After Xiao Yan entered the underground world, he landed on a rocky outcrop jutting out over a vast sea of magma. He watched as the Fallen Heart Flame slowly sank beneath the molten surface.
"Teacher, that thing went straight into the magma. What do we do now?"
Xiao Yan stared at the churning, bubbling magma, his eyes sweeping curiously over the massive underground world.
"We go in after it, of course. That beast has already been beaten to the edge of shattering. It's at its absolute weakest right now. We need to strike while the iron's hot."
Yao Lao's deep voice echoed directly in Xiao Yan's mind.
"Alright."
Xiao Yan was about to move when Yao Lao spoke again. "Wait. Something's coming from above."
Xiao Yan tensed. "Could it be the Fallen Heart Flame? No, that's not right—I watched it dive into the magma with my own eyes."
"Maybe Brother Tian came down after us?"
Yao Lao shook his head. "No, it's not that Xiao Tian kid. But this presence… it feels familiar. Let me focus…"
Xiao Yan lifted his head to look up and sense it for himself. But the moment he raised his eyes, a white figure, trailing the sound of rushing wind, was already hurtling straight toward him, growing larger by the second.
He caught a glimpse of the figure's face—and froze.
That brief hesitation cost him his chance to dodge.
The white figure crashed directly into him. Xiao Yan was flattened onto the rock.
"Ow!"
A clear, bright voice rang out through the underground chamber. Xiao Yan heard that voice, then caught a familiar scent drifting from the person now sprawled on top of him. Combined with the face he'd glimpsed a moment ago, he knew exactly who had just fallen on him.
Nalan Yanran.
Xiao Yan turned his head slightly and found her beautiful face right there. She had fallen straight down, and now the two of them lay pressed together, face to face. With Xiao Yan's movement, their faces were suddenly inches apart. So close they could feel each other's warm breath ghosting across their skin.
The atmosphere turned strange in an instant.
Their eyes met. Something unspoken crackled between their gazes.
Xiao Yan's eyes flickered. He forced down the odd feeling rising in his chest and feigned indifference. "How much longer are you planning to stay on top of me?"
"Ah? Oh! I'm sorry!"
Nalan Yanran heard his words and only then fully registered her position—sprawled across Xiao Yan's body, her chest pressed firmly against him.
Her face ignited. She could feel the heat spreading all the way to her earlobes.
She planted both hands on the ground and tried to push herself up. But the moment she lifted herself and saw Xiao Yan's gaze—and felt something unusual beneath her—her arms inexplicably went weak. She wasn't completely clueless about these things.
Her soft hands buckled. She fell right back down. And where there should have been no accident, an accident happened.
Xiao Yan watched her dropping toward him and instinctively reached out to catch her.
"Mm~"
A strange sound escaped Nalan Yanran's lips. Her entire body went soft. Her head dropped down.
They were already close. This movement brought their lips directly together.
Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran's pupils both shrank at the same time. Panic and shock flooded their eyes. Inside, a storm was raging.
And then, in that charged atmosphere, Nalan Yanran's mind seemed to slip completely out of her control. Her small tongue slipped out and licked Xiao Yan's lips.
Xiao Yan felt something wet. Even with zero experience, at this distance, with that gesture—there was only one explanation.
His brain stopped working. His heartbeat slammed against his ribs, wild and involuntary, like it wanted to burst straight out of his chest. What Nalan Yanran had just done hit his young heart like a thunderbolt. Panic seized him. His hands tightened on instinct.
"Ah!"
Nalan Yanran let out a startled cry and shot upright.
The cry jolted Xiao Yan awake too. He stared at her in confusion.
Nalan Yanran was frantically smoothing down her dress, which had gotten rumpled during her "fall."
Xiao Yan got to his feet, watching her face burn red as she straightened her clothes. He had no idea what to do. Then his eyes landed on two faint handprints pressed into the fabric of her dress—right over areas that hinted unmistakably at his guilt.
He remembered where his hands had been. And the lingering sensation in his palms suddenly made a lot more sense.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to—you know the situation was urgent…"
Xiao Yan looked at Nalan Yanran, whose face was now the color of a ripe apple. He awkwardly rubbed his nose with his finger, his voice overflowing with apology.
Nalan Yanran heard the genuine regret in his words. She knew the moment had been chaotic. She couldn't put all the blame on Xiao Yan. And she… she had done something strange herself in that moment, hadn't she?
If she kept pressing this, social death awaited them both.
She turned to look at him, about to let it go, and caught him rubbing his nose. Under normal circumstances, that would be fine. Right now, after everything that had just happened, it was very much not fine.
"What are you doing?!"
Hearing the boundless fury in Nalan Yanran's voice, Xiao Yan's mind filled with question marks. What am I doing? I'm not doing anything. I'm apologizing. Is my apology not sincere enough?
He didn't hesitate. He bent straight into a ninety-degree bow. "I'm sorry! It's my fault! You can get revenge however you want—even if you want to hit me, I won't resist!"
Yao Lao, who had been watching this whole drama unfold, heard Xiao Yan's words and immediately thought of something Xiao Tian had once said as a joke: *If she really wants revenge, let her give you eight sons. Then she can beat them every single day.*
He imagined Xiao Yan being tormented by eight little boys, Nalan Yanran beating them while Xiao Yan stood silently in the corner, not daring to say a word. *After you beat the sons, you can't beat me.*
Yao Lao's silent laughter was harder to suppress than a machine gun.
Nalan Yanran heard Xiao Yan's apology and assumed he was apologizing for smelling his hand earlier. Seeing how earnestly he bowed, the unpleasant feeling in her heart faded away.
She secretly thought to herself: *My charm is still pretty good, isn't it. Thank goodness my assets are decent too—they can make you secretly reminisce. So his cold act before was just that—an act. Hmph hmph.*
"Fine. I forgive you. Don't do that again."
Her voice was soft, her face still red. She forced herself to push through the embarrassment and refused to look directly at him.
"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you for your generosity! It won't happen again!"
Xiao Yan rushed out the words, flustered and tripping over himself.
One was sincerely apologizing. The other hadn't been all that angry to begin with. Somehow, muddled and tangled, they managed to end their cross-talk conversation.
Nalan Yanran looked at Xiao Yan, who was acting completely different from his usual self, and found it both amusing and—strangely—a little sweet.