Of course, he understood what Lia meant.
He wasn't oblivious to Lia's little feelings for him; he had just been pretending not to notice.
As the chief steward of Tianqi, he had too many matters to handle and too many responsibilities to shoulder.
In his view, matters of the heart were far too extravagant a luxury.
But now...
Looking into those crimson eyes filled with anticipation and apprehension, he hesitated.
And it was precisely that flicker of hesitation that caused a glimmer of disappointment to flash in Lia's eyes.
The disappointment was faint, fleeting, but William saw it.
He suddenly remembered a saying from the elders before the apocalypse: some people, if you miss them, it's for a lifetime.
He took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and walked up to Lia.
Then, he bent down, extended his hands, hooked them under her armpits, and lifted her up.
Lia's eyes instantly lit up!
She almost reflexively wrapped her arms around William's neck, plopped down onto his firm and powerful forearm, and then—
"Mwah!"
She planted a kiss on his cheek.
William's expression stiffened slightly.
But he quickly regained his composure.
He didn't speak, just held Lia like that, feeling the weightless little body in his arms.
Nestled in his embrace, Lia curled up, a sly smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Being a child isn't so bad after all.
At least I can openly act spoiled.
At least I have a legitimate reason to make him hold me.
At least...
She stole a glance at William's profile, her cheeks flushing slightly.
At least, he didn't refuse...
...
However.
What the two of them didn't know was...
Right beside them, inside another bloodline egg, someone was experiencing the most awkward moment of his life.
Hawk Eye.
He had completed the fusion a long time ago.
He had woken up the moment Lia broke out of her shell.
He had clearly heard everything outside.
Lia and William's conversation, Lia acting spoiled, William hesitating, finally picking her up, and that loud "Mwah".
He now faced a difficult choice:
Go out, or not?
If he goes out, those two are being all lovey-dovey. Wouldn't he be a massive third wheel if he popped out now?
If he doesn't go out, it's really stuffy inside this eggshell, and he's already finished the fusion. Staying longer is pointless.
He agonized like this, agonized, agonized—
"Crack."
The eggshell suddenly cracked on its own.
The crisp cracking sound was particularly loud in the quiet command room.
Lia and William simultaneously turned their heads to look at the cracking bloodline egg.
Hawk Eye: "..."
It's over.
Stiffly, he reached out, pushed open the cracked eggshell, and walked out bare-chested.
He deliberately turned his head away, not daring to look at the two of them, but the tips of his ears were red as if about to drip blood.
Lia's small face instantly flushed crimson. She hurriedly jumped down from William's arm, flustered as she wrapped the cloth tightly around herself.
William, on the other hand, regained his composure quickly, merely clearing his throat lightly to mask his own embarrassment.
"Hawk Eye."
He spoke, his voice as steady as ever, as if nothing had just happened.
"How do you feel?"
Hawk Eye looked up, his expression indescribable.
"Ha... ha, pretty... pretty good."
He paused, then added.
"Just a bit stuffy."
Lia: "..."
William: "..."
An eerie silence fell over the command room.
Only Hawk Eye's bright red ear tips silently spoke of his current state of mind.
I didn't see anything.
Really.
Please believe me.
Hawk Eye stood by the broken eggshell, his ear tips red like cooked shrimp, his eyes fixed on his own toes, wishing he could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
His usually stern face was now plastered with the telltale look of 'I saw nothing, I really saw nothing.'
Lia, wrapped in the white cloth, her small face flushed, fingers twisting the edge of the fabric, didn't know what to say.
William was the quickest to return to normal.
He glanced at Hawk Eye, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, but he soon resumed his usual unflappable, calm expression.
"That expression of yours,"
he said lightly.
"makes it very hard for us to believe you really saw nothing."
Hawk Eye: "..."
He looked up, opened his mouth to explain something, but meeting William's faintly amused dark red eyes, all words got stuck in his throat.
Forget it.
To explain is to make excuses, and to make excuses is to confirm it happened.
He chose to shut up.
William didn't pursue the topic further either.
In his view, being seen was just being seen; it wasn't a big deal.
Within Tianqi, this sort of thing would become known sooner or later. A little earlier or later made no difference.
Besides...
He glanced at little Lia beside him, wrapped in white cloth, head lowered, revealing a stretch of flushed neck, and felt a slight stir in his heart.
It wasn't anything to be ashamed of either.
He withdrew his gaze, looked at Lia, his voice carrying a trace of gentleness he himself hadn't noticed.
"By the way, has your talent changed?"
Lia was slightly taken aback, then snapped back to attention.
She quickly took a deep breath, suppressing the jumble of thoughts in her heart, focused her mind, and called up her attribute panel.
The next second, she covered her small mouth in surprise.
"My Spirit... it actually broke through to one hundred!"
Spirit, the most difficult of the four-dimensional attributes to improve.
Harder than strength, harder than Speed, harder than constitution.
Even though her talent was the Spirit-type [Illusionary Eye], her Spirit had only been just over sixty before.
That value was considered decent among Spirit-type Hunters, but definitely not top-tier.
But now—
It had nearly doubled.
One hundred points of Spirit.
What did that mean?
It meant she could sustain illusions for longer durations and over larger areas.
It meant her illusions would be harder to detect and harder to break free from.
It meant she could simultaneously exert mental influence on more targets.
Although her other three-dimensional attributes were still very low, even lower than those of ordinary SS-Rank Hunters.
But with this one hundred points of Spirit alone, she could crush those ordinary SS-Level Talent Hunters.
In terms of strength, she now belonged to the top echelon among SS-Rank Hunters.
A brilliant smile bloomed on Lia's small face, her crimson eyes sparkling like two gleaming rubies.
"And there's more!"
She continued reading excitedly.
"My talent changed! [Illusionary Eye] became [Bloodline Illusionary Eye]!"
"And a new ability was added: can peer into the deepest fears of a target, thereby better tailoring illusions specifically for the enemy."
Lia was stunned.
Peer into fears?
Tailor-made?
She looked up at William, her eyes full of disbelief.
"William, this ability... isn't it a bit too overpowered?"
William narrowed his eyes slightly, rapidly calculating the practical combat value of this ability in his mind.
For an illusion Hunter, the hardest part is often not creating an illusion, but creating one the target cannot escape.
Because everyone's inner world is different. The same illusion might be utterly terrifying to A, but barely a tickle to B.
But if one could peer into the target's deepest fears beforehand...
Then the illusion created would strike directly at the soul's most vulnerable spot.
It would no longer be an ordinary illusion.
It would be a tailor-made nightmare.
"Indeed,"
William nodded, a flicker of approval in his wine-red pupils.
"Your current illusion ability, combined with this fear-peering characteristic, has transcended the scope of ordinary illusions."
He paused, then added.
"If used properly, you alone could sway the outcome of a small-scale war."