Ten minutes earlier, on the shore of Yalong Bay.
【Are you out of your mind? Are you actually out of your mind?! That was the fucking sea! Not a swimming pool! You can’t just jump in whenever you feel like it!】
“…”
【I’ve never had a host who refuses to listen like you do!】
“…”
【If I’d known you were like this, I would’ve been better off binding myself to a piece of roast pork!】
“Why roast pork?” Song Liang asked weakly as he hauled himself onto shore.
3085 exploded. 【Is that really what you should be worrying about right now?! You’re hypothermic! If you don’t warm up, you’ll die!】
“I think I’ll be fine after a nap…”
【Fine, my ass! You look like a drowned ghost!】
Still swearing, 3085 hacked into a ride-hailing platform and commandeered a car to come their way. Afraid Song Liang might not last until it arrived, it activated its search function to check for anyone alive nearby.
It hadn’t expected to find a soul in a place where they couldn’t even get a ride. Yet the search turned up people. Actual people! A whole crowd of them!
Delighted, it shouted, 【Don’t go to sleep! Get up! There are people having a picnic up ahead—lots of them! Go borrow something to wear!】
Now, however, Song Liang stood atop a shipping container, looking down at two groups of people and their stunned faces.
“Both sides seem rather busy. Who should I ask first?”
3085 answered with a piercing shriek. 【Run first!!!】
Song Liang was about to ask why when a loud bang rang out. Something sliced through the air toward his face, cutting across his cheek.
His pupils contracted slightly. He immediately stepped back into the shadows and touched his face. Sure enough, there was blood. A faint smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
His gaze paused.
“What was that?”
【…A gun! It was a gun! Haven’t you ever seen one?!】
“No.”
“…”
3085 was baffled. 【What level of civilization are you from?】
“You’re asking me?”
“…”
Fuck. It had forgotten.
To reduce the risk of hosts breaking character and preserve the stability of each small world, the system blocked their memories before they entered an instance. Only memories related to the system remained.
In other words, this host, who had been raising hell from the moment he arrived, had been suffering from amnesia all along. He had simply behaved so outrageously that 3085 had forgotten that fact entirely.
【It’s a firearm found in worlds with an intermediate level of civilization. It’s extremely dangerous. One shot can kill you, so don’t do anything reckless. Understand?】
“Understood.”
With that, Song Liang leaped off the container and landed between the two groups.
“…”
An eerie silence fell over the open yard.
In that silence, Song Liang held out a hand to the red-haired man in front of him and said calmly, “Let me play with that thing you’re holding.”
The redhead: “…”
Everyone else: “…”
3085 roared, 【You don’t understand a damn thing!】
A moment later, the redhead’s shout rang across the yard.
“Grab him!”
Several thugs charged with clubs in hand. For a fleeting moment, the scene recalled the bodyguards surrounding Song Liang on the cruise ship.
This time, however, he didn’t run. He moved straight toward them.
A club swung down at his head, but just as it was about to brush his hair, he slipped effortlessly aside.
The thug’s eyes widened. He realized something was wrong, but it was already too late. In the next instant, his wrist was caught, a hand clamped onto the back of his neck, and he was slammed hard into the ground.
3085 was stunned. 【…Weren’t you about to die?!】
【I’ve recovered.】
【How is that possible? You had severe—】
3085 never finished.
It brought up its host’s physical readings and found that every abnormal indicator was returning to normal. His body temperature had already recovered.
It was almost too shocked to speak. 【…How did you do that?!】
【A little basic control over my body.】
【…】
He made it sound trivial. The implications were anything but.
A little basic control? That was the brain exercising absolute command over the body! It required a brain development level of eighty percent—a skill possessed only by people from certain instance worlds with exceptionally advanced mental abilities.
3085’s voice trembled. 【Who…exactly are you?】
【You’re asking me?】
Song Liang raised an eyebrow. 【Haven’t I lost my memory?】
3085 faltered. At last, it ventured another shaky question.
【Before you died…you were a good person, right?】
Song Liang’s lips curved. 【Who knows?】
“…”
It shouldn’t have bothered asking. What sort of good person kicked people without a second thought and jumped into the sea at the slightest provocation?
Seeing all his men go down, the redhead panicked. Forgetting the two men opposite him, he swung his gun toward Song Liang.
Before he could aim, Song Liang was already beside him.
With a heavy thud, the redhead was driven into the ground, a foot pinning the back of his neck. He couldn’t even cry out.
Within moments, every thug in the yard had been dealt with. Only then did Song Liang remember the handgun he’d been so curious about.
Before he could turn, something cold and hard pressed against the back of his head.
He went still, then raised both hands.
“I surrender—”
The last word had barely left his mouth when he spun around and seized the hand holding the gun.
The man behind him pulled the trigger without hesitation. Hot gunpowder fumes brushed Song Liang’s cheek, and the bullet passed so close it nearly grazed the corner of his eye.
3085 froze in terror. Song Liang didn’t even blink. He lunged straight at the man.
With a resounding crash, they slammed into the shipping container behind them.
A muffled grunt sounded by his ear. A cool, green scent of leaves and wood filled Song Liang’s nose. His ice-cold body collided with a broad, warm chest, making the other man stiffen.
“I saved you, and this is how you treat me?”
Sounding mildly offended, Song Liang looked up beneath the dim overhead light.
His gaze stopped.
The man he had pinned against the container stood half a head taller than him. Song Liang held his gun hand against the metal wall, while the man’s other hand was locked with his left. A sharply defined jaw cast a shadow across his neck.
Above it was an extraordinarily handsome face.
His bone structure was sculpted and striking, his features refined and aristocratic without losing their masculine strength. Pale lips held a distant line. A fine sheen of sweat covered his long, cool-white neck.
He looked like a noble prince from Western mythology.
What captivated Song Liang most, however, were his eyes.
They were an exceptionally rare shade of green: dark forest green at the center, fresh as new leaves around the edges. They brought to mind an ancient forest tangled with thorns, where a damp, fine rain fell endlessly through the years.
They were breathtaking.
“A precious gem worth billions—is this what they mean?”
“…”
A ripple passed through those deep, jewel-green eyes. Their owner had clearly never imagined anyone would be bold enough to say such a thing to him.
So flippant. So suggestive.
He lowered his gaze to the utterly fearless young man in front of him and said evenly, “This is the first time anyone has dared say that to me.”
“Then they have no eye for beauty.”
Song Liang looked regretful.
“Your eyes are gorgeous.”
“…”
The man lifted his eyes.
“Thank you?”
“You’re welcome.”
Song Liang flashed a grin, then freed one hand and pressed the gun between the man’s brows.
“Take off your clothes.”
The man: “…”
Something about this felt distinctly wrong.
At the other end of the container, the assistant had watched his boss get pinned to a wall, held and touched, and now ordered to undress at gunpoint. Horrified, he pulled out his phone and hastily sent a text.
Almost at the same moment, Xiao Ji received the message just as he stepped off the cruise ship.
One glance was enough to turn his already cold expression glacial.
“How dare they!”
“…”
Beside him, the head bodyguard felt his heart jolt. Unable to help himself, he tilted his head to read the message.
The screen displayed a single line:
[Encountered robbers on the road. They’re after Mr. Xiao’s body. Come at once! — Assistant Yang]
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