The World of Bengtieli: They All Have designs on me

Or is it a new disease that has not been recorded in the Landau family's genetic disease lineage?

Countless absurd scientific conjectures flashed through her mind, only to be rejected one by one—they were completely beyond her knowledge.

This was a "trouble" she couldn't solve, or even understand. And she hated troubles she couldn't solve.

"Sister...I, I'm all better." Luo Ning's voice trembled timidly. Ling didn't turn around.

She could hear the faint sound of water as that small figure entered the hot spring.

For a moment, only the sounds of rising steam and dripping water filled the cave. The silence amplified all the senses.

She could sense the presence of another body and the faint ripples created when he moved through the water.

That feeling of being spied on returned, but this time, the spy was herself. She couldn't help but want to confirm, to investigate the anomaly that had overturned her understanding. Her researcher's instinct was violently clashing with her barely perceptible social barriers.

Ultimately, instinct prevailed. Solving the problem is the only way to restore peace. "Come here."

Ling Ke finally spoke, her voice strangely calm.

She turned around, and in the swirling steam, her small face appeared exceptionally pale, her eyes red from the fright she had just experienced.

Luo Ning flinched in the water, seemingly frightened by her current state. "Sister..."

“Come here,” Ling Ke repeated, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Let me check if you have frostbite.”

She found a perfect, logical excuse for her behavior.

[System: Target Lingke has activated researcher mode, attempting to explain supernatural phenomena using scientific logic. Current emotions: Curiosity 80%, Confusion 90%, Vigilance 30%.]

Luo Ning hesitated, then slowly moved towards her.

Warm water flowed over his chest, and in the misty steam, he did indeed look like an ordinary, thin child.

Except...below the surface of the water. Lingke got closer.

She reached out her hand, her movements deliberately slow and professional, as if she were handling a rare exploration sample. She first squeezed his shoulder.

"Does it hurt here?" "No...it doesn't hurt..."

She touched his leg again, her fingertips tracing his knee. His skin was smooth and hot.

Her movements slowed down, and her gaze became more focused, like that of a surgeon performing a delicate operation.

Luo Ning's body trembled slightly at her touch, and her breathing became rapid. Sister…it tickles.

His voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of coquetry. Ling Ke's fingers paused.

Her fingertips were only millimeters away from that core "abnormal area." She could feel the even more scorching temperature in the water.

She took a deep breath, as if making a firm decision, and covered herself directly with the fabric. There was no cloth in between.

A more astonishing, hotter, and more... vibrant sensation was clearly transmitted to her palm.

[System: Warning! Target Ling Ke's heart rate is rising again! Strong interference has occurred in her mental field! Host, your behavior has exceeded the scope of normal understanding!]

Lingke's hand froze.

She could feel the thing under her palm change subtly because of her touch.

That was a response? Her mind went completely blank.

"Little devil," she said, her voice hoarse, "have you always been like this?"

Luo Ning's face was so red it looked like it could bleed; he kept his head down and spoke in a barely audible voice. "Wh-how is it?"

“…That’s it.” Ling Ke’s fingertips twitched unconsciously. Luo Ning’s body jerked violently, letting out a suppressed sob.

"Boys...aren't they all like this? Grandpa Buck said it's normal..."

He spoke in a tone that was both sincere and confused, uttering words that were enough to completely shatter Ling Ke's worldview. Normal?

She had lived for seventeen years and had witnessed all sorts of strange creatures and phenomena in the polar regions, believing herself to have a thorough understanding of the physical rules of this world.

But now, a seven or eight-year-old kid is telling her that this ridiculously exaggerated thing in her palm is "normal"? Is she wrong? Or is the world wrong?

Or perhaps, that stubborn old man Buck has given the child some strange cognitive education?

"Sister." Luo Ning's voice was choked with tears as she grabbed her sister's wrist with her small hand, seemingly trying to pry her hand away, but her strength was pitifully weak. "You're making me feel so strange."

Lingke jerked her hand back as if she had been struck by an electric current.

She retreated hastily to the other end of the hot spring, leaning against the cold rock wall, panting heavily. The low temperature of the rock wall couldn't cool her burning cheeks and chaotic thoughts.

She looked at the little devil on the other side of the pool, his body curled up, with only his head above the water, looking pitiful and innocent.

This "trouble" that came from behind the gate has completely evolved into a huge mystery that she cannot ignore, understand, or get rid of.

And she, Lin Ke Landau, excels at unraveling mysteries. [Luoning: System, how's Lin Ke's favorability rating?]

[System: Target Lingke, favorability -50. But "interest has increased to 95%. Congratulations, host, you have successfully upgraded from 'a troublesome issue to' to 'an ultimate research topic that must be studied'."]

Chapter 181 Ling Ke: Don't get so close to me!

Inside the cave at night, the air was warm and damp. Ling Ke lit a small fire, the flames flickering against the dry rocks, casting long, undulating shadows of the two of them onto the ice-crystal-covered cave walls.

Throughout the day, Lingke deliberately kept her distance from Luoning.

She surveyed every inch of the cave walls, drew detailed structural diagrams, and even dug a small drainage channel by the pool with an entrenching tool, just in case.

She filled her mind with frantic work, trying to erase that horrifying image and sensation from her memory. But it was no use.

The moment she stopped, her mind would automatically replay that instant. That illogical, heavy, warm... trouble. "Sister."

Luo Ning's voice pulled her from her thoughts. She looked up and saw him holding a tube of high-energy nutritional paste, handing it to her—it was the last one. When she distributed supplies at noon, she gave him three tubes and kept two for herself.

“I’m full, this is for you,” he said softly, his eyes glistening in the firelight.

Lingke's gaze fell on the nutritional paste, but she didn't take it. "I ate it," she said in a low, slightly hoarse voice. "But..."

“Command.” She uttered two words, devoid of any emotion.

Ning flinched, then stopped insisting. She silently withdrew her hand, tore open the packaging, and began to lick the food in small bites, like a little animal that cherishes its food.

Ling Ke looked away, staring at the flickering flames.

She found a rational explanation for her actions: he was Youhui, a burden, and needed more energy to survive. Ensuring his survival was the most efficient choice under the current circumstances. That was all.

Silence fell again in the cave. Only the crackling of the fire and the dripping of water droplets could be heard.

After Luo Ning finished eating, he subconsciously moved closer to the fire and also closer to her. Ling Ke's body tensed instantly.

They were so close that she could smell the mixture of moisture and a faint milky scent emanating from him, and feel the heat radiating from his body.

Her wild instincts were screaming alarm bells.

This little devil is like an unknown predator disguised as a snow rabbit, harmless on the outside but full of unpredictable danger at its core.

But her body remained motionless. Some emotion she couldn't understand, like vines, bound her limbs, preventing her from carrying out the simplest command to push away.

"Sister," Luo Ning spoke again, her voice very soft, "Will we die here?"

“No.” Ling Ke answered quickly. She never spoke without certainty. As long as she was alive, she wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. “Then what… are you thinking about?” he asked curiously, “You haven’t said anything.”

Ling Ke turned her head, her icy blue eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the firelight. Looking at that innocent little face, her throat felt dry. "I was thinking about your body structure."

She spoke in a purely academic tone, as if discussing geological structures, and then made a groundbreaking statement.

[System: Warning! Self-identified Ling Ke has initiated research mode! Current curiosity 98%, logic disorder 70%!] Luo Ning stammered, "My...my body is perfectly normal."

“Something’s not right.” Ling interrupted him, her tone as certain as if she were reading an exploration report. “The data is abnormal. Size, temperature, reaction. All of these exceed the normal range for a seven-year-old male human. There’s a serious information gap in Buck’s cognitive education of you.”

As she spoke, her scrutinizing gaze swept unabashedly over his body, curled up under the blanket. Her gaze was sharp as a scalpel, seemingly able to pierce through the fabric and reach the heart of the matter.

Luo Ning felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, shrinking back until she was almost a ball. "I...I don't know...Grandpa Buck only said...it'll get better when you grow up."

"Grown up?" Ling Ke frowned. This was yet another new, incomprehensible variable. Was this anomaly, or a dynamic process of development?

She decided to end the conversation.

If we continue this discussion, her logic module will be completely destroyed.

"Sleep," she commanded, then lay down first, turning her back to Luo Ning and the fire, and closed her eyes. She needed rest, needed to let her overworked brain cool down.

Cixi Cui Cui's voice came from behind, and Luo Ning lay down as well. The light in the cave dimmed, leaving only the faint light reflected in the pool and the embers of the fire.

The darkness and silence heightened her senses. She could hear his soft breathing, very close.

She could feel the heat emanating from his body, like a small furnace, continuously heating the air behind her.

She forced herself to clear her mind and enter a meditative state before sleep. This was an essential skill for her survival in the polar regions, allowing her to quickly recover her energy in any environment.

One minute, two minutes. It failed.

The presence of that "abnormality" was too strong, like a luminous object in the darkness, making it impossible for her to ignore.

She could even feel her heartbeat unconsciously synchronized with the soft breathing behind her. Just then, the breathing behind her suddenly became rapid.

Immediately after, a small, warm body pressed against her back. "Don't be afraid, monster, go away."

Luo Ning was talking in her sleep, her voice filled with fear. She gripped her arm tightly, her body trembling slightly. She was having a nightmare.

Lingke's brain made a decision instantly. She should push him away immediately and maintain a safe distance.

But her hand rose up against her will, hesitated for a moment, and then gently patted his back. Her movements were as stiff as if she were operating some kind of precision instrument for the first time.

"It's nothing," she said softly, her voice gentler than she had expected.

The body in his arms seemed to be soothed and gradually calmed down. But his face unconsciously rubbed against her back, his warm breath spraying against her neck.

Very itchy.

A strange, tingling sensation started at the point of contact and spread throughout her body like an electric current. Lingke's body froze completely.

"Sister," Luo Ning murmured in her dream, like a little animal that had found a safe haven. She leaned against her, her body relaxed, and one of her legs unconsciously wrapped around her, her knee pressing against her thigh.

Even more deadly was that, with this movement, the "core trouble" that was causing her cognitive system to collapse, through two thin layers of clothing, pressed perfectly against the curve of her hips.

[System: Warning! Physical contact has reached the critical threshold! Self-labeled Lingke, heart rate 145! Mental field is fluctuating violently again!] Scalding hot.

This was the only word in Lingke's mind.

It was hotter than hot spring water, hotter than flames. It was a scorching heat full of vitality, savage, and unreasonable.

For the first time, her "Earth's Whisper" ability produced such a strong "reading" to a living being. She could almost hear the surging heat and "sense the vibrant energy contained within that did not belong to a child."

Her hand unconsciously slid down his back, trying to push him away. But her palm landed in the wrong place.

Her palm landed squarely on the hottest spot between his legs.

Luo Ning's body jerked suddenly, letting out a suppressed groan that sounded like a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Lingke's hand felt as if it had been burned, yet it was also as if it were drawn to a magnet, unable to move away. She could clearly feel that the thing under her palm underwent an even more astonishing change upon her touch.

It was a...provocative response. Lingke's breathing became completely disordered.

She turned her head to look at the small, sleeping face pressed against her back in the dim light, and asked the question that made even herself tremble in a dry voice that only she could hear.

"Little rascal, why is your body so hot?"

Luo Ning didn't answer, but unconsciously rubbed his cheek against her back in his dream, letting out a satisfied sigh.

Lingke slowly closed her eyes. Trouble. She thought.

It seems she can't shake off this trouble.

[System: Target: Lindsay Landau, Affection -40. Interest increased to 120% (data overflow). New emotion tags: "Reluctant indulgence '5%, Uncontrolled curiosity '95%."]

[Warning: Host, you are steer the focus away from your research topic and towards an incurable addiction. Please proceed with caution.] She didn't move, letting that small, yet incredibly hot body press against hers. After a long while, she pulled her adventure suit outside...

He took off the cover and put it over that small body.

Inside the cave, the sound of dripping water filled the air, and the night was peaceful.

Chapter 182 A New Storm Has Arrived

The first ray of light pierced through the ice crystals at the top of the cave, illuminating the rising steam. Lingke opened her eyes.

She didn't move. A serious rift had formed between her body's command and sensory systems. The sensory system reported: a hot, living, heavy source of heat was pressed against her back, rising and falling at a steady pace. The command system issued the order: push away immediately and restore a safe distance.

But the order was rejected.