Chapter 96: Do Not Believe a Single Word a Beautiful Woman Says

After gazing steadily into Wen Nan’s eyes for a long moment, Guan Ailin fell silent. Then, with a smile, she spoke.

This time, she did not ask whether Wen Nan was still half-asleep, as she had before. She simply said two words:

“All right.”

This time, it was Wen Nan who fell silent.

At first he seemed stunned; then a flicker of disappointment passed through his eyes. At last, he broke into a delighted smile, lifted his hand, and hooked his little finger.

“Then pinky swear. One hundred years, no take-backs.”

Guan Ailin let out a laugh at that and shook her head. “You’re such a child.”

Though she teased him, her own little finger obediently reached out and locked tightly with his. “A promise is a promise.”

At that moment, the system’s warning voice sounded in Wen Nan’s mind, disturbingly ill-timed and thoroughly dispiriting.

9527: “Detection complete. The target of your strategy, the ice-cold but soft-hearted female CEO, is a ten-star character. Her star rating meets the requirement, and with the player’s guidance, she may leave the dungeon map.”

9527: “No controllable sigil patterns were detected on this character. She is an uncontrollable character.”

9527: “Please note: if a player leads an uncontrollable character out of the dungeon, that character poses a risk of uncontrollable behavior. Should she injure other players or damage important in-game facilities outside the designated dungeon area, the player who led her out will bear full risk and responsibility. According to the rules of this world, you will be punished severely, including but not limited to: deductions from your account balance, confiscation of existing equipment and items, restrictions on account leveling, and even account deletion.”

Hearing this, Wen Nan sank into thought.

So although Guan Ailin had reached ten stars and, in theory, could be taken out of the dungeon map, she was unlike controllable characters such as Qiqi or Yu Shujun. If he brought out someone like her, the player would be taking on considerable risk.

Not to mention that she did not actually need to be subdued in order to obey Wen Nan’s commands, making it easy for her to use Wen Nan as a stepping-stone and fly off on her own.

Even if Guan Ailin had no intention of harming Wen Nan, once he brought her out, how could he guarantee that other players with ill intent would not use her against him? If a player deliberately hurt themselves and framed her for it, insisting that Guan Ailin had attacked them, then according to the game’s rules, would Wen Nan’s player account not be thrown into crisis?

As he pondered this, the system’s notice took another turn.

9527: “At the moment an uncontrollable character is led out of the dungeon map by a player, their strategy progress will be locked and can no longer be altered.”

Locked strategy progress?

So if Wen Nan could fully win over Guan Ailin and then take her out, her love for him would remain forever at ninety-nine percent.

Then what he brought out would not merely be an uncontrollable character, but a lover who loved him deeply.

Thinking of it that way, even with the risk of being framed, it seemed worth trying...

Wen Nan considered this, his brows knitting unconsciously.

Seeing the expression on his face, Guan Ailin asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

Was he regretting it?

Had he regretted agreeing to this?

Just a moment after they had linked pinkies—had he already changed his mind?

Wen Nan came back to himself, looked at Guan Ailin, and smiled helplessly. “Nothing. Don’t worry. I promised you. No matter how hard it is, I’ll get you out.”

A faint smile remained on Guan Ailin’s face as she nodded. “Mm.”

Wen Nan: ...

With helplessness threaded through his smile, Wen Nan raised his hand and gently swatted Guan Ailin on the backside.

It felt good—soft, full, and springy.

Guan Ailin’s eyes flew wide open as she stared at Wen Nan in disbelief.

Wen Nan coughed awkwardly. “Don’t read too much into it.”

Guan Ailin’s eyes widened even more.

What was I reading into? The backside thing?

Could he have guessed my thoughts?!

How could he do that? Was it mind reading?

Wen Nan coughed twice more. Realizing time was short, he decided to return to the subject at once. “Ailin.”

“Mm?”

“Do you know... where it is?”

At his question, Guan Ailin’s expression shifted slightly. She sat up straighter and looked at Wen Nan with a trace of surprise.

Seeing her reaction, Wen Nan thought he would hear, as he had the last few times, something like, “How can you ask such a shameless question?”

But after a brief silence, Guan Ailin said solemnly:

“Never trust a beautiful woman’s words. Not a single word.”

Wen Nan froze.

Then a familiar soft female voice sounded in his mind—

“What your eyes see, what your ears hear, what your hands touch, what your feet tread upon... none of it is worth trusting.”

“If you want to trust something, trust your own subconscious.”

Subconscious?

What did that mean?

Wen Nan wanted to ask further, but discovered that the soft female voice in his ear had vanished completely.

9527: “Your skill, mind reading, has ended. It is now entering cooldown.”

Already over? Thirty minutes went by far too quickly.

Wen Nan was still about to say something when a heavyset auntie from the corridor came in carrying a trash bin. Thumping the broom against the railing beside the aisle, she called toward the couple seats:

“The last easter egg has been over for ages! Why are you still here? I’m clearing out and collecting the trash! This is a movie theater, not a lovers’ hotel! If you want to spend the night, turn right outside—there’s a Royal Court Hotel over there. Go continue there!”

At that, Guan Ailin’s face heated instantly. She sprang up in a panic from Wen Nan’s arms, smoothed her clothes, and reached out to pull him up as well.

Thinking of the couple seat that had cost him 444 gold coins, and how he had not even had time to warm it properly before leaving, Wen Nan felt a stab of pain.

Though unwilling, he let Guan Ailin drag him outside. On the way, he asked casually, “Want to keep the date going?”

He had meant to say that since the date was so short and not nearly satisfying enough, they could go get some late-night snacks or something.

But Guan Ailin, thinking of what that auntie had just said about continuing at the hotel, blushed and shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s too late. Tomorrow at seven I have a conference call with the overseas partners.”

Wen Nan did not press further and nodded. “Then I’ll see you home?”

On the way back to Guan Ailin’s place, walking side by side, Wen Nan compiled all the relevant information he had gathered so far and sent it to the group.

Just as he was about to add a few more instructions, a message popped up in the character chat box beside him—

Little Yi: Uncle, you still not coming back?

Little Yi: If you don’t come back soon, your bed is going to catch fire.

Little Yi: picture

When Wen Nan opened the picture, he was stunned.

The background was the bed in his own home, and in the center of the image, Sun Yi had one hand raised high.

The previous chapter was censored again and only just restored, so this update came a few hours late. Sorry...

End of chapter.