Chapter 36: Even Now
“Let go, you bastard!”
Gu Qing angrily reached back and pinched her pale, smooth thigh hard. Ji Yueling was in so much pain that tears nearly fell. The previously somewhat ambiguous atmosphere instantly returned to normal. Gu Qing finally managed to move her hand away, then shifted further from her. “If this were two years ago, I’d definitely sue you for molesting a minor.”
Instead, Ji Yueling was amused by this comment. Looking at Gu Qing’s indignant appearance, she seemed to see a trace of fear in his eyes, which made her curious and confused at the same time. “What are you afraid of?”
“Because you’re annoying. If we got involved, it would be really troublesome.” Gu Qing threw off the bedding, crawled out from under the covers, then wrapped Ji Yueling entirely in the blanket as if casting a binding spell on her. He lay down flat beside the blanket. “Okay, time to sleep.”
Ji Yueling suddenly started laughing.
In the dead of night, her laughter truly sounded like a ghost, but she was laughing so happily, as if it was the first time she’d discovered that Gu Qing could also be embarrassed, so she began laughing mockingly.
Gu Qing couldn’t be bothered with her and closed his eyes.
But after a while, he felt uncomfortable without a blanket covering him, so he lifted the bedding and crawled back into Ji Yueling’s blanket cocoon. Just as Ji Yueling was about to move closer again, Gu Qing turned on his side first and hugged her soft, fragrant body like a body pillow, even lowering his head to give her forehead a kiss.
“Be good and sleep. As a reward, I’ll tell you a secret tomorrow.”
Ji Yueling contentedly closed her eyes, her forehead against his chest, softly saying, “Good night.”
……………………………………
Morning.
When Ji Yueling woke up, Gu Qing was sitting by the window in a daze.
He was wearing the bathrobe, though she didn’t know when he’d crawled out of the blankets. Since childhood, Ji Yueling had always slept alone. She’d thought sleeping with a strange man would make her anxious and insomniac, but surprisingly, she’d slept very peacefully last night. She no longer had nightmares like she had in recent years—instead, that warm embrace made her feel cozy all over.
She threw off the bedding and looked at Gu Qing, but her first words weren’t “good morning”—they were: “What’s the secret?”
“Can’t you at least make some small talk first? You’re way too goal-oriented.”
“I don’t have that much energy to waste on small talk with you.”
“Then as an exchange, let me see your little flower first.” Gu Qing winked at her.
Yes, direct words always hurt people so much.
Ji Yueling stared at him for several seconds. She seemed somewhat speechless, biting her lip lightly. Finally, after a long silence, she threw off the bedding. Her skirt hem was already disheveled. After hesitating for several seconds, she, sitting by the bed, slowly lifted her legs under the skirt, her hands gently holding behind her knees, her snow-white calves dropping back down. Her eyes looked elsewhere, not at Gu Qing, her voice trembling slightly: “What now?”
Her legs were already slender, and being spread like this made their curves even more beautiful, while her skirt hem naturally gathered toward her lower abdomen due to her movements.
“So clean.”
Gu Qing moved closer, like a child discovering a new world.
“You…!” Ji Yueling bit her lip lightly, her cheeks flushing with embarrassed anger.
“Have you seen enough?” Ji Yueling’s voice finally revealed a trace of gritted teeth.
“Can you spread them apart to show me?”
Ji Yueling took a deep breath. “You’re not allowed to move.”
Her hands slowly slid from hugging her knees to the base of her thighs.
Ji Yueling released her hands from hugging her legs, and her pale little feet almost instinctively lifted up, kicking his shoulder and pushing him away in one motion. Then she grabbed the blanket and covered herself tightly, biting her lip and looking at him with eyes full of shame and anger.
“You’re so sensitive.” Gu Qing commented seriously, while Ji Yueling’s eyes were already murderous with embarrassment.
After a good while, Ji Yueling finally suppressed her shame and spoke coldly: “So?”
“I just wanted to see what you look like when you’re teased like this. Now we’re even.” Gu Qing answered with satisfaction, then said, “This secret concerns your ability.”
Gu Qing sat on the bed and thought seriously for a moment before slowly saying, “Your ability awakened after being stimulated, right?”
In an instant, Gu Qing switched from his teasing expression back to a completely serious demeanor. Ji Yueling’s cheeks were still flushed, and she was tightly wrapped in the blanket with only her delicate, jade-smooth little feet peeking out. While telling this secret, Gu Qing brazenly reached out and gently grasped her dainty, warm jade foot, holding it in his hand and playing with it carefully.
“Yes.” Ji Yueling answered coldly.
“Supernatural abilities are all related to inheritance. Old Ji’s ability potential is much higher than yours. If I remember correctly, your mother should also be a supernatural being with very high ability potential, but your ability is the Snow Silkworm Spider. Don’t you find this somewhat unreasonable? The Snow Silkworm Spider is too weak. Apart from healing, trying to use the Snow Silkworm Spider’s power to enhance your agility and strength would greatly shorten your lifespan.”
“But this isn’t actually the Snow Silkworm Spider’s fault, because your ability awakened under stimulation. When you were stimulated, perhaps because you were full of guilt and self-blame, your instinctive thought was to save those girls who died because of you, so the Snow Silkworm Spider’s ability evolved toward healing and regeneration.”
“But actually, in my memory, the Snow Silkworm Spider is also very powerful in combat. Snow Silkworm Spider silk, besides having healing power, actually also has toxic power. But you only awakened the healing aspect, perhaps because your body couldn’t handle it yet. This means what you awakened wasn’t an ordinary Snow Silkworm Spider, but a Snow Silkworm Spider Queen.”
“Now your body can handle the Snow Silkworm Spider Queen’s power, but you don’t know how to awaken it.”
Ji Yueling looked at Gu Qing with complete confusion. Even she, a Snow Silkworm Spider ability user, didn’t understand these things he was talking about.
“But since I’ve told you, I might as well help you.” Gu Qing sighed helplessly, his eyes still showing that expression of finding it troublesome. Ji Yueling watched his lips move, but heard no sound.
But the next moment, it was as if ancient temple bells rang in her ears.
No, it wasn’t bells.
But like a thunderclap in broad daylight, it suddenly exploded in her ears. She seemed to hear countless rustling sounds, which seemed to be the language of Snow Silkworm Spiders—but who would hear the voices of spiders? Until it seemed like a thousand, ten thousand spiders were whispering in her ears simultaneously, the energy core at the center of her chest suddenly began operating. The originally dim patterns on the core were slowly illuminated, releasing brilliant light.
And her body began to twist and mutate.
Gu Qing sat by the bed, calmly watching this bizarre scene. Ji Yueling’s nightgown was quickly torn apart as her body began to mutate and twist, her flesh transforming into jade. When the mutation was complete, what lay on the bed was now a nearly two-meter-wide eight-legged spider.
The spider was jade-white, each of its legs seeming to emit a jade-colored glow. Now it looked around in confusion, trying to lift its spider legs. Upon seeing everything clearly, it instinctively began frantically scrambling around the room, climbing walls, and finally hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Gu Qing looked up at the Snow Silkworm Spider Queen that Ji Yueling had become and said helplessly, “Come down.”
The Snow Silkworm Spider quickly crawled back to the floor. Gu Qing looked at the giant creature before him, reached out to touch its forehead, and suddenly chuckled. “Pretty cute.”
“No wait, so ugly. Hmph, since you weren’t good last night, you can stay like this for the rest of your life.”
Almost instantly, eight spider legs wrapped around him, pressing him completely underneath while he looked at the mouthparts slowly approaching. The fear in his eyes made it panic for a while before he finally slowly spoke: “Alright, alright, it’ll be over soon.”
The energy core in Ji Yueling’s body was still operating continuously, and that brilliant light finally began to dim again. Her body began twisting and mutating once more, eventually transforming back into human form. But now she was completely naked, pinning Gu Qing beneath her as she looked into his eyes in panic.
Gu Qing thought for a moment, raised his hand, and casually smacked her bottom.
“Smack.”
Ji Yueling still seemed somewhat dazed until Gu Qing reached out again to grab her buttocks and spread them apart slightly. In that instant, Ji Yueling frantically scrambled off him and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, her eyes even reddening with panic.
“Don’t scream.” Gu Qing hated noisy sounds and looked at her