The faint curve of Shen Mo’s lips deepened as he looked down at her with quiet amusement. “Otherwise — should I let you go back to your phone game?”

Bai Youwei: “……”

She felt utterly frustrated. This man was always so coolly distant in a way that made people’s hearts jump — but every now and then, he was completely hopeless when it came to reading the room……

She had scrubbed herself clean and put on perfume just to play on her phone?

Seriously?

Was he playing dumb on purpose? ……Or — could it be that all the physical exertion from today’s dungeon run had worn him out too much?

It was understandable. They had come close to death so many times. Keeping all five of them alive was something that had depended enormously on Shen Mo’s fighting ability. With any other squad, that wave of monsters in the parking garage alone would have cost them people. If it had been a different team, they might have taken real casualties.

Could Shen Mo have misgivings about that?

He had always cared about his teammates. Even if he had only been part of this squad for two weeks — perhaps he had already formed a bond with them.

Bai Youwei’s eyes darted thoughtfully, and she spoke again. “Scoring high means accepting certain risks. There’s simply no such thing as a foolproof plan in this world. At best, you prepare in advance and adapt on the fly.”

“Mm.” Shen Mo replied quietly, and lowered his head to press a kiss to her forehead.

“Telling everyone ahead of time might have been more careful,” she measured out her words, carefully sidestepping her own responsibility, “but it would also have affected the result… After all, not everyone has acting skills as excellent as mine.”

Shen Mo actually laughed — a real laugh. He rested against her for a moment, unable to collect himself, his chest shaking with the sound of it, warmth radiating from him in waves. Bai Youwei’s cheeks went faintly pink. She pushed at him with mild irritation, but couldn’t budge him.

“What are you laughing at?! I’m not wrong — what audiences want to watch is a story that could change at any moment, not an ending they already know, and certainly not a fixed, pre-planned attack routine.” She furrowed her brow and said to him with complete seriousness, “You’ve all been running dungeons with the commentary and live comments blocked out. Have you forgotten? This isn’t just a dungeon — it’s a broadcast. Viewer preferences have to be factored in. There might even be something like viewer ratings at play here!”

“Mm…… you make a valid point.” Shen Mo kissed her cheek, then drifted slowly down along her jaw, a smile threading through his voice. “The logic is simple enough — but not everyone can master that balance. For the story to be thrilling, danger must exist. And when there’s too much danger…… things tend to spiral out of control……”

Bai Youwei: “So let them wonder all they like. As long as I don’t admit to anything, they can’t do anything about me~”

She said it, then gave a light huff and added, “Besides — a squad only has five spots. If they knew the key to breaking the record, would they decide I had no more value and kick me out, then bring in one of their own people? That Yuri has been here for two years — he must know plenty of people. Call it petty of me, call it thinking like a villain when they might all be honorable — but we haven’t known each other that long. I need to stay at least a little guarded, don’t I?”

She pushed at Shen Mo’s weight on top of her. “Honey, you’d take my side, right? You always used to dote on me so much — always gave in to me, always protected me. Even with your amnesia now, you can’t start taking everyone else’s side against me……Ah!”

A light sting on her neck. Bai Youwei swatted his shoulder with mild annoyance and complained, “What did you bite me for?!”

Shen Mo lifted himself slightly and looked down at her with an expression of patient exasperation. “In this position we’re currently in — are we just going to talk?”

Bai Youwei: “……”

The temperature in her face rose rapidly.

She turned her head aside in acute discomfort, gaze darting away, cheeks flushed crimson, her expression caught somewhere between flustered and very quietly hopeful —

“You… you mean, we’re going to… do, that?”

Shen Mo supported himself on one arm, his dark eyes watching her with quiet warmth, “May I continue, then?”

……

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