"The villain let me schedule my time freely."
After returning to his room, Ya Xiao snapped his fingers at the system and counted, "Qin Qi usually works for eight hours. If I don't follow while the villain is working, I'll probably be able to collect demon value for less than five hours a day."
At the thought of not being able to collect demon value, Ya Xiao's tail drooped to the floor.
[Indeed.] The system felt that this was a problem.
But it was also unrealistic to stay by the villain's side.
Both Ya Xiao and the system were clear that the villain didn't fully trust them at the moment.
The fact that the two of them could get along well nowadays was largely due to the agreement of the spring meeting, but that didn't mean that he could change the villain's decision at will.
Qin Qi could put up with people offending his little harmless habits, but if he violated his decisions, he knew it would be bad.
Ya Xiao wagged his tail and said to Fourth Uncle, "Luckily, the villain said that I can arrange my time freely. When the time comes, I can go to the headquarters to help the marshal."
The butler was the only profession that wasn't a military position but was allowed to enter the base's headquarters.
Of course, this must be done without interfering with Qin Qi's work. Ya Xiao clenched his fists. No matter if the marshal was working or resting, he would stay by his side as much as possible to absorb demon value, not letting go of the slightest bit of it!
[Cheer up, host!]
The system wouldn't oppose the decision made by Ya Xiao. In its opinion, there was no demon smarter than the host.
The demon and the system made their plans for the future, and both began to sway. They said goodnight to each other and fell into a deep sleep. The next day, when Ya Xiao opened his eyes under the effect of his biological clock, he pinpointed the time and headed to the villain's room.
The two adjutants, Mist and Soren, had knocked on the door after the marshal's meal and came in just in time to see Qin Qi and Ya Xiao whispering about something.
Inside the dimly lit room, the stoic marshal and the smiling new butler, one was talking and the other was listening. The atmosphere was tacit and natural, making it hard to interject.
Ya Xiao smiled and greeted them, then slightly bowed his head and nodded to the marshal who was sitting in his chair, "The two adjutants are here, I'll go out first."
Ya Xiao knew how to avoid suspicion, lest he hear something he shouldn't, but before he could move, he was called down.
"No need."
Qin Qi said casually.
Mist had wanted to tell Ya Xiao to stay as they were going to check the marshal's body this time and not talk about the military. They didn't expect that the marshal would take the initiative to let Ya Xiao stay. Ya Xiao didn't have any hesitation and directly stood in place, not moving.
For Ya Xiao, absorbing the demon value was the most important thing, so naturally, he wanted to stay if he could.
Mist and Soren exchanged a glance. The two opened the instruments in the room and installed a sensing device on Qin Qi's body.
Ya Xiao quietly stood by the side and watched the fluctuating curves on the screen, not quite reading the information revealed on it.
However, he was clear that the villain's body didn't have much of a problem. Qin Qi's TH value had been in a relatively stable state for the past few days. From Mist's expression, he could also tell that Qin Qi was in a good state of recovery.
Ya Xiao tapped his finger imperceptibly. The transparent system panel was placed in mid-air, and an hour's beep slowly sounded.
The slowly growing demon value trembled and finally rose to 'one' at this moment!
One hour had actually grown one demon value!
As long as they stayed by the villain's side twenty-four hours a day, they would be able to complete their mission in just over a year!
We're sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we're going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktlr qifjrfv atf vfwbc abb wemt.
Tj Wljb'r tfjga pewqfv j ilaaif.
Jbwqjgfv ab atf qgfnlber rlaejalbc ktfgf bcis 0.1 vfwbc njief tjv glrfc lc jc tbeg, atlr kjr j ugfja ifjq!
[Fourth Uncle, this is great!]
The system also excitedly stated, [Right! If we work harder, we might be able to grow wings and go back to the demon realm before the villain dies!]
Tj Wljb'r fsfygbkr jcv fsfr kfgf oliifv klat vfilutaoei rwlifr.
Llr ajli kjr kjuulcu.
Pa ibbxfv ilxf tf kjr tjqqs obg atf wjgrtji.
The two adjutants, Mist and Soren, also let out a long sigh of relief when they saw the value on the screen.
"Marshal, your TH value has been in a stable state for five days, with the value hovering around four thousand five hundred. Although it is still in the high-risk range, it has already fallen to the lower end."
Mist said, switching the screen to a different interface, "Side effects impact are nearly non-existent. You can enter the base normally."
Moreover, perhaps because of the butler's healing, the marshal's various negative values had a tendency to decrease, which had not been the case in the past.
However, the first few times the butler had healed the marshal were few and far between, so this situation could not be indiscriminately concluded for the time being, and needed to be observed properly.
Qin Qi hmmed, he wasn't surprised by this result. After waiting for Mist to finish, he directly said, "Return to the base at ten o'clock."
"Yes."
Mist and Soren immediately nodded their heads.
Qin Qi then looked over at Ya Xiao, not speaking or moving, just quietly looking at him.
Mist and Soren were both a bit puzzled, yet Ya Xiao acted as if he knew something. He paused for a moment and spoke out:
"Since the marshal has already healed, I will explain the situation to the medical office side to stop the medicine."
"Hmm."
Qin Qi nodded his head, his tone didn't reveal any emotions, but it inexplicably made people feel that he was satisfied with Ya Xiao's answer.
What kind of situation was this?
Mist and Soren's eyes widened slightly. Did the marshal now have his secret code with the new butler?
The kind that could be understood without having to speak.
Noticing Mist and Soren's eyes, Ya Xiao wagged his tail and raised his hand to pick at his face.
It was a bit of a pity when he thought about it in hindsight. He shouldn't have stayed back then if he'd known.
If the villain hadn't called out to himself just now, Ya Xiao would have already gone to the infirmary to get his medication by this time, as per his previous schedule.
The villain hated the taste of bitterness.
After Ya Xiao had inadvertently discovered this, one of his few daily pleasures had been watching the villain drink his medicine with seeming composure.
Now that Qin Qi had brought it up and there was no way for him to watch the fun anymore, the tip of Ya Xiao's tail drooped, his expression faintly bored.
Qin Qi glanced at him and withdrew his eyes.
There were very few things in the room that belonged to Qin Qi.
Ya Xiao, as the butler, had already finished organizing all of them in less than ten minutes while packing his employer's luggage.
And next, he still needed to go back to his own room to organize things. After saying goodbye to Qin Qi, Ya Xiao turned around and gently closed the door of the villain's room. Then, he saw Mist and Soren standing outside the door.
The two had been standing outside the door, seemingly deliberately waiting for him to come out. Ya Xiao took a step, arched his eyebrows, and smiled at the two, walking together for a short distance.
"Ya Xiao, do you admire the marshal?"
Remembering Emily's earlier words, Mist asked Ya Xiao with a smirk.
"Uh-huh." Ya Xiao's eyes lit up and his tone was quite cheerful, "The marshal is very strong and has a good personality."
The young man's voice with a smile was infectious. No one would doubt the truthfulness of his words.
Mist didn't expect the young man to answer so seriously. The smile in his eyes deepened. Only a butler with such a passionate and pure heart could quickly develop a tacit understanding with Qin Qi.
He couldn't help but feel happy for the marshal.
"Is this what Emily told you?"
Ya Xiao's tail wagged a few times in his pants.
"Emily is in charge of escorting criminals, and it's her duty to keep us posted on what happens along the way." Mist said, explaining to Ya Xiao, "But neither Emily nor we have told the marshal about you admiring him."
It was a private matter for the butler, and even Mist wouldn't feel free to tell the marshal.
"Oh."
Ya Xiao dutifully nodded his head.
He seemed to have guessed the reason why the two had come to see him.
"Ya Xiao, you are the marshal's butler. You should know that the marshal has a younger brother." Mist didn't hold back and looked at Ya Xiao with a much more serious expression.
He and Soren purposely came to find Ya Xiao not for idle chit-chat. The identity of the criminal Ya Xiao encountered on the way was special. As the butler, he needed to know something about it.
Thinking about this matter, Mist's gaze under the glasses was permeated with coldness and disgust.
"The criminal in Emily's custody yesterday was the marshal's brother Qin Chen."
Noticing Ya Xiao's gaze, Mist raised his glasses and continued, "But that person doesn't deserve to be the marshal's brother at all. Don't mention him in front of the marshal in the future either."
Was it really this matter?
Ya Xiao nodded at his words. Of course, he wouldn't mention the protagonist group and touch the villain's misfortune.
Originally, Mist and Soren thought that Ya Xiao would ask a few more questions, but they didn't expect the other party to stop asking more after nodding.
It had to be said that such an attitude should be very pleasing to the marshal.
Just as a precaution, Mist still spoke, "For various reasons, we have sent him out of the fortress, and he will definitely not be able to enter the Sixth Base. However, assuming that you run into each other at other bases, you have to remember to make sure he doesn't see the marshal."
The marshal had many unknown taboos, but for now, Qin Chen would most likely make the marshal lose control.
"Okay."
Ya Xiao quickly understood Mist's hint, and he nodded seriously, the tip of his tail tensing up.
So, in order to prevent the marshal from losing control and getting injured, resulting in a decrease in the speed of absorbing demon value, he must not let the villain see Qin Chen!
Of course, by the time Ya Xiao got on the hovercar with Qin Qi, he had already put what he was thinking about before to the back of his mind. After all, the protagonist group wouldn't meet up with the villain during this period.
From the looks of it, Ya Xiao's state was pretty much the same as before. It was as if nothing was bothering him, and he could feel the pleasantness around him as he sat next to him.
Qin Qi glanced at him.
After removing his shades, he could see things more clearly. As his gaze moved away from the young man's raven-feather-like eyelashes, Qin Qi couldn't help but wonder if the other man had actually reached adulthood.
"Marshal."
The dark-haired butler lowered his voice and moved to the side of his shoulder.
Qin Qi hmmed, signaling the other to speak directly.
"Your villa is beautiful." The new butler's tone was sincere, every word dripping with awe and praise, "I was stunned when I saw that villa."
Qin Qi was silent for a moment, handing Ya Xiao a "you really have good vision" look, then calmly said, "That was designed by me."
"It's awesome!"
Ya Xiao's eyes were filled with shock as he exclaimed in astonishment.
Qin Qi did not say anything.
He slightly lowered his head to adjust his black gloves, rather like a master sitting with a calm demeanor.
Mist and Soren, who were seated in the front row, were silent, not knowing what to say about their aesthetics.
Waiting until they got off the hovercar, Qin Qi and Ya Xiao's topic had already shifted to the various decorations of the villa. Ya Xiao even gained the right to decorate the villa in a few words.
"Marshal, I won't fail your expectations!"
The youth's excited voice came from the back row as well as Qin Qi's faint response.
The marshal was a silent and steady character.
Mist never knew that the original marshal was like this as he got along with the butler. Maybe it was because of Ya Xiao's young age, or maybe it was because of the similar aesthetics?
When they arrived at the villa, Mist and Soren did not leave for the time being due to official business and stayed in the marshal's study to talk about things.
Ya Xiao, on the other hand, was excited to get some kind of decoration.
In fact, neither Soren nor Mist felt that Ya Xiao could fix up anything for the already gloomy villa until they came out of the study.
Ya Xiao gave both of them a toy left over from decorating the villa as a farewell.
Mist glanced at the villa and then at the dark, frightening monster doll he held in his hand. Before he could make a sound, he heard the marshal next to him casually praise, "Not bad."
Soren: .....
Mist: ......