Chapter 5: Picking Up a Tagalong

Picking up a bottle of champagne that had survived the carnage, Chao Xu twisted off the cap and took a swig. Ugh, it tasted awful. She grimaced, her face wrinkling like a prune, and tossed the unfinished drink aside in disgust. Not sweet at all. She was ravenous, craving something to eat.

Glancing at Gu Zhongming, sprawled beside her like a dead pig, Chao Xu blinked twice, a wicked amusement flickering in her heart. She snatched up a stick and jabbed it at a pressure point on his body.

In the next moment, the master of the Gu family, previously inert as a corpse, shot upright, his chubby face contorted with pain. He’d been roused by the sting. He shuddered involuntarily, and as his eyes opened, finding the person—no, the ghost—before him still Chao Xu, his layers of fat quivered in terror.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, don’t come any closer!” he shrieked, scrambling desperately to escape. But Chao Xu had already dragged him into the corner; there was nowhere left to run. Unless he could climb the walls—which, given his bulk, was pure fantasy.

Chao Xu squatted, propping her chin on her hand as she watched Gu Zhongming tremble like a leaf. Addicted to her own theatrics, she continued her performance, her smile sinister and unsettling.

“Uncle Gu, I’ve already sent your blood to my father and the others. Dad said it’s quite warming for soaking his feet, but it’s a bit scarce. Should I send some more?”

She spread her fingers, waving them playfully before Gu Zhongming’s face, successfully scaring him into a blubbering, tear-streaked mess. He knelt, banging his forehead on the floor, sobbing and wailing.

“Xiao Si—no, my dear little auntie! I beg you, spare me! I was blinded by greed for a moment and did something wicked, but I never meant to harm you, really! It’s all my fault, my brain must be full of shit, blame me, blame me…”

As he chanted his self-condemnations, he alternated slapping himself with both hands, utterly unrestrained. Watching his plump cheeks turn red and swell, Chao Xu, not wanting to witness the grotesque transformation into a swollen pig’s head, waved her hand, signaling him to stop.

“Uncle Gu, why are you hitting yourself? Doesn’t it hurt?” Chao Xu asked, chin still in hand, eyeing his swollen face.

Thinking she’d softened, Gu Zhongming shook his head violently. “No, it doesn’t hurt at all! If you’ll spare me, I’ll slap myself a hundred more times, no problem!”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Chao Xu coolly shattered his hopes. “What I mean is, slapping yourself all the time must be so uncomfortable. Why not do it like when I died—stab straight through with a knife, then you’ll never hurt again. Uncle, do you want to try?”

Not hurting anymore, indeed—once you’re in paradise, what pain could possibly remain?

Now Gu Zhongming was too terrified even to cry, staring at Chao Xu, afraid she’d suddenly grab a knife and finish him off.

“Auntie, I beg you, spare me! Killing me does you no good. Why not keep me alive—I’ll build you a temple, erect a monument in your honor, make sure you live like a little princess even in hell!”

Failing to win her sympathy, Gu Zhongming switched to bribery.

Chao Xu merely gazed at him quietly, her heart unmoved, even considering how to extract information. After organizing her thoughts, she red-eyed and grim-faced, looked at Gu Zhongming with bitter sorrow.

“You beg for mercy now, but when you ordered someone to stab me through the chest, did you ever think of sparing me? When you conspired to kill my father, mother, and brother, did you ever consider sparing my whole family?”

As she trembled, Gu Zhongming suddenly sensed something wrong. He looked up at Chao Xu, his beady eyes full of confusion.

“No, wait, I admit I harmed you, but the other three had nothing to do with me!”

Chao Xu, deep in her role, paused. Damn, she’d gone too far.

She grabbed a champagne bottle and, face blank, smashed it against the back of Gu Zhongming’s head, physically erasing his memory.

[Task one complete. Please check your points.]

As she knocked him out, her points were automatically credited.

“Only fifty? So stingy. You middlemen really know how to cut costs,” Chao Xu muttered, lips curling as she saw the points added.

[There’s nothing we can do; the task was issued by the main system.]

“Ugh, such a pain.”

Redeeming a loaf of bread with her points, Chao Xu munched away, mumbling to herself, “Luckily there’s no one else here. If anyone saw how embarrassing I just was, my reputation as a villain in this world would be completely ruined…”

She hadn’t finished her sentence when she spotted a boy hiding in the corner of the hall—a hall that should have been completely empty.

The boy had concealed himself behind a pillar and thus escaped her notice.

Chao Xu could almost hear the sound of her own flag being pulled.

Clearing her throat, not wanting to lose face, Chao Xu beckoned to the boy, “Come here. I have something to say to you.”

As she spoke, her expression was gentle, but only the little furball knew that her host was gripping a champagne bottle, ready to erase her black history at any moment.

The furball’s mouth twitched; it could only pray for the boy’s luck, hoping he’d be smart enough not to approach.

But to its surprise, the boy, having been called out, didn’t hesitate at all—he obediently came over, even running.

The furball covered its face, unable to bear the sight.

Heavens, how could anyone be so foolish, running straight into danger?

Meanwhile, Chao Xu had planned to act as soon as the boy approached.

But when she saw his face, she paused for two seconds.

The boy was strikingly handsome—extraordinarily so.

Soft black hair, like polished jade, fell in loose strands across his forehead. Somewhere, blood had trickled onto his flawless, porcelain skin, disappearing beneath an intriguing collar.

His features were clean and sharp; his pale skin, like icy jade, glowed with an ethereal translucence, the color perfectly complementing his light lips. Slender brows and a prominent nose completed the picture.

He was so beautiful, yet his beauty carried not a hint of earthly warmth—like a banished immortal, or a secretive mermaid hidden in the depths of the sea.

And now, he was staring at Chao Xu with clear, blue phoenix eyes.

His eyes were exquisitely shaped—upturned, yet round and transparent. The irises, tinged with gray, gave the first impression of something dreamlike, as if one had stumbled into a secluded, enchanted valley.

They resembled the colors of sunset, yet colder and more alluring.

At this moment, staring at such a beauty, only two thoughts spun through Chao Xu’s mind:

His eyes are truly stunning.

And… I’d love to take them with me.

She swallowed, face calm and composed, though her mind was flooded with dangerous impulses.

If the furball knew, it might drop dead from fright on the spot.