Goodwill

Liu Xiaoke was very nervous. Her family circumstances were not bad, but she did not want to remain a puppet on strings in her parents' hands forever. So, as soon as she graduated from university, she had come to Shudian alone, determined to start as an extra and climb her way up step by step.

As a girl living away from home—especially a beautiful woman with a good figure, good looks, and a degree—she had always been careful to protect herself. She never drank water that had left her sight, and she had turned down dinner invitations where crew leaders offered to introduce her to directors.

She had even installed an extra security lock in her Rental Room. Combined with the lack of windows, its safety rating was off the charts.

Yet while showering today, she had suddenly heard a loud crash outside. The abrupt noise terrified her, alone as she was. Though she had not heard anything else afterward, she had not dared move at all.

But she could not keep this up forever. In the end, she wrapped herself in a bath towel, clutched a clothes-drying pole in one hand, and cautiously reached out with the other to grab her phone.

Water droplets slid down her delicate collarbone, while her beautiful bare face was filled with nervousness.

She really wanted to scream, but she was afraid that actually alerting whoever was out there would bring danger instead. Besides, at this hour, all the tenants on this floor had gone out to work. Even if she made a sound, no one might hear it.

However, the creak of the old bathroom door still made her heart sink to the bottom. She wanted to snatch up her phone and quickly shut the door, but before her hands could keep up with her thoughts, her fair wrist was seized tightly by a powerful hand, like an iron clamp.

A tremendous force yanked her straight out of the bathroom.

She opened her mouth to scream instinctively, but before any sound emerged, another hand firmly covered it.

The next second, the figure had flashed behind her, twisting her right arm behind her back and wrapping an arm around her waist, directly locking both her hands in place.

The scene was indescribable.

With both hands restrained and her mouth covered, Liu Xiaoke's eyes widened in terror as she struggled desperately, muffled whimpers escaping her lips.

But the hands restraining her seemed welded in place, not moving an inch. Then, warm breath brushed against her ear, followed by a hoarse voice.

"Don't scream."

Those hoarse words instantly made Liu Xiaoke's body stiffen. The thick smell of sweat and the voice beside her ear made her tremble all over. Her long legs beneath the bath towel instinctively pressed tightly together. It's over...

Meanwhile, Wang Yi, standing behind and holding this bath-towel-clad woman, felt rather speechless.

He swore to heaven and earth, his earlier actions had simply been instinctive.

As a Legendary Mage, his body had been tempered by the flow of magic to a degree no less than that of a Great Knight. All his reactions had taken only an instant, allowing him to subdue her with ease.

But it seemed she had misunderstood something about his appearance.

After he told her not to scream, she seemed to have become even more nervous.

Although he had spent three years in the magical world, most of that time had been spent holed up in his mage tower doing research. He had even hammered the ordinary Necromancer Tower he inherited into a Legendary Mage Tower. Wang Yi truly had no experience dealing with this sort of situation.

Should he use force?

That seemed like it would cause even more trouble.

Having no choice, he could only waste a little. The free magic in this world was simply far too sluggish...

After making his decision, Wang Yi extended a finger from the hand covering her mouth and began tracing across her smooth, tender cheek.

The sensation of his finger brushing across her cheek made Liu Xiaoke shudder all over, and she struggled in terror.

What she could not see was that Wang Yi's fingertips seemed to possess their own fluorescent glow. Each stroke he drew on her face left behind a faint blue trail, while Arcane radiance gradually appeared in his pupils.

"!"

As Wang Yi's profound, ethereal incantation fell, the Arcane radiance in his eyes and the patterns on Liu Xiaoke's face simultaneously flared to their limits. The next moment, the liveliness in Liu Xiaoke's bright eyes began to fade into emptiness.

Charm Person.

It was not some kind of slave contract. It simply increased the target's trust in the caster while causing a brief mental shutdown and memory gap.

After all, it was merely magic from a low-magic world, and without any external magic to power it, its effect was not that exaggerated...

"So that's what happened. How pitiful."

Liu Xiaoke sat on her bed, listening to Wang Yi's explanation with sympathy written all over her face.

"I heard that one of the previous tenants here had gone missing, which was why this room's rent was cheaper. I never expected it was you. The landlord is a decent person. Your luggage and other things should be in storage, so you can ask him for them."

Liu Xiaoke was still wrapped in her bath towel. Because she was sitting on the bed in a duck-sitting posture, her hands naturally pressed out a censored curve, while her pretty face was flushed red.

Under the effects of the magic, even if Wang Yi made some excessive requests now, she would most likely consider them and agree.

But after all, this was magic from a low-magic world. If Wang Yi did anything beyond reason, or something she strongly resisted, she would notice something unnatural once the spell's effects faded.

So Wang Yi had made up an appropriate excuse to fill in the gaps.

He had been lured away by a pyramid scheme after believing he could make a fortune, then tricked into being smuggled into Southeast Asia and sent into an industrial park, only recently managing to escape.

This was also an excuse Wang Yi had specifically devised after gradually getting a feel for Liu Xiaoke's personality.

She was quite compassionate and, at heart, rather naive.

Judging from things now, the plan had been a success.

"Sorry for intruding today. Thank you for talking me through this. I'll go ask the landlord for my luggage now."

Seeing that the matter had been settled, Wang Yi smiled faintly and prepared to take his leave.

"Wait!"

But just as Wang Yi stood up, Liu Xiaoke called out to him from behind. Wang Yi paused, then turned back with a puzzled expression and asked, "What is it?"

"Is there anything else?"

"Wait."

Liu Xiaoke slipped her bare little feet into her bear slippers and pattered over to her wardrobe. After rummaging around for a while on tiptoe, she found a little over three hundred yuan in loose cash.

"Take this and use it for now."

Liu Xiaoke stuffed the wad of cash into Wang Yi's hand.

Looking at the cash in his hand, Wang Yi's eyes flickered with a trace of surprise. The magic's effect merely made the other party trust him; what actions they took afterward, and how they filled in the gaps in his story, depended entirely on their own personality.

In other words, giving him money really was a choice she had made under these circumstances.

Looking at the cash in his hand, Wang Yi realized that he really did need this stuff. Although he still had some money left from selling songs, and could use his overclocking ability to dig up more tunes he had only heard once in an emergency.

But...

He had no phone. If he did not even have some cash on him, he would truly be unable to move an inch. He needed to change out of these clothes as soon as possible, after all. Even with a Film Studio nearby, they would still cause trouble.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

After a moment of silence, Wang Yi smiled at Liu Xiaoke.

"Alright, hurry up and get your luggage. Go home early so your family won't worry."

Liu Xiaoke grinned, baring her teeth.

Then, looking at the simple Mage Robe Wang Yi was wearing, she asked in confusion, "Have you been working as an extra lately too? Why are you wearing props from the Film Crew?"

The moment he heard her words, Wang Yi knew the magic's effect was beginning to fade. After all, the free magic in this world was extremely sluggish, and his methods had originated from a low-magic world to begin with. This was normal.

"Yeah. I still need to go back there later. Farewell for now."

"If there's work next time, I'll bring you along."

"Alright."

In a parallel world, all uncertainties collapse in whatever way benefits the author's explanations~

That's two updates done~

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