Marry Me

The rain whispered softly.

A fine drizzle hung like gauze, blurring the scenery of everything beneath it.

On the distant horizon.

Refracted through the curtain of rain, the light from holographic neon advertisements seemed to bleed outward.

Filling the night sky with hazy patches of color.

The rundown residential district.

Smack!

Smack!

Dim streetlights flickered in the rain.

The pattering of raindrops striking puddles was shattered by a woman yelling at the top of her lungs:

"Damn city hall! It's been more than half a year, and nobody's come to fix this!"

Just then.

An open umbrella appeared at the end of the alley.

The moment they saw the Security Bureau uniform.

Bang!

A window slammed shut.

Holding his umbrella, Qin Annian used the faint light to make out the puddles on the ground.

Avoiding them.

He returned to the low-rent housing building.

Even though he had been promoted.

Qin Annian had no plans to move for the time being.

"Too much trouble."

"No need to keep moving back and forth."

He was confident.

He was like a roc soaring with the wind.

Before long.

He would be able to move into the Universe Tower built specifically for martial artists.

If he moved downtown now, he would still have to move again later.

Better to do it all at once.

Putting away his umbrella.

Qin Annian passed through the somewhat narrow stairwell and headed upstairs.

However.

When he reached the floor where his apartment was.

Qin Annian suddenly stopped!

Every muscle in his body tensed as his gaze swept toward the end of the corridor.

In an instant.

With the thought process of a Fist Technique Grandmaster, he mapped out an escape route!

That was right.

Escape!

Even if he gave it everything he had.

There was no way he could defeat someone whose Life Development Power far exceeded his own!

In his perception.

Though that life aura had been concealed, it still hung like a blazing sun high in the sky!

The gap between them was already like that between two different species!

"Hm?"

The figure leaning against the low corridor wall let out a faint, surprised sound.

"You want to run?"

A woman's voice, carrying a hint of magnetism, reached Qin Annian's ears.

Qin Annian said nothing.

Strength was already quietly gathering beneath his feet.

"I bear you no ill will."

The woman turned around, revealing her face.

Her straight legs filled out her gray cigarette pants perfectly, without a single wrinkle.

Over a simple white shirt was a black jacket that concealed her excellent figure.

Ear-length short hair framed exquisite features as if painted.

She was stunningly beautiful, yet possessed a heroic air that was impossible to ignore.

Especially those eyes, like stars suspended high in the heavens, making anyone who met them feel unworthy.

Qin Annian pressed his lips tightly together, burying his emotions and thoughts deep inside.

In his eyes.

She was not a pretty young woman.

She was a powerful martial artist he could not contend with.

The slightest fluctuation in his emotions, and she would see through his thoughts.

"I'm Han Xi. I came to make a deal with you."

Qin Annian's eyes abruptly narrowed!

That name...

"The deputy director of the Security Bureau's Operations Division?"

During the day.

When he had passed the notice board, he had seen that name.

In that instant.

A bolt of lightning flashed through Qin Annian's mind.

"Were you the one who got me out of the Investigation Division?"

As the guard in his heart gradually eased, Qin Annian remained at the stairwell corner, keeping his distance.

"What kind of deal does Director Han want to make with me?"

A rare trace of approval crossed Han Xi's face.

"Marry me."

Bang!

Qin Annian staggered, his right foot stepping back onto the stairs.

The muscles that had relaxed immediately tensed again!

Was she after his looks?

Impossible.

Qin Annian's thoughts were in disarray as his gaze swept across Han Xi's face like a blade.

"What do you think of this deal?"

Han Xi crossed her hands before her chest, utterly unconcerned by what had just come out of her mouth.

"Why me?"

Qin Annian steadied his emotions and asked gravely.

This was a trap!

He did not think his charm—or anything else about him—could possibly catch the eye of one of the Sky People.

"You owe me a favor."

"And."

"Your background is clean enough."

"You don't look bad, either."

The cool appraisal made Qin Annian feel like merchandise displayed on a shelf.

"Are we going to keep talking here?"

"Won't you invite me inside to sit?"

Qin Annian shook his head and said calmly:

"Director Han is busy with countless affairs. I won't waste your time."

He narrowed his eyes, realizing something.

"Are you competing for the position of Operations Division director?"

For the first time, a trace of human emotion appeared in Han Xi's eyes.

"You're very smart."

She no longer leaned against the corridor wall and instead straightened up.

"That's right."

"Put simply."

"Someone thinks the position of Operations Division director is already theirs for the taking. She used her own connections and those of her in-laws to impose a condition: 'must be married.'"

Qin Annian froze, his expression turning strange.

"Married?"

"To be the director of the Operations Division."

"There's even a rule like that?"

Han Xi spoke in a distant tone:

"To them."

"It's easy to add a rule just to disgust me and force me to back down."

Qin Annian hesitated for a moment before continuing:

"So."

"You're not actually competing with just one person for the position?"

Immediately afterward.

He shook his head again.

"As Director Han said, I don't have any background."

If he really had to stretch it.

His father, who had died in battle in this life, had a comrade who was now a second-tier senior Peace Officer in the Security Bureau.

But.

If he tried to claim that connection.

That senior Peace Officer would have hundreds or thousands of juniors.

Qin Annian had simply been shameless enough.

To go and beg in person.

That was how he had obtained a temporary job at the Security Bureau.

After all.

For most people.

A temporary job at the Security Bureau was already an exceptionally good position.

However.

In a competition for Operations Division director.

A second-tier senior Peace Officer was practically nothing.

"I can't offer you any help."

Heh.

This was also the first time Han Xi had chuckled in front of Qin Annian.

"I need no one's help."

"Even if they form an alliance through marriage, they are nothing but chickens and dogs in my eyes."

A pride so intense it seemed almost tangible appeared in Han Xi's eyes.

"The cleaner your background."

"The fewer restraints I'll have, and the less I'll need to worry about other people's schemes."

Han Xi got straight to the point.

"You're weak enough."

"So I don't need to worry about you turning on me."

Qin Annian was left speechless.

"Marry me."

"You can move into my apartment in the Universe Tower."

"Besides."

"I can also guide your cultivation."

Han Xi lifted her chin.

The wind blew past her, stirring her hair.

"In the future."

"If you meet someone you like, you can get divorced anytime."

Qin Annian looked at Han Xi and took a deep breath of the chilly air.

"I seem to...?"

"Have no choice but to agree?"

Han Xi neither confirmed nor denied it, tossing a key toward Qin Annian.

"Tomorrow."

"Go register your fingerprints yourself."

The next moment.

Han Xi's figure turned into an afterimage.

Under Qin Annian's gaze, she gradually vanished.

"You can sense my life aura."

"Are you, a Fist Technique Grandmaster, still willing to stay cooped up here?"

A voice carrying the chill of misty rain drifted over on the breeze.

Qin Annian suddenly clenched the key in his palm, narrowing his eyes.

After a long while.

He pushed open the door and returned home.

The front door closed.

It shut out the bright white light and separated him from the wind and rain outside.