Ye Delun felt Host's stare burn a hole in his back. He didn't question why as he looked down at a message from the system.
[The character 'Zao Xing' is greatly disturbed by your hands!]
Apparently, he didn't like his hands. Ye Delun looked down at his palms and watched the sap-like liquid roll down his wrists. He didn't like the look of them either. A small frown played at his lips. He wiped his hands on his pants and followed Yin Meng out the door.
"Are you alright after seeing all that?" Shen Lin at his side asked him. Ye Delun noted that he was taller than her. But he was sure that if he was in his real body he would be staring straight at her nose.
He looked at her docile eyes. She looked kind and polite and she stood tall and her shoulders were square. But the gloom hiding in the depths of her eyes showed her experience through life. Her time as a soldier had added a weight someone like Ye Delun wouldn't be able to understand on her shoulders. She was mature and knowledgeable through the ways of life.
Ye Delun paused at her question. Was he alright? He guessed he was. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body, but seeing a peaceful deathbed was completely different than seeing a mutilated corpse. He had never seen someone's jaw in that position before or a body with holes so cleanly stabbed through flesh. The sight of it seemed like a hallucination, like some strange unidentified thing in a dream. It wasn't until he touched it with his own hands and felt Xue Peng's cold skin that he realized it was real.
"Yeah, I guess." He said to her. He watched her sharp eyes narrow and study his face. He didn't mind, he too stared at her face. He thought that she was pretty. She had long eyelashes and honey brown eyes. Her long brown locks naturally framed her clean face.
"That's surprising for someone your age. If it was my younger brother he would have started balling his eye's out." Ye Delun didn't know whether or not to feel proud of himself at her comment. Would it have been normal for him to start crying at Xue Peng's body? Weren't you support to cry if you were sad? He wasn't feeling any kind of sadness while looking at that corpse.
She looked into Ye Delun's confused black eyes and her posture softened. "He was around your age. My brother." An unconscious smile formed on her lips. "He always said that because of his age it was only normal to do reckless stuff. He always ended up getting in trouble and calling me over to help him." She chuckled lowly, a deep sadness buried in the bottom of her throat.
Ye Delun sniffed through his nose and looked a little proud of himself. "I never get into trouble." He was a good and obedient kid. Unknown to him though, the only reason that he never got into trouble was that his mother didn't know how to punish him. The boy would walk into stray alleys in the middle of the night in hopes of being jumped. He peeked through sewer drains wondering if a monster would pop out. And would watch horror movies all throughout the night. He wasn't what you would call a perfect child.
Shen Lin laughed at his face. She had noticed his lack of expression back during day one. But she could read the subtle difference of his eyes and the angles of his lips quite easily. Ye Delun watched her smile. Her straight white teeth and her stretched pink lips. Her eyes creased into a beautiful curve and the honey color in her eyes shined.
"You're very pretty when you smile, Ms. Shen." The words came out of his mouth without him even realizing it. Shen Lin's eyes widened in surprise but she didn't falter and took the compliment nicely.
"Thank you." She said. Ye Delun watched as another message showed up.
[The character 'Shen Lin' is warmed by your innocent compliment!]
[+10]
[Your favorability with the character 'Shen Lin' has increased! Work hard, Ye Delun!]
A different bar appeared above her head. It filled up only slightly before disappearing once again. He thought of it as an individual love bar for the capture targets. He probably wasn't able to see it with Zao Xing because his sight was already covered in messages.
Speaking of Zao Xing, Ye Delun felt his glare intensify on his back. Another message from the system appeared.
[The character 'Zao Xing' is feeling his heart burn with intense jealousy at your actions!]
Ye Delun gave the message a weird look. Jealousy? As in, jealous of him?
He turned and gave the host behind him a questioning glance. He knew that Shen Lin was pretty, but he didn't know she was pretty enough for Zao Xing to fall for her so suddenly. Was he tossed aside that easily?
'It's only natural...' He thought. 'After all... Ms. Shen is really good-looking.' What beautiful mature woman wouldn't attract men? It was only normal for Shen Lin to have a lot of admirers.
"Alright, that's enough talking." Host used his long legs to move over to the two of them. Ye Delun watched the fake smile on his face. "Everyone is waiting for us in the other room, and it would be impolite to keep them waiting." He placed his hand on the small of Ye Delun's back and guided him away from Shen Lin.
"And the body? What's going to happen to it?" Yin Meng spoke from the front. His eyes filled with uncensored malice towards Zao Xing.
The smile on Host's face tried its best to be sincere. "No need to worry. The mess will be cleaned up by the time you come back tomorrow."
He led Ye Delun to the front and opened the door for him.