It’s not that Ye Thirteen has no backbone. Qu Yi’s cooking is just way too good!

Street food is nice once in a while. But if you really want to treat your tongue and your stomach, nothing beats food made by a beautiful girl.

And anyway, they were cooking at his place. That didn’t count as living off a woman or being taken in.

Mm. Ye Thirteen was very sure of that.

At dinnertime, Ye Thirteen and Qu Yi started preparing a rich, delicious dinner in Ye Thirteen’s apartment.

Meanwhile, Han Xiangxue and Lai Yingxin ordered takeout. They waited for it to arrive while keeping an eye on whether any new instructions came down.

Good thing the two scenes weren’t synced. Otherwise, Lai Yingxin and Han Xiangxue would’ve roasted Ye Thirteen and Qu Yi alive.

The hell, the two of us are stuck at the base on standby, eating takeout, and you, Qu Yi, heartless traitor, are making good food for that stinky old man without even bringing us along?!

ε＝ε＝ε＝(#>д<)ﾉ！

On New Year’s Eve, some people were eating reunion dinner. Some were eating takeout. Some were eating food personally made by a beautiful girl. And some were drinking punishment wine.

Fang Yuankun’s mother finally couldn’t stand it anymore.

Ignoring her foolish son’s pleas, she directly stepped into the internal affairs of the Starlight Feather Squad.

Under her pressure, Chen Maomao, Zhou Peng, and Deng Zhi were all benched.

The three replacing them were three reserve Soldier-Class Demonhunters from the team.

And Fang Yuankun’s mother issued a hard order: in the match, everyone had to obey Fang Yuankun’s command. Anyone who didn’t listen to her son would face the consequences.

Honestly, if Fang Yuankun had even half of his mother’s ruthlessness and decisiveness, then even after Ye Thirteen left the Starlight Feather Squad, the team’s record wouldn’t have fallen this badly.

But his mother had protected him too well. So well that he didn’t even realize when others were using him as a gun.

If Ye Thirteen were the type to repay every slight, then forget his mother. Even his whole family line probably couldn’t bear his wrath.

Ye Thirteen left the team because the people’s hearts had already scattered. He felt guilty and blamed himself, so he withdrew.

If Ye Thirteen had been a strict instructor, one the other Starlight Feather members disliked,

then Fang Yuankun was a flower raised in a greenhouse. His strength and talent were decent, but he couldn’t keep anyone in the team in line.

He took all the praise around him as truth.

Fang Yuankun naively believed that once Ye Thirteen, that “old guy,” left the team, everyone could just work hard together and restore the glory of Starlight Feather.

But the result was the exact opposite. Under Fang Yuankun’s “leadership,” the Starlight Feather Squad dove headfirst into the abyss of destruction.

A useless general exhausts the whole army.

And if a captain lacks the resolve and responsibility to truly be a captain, then he’ll also lead the whole team to ruin.

Fang Yuankun’s mother stepping in could suppress things for a while, but not forever.

Chen Maomao, Zhou Peng, and Deng Zhi weren’t all that upset about being benched.

Because they knew exactly what kind of person Fang Yuankun was. As long as he remained that Fang Yuankun who “trusted” his teammates, changing out more people in Starlight Feather would be pointless.

They might as well be the ones on the field. At least the three of them were genuinely strong. Even in a one-against-five, they could still wear the enemy down quite a bit.

Sitting on his sofa at home, Ye Thirteen glanced at the Starlight Feather Squad’s official Weibo, which had already been blasted to pieces by public outrage. He could only shake his head.

At this point, even Fang Yuankun’s mother wouldn’t dare jump out and hire trolls to whitewash things. No matter what, she had to let the fans vent for one night first...

“Coming up—squirrel mandarin fish that can squeak!”

At that moment, Qu Yi carried out a plate of fish. Then she poured the steaming sweet-and-sour sauce over it. Instantly, the fish on the plate seemed to let out a squeaky cry.

Spicy chicken, braised prawns, squirrel mandarin fish, beer duck, spicy napa cabbage, and seaweed egg-drop soup.

Five dishes and one soup. It was a seriously lavish spread.

And Qu Yi had made all of it by herself, so Ye Thirteen said with a bit of heartache,

“Alright, alright. Come eat with me already. I’m starving.”

As he spoke, he followed Qu Yi into the kitchen.

Qu Yi had just taken off her apron when she saw Ye Thirteen carrying out the rice cooker and the bowls and chopsticks. Her eyes instantly curved into little crescents with a smile.

When Qu Yi came out of the kitchen, she saw that Ye Thirteen had already filled two big bowls with rice.

Since they were both Demonhunters, there was no such thing as Qu Yi having a tiny appetite.

No matter how small, she still ate more than a normal man.

After all, Demonhunters burned a lot of stamina. If you ended up fighting demons while hungry and out of energy, that would be the real embarrassment.

Dinner began!

Ye Thirteen helped Qu Yi pick up food. Qu Yi ladled Ye Thirteen a bowl of soup. The atmosphere was beautiful enough to be a painting.

But over at the Qu family home, the mood wasn’t nearly that cheerful.

Father Qu, Qu Yingguang, had also made a whole table of dishes. But neither he nor Xia Qing had much appetite.

In past years, there had always been one lively little sprite around. Now that Qu Yi, that noisy little troublemaker, was missing, the two of them were clearly not used to it.

“I wonder if Yiyi’s eaten yet. I wonder if she ordered takeout or cooked for herself...”

Xia Qing’s face was full of worry.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t sad. It was New Year, and they still couldn’t be with their child.

But Qu Yi had always aimed high since she was little. And with things so troubled now, letting her do her part would actually make Qu Yi feel better.

Qu Yi had never wanted to be a vase.

Still, even if they understood, how could parents not feel something?

Of course, Han Xiangxue and Lai Yingxin really were miserably eating takeout.

But Qu Yi wasn’t!

If Father Qu and Mother Qu saw the scene between Qu Yi and Ye Thirteen right now, that little bit of worry and guilt would probably vanish in an instant, replaced by entirely different emotions.

...

Set off a few firecrackers, eat reunion dinner, then chat for a while. That was how New Year’s Eve passed for most people.

That was how ordinary people spent it. But after happily finishing dinner together, Qu Yi and Ye Thirteen went right back out on patrol.

By now, the streets had grown quiet. There were barely any people left.

People in the Dragon Realm did have the custom of staying up on New Year’s Eve, but most did that at home.

So after around midnight, the number of people on the streets dropped even more.

Once patrol reached twelve-thirty in the morning, Qu Yi and Ye Thirteen could wrap up and head back.

After midnight, there was basically no one on the streets. Even if something happened, they could spot it through surveillance and rush over.

As long as people didn’t run straight into demons, they could hold out for a while by staying inside their homes.

Low-rank demons were stronger than ordinary people, but only to a limited degree.

And the doors, windows, glass, and buildings made in the Dragon Realm these days were extremely effective at stopping low-rank demons from breaking in.

If luck was on your side, by the time the patrol team rushed over from the base, the demons still wouldn’t have succeeded.

Tick, tock. Time kept passing.

Midnight arrived under the witness of countless people. Innumerable night-watchers saw the new year of the Dragon Realm descend with their own eyes.

Yet just after midnight, Southgate Garrison was hit by a rolling wave of energy tide.

And its center was Sector 069 of City C!