Chương 160: The Amazing Question

Leaning against the cold wall, Ji Ying still tried to make a final struggle, her voice trembling slightly as she said, "Um—do I really have to say it? It's just—everyone has their own little secrets or something, and I—" Before she finished speaking, Su Yuqing's beautiful black eyes narrowed slightly, and a slightly dissatisfied expression appeared on her face.

Her slender, fair right hand fingers danced lightly in the air like the limbs of a nimble spider, while her gaze landed meaningfully and directly on Ji Ying's lower abdomen and side waist.

That undisguised, threatening gaze instantly reminded Ji Ying of the despair and helplessness she felt when she was pinned to the bed and tickled, and her body shivered uncontrollably.

Just as tensions were rising, Luo Bingli spoke up in a somewhat reassuring voice, "Xiaoying, if possible, I still hope you can tell us."

Looking at Ji Ying's obviously flustered and uneasy appearance, she said in a gentler voice, "To be honest, your current state is really not right. Yu Qing and I are also very worried about you. If you can tell us the truth, we can feel a little more at ease."

"Sigh—" Ji Ying sighed heavily in her heart. She realized that there was no point in continuing to hide it. On the contrary, it might cause them to make more unnecessary guesses and misunderstandings, or even—lead to more terrible "torture".

She gritted her teeth, raised her head, and her dark red eyes held a hint of desperate resolve as she made her final request: "Fine, I'll tell you! But—after you hear it, you absolutely mustn't laugh at me! If—if you dare to laugh, I'll—I'll—" Ji Ying thought for a long time, but sadly realized that she had no threat that she could actually utter. In the end, she could only blush and remain silent, as if she were sulking.

Seeing Ji Ying's adorable expression—clearly wanting to say something but unable to—Su Yuqing suppressed her laughter and quickly raised her hand, solemnly promising, "Don't worry, don't worry, I, Su Yuqing, swear to heaven I will never laugh at you! And to show my sincerity, I promise I won't lay a hand on you until you finish speaking, how about that?"

She tried her best to make her expression look completely sincere. In order to prevent further provoking the already on the verge of exploding, she even forcibly suppressed her intention to immediately go forward and hug him and give him a good rub.

Luo Bingli, standing to the side, nodded slightly, silently indicating her agreement with Su Yuqing's promise, her clear eyes filled with curiosity and anticipation.

Having received assurances from the two, and after a fierce internal struggle, Ji Ying finally took a deep breath and, in a tone tinged with self-abandonment, explained the root cause of his current unusual behavior— The side effect of a deeper fusion of power and soul is that one's personality and way of thinking will be affected during the period when the transformation cannot be reversed, becoming more feminine.

Of course, in this narrative, Jiying modified the direct conclusion previously given by the system into a reasonable deduction she made based on her current physical condition and changes in power.

After listening to Jiying's explanation, Su Yuqing immediately asked with some concern, "Xiaoying, you just said that this effect is temporary, right?"

"Then—as long as you can successfully deactivate the transformation in the future, those strange effects shouldn't—continue to affect your original body, right?"

Luo Bingli, standing to the side, also stared intently at Ji Ying, her eyes filled with the same tension and concern.

Although Jiying's answer just now clearly pointed out the temporary nature of this effect, they still urgently wanted to get a more definitive answer from the other party.

Ji Ying nodded slightly and emphasized again, "Yes, don't worry, this state is only temporary. Once the power is fully integrated, everything will return to normal."

"Phew—that's great." Upon hearing this affirmative answer, Su Yuqing's tense expression instantly relaxed.

"Luckily, this situation is only temporary. If—if you, A-Che, really start acting like a sissy in the future—" She paused slightly, as if trying to imagine the situation.

The next moment, a look of obvious disgust appeared on her face, and she stuck out her tongue slightly: "Ugh—that feels so disgusting—"

"you-!!!"

Ji Ying completely lost her temper the moment she heard Su Yuqing's "malicious" comment.

She suddenly raised her head, glaring angrily at Su Yuqing, looking fierce as if she wanted to pounce on her and bite her right away.

However, Su Yuqing seemed completely oblivious to this scene. Instead, as if she had suddenly realized something crucial, a look of sudden understanding appeared on her face, and she said to herself, "So that's how it is! In that case, all those strange and unusual behaviors of yours, Xiaoying, can be explained!"

"And looking back now, the way you were so adorable back then, even though you were clearly panicking inside, you were desperately trying to hide it and being stubborn—"

"Hehe, she's really—too cute to handle!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Ying became even angrier, but when she noticed the sparkling look in Su Yuqing's eyes, she suddenly realized the real reason why she didn't want to tell Su Yuqing about this in the first place. She shrank back into a small ball. Su Yuqing, who knew about this, was extremely dangerous to her!

Before she could even make any effective response, Su Yuqing once again easily pinned her down on the soft bed.

Su Yuqing's eyes gleamed with excitement as she stared intently at the petite girl trembling slightly with fear beneath her. A sweet yet incredibly dangerous smile spread across her face: "So, Xiaoying has completely transformed into a lovely girl, inside and out, right? My—Xiaoying little sister?"

"N-no way!" Ji Ying immediately blushed and denied it.

"Didn't I just say that? I'm only temporarily affected by the side effects of that power fusion. My essence, my soul, are still—" Unfortunately, Su Yuqing seemed to completely ignore her weak and feeble explanation.

She tilted her head slightly, a more mischievous smile spreading across her face, and continued to ask in that cloyingly sweet voice, coaxingly, "So—Little Ying, now you'd better tell your older sister honestly, don't you think this pink and blue pajama set you're wearing is actually very cute?"

"No, no way—not cute at all—" Jiying tried her best to deny it, but her stammering and evasive eyes betrayed her truest thoughts.

Seeing Ji Ying's expression—clearly, he liked her very much, but he was too shy to admit it—Su Yuqing finally couldn't hold back any longer.

She released her grip on Jiying, cradled her belly, and burst into a clear, melodious laugh.

"Hahahaha—Xiaoying—you, you look—so cute—I can't take it—I'm going to die laughing—hahahahaha—" Luo Bingli, standing to the side, couldn't help but smile as Su Yuqing's joyful laughter spurred her on. Her lips curled up slightly, and she let out a few soft laughs.

Of course, compared to her friend's almost unrestrained mockery, she still had to be much more reserved and restrained.

"You guys—didn't you promise not to laugh at me?! That's so unfair!"

Ji Ying instantly bristled, looking at the two girls who burst out laughing.

Upon hearing Ji Ying's question, Su Yuqing not only did not restrain herself at all, but laughed even louder and more exaggeratedly, and even patted the bed repeatedly.

Looking at Ji Ying's ashamed and indignant expression, Luo Bingli felt a pang of apology in her eyes, but she couldn't help but want to laugh. She could only try to cover her laughter by gently pressing her mouth shut, but her shoulders continued to tremble.

"Hmph! I'm ignoring you all!"

Ji Ying simply faced the wall, closed her eyes tightly, and used her actions to express her strong desire that she was "very angry and didn't want to talk to you untrustworthy and bad women."

After a while, the laughter in the room finally subsided.

Su Yuqing came to Jiying's side, gently poked her slightly puffed-up cheek, and said in a somewhat ingratiating tone, "Okay, okay, Xiaoying, don't be angry anymore. We know we were wrong, we shouldn't have laughed at you."

Ji Ying kept his eyes tightly closed and remained silent, expressing his protest through silence.

Seeing this, Su Yuqing's eyes darted around, and she immediately asked a question, trying to divert Ji Ying's attention: "By the way, Xiao Ying, why did you suddenly reach the threshold for starting the fusion? It shouldn't be because of the energy cores that Xiao Li and I gave you before, right?"

Ji Ying was still sulking and didn't want to answer any of Su Yuqing's questions.

However, when she felt the other person's persistent, gentle tapping of her cheek with their finger, she said somewhat impatiently and sullenly, "I wanted to tell you before, before Xingxian left, I asked her for some Void Beast energy cores, and she gave me—several very high-quality Erosion-grade energy cores."

"Several of them?! And they're even erosion-grade?!" Upon hearing this answer, Su Yuqing's expression instantly became somewhat subtle, her focus shifting to something strange.

—Damn it! I actually—lost to that woman again when it came to delivering energy cores?!

Luo Bingli, standing to the side, looked thoughtful after hearing Ji Ying's answer.

Looking at Ji Ying's petite figure, still with her back to them, she asked softly, with a hint of probing, "Xiao Ying, regarding Xing Xuan, did you... not tell us the whole truth?"

"Is she really just an ordinary magical girl who happened to be passing through Jiangchuan City?"

"Or perhaps she actually came here on purpose—as an inspector?"

Almost the instant Luo Bingli uttered the last word, Ji Ying's eyes widened abruptly. He turned around and stared in astonishment at the girl beside him who was gazing at him with a calm and focused look.