I hope you can still speak

The biting cold seeped through her skin and into her bones, pulling Shiyu Ryoko's consciousness out of a shapeless void.

She coughed several times. Her whole body ached so badly that she felt as though it might fall apart. She tried to push herself upright, only to discover that her hands were already restrained.

That jolted Shiyu Ryoko into awareness of her situation. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a dim room.

She was tied to a chair, unable to move her limbs. She had barely adjusted to the darkness when a sudden light forced her to close her eyes again.

-Click.

At some point, the door had opened. Unhurried footsteps approached.

Then Shiyu Ryoko sensed someone sitting down in front of her.

She struggled to open her eyes. Once she adjusted to the light, she finally made out the face of the man before her. A name surfaced in her mind-

Jonas Wetting.

"How are you feeling, Miss Shiyu Ryoko?"

Jonas's voice was perfectly calm, as though he were catching up with a friend.

Unfortunately, this particular "friend" had all four limbs bound tight, her disheveled state no different from that of a prisoner awaiting interrogation.

"Jonas Wetting..."

At his words, Shiyu Ryoko raised her head and looked into the man's eyes, resentment and defiance in her gaze.

"You... really kept yourself well hidden..."

She had thought he was merely an ambitious dreamer who had no grasp of his own abilities. She had never expected him to catch her off guard and bring her down.

Thinking back on Jonas's behavior a few days earlier and his last words before she lost consciousness, she could hardly help suspecting that he had been setting a trap specifically for her.

Jonas smiled at Shiyu Ryoko's words, but instead of responding, he asked another question.

"Do you know who the last person locked up here was, Miss Shiyu?"

Shiyu Ryoko frowned and watched Jonas warily, unsure what he meant by that.

But Jonas clearly had no intention of explaining. He merely smiled and continued.

"To be honest, I have no intention of opposing the Nathen Conglomerate. Pursuing profit is a businessman's nature, and I'm quite willing to work with Miss Chelsea..."

He paused, then added:

"Provided she doesn't resort to extreme measures."

Shiyu Ryoko tried to wrench her wrists free... but failed. She looked at the man before her, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"I don't understand what possessed you to make such a stupid decision, but if..."

"If I don't want the Nathen Conglomerate hunting me down, I'd better let you go and obediently return the Chip?"

Jonas finished the words Shiyu Ryoko had been about to say. He scoffed and asked:

"Aren't you being a little too naive, Miss Shiyu?"

They both knew there was no room left to back down. That had been inevitable from the moment Chelsea sent Shiyu Ryoko.

Shiyu Ryoko faltered, then a flash of anger crossed her eyes.

"So what exactly do you want?"

"Before, I was only looking for cooperation... but now, we need to settle the score first."

"Perhaps she underestimated me, or perhaps she overestimated herself. Miss Chelsea had plenty of ways to resolve our differences, yet she chose the stupidest one."

"I don't mind Miss Chelsea using the same methods against me. I have all the time I need to reel those fish in and gut them."

With that, he leaned closer and looked into the girl's eyes, as though savoring her emotions.

"And in this game, what will happen to everyone else?"

-No one ever cared about dead fish.

"Miss Chelsea isn't a proper businesswoman. Nor am I a proper businessman."

"If you like breaking the rules of the game, you have to pay the price for breaking them."

Jonas lifted Shiyu Ryoko's chin and looked down at her, as though pronouncing her fate.

"And you are part of that price."

An emotion called fear slowly took root in Shiyu Mako's heart.

Fear of Jonas's words mingled with fear of the unknown. In the girl's eyes, the man's figure gradually merged with the darkness, beginning to swallow her entire field of vision.

Jonas's hand moved upward, his thumb brushing the girl's lips as though he were caressing a lover's cheek.

But in the next instant, that gentle gesture turned brutal. The man forced her lips apart, pressed down on her tender tongue, and made her swallow a pill.

"Cough, cough, cough-"

Shiyu Ryoko realized something was wrong and tried to spit the pill out, but it was already too late.

She raised her head and glared angrily at Jonas.

"You..."

Before she could finish, she felt her body growing feverishly hot.

Everything before her turned hazy and unreal. She unconsciously rubbed her thighs together, as though trying to suppress something.

"You bastard...!"

Shiyu Ryoko clenched her teeth, struggling to hold back her moans as she cursed through slurred words.

By then, Jonas had already stood up. Shiyu Ryoko looked at the man before her and, seeing that he had no intention of doing anything to her, felt a surge of relief.

She had thought he would do something to her, but from the look of things, the situation had not yet reached its worst.

Then she realized her mistake.

The heat in her body blurred even her consciousness, and desire gradually consumed her mind.

Only then did Shiyu Ryoko finally understand why he had chosen this moment to leave.

She cursed him, her voice unconsciously taking on a tearful edge.

"You damned bastard, I... will find a chance to kill you."

Hearing that, Jonas stopped just as he was about to leave and said calmly:

"I hope you can still speak in an hour."

With that, the door slowly closed.

The room grew dim once more, leaving the girl with nothing but endless despair.