After Ying Feng returned to the dormitory, as expected, there was no sign of Ling Xiao. As time gradually passed, there was still no sign of that person returning.

During the day, he had just grasped the preliminary way of controlling the other party’s mind. It was like discovering a new continent that was worth exploring. He couldn’t wait to know how much power he had and see if he had enough power to do whatever he wanted on this continent.

Ying Feng closed his eyes, recalled what Yao Tai said to Ping Zong the other morning, and sent out his consciousness limitlessly in the way she described.

The consciousness he sent out was as if he grew another pair of eyes. He searched every corner of the institute quickly and intensively, not neglecting any area. Ling Xiao soon appeared in front of him. He roared at him, screamed at him, and violently cut off his sight. He rejected his invasion, summoned several images of himself, and attacked Ying Feng's spirit.

Ying Feng didn’t dodge or avoid it, but let his fists attack him from all directions.

"All illusions."

As he finished speaking, the illusions popped and they disappeared one after another.

"Not worth mentioning,” he commented coldly.

He followed the road ahead, he continued to go deeper and saw Ling Xiao with different expressions. Some of them stared at him stubbornly, some openly exposed their hatred for him, some were pale, and some were shivering.

He ignored everyone and firmly believed that they were only illusory made-up images.  Whenever he passed one of them, an image would perish because of being ignored.

Ying Feng passed through the crowd composed of Ling Xiao's images until all the illusions vanished. Only the last Ling Xiao was left in front of him.

The last Ling Xiao was crying, tears were flowing on his cheeks, and Ying Feng's advancing footsteps slowed down.

"Please, don't go over,” said the man opposite him.

Ying Feng stared at him for a long time, "You're not the real Ling Xiao. The real Ling Xiao won't say such a thing."

After that person heard this, the expression on his face turned from sadness to despair, and he disappeared in front of Ying Feng with a bang. Ying Feng, who was sitting in a chair, suddenly opened his eyes. He saw Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao was lying on a big stone platform. The sky around him was dim. Ying Feng looked around and recognized that this was the rooftop of the teaching building. Ling Xiao was at the rooftop where Ying Feng had listened to his own conversation with Zhu Yue the other day.

After Ying Feng sensed Ling Xiao's position, he quietly withdrew his mind back. All this happened secretly. Ling Xiao, as the observed target, felt nothing.

It was only when he was about to arrive at the guarded entrance that he unfeelingly and unwillingly pushed open the dormitory door. Ling Xiao hoped that he would only return when Ying Feng had fallen asleep as much as possible. But unexpectedly, the other party was awake and sat in an armchair. Not only did he not completely ignore him like the day before, but he looked at him from the moment Ling Xiao entered the door.

This feeling of being watched was even worse than being ignored. What's more, there was obvious dissatisfaction in Ying Feng’s eyes, just like a man who caught his Qizi returning late.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

Ling Xiao didn't expect that Ying Feng would interfere in his own actions, but he also didn't want to answer this question and ignored him, turning his head away.

"Where have you been?" Ying Feng asked again.

Anger suddenly rose in Ling Xiao’s heart. He didn't know that Ying Feng had long known where he had been. But he knew that Ying Feng had mercilessly given him orders twice during the day. It was an absolute breeze for him to find out where he was. Yet, he stubbornly spoke in this kind of tone and had this kind of status, it was more like an interrogation than inquiring.

He turned to the man sitting upright on the sofa, glaring at each other. His tone had strong belligerence, “You can watch me, right?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ling Xiao suddenly fell to his knees with a plop. His hands supporting himself on the ground trembled violently, his breath was short, and his pupils shrunk. The cold sweat on his forehead almost immediately flowed down his cheek and jaw and big drops of sweat fell on the smooth floor.

Ling Xiao's back fell lower and lower, and the boundless fear made every inch of his body tense while shaking uncontrollably. He raised his head with all his might, even his eyelashes were wet with sweat. Through the moisture, he tried to clearly see the person in front of him. He couldn't believe that he would do something like this.

Ying Feng, who had intimidated Ling Xiao, saw the other party’s unwilling and fearful expression at the moment, and finally understood what Yao Tai meant by the absolute significance of domination in physiology and psychology. Just one thought could knock down the other side completely, even the most powerful Qizi couldn’t resist the Qizhu’s power.

"Where have you been?" he asked for the third time.

Ling Xiao's lips moved, but he couldn’t make any sound. Ying Feng withdrew his strength a little.

“Roof, rooftop……” Ling Xiao said it faintly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the strong feeling of deterrence over his head was removed, just like a person who was suddenly relieved from extreme tension. It was like all his bones had broken into pieces and his limbs didn’t have any strength. If he didn’t use up his last dignity to prop himself up, he would practically collapse on the ground.

"Don't come back so late in the future,” he laid the words down.

Ling Xiao struggled to raise his head, but the best he could do was only to raise his eyes. His fear had faded, and his anger was rising again.

“If you have any other ability, you can use it all at once,” he said through gritted teeth, “but don't think I'll listen to you."

This request was exactly what Ying Feng wanted. He also wanted to know how much he could control the other party. He closed his eyes slightly and thought, seeing Ling Xiao’s state on the ground change rapidly.

He still maintained the humiliating posture from before, and his rapid breathing slowly recovered, but it grew longer and heavier. His cheeks flushed, which were pale and bloodless before.

His pupils, which had shrunk, slowly expanded until he lost focus. The floor became blurred before his eyes, but the sound of sweat dripping became very distinct.

The numbness from his fingertips spread to his heart as if thousands upon thousands of ants were crawling in his blood vessels. The shivering from his lower abdomen was as if an inextinguishable flame was ignited within his body.

He knew it was another of Ying Feng's masterpieces, but he had to grit his teeth and struggle without making any sound. The palms that were still on the ground before were tightly clenched into fists. His fingernails were deeply embedded in his flesh and he used pain to resist.

Ying Feng saw that he was stubbornly propping himself up and doubled the effect. Finally, he succeeded in forcing a groan from his mouth. This groan came from Ling Xiao’s mouth who never admitted defeat. It greatly satisfied Ying Feng's sense of achievement. For the first time since they bonded, he was a little satisfied with their relationship.

The satisfied Ying Feng withdrew his mind control and went to sleep on his own, leaving Ling Xiao almost paralyzed in place with his sweat gathering in a puddle on the floor.

When Ling Xiao finally struggled to get up, he didn’t know how long it took. His legs were limp and weak, which was an aftereffect of intimidation and hypnosis. When he got up, he stumbled and nearly fell down. He had to support himself with the wall to barely walk.

In this way, he went to the bathroom step by step. He was unable to distinguish whether it was hot water or cold water pouring down from the top of his head. The figures of Ping Zong and Lan Sheng repeatedly flashed in his mind. The scene of Lan Sheng jumping off the roof was the one that flashed through the most. When his feet stepped on the empty space, again and again, the jumping object finally became himself.

* * *

The instructor scanned the ranks and found that not only Ying Feng but also Ling Xiao was present. Recently, there had been more and more Nestlings holding Adult Ceremonies. Most of the newly married couples would choose to take a vacation. There were few people like these two coming to class.

"Today's first training program is resilience training. Work in pairs for 30 minutes."

As soon as Ting Lei turned around, he saw Ling Xiao.

“I’ll team up with you,” he directly made a decision for the other party.

“Um,” Ting Lei still remembered yesterday's incident. He unnaturally stole a glance at Ying Feng in the distance and found that he was looking over with an ugly face. "Does Ying Feng have any problem with it?”

“Don’t worry about him.”

Ling Xiao insisted, and Ting Lei could only follow his wishes.

He did lunges and Ling Xiao helped him by pressing his legs.

"I don't think you look well, did you not rest well?” He refrained himself for two days and didn't say anything because of Ling Xiao's face. Today, he finally couldn't help asking.

“I’m ok,” Ling Xiao skipped over it, playing it down.

"If you feel tired, just ask for leave." They were not the only ones in the class who had finished the Adult Ceremony. The other pairs had all asked for leave, and he was the only one who still insisted on attending.

“I’m really ok. Don't foolishly worry about it."

“You still say you’re ok. Look at you. You have no strength. It's like you haven't eaten. It’s better for me to press your legs.”

Ting Lei didn’t give him any chance to explain and switched the division of labor, “I saw Ying Feng and Zhu Yue eating together in the canteen yesterday."

"It's none of my business."

"You two have already got a bond. Even if you had a bad relationship before, you should try to get along with each other. Shouldn't normal people be angry when they hear this? If ordinary friends have dinner together, it's ok. Zhu Yue, that guy, seriously chased after Ying Feng before. Now he doesn’t have a chance and he still refuses to give up. Beware of him deviously targeting you later on.”

"Why didn't I think you were so gossipy before?” Ling Xiao broke in ungratefully, "I said that I didn't want to hear things about him. It doesn't matter to me who he ate with."

Ting Lei knew it was useless to talk to him more. These two looked like they still had some grinding to do. They exchanged positions and started carrying each other on their backs, their backs to each other. Ting Lei carried Ling Xiao on his back easily.

"Ling Xiao, I think you are light. Have you not been eating recently?"

"That's a lot of nonsense.”

"Can you do it? Otherwise, don’t carry me on your back, I'm afraid that I’m going to crush you down.”

Ling Xiao was unconvinced and exerted himself to carry Ting Lei on his back. When he bent his waist, it suddenly went dark before his eyes. With his distracted labor, he fell to the ground. Ting Lei also forcibly hit his body.

"Ouch," the other party shouted loudly, drawing the attention of the people around him. “See, I told you not to push yourself, right?"

Ling Xiao was also hit hard by him. “What are you crying out for? Quickly get up!"

Ting Lei was also struggling, "I sprained my waist, you thought that I didn’t want to get up.”

Just when he was groaning, a person grabbed his belt with one hand. Unexpectedly, he lifted the tall and sturdy Ting Lei from the ground, then threw him far away, causing him to slide on the ground for several meters before stopping.

The weight on his body disappeared. Ling Xiao propped himself up on the ground with his hands and jumped up vigorously.

Ying Feng was standing in front of him.

“Ugly,” Ying Feng had a calm face.

Ling Xiao's accidental fall was already humiliating enough. Seeing his friend treated like this again, he was furious, “You’re nosy!”

Ying Feng gave him a cold stare, "Come back with me."

"Why? There’s class right now!”

Ying Feng ignored him, turned around, and left. Ling Xiao didn’t want to listen to him, but his steps couldn’t be controlled. In this way, he left the drill ground in full view of the public. Even the instructor hesitated between stopping them or not stopping them— he wouldn’t stop them. These two were his students and they were still in class now; stop them. And yet, these two were a married couple. Some things could only be solved by closing the door.

After the two people left, his friend stepped forward and hurriedly helped up Ting Lei who had fallen on the ground. He had already sprained his waist and was hurt more seriously by being thrown by Ying Feng. He couldn't even stand straight.

"Is Ying Feng insane?" Ting Lei cried, “We were just training."

"I saw you touch Ling Xiao's leg," Classmate A said expressionlessly.

"That was a leg press!”

"You also touched his waist," Classmate B rubbed salt into his wound.

"That was doing a crab! Aye, what happened to all of you? Don’t we usually do this kind of action?”

"That was before. Now they already have a bond. Who let you interfere?”

"I also didn’t want to. Ling Xiao came to me by himself. I'm also very wronged, ok? Let's not talk about that anymore. Hurry up and help me to the infirmary.”

Yao Tai saw Ting Lei visit in such a funny way. Naturally, she could not help asking. After listening to the students’ recounts, she snorted scornfully.

“Serves you right. They’ve just bonded for two days. You pawed Ling Xiao in front of Ying Feng. Aren't you courting death?"

Ting Lei didn't understand, “We’re good friends with pure feelings, let alone we were just doing normal stretching exercises."

"That’s no good. Do you think that only Qizis have a disorder period? The Qizhu is also emotionally unstable during this time, he's in the midst of establishing ownership. At this time, you were close to Ling Xiao. It's already very polite that he didn't beat you up.”

When she spoke to this point, she stopped for a moment as if she had some bad premonition. But she quickly denied herself. No matter how bad Ying Feng was, he would not vent his anger on Ling Xiao. She hoped that she was oversensitive.

"No way, are all Qizhus so unhinged?”

“They’re not unhinged, it's our physiological instinct. Even after this period of time, this possessive desire will only weaken and will not disappear. What's more, Ying Feng’s personality has a strong desire for control." Yao Tai's hands used force and straightened Ting Lei's waist, but it hurt so much that he cried out. “If you don't believe me, you can flirt with the professor in front of me to see if I will spare you."

The three people acted the same without planning it, shaking their heads like rattles.

Ting Lei tentatively asked, “Then Ying Feng got angry, does it mean that he has feelings for Ling Xiao?"

Yao Tai said unhappily, “When a dog picks up a bone and licks it, it feels like it's his own. Can it be called affection? Those two people have the same stubborn temper. If no one is willing to give in first, their relationship will never improve.”

Ting Lei and the others were immediately full of worry about Ling Xiao's future.

"Doctor Yao, saying it like this, does it mean that Qizis can’t make friends?

"Of course, there can be communication. Ling Xiao is in need of encouragement now. As his friend, you should help him as much as possible. But we must also pay attention for ten days, no, within one month, try to avoid physical contact, especially in front of Ying Feng. This time, it was spraining your waist. I can't guarantee what will happen next time."

Everyone nodded with fear when they heard this.

"It's over," Ting Lei suddenly had an unknown premonition. "Ying Feng just angrily called Ling Xiao away. If the situation is as serious as what Doctor Yao said, he wouldn’t be unable to control his emotions and commit domestic violence against Ling Xiao, right?”