"Then... could you please close your eyes, and don't ask anything."
Puzzled, Fu Zhu sat on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes, a faint guess forming in his mind.
He then heard the sound of high heels clicking on the floor, starting from the door and drawing closer until they stopped right in front of him.
An unknown floral fragrance wafted into Fu Zhu's nostrils, stirring the desire within his heart and causing his breathing to quicken.
Next, Fu Zhu felt a pair of trembling hands on his outer clothes, seemingly trying to remove them, but they struggled for a good while without success.
Just as Bronya was breaking out in a sweat from the effort, Fu Zhu reached out and grasped her delicate hands. His eyes, which were supposed to be closed, were now open, meeting Bronya's shimmering gaze.
The moment their eyes met, Bronya shyly turned her head away, but Fu Zhu reached out, cupped her chin, and firmly turned her face back to meet his.
"Bronya, have you really thought this through? I'm a Nameless. I can't stay in one place, at least not for now."
"...I just don't want to leave myself with regrets. You said you'd help me with anything, right? Well, now..."
Bronya pulled her hands free from Fu Zhu's grasp and placed them on his chest, giving a light push, trying to topple him onto the bed. But he didn't budge.
Confused, Bronya looked up, about to ask Fu Zhu why, when he suddenly wrapped an arm around her waist, flipped them over, and pinned her beneath him.
"I can't let you take the lead in everything. That would make me less of a man."
Fu Zhu then immediately opened his inventory and unequipped all the armor on his body. This was the reason Bronya had failed to remove his clothes earlier.
Even though he had a decorative armor mod installed, it only made the armor invisible; it didn't mean the armor wasn't there.
Fu Zhu leaned down, looking at Bronya beneath him. Her eyes were shut tight, and perhaps due to nervousness, he could clearly see her long eyelashes trembling.
He couldn't help but chuckle as he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "It's still not too late to change your mind, you know?"
Bronya's tightly shut eyes stopped trembling. She opened them, turned her head to look at Fu Zhu, who was whispering in her ear, and took the initiative to kiss him.
This took Fu Zhu by surprise.
Bronya wrapped her arms around Fu Zhu's neck, a smile playing on her lips.
"If I change my mind now, I'll definitely regret it later."
"You're the one who said it."
---o---
Meanwhile, next door, Xing was dual-wielding pillows and charging at March 7th and the others.
March 7th, Hook, and Clara giggled as they dodged Xing's attack before throwing their own pillows at her.
However, Seele, the instigator of the event, wasn't participating. Instead, she was hugging a pillow and pressing herself against the wall, seemingly trying to eavesdrop on something.
"Seele?"
Someone suddenly called her name, making Seele jump. She turned to see that Xing, tired from playing, had walked over with two drinks, handing one to her.
"Thanks."
Seele took the drink and thanked her, but her attention remained fixed on the wall.
Xing looked at the blank wall with a puzzled expression and asked while sipping her drink, "Seele, you're not tired, are you? If you are, we can call it a night."
"No way!" Seele immediately rejected the suggestion in a loud voice.
Judging by the sounds from next door, Fu Zhu and the others were just getting started. What would happen if they really got into it later and the noises got louder?
Without the pillow fight next door to cover the sounds, Xing and March 7th might notice something was off.
Therefore, not only could this pillow fight not end early, it had to get even more intense!
With this in mind, Seele turned to Xing with a serious expression. "Xing, finish your drink."
Xing tilted her head back in confusion and downed the drink in her cup. Just as she set the cup down and was about to ask Seele what was going on, a pillow smacked her in the face and slowly slid off.
"Ho ho, looks like you're challenging me, Seele! I am the KING of pillow fights!"
With a cry, Xing dropped her cup, grabbed two pillows, and charged at Seele with a strange battle cry.
The two of them were instantly locked in combat. March 7th and the others laughed and joined in.
---o---
An hour later.
Seele, taking advantage of a lull in the fight between Xing and March 7th, slipped onto the balcony to catch her breath. She didn't expect Xing to be even more ferocious than she looked; Seele had nearly lost to her in terms of stamina.
As Seele stood on the balcony, about to rest, she subconsciously glanced towards the balcony of Fu Zhu's room.
With just one glance, she saw, on the glass door separating the balcony from the room, the faint silhouette of a female figure pressed against the glass, hands braced on the surface.
Seele's face flushed beet red in an instant. She immediately spun around and returned to the room, not only closing the glass door but also drawing the curtain. She then found some tape from the side and sealed the curtain shut.
March 7th, seeing Seele's strange actions, couldn't help but ask, "Seele, what are you doing?"
"I... I..." Seele looked around frantically. Spotting some fluff that had come out of a pillow on the floor, she quickly explained, "I'm just trying to keep the pillow fluff from flying out of the room. It wouldn't be good to make more trouble for the cleaning staff, right?"
"Hm! That makes sense."
March 7th mumbled a reply and didn't press the issue further. Seele let out a sigh of relief while mentally cursing the couple next door.
They're actually getting this wild! Damn it, I was almost exposed!
---o---
Two hours later.
Clara and Hook were already exhausted and fast asleep on the bed. March 7th and Xing were listlessly flinging pillows at each other's faces.
After taking a hit, Xing felt her arms ache. She looked at Seele with a pout. "Seele, do we have to keep going?"
Seele nodded with righteous conviction. "Of course! We're just getting started! Keep going!"
"Aww? But it's already past midnight... I'm so tired, Seele..."
"No stopping!"
March 7th and Xing, their faces etched with misery, continued to feebly toss pillows at each other.
This was the first time they had ever found a pillow fight to be so utterly boring! So tiring!
Seele, too, was looking at the wall with exhaustion. She could still faintly hear a sound from the next room, like palms slapping against a wall. It was only because she was so close that she could hear it; otherwise, it would have been a disaster.
Even so, Seele couldn't help but complain about that detestable guy, Fu Zhu.
Damn it, what's with his stamina! You two, hurry up and finish!
PS: I don't dare write it too explicitly, otherwise it's not just one chapter that might disappear, but the whole book.