Li Zihan was in a cold sweat.
An absolute, ice-cold panic.
He could say, with complete certainty, that he hadn't been this terrified even when facing Goetia's third Noble Phantasm—the one that had incinerated three thousand years of human history, generating more heat than burning the Earth to a cinder.
Now, a similar catastrophe was unfolding upon him.
Her long, violet-black hair was tied up in a practical, high ponytail perfect for being at home. In her hands, she held a delicate little plate.
And on that plate sat a delectable-looking slice of strawberry cake.
Sirin had teleported directly into his office. That in itself wasn't a major issue. Miss Sirin had been dragged into bed with Miss Ana before; her presence wouldn't disrupt his intimate moments with Ana in the slightest. In fact, he could probably just walk over, steal a kiss, use the saliva to complete a bodily fluid exchange, cast a Sympathetic Magic spell to get Sirin off while he was doing Ana, and then proceed to do Sirin as well.
But—
The problem was, Sirin had not come alone.
The young man, who could still vividly feel his sworn brother being swallowed, feel the hot breath ghosting across his lower abdomen, subtly began casting his magic. He distorted the light around his desk and mimicked the Authority of the Herrscher of Wind, swapping the air inside the room with the air from outside.
He looked up, pen in hand, and scribbled arbitrary plans onto what was essentially a blank document. Then, he raised his head to face the girl standing beside Sirin and asked with a friendly smile:
"Mei, Sirin, what brings you here all of a sudden?"
"I was just dropping Mei off."
The Herrscher of the Void sniffed the air, inexplicably detecting a faint, yet familiar, scent. While the games and manga never focused on it, a Herrscher's physical constitution was exceptional, and their sense of smell was naturally top-tier.
Clearly having sensed something, Sirin's gaze fell upon the hands-off Director, who, for once, wasn't pawning his work off on Rita but was diligently writing on a piece of paper. A playful glint entered her eyes.
A moment later, however, that playful look was replaced by a broad, carefree grin. She spun around with a flourish and pushed open the office door.
"Alright, since she's here, I'll be leaving now."
With her departure, the only people ostensibly left in the office were a certain someone and the bride-to-be, Miss Mei.
"Zihan, has there been something... strange in your room?" Miss Mei asked, her brows knitting together slightly as she caught a very faint, musky scent in the air.
No kidding. When you have a girl on your lap, pressed against a desk, engaging in some negative-distance contact, it would be a miracle if there wasn't a scent.
I was caught completely off guard, Li Zihan thought.
This turn of events was truly fantastical. He had just proposed they "play a little cheating game," having Ana hide under his desk so they could pretend to be a husband and his mistress about to be caught by the wife. After a moment of bashful hesitation, Miss Ana had not refused this shameful little play and had obediently hidden herself under the desk and started biting.
And then, Miss Mei, the girl to whom Li Zihan was actually engaged, had truly arrived.
The only saving grace in this disaster was that when the spatial ripple had appeared, he didn't have the girl's legs propped on his shoulders or have her bent over the windowsill. If that had been the case, nothing short of Bites the Dust could have saved him.
"A scent?"
The smile on the young man's face, a part of whose body was still residing in a certain girl's mouth, grew a little stiff. This situation was absolutely screwed.
"It's probably from my lunch. I had caviar and seafood soup."
"Caviar and seafood soup?" Miss Mei looked puzzled.
"Steamed mountain-water eggs with caviar and French tomato seafood soup. It's a lunch Rita often makes." Having exceptional spatial transfer and time control abilities, Li Zihan quickly regained his composure. He spun the pen in his hand, his expression looking as if he were trying to recall something.
"As you know, Rita used to be Overseer Otto's maid, so her culinary focus is on various Western European cuisines."
"Honestly, those dishes aren't really to my taste," said the young man who, ever since being snatched by old man Zelretch due to his soul's peculiarity, had lived mostly in Europe and was perfectly accustomed to European food.
"Zihan, you're being too picky," Miss Mei admonished with a slight frown. She was well aware of how astonishing the Scummy Maid's cooking skills were.
"Rita's cooking is flawless, I'll admit. But one doesn't always love flawless things."
"At the very least, compared to Rita's perfect cuisine, I much prefer the meals you make, Mei."
The young man's words sank into Miss Mei's ears.
"Why?" she asked. Not too long ago, Li Zihan had complained that her cooking was exceedingly home-style and completely unworthy of the name "Rice Herrscher."
"It's simple, but... it has a quality that puts one at ease," Li Zihan mused for a moment before continuing. "To put it more lyrically, I suppose you could call it the taste of home."
This was the truth. Miss Mei's cooking, when compared to Rita's pursuit of ornate perfection, was truly unpretentious. But the taste of home was never meant to be something magnificent.
The... the taste of home?
The girl's cheeks grew a little red. On its own, the phrase was meaningless. But what if the one who said it was the person who had just proposed to you?
For a moment, Miss Mei's imagination ran wild.
"Right, let's not talk about that." The girl holding the cake walked briskly over and sat in front of her lover. She plunged a spoon into the cake, scooped up a small piece, and held it to the young man's lips.
"Ahhh—"
Without any hesitation, Li Zihan opened his mouth and swallowed the cake she had so lovingly prepared. The flavor wasn't breathtaking, but it was fragrant and sweet.
"Is it delicious?" the girl asked.
"On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it an eight," the young man rated. "It's the same old story: not stunning, but I feel like I could eat it forever and never get tired of it."
"Of course, since it's a cake filled with your affection, we can add another two points."
As he finished speaking, his expression stiffened by a fraction. The reason was simple: the girl still hiding under the desk had just dug her fingers sharply into his thigh. Clearly, Li Zihan's words had made her jealous.
Looks like I can't flirt anymore. The young man, whose brother was still in Ana's clutches, quickly pasted his smile back on and looked gently at the girl before him. He had to change the subject. If Ana's jealousy reached its peak, his brother would be in grave danger.
A perfect score? The girl, presumably unaware of what was happening beneath the light-distorting field, was exceptionally happy. After watching him eat the cake she made, her eyes curved into beautiful crescent moons.
"If you like it, then have some more. From now on, I'll always make strawberry cake for you."
She's so wonderful. The young man had always thought Mei would make a fantastic wife. If my Origin wasn't 'Hunting', I'd probably stay by Mei's side forever... I think.
Li Zihan wasn't entirely certain.
"Mm," he affirmed. Despite the lingering questions in his heart, his voice when he responded to Miss Mei was firm and steady.
And then—
The pain in his inner thigh intensified. Ana was really starting to get jealous now.
"Right, let's put the cake aside for a moment." Feeling that he absolutely could not continue this topic, Li Zihan reached out his hand and made a grasping motion in front of the girl.
Before Miss Mei's astonished eyes, a book with the characters "海虎" (Sea Tiger) materialized in his hand, a book that felt strangely familiar to her.
"This is..." Miss Mei asked, her heart full of questions.
"The martial art: Sea Tiger Exploding Fist." The young man, who had always suspected that Mei could become unexpectedly powerful after learning this, presented it to her as a gift.
The reason for this was simple: he had placed a Precept upon himself. The so-called Precepts were a system where one made a corresponding vow to obtain a corresponding power. The more absolute the vow, the more terrifying the enhancement it brought. The master of the Second Heaven in Dies Irae—Satanel the Shameless—was likely the most skilled combatant among the Throne's masters, aside from the perennial power-level debater's favorite, Hajun of the Sixth Heaven. One of his vows was to "always be prepared for battle." To this end, he could not sleep, blink, eat, excrete, release his weapon, or entertain any thought unrelated to slaughter... Anything that might interfere with killing was utterly forbidden. In exchange, he gained the ability to forcibly insert a "flaw" into Hajun—the ceiling for most characters outside of the box-stacking ones—and managed to wound his finger.
Li Zihan was envious of such an ability. Unfortunately, he could not learn it. However, that didn't stop him from using less absolute Precepts to give himself weaker buffs.
For example: Thou shalt not initiate an attack against thy lovers. In exchange, when attacked by a lover, his life force would double.
From the perspective of Precepts, a simple doubling of life force was a pathetically weak buff. But it was enough.
If I can't win, can't I at least run? thought the young man, who was already a high-health, high-defense type. As long as he wasn't one-shotted, he could activate the System and get the hell out.
"I think this will be of help to you."
Miss Mei didn't refuse, accepting the secret manual quite naturally. It felt like something that belonged to her family anyway; what was the harm in flipping through it? With this mindset, Miss Mei began to leaf through the famous Hong Kong comic's martial art.
It was as if she had encountered something fated in her life. Inexplicably, she was captivated.
What an exquisite martial art.
Just by circulating her energy slightly according to its principles, the girl could feel her power beginning to rise. An inexplicable desire to go to the training grounds and practice welled up inside her.
"Um, Zihan, can I take this back with me to read?" Miss Mei asked her lover, who seemed to be very busy.
"Of course."