This was a night when flowers bloomed across the courtyard; a night when rain veiled the shy moonlight; a night when snow piled high; a night that made people yearn, made them long, made them blush, and yet left them unable to resist wanting—wanting to take a closer look.
Six girls split into two tables and played Dou Dizhu all night. It really was exhausting. As for what else happened? I don't know. You don't know. Only the parties involved know.
However, no matter what, they would never admit what truly happened. They would only insist that they had merely been playing cards. There was absolutely nothing H about it!
In any case, this eventful night finally passed along with the cold rain and mist. At least, once dawn broke through the thin clouds, everything began anew.
What the future would bring was uncertain for now. Perhaps the girls' relationships had grown closer again—but none of them had forgotten what Chu Lian said the night before.
Half a year was not a short amount of time, but it was also something everyone was willing to wait for and give.
At this point, whatever Chu Lian did, she had to let the girls know that she cared about them, that she was making an effort for their sake—not acting aimlessly.
This also pushed Chu Lian to stop being so lazy. At the very least, she had to make everyone understand that she was someone who kept her word and was willing to invest time and effort.
She didn't know what they would think. Carrying the girls' expectations silently on her shoulders, Chu Lian decided to go all out.
I'm going to build a harem. None of you can stop me.
Even though she knew that even if she failed to meet their expectations, they wouldn't leave her, her ambition of building a harem would have to be delayed for a very, very long time.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was a crystal palace. Both required time.
Impatient people would stumble at the beginning or during the process, causing the palace to collapse, the world to shatter, the girls to turn dark, and the story to enter a BAD END—after which they'd just have to wait to be stabbed.
Only those with patience, confidence, good looks, charm, and the ability to bring everyone together were qualified to build a harem.
Thus, this was Chu Lian's harem declaration—well, more accurately, she simply wanted to create a secret garden for girls, a place where they could interact and live together, an independent world closed off from outsiders, especially men.
In the end, it became a secret passed among girls—a dreamland that every girl longed to enter; and also a fantasy garden that made men drool with envy, beating their chests in frustration that so many high-quality beauties didn't belong to them.
No matter what, the near-disastrous situation from last night had ultimately been stopped by Chu Lian in an unexpected way. At least for the next six months, her "ship" would remain steady through any storm. Of course, if she just drifted without moving forward, then she would only have herself to blame if it capsized.
"Yawn... finally awake. What time is it?" Chu Lian yawned, stretching out a pale hand to feel around beside her bed—but she couldn't find her alarm clock. Just as she was wondering, another hand suddenly reached out from beside her and smacked hers away, startling her.
"Who is it?" The girls had clearly gone back already. Why was someone still here? They had school today—after staying up all night, they should be exhausted. There was no way they'd still be lingering here.
"Meow?" Her voice seemed to confuse the person in the bed. A soft, drowsy sound escaped, and a cute little head emerged from beneath the blanket.
Delicate features sat upon a round little face, giving her the appearance of an adorable eleven- or twelve-year-old girl. A small, heart-shaped mouth, ice-blue slit pupils, long white hair that nearly enveloped her entire body, and a delicate nose all made her look especially petite.
But the most eye-catching feature was the pair of fluffy white cat ears on top of her head—an existence that would deliver a fatal blow to any cat lover.
Chu Lian did own a cat. She wasn't particularly a cat enthusiast, and she had never shown any special preference for beast-eared girls—after all, she had once been a fox-eared girl herself, and that had left her with a rather embarrassing experience. Her ears had been far too sensitive. A single touch would leave her body weak. Who would like that? At least, she absolutely didn't want anyone to know she was actually that H of a girl.
Despite all those reasons, at this moment, nothing could stop the affection in her heart from overflowing. She reached out and gently pinched the cat girl's ear, instantly waking her up.
"Idiot master, meow!" At a speed Chu Lian couldn't even track, the cat loli appeared right in front of her and lightly licked her cheek, leaving Chu Lian momentarily stunned.
"You called me master?" Yes, she was completely confused. She had only ever kept one cat, right? Don't joke—there was no way that tsundere, scheming, shamelessly bust-loving cat could be this adorable cat loli in front of her.
"You idiot flat-chested master, who are you calling tsundere and scheming, meow?!" The cat girl seemed able to hear her inner thoughts. She immediately bit down lightly on Chu Lian's neck, making her laugh helplessly. "Tina? Is that really you? No way—you shouldn't have reached the age or strength required to take human form yet."
Indeed, like dragons and giants, most races could only transform after reaching the Heaven rank. Tina was a spirit cat, but her age and strength were still limiting factors.
"Hmph, that's why I said flat-chested master is an idiot, meow~" Tina clearly took great pride in her race. She replied, "The Spirit Cat royal family surpasses even top-tier divine bloodlines. How could we have so many restrictions, meow?"
"We can transform right after birth. It's just that when we're weak, transforming is useless, so I only did it once and didn't bother again, meow." Tina spoke proudly, completely unaware of Chu Lian's gradually furrowing brows.
"Transforming right after birth... that's the same as back then. So that means..." If Tina hadn't brought it up, Chu Lian might not have thought of it—but now she remembered clearly. That night, it had felt like something was pressing down on her. She had thought she imagined it. But now it seemed—it was this girl all along.
Reaching out, ignoring the cat loli's resistance, Chu Lian pinched her cheeks and stared into those ice-blue slit pupils. "Explain yourself clearly. Back then, was it you who transformed and pressed down on me? And why are you transformed now? I didn't see you at all yesterday—where did you go? Report honestly, or I'll hand you over to Mother. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to deal with you—you unnecessary cat! lo! li!"
It was obvious that having her cheeks pinched wasn't comfortable, but Tina, having promised Ayase something, was much more obedient this time. She didn't resist Chu Lian. Instead, her lips opened and closed under the pinch as she began to explain.
"Meow, it's not my fault, meow. It was my first time seeing a human, so I wanted to try transforming, meow. I couldn't exactly transform into something else, right? And besides, I'm not heavy—it's just that you have no chest, so I seem heavy, meow! Do you know how uncomfortable it was for me to sleep on you, meow! And lastly, yesterday I went to deal with some strange occurrences lately, meow. A lot of unknown souls have been wandering here. If I didn't handle it, something bad would happen sooner or later, meow! I did all this for you, you idiot flat-chested master, meow!"
Clearly, the cat loli had no idea just how much damage her repeated "idiot master" and "flat-chested" remarks were doing to Chu Lian. Chu Lian had been holding back her anger the entire time. After Tina finished speaking and looked like she was waiting for a reward, Chu Lian asked, "You think you deserve a reward for doing all that?"
"Of course, meow. I did it all for you, idiot flat-chested master, meow. If I hadn't taken care of it, you'd be swamped when you came back, meow. So you should properly reward me, meow." Tina believed her hard work made her request completely justified. She didn't even realize how provocative her words sounded.
"Good, very good. Then today, I'll give you a reward..." Chu Lian took a deep breath and smiled faintly.
Her smile looked gentle, but in Tina's eyes—who knew her well—it was clear something was wrong. It seemed she had angered her idi—no, her master. She was about to get mad!
Unfortunately, before Tina could slip into the shadow plane to escape, Chu Lian moved first. She grabbed the completely naked cat loli and pulled her in front of her, staring into her eyes. "Come on, today your master will show you what authority looks like. I'll smack you until you can't even get out of bed!"
Chu Lian's words made Tina's eyes shrink. She struggled desperately. "No, meow! I'm a minor, meow! That's illegal, meow! Believe it or not, I'll report you to the Pan-Universal Multi-Species Union for assaulting a minor girl, meow!"
"Who said I was going to assault you?" Chu Lian shot her a sideways glance, sounding almost amused.
That response finally made Tina realize something was off. She tried to cover her little backside—but it was too late.
Chu Lian lifted the blanket, letting her beautiful body be revealed in the sunlight. She flipped Tina over and pressed her onto her thigh. Then her hand came down onto the cat loli's raised, twitching backside.
Smack smack smack smack smack...
The crisp, rhythmic sound of slaps rang out. Tears instantly welled up in Tina's eyes as she struggled. "Meow—I won't dare again! I won't call you idiot flat-chested master anymore, meow! Please spare me, meow! It hurts, meow..."
But she didn't understand—when a naughty loli did something wrong, punishment was inevitable. Chu Lian showed no mercy as her hand struck down again and again, quickly turning the pale skin red. Anyone could tell it hurt.
"I really won't call you that anymore, meow! Please spare me—it hurts so much..." Even now, Tina hadn't realized that those words had already become a habit she couldn't break. Saying less would have helped. The more she spoke, the more it hurt. In the end, even her raised tail curled around her waist as she whimpered, "I hate you, master... you're so mean... bullying me like this... I won't like you anymore..."
"Hmph..." Hearing her cry and give in, Chu Lian's heart softened. Looking at the reddened spot, she felt a bit guilty but didn't know what to do. She could only snort lightly to show she understood.
"Will you listen from now on?" Since Tina had admitted her mistake, Chu Lian wasn't going to keep pressing. When she was in cat form, she slipped away too easily to catch. Now that she'd willingly transformed and climbed into her bed, she couldn't blame Chu Lian for being merciless.
If her attitude had been better—if she hadn't kept using those grating words—Chu Lian might have let the past go. But Tina kept poking at her sore spots again and again. Naturally, Chu Lian had to teach this mischievous little brat a lesson.
"I won't disobey anymore, meow. Please forgive me, master, meow..." Even now, Tina couldn't drop her verbal tic. It was likely ingrained in her instincts—after all, cats meowed, didn't they?
"Hmph. I'll forgive you this time and trust you once. Hare..." Chu Lian finally calmed down after hearing her. Seeing the reddened skin, she felt a pang of heartache. Calling out to Hare Menjou, a white glow gathered in her hand. Under the soft light, the bruised redness left by her spanking quickly faded away.
A warm sensation spread from her backside through her body. The pain disappeared, and Tina's sobbing gradually stopped. She secretly glanced back at Chu Lian, who was clearly feeling guilty. A hint of joy flashed in her eyes before she turned away again, pretending to still be upset, occasionally sniffing.
"Alright, alright, why are you still crying? I didn't cry even after you said all that about me, yet you're the one acting hurt. Honestly... hurry up and get dressed and tell me what exactly happened. Why are there suddenly so many souls around here?" Chu Lian didn't notice Tina's act. Hearing her sniffles, she felt a bit guilty and didn't know how to ease the mood, so she changed the subject.
Tina wagged her tail and sat up, looking at Chu Lian somewhat shyly. "Tina doesn't have any clothes, meow. Otherwise I would have gone out to play in this form long ago, meow..."
Looking at the petite cat loli, Chu Lian realized that made sense. Being able to transform was already impressive. As for creating clothes—Tina was still too weak. Asking Mother for help was an option, but judging by Tina's fear of her, that clearly wasn't happening. So Chu Lian nodded and began searching through her Integrity Points.
"Vanilla's Maid Outfit: A must-have for cat lovers. If you have a cat loli, don't hesitate—dress her in this. Includes white thigh-high stockings, blue-and-white panties, two band-aids, and a pair of blue maid heels. Exchange price: 5888 Integrity Points. Full service—enhance your cat loli's beauty. Are you really going to be stingy about this amount?"
"Shiroha, that's enough!" Chu Lian complained inwardly about the system description, which had been getting increasingly shameless since Shiroha took over. Still, she didn't hesitate to exchange for the outfit and handed it to Tina.
"Meow?" Tina looked confused. Chu Lian had no choice but to help her put it on herself. She wasn't quite sure what to say about using band-aids in place of a chest wrap, but once dressed, with her long white hair tied into twin tails, blue eyes, white cat ears, and white tail, Tina really did resemble Vanilla—only younger and even cuter.
"Alright, now can you tell me what exactly happened?" Chu Lian reminded her again, watching Tina curiously fiddle with her outfit.
"Oh, right, it's like this, meow..." Hearing the question, Tina knew it was time to get serious. She sat down on the bed in a proper duck-sitting posture and began explaining what she knew...