Zhang Yemiao stared at Wang Qi, all pitiful. “But if you’re the only one working here, I’ll feel bad…”

She’d done her makeup to look less pretty, yet still gave off a cute vibe. Like a bullied little animal. It made saying anything harsh impossible.

Wang Qi pointed at the logs he’d sawed. “Dorm Leader, you can’t use big tools like a saw, but a hand plane should be fine, right? Shave off the bark. Smooth timber’s better for building.”

“Eh? Can’t I just pile wood and stone together and use my ability to knock out a house?”

Daily-use items cover a lot. A house isn’t off-limits to a knock.

Wang Qi kept sawing. “Dorm Leader, you can only knock out simple stuff, like tents and lean-tos, right?” He seemed to see her skill tree.

“This is where we’ll live. Prefab doesn’t cut it. It’s fine for a temporary stay. I plan to live here for quite a while, so building it by hand is what matters.”

Wang Qi, unexpectedly romantic where it counts.

Zhang Yemiao thought it over. True.

They could build things themselves. Come on, civil engineering majors? Building a house isn’t necessarily easy, but you can always get it done.

So she started working too.

Then she found another downside of her ability. Planing wood, for example—tools came easy to her, hands-on felt instantly skilled, efficient and low effort. But the blisters on her palms said it all.

A seasoned woodworker would have calluses there. She had no defense at all.

A sudden wave of uselessness hit. Zhang Yemiao dropped the plane and stared at the sky in despair. Ugh, I’m just a total noob.

Then again, if she weren’t a noob, she wouldn’t cling like a trinket and keep hugging someone else’s thigh. She used to be the Dorm Leader, after all.

She of course didn’t remember that back in the dorm she’d also been the tagalong who brought meals. Homework and labs depended on other people’s mercy.

She put on ointment and bandages, then gave up on “I’ll pitch in by hand.” The tools were hers anyway. It wasn’t like she didn’t contribute at all.

“I can’t do this kind of labor. I’ll start synthesizing some stuff first.”

She began synthesizing daily-use items with what they had.

Like… branch plus block—wooden shovel synthesized! Vine plus branch—vine chair synthesized!

She kept making random things. Whether they’d be useful or not didn’t matter. She could sell them in town later or gift them away. Still good.

Wang Qi kept sawing, watching her synth more and more items. She looked happy. And it wasn’t pointless. You don’t build just a shell; you need furnishings too.

He stopped paying attention to her and focused on the trees.

When you’re locked in on a task, time flies. In this grove seeded by magic long ago, the two of them worked hard.

Until, three days later—

“Is three hundred enough?” Zhang Yemiao eyed the stacked, thick logs. Each one would count as good building timber on X Planet.

Wang Qi nodded. “It’s definitely enough. For just the two of us, this is plenty. I cut this many so you’ll have stock for later. No idea what you’ll synth next.”

Zhang Yemiao smiled, satisfied, and nodded. “Mm. You get it. We can start with small tools and sell them for cash.”

“Small tools?”

“Like wooden music boxes?”

“But this world has magic. Would that sell? I heard there’s a major school entirely about music…”

Zhang Yemiao deflated a little. “Ah. Uh, I thought we could get rich. A whole music school? That’s cheating. This magic world is too advanced!”

Like a sulking kid, she pulled a fierce face and kicked the stacked logs. She wasn’t dumb, so she didn’t kick hard.

“Then no delays. While we still have daylight, let’s finish one room, or we’re back in the tent tonight.” Wang Qi ignored her grumpy look and got ready to build.

Not getting the comfort she wanted, Zhang Yemiao shot him a glare. Then she placed one hand on a log, lifted her hammer with the other, and gave a gentle tap. The log shifted into the shape she wanted.

She suddenly realized a problem. “Wait, we didn’t lay a foundation. What do we do?”

Everyone knows if you don’t lay a foundation, the build quality will…

“We can only drive the posts straight into the ground. We don’t have reinforced concrete. Even if you could synth it, it’d be tough, right?”

True.

With the plan set, it got simple. Zhang Yemiao kept turning whole logs into planks and strips. Wang Qi did the brute work. With his enhanced body, he forced the posts deep into the earth.

Night fell. They managed to put up a single room. It was completely bare inside.

Both of them lit up, and ran in, excited.

“…We forgot floorboards,” Wang Qi said the second he stepped in. “And there’s no bed.”

A smug smile bloomed on Zhang Yemiao’s face. “Heh-heh-heh~” She looked pleased and pointed at him. “Go stand in the corner.”

Wang Qi did as told and moved to the corner.

She checked the room’s size, found a good spot, and opened her storage space.

A double wooden bed appeared.

It looked like the bed from the inn, just without padding. It’d be hard to sleep on, but hey, it was a bed.

Wang Qi frowned. “Why a double?”

Zhang Yemiao froze. “Huh? Aren’t there two of us?”

Wang Qi took a deep breath. “Can’t you make two single beds?”

…The worst is sudden silence.

Her face went red. She kicked off her shoes, flopped onto the bed, and said, half-defiant, “I don’t care! Sleep or don’t!”

She’d forgotten there was no padding. The bed was hard. Thud. She rolled around. “Ah! That hurts!”

A shadow fell over her.

She stopped rolling and realized Wang Qi was already on the bed. He was kneeling, hands braced on either side, pinning her in place without actually pressing down.

Her heart started racing.

“W-what are you doing?”

Wang Qi’s face looked strange. He wanted to laugh but was forcing something down. “Dorm Leader, don’t tell me you like me?”

Like a cat puffing up, Zhang Yemiao reacted hard. “Ha?! You’re joking, right? Me?”

Even so, she didn’t try to slip out from under him.

“No way. Do people really think just because they stayed the same, they can start a harem?”

She tried to cover her thoughts with snark, and looked stupidly cute doing it. Then she softened, helpless. “If you’re willing to call me daddy, letting you have a bit of fun isn’t impossible. We’re bros, after all.”

But her flushed cheeks and the shy, tear-pricked eyes gave her away. They didn’t match her words at all.

Wang Qi locked on her face, completely drawn in.

Say what you will—this person in front of him was a top-tier beauty. On X Planet you only saw that in photoshopped pictures.

And that stubborn tsundere talk? Perfect.

Wang Qi felt like a creep. He knew she was his Dorm Leader, a guy through and through. The only one among the four in their dorm who was about to have a girlfriend. And he still had wicked thoughts. Worse, the more he knew it, the more excited he got.

He remembered a question he’d seen online: If your roommate turned into a girl, what would you do?

“Obviously, you’d do it till you’re satisfied.”

Wasn’t that how the comments went?

He swallowed, hard.

He didn’t know that Zhang Yemiao was thinking too: “If I turned into a girl, what would I do?”

Of course you’d let your roommate have some fun!

Wasn’t that how the comments went?

From her angle, Wang Qi’s eyes looked like they were glowing red. She felt like a little lamb facing a big bad wolf, no resistance at all. Next second, she’d be eaten bones and all.

Today wouldn’t end cleanly.

Thinking back, aside from that night at the inn, Wang Qi hadn’t… handled his needs. He was a young guy, full of hormones. After three days of hard work, losing control made sense. No smut, no fun videos in this world. He finally snapped… honestly, it wasn’t hard to see.

But! What did that have to do with her getting screwed any second now?

No way!

A trace of resolve flashed in her eyes.

“If y-you really can’t hold it, I… I can help you…” If you can’t block it, guide it. “But we can’t do that kind of thing.”

Wang Qi froze.

Of course he knew they couldn’t do that. If he did, he’d be no better than a beast. He’d planned to hit the woods later and make do with his mental stash.

But she was willing to help?

How would she help?

He swallowed again, and felt his blood rushing to a certain place.