“Maternal instinct?”

“It’s about giving people a gentle and kind feeling.”

Ding Yi nodded, understanding only a sliver of the concept, and then asked Yan Ming if he felt that way.

Yan Ming shook his head with honest confusion. “I don’t know, I can’t really tell. I don’t even properly remember what my mom was like anymore.”

Ding Yi: …

“Ah, no,” Yan Ming immediately caught Ding Yi’s expression after speaking. “It’s all right, it’s all right.”

---

After a short break for conversation, Qin Yuan noticed Ding Yi yawning repeatedly. “It’s getting late. Any further discussions can be postponed until tomorrow.”

Yan Ming nodded in agreement, springing to his feet first. “Brother Qin’s right. Sis, we’ll take our leave first.”

Ding Yi offered another yawn and waved her hand with languid grace. “Okay, good night.”

Having taken only a scant two steps, Yan Ming registered that he was the sole one standing; the other man showed no inclination to move.

“Brother Qin?” Yan Ming directed his gaze at Qin Yuan, who wore an expression that conveyed ‘What else is there?’ and scratched his head in bewilderment. “Brother Qin, is there something you want to say?”

“No.”

“Then let’s head back to our rooms.”

Qin Yuan pointed a finger, his expression devoid of any discernible emotion, first at Yan Ming, then at Jiang Xianqing. “Not ‘we,’ but ‘you.'”

“Me?” Jiang Xianqing responded, pointing a finger at herself with a somewhat exaggerated reaction.

“Yes.”

Ding Yi observed the two who seemed genuinely taken aback, wiping away the tears that had welled up from her persistent yawning. “What in the world has gotten into you two? You like this room, right? Fine, then you and Xiao Ming can stay put. Jiang Xianqing and I will take our leave.”

No sooner had she begun to rise than Ding Yi heard a voice laced with utter seriousness inquire, “Just how unhinged do I need to be to share a room with you?”

Ding Yi: ???

Yan Ming: (°Д°)

Jiang Xianqing: (;?д?)

Ding Yi frowned, a mixture of surprise and doubt etching itself onto her features. “Are you alright?”

“Whoever you are, get off of him this instant!”

Qin Yuan may not have completely understood the subtleties of her words, but he perceived the underlying tension. “In any case, wherever you are, I shall be.”

Ding Yi was a touch bewildered. “Why?”

Yan Ming attempted to rationalize Qin Yuan’s peculiar behavior. “Maybe… maybe Brother Qin is concerned that two girls residing together might not be sufficiently safe?”

“Brother Qin, please don’t fret. Sister Ding Yi, she—”

“No,” Qin Yuan interjected, directly dismantling all the reasons that Yan Ming had painstakingly pieced together. “No reason is needed.”

---

Ding Yi, having just completed her ablutions, rubbed the stray strands of hair that clung damply to her forehead.

In the end, that madman Qin Yuan had prevailed. He harbored no objections to Jiang Xianqing staying; in fact, he seemed to have no issue with anyone else being in the room, but the fixed occupants had to be him and Ding Yi.

Even after emerging from the shower, Ding Yi remained unable to decipher his motivations.

“Ding Yi?”

Just as she stepped out of the shower, Liu Yanliang, clad only in a white shirt, deliberately blocked her path.

Whether it was a figment of Ding Yi’s imagination or not, was this individual now attempting to emulate Qin Yuan’s style of attire?

Two buttons carelessly undone, revealing slender arms, and that awkward, slightly pathetic hands-in-pockets pose…

“You’re Ding Yi, correct?”

Ding Yi frowned. Straightening her back, which ached from lingering fatigue, she observed him shift his shoulders uncomfortably and take a step back, puffing out his chest in an exaggerated manner.

Ding Yi: … Isn’t this precisely what they mean by ‘the harder you try, the more pathetic you look’?

The others still lingering on the first floor silently observed the unfolding drama, their curiosity piqued by the potential confrontation between the two.

Liu Yanliang, seemingly oblivious to Ding Yi’s shocked expression, confidently tossed his head and displayed a practiced smile. “We still need to clear up our earlier misunderstanding. I assure you, nothing inappropriate is happening with that woman. If it truly worries you, I can sever all ties with her and promise never to see her again.”

“Misunderstanding? I believe it is you who harbors a fundamental misunderstanding about me.”

Ding Yi suddenly took a decisive step forward, her gaze sharp enough to make Liu Yanliang visibly tense.

“Enough is enough. Do not truly treat others as utter fools.”

Unwilling to instigate a conflict with him, Ding Yi offered a dismissive pat to his shoulder and prepared to sidestep him, but he abruptly seized her collar. “What exactly do you mean by that?!”

“Are you looking down on me?”

“And what do you think that guy is, some paragon of virtue?” Liu Yanliang’s grip on her collar tightened. The veins throbbing on his forehead lent him a slightly less greasy and considerably more deranged appearance. “And what precisely do you fancy yourself to be, some invaluable commodity? You’re merely fixated on that—”

Ding Yi’s foot shot out, connecting forcefully with his groin. Simultaneously, she snatched the wrist of the hand gripping her collar and, with a swift twist and pivot, executed a half-squat throw, sending him sprawling forward.

Liu Yanliang, now prone on the ground, couldn’t discern whether the searing pain in his lower body or the jarring ache in his back was more intense.

As he struggled to rise, he was met with another brutal kick, sending him back down.

The woman, her collar still bearing the creases of his grip, fixed him with glacial eyes, planted a foot on his neck, and squatted down. “I didn’t quite catch what you were saying about me just now. Care to repeat it?”

“Th-that guy isn’t a good person.” Liu Yanliang’s neck and head were rapidly turning a shade of purple under the pressure constricting his windpipe. He clawed at Ding Yi’s calf with both hands, desperately trying to dislodge her. “We’re all Wishers here. Surely this isn’t your first foray into this world.”

“Believe me, I am far more useful to you. Our chances of surviving together are—”

Before he could complete his desperate plea, a piercing scream from the floor above sliced through the tense atmosphere, instantly capturing everyone’s attention downstairs.

Ding Yi, her gaze unwavering, naturally didn’t miss the fleeting, almost imperceptible smirk that flickered across Liu Yanliang’s face.

---

Upstairs on the second floor, Yan Ming and Jiang Xianqing burst out of their rooms the instant the scream echoed through the building.

The first sight that greeted them was a woman huddled on the hallway floor, her hair in disarray and sobs wracking her body.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Xianqing gently helped the woman to her feet, turning her head, ready to unleash a torrent of passionate reprimands at the person within the room. However, when she saw the occupant, the words that had already formed in her throat morphed into a bewildered, “Huh?”

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Before Qin Yuan, his face a thunderous mask of gloom, could utter a single word, Qiao Yu, who was now crying uncontrollably, seized Jiang Xianqing’s hand in a tight, trembling grip. “I-I was just passing by. He suddenly flung open the door and dragged me inside, wanting to… wanting to do something to me—”

Qiao Yu, her sobs redoubling, buried her face in Jiang Xianqing’s arms this time, her heart-wrenching cries drawing the immediate attention of everyone present.

“Wh-what’s going on? Brother Qin, you—”

Yan Ming felt his brain struggling to process the chaotic scene unfolding before him. His subconscious vehemently protested that Qin Yuan was not the type of person capable of such an act.

But this… this… this…

“So lively.” Ding Yi ascended the stairs under the collective gaze of the onlookers. The noticeable scratches marring her neck and collarbone only served to deepen the already ominous expression on Qin Yuan’s face.

Qin Yuan’s gaze locked onto the distinct scratch on Ding Yi’s neck. “Who inflicted that upon you?”

“It’s alright. He’s currently experiencing considerably more pain than I am,” Ding Yi offered a small smile, then approached Qiao Yu, her eyes catching the woman’s furtive glance. “Come now, everyone is here. You can recount what transpired confidently.”

“Everyone will assist you.”

Qiao Yu continued to sob, repeatedly stating that Qin Yuan had forcibly dragged her into the room and attempted to assault her. Still, her eyes kept darting around, searching for Liu Yanliang’s figure.

When her gaze finally landed on Liu Yanliang, who was now in a considerably disheveled state, she abruptly lifted her head from Jiang Xianqing’s embrace.

“Oh, him,” Ding Yi pointed towards her neck. “See that? He thoroughly deserved it.”

Qiao Yu’s reaction was unclear – whether it was anger directed at Ding Yi or fear induced by Qin Yuan. The tears that had momentarily subsided welled up anew as she continued to cry about the beastly acts Qin Yuan had supposedly committed against her.

Before she could finish her intermittent accusations, a derisive snort echoed from upstairs. “Give it a rest, lady. You certainly didn’t have that expression plastered on your face when you sneaked in here earlier.”