was already used to this, his mind completely unbothered.
Every time he finished his training, he would unfailingly head to the room to find Director-General Shen.
She understood his predicament well and would help him every time.
She would circulate a peculiar technique, using a cool, refreshing energy to slowly lower his elevated body temperature.
Bai Xiaodu would sometimes close his eyes slightly, lulled by this gentle sensation.
Director-General Shen was incredibly deft and skillful.
Following Kiru's guidance, he would persist in running at least forty-nine microcosmic orbits every session.
His muscles grew dense and solid, and his bones were tempered again and again, as if forged in a raging fire.
It went to the point where a faint, dark-red glow would occasionally emanate through his skin.
What followed was day after day of persistence and hard work.
However, sometimes he trained too hard, and he still hadn't completely calmed down even when they lay head-to-head to sleep after he warmed the bed.
Sometimes, perhaps right after warming the bed, or perhaps in the morning, Director-General Shen would look down, her exquisite face showing a trace of displeasure as she stared at Little Xiaodu.
After all, it was overstepping its boundaries a bit.
Of course, this was merely a minor interlude in their daily routine.
His Constitution attribute points continued to rise steadily.
Until finally, the value broke past 0.999 and reached the standard of 1.0.
“Phew...”
Bai Xiaodu suddenly snapped open his wine-red eyes.
A few faint, almost imperceptible wisps of blood-red current silently manifested around him.
The system's prompt rang out.
“【Dragon-Burning Refining Art】 has reached the Proficient level. You have obtained the talent skill 【Blood-Wrath Dragon Body】.”
【Blood-Wrath Dragon Body】 (White) (Upgradable)
【Type: Passive Talent】
【Effect: Slightly increases Strength and Constitution attributes. All attribute resistances +1.】
【Description: Bigger, stronger, more powerful, and more woooooow!】
This was the first time Bai Xiaodu had ever obtained a skill labeled as upgradable.
Seeing the effects, he couldn't help but let his lips curl up slightly.
Once again, it was the familiar 'slight increase' to Strength and Constitution.
Did they really think he didn't know just how 'slight' that increase would actually be?
What pleased him even more was that this skill also came with a +1 to all attribute resistances.
This effect was absolutely mind-blowing, okay?
His Spirit Resistance was already at +4. Any mental-type spells or illusions of the same tier probably wouldn't have the slightest effect on him now.
If he advanced to a higher level, combined with his physical foundation, these attribute resistances would likely show an even more heaven-defying performance!
A crimson phantom with a human body and a dragon's head quietly materialized in midair.
Kiru carefully observed his current appearance and couldn't help but nod slightly.
“Not bad, not bad. A plentiful supply of high-quality flesh and blood materials, coupled with your inherently superb body-tempering talent. Plus my meticulous, perfection-seeking, and exquisite guidance!”
“Your 【Dragon-Burning Refining Art】 has finally reached the minor mastery stage! Congratulations, congratulations!”
Bai Xiaodu's lip twitched.
“Can you stop giving yourself so much credit?”
“I haven't forgotten how you 'guided' me to solve my cultivation issues in the beginning.”
“Haha, that was just a temporary oversight.”
Forcing me to face Director-General Shen's pressure directly is quite an oversight indeed.
Suppressing the urge to curse him out, Bai Xiaodu silently put the orb away.
Calculating the time, it was once again time to warm the bed for Director-General Shen.
Having just finished practicing the Dragon-Burning Refining Art, Bai Xiaodu felt rather exhausted.
He still went to find Director-General Shen first, as was his routine.
He gave her a very intimate hug.
Director-General Shen raised an eyebrow but didn't push him away.
Bai Xiaodu remained silent, enjoying this rare tenderness beneath her cold exterior.
Honestly, to tell the truth, now that his Dragon-Burning Refining Art was close to minor mastery, he could already control his Primordial Yang. It would no longer form into fire poison like it did the first time.
Even without Director-General Shen's help, he could have spent some time slowly suppressing it on his own.
But then again, being a dog all the time was quite exhausting.
What was wrong with collecting a little interest?
Besides, this was his first time practicing this body-tempering technique. What if suppressing it on his own turned out to be harmful?
Better safe than sorry!
Therefore, he was doing this strictly for his cultivation, definitely not to satisfy his own petty personal desires.
Yes.
That was exactly it.
Once that was done, it was time to warm the bed.
Everything was the same as before—he liberally squirted shampoo, body wash, hair conditioner, and hair tonic.
He pulled back the blanket, slipped inside, and circulated his technique.
Director-General Shen pulled out that small comb from who-knows-where again, gently and slowly brushing his tail.
She was meticulous.
She shed her perpetually identical suit by the edge of the bed and slipped in gently.
Bai Xiaodu leaned in, affectionately nuzzling her face.
Director-General Shen watched his actions in silence. Then, her expression turned solemn and serious.
Her tone was still as flat and calm as ever, but this time, Bai Xiaodu seemed to catch a trace of genuine bewilderment in it.
She spoke softly.
“Bai Xiaodu, do you love me?”
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