Animal-eared Girl Era: Start by Forming a Contract with an SSS-Class School Belle

"!!!"

Looking at the anger on the fat lady's face, Hong Tao forced a bitter smile and said, "Wife, you really don't know if I'm straight or not?"

"That Xiao Ye guy is a promising young talent. I admire him and want to win him over, so I had someone look into his preferences to see how we could appeal to him."

The fat lady half-believed him, "Really?"

Hong Tao nodded, "For real, even truer than solid gold!"

The three-hundred-pound fat lady snorted and pounced on him, "Who knows if you secretly turned gay? I'll have to find out for myself."

Hong Tao's face turned dark, filled with resistance.

Ever since a hundred years ago, this woman had contracted some bizarre disease that no doctor could cure, and her weight gradually increased from a hundred to over three hundred pounds. Now she just looked like a huge ball of meat.

The only reason he went for Liu Ya, that stunning beauty, was because this meatball didn't stir up the slightest interest in him.

If this fat lady wasn't the daughter of a Venerable, he would've kicked her to the curb long ago.

"Uh, Brother Tao, you take care of your business. We'll talk about Xiao Ye tomorrow." Yang Junming sensed something was off and hurriedly hung up the phone.

At this moment, Hong Tao was suffering a tidal assault, looking all sorts of uncomfortable.

A minute later, the fat lady, feeling thoroughly satisfied, said, "You're straight."

Dragging his exhausted body out to the living room, Hong Tao lit a cigarette and smoked in sullen, heavy drags.

"This is hell!" he suddenly wailed.

Xiao Ye had taken the stunning beauty he had his eye on. Not only could he not take revenge, he even had to swallow his pride and try to win him over.

*Just great, Xiao Ye was probably in bed right now, cuddling with Liu Ya's soft, fragrant body, sleeping soundly, while the only thing waiting for me was this greasy, three-hundred-pound sumo drop.*

Bzz bzz bzz!

Suddenly, his family communicator started vibrating.

Taking it out for a look, Hong Tao's face brightened—it was a message from his father.

*I wonder what my father will think when he hears about a super-genius like Xiao Ye?*

Hong Tao opened the message to check.

[Come to my villa]

As expected, a peerless genius like Xiao Ye could interest even the top Venerables.

After tidying himself up, Hong Tao set out for Villa Number 1 in the Hong clan's main compound.

In the living room, the top Venerable, Hong Dingtian, was making tea while waiting for Hong Tao, his expression stern.

When Hong Tao entered, he strutted in like he was claiming credit, saying, "Dad, I'm the one who discovered this talent. What kind of reward are you going to give me?"

"If we can pull him into the Hong family, it'll definitely bring us to the next level. Come on, isn't your son a real hero this time?"

But the proud, relieved look on his father's face that Hong Tao expected didn't appear—Hong Dingtian just looked more serious.

Hong Tao felt a shiver in his heart, a sense of dread starting to rise.

"Bang!" Hong Dingtian's cup slammed heavily onto the table as he said in a low voice, "This Xiao Ye is bound to become an enemy of the Hong family."

Hong Tao, "?"

"Why?"

Hong Dingtian shot him an impatient look, "Isn't it all because of you three?"

"Do you remember, a hundred and fifty years ago, there was a peak Great Venerable bodyguard who died because you three acted recklessly, right under the claws of a Supreme Demon Beast…"

Hong Tao frowned, wracking his brain—he could only recall some very fuzzy fragments.

"Yeah, I vaguely remember something like that, but what's it got to do with Xiao Ye?"

Facing his son's doubts, Hong Dingtian spelled out the truth, "Those two people were Liu Huo and Ye Rou. They're Liu Ya's parents."

He took a folder out of the drawer and pushed it over.

Hong Tao picked it up and took a look. It was information about Liu Ya's family and also detailed intel on Xiao Ye.

The more he read, the darker his expression became.

"So, the one who died back then was Liu Ya's mother! And over the years, Liu Huo has been secretly using all sorts of means to investigate the Hong family!"

Hong Dingtian nodded, "Exactly. Liu Huo's investigative methods were very discreet, but I caught him in the act a few times and just didn't make a big deal out of it."

Hong Tao fell silent. *He could guess Liu Huo's real motive—almost certainly to avenge Ye Rou's death.*

*But it was a Venerable Realm Demon Beast who killed Ye Rou.*

Hong Dingtian said, "After that Demon Beast wave, Liu Huo came to see me, wanting an explanation. I gave some compensation, but he didn't accept it."

Hong Tao finally remembered all of it.

*Back then, it was his insistence on leaving Shanghai Base City that made him force Liu Huo and Ye Rou, the two bodyguards, to escort him the whole time, and that's how the tragedy happened. If he hadn't acted so recklessly, leveraging his family influence to pressure the City Guard Army and sneak out when the whole city was on lockdown, Ye Rou wouldn't have died under that Venerable Realm Demon Beast's claws.*

"So what should we do?" Hong Tao asked.

Hong Dingtian frowned, "If it weren't for this super-genius Xiao Ye, I wouldn't even care about Liu Huo. He's not big enough to make a dent in the Hong family."

"But now, with Xiao Ye thrown into the mix…"

Hong Tao's face darkened, "I see. There's no winning him over—Xiao Ye probably already knows about this mess. That white-haired guy at the tavern the other day was probably Liu Huo."

He did a throat-slitting gesture.

Hong Dingtian nodded, "I'm putting you in charge of this. Don't leave any loose ends. Xiao Ye was recruited into Kunpeng Academy by High Venerable Yun Bing. They're pretty close."

"You have to act outside of Modu Academy. Don't leave a single clue behind."

"Or you could drive a wedge between them—make High Venerable Yun Bing give up on Xiao Ye. Then you'll be free to take direct action."

These important family affairs always had to be handled flawlessly, completely seamless—especially when a high-level Venerable was involved. This content is hosted at M|V|LE^MPYR.

There might even be a top Venerable behind that high-level one.

That was the kind of power that could go head-to-head with the currently all-powerful Hong clan.

"Alright, we'll have to take this step by step, no need to rush," Hong Dingtian said, waving his hand as he left the living room for a rest. "Xiao Ye might be a super-genius, but a genius is still just a genius. Right now he's still an ant the Hong family could crush without a thought."

Hong Tao rubbed his bushy eyebrows and dragged his tired self back to his own villa.

But as soon as he got back, the round, meatball of a fat lady pounced again.

"Ah!" Hong Tao screamed in agony, suffering yet another sumo drop.

On the other side—

In Villa No. 10, by the lakeside, District Three.

During dinner, bang—a powerful energy erupted from Xiao Ye's body.

His realm had risen from Grandmaster Two-Star to Grandmaster Three-Star.

He had managed to rise a whole sub-stage within the Grandmaster Realm in just an hour.

By the look of things, by the end of the night, he'd probably reach the Venerable Realm.

This absurd rate of advancement made Cheng Bingxi jealous and left Liu Ya speechless.

Once the template upgraded, the cultivation realm needed to be rebuilt from scratch—but this speed was insane.

Liu Ya figured it wouldn't be long before Xiao Ye surpassed her.

After dinner—

Cheng Bingxi transformed into a three-tailed White Fox and threw herself into her cultivation, determined not to fall too far behind.

Xiao Ye headed to the shops to exchange for Venerable Realm Crystal Cores, then refined Energy Liquid using the Xuanhuang Gemstone to have enough energy for the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon tomorrow.

Liu Ya set off for the villa where Yunxi lived.

Once she got into the villa—

Yunxi asked, "Assistant Liu, what's up?"

*Not even tea? Seriously, she was a real ice queen with zero social skills,* Liu Ya groaned on the inside.

Liu Ya said, "Xiao Ye made a contract with me to permanently fix my template problem!"

Yunxi's pupils contracted at those words.

A template issue—one so tough that even a Saint Realm expert couldn't do a thing about it.