episode_0015

The sharp blade slid in smoothly.

Crimson blood trickled down the steel edge.

The moment the knife pierced his waist, accompanied by Xu Nian’s slightly deranged laughter, his mind was instantly engulfed by endless mockery, blank and muddled like paste.

A sharp pain shot through him, and in an instant, his limbs went weak, his legs buckling beneath him.

For a moment, he couldn’t muster any resistance at all.

“Damn it!”

Xu Nian didn’t linger.

Seizing the moment of his inexplicable daze, she yanked the blade free from his body and immediately bolted toward the corridor’s拐角.

The two bodyguards were still stunned, completely unprepared for such a sudden, vicious attack from a seemingly frail young girl.

So fast, precise, and ruthless.

“After her!”

At the command, one bodyguard shot off like an arrow in pursuit, leaving the other behind, still frozen in confusion.

“President, are you alright?”

“What the hell are you standing around for?! Do I have to spell everything out for you?! Go after her! I’ll make her pay for this!”

His thoughts slowly reassembled, the fog in his mind finally lifting as he clutched his wounded side.

Yet soon, under the influence of some mysterious force, the injury began to heal.

But the pain still gnawed at him, leaving him momentarily immobilized, beads of cold sweat forming on his skin.

That stab had been vicious.

A sudden strike, leaving no room for defense—a lesson in humility.

If he were an ordinary man, he’d have bled out long before any doctor could arrive.

Damn it!!!

Who in this entire city would dare lay a hand on him so brazenly?

No matter who she was, he’d make sure she paid dearly for this!

Meanwhile, Xu Nian sprinted down the hallway, but given her petite frame, how could she outrun two burly, professionally trained bodyguards?

The knife had been prepared earlier, tucked into her hidden pouch—originally meant for self-defense.

Only now, in hindsight, did she realize what she’d just done.

She’d just… acted on impulse, driven mad by his incessant calls for “Qingya”…

“Damn it, what do I do, what do I do? If they catch me, I’m finished.”

Remembering the fourth simulation, where just a slightly bad attitude had landed her in prison…

Now she’d stabbed him. Wouldn’t he flay her alive for this?

She’d prepared an escape plan, but the bodyguards were too close—she had no chance to use it.

What now, what now?

Fighting back was impossible; she had no combat skills whatsoever.

Then…

Xu Nian’s gaze fixated on the reward from her fifth simulation.

[The True Gaze of an Emotion Beast]

The gaze of an Emotion Beast?

Should she really use it?

Would it cause chaos?

If she did, would there be unforeseen consequences?

Like dying in some grotesque way?

Or triggering a disaster that endangered others?

Heh.

Well, things couldn’t possibly get worse than this, could they?

If the Emotion Beast attacked that Lin bastard, he’d be too busy fighting it to chase her. In their struggle, the beast might not even have a chance to wreak havoc—so maybe it wasn’t that dangerous after all.

[Reward deploying…]

In an instant, Xu Nian felt a chilling gaze lock onto her.

It was like someone dragging glass across her eardrums with a cat’s claws.

“Hehehe~”

A frenzied laughter, not her own, flooded her mind.

Dazed, Xu Nian collapsed to the floor.

The two bodyguards, mere steps from grabbing her, also crumpled under the sudden onslaught of laughter.

Abruptly, Xu Nian realized her memories were surging backward in her mind, every happy moment replaying on loop.

Fragments of sweetness from birth till now.

So brief—until recently, when they’d grown longer.

Her lips curled uncontrollably.

But gradually, the replay shifted.

No longer just the good.

Her memories surged forth, clamoring for attention.

Before coming to this world—studying relentlessly, only to starve for a day after failing to rank first.

Before coming to this world—unknowingly provoking a school bully, beaten and robbed in a bathroom stall.

Before coming to this world—working tirelessly for a performance role, only to have it snatched away by someone with connections.

Before coming to this world—scrimping to please a girlfriend, preserving their chaste relationship, only to learn she’d used him as an ATM before tossing him aside.

Before she—

“Can’t even handle something this simple? What use are you? We slave away to feed and clothe you, and this is how you repay us? Studying is the one thing you need to do—can’t even manage that? If you don’t get top marks, what future do you have? We’re doing this for your own good.”

“Worthless trash. Just looking at you pisses me off. Be smart—pay up every week, or I’ll beat you every time I see you. Got it, loser?”

“Opportunities come and go, kid. No need to rush. If it’s not your turn this time, wait for the next. Miss Chen really needs this chance—can’t you be chivalrous? What? When’s the next one? Next year.”

“Hah. Asking what we had? Call it your bad luck. Did you actually think I liked you? Let me spell it out—I was just playing with you. Young Master Wang has way more money than you. Pathetic. You never even touched my hand. Let’s part ways nicely.”

“……”

Chaotic voices swarmed her mind.

Over and over, they scoured her.

Xu Nian’s head throbbed.

These were her own memories—so why… why did she want to laugh?

“Hahaha!”

Kneeling on the carpet, clutching her head in agony, her laughter synced with the voices in her skull.

Time blurred before she forced herself up, stumbling into another拐角, vanishing from sight.

As for the bodyguards—

The same mad laughter invaded their minds.

But for them, it dredged up no bitter memories.

Instead, their faces twisted into blissful grins.

“Damn it, why is there an Emotion Beast here?!”

The man Xu Nian had stabbed finally caught up, having barely regained enough strength to move. But now, he found an Emotion Beast loose in the hotel.

His mind immediately linked it to Xu Nian—she’d asked if an Emotion Beast was watching her.

His answer had been no.

And that stab… it hadn’t been ordinary.

“A Joy Beast?”

To him, the reason for Xu Nian’s sudden attack was now clear.

With a cold snort, a mysterious force pierced through space.

Then—a shrill avian shriek.

The laughter faded, then vanished entirely.

Strange.

He frowned.

This Emotion Beast was weak.

Unusually so.

Even a Joy Beast shouldn’t have died this easily.

So how had such a feeble thing slipped past his senses and appeared here unnoticed?

No time to dwell. His focus snapped back to the girl who’d stabbed him.

Damn her. Even if there was a reason, that blade wouldn’t go unpunished.

He kicked the two bodyguards sprawled on the floor. “Get the hell up!”

But the Joy Beast’s aftereffects weren’t so easily shaken off. The men remained slumped, dazed.

Emotion Beasts’ influence wasn’t trivial—their power over hearts and minds was a form of psychic assault.

“Which way did she go?”

One bodyguard pointed weakly.

Leaving them behind, he rushed in that direction.

But instead of his target, he nearly collided with a white-fox girl emerging from the restroom.