As Andrew prepared to leave.
The window on the balcony had also been opened.
While letting fresh air in, it released the incredibly rich aroma of Photinia flowers that filled the entire room.
However, speaking of the changed bedding.
Andrew couldn't help but subconsciously touch the Item Bag he used to store things.
After all the bedding, including sheets and quilt covers, had been replaced with new ones by Evelyn, the original old sheet—stained with three patches of blood—could basically never be used again...
Initially, according to Evelyn's idea, she prepared to find a place to burn this sheet directly, thereby destroying the corpse to eliminate traces and ensuring it wouldn't be found by anyone.
But she couldn't withstand the disagreement of both Belle and Astra Yao.
The two reached a consensus, both saying they wanted to keep it as a commemoration of their 'first time'.
So, under the persistence of the two, and upholding the principle that the minority obeys the majority—especially given that one of them was Astra Yao—Evelyn decisively changed her mind.
In the end, after the three made a unanimous decision, Evelyn, with a slightly blushing face, chose to hand this sheet over to Andrew, letting Andrew take good care of it.
So, right now, this sheet had been carefully folded by Andrew and was lying quietly inside his Item Bag.
Although it felt a bit strange, if this were placed in a game, it would be a world-unique Legendary Collection Item.
Get☆da☆ze!!!
As Andrew walked down the stairs, the Silver Squad had long since completed their morning training and were resting in groups of twos and threes, playing around.
As the variety of crops in the farming greenhouse increased, the ground around Silver City, which originally consisted only of yellow sand and wasteland, gradually began to show some unexpected changes.
Spots of green began to appear on the wasteland, bringing completely different colors and vitality to the original barren land.
Although they were just tips of grass that had just sprouted, they made the land, which originally only had yellow sand, no longer so hard when sitting on it.
This instead made the Silver Squad feel as if they had discovered a New World.
Now, after every training session ended, almost all of them liked to gather in this place, leaning against each other to sit and rest for a while, looking up at the sky and feeling the clear breeze brush past their fingertips.
Although Andrew had never discovered what exactly was so special about this place, the members of the Silver Squad liked it very much.
The morning sunlight shone upon their bodies. The Silver Squad members, snuggling together, looked incredibly tranquil, as if they were sensing something.
After taking the milk specifically handed over by Twiggy from her hands and nodding in acknowledgment, Andrew began to look around, searching for traces of Astra Yao.
She had run down earlier because she was curious about the Silver Squad, so she should still be here right now.
Very quickly, Andrew discovered Astra Yao on a bench not far away.
What exceeded Andrew's expectations was that there was someone beside her. And the one sitting there was none other than the captain of the Silver Squad, Anby.
He saw Astra Yao describing something to Anby with a face full of pride, accompanied by hand gestures.
It was just that without hearing the voice clearly, Andrew couldn't temporarily distinguish what exactly Astra Yao was gesturing about.
And Anby on the side looked incredibly serious while listening, looking as if she were just short of taking out a pen and paper to write it down.
Was Astra Yao teaching Anby something?
But what could Astra Yao teach Anby? Music?
In Andrew's memory, Anby was clearly still very wary of the sudden appearance of Astra Yao and Evelyn last night.
The main point was that in Andrew's memory, from the time Astra Yao arrived at Silver City yesterday to when she went to his room, she and Anby didn't even have an interaction involving more than a few sentences from start to finish.
But from the time Astra Yao ran down until now, less than an hour had passed, right?
Yet the result was that Anby, during her break, abandoned her Silver Squad sisters and Nicole's group to specifically stay by Astra Yao's side.
How did the relationship between the two suddenly become so close?
Moreover, Anby looked completely convinced.
Looking at the actions of the two, the curiosity in Andrew's heart was also awakened.
So he began to move closer to the two, preparing to listen and see exactly what they were talking about.
As a result, just as he got a little closer, he heard Anby asking Astra Yao from afar with extreme seriousness:
"Then, Miss Astra, what exactly is your relationship with Andrew?"
"I've clearly said it many times, just call me Astra!"
Hearing Anby's form of address, Astra Yao first tried to remind her once more, refusing to believe she couldn't get through.
Seeing Anby looking as if it went in one ear and out the other, she had to temporarily give up on correcting Anby's form of address.
Instead, she thought for a moment, preparing to answer Anby's question.
Speaking of her relationship with Andrew.
Although they had done everything that should be done yesterday.
But if one were to talk about the relationship between the two... it seemed that from the time they met until now, neither she nor Andrew had made any move to formally establish a relationship.
But if she said 'friend', Astra Yao was naturally even less willing.
Thinking it over and over, Astra Yao tapped her lips lightly with her finger, as if she thought of something.
Her eyes lit up, and with a face full of pride, she uttered astonishing words:
"That's right! I should count as Andrew's—Lover! Or rather—a Mistress?"
"?!"
Is this some kind of phrasing to be proud of?!
Once these words came out, Andrew, who was approaching, directly entered a brainstorming state.
His originally blank brain was like a universe; countless galaxies began to surge and echo crazily within it.
This... this isn't right, is it!
"Ohh!!!"
Anby on the side, although her face still didn't show any expression, immediately let out a cry of admiration and surprise in perfect cooperation.
Subsequently, she tilted her head slightly, looking at Astra Yao and asking with a bit of confusion:
"But, what exactly are a lover and a mistress?"
Hearing this, Astra Yao, wearing an expression that said 'you finally asked the key point', immediately began to explain enthusiastically:
"The essential meaning of lover and mistress is actually about the same. It refers to when Andrew already has a girlfriend, and afterwards... Mmph! Mmph!!"
"Don't you dare spout nonsense! Don't you dare spout nonsense!! Astra, don't corrupt the children!"
Seeing that Astra Yao was about to instill strange knowledge into Anby's cognitive system, Andrew, feeling that something very bad for him would happen later, immediately took three steps in one, rushing directly behind Astra Yao.
He used the most convenient and fast physical silencing method at light speed—covering the mouth.
It was super effective!
Her words cut off halfway, realizing her mouth was suddenly covered, Astra Yao immediately began to try and struggle subconsciously.
But very quickly, after twisting her body a few times, she found that the hand covering her mouth was extremely familiar. And Anby opposite her had absolutely no intention of stopping it.
Turning her head slightly, after discovering that the person covering her mouth was Andrew, Astra Yao gave up on breaking free through strength.
After all, the feeling from last night—being lifted directly into the air by Andrew holding her waist with powerful strength, unable to land successfully for a long time, forced to fly in the air with her entire body weight supported only by three points, as if the only thing she could rely on was Andrew's arm for support... left a deep impression on Astra Yao.
However, in the later stages, when she was too tired to bear it and wanted to break free, Astra Yao discovered that her strength couldn't break Andrew's restrictions at all.
It wasn't until she completely ran out of strength and went limp at the very end that Astra Yao's toes once again felt the sensation of actually landing on the ground.
But thinking about it now, it actually left her wanting more.
However, because of this incident, Astra Yao truly felt that with her own strength, as long as Andrew didn't want it, it was fundamentally impossible to break free from Andrew's hands.
So she simply gave up on struggling forcibly with strength.
Seeing Astra Yao stop her movements, Andrew had just breathed a sigh of relief when he began to feel something delicate and soft flexibly and constantly touching his palm lightly.
As the softness glided gently, apart from a subtle itchiness coming from his palm, what was more important was that a patch of warm dampness was left in the area that was glided over.
Looking down, it was Astra Yao's eyes, revealing a sly look amidst their brightness.
"Hss..."
Discovering that Andrew had noticed her action, Astra Yao directly changed from the original light touching to flexibly drawing circles in his palm constantly.
She had a posture of 'if you don't let go, I'll keep licking like this'.
"Hss!!!"
Seeing this, afraid that if this continued, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from 'standing at attention' in public, Andrew had to immediately release his palm.
At this moment, there was already a patch of transparent water stain on Andrew's palm.
Subsequently, looking at the water stain in his hand, as if guided by a ghost or god, Andrew subconsciously brought his palm to the tip of his nose and sniffed lightly.
There was no strange smell.
On the contrary, there was a faint, unknown fragrance.
Sure enough, everything about a beautiful girl is fragrant.
"Ugh!"
Astra Yao, who had been watching Andrew, also noticed his action, but it was already too late to stop him.
Watching Andrew finish smelling, now it was Astra Yao's turn to be shy.
A blush immediately climbed up her cheeks. She shyly clenched her pink fist and fiercely hammered Andrew's arm twice, trying hard to express her dissatisfaction.
However, given that Andrew's physical constitution was inherently thick-skinned and durable, and Astra Yao couldn't bear to really use force at all, the final result was that Astra Yao's pink fist landing on Andrew caused no damage whatsoever. It could completely be said to be painless and itchless.
"Ahem."
At the same time, also realizing what he had subconsciously done in front of Anby just now, Andrew immediately gave a light cough.
He had just told Astra Yao not to corrupt the children, but the moment he turned his head, he did something like this himself.
So Andrew immediately changed the topic:
"Anby, you rest well first. I'll go see how the Three Little Pigs and Lucy are doing now."
"Yes!"
Although Astra Yao's subsequent explanation was interrupted, Anby didn't choose to continue questioning.
After all, according to the meaning Andrew expressed, he didn't want her to know too much about this thing Astra Yao mentioned.
But combining the previously discussed content and the first half of what Astra Yao said, her cognitive system had already automatically completed it.
Anby had already guessed the meaning represented by the so-called 'lover' pretty accurately.
After all, she was only fundamentally unaware because she had been in the shelter research institute without contact with the outside world, not because she was stupid or couldn't understand.
Watching the backs of Andrew pulling Astra Yao away, Anby recalled the matter she noticed last night—that Belle, Andrew's girlfriend, and Astra Yao, plus Evelyn, stayed in Andrew's room together all night.
If it were when Anby knew nothing about this kind of thing, she wouldn't have cared.
After all, previously in the shelter, in her concept which had zero contact with this aspect, even if they were in one room, it just meant sleeping together.
But with Nicole's secret popular science lesson from before, how could Anby, who already had a concept of that kind of thing, not think about what happened in Andrew's room last night?
Looking at Astra Yao and Evelyn, Anby silently pondered:
'So you don't need to be boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife to directly do this kind of thing... clearly, the search result for the first thing to do for repaying kindness was to become husband and wife...'
Silently and breathlessly, the events that just happened and the newly acquired knowledge directly caused the things hindering Anby's actions to be fiercely breached by another layer.
After Andrew led Astra Yao away from the area where the Silver Squad was resting, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head.
Scratching his head, he said to Astra Yao:
"Astra, although they look big, they are actually still children psychologically. Don't instill this kind of strange knowledge in them!"
"Eh~ Andrew, so you actually still treat Anby and the others as children?"
Astra Yao was a bit surprised upon hearing this.
"Yeah, even the oldest, Anby, is only four years old, and Soldier-11 is less than half a year old. What are they if not children?"
Discovering that Andrew really thought so, a smirk immediately appeared at the corner of Astra Yao's mouth.
Recalling the questions Anby asked before, Astra Yao decided not to tell Andrew what exactly Anby had asked.
Those questions were not something a child would ask.
Moreover, through these questions, Astra Yao could faintly guess what Anby's ultimate goal was.
Presumably, it would definitely give Andrew a big surprise later~
Thinking of that future, a smile that made Andrew feel inexplicably uneasy suddenly surfaced on Astra Yao's face.
Without explaining, Astra Yao just nodded.
Her tone couldn't help but carry a trace of a smirk as she said:
"Alright~ I got it~"
Who told Andrew to cover her mouth with his hand just now, giving her a jump scare?
And afterwards, he actually... actually smelled it!
Hearing Astra Yao agree, although he felt something was wrong—as if he had overlooked something—seeing Astra Yao's expression of completely understanding, Andrew hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose not to continue questioning.
After all, Andrew believed that if it were a bad thing, Astra Yao wouldn't hide it from him.
So since he overlooked it, it meant it wasn't important.
So even if he ignored it, there shouldn't be any problems... right?
_____
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