Do You Like Me That Much? Miss Villainess

The boat cabin was stuffy and stifling.

Bai Yuyu sat casually on one side of the cabin, making faces at the girl across from her with bared teeth and stuck-out tongue.

Mu Qinglan watched her helplessly and coughed lightly:

"What's wrong with little Bai now?"

The bad woman could see clearly in her heart that this was sulking, or perhaps it could be called jealousy.

After all, these past few days at Prince Qi's mansion it had been all about Jiang He this and Jiang He that. Combined with Mu Qinglan being sick and the Six Bureaus being busy, this had inevitably led to neglecting this cute little girl.

Making her feel that her position as a close friend was threatened.

Bai Yuyu puffed out her cheeks big and round, unhappy, but she couldn't articulate what was wrong, so she just lightly hummed and pouted without speaking.

Splash—splash—

The sound of boat poles cutting through flowing water filled their ears.

A small boat gently drifted on the Huai River, passing through many shadows.

Mu Qinglan also had ways to deal with this little girl—just divert her attention. After all, this little one wasn't really angry.

So she pinched her face:

"Could it be that little sister Bai ate too much air and puffed her face up this big?"

"Who are you calling big-faced!"

Bai Yuyu looked very concerned, deflating her face with lips pressed tightly together.

"Besides, I'm a few months older than you!"

"Then..." Mu Qinglan's eyes turned, putting on an obedient smile: "Big sister Bai?"

Bai Yuyu's eyes brightened for a moment, but then she remembered she was supposed to be angry and couldn't let Mu Mu coax her so easily.

So she coughed lightly and said with some dignity:

"Not bad. Call me that again for sister to hear?"

"Big sister Bai."

The bad woman had no shame at all. After coaxing Bai Yuyu into a good mood, she placed her hand behind her back, inserting her five fingers into the little girl's thick hair, gently stroking it.

Just like petting an obedient little white dog.

Bai Yuyu was in great spirits, thinking that Mu Mu still had her in her heart and hadn't been completely bewitched by that bad woman.

'Really easy to coax…'

Mu Qinglan sighed in her heart, then suddenly felt something fluffy gently nudging her stomach. She didn't see anything, but noticed several blood-red eyes in the shadows blinking at her.

She understood.

The item had been found.

So she paid the boatman to dock and smiled:

"Let's end the boat ride here. Big sister Bai, would you like some pastries? I thought the pastries at Wange Tower last time were quite good."

Bai Yuyu nodded—she was indeed feeling a bit peckish.

She said excitedly:

"Let me tell you, although Wange Tower's banquets are good, their pastries aren't the best. When I came here on a case before, I heard there's a century-old establishment here..."

○

"Guardian Wang, it's been almost three days. Hasn't the palace found any clues related to that divine artifact?"

In Huaiyun Ward, in an extremely tall restaurant, a man in blue robes frowned as he asked.

"We're both imperial guardians. What news could I hide from you? For this divine artifact, I haven't even been watching the Six Bureaus side, just chasing shadows here!"

Guardian Wang said displeasedly:

"Besides, why are you so anxious? With both of us watching here, could someone take that divine artifact from under our two third-rank noses?"

The man in blue fell silent, knowing he was being impatient. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel(ꜰ)ire.net

He apologized:

"I was hasty about this matter. I'm just afraid those devil clan members still have backup plans and might use that divine artifact for something else..."

Guardian Wang glanced at him, thinking he was overthinking:

"All the main routes in and out of Huaiyun Ward have Six Bureaus constables and Heyang city guards checking carriages. With us two stationed here, the devil clan couldn't possibly send people to sneak in and steal that divine artifact. Does Guardian Yang think this isn't secure enough?"

"Sorry, sorry."

Guardian Yang kept apologizing, feeling a bit wronged. Wasn't he just being cautious?

○

That night, in the restaurant, the two were taking turns meditating and keeping watch when Grand Guardian Yu Guangzheng came looking for them.

"Nothing went wrong, right?"

Guardian Wang was on duty and immediately nodded with confidence:

"Absolutely no devil clan members could slip past our detection."

Guardian Yu nodded, waited two seconds for the other person to open his eyes from meditation, then said:

"There's news from the archives."

The two sat up straighter. Wasn't this achievement what they'd been guarding here for days for?

"After searching the great library for three days, the librarian found some vague information and told me that thing might be the divine artifact 'Boundary Shadow Pearl.' When uncontrolled, it burrows deep into the shadow realm to accumulate power."

He glanced at both of them:

"You both know Shadow Step, right? Go in and search. Whoever finds it gets the credit."

"Understood!"

Both responded.

○

"Did you find it?"

"No, what about you?"

"Nothing either!"

"How strange, it's such a small area."

○

"Did you find it?"

"No."

○

"You..."

"No!"

The two searched until the morning bell rang, covered in sweat, but indeed found no trace of the so-called divine artifact in the shadow realm of Huaiyun Ward's few miles.

"Can't find it?!" Guardian Yu's face darkened.

"We really tried our best to search. There was truly no result. If the Grand Guardian doesn't believe us, just send a few more people in to search!" Guardian Wang complained bitterly.

"Not there... not there..."

Guardian Yu paced slowly in the restaurant, his expression thoughtful.

He looked up at these two again, his gaze sharp as lightning. Seeing both looked exhausted and unafraid to meet his eyes, his heart sank further.

It wasn't them who had hidden it.

He understood these two's characters—they were both loyal and wouldn't dare privately hide something like a divine artifact.

More importantly, they didn't have the ability to hide it from him.

"So someone secretly took it away? The devil clan..."

He said halfway, then glared at the two:

"What are you standing there for! Go investigate! Check all the devil clan members in the city, and anyone who might be colluding with the devil clan! How did you do your job, letting devil clan members sneak in and take away the divine artifact!"

Under the robust old man's scolding, Guardian Wang's head hung lower and lower.

Guardian Yang's back inexplicably straightened up.

See, I said there might be problems.

○

The next day.

Mu Qinglan got up early and sat alone in her bedroom, holding Ah Qi in her arms.

The cat nuzzled in her embrace.

"What did Ah Qi do with the Boundary Shadow Pearl?"

Mu Qinglan hugged the cat from behind, lifting her little paws and waving them up and down like a beckoning cat.

"In the fluffy place!"

Ah Qi squinted her eyes, her tail lazily patting against the girl's body.

"Let me see."

Hearing this, Ah Qi dragged the pearl out from the shadows, pushed it into the girl's hands, then continued nestling in her lap, staring at her with bright, clear big eyes.

Mu Qinglan's fingertip lightly touched the black pearl.

[Boundary Shadow Pearl]

[Defensive Equipment (Prismatic)]

[Effect 1: When activated, can release a barrier of size controlled by the owner, blocking everything. Effect increases with spiritual power]

[Effect 2: The Boundary Shadow Pearl automatically absorbs shadow spiritual power from the environment to charge for the next release]

[Effect 3: Slightly increases shadow attribute damage (Divine Artifact Destiny Trait)]

[Equipment Condition: Pure shadow being, or third-rank transcendent who has cultivated shadow-direction skills]

[Note: Shadow defines yin and yang, separates chaos]

Mu Qinglan, dressed in red robes and sitting by the window, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment after seeing such a long string of gorgeous attributes.

Ah Qi sat up, thinking mama looked silly.

'I really haven't heard of any plot involving handling this thing. So this is what its effects are like?'

Mu Qinglan's eyes flickered for a moment. She didn't pay much attention to the first two effects, instead focusing on the third one.

Increases attribute damage?

"This is very useful."

Mu Qinglan muttered, somewhat surprised in her heart.

She had originally prepared herself to temporarily get back a trump card that would be hard to use, since too many people had seen this thing back then. Using it would probably make people guess, but this shadow damage increase was truly surprising.

Although Mu Qinglan rarely fought people directly, she was used to arming herself to the teeth.

This passive was undoubtedly a huge improvement.

It was just the equipment condition that troubled her somewhat.

"Third rank?"

Mu Qinglan worried in her heart. It would take a long time for her to reach third rank. If she really had to wait until after reaching third rank to fully control this divine artifact, the gain wouldn't be so surprising.

However...

Pure shadow being?

Mu Qinglan looked at this line of text, gradually shifting her gaze to the obedient cat lying on her lap.

Seeing mama looking at her, the cat sat up, trying to make her cat face serious, while her tail swept back and forth on the girl's thighs, looking unusually silly.

You could tell her tail and brain weren't on the same page.

'Ah Qi should be a pure shadow being, and she's also my bonded beast. I should be able to share her bonuses too…'

Thinking this, Mu Qinglan asked:

"Can Ah Qi control this pearl?"

"Pearl?"

Ah Qi shifted her gaze, stared at the pearl for a while, then suddenly opened her mouth wide and swallowed it in one gulp. Afterward, she curled up into a black ball in the girl's arms, looking drowsy as she fell asleep.

The moment Ah Qi swallowed the pearl.

Woong—

A humming sound that seemed to come from the depths of her soul instantly swept through her mind, like someone beating gongs and drums in her ears, making her head buzz.

Mu Qinglan shook in her wheelchair and took a long time to recover.

"This is..."

She rubbed her temples somewhat speechlessly. It looked like this was indeed equipped, but why did she receive such a big impact?

If there was going to be an impact, it should hit stupid Ah Qi.

After Ah Qi swallowed that pearl, the room inexplicably became much darker.

The window that had been half-transparent with light now seemed covered with wisps of black shadows, as if a layer of black gauze had been added outside the room, leaving only a little light barely able to filter through.

[Virtual Destiny Trait (Purple)]

[Shadow Divides Dawn and Dusk: Slightly increases shadow attribute damage]

"Got it!" Mu Qinglan felt delighted for a moment. "As expected, some permanent bonuses from bonded beasts can be shared with their masters!"

This was quite convenient.

It was just a pity that the Boundary Shadow Pearl wasn't the most suitable type of divine artifact for her, but divine artifacts themselves were rare enough. Being able to get this thing from under the noses of both the imperial family and devil clan was already a quite perfect result.

'The thing I want hasn't appeared yet, and I don't have the qualifications to take it now…'

'No rush, no rush…'

Mu Qinglan placed the cat on the bed and slowly lay back down.

She was terribly sleepy now.

She actually had quite a few things left to do, but none of them were urgent. She could completely wait until after a nap to research them—that would be twice as effective.

This afternoon she had to go to the National Advisor's mansion to try extracting some experience.

There was also the imperial reward for saving the princess, which she heard was being transferred through the National Advisor's mansion since they knew she was a magician.

But that was all afternoon business.

Sleep first, deal with the rest after waking up.

Thinking this, the girl lay on her side on the bed, hugging the cat in her arms a bit tighter.

The cat also nestled into her embrace.