Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

This is quite strange.

Bai Ze originally thought that Lin Tingwan, as the Spirit Disaster Bureau's highest combat power in Dongming, would definitely participate in the former's operation to seal the anomaly, so No. 30 would definitely not have time to get away.

This was a crucial premise for his decision to enter the venue with Lu Xingyao disguised as tourists.

But how did she find the time to invite him to a fireworks display?

Could it be that Lin Tingwan, bound by the fact that her intelligence has degenerated to that of a paramecium, has finally learned an advanced spell of self-splitting, enabling her to balance work and life—which would pose a risk of creating a clone in a fictional work!

"You actually used a substitute to keep me company..."

"Huh?" The girl, who was picking up a piece of meat, cast a puzzled look at him.

"It's okay, I was just kidding."

Bai Ze handed her the beef from his bowl.

So she happily ignored the previous sentence.

Focusing solely on feeding is a characteristic exhibited by single-celled ciliate protozoa.

"My Childhood Friend is a Splitting Paramecium (or Planarian)" will officially begin serialization today. Thank you for your support.

"At least it should be cyanobacteria, right? Species that have caused mass extinctions are more cool..." he sighed softly.

"What are you talking about? This is terrifying!"

Afterwards, Lin Tingwan ate dinner feeling uneasy because of her childhood friend who was saying strange lines.

------

"I...I'm going to the fireworks festival with your senior."

In the broadcasting room at dusk, a corner of the curtains was lifted by a gentle breeze, and the overflowing twilight illuminated the windowsill.

The last rays of the setting sun painted the girl's profile, making her fair, snow-white skin appear rosy.

She lowered her head in anguish, clutching the collar of her dress.

"I see. So, after everything that's happened between us, will you ultimately choose one side, senior?"

The girl with the side ponytail squeezed out a few tears, raised her hand to wipe them away, and revealed a strong smile.

"Actually, I knew all along that I couldn't beat her. Even so, I still wanted to make one last attempt... Senior, don't worry about me, go where you should go."

She turned her head and gazed at the crimson clouds stretching to the horizon. "My sister needs you more than I do."

"Xingyao..." "Senior..."

Snapped.

"it hurts!"

Bai Ze withdrew his finger, which had just flicked her forehead hard, and looked at his junior, who was crying out in pain and with tears in her eyes.

—This time, I really cried.

"Don't suddenly start acting out a melodramatic scene."

"I think the atmosphere is just right."

She rubbed her head and complained, "I'm the one who got stood up by my senior, shouldn't I be sad and upset?"

"The plan remains unchanged. You buy your own ticket and sneak into the venue. If anything unexpected happens, we'll meet up then."

While Lin Tingwan was away, he was relaying the changes that had occurred to Lu Xingyao.

"The guy who promised to go to the fireworks festival with me changed his mind halfway through and got together with another girl. I had to buy a ticket alone and endure the strange looks from all the couples who would be like cockroaches, while secretly protecting everyone's safety... I almost cried just listening to this."

Lu Xingyao burst into tears.

"……Feel sorry."

Even Bai Ze, who is devoid of blood and tears, couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as large as a cockroach's antennae.

"Then grant me one request."

The junior student stopped crying instantly; she really knew how to control herself.

"What do you want to do?" Bai Ze became alert.

"I want to shop with you all before anything unexpected happens!"

She raised her index finger, "Running into another female lead during a date between two people is also a classic trope, isn't it?"

"Promise me you won't treat reality like a novel, okay?"

After thinking for a moment, Bai Ze suddenly realized something.

This doesn't seem like a bad thing.

Everyone is a member of the broadcasting department, and Lin Tingwan and Lu Xingyao have a good relationship at the moment. They can't possibly reveal their witch identities to each other suddenly.

Moreover, having all the key figures gathered together would help him control the situation.

"No problem, I'll send you a message with my location later."

"Hoo hoo hoo, no need, I'll use my divination here—"

"Don't use your abilities to track me!"

Bai Ze issues his second warning.

"All right."

Lu Xingyao sighed and extended her right hand. "This is our agreement."

Bai Ze grasped the girl's slender hand in return: "It's a promise."

"What agreement?"

Lin Tingwan pushed open the door to the broadcasting room and asked a question out of curiosity.

"The promise that my senior will perform a handstand spin!"

Lu Xingyao swiftly pulled her hand back and pointed at him.

"What the hell... Yes, that's it."

Bai Ze walked to the corner of the wall, braced himself with his hands on the ground, and his vision was instantly reversed.

Since the male character is not protected by the laws of gravity, his shirt hem is rolled up, revealing his sculpted abs.

"Wow--"

Lu Xingyao covered her eyes and peeked through her fingers.

Lin Tingwan walked over and squatted down in front of him.

Then he poked Bai Ze's belly with his index finger.

"How could someone be so bored as to do something like this... That's what young people are like these days."

She sighed knowingly, "Bai Ze, you're not trying to impress the junior girls with your courtship tactics, are you?"

"Whose courtship ritual involves spinning upside down?"

He looked at his childhood sweetheart, who was lying face down on his feet, and asked her a question.

The hem of her skirt, created by her squatting posture, formed a barely perceptible gap that spread upwards along the curve of her fair calves, eventually disappearing into the mysterious darkness—

Bai Ze turned his head away.

He is a man of principle.

Lin Tingwan rested her chin on her index finger knuckle, deep in thought: "...White-bellied Golden Pheasant?"

"Don't assume that just because we all have the surname Bai, we belong to the same species!"

So, Bai Ze started spinning.

Yesterday, he clearly didn't understand Lin Tingwan's act of spinning around to show off her apron, and he sarcastically remarked that she was going to participate in a human spinning top competition.

But now it's me who's spinning.

Could this be the law of cause and effect? ​​Bai Ze, transformed into a spinning top, entered a state of sudden enlightenment.

Spin! Only spin!

"Okay, senior...aren't you enjoying it now?"

When the wind stirred up by the Bai Ze spinning top lifted the girl's skirt, causing Lin Tingwan to scream, Lu Xingyao stopped him in time.

It's a real shame, because he might soon assimilate with the drill and comprehend terrifying forces like spiral force or magnetic field rotation from the universe.

"I don't want to see you two idiots anymore!"

The blushing girl shouted and ran out with her bag on her back, leaving the two of them still in the activity room.

As Bai Ze, who had evolved from a spinning top into a human, was tidying his clothes, Lu Xingyao came close and grasped his collar.

"Senior, perhaps Senior Lin is even more unfortunate than me."

She gently tugged at his collar, like a fisherman reeling in and out a fishing line.

"I will disrupt the grand event that the two of us planned to attend alone. If anything unexpected happens, my senior will abandon her and me to deal with the incident—after all, we are accomplices who are both members of Eternal Serpent."

How pitiful.

She continued to move closer until she could smell the scent of her senior.

For some reason, she vaguely felt that there was a trace of impurity mixed in.

It seems somewhat similar to the humanoid anomalies we investigated during the period when our abilities awakened.

The girl temporarily kept this information in mind and continued to savor the time at dusk.

I should feel sorry for my senior.

Why am I so overjoyed?