Chapter 94: Yun Sheng Still Chooses Si Jin
Yun Sheng was screaming internally, but on the surface, she could only maintain a look of gratitude and attentiveness as she nodded.
"Oh, I see... Thank you for telling me, General Bai. I-I’ll go back now."
She turned to leave, but her steps faltered.
’Just leave like this? Where else am I going to find clues about Si Jin?’
Bai Ye watched her somewhat hurried and dejected figure, his gaze deepening.
He suddenly spoke again. His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached her ears clearly.
"Yun Sheng."
Yun Sheng froze. Her heart leaped into her throat as she slowly turned around, her eyes filled with wariness and confusion.
Bai Ye looked at her, his expression still gentle, but his words made Yun Sheng’s heart jolt.
"My previous offer still stands. Whenever you change your mind, you can come find me."
"I..."
Yesterday, in the Tower’s interrogation room, when Bai Ye had made that offer to help her, Yun Sheng had thought, ’I have Si Jin.’
’Si Jin will teach me, he will protect me. What we have is a freer, more equal partnership.’
She didn’t want to place herself under Bai Ye’s strict surveillance, losing all her secrets and room to breathe.
But now?
Si Jin was gone. Based on what she had seen in her dream, his spiritual power had run rampant, and he had lost his sanity.
’If I agree to Bai Ye’s offer... At the very least, I’d immediately gain official protection and more systematic guidance. Maybe... I could even use the Tower’s resources to secretly investigate clues about Si Jin?’
The thought was incredibly tempting, but Yun Sheng viciously stamped it out the very next second.
’No, I still can’t!’
’Never mind the extremely high price of Bai Ye’s help. More importantly, if I accept, how long could I keep my secrets hidden under his close observation and guidance?’
Even though Si Jin was gone and she lacked his personal instruction, her progress in learning and improving might be a little slower.
But she still had the videos Si Jin sent. She didn’t need to risk accepting Bai Ye’s offer.
"I’m sorry, General Bai," Yun Sheng said, taking a deep breath. "I appreciate the kind thought, but as for your offer... I still don’t think I can accept it."
"That’s fine." Bai Ye’s reply was surprisingly calm. He even looked at her with that same tolerant and gentle gaze that made Yun Sheng deeply uncomfortable. "The choice is yours."
Yun Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, but her doubts lingered. She decided to leave for now and come back to check on Si Jin’s residence when no one was around.
Just as she took a couple of steps, Bai Ye spoke again. "By the way, I sent you a friend request before, but it seems you didn’t notice... You haven’t accepted it."
Yun Sheng froze, instantly embarrassed.
’I ignored that on purpose.’
She never imagined that the great Star Alliance War God, after having his friend request ignored twice, would actually bring it up to her face.
Bai Ye seemed unconcerned by her silence, continuing in that same placid tone. "I don’t mean anything by it. I just think that if we’re friends, you’ll have a more direct way of reaching me in case you run into an emergency or need help."
Yun Sheng looked at him, the words of refusal on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them.
It’s hard to turn away kindness, especially when the person in question was the Star Alliance War God, acting this accommodating. Refusing again would make her seem ungrateful.
’Besides... there’s still the unpredictable Qi Yao to worry about. Maybe having a direct line of contact really would be useful?’
After a moment of internal struggle, Yun Sheng finally relented.
She lowered her gaze, avoiding Bai Ye’s overly gentle stare, and mumbled, "...Okay."
She opened the friend request on her communicator—the one she had deliberately ignored—and gently tapped "Accept."
With a soft BEEP, Bai Ye’s communicator received the notification simultaneously.
He glanced down, then gave her a slight nod in acknowledgment.
"Be careful on your way back," he said as a final word, then turned without looking at her again and walked back toward the cordoned-off area.
Yun Sheng stood frozen to the spot, watching his tall, stern back disappear into the bustling scene. She looked down at the new, weighty contact profile on her communicator, her heart a whirlwind of complicated emotions.
’By adding the Star Alliance War God as a friend, have I gained another layer of protection, or just another set of shackles?’
She didn’t know.
But at the moment, it seemed she had no other choice.
Yun Sheng cast one last look at the cordoned-off area, then turned and quickly left this place of trouble that had so unsettled her.
Back at the Lin Family residence, she had just stepped into the foyer when a figure rushed out from inside, nearly running right into her.
It was Lin Hao.
Yun Sheng braced herself for the usual onslaught of disgusted remarks or deliberate provocations.
However, Lin Hao merely shot her a quick glance, didn’t even break stride, and swerved around her, rushing out the main door in a flurry.
???
Yun Sheng stood there, dumbfounded.
’What is going on today?’
’Bai Ye was acting strange, and now even this pain-in-the-neck younger brother, who can’t stand the sight of me, has had a complete personality change?’
’Did they all take the wrong medicine or something?’
She shook her head, trying to cast aside these distracting thoughts.
The most pressing matters right now were to find clues about Si Jin and... to improve her own abilities as quickly as possible.
She walked briskly toward the stairs, intending to go back to her room and continue studying the tutorials Si Jin had left her.
However, as she passed the archway on the first floor leading to the living room, the faint sound of conversation from within made her stop involuntarily.
It was Su Wan and Lin Yueyao’s voices.
Their tone sounded... unusual.
"Yue Yao, Mom wants to ask you about you and Ah Ye... What are the two of you thinking right now?"
Lin Yueyao seemed to pause, confused. "Mom, why are you suddenly asking about this? Brother Bai and I... we’re doing fine. You know how busy things are at the Tower. A relationship needs time to cultivate..."
Su Wan was silent for a moment, then sighed.
"Yue Yao, don’t try to fool your mother. I saw how it was the last few times Ah Ye came to visit. He... he never seems to speak to you alone, does he? Have you two even met in private recently?"
She paused, and though it seemed to pain her, she still asked the question.
"Ah Ye... does he not have those kinds of feelings for you? Your engagement has been brought up by his family all these years, but Ah Ye himself... he’s never said he intended to honor it, has he?"
Her words shattered the unspoken truth that had been hanging in the air.
Outside the door, Yun Sheng couldn’t help but hold her breath.
After a brief silence, Lin Yueyao’s trembling voice finally broke it.
"Mom, Brother Bai has always been cold like this, he’s the same with everyone. The safety of the entire Star Alliance rests on his shoulders, how could he have time for romance? The engagement was arranged by our families’ elders. He’s never objected to it, isn’t that enough?"
"Not objecting and willingly agreeing are two different things. Yue Yao, I watched you grow up. How could I not feel for you? But marriage is for a lifetime. If Ah Ye doesn’t have you in his heart, how can you be happy in the future, holding on to this empty shell of an engagement?"
Su Wan took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind, her tone becoming earnest and direct.
"What I’m trying to say is... if you don’t feel that it absolutely has to be Ah Ye, then maybe... we can find the right time to clear the air about this engagement."