Redeeming the Bet

In a starship flying through warp speed toward Earth, Lu Ze and I sat in our own rooms cultivating. I knew he was probably buying some divine arts with all of his credits. I only spent a few hours on cultivating before stopping. Even if I kept accumulating more chi, it wasn't anywhere near as effective as taking the red orbs.

I let my mind wander and think about everything that happened. I don't really remember when I started to like Lu Ze. It was probably just before he started to give red orbs to me, sister Jing and sister Hesha. Although his personality was pretty trash, he was very reliable and treated me well.

Thinking about it, I was so stupid not to be honest with him earlier. He hadn't fully accepted that anyone liked him and would often throw out bait to test the waters. This went on until all five of us were together and he is simply too nice to choose one and forsake the others.

Well, this time will be different. I want him to give me all of his love and attention. That way, that future tragedy won't happen. I'll make sure he grows much faster than the original timeline and make an unshakable position for the Human Race together.

I checked the time and it had already been seven hours. That foodie must be looking for dinner by now. Luckily, I just got those new ingredients in before we left. This ship has a kitchen available, so I'll go make something delicious.

I sensed inside his room and confirmed he was still cultivating. Then, I went to cook the best dish I could handle with this cultivation level. Cooking spirit food was a lot harder than cooking normal food. It was even possible to suffer backlashes or die if you played with ingredients above your capabilities. Since I don't have the Fire God Art right now, the level of dishes I could cook are significantly lower.

However, these dishes are still at the level where normal people wouldn't get to try them. Afterall, I've been cooking with the number one spirit chef in the human race for several years. Sigh, Alice was truly a good sister. She was the last to get together with Lu Ze along with me.

Once I finished the meal, I stood outside Lu Ze's cabin. He seemed to still be cultivating, so I didn't want to interrupt him. However, he seemed to finish cultivating and as predicted, opened the door to look for food.

"Lin Ling, how long were you standing there?" He said with a daze.

"Not long, I thought you might be hungry but I didn't want to interrupt your cultivation." I said with a sincere smile.

"Lin Ling… you'll make a fantastic wife!"

Ah, Lu Ze, how could you say that so casually! I couldn't help but turn red at his yearning expression towards me. I knew he was too dense to mean anything, but the setting combined with those words would make anyone misunderstand.

"Erm, I—"

"Don't try to explain. You'll only make it worse. Let's just eat!" I didn't want to hear what bullshit he would come up with. Lu Ze stepped to the side and gestured me inside while nodding his head obediently.

"Hehe, Lin Ling, how about a rematch? I just had a small breakthrough." He said with a bit of a fierce look.

"Ze, do you want to eat or not?" I said with an annoyed tone.

"Eat, eat, I want to eat!" He said while rubbing his hands together. However, he could not have expected the array of food I brought out. Conservatively, it was ten times better than the food I made before. This was naturally due to the quality of the ingredients. Although he didn't need spirit food for cultivation, I knew his first mistress was always food.

"Lin Ling… You made this yourself? It's so… beautiful." Lu Ze seemed to be tearing up and I could only face palm at his act.

"Please Ze, dig in." He nodded without saying much more. I've never seen him eat so slowly before. He was truly enjoying this meal. Heh, take that Alice. We may have been allies in another life, but this time I'm going to win his heart and stomach.

"So, how was it?"

"Lin Ling, be honest with me, what happened in the fifteen days we were separated? Did your brain get eaten by a brain devouring bug?" Lu Ze had been suspicious for a while at my sudden change in personality. Well, it was too different based on what he knew.

"Ze, on the 25th planet you said you had someone you liked, who is it?" Earlier while I was reminiscing, I seemed to remember him saying that to some of the girls in the army camp before. This may have been one of the things that subconsciously prevented me from accepting my feelings.

"Uh… to be honest, I only said that to get the girls to stop asking me out."

"Oh." I answered calmly, but inside I was jumping. But I can't strike yet. The timing needs to be just right, or he might find a way to avoid being honest. Fortunately, I successfully distracted him from his question earlier.

We chatted a bit about cultivation during the last two hours of the flight. Ze was impressed with my knowledge which made me a bit proud. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that I ever caught up to him again. So, I refused any requests for a spar.

"Ding, welcome to Earth's Moon. Please exit in an orderly manner."

The starship that brought us here isn't allowed to directly land on Earth and we had to take a smaller shuttle from the moon to the Earth. The journey only took a half hour and we were on Earth in no time. With Lu Ze's Wind God Art, we could fly anywhere on Earth.

"Let's go to China City first. I want to try all of the food!"

I laughed and nodded my head. He wrapped his wind around me and took us flying. We went through every stall and food establishment and ate all of the ancient cuisine from this region. We went from city to city across the continents and managed to visit half the planets tourist cities in the first day there.

Along the way, I secretly went to a normal looking store and bought some unique clothes and undergarments. I never dressed particularly different for Ze before, but he once mentioned it before getting beaten up by Nangong Jing for being a pervert.

"I'm sorry sir, we have a surprisingly large number of tourists today and there's only one room available." The receptionist at the counter said.

"Ah, Lin Ling, lets go look for a different place maybe they'll have more rooms." However, I grabbed his sleeve and prevented him from leaving.

"Ze, we're already here and I'm mentally exhausted. It's fine, we can just cultivate anyway." This was my chance! The receptionist led us to the room, and it was one of the suites. It had a huge bed and bathroom. I nodded with satisfaction and gave the receptionist a thankful smile.

"Ah, to be young and in love." The receptionist said as she went back to the counter.

"Lin Ling, today was great. We can visit the rest of the tourist attractions tomorrow and then head home. I'm glad we went!"

I smiled and sat on the bed. "Hey Ze, I think I'll redeem that reward now."

He looked shocked and slowly backed away. "No way! You're going to use that to take the whole bed? I thought you changed Lin Ling…"

This idiot… Ah, calm down… "Come here Ze. Don't run away. I'll tell you what you have to do."

He carefully approached, expected to get hit again. "Sit down and close your eyes. You're not allowed to open them no matter what."

"Gulp, Lin Ling, we can talk about this…" He was extremely scared of what I'd do to him.

"Shut up and do it!" He tightly shut his eyes and sat down with perfect posture like a statue. Alright, this is perfect. I carefully moved in front of him and swallowed my saliva.

I leaned forward and kissed his lips. However, I underestimated my timid nature and immediately ran away into the bathroom. I leaned against the closed door breathing heavily.

Ah, what am I doing!? This is my chance to change the future. I have to harden my resolve. It's fine, I still have 'that.'

"I'll take a bath first!" I shouted for some reason. Well, it helped relieve some of my nervous energy.

The tub was filled quickly with hot water and I entered with a happy sigh. The hot water helped relax my nerves. I stared at the 'clothes' that I took out of my spatial ring. They had hardly any fabric with many designs and frills. It was embarrassing to even consider wearing.

'It's like combat armor, but for a different kind of combat. I can do this.' I tried convincing myself.