ASPWL Ch92: Oat Milk

Before meeting Qin Yao, L1 exchanged some points in the system’s mall to restore his human body’s health.

Once he’d done that, he prepared to sneak into Qin Yao’s house.

But since Qin Yao was the biggest villain in the small world of A20231007, L1 wasn’t sure what kind of person he’d be, so before sneaking in, L1 reviewed Qin Yao’s profile in the small world.

Qin Yao, male, 23 years old.

Due to childhood abandonment by his parents, he developed a twisted and obsessive personality, ruthless and merciless.

As an adult, he constantly clashed with the male lead in his pursuit of the male protagonist but repeatedly failed. Later, he died in a car accident.

Upon reading this, L1 immediately became alert.

Having lived in the human world for half a month now, he was no longer the same system that didn’t understand human nature.

The phrase “ruthless and merciless” still sounded a bit harsh.

Indeed, not all villains were as easygoing as the Huo family.

Qin Yao, this villain, was very close to L1’s original impression of a villain.

So this time, L1 didn’t plan to meet Qin Yao directly; instead, he intended to observe him first.

Qin Yao’s villa was even larger than the Huo family’s.

L1 activated invisibility, strolled around Qin Yao’s villa, and then took a small breath, heading for Qin Yao’s room.

He landed directly on Qin Yao’s balcony.

The moment he touched down, L1 was stunned.

On the oversized balcony lay a thick layer of snow, and in a shaded corner, there was a chubby snowman.

The snowman wore a hat, had a red scarf wrapped around its neck, a carrot nose on its face, and held a basket with a few candies inside.

L1’s gaze lingered on the snowman, almost unable to look away.

This snowman is so cute, he thought.

But he quickly came to his senses.

He was here to observe the big villain, Qin Yao, not to look at a snowman!

But why would a major villain build a snowman on his balcony?

L1 wondered as he prepared to head indoors.

But he couldn’t enter.

On this cold, snowy winter day, Qin Yao’s balcony was open to allow snow in.

Yet it was unlikely he’d leave the glass doors to his bedroom shut, so even though L1 was invisible, he couldn’t enter with his current human form.

Unless L1 abandoned his human form.

But if he did that, his body would be left out in the freezing cold, likely to get sick again.

With no other options, L1 crouched by the glass door, quietly observing the interior.

After scanning the room, he didn’t see Qin Yao anywhere.

Was he not home?

L1 quickly checked Qin Yao’s coordinates.

Sure enough, he wasn’t home. At this time, Qin Yao was at his office.

L1 didn’t mind the wasted trip, as he could wait here for Qin Yao’s return.

However, as he waited, L1’s gaze wandered back to the snowman.

It was ten in the morning, and the winter sun shone faintly on the balcony. L1 stood beside the snowman, gently poking its chubby body, then nudging its carrot nose.

The texture of snow was fascinating.

When touched, it was icy cold, yet if he held it a bit longer, it would melt into a puddle of water.

During his short stay with the Huo family, the three young villains had taken him out to play in the snow.

But their snow play consisted mostly of snowball fights and throwing snowballs.

Running and jumping was fun, but the three little villains weren’t very skilled at building things—even their snowballs weren’t round.

Unlike this chubby snowman, whose head and body were both perfectly round and whose beady eyes made it look utterly endearing.

The morning sun was mild, but by the afternoon, it gained some warmth, melting the outermost snow on the balcony.

L1 worried the sun would reach the snowman, so he chose a spot where he could shield it from the sun.

All afternoon, he sat outside Qin Yao’s balcony, shading the snowman while trying to mold small snowmen out of snowflakes.

L1 had never done such a thing before and was clumsy at first.

But being the most advanced system, he got the hang of it after a couple of failed attempts.

By the end of the afternoon, the balcony outside Qin Yao’s villa was dotted with snowmen of all different sizes and shapes.

Just then, he heard a pleasant male voice say, “Just bring dinner to my study—I won’t be coming down tonight…”

The voice abruptly stopped.

The next moment, the balcony door slid open from the inside.

L1 suddenly realized he’d been playing for too long!

For some reason, he suddenly felt an inexplicable panic, even sensing a bit of warmth on his cheeks.

Why is that?

Before he could figure out the cause of his nervousness, he heard the young man nearby turn and ask, “Did someone enter my room this afternoon?”

L1 suddenly remembered.

Right, he was invisible!

The villain couldn’t see him.

He sighed in relief and quickly glanced up to survey the young man.

The man was still in a black suit, outlining his figure nearly perfectly with its clean lines. After a quick sweep, L1 turned his focus to the man’s features.

To L1’s surprise, the villain before him didn’t look… menacing.

L1 studied him more carefully and quickly concluded that this villain was very handsome—extremely handsome.

And more importantly, he didn’t detect any hint of brutality in the villain’s expression. In fact, his expression…

L1 pondered, finding that the villain’s expression was quite similar to the Huo family’s, radiating an approachable vibe.

Still, L1 didn’t dare reveal himself to Qin Yao unprepared.

After all, he was the biggest villain in this world!

What if that friendly expression was just a facade?

Yes.

During this time, L1 had come to understand another principle: humans are unlike systems—they all have two sides.

In different situations, they behave differently.

Take Su Rui, for example; his demeanor was quite different in front of others than in private.

L1 worried Qin Yao might be the same, so he decided to sneak into Qin Yao’s room and observe him more closely.

At this moment, the butler’s voice came from the doorway: “No one has come up here all day.”

Qin Yao’s gaze fell on the scattered footprints on the balcony, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Seeing that Qin Yao wasn’t looking his way, L1 cautiously floated up, carefully angled himself, and in a flash, zipped past Qin Yao into the room, moving as swiftly as a gust of wind.

Qin Yao suddenly turned to glance behind him.

The butler asked, “Young Master, is something wrong?”

Qin Yao’s gaze swept across the room, and after a few seconds, he turned back around, his eyes falling on the row of small snowmen on the balcony. He smiled and said, “It’s nothing; you can carry on.”

Although puzzled, the butler refrained from asking more and left the room.

As night gradually fell, Qin Yao stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, quietly admiring the line of little snowmen on the balcony.

After a while, he suddenly walked outside.

L1 immediately flew cautiously to follow, watching as Qin Yao, seemingly from nowhere, produced a small shovel and bucket, carefully tidying up the messy snow on the balcony, including the water from melted snow that had been exposed to the afternoon sun.

Watching his actions, L1 suddenly realized—

His body was indeed invisible, but he’d forgotten to restore his little snowmen and the footprints in the snow to their original state!

Qin Yao was the major villain of this small world; he had been staring outside for quite some time…

L1 became alert once again.

Could he have already discovered him?

And what was he doing now?

If he had noticed him yet chose not to expose him and was even helping to cover up the traces…

L1 suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity with this scene.

In a small world he once managed, there was a villain who was a deranged killer.

When he discovered the protagonist’s presence, he didn’t immediately make a scene but waited until the protagonist stepped into his pre-prepared trap…

At this thought, a wave of fear inexplicably arose in L1’s heart.

Wait, no.

He was a system; he shouldn’t fear such things at all.

But now he had a human body—one that was as weak as a five-year-old child…

So, was this his body’s fear?

Floating in mid-air, L1 could even clearly feel his body trembling slightly.

Indeed, a major villain was scarier than the villain family!

No, if this body kept shaking, he wouldn’t be able to observe Qin Yao properly.

L1 quickly exited his human body and stored it in the system storage space.

After doing so, he felt his body’s trembling stop, yet for some reason, he still felt a lingering sense of unease.

Could this be what fear felt like?

This wasn’t a pleasant sensation.

Maybe he should just observe the villain one more night and leave the next day?

L1 made up his mind and then resumed observing Qin Yao from the perspective of a monitor.

After clearing the snow from the balcony, Qin Yao soon returned to his room. Before closing the floor-to-ceiling window, he glanced at the snowmen lined up outside and a sudden smile flashed in his eyes.

Wait.

Why was he smiling?

L1 felt his whole system going haywire.

That twisted villain in his previous world had also smiled at the balcony before entering the room, so this villain Qin Yao was…

Right.

L1 suddenly recalled Qin Yao’s profile: twisted and obsessive.

For a moment, L1 wanted to leave.

But he quickly steadied himself—he was a system, not a human.

So what if Qin Yao was a big villain? A mere villain in a small world couldn’t threaten him.

Even though he reassured himself, L1 still felt a bit nervous.

He couldn’t even focus fully on observing Qin Yao, so he went to look for Qiu.

Since time flowed differently in the main system space and the small world, Qiu thought L1 had barely left and had already returned.

Curious, she asked, “What happened?”

L1 thought for a moment before replying, “Although I haven’t fully grasped human emotions, I think I now understand what fear is.”

Qiu looked puzzled.

The A20231007 world was an A-level world with no threats to the system. Why would L1 feel fear?

But L1 didn’t have time to explain and quickly left again.

When L1 returned his attention to Qin Yao’s room, it was already the next morning.

The moment he returned, L1 noticed that Qin Yao wasn’t in his bedroom. By seven in the morning, he had already freshened up and was in the small kitchen preparing breakfast.

When L1 looked over, Qin Yao was heating fresh milk.

During his stay with the Huo family, every morning, Mama Huo would prepare a cup of sweet milk for him.

Having gone a single day without it, L1 was already missing the taste.

However, recalling Qin Yao’s smile from the previous night, the cautious L1 didn’t approach him rashly and instead observed from a distance.

The young man wore only a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing well-defined, elegant muscle lines.

First, he heated the milk and then poured the soaked oats into the blender.

Once the machine finished running, he poured the oats into a pot of hot milk and simmered it for a while.

Though the indoor heating kept the room from being too cold, L1 could still clearly see a plume of steam, a mixture of milk and oats, rising from the pot.

When the mixture was nearly at a boil, Qin Yao turned off the heat.

The oat milk was ready, but instead of pouring it into a cup, he poured it back into the blender.

As the blender broke down the softened oats once more, the fragrance of oats completely blended into the milk.

At this moment, Qin Yao poured the freshly-made oat milk into a glass.

He made just the right amount to fill two glasses.

L1 thought that if he were still using his human body, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist swallowing his saliva.

For a brief moment, he felt a little grateful he wasn’t using his human body.

Qin Yao placed both glasses of milk on the coffee table, then sat on the sofa, holding one glass as he drank and worked on his laptop.

L1 moved closer, wanting to see exactly what kind of documents he was working on.

But as he looked, his attention kept drifting to the oat milk in Qin Yao’s hand.

What did oat milk taste like?

L1 had never tried it.

But it must be delicious, right?

After all, sweet milk was already very tasty, and Qin Yao had not only added sugar to the milk but also used so many complicated steps to make these two glasses of milk.

Wait—

Why was he thinking about milk?!

L1 quickly refocused his attention and found Qin Yao was reading a drama script titled The Wealthy Beauty’s Wealthy Husband.

After glancing over the contents, L1 didn’t find it particularly interesting, and his gaze uncontrollably returned to Qin Yao’s milk glass.

By now, Qin Yao had finished one glass of milk and set the empty cup on the table, but he hadn’t reached for the other glass.

Why wasn’t he drinking it?

L1 was puzzled.

He patiently waited for almost an hour, but Qin Yao still hadn’t reached for the second glass.

Was it because the milk had gone cold?

But cold milk was still tasty, wasn’t it?

L1 averted his gaze.

No, he couldn’t keep looking.

Besides, Qin Yao was acting somewhat oddly. In L1’s impression, villains were all arrogant and bossy, and they especially enjoyed ordering their subordinates around, rarely doing things themselves.

He hadn’t expected Qin Yao, such a ruthless villain, to be similar to the Huo family, willing to step into the kitchen and even make milk like Mama Huo did.

L1 had been observing him all day and hadn’t noticed anything unusual about Qin Yao.

Getting no results, L1 grew a little suspicious.

Was Qin Yao’s mood just a bit too steady?

Villains were typically known for having bad tempers.

But from last night until now, aside from that strange smile, he hadn’t shown any signs of impatience or irritation.

In fact, L1 had just seen Qin Yao discussing the script with the screenwriter. The screenwriter had been so angry that he was swearing in the chat, even calling Qin Yao clueless and saying he didn’t know what he was talking about. Yet when Qin Yao read this, he didn’t even frown and simply analyzed the illogical part of the plot for the screenwriter.

Not long after, the screenwriter ended up apologizing, admitting he had a bad temper and asking Qin Yao not to take it to heart.

Qin Yao replied, “We’re just discussing the plot; I’m not angry.”

L1 was especially surprised when he saw this.

Wasn’t Qin Yao supposed to be the villain?

Didn’t villains usually fly into a rage at the slightest provocation?

Why wasn’t Qin Yao angry at being insulted?

L1 didn’t understand.

But he felt that continuing this observation was pointless, so he decided to look in on the other protagonists and supporting characters instead.

The first protagonist he chose to observe this time was Zhang Qiran.

At that moment, Zhang Qiran had just entered the entertainment industry, three years away from meeting his destined romantic partner, the protagonist Gong.

When L1 arrived, he saw Zhang Qiran rushing out of a variety show set, looking flustered.

After thinking for a moment, L1 reverted to his five-year-old form.

He walked over to Zhang Qiran, and before he could think of what to say, Zhang Qiran squatted down, looking anxious, and asked him, “Kid, do you know where there’s a pharmacy?”

L1 blinked, nodded, “Yes, I know.”

Zhang Qiran immediately breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at L1, “Can you take me there? I’m in a bit of a hurry to buy some medicine…”

L1 scanned his body and said, “You’re not sick; why are you looking for a pharmacy?”

Faced with the question, Zhang Qiran’s face flushed instantly, and after a few seconds, he whispered, “I’m worried he’ll catch a cold… Ah, please, kid, can you just show me? If you take me there, I’ll treat you to KFC later, alright? I’m not a bad person; I just need a little help finding the place! I was in such a rush I forgot my phone.”

L1 didn’t know what KFC was; he only wanted oat milk, so he said, “I want oat milk.”

Zhang Qiran readily agreed, “Sure.”

So L1 led Zhang Qiran to find a pharmacy.

On the way, L1 glanced at this part of the plot and finally understood why Zhang Qiran was so anxious.

It turns out he wanted to buy medicine for a supporting character he had a childhood crush on.

This character’s name was Song Zhehan.

Unfortunately, the medicine he bought in such a rush would end up being thrown straight into the trash by Song Zhehan.

L1 shook his head quietly but didn’t say anything.

They quickly found the pharmacy, and after Zhang Qiran bought the medicine, he took L1 to a nearby convenience store to buy him a bottle of oat milk.

Not only that, he stuffed two red bills into L1’s hand. Before leaving, he smiled and said, “Thank you, little guy!”

L1 looked at the bottled oat milk in his hand, then at the two hundred-yuan bills, and smiled suddenly.

It seemed not all protagonists were bad people!

Zhang Qiran was actually quite nice.

L1 stashed away the two bills before opening the oat milk to take a sip.

Well.

The taste was alright, but he felt that it wasn’t quite as good as the milk Qin Yao made.

Seeing that it was getting late, L1 decided to go back to the villain’s house for another look.

If he still felt scared this time, he wouldn’t come back again!

After tossing the empty bottle into the trash, L1 returned to Qin Yao’s place.

He flew straight to the balcony outside Qin Yao’s room. The small snowmen he had made last night had mostly melted under the day’s direct sunlight, with only a few close to the big snowman still intact.

L1 squatted down and couldn’t resist making two more snowmen before he raised his head to look inside.

At that moment, he was stunned—the floor-to-ceiling window on the balcony wasn’t locked from the inside today!

The sky outside had already darkened, and Qin Yao hadn’t returned yet, but the lights were on inside, so L1 immediately saw a glass of milk on the coffee table in the living room—

It was the extra glass of oat milk from the morning.

At this moment, L1 somehow intuitively grasped the meaning of “conflicted.”

What he was feeling right now was exactly that: conflicted.

Because he wanted to sneak a taste of the oat milk, but he also didn’t dare to.

He had already snuck into Qin Yao’s room; going as far as drinking someone else’s milk would be downright impolite!

But that glass of milk smelled so good.

Even though it was several meters away, and the milk had cooled, L1 could still smell the sweet scent of milk mixed with oats.

Suddenly, he heard his human stomach growl.

He was hungry.

L1 cautiously took a half-step back.

No, absolutely not—he couldn’t sneak a sip of someone else’s milk!

L1 was a system with principles.

He turned himself invisible once more, then stood facing the oat milk.

Soon, Qin Yao returned to his room.

When he saw the untouched milk on the coffee table, he raised an eyebrow slightly but didn’t say anything. He simply walked over, picked up the milk, and pretended to regretfully say, “Seems like I made a bit too much milk this morning. Since no stray cat came to drink it, I guess I should pour it out.”

L1’s eyes instantly widened.

So it was meant for stray cats!

Wait.

Why would he have kept the window closed if it was for a stray cat?

Sure enough, this villain was still just as sly…

“Oh? Did I forget to open the window today?” Qin Yao suddenly held his forehead, looking a bit exasperated. “Then I guess I misjudged the poor kitty.”

L1: “!!!”

It really was for a stray cat.

So he had misunderstood Qin Yao.

But… did he really have to pour it out? Such a big glass of milk—it was such a waste.

L1 swallowed as quietly as possible.

Though the sound was faint, Qin Yao’s actions paused suddenly.

A moment later, he chuckled lightly.

The oat milk from the morning was ultimately poured out.

L1 spent the entire evening regretting it.

If he had known the milk was for a stray cat, he would have tasted it—what a pity to pour it out!

Would Qin Yao make milk for the stray cat again tomorrow?

L1 didn’t know, but he suddenly found himself looking forward to the next day.

Meanwhile, L1 started thinking.

Why would Qin Yao prepare milk for a stray cat?

Did he also like stray cats?

L1 couldn’t help but think of Ye Fan.

In L1’s opinion, anyone who liked stray cats couldn’t be all bad. So was Qin Yao truly a bad person?

L1 wasn’t ready to jump to conclusions.

After all, just last night, Qin Yao had that strange, slightly terrifying smile!

But he’d find out soon enough by seeing if Qin Yao made milk tomorrow, right?

If he truly liked stray cats, he would definitely feed them consistently.

So that night, L1 sat quietly in Qin Yao’s room all night.

But as dawn approached, L1 suddenly felt very sleepy and couldn’t resist closing his eyes for a moment.

When he opened his eyes again, the rich smell of oat milk filled his nose.

L1’s eyes snapped wide open.

Qin Yao had made milk!

L1’s mouth curved into a smile. He was overjoyed and ran straight to the kitchen.

In his excitement, he had forgotten that he had turned off his human invisibility the night before.

So, the moment he appeared in the kitchen, he saw Qin Yao smiling as he asked, “Are you the kid from the Huo family that went missing?”

L1: “Huh?”