[Cloud Nine Café — September 16, 03:15 PM]
One hour in, and Long Tian had never felt more content.
The afternoon sun slanted through the café windows, casting warm light across their corner booth. Both women were pressed against him now — Su Qingxue on his left, Zhang Yuting on his right.
The leather seat creaked softly as they shifted closer, and the ambient chatter of other patrons faded into pleasant background noise.
This is nice.
He let himself just... sit with that for a moment. No planning. No strategy. Just warmth on both sides and the smell of coffee and something floral — Qingxue's shampoo, maybe.
This is really nice.
Su Qingxue's head was tilted down slightly, and he noticed a tiny crease between her eyebrows. Concentrating on something. Or maybe just lost in thought.
"You know," Long Tian said softly, "when you concentrate, you get this little crease right here."
He reached up and touched the space between her eyebrows, gentle, almost reverent.
Su Qingxue closed her eyes. Her lips curved into a small smile, and she tilted her head, leaning into his touch.
Oh.
Something shifted in his chest. Something warm and protective.
She likes that. She actually likes being noticed.
And then, without meaning to, he thought of Lin Feng. Four years of following her around. Four years of hovering and buying things she didn't ask for.
Did he ever notice this? This little crease?
Probably not. He was too busy performing devotion to actually see her.
Long Tian traced his thumb gently across her brow, smoothing the crease away.
I've known her a day and I see more than he did in four years.
The thought should have felt arrogant. It just felt true.
Su Qingxue's smile widened, and her eyes went soft — almost glassy.
A tug at his sleeve. Zhang Yuting.
He turned to her. She was watching him with bright, eager eyes, her fingers tracing idle patterns on his arm.
"And you," he said, his voice dropping lower. "Your voice gets softer when you're passionate about something. Did you know that?"
Zhang Yuting's cheeks flushed pink. She ducked her head, pleased.
"I could listen to you for hours," he added.
And he meant it. That was the strange thing. He actually meant it.
When did I start meaning these things?
Does it matter?
He let his hand slide down Su Qingxue's arm, slow and appreciative. She shivered and leaned closer, her eyes going slightly unfocused.
"You touched her arm like that..." Zhang Yuting's voice came from his right, playful but with something needier underneath. "What about me?"
Long Tian smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.
They're not fighting.
I thought they would fight.
He'd been ready for jealousy. Prepared strategies for managing conflict. But here they were — both comfortable, both happy, both leaning into him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Both women tilted their heads at the same angle. Same posture. Same soft smile.
Long Tian noticed, and something flickered at the edge of his thoughts — but then Zhang Yuting nestled closer, and Su Qingxue's hand found his knee, and the thought drifted away before he could catch it.
This is what it's supposed to be like.
Not chasing. Not begging. Just... being worthy.
He thought of Lin Feng again.
That pig spent four years humiliating himself for scraps. And I have two women fighting over who gets to be closer.
The comparison felt good.
I'm not like him. I'll never be like him.
A satisfied smile crossed Long Tian's face as he pulled both women a little closer.
This is the living proof that I'm everything he's not.
----------------------
[System notification: Affection increased]
[Su Qingxue: 66 → 68]
[Zhang Yuting: 72 → 74]
----------------------
[Observation Room – 3:20 PM]
The observation room was small and cramped — just a row of monitors mounted on a narrow desk, a few mismatched chairs, and the faint hum of cooling fans filling the silence. The café feed flickered across three screens, showing different angles of Long Tian's corner booth.
Lin Feng sat in the center chair, trying very hard to focus on what he was seeing.
On the monitors, Long Tian reached up and touched Su Qingxue's face with practiced gentleness.
Face-cupping. Classic intimacy builder. Works by—
Lin Weiwei shifted against his left side, and her chest pressed firmly against his arm.
—by...
What was I thinking?
He forced his eyes back to the screen. Long Tian was brushing Zhang Yuting's hair now, his movements tender and deliberate.
Hair touching. Establishes—
Xiao Yue's fingers tightened on his other arm, and she pulled herself closer against him.
—establishes...
Goddammit.
Lin Feng took a slow breath and tried to regain his train of thought.
I'm trying to analyze the enemy here, and these two won't let me think.
In my past life, I did surveillance for twelve hours straight without blinking. Now I can't go thirty seconds without—
Lin Weiwei's breath ghosted warm against his shoulder.
...without losing focus.
I'm supposed to be the intelligence officer. The analyst. The one who sees patterns and understands systems.
But instead, he was acutely aware of every shift, every touch, every breath from the two women crushing him between them.
Neither of them was watching the screens.
He'd noticed that minutes ago.
Lin Weiwei's eyes were fixed on him, tracking where his gaze went and how long it lingered on Su Qingxue's image on the monitor.
Xiao Yue's eyes were on him too, watching him watch the screens with that quiet intensity of hers.
Only Zhang Tingting was actually doing her job.
She sat slightly apart from the pile of bodies, perched on a separate chair with her elbows on her knees. Her eyes stayed fixed on the café feed, and her brow furrowed as she watched.
"What..." She trailed off, shaking her head slowly. "What are they doing?"
Lin Feng tried to focus on her question instead of the warmth pressed against both his sides.
"Those two were supposed to be enemies an hour ago," Zhang Tingting continued, gesturing at the screen. "Now they're taking turns with him? Like it's... like it's a game?"
She squinted at the monitor, leaning closer.
"And why do they keep smiling like that?"
----------------------
Lin Feng saw his opening — a question he could actually answer. Something to focus on besides the warmth pressed against both sides of him.
Finally. Work mode.
He opened his mouth to explain.
"It's a manipulation framework," he said. "The cooperative dynamic creates—"
Xiao Yue's thigh pressed harder against his.
"—creates a feedback loop where—"
Lin Weiwei's hand slid up his arm.
"—where each..."
Her fingers traced his bicep, slow and deliberate.
Why is her hand there? Why is it moving? Stop moving.
"...each participant..."
He lost the thread completely.
Xiao Yue's voice cut through the silence, flat and clinical.
"Xₙ₊₁ = Xₙ + 1."
She'd barely glanced at the screen — half a second, maybe — before her eyes returned to Lin Feng.
"Infinite recursion. No ceiling."
Lin Weiwei refused to be outdone. She didn't look at the screen at all.
"A got X from C." Lin Weiwei's voice carried an edge underneath the flatness. "B sees X from C to A. B wants X+1 from C. A sees B's X+1, wants X+2 from C. And they will repeat until he brings them to some motel and fucks them there."
Silence filled the small room.
Zhang Tingting stared at both of them. Then at Lin Feng. Then back at both of them.
Lin Feng's jaw tightened.
These two figured it out in seconds. While barely looking at the screen. While focused almost entirely on watching me.
And I couldn't even finish a sentence.
"...Right," he managed. "What they said."
No. I have to add something. I can't just let them have the last word.
"Cooperative bid escalation. Each uses the other's win as her new floor."
Never underestimate a 7-star's processing speed.
But Zhang Tingting wasn't done. She leaned forward in her chair and pointed at the monitor.
"No, I mean..." She shook her head. "That's the pattern, sure. But look at their faces."
Lin Feng looked.
"That smile. Both of them." Zhang Tingting's finger moved between the two women on the screen. "It's the same smile."
She was right. Su Qingxue and Zhang Yuting wore identical expressions — the same curve of lips, the same angle of head.
"Since when does Qingxue smile like Yuting?"
Zhang Tingting turned to look at Lin Feng, her brow furrowed.
"Since when does Qingxue smile like anyone?"
The two 7-stars glanced at the screen. Their eyes lingered for a moment, processing.
Lin Weiwei's lip curled slightly. "Who cares. They're just being lobotomized in real time. Not my concern."
"Whatever it is," Xiao Yue added, her voice flat. "They're being optimized."
Then both of them turned back to Lin Feng, as if the observation had been a minor detour.
Zhang Tingting's hands gripped the armrests of her chair. Her knuckles went white.
"You..." She looked between Lin Weiwei and Xiao Yue. "You see what's happening to them?"
Lin Weiwei tilted her head slightly. "Only an idiot would fail to see what is happening."
"And you don't... that doesn't bother you?"
Xiao Yue's expression didn't change. "As long as they don't flirt with Lin Feng, I won't even mind if they claim they are Jesus."
Zhang Tingting's mouth opened, then closed. She turned to Lin Feng, her eyes wide.
Lin Feng caught her expression — the dawning horror, the desperate search for someone else who understood.
She's looking at me like I'm supposed to have answers.
Like I'm supposed to be as disturbed as she is.
He looked back at the monitor, at the two hollow smiles mirroring each other.
Am I?
----------------------
On the monitor, Long Tian pulled Su Qingxue close. He cupped her face, brushed her hair back, and drew her into an intimate embrace.
Lin Feng watched, his jaw tight.
Finally. A clear view of his technique. The arm placement suggests—
"Getting a good show, Big Brother?"
—and there goes my focus again.
Lin Weiwei's voice cut from his left, sharp enough to draw blood.
"Watching your ex get touched like that?" Her nails dug slightly into his arm. "Big Brother, you do know I'm right here for you to do that to."
She leaned closer, her breath warm against his ear.
"Unless, you have some kink where you like to watch while you are being cuckolded?"
Xiao Yue's voice came from his right, cutting through with a different angle. "Stop pretending you don't care about me." Her fingers tightened on his other arm. "I know you notice me too."
Lin Feng exhaled slowly and looked away from the screen.
He looked at Lin Weiwei. Then at Xiao Yue.
Then, without a word, he slid his arms around both their waists and pulled them closer.
Both women went still.
"You two have been distracting me for the past hour."
His voice was calm, but his grip was firm.
"If I was focused on the feed, I'd have noticed Long Tian's hand placement pattern by now." He gestured at the monitor with his chin. "Instead I keep—"
He stopped himself.
Don't admit you can't concentrate because of them. That's weakness.
He shifted his approach.
"I spent four years as someone else's fool. You think I want to go back to that?"
Neither woman responded.
"I'm here because Long Tian is a threat. Not because I miss her."
He held their gazes, letting the words settle.
"You want to know where my attention is?"
He gestured at the screen with his chin — at the hollow smiles, the synchronized movements, the wrongness of it all.
"It's on keeping you three safe from that. Not on chasing ghosts."
Silence stretched through the small room.
Lin Weiwei melted against his side. She tugged softly at his sleeve.
"Big Brother... you don't have to hold her too." Her voice had gone small. "Just me is fine."
"Let go of her," Xiao Yue murmured from his other side, pressing closer. "I don't need you to be fair. Just hold me."
Lin Feng didn't respond. Didn't loosen his grip on either of them.
His eyes stayed fixed on the monitor.
The two women continued their soft protests, voices overlapping — just me, not her, you don't have to — but Lin Feng had already stopped listening.
Zhang Tingting watched the exchange from her chair.
Wait.
Did he say "you three"?
Her fingers curled against her knees.
He meant... the situation. Keeping track of three women in danger. That's all. That's obviously all he meant.
But the image came anyway.
An image of Lin Feng's arm around her waist. Pulling her close the way he'd just pulled them. The weight of it. The warmth.
Heat flooded her cheeks.
She looked down at her lap, her face glowing red.
No. Stop. Stop it.
Zhang Tingting could still hear Lin Weiwei and Xiao Yue murmuring their soft complaints — just me, Big Brother, let go of her — but the words blurred into background noise.
Her ears were burning.
This is ridiculous. I don't even—
She didn't finish the thought.
She couldn't finish it.
Zhang Tingting pressed her palms against her cheeks. They were warm. Too warm.
She risked a glance up.
Lin Feng's eyes were fixed on the monitor. Lin Weiwei was tugging at his sleeve. Xiao Yue was murmuring something into his shoulder.
None of them were looking at her.
She exhaled slowly and looked back down at her lap.
What is wrong with me?
----------------------
[Zhang Tingting] ★☆☆☆☆☆☆ (1-Star Heroine)
├─ Previous Affection: 37
└─ Current Affection: 35 (-2)
----------------------
[Long Tian's Side—3:45 PM]
Minute after minute passed, and the café's afternoon light had shifted to a warmer gold.
Long Tian had never felt more at peace.
The corner booth had become their own private world — the ambient chatter of other patrons fading into nothing, the occasional clink of cups barely registering. Both women were pressed against him now, one on each side, their bodies warm and pliant.
His hand rested on Su Qingxue's shoulder, fingers tracing idle patterns along her collarbone.
Her skin is really soft.
It was a small thought. Simple. He let himself enjoy it without analyzing.
Su Qingxue leaned into his touch, her eyes drifting half-closed.
"That feels so nice," she murmured.
Long Tian smiled. "Yeah?"
"Mm." She tilted her head, giving him better access to her neck. "Don't stop."
Zhang Yuting watched the exchange. Her hand found Long Tian's other arm and guided it around her waist.
"Me too," she said softly. "Touch me too."
Long Tian's fingers slipped just under the hem of her blouse to rest against warm skin.
"Like this?"
Zhang Yuting nodded, her cheeks flushed. "Yes! Just like that."
Su Qingxue's eyes flickered toward them. She shifted closer, pressing her body more firmly against Long Tian's side.
"You can go lower," she whispered. "If you want."
His fingers traced down her arm, settling on her hip.
Zhang Yuting saw. Her hand covered his and guided it under her blouse, pressing his palm flat against the bare skin of her waist.
"I want you closer too," she breathed.
They're so sweet. Both of them.
Su Qingxue's hand found his knee. She squeezed gently, then slid her fingers higher, resting on his thigh.
"Is this okay?" she asked.
"More than okay."
Zhang Yuting glanced down at Su Qingxue's hand. Without a word, she took Long Tian's hand from her waist and placed it on her own thigh.
"Fair is fair," she murmured.
Su Qingxue responded by leaning up to press a soft kiss against Long Tian's jaw.
"Thank you for today," she whispered against his skin.
Zhang Yuting's eyes widened slightly. She turned and pressed her lips to the other side of his jaw, lingering longer.
"Thank you for spending time with us," she said.
Long Tian felt warmth bloom in his chest.
They're not even jealous. They're just... sharing.
Su Qingxue's lips brushed the corner of his mouth. Almost a kiss. Not quite.
"Tian..."
Zhang Yuting saw. Her hand cupped his cheek and turned his face toward her. She pressed her lips to the other corner of his mouth, closer to the center.
"Don't forget about me," she whispered.
This is what it's supposed to be like.
Su Qingxue pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. Glassy. Eager.
"You can kiss her," she said. "I don't mind."
Long Tian blinked.
"Really?"
"Mm. As long as you kiss me after."
Zhang Yuting's breath caught. "You mean it?"
Su Qingxue nodded slowly. "We're sharing, aren't we?"
She's being so generous.
Long Tian turned to Zhang Yuting. She was already leaning in, lips parted, waiting.
He cupped her face gently and—
Stopped.
No. Not yet.
Anticipation. That's part of romance.
He pulled back with a warm smile. Zhang Yuting made a small sound of disappointment.
"Soon," he promised. "Let's enjoy this first."
Su Qingxue was already nodding. "He's right. There's no rush."
Zhang Yuting's disappointment faded into that same soft smile. The same smile Su Qingxue wore.
Same angle. Same curve. Same glassy eyes.
Huh. They really are getting along now.
I guess that's what happens when people feel safe together.
His hands had drifted lower on both of them — one past the small of Su Qingxue's back, the other high on Zhang Yuting's thigh.
Neither woman reacted. Neither pulled away. Neither seemed to notice at all.
They really trust me.
The thought filled him with something warm and protective.
I'll take care of them. Both of them. I'll be the person they deserve.
----------------------
[System notification: Affection increased]
[Su Qingxue: 68 → 70]
[Zhang Yuting: 74 → 78]
----------------------
[End of Chapter 28]