Fang Lian, feeling the weight of his stare but having no idea what ran through his mind, blinked in confusion.
"Master?" she asked softly.
Her voice tugged him back to the present, breaking the odd spell of his thoughts.
Fang Yuan blinked, shaking off the montary bewildernt at Xiao Pei’s despair over becoming handso.
Right. Different world, different priorities.
"It’ll be fine, Brother Da Pang," Fang Yuan said, his voice regaining its usual calm authority.
He clapped a hand on the despondent man’s shoulder.
"Look at it positively. Here, let tell you sothing." He gestured vaguely at Xiao Pei’s form. "The current you? This is you after tamorphosis."
Xiao Pei sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, a gesture jarringly incongruous with his sculpted features. "M-ta... what? What’s a ’tamorphosis’?"
Fang Yuan adopted a patient, explanatory tone. "It’s a natural process. Think of it like... a caterpillar."
He held up his hands, miming sothing small and wriggly. "It wraps itself in a cocoon, sleeps for a while, and then..." He spread his hands wide, dramatically.
"...it erges as a beautiful butterfly! A complete makeover! That’s you right now, Da Pang. You’ve shed your old... uh... cocoon."
Silence fell in the hut.
Fang Lian tilted her head, her brow furrowed in intense concentration, clearly trying to picture a hairy worm turning into a fluttering insect.
Xiao Pei just stared blankly, the concept failing to penetrate his fog of misery.
Fang Lian spoke first, her voice hushed with realization.
"Master..." she ventured slowly, "...you’re making up words again, aren’t you?"
Fang Yuan’s carefully constructed patient expression faltered for a split second.
He cleared his throat. "I am not ’making up words,’ Lian. It’s a perfectly valid... natural phenonon."
Fang Yuan deflected, turning back to Xiao Pei. "The point is, Da Pang, this new form is just another stage. An improved stage. Embrace it! Think of the advantages!"
"Advantages?" Xiao Pei looked at Fang Yuan, his expression a mix of misery and utter disbelief. "What advantages?"
Fang Yuan leaned forward, trying to inject enthusiasm. "Yes! The advantage of being handso! Strength, presence, the way people look at you..."
"But I feel fake," Xiao Pei whispered, the words raw and honest, cutting through Fang Yuan’s attempted pep talk.
He looked down at his large, powerful hands as if they belonged to soone else. "This isn’t , Brother Fang. It feels... wrong. Like I’m wearing soone else’s skin."
Fang Yuan went silent. He couldn’t argue with the deep-seated discomfort radiating from his friend.
The "tamorphosis" angle had failed, the "advantages" were clearly not advantages to Xiao Pei, and the Hollow Spirit Realm was a cruel reality check. He was montarily at a loss.
DING!
Suddenly, a shimring rectangle of pure golden light materialized in the air directly before Fang Yuan’s eyes.
[ New Quest Arrived: Get a girlfriend for your brother Xiao Pei.]
[Reward: Access to the weaponry]
[Note: It’s a sub quest and can be declined.]
Fang Yuan’s eyes locked onto the third line: Access to the weaponry.
His breath hitched. A weaponry? Just when he thought he felt like he needed an upgrade for a weapon? This is too easy.
Before conscious thought could intervene, a single, explosive word burst from his lips:
"YES!"
The shout echoed in the small hut, startlingly loud. Fang Lian jumped, hand instinctively going to her bandaged stomach.
Xiao Pei snapped his head up, wide-eyed, montarily shocked out of his despair by the sheer, unexpected volu and fervor.
Fang Yuan froze. He could feel two pairs of bewildered eyes burning into him.
He quickly schooled his features, smoothing away the frantic excitent, replacing it with an expression of calm authority.
He cleared his throat, straightening his robe with unnecessary precision. "Ahem. As I was saying..." he began, his voice forcibly level, "...being handso cos with a lot of advanta—..."
He trailed off as the air in the place hung heavy with unspoken questions.
Fang Lian blinked rapidly, exchanging a confused glance with Xiao Pei.
Xiao Pei just stared, his earlier misery temporarily replaced by pure bafflent.
Neither dared to ask.
The sheer incongruity of their usually composed Clan Head shouting "YES!", followed by this imdiate, transparent act of pretending it never happened... it was too strange, too jarring.
Fang Yuan, on the other hand, turned his attention back to the screen in front.
His eyes scanned the glowing golden notification.
Access to the weaponry.
With a thought, he ntally commanded: Accept!
To be thorough, he raised a hand and quickly tapped the air where the "Accept" prompt hovered in his vision.
This action, unfortunately, looked utterly bizarre to the onlookers.
Fang Lian gulped audibly, her eyes wide with alarm.
She leaned slightly towards Xiao Pei, whispering in a trembling voice, "Senior Xiao... is Master... possessed?"
Xiao Pei had no words. He stared at Fang Yuan tapping empty space with focused intensity.
He’d never seen Brother Fang act like this, not after facing demonic beasts, not even during clan crises.
Panic, different from his own body horror, began to bubble within him. Was the idea of wishing to be fat instead of this... that crazy? Did Brother Fang snap? Did my complain actually cause his ntal breakdown? Oh heavens, this is probably all my fault!
Just as Xiao Pei was spiraling into a vortex of misplaced guilt, Fang Yuan lowered his hand, the phantom notification dismissed.
He turned to Xiao Pei, his expression now one of unnerving determination, completely devoid of his earlier awkwardness or the bizarre excitent.
His voice cut through the tense silence, calm yet carrying the weight of an immutable decree.
"Alright, Brother Da Pang," Fang Yuan stated, his gaze locking onto Xiao Pei’s terrified eyes.
"We’ll get you a girlfriend. One way or the other. By hook or by crook. You will be getting one."
It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t a question seeking his opinion or consent.
It was an undisputed statent of fact.
The sheer, unexpected absurdity of the proclamation, combined with its absolute certainty, montarily short-circuited both Xiao Pei’s guilt and Fang Lian’s fear of possession.
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