Anna's Story

As the saying goes:

A round face brings seven parts wealth, if not rich, it still guards the house.

A sturdy build with plenty of fat saves ten years of taking the long way around.

"The art style is wrong, this wealthy woman is completely different from what I imagined."

Li Ran gazed at the woman walking over, his eyes revealing astonishment and a touch of awe.

The woman's swaying waist was like a colorful butterfly dancing among flowers, radiating a unique feminine charm from the inside out.

The three men beside him had their souls hooked, staring at the woman in a daze.

The woman arrived at a booth in front of them and sat down, perching on the edge of the seat; the slit of her cheongsam was just right, perfectly accentuating her long, fair legs.

She took a thin cigarette from the case on the table and elegantly held it between her red lips, her enchanting silhouette resembling a wild rose blooming in a corner.

Yet, they all understood that this woman was as dangerous as she was beautiful.

At this moment, Xiao Yi nudged Chen Jiabin from the side and whispered to him, "Go on, hurry up, don't forget what I told you."

Chen Jiabin nodded with a firm gaze, puffed out his chest despite his broken arm, and strode toward the woman.

"Click!"

Chen Jiabin took the initiative to light the woman's cigarette.

Then, he reached out his hand and said, "Hello, beauty, may I buy you a drink?"

The woman cast a disdainful and indifferent glance at Chen Jiabin, who was staring at her with lewd eyes, and did not reply.

Rejected right off the bat, Chen Jiabin couldn't save face; he immediately thought of what Xiao Yi had told him—to impress a wealthy woman, one couldn't follow conventional rules; only by being unconventional could one succeed.

Then, Chen Jiabin seemed to think of something, and a more lewd smile spread across his face: "I really can't figure it out, how did a woman as beautiful as you end up on this path? Where is the morality, where is the dignity, where is the address, and where is your WeChat?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Ran and Lu Zhaohui spat out the wine in their mouths simultaneously.

Xiao Yi covered his head with one hand: "This... this is definitely not what I taught him. I'll punish myself with a drink."

The result was obvious; the woman finally responded.

"Get lost!"

Chen Jiabin ran back, crestfallen, burying his head behind the sofa; he had no face left to show anyone.

Xiao Yi spoke to Lu Zhaohui in a commanding tone:

"Next, you go."

"I... I can't, I'm afraid of dying."

Lu Zhaohui waved his hands repeatedly to show his fear.

"Don't worry, there's no danger even if you fail. We've been getting through the last three days just like this," Xiao Yi said.

The assurance that there was no danger was a sedative, and only then did Lu Zhaohui stand up, downing a glass of wine in one gulp to bolster his courage.

Think outside the box, show unique charm to attract the wealthy woman's attention, Lu Zhaohui cheered himself on internally.

Trembling, he walked to the opposite side of the woman, so nervous he didn't even dare to let out a fart.

"Beau... beauty, you... you are so beautiful."

The woman smoked elegantly without even lifting her head, her eyes unfocused as if lost in thought.

What are you doing, Lu Zhaohui? Where is the 'thinking outside the box' and the 'unconventional success' we talked about? Why can't you even speak properly?

After being ignored, Lu Zhaohui puffed out his chest again, took a deep breath, and continued: "Beauty, I... I'll tell you a joke."

The woman didn't respond, and Lu Zhaohui spoke at a rapid pace:

"An old man was walking in the desert with a camel and wanted to do something improper to the camel, but the camel resisted desperately, so the old man gave up. After walking for a while longer, the old man found a beautiful woman fainted in the desert, her breath weak. The old man went to great lengths to save her. The woman looked at the old man, looked at the vast, desolate desert, and sighed: 'Since I'm going to die in the desert anyway, do whatever you want.' Guess what the old man said to the woman?"

Smoke filled the air, making the woman's stunning face look somewhat hazy; she couldn't muster the slightest interest in the man before her, let alone any interest in hearing his lousy joke.

When the joke finished and there was no response, the atmosphere became very awkward.

"You definitely can't guess. The old man said: 'Beauty, help me hold the camel down...'"

"Hahaha, isn't that hilarious?"

Lu Zhaohui amused himself, laughing like a fool.

"..."

Li Ran, Xiao Yi, and Chen Jiabin truly hadn't expected Lu Zhaohui's 'outside the box' thinking to be this...

But the result was that Lu Zhaohui felt like a clown, a huge sense of frustration rising within him as he covered his face and ran back: "I... I really am not cut out for chasing girls."

Li Ran patted Lu Zhaohui on the shoulder, comforting him: "Don't be discouraged. You challenged the highest level right from the start; anyone would feel frustrated. You could start with your own introductory quest first."

Xiao Yi sighed: "It seems today is destined to be another failure. From normal pickup lines to today's bizarre ones, we've tried every method, yet we still can't trigger the wealthy woman's quest."

"Li..."

Xiao Yi turned to look at Li Ran, wanting to ask him to give it a try, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he swallowed the words back, then poured himself a glass of wine and downed it in one go.

He tidied his appearance and hair slightly, let out a breath, and then walked toward the woman with extreme gentlemanly grace.

Xiao Yi spoke in a very low voice, his demeanor quite gentlemanly.

The others couldn't quite hear what Xiao Yi was saying; they only saw him sitting across from the woman with a refined air, talking boastfully as if showing off something.

Throughout the entire process, the woman continued to smoke, ignoring Xiao Yi completely.

Ten minutes later, perhaps tired from talking, Xiao Yi walked back, poured two glasses of wine in a row, and downed them in one gulp.

"What's with the high and mighty act? If this were the real world, I wouldn't even spare her a second glance," Xiao Yi said, exasperated, as if he had suffered a crushing defeat.

What kind of woman could give three different men the cold shoulder?

For a moment, Li Ran felt a surge of intense interest.

He cast his gaze toward the woman's alluring back.

(Bar Owner: Anna)

(Tier B Spirit Infection Entity)

(Ghost Power: 280)

(A woman who has seen much, looked through this society, seen through life, and become indifferent to everything.)

(Do not try to find amusement in her, and do not try to harm her. Just sit quietly with her, and she will become interested in you instead.)

Seeing the prompt, Li Ran understood.

A woman's mind is like a difficult book; the more you try to read it, the more obscure and impenetrable the words become.

It is better to overcome motion with stillness and let the woman become curious about you.

After downing three glasses of wine, Xiao Yi looked at Li Ran. Having learned from the previous two attempts, he didn't dare ask Li Ran to try again—if this kid managed to complete the task, he would lose another opportunity.

Chen Jiabin felt the same, terrified that Li Ran would snatch the task away.

But Lu Zhaohui was curious. He asked, "Li Ran, aren't you going to give it a try?"

"If I go, someone might not be happy about it."

Lu Zhaohui, that fool, didn't understand the implication of Li Ran's words. He asked in confusion, "Why wouldn't they be happy? We're all teammates; we should be helping each other. If you manage to finish it, you'll have to treat us all to a meal."

Hearing this, Li Ran thought this kid Lu Zhaohui was actually quite interesting.

"Fine, if I succeed, I'll treat everyone to a meal," Li Ran said as he stood up.

Xiao Yi and Chen Jiabin kept their heads down, continuing to drink as if they hadn't heard a thing.

Only Lu Zhaohui, oblivious to the tension, cheered Li Ran on.

Li Ran didn't drink, nor did he tidy his appearance. He simply grabbed a fashion magazine from a nearby bookshelf and walked over, sitting down across from the bar owner, Anna, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and began reading the magazine intently.

Anna's gaze remained distant, and she smoked elegantly, as if everything in this world had nothing to do with her.

In this dust-covered world, in this place of filth and ugliness, all men lusted after her. Every man who saw her wanted to curry favor, and when they failed, they would slander her behind her back with foul language.

As for the women, they hated her to the bone.

The three men at the booth were puzzled by Li Ran's behavior.

"What is he doing? Reading a magazine?" Chen Jiabin asked.

"Just getting the cold shoulder and wasting time. It seems his previous successes were just luck; he's nothing special," Xiao Yi said with disdain.

Li Ran's approach was the exact opposite of his own; he had been using all sorts of rhetoric to try and open the wealthy woman's heart.

Yet Li Ran didn't say a word, sitting quietly across from her.

He did nothing at all, just stared at the fashion magazine in his hands, not even looking up at Anna once.

And so, Anna and Li Ran sat facing each other.

Without realizing it, Li Ran and Anna sat in silence for three hours.

Xiao Yi, Chen Jiabin, and Lu Zhaohui had unknowingly finished all the wine on the table.

"I'm not waiting anymore. My deal with the doctor isn't finished yet, and I don't want to waste time here."

Chen Jiabin was losing his patience, and he had no idea what Li Ran was up to.

"Li Ran is truly ridiculous, trying to get the wealthy woman's attention this way. He's just deceiving himself; in this woman's eyes, everything is just fleeting clouds," Xiao Yi remarked.

Lu Zhaohui sighed, "Sigh, I guess this meal isn't happening."

The three of them decided not to wait any longer and stood up to leave.

But just then, a cold, aloof voice drifted over, causing the three of them to turn around in disbelief.

"Am I not as interesting as that magazine?"

Anna's gaze was no longer distant; her cold eyes revealed curiosity as she stared at the man across from her.

From the moment the man sat down, his attention had been entirely on the magazine—for three whole hours, he hadn't looked up at her once!

To Anna, this was inconceivable.

The men around her were always eyeing her like predators, and she could command anyone with a mere gesture due to her beauty.

She was long since weary of such a life, weary of such an ugly world.

Li Ran continued to stare at the magazine, his voice drifting out from behind the pages with an indifferent tone: "Some scenery is enough to be seen just once."

Anna was astonished; it was the first time she had ever heard someone describe her that way.

What did that mean?

Was it a compliment, or was it not?

What was meant by saying the scenery was enough to be seen once?

Anna's curiosity was instantly piqued. She gave a bewitching smile, her eyes teasing as she asked, "Would you like to hear my story?"

[Triggered Quest: Anna's Story]

[Quest Rewards: Ghost Power +100, Points +1000]

Hearing the quest trigger, Li Ran put the fashion magazine away to the side.

Meeting Anna's gaze, a hint of a smile surfaced on his face: "Shall we have a drink?"