Chapter 114

Regardless of the odds, going around it is just a tangled mess; Ye Xi'an felt nothing, only Lin Zhi Jing suffered.

Lin Zhi Jing furrowed his brows, feeling as if his cerebral cortex were being pulled by a string, tugged to both sides, unable to think of anything at all.

"Alright!"

Ye Xi'an slipped away, a hint of triumph on her face; she hadn't expected the Spiritual Mark to be so easy, succeeding in a single try.

"How does it feel?"

Lin Zhi Jing covered his head: "It feels a bit tight, what's going on?" He also felt a little dizzy.

"Huh?" Ye Xi'an saw that something was off with him: "Why don't we go find Bao Jing and the others? They've been marked before, they must have experience."

"It's fine." Lin Zhi Jing shook his head, thinking it was just that he hadn't yet gotten used to the feeling of being marked.

Is this what the mark feels like? Lin Zhi Jing, half‑heartedly, thought to himself: This feeling isn't so bad.

When the discomfort eased, he lifted his head, his eyes, filled with a galaxy of stars, slowly revealed, gazing affectionately at the worried Ye Xi'an before him; his clear lips parting slightly: "Thank you for marking me. Now I finally have a home."

Faced with the sudden gratitude, Ye Xi'an was a little at a loss: "There's nothing to thank me for; the Spiritual Mark doesn't seem to be any good for you."

In Ye Xi'an's view, such a mark is not a benefit at all but a oppression of males; otherwise, who would be willing to be born forever inferior, like the males of Qiu Yi, whose death would not even be mourned.

"Do you have some misunderstanding about the mark on females?" Lin Zhi Jing, since being marked, kept a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, as if Ji Jiangci had possessed him.

"If the mark were useless, why would the males on Zhu Shen Xing go to such lengths to join the females' clan and receive the female mark?"

"Everything that appears to be an imbalance of benefits on the surface has a reason."

"On Zhu Shen Xing, prices are steep; Contribution Points can only be obtained from alien worlds, but how much can a male actually acquire?"

"Some males toil to death on alien worlds; perhaps the Contribution Points they bring back aren't even enough to cover the housing costs."

"If you want wealth, you can only rely on females; if you want to lean on females, then you must be marked."

Lin Zhi Jing pinched Ye Xi'an's cheek, giving it a light shake; even so, his face flushed a bit: "Is it because you think the mark oppresses males that you're so lenient with Bao Jing and the others?"

A throbbing pain pulsed on her face; Ye Xi'an pulled away Lin Zhi Jing's meddling hand, covering her face and gently saying: "I'm not spoiling them."

"Alright, the Spiritual Mark is done. Let's hurry and buy a bed; I guess Bao Jing and the others didn't buy many, they're waiting for us at the front desk."

"I'll take this one, you can pick yours later."

Lin Zhi Jing didn't have high standards for a bed; after all, he'd be sleeping with Ye Xi'an: "That one's fine."

Ye Xi'an and Lin Zhi Jing went to the front desk, and indeed Bao Jing and the others were already waiting there.

"Why are you only coming back now?" Bao Jing had arrived long ago; Ye Xi'an was taking her time, and he had thought something had happened, but he didn't dare wander off, fearing he'd miss Ye Xi'an.

"Nothing much, my wife gave me a mark, that's why I came back a bit late."

Lin Zhi Jing spoke casually, but everyone understood his meaning here—it was just to show off, to see a few people get jealous and angry, just as he intended.

"Oh, so you got a mark," Bao Jing said, a stiff sarcastic smile tugging at his mouth: "You're really casual, unlike us; we're all Federation‑matched."

"Excuse me, are these the beds over here?" the salesperson interrupted Ji Jiangci and Bao Jing's impending argument to ask about the order.

"Um, may I see the price first?" Ye Xi'an had just calculated the cost for her and Lin Zhi Jing's beds, roughly 250,000 Contribution Points in total.

"Alright, let me calculate for you; the total is 750,000 Ao."

"However, these beds have no defensive mechanisms; let me give you a recommendation."

Ye Xi'an quickly declined; a single comfortable bed is enough. She didn't want to spend extra on fancy features, so she promptly paid and took her little bed home.

Only the attic hadn't been finished, so Ye Xi'an could only place her bed in the living room for now.

But this way, everyone who comes out will cross paths with her.

"Um, Yi Yang, can I swap rooms with you for now? Once the attic is finished, I'll give the room back to you." Even forgiving her, they thought Yi Yang was the easiest to bully.

"Honey, as you say, those rooms have always been yours; you can sleep wherever you want." Yi Yang said, immediately swapping the two beds.

"How's that, honey? I'm fast, right?"

Facing Yi Yang's pleading expression for praise, Ye Xi'an didn't hesitate, reaching out to stroke his fluffy head: "Too fast, you're really impressive."

After a day of hustle, Lin Zhi Jing ordered takeout via Light Brain; the group ate hastily in the unfinished house, planning to rest for the night and start designing the rooms tomorrow, but figuring out how to wash up became an issue.

"Is there no water system at home?"

Lin Zhi Jing adapted to the family quickly, as if he had been a member of Ye Xi'an's family for a long time; the word 'home' felt so natural to say.

"No water element. In the house I'm a Tier‑3 Wood‑type North‑African Lion, Bao Jing is a Tier‑3 Wind‑type Hunting Falcon, Yi Yang is a Tier‑1 Earth‑type Labrador." Ji Jiangci gave Lin Zhi Jing a brief rundown of everyone's abilities and beast forms; after all, one can't go a lifetime not knowing what kind of ability‑beast each person is.

"No." Bao Jing, a bit tsundere, sat on Yi Yang's bed, his two absurdly long legs casually crossed: "My ability was already Tier‑4 during Sai Fulola."