Four Split Personalities

Half a minute later

"Actually..."

Ji Xiaoge cautiously walked up behind Motan, reached out her index finger, and gently poked his shoulder, whispering words of comfort: "Objectively speaking, you are quite good-looking, so please don’t be discouraged even if you fail the test!"

With a wry smile, Motan turned his head towards the girl who looked quite worried and shrugged, "I’m not discouraged!"

"You don’t have to pretend to be tough. I just saw the black lines behind your head..."

"That’s totally your imagination."

"Ah... Well, I can understand. After all, you were judged beauty-challenged in front of ’the most beautiful girl in your heart’."

"Listen when people are talking, will you!"

Even the usually good-tempered Motan couldn’t help but retort with a cry and a laugh, and sternly said: "I really am not discouraged!"

"Yeah, right. If there are six items totaling three hundred points, then a perfect score for each item should be fifty points, right? Your build, temperament, and appearance all scored well! You can definitely have more confidence in yourself!"

Ji Xiaoge nodded vigorously, her voice unusually gentle.

"Where did you even get the idea that I have no self-confidence!"

Motan was almost going crazy, scratching his head and saying, "I’ve been standing here for half a minute just thinking, considering whether polishing my scales last minute could boost my scores!"

"Exactly! That’s the spirit! Missing the pass mark by one point is practically no different from passing!"

"Night Song, you..."

Motan rolled his eyes, his lips twitching.

"Just kidding."

Ji Xiaoge stood tall and proud, confidently saying, "That’s how vengeful I am, off with you, let me try and polish my scales instead."

"You?"

Motan paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Better not."

Immediately, Ji Xiaoge’s twinkling big eyes narrowed into crescent moons, her smile sweet as sugar: "So you think I’m ugly?"

"No, no, no, not at all! You, my dear, are the most beautiful girl in my heart!"

Motan was sweating profusely and immediately waved his hands, "But, as the Dragon King said, non-Dragon Clan members are at a disadvantage in this test; you don’t have scales or a tail, so the mirror would definitely..."

Ji Xiaoge’s smile took on a dangerous edge: "So you mean I might not be considered a beauty by Dragon Clan standards?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

Motan nodded emphatically without hesitation.

"Hey!"

The girl was instantly ruffled, exclaiming, "Even if it’s just to comfort you, you should say something nice at a time like this! What if I really took this seriously!"

Although she was just teasing him and not truly offended, Motan’s obviously self-sacrificing response still took her aback.

But Motan just smiled wryly and shook his head, "If you really took this seriously, you wouldn’t be you."

"Man, now I see why you don’t have a girlfriend at your age! You’ve got no tricks up your sleeve!"

Ji Xiaoge dropped her feigned petulance and, with genuine sympathy, patted Motan on the shoulder, seriously saying, "Chicks dig bad guys, buddy!"

[To be honest, if I were to get cunning, I could probably turn Daming Lake black...]

Motan muttered in his heart but on the surface nodded awkwardly, repeatedly saying, "You’re right."

"Okay, okay, I was just messing with you. I’m not that petty."

Ji Xiaoge pushed Motan aside with a giggle and winked at him, "If you can’t pass for missing wings, I’m definitely not passing for lacking scale and tail points. But trying it out is always okay, right? Let me have a go?"

Seeing the girl’s tenacity and self-awareness, Motan immediately nodded, "Alright, I’ll play along with you and then polish my scales later. If it really doesn’t work out, then we’ll just leave."

"Great!"

Ji Xiaoge immediately bounced in front of the mirror and even pressed down on a tuft of rebellious hair atop her head with force, assuming a very dignified military stance, clearly a well-behaved child who didn’t slack off during military training.

The mirror, not picky, reflected the girl standing before it and began its judgment in its calm, monotonous voice...

"Build, fifty points, skipping comments due to insufficient preset vocabulary."

"Wow!!"

Ji Xiaoge immediately widened her eyes, turning to Motan in astonishment, "So you mean a C-cup can score that high?"

"Cough cough cough!!"

Motan immediately responded with a fit of coughing.

"Ah! Pretend you didn’t hear that! Forget about it!"

Ji Xiaoge cried out again in frustration, annoyed at herself for inadvertently revealing her armor size.

Just as the two were bantering, the mirror spoke again...

"Scales, zero points, you have five seconds to transform; five, four, three, two, one, okay, zero points."

The girl made a cute face at the mirror, coquettishly saying, "Hey, can’t you give me a few extra points~"

The mirror remained unmoved, but Motan turned stiffly, staring at the way they had come, silently praying the Great Compassion Mantra uncut, deluxe version in his mind.

"Temperament fifty points, skipping comments due to insufficient preset vocabulary, twenty points deduction for not detecting Dragon Clan bloodline."

The mirror continued its meticulous assessment.

"Eh? So if you’re not from the Dragon Clan, points get deducted from the temperament rating."