Lu Xiao noticed something was off with Ares and asked, a little puzzled, "Are you hot?"
Her question only made it worse. The moment she asked, Ares, whose body was tensed as he rested his head on her lap, flushed a deep red. Yet, he stubbornly insisted, "No, I'm not hot."
Belatedly realizing what was happening, Lu Xiao had a hint of a smile in her eyes. She didn't press the issue. She hadn't expected Ares to be so easily embarrassed.
'It's actually kind of cute.'
"Relax. It's okay to rest your head on my lap. If you feel any discomfort at all, you have to tell me immediately. Don't try to endure it. I need to know what you're really feeling, okay?"
"Okay, o-okay." Even though Lu Xiao told him to relax, for Ares, it was truly difficult at this moment.
His mind was completely filled with one thought: 'Lu Xiao is actually willing to let me rest my head on her lap! She's willing! How can she be so wonderful!'
If Ares had a screaming rubber chicken in his heart, it would definitely be going off right now!
Lu Xiao placed her hand on Ares's forehead, then extended her purification ability into the man's Spirit Sea.
There, she saw a tangled black mass of threads, along with a black substance coating them.
Lu Xiao hadn't expected to see this black substance again, even after transmigrating.
'So, in this world, this black substance is what tortures the males, too?'
She tried to touch the black substance with her purification ability, but as soon as she got close, she felt more than half of her purification ability being drained away. Her mind went BUZZ, and she was almost ejected from Ares's Spirit Sea.
And the black substance that had devoured her purifying power had clearly lightened in color.
Lu Xiao steadied herself, thinking, 'Just as I thought.' Although her purification ability had transmigrated with her, its power was greatly diminished, about the same as when she had first awakened it.
'But that's alright. My purification ability can be improved, and the way to do it is by clearing away this black substance.'
After confirming that this black substance was the same stuff she had seen during the apocalypse, Lu Xiao began to untangle the chaotic mass of threads inside Ares's Spirit Sea.
However, this proved to be somewhat difficult for her. While she had experience purifying the black substance, she was completely clueless when it came to untangling these threads.
Fortunately, the threads also responded to her purification ability.
Following her instincts, she began to unravel and purify the tangled threads, bit by bit.
The areas she worked on became visibly lighter in color.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but when Lu Xiao felt a sharp pain in her forehead, she knew she couldn't continue for the day.
The moment she withdrew her purification power from Ares's Spirit Sea, a wave of dizziness washed over her.
She took a moment to recover. After she felt a little better, she glanced at the time. More than an hour had passed.
Lu Xiao lowered her gaze, intending to ask Ares how he felt, only to discover that he had fallen asleep at some point.
His expression was very relaxed.
A complete contrast to the tense state he was in while awake.
Lu Xiao hesitated for a moment but decided not to wake him. Instead, she relaxed her body, leaned back against the sofa, and replied to the message she'd received: "Is tomorrow okay? If it's convenient, I can come over tomorrow morning."
'Better to confirm the job sooner rather than later.'
It seemed the other party had been waiting for her reply. Almost as soon as she sent her message, a response came back: "Yes, that's fine. We look forward to your visit."
Lu Xiao couldn't help but smile. 'So polite.'
When Ares woke up, he was still a bit dazed. He had no idea when he'd fallen asleep.
In fact, he hadn't slept like this in a very long time. Even when he did manage to sleep, it was always a light slumber, from which he could wake at any moment.
So, as he woke up now, Ares was still disoriented until he heard Lu Xiao's voice, "How do you feel?"
Ares snapped back to his senses and sat up instinctively. "Sorry, I fell asleep. You could have woken me up."
"You were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you. Are you feeling any discomfort?"
Hearing this, Ares focused inward on his Spirit Sea. Surprise flashed in his eyes. At first glance, his Spirit Sea seemed no different than before, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that in one corner, the spirit silk had loosened, and its pitch-black color had faded to a light gray.
Even this small change brought some relief to his constantly aching Spirit Sea. Not to mention, he had just had a good, long sleep, which made him feel exceptionally relaxed in both mind and body.
"No discomfort. It feels very comfortable. Thank you. I feel much better."
Seeing his serious expression, Lu Xiao couldn't help but laugh. "Why are you always so tense? Relax. I'm not going to do anything to you."
"I know. I'm not tense." As he denied being tense, Ares's body involuntarily stiffened.
Lu Xiao knew he needed time to adjust, so she didn't push him. She just said, "You feel that much better after just one session?"
"It's true. I even fell asleep just now."
"Do you not normally sleep?"
Faced with such a question, Ares unconsciously pressed his lips together. "It's been a long time since I've slept this well."
"I see. So, am I right to assume that if your condition worsens, the insomnia will also get worse?"
Ares nodded. His current condition was at the critical point between A and S-level.
That was why when Lu Xiao submitted the marriage application to the military, they had agreed without hesitation.
Without the intervention of a female, what likely awaited him was the S-Class Shelter.
Lu Xiao nodded. "In that case, I'll perform a Spiritual Soothing for you every evening."
Ares's head shot up to look at Lu Xiao, his eyes filled with astonishment. "N-No, you don't have to do that. This one session will last me for a long time."
"If the Spiritual Soothing is effective, why would you want to just 'last'? Don't you want to be cured? I feel like this is curable, it will just take some time. Besides, my ability is a bit weak right now. Once I level up, the process will be much faster."
Ares looked at Lu Xiao's earnest expression and felt that he had experienced so many shocks in the last few days that he was starting to feel numb.
"That would be very hard on you. You don't..."
"I think it'll be fine. By the way, I found a job, but I'm not sure where the place is. Are you free tomorrow? Could you take me there?"
Lu Xiao cut Ares off by directly opening her terminal and pointing to the address for the Fifth Research Institute on the light screen for him to see. "It's this place."
Ares looked at the words "Fifth Research Institute," and his heart trembled slightly. "You're going to work there?"
"That's right. I saw they were recruiting Healers, and I want to give it a try. You don't think I can do it?"
"Of course not. I'm sure you'd be more than qualified. But that place researches Spiritual Soothing for S-Class Male Beastmen. Some of the people you'd be dealing with might be Male Beastmen who have lost their sanity. Aren't you afraid?"