Su Mu was stretching.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and found himself lying on the sofa at home, with a thin blanket draped over him.
The next second, a rolling pin came whistling down out of nowhere and whacked him on the back. Right after that came Mom’s loving roar: “I told you to help Qingyi prepare the dumpling filling, but no—you push all the work onto my daughter-in-law and just take a nap here yourself, huh?”
Su Mu yelped and jumped up. “Mom, even if you don’t feel sorry for me, at least feel sorry for your son—”
He stopped mid-sentence when he suddenly caught sight of Ye Qingyi sitting nearby with a gentle smile.
This was the real Ye Qingyi—not wearing his own face!
He froze for a few seconds, then dashed all the way to the mirror and exclaimed, “Whoa—I’m back to my original self!?”
Mom was already annoyed just seeing him act so spacey. If Ye Qingyi hadn’t stopped her, he probably would’ve gotten an earful.
“Mom, please don’t be angry. Men are just like kids at heart. It’s normal for them to slack off once in a while. If you’re really upset, I just won’t let him sleep in the bed tonight.”
Mom’s anger suddenly vanished, and she said with a smile, “Well, since Qingyi said that, I’ll let this brat off the hook. And also…”
Mom suddenly lowered her voice. “Xiao Mo has had a lot of little quirks since he was a child. He can’t sleep without a bed…”
A flush of pink spread across Ye Qingyi’s face. “Got it, Mom. I’ll let him sleep in the bed.”
Just then, Dad’s voice came from the kitchen: “Honey, why don’t you take a guess—what else can a rolling pin do besides hitting your son?”
He wanted to roll out dumpling wrappers, but his tool had been taken and not returned for ages. He was so helpless.
Mom raised an eyebrow, walked back into the kitchen, and said, “It can also hit your son’s father.”
Soon, the sound of pitiful wails echoed from the kitchen.
Ye Qingyi covered her mouth and chuckled softly. Then she turned and saw Su Mu staring blankly at her. She couldn’t help but feel shy. “What are you looking at me for?”
“You’re so beautiful…”
Ye Qingyi gave him a light punch. “Stop it~ Making fun of me in broad daylight.”
Su Mu’s throat moved. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Ye Qingyi couldn’t help but feel a little worried. She reached out and touched his forehead. “Honey, are you okay? You don’t look too good. Did you catch a chill?”
Su Mu’s whole body trembled. Her address caught him completely off guard, and he couldn’t help but murmur, “Wife…”
Suddenly, the space around him began to blur. The Ye Qingyi in front of him was engulfed in black flames.
In that cold, eerie fire, she smiled so beautifully.
Gradually, everything before his eyes burned up, and space itself began to collapse.
Su Mu panicked. He wanted to stop it all, but found it was useless.
“Ahhhhhhh—” Su Mu screamed and sat up straight. The surroundings changed back to that room in Kagawa Prefecture.
“So it was just a dream.” Su Mu looked visibly dejected. “I wish it could be like in the dream—that she would marry me and call me ‘honey.'”
Thinking of this, he suddenly squinted. “Wait a minute—why didn’t the dark flame go out of control? And just now, it was also the dark flame that burned the dream space. That means…”
That meant he hadn’t been dreaming just now. He had fallen into an illusion, and the dark flame had ultimately helped him break free.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Teacher Chiba, are you okay?” Hoshino Tamai’s voice came from outside the door. The other three were there too.
Su Mu calmed his excited emotions and said softly, “I’m fine. I just had a nightmare.”
He opened the door. The four of them were fully armed, each radiating a fierce aura, as if ready to fight.
“What’s all this?” Su Mu asked, confused.
“We thought a man-eating monster might have sneaked in to attack you.”
Su Mu glanced at their gear. They had brought out almost all their belongings. This wasn’t something they had thrown on at the last minute—they had clearly been prepared for a while.
He also noticed that Kurokawa Saki was breathing a little fast, with fine sweat on her forehead. She kept avoiding his gaze, not daring to look him in the eye.
Su Mu frowned. “Did something happen?”
“No, not really…” Hoshino Tamai gave a weak laugh. The others also looked tense, especially Kurokawa Saki—she was already on combat alert.
She must have seen something on me!
To keep them from getting too nervous, Su Mu tried to act as gentle as possible. “Kurokawa Saki, what did you see?”
Clang!
Kurokawa Saki suddenly drew the long sword she was carrying and swung it straight at Su Mu’s face.
The moment she drew her sword, the other three also instantly entered combat mode and attacked Su Mu together. Su Mu blocked with his bare hands. With just one move, he made all four of them fall back in defeat.
Su Mu dropped his friendly expression, disarmed the four of them, picked up one of the swords, and said impatiently, “Talk. If you don’t, I’ll start swinging.”
Su Mu had plenty of blood on his hands. So when he said that, a hint of killing intent flickered in his voice. The four of them were so frightened they quickly lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze.
“Kurokawa Saki, you speak. Did you see something?”
Su Mu asked a second time. Kurokawa Saki finally answered nervously, “I saw… I saw a purple eye pattern in your eyes too.”
Su Mu nodded, seemingly unsurprised, and continued, “When did you first see it? Has it changed? Tell me everything.”
Kurokawa Saki looked up at Su Mu’s eyes and then said, “The first time I saw it was after we split up and then regrouped. Back then, the eye pattern in your eyes was just a faint shadow. But just now, it started glowing—a purple light. It was very weak, but I could see it clearly.”
Su Mu frowned. He had a feeling that the dream he just had was related to this. So he asked, “And now?”
“Now it’s dimming again. From the moment you opened the door until now, it’s been getting darker.”
Su Mu understood.
He glanced at the four of them looking all disheveled and suddenly couldn’t help but laugh. “Not bad. You were alert enough to notice my change right away and responded appropriately. Even though you got crushed, it wasn’t without merit.”
He gave each of them feedback—first pointing out flaws, then praising strengths. Their moods visibly dropped and then lifted again.
“Teacher Chiba, so about our score…” Takahashi Eiro ventured to ask.
“Based on what I’ve seen so far, you can pass. If you want a high score, it depends on your performance from now on.”
After giving them enough encouragement, Su Mu kept Kurokawa Saki behind and sent the other three back to their own rooms.
“Teacher Chiba, I’m sorry. I attacked you without understanding the situation and even encouraged the others to join in…” Kurokawa Saki knew she was about to get scolded, so she started apologizing before Su Mu even said anything.
Su Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “That’s not what I wanted to talk about. Listen to me first.”
He cut off her heartfelt confession and asked seriously, “Did you notice who imprinted that purple eye symbol into my eyes? Or rather, who do you think is the most suspicious?”
Kurokawa Saki thought carefully for a moment and then shared her guess. “Either the hospital director, or the head doctor.”