The image of that petite red-haired figure has been fading more and more in Linda's mind lately.

In the days immediately following his departure from the team, he often reminisced about the moments he shared with Liya, Xueyan, and the others. But as new members arrived one after another, his empty heart seemed to be filled, and he found it difficult to recall those past events.

Time truly does erase everything.

Linda thought to herself silently.

Whether it's happiness or sadness, after a while, it's like the wind blowing sand, smoothing away all traces.

"Popcorn~ Freshly popped popcorn, 5 copper coins a cup~" The food cart by the roadside caught Linda's attention. He reached into his pocket and found that the smallest denomination was 1 gold coin.

The popcorn vendor was an elderly man missing a leg; most of these were adventurers who had been injured and retired from the secret realm.

Linda handed over a gold coin: "Three buckets of original flavor, keep the change."

The old man raised his head, a hint of surprise in his cloudy eyes. He looked Linda up and down, then placed his right hand on his chest and prayed, "May the Goddess of the World Tree bless you."

...

Snap.

When Linda returned to her rented room, the bag in her hand fell to the ground.

The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom; Lulu was probably taking a shower. Kaphni had already taken over the small bed, and her snoring could be heard outside.

Monica stood nervously in front of him, holding a strangely shaped gold coin that dangled from a string and swayed back and forth like a pendulum, muttering under her breath:

"Night elf, hypnotize my captain and turn him into a puppet I can control at will..."

Linda's facial muscles became increasingly relaxed, as if she had truly been 'hypnotized'.

That oddly shaped gold coin was clearly a fake; no one knew where Monica had gotten it.

Linda was just curious to see what Monica would do to her hypnotized self.

Seeing how completely relaxed he was, Monica blinked in surprise and said, "Touch your left cheek, bend over, and stand up."

The girl tentatively issued a series of commands, and Linda actually did them all. This made Monica blush and her heart beat faster. Pointing to the sofa in the living room, she said, "Do...do push-ups!"

Is it to take revenge on the self in the dream?

Despite her doubts, Linda did as instructed.

But what happened next almost made him bleed from his nose!

As he positioned himself on the sofa, ready to lower himself down, the clever little Monica somehow managed to slip shakily into his arms.

The girl looked up with fear and longing in her big eyes, her small hands clenched in front of her as if in prayer, her two white-stockinged legs tightly pressed together, as nervous as a small animal being targeted by a hunter.

What are they doing?

Linda was quite shocked. In his memory, Monica was a very proper and well-behaved team member. Why would she hypnotize herself to do something that would cause misunderstanding?

A lightbulb seemed to flash in Linda's mind, and she suddenly thought:

In the game, Monica is 15 years old, but three years have passed since she time-traveled, and she's now a full-fledged adult. No one knows what she went through during those three years. She recalls entering that little house, the garbage bag in the entryway overflowing with toilet paper, and the strange smell...

Linda's expression changed drastically, as if a million alpacas were stampeding through her mind.

Could it be that Monica has become a useless reward girl?!

Linda broke out in a cold sweat; she simply couldn't push herself up any further.

The girl's warm breath reached his cheek through less than 20 centimeters of air, her healthy figure drawing attention, and his face grew even redder.

Perhaps they felt he had been 'hypnotized' and wouldn't remember anything he did.

Monica boldly reached out her small hands and wrapped them around his neck, her eyes sparkling like stars, and from her pink lips uttered a few words that sent shivers down one's spine:

"Monica... to the Captain..."

No, I can't say any more!

The demon within Linda's body was stirring restlessly, ready to break free at any moment!

At the same time, the door to the bathroom rang; Lulu, having finished showering, was walking out.

This situation is very bad.

Linda's heart tightened. If Lulu saw this scene, she would probably think that he had taken the initiative to attack Monica, which would not help him raise his trust level to 100.

"Huh, where am I? Wasn't I just standing at the door?"

Linda pretended to wake up from hypnosis and saw Monica beneath him. He stood up in disbelief: "What on earth happened?"

"Ah, Captain..." Monica was startled and quickly put the hypnotic coins behind her back.

The little girl dashed to the bedroom, covered her head with the blanket, and pretended not to hear Linda's questions.

The next moment, the bathroom door opened.

Lulu was wearing a pair of black tight shorts and a white sports bra. She was wiping her steaming hair with a towel draped around her neck.

Upon seeing Linda, she paused for a moment, then nodded gently: "You're back. How did the talks go?"

"I'll be assisting Ice Flower in conquering the thirteenth floor the day after tomorrow." Linda stretched, pretending nothing had happened, and said, "It's so late, shall we stay or go to the inn?"

"This place is too small," Lulu frowned. Her implication seemed to be that she wouldn't refuse to stay overnight in a larger house, after all, she was also a member of the Phoenix Flower Clan.

As for houses... I'll go check out the inner city tomorrow to see if there are any cheap ones.

Linda's current rented room is indeed too cramped, with only one bed and a pitifully small living room.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!