"Countless futures? What exactly do you mean? Can the Dragon Emperor see the future?"
Koleda's eyes widened. "Then how could he have been... wait, no. Could it be that he faked his own death on purpose?"
A sudden chill ran through Koleda, as if she had been nothing more than a piece on someone's chessboard from the very beginning.
Every move and course of action had already been decided.
Everything would unfold exactly as that person expected...
"President Koleda, you and I share the same enemy. Without our help, you have no chance of taking revenge on that force. Agree to an alliance between us, and we'll give you all the help you need."
Koleda looked at Long Yi intently. "Do you really know what your master wants to do? Is he really not trying to destroy the world?"
Without hesitation, the dark figure fell backward, plunging into the wind and rain outside:
"In that destined future, a god will descend here and put an end to every calamity."
"End... the calamities?" Koleda was utterly shaken by the idea. "Are you kidding me? A god? And what exactly do you mean by calamities? The Hollows, or..."
A flash of lightning outside pierced her eyes.
By its light, she saw a card with half of it embedded in the tabletop.
A drop of cold sweat ran down Koleda's temple.
For the first time, she truly understood just how terrifying the dragon totem on that card was...
Dragon Emperor Bureau.
Vivian stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the torrential rain outside, her expression slightly gloomy.
"Young miss, we've confirmed that the aura that erupted from that Hollow belonged to Lord Dragon Emperor."
Long Er stood behind Vivian and lowered his voice:
"By now, almost every faction understands that Lord Dragon Emperor never died. The situation could very well change again."
"Belobog Heavy Industries. They were the ones who went to the Public Security Bureau to file a report today, weren't they?
It was the same Hollow, too. Either they've taken Brother Yingheng in, or they found someone to help them."
There was nothing unusual in Vivian's tone. It was terrifyingly calm:
"I don't believe for a second that they could have found their own way through the Hollow. They must have had a Proxy helping them. Focus the investigation there."
"Young miss, the city government has recently stopped granting us any access at all, and the Inter-Knot will be especially difficult to hack. Where should we start?"
"Split the hackers into two groups and have them hack both as soon as possible, at any cost. Focus on investigating Proxy accounts with good reputations whose owners have recently disappeared."
"Uh, young miss, may I ask why?"
Long Er understood all the other requirements, but he couldn't understand the reason for the last one.
"If you were the one who picked up Lord Dragon Emperor after he lost his memories, and he came with an unlimited black card that belonged exclusively to him, would you still work hard?"
"Understood, young miss. I'll get right on it."
Long Er quickly withdrew, leaving Vivian alone in the room, standing before the floor-to-ceiling window.
The rain grew heavier. Lightning slashed through the night, splitting the vast black curtain in two and illuminating Vivian's face, turning it deathly pale.
"Brother Yingheng... you promised Vivian we'd stay together forever. Have you forgotten?"
"It's all right, Brother Yingheng. I know you've lost your memories. Wait for me. I'll find you soon, and then I'll take back the memories that belong to us."
Lu Yingheng sneezed, then sighed.
He could still feel where Belle had stepped on the top of his foot wearing nothing but a sock...
Oh no. Why did that feel kind of good?
Lu Yingheng quickly slapped himself on the side of the face, fiercely berating himself in his heart:
You damn pervert!
Are you one of those creepy uncles who get happy when a pretty girl steps on them?
Lu Yingheng thought seriously: (◦˙▽˙◦)
Fine, I'm a handsome young man who gets happy when a pretty girl steps on him.
Perhaps because it had taken a while to sink in, Belle soon figured it out.
When Belle realized that Lu Yingheng had deliberately pretended he no longer wanted to get to know her or return to the video store, when he had actually just been teasing her...
So when Lu Yingheng opened the door to the little cubicle with Eous in his arms, he saw a furious Belle...
But cute Belle couldn't bring herself to step on him too hard after all, and in the end she chose to take off her shoes before stepping on him...
Which meant it didn't hurt at all.
Lu Yingheng even found it a little enjoyable.
Belle had kept her eyes on his expression while stepping on him, hoping to see him regret it.
But when she saw that he was actually enjoying it a little, she completely lost it and ran away with a red face...
That was why Lu Yingheng was still lying on the sofa in the middle of the night, unable to sleep.
Even now, he could hear Belle shouting in her room upstairs, seemingly full of regret and frustration...
Lu Yingheng rolled over and, without a care in the world, went back to sleep.
"Host! Wake up! If you don't get up soon, the sun's going to shine on your butt! Or you can give me your phone to play with, and I won't bother you anymore!"
Lu Yingheng groggily opened his eyes to see an exquisitely cute little face right in front of him, its big, bright eyes staring at him without blinking.
His little system always liked to sleep on his chest every night.
If he didn't let her sleep like that, she would cry and make a fuss. Yet early every morning, she would get bored and wake him up again.
Every time the system woke him, she would wheedle and cry and fuss for his phone. If he refused, she would lie on him and roll back and forth.
"Stop it. If you keep disturbing my sleep, I'll spank your little butt!"
Lu Yingheng pulled the blanket up again, covering the little cutie with it as he made a thoroughly unthreatening threat.
"Host! I want to play with your phone!" The little system wriggled out from under the blanket again.
"Little brat, why are you looking at a phone this early in the morning? Go read a book!" Lu Yingheng closed his eyes again, trying to get back to sleep.
The system opened her little mouth and bit his cheek. "Mmph!"
Lu Yingheng hurriedly grabbed the system around the waist with one hand. "Hey, hey! Don't bite! System!"
He wanted to pull her off but didn't dare. Every tug sent a sharp pain through his cheek.
The system let go, a transparent strand of drool still connecting his cheek to her mouth:
"Let's see if you'll get up now! If you don't, I'll keep bothering you! Don't even think about getting any more sleep today!"
Lu Yingheng finally resigned himself to his fate. "You can't have the phone. Go read a book, or your butt really will be in for a beating today!"
"Books aren't interesting at all! There are novels on your phone, and those are exciting!"
"Wait? Novels?"
Lu Yingheng sat bolt upright, sending the little system sitting on his chest flying:
"Ow! Host, you big meanie! That hurt!"
--
To all you Daniel Wus and Liu Yifeis, if you're enjoying the story, could you write a few more ratings for your humble author?
For every 20 ratings, your humble author will release an extra chapter. I won't go back on my word!