Showdown with the Backups!

The big white rabbit girl scurried off cheerfully to pick her room, leaving Mu Nujiao — playing the older sister — completely speechless. She followed after her in quick strides.

Clearly, Mu Nujiao wasn't keen on sharing a home with a man. The knot between her brows said everything.

Mo Fan, for his part, couldn't have cared less. Getting to watch two stunning women flit around the place while he cultivated sounded like a pretty good deal.

Mu Nujiao really was something else. Great face, killer figure — every boys' dormitory on campus had spent considerable energy fantasizing about her, and now he was going to be living under the same roof. "Nice" didn't begin to cover it.

There was a saying: you walk into university alone, and you walk out a family of three. It seemed he was closer to that "winner at life" status than he'd thought!

Mo Fan didn't bother arguing about splitting the rent. He'd been planning on two rooms anyway — one for himself and one for Xinxia.

Xinxia's break was coming up soon, and he couldn't very well leave her cooped up in the school dorms or stuck back in that resettlement flat. He'd bring her here. Besides, it had been ages since the two of them had had any real quality time together — a chance to, ahem, deepen their bond!

As for his father — no need to worry there. Mo Jiaxing apparently wanted to head back to Bo City for a while. According to Mo Fan's aunt, he'd caught the eye of some woman and would be staying longer. The man had been single for ages; if spring had finally come around for him, Mo Fan wasn't going to stand in the way. He'd just transfer a million yuan into the old man's account for fun money.

*A million yuan straight into his account... Having money really does hit different.*

"Ai Tutu!!" Mu Nujiao's voice sharpened with irritation, stopping the bounding girl in her tracks.

Ai Tutu padded back with an expression of practiced remorse — though her eyes danced with mischief.

"Mu-jie, I know I messed up. I know you don't like living with outsiders. But..." She paused, a sly grin spreading across her face. "Don't you want to know how he escaped your Kun Grove? And don't you feel like this guy is absolutely full of secrets?"

Ai Tutu was nobody's fool. She'd found her angle fast.

And she hadn't missed.

Among her peers, Mu Nujiao was a force without equal. She still couldn't quite accept that she'd lost at the Freshman Tournament to some mage from an ordinary background. It simply hadn't sat right with her.

On top of that, she'd heard the rumors about the gymnasium incident — that the person who actually killed the Scale-Skin Mother Demon had been Mo Fan.

Someone capable of solo-killing a Battle-General-class creature, and she was supposed to believe he had no secrets? Mu Nujiao didn't buy that for a second.

She'd been quietly curious about Mo Fan ever since.

"Mu-jie," Ai Tutu pressed on, "he's annoying, sure — let him get yelled at all he wants. But his strength is probably among the best in the entire school. That already makes him more interesting — and more promising — than all those guys who crawl out of Noble Clans and spend every waking moment bragging about how legendary they are. This co-tenancy is an opportunity. Get to know him a little, and maybe he'll be so taken with you that he'll want to join the Mu Family. You're short on real talent right now, and throwing money at sketchy retainers is a waste. Taming this 'great demon king' would be worth far more. I once heard Dean Xiao mention offhandedly that this guy's future has no ceiling!"

Mu Nujiao lapsed into thought.

Even Dean Xiao had a high opinion of him. Was this "demon king" still holding something back?

"For the Mu Family's sake, Mu-jie, just make the small sacrifice," Ai Tutu continued. "And honestly, I don't think he's actually a bad person. If he were, why would he have stepped up during the gymnasium incident? You've been deep in your training — you might not have heard what's been going around campus. I heard that a lot of girls saw him with their own eyes, saving them!"

Mu Nujiao had been firmly set against this arrangement, but after hearing all that, she found herself wavering.

She was curious how he had beaten her. She was curious whether the gymnasium incident had really been him saving people. She was curious about whatever stronger thing this "demon king" might still be hiding. And with Ai Tutu's argument that co-tenancy offered a real opening to draw him into the Mu Family's fold — Mu Nujiao was on the fence.

Ai Tutu clearly understood exactly how to handle Mu Nujiao: catch her in a moment of hesitation, move fast, and Mu Nujiao would reluctantly agree before she could think twice. Which is exactly what happened.

"...Fine. But he's been spending time with people from the Zhao Clan — we'll need to be careful."

"Don't worry about it!"

Mo Fan had no idea the two girls were already scheming to draw out his secrets. He'd paid the full semester's rent in one go, then sprawled out on the first-floor sofa and settled in for a perfectly lazy afternoon.

The sofa was absurdly soft. He sank into it like quicksand.

Someone like Mu Nujiao, who'd never once had to count her coins, probably wouldn't give a place like this a second glance. But for Mo Fan — who'd once been so broke he'd had to sell the family home — living in a place this lavish was something words couldn't quite capture.

And once Xinxia moved in, there'd be three beautiful women under this roof.

That was the life of the gods. Plain and simple.

He lay there at his ease — some television, a bit of internet browsing, a small drink — a blissfully idle afternoon. He'd been grinding so relentlessly for so long that he genuinely couldn't remember the last time he'd allowed himself to actually rest.

Near the elevator, two handsome, clean-cut young men were hauling an enormous stuffed rabbit toward the apartment.

They looked eager to please — gracious smiles in place, projecting effortless elegance even while doing the unglamorous work of a moving crew.

"Just leave everything in the living room," Ai Tutu told them.

"Of course— oh?" The one in glasses caught sight of Mo Fan, and a flicker of hostility crossed his face, gone almost before it appeared. "Someone's already here?"

Mo Fan had drifted off on the sofa and hadn't stirred when he heard people come in. He was still half-asleep when the noise finally roused him — and nearly leaped out of his skin when he found a stuffed rabbit the size of a grown person sitting right beside him.

"What on earth—?!" He rubbed his eyes.

"We're moving in, obviously. Half that sofa belongs to my bunny now!" Ai Tutu declared with a proprietary air.

Then she waved the two "backups" off. The one in glasses glanced back at Mo Fan as he turned to leave — and in that instant, the polished, harmless expression cracked right off his face. He looked at Mo Fan flatly and said: "Hey, what are you still lying there for? Didn't you hear Tutu tell us to clear out?"

Mo Fan met his eyes. "Friend, I live here."

The bespectacled one and his pretty companion both stared.

Then they sneered. This guy — dressed head to toe in bargain-bin clothes — hadn't woken up from his little fantasy yet. Everyone on campus knew what it meant to live with Ai Tutu: it meant living right next door to Mu Nujiao. Share a place with Ai Tutu, and you were basically sharing it with Mu Nujiao.

"Stop dreaming and get out," the pretty one said pleasantly, in a tone that was anything but.

Mo Fan's expression cooled.

*I'm here minding my own business, and two things in human clothing decide to walk in and start barking orders at me?*

"The ones who should get out," Mo Fan said, rising from the sofa, "are you." His gaze settled on the two men who were clearly there to make trouble.

Watching the tension snap taut between them, Ai Tutu's whole body seemed to buzz with glee. She darted to the side, snatched up a bag of snacks, and settled in with bright, eager eyes as Mo Fan squared off against her two "backups." She didn't say a single word to stop them.