episode_0026

I give up.

I fucking give up.

Lin Yi recited the words with robotic indifference.

”Good. Now that’s an obedient pet.”

Li Huayu released Lin Yi’s face, rose from her half-kneeling position, slipped on her shoes, and turned her back to him as she smoothed out the wrinkles on her school uniform.

The next second—

Lin Yi’s eyes sharpened like blades.

”I don’t accept this!”

Dragon Strike!

”Oof—!”

Li Huayu staggered, then slammed face-first onto the coffee table.

CRASH!

The intact table shattered cleanly.

The glass top disintegrated into shards, scattering across the floor.

”I won’t accept it!”

Lin Yi followed up with a slap—his waist twisted, his shoulder drove the motion, his forearm whipped forward, and his palm struck with every ounce of strength in his body. He didn’t treat Li Huayu like some fragile high school girl at all.

What kind of 17-year-old girl was two meters tall, capable of scaling from the first floor to the thirteenth in the dead of night, breaking into his home, and dragging him out of his own bedroom?!

SMACK!!

The impact was deafening, like a cannonball slamming into flesh.

Anyone familiar with ballistic tests would recognize the effect—a perfectly calibrated bullet hitting ballistic gel causes the material to ripple violently.

Just like Li Huayu right now.

This unrestrained slap carried nearly twice the strength of an average grown man in this world. It carried Lin Yi’s pent-up frustration, his teeth-gritting fury, the humiliation of being treated like a dog and then bitten by one—all of it was unleashed in that single strike.

”I told you—if you come at me, I’ll hit back. Don’t underestimate me.”

Lin Yi shook out his hand.

Force works both ways—his palm throbbed with searing pain, but he stubbornly refused to show it.

Meanwhile, Li Huayu’s entire body rippled from the impact. She braced herself against the broken table, turned her head, and let her waterfall of silky hair obscure her face. Not a single strand moved. Only her cold, gleaming eyes were visible through the dark curtain.

She looked like one of those vengeful onryō from horror stories, radiating an icy, unsettling aura.

”Lin Yi… you’ve got guts.”

She pushed herself up, looming over him with a chilling gaze.

Under the ambient lighting, Li Huayu’s pale skin took on a ghostly pallor. Her disheveled hair hid her expression, amplifying the menace in her presence.

The school uniform she wore only made the scene more surreal.

In the dim, shadowy room, an eerie wind seemed to stir.

A two-meter-tall, long-haired schoolgirl specter emerged—no one knew how long she’d been dead, how much resentment she carried. All that was certain was the frigid glare she fixed on the boy lying on the bed.

”What’s wrong?”

Lin Yi lifted his head, stood up from the couch, and met her gaze without flinching.

Li Huayu glanced sideways at the closed bedroom door, as if worried Zhuang Yayun might wake up. Her voice dropped to a frosty whisper.

”Heh. I’ll let you off today. Next time—”

She turned to leave.

”You’ll let me off? I’m not letting you off. You think it’s that easy? If you don’t compensate me, I won’t just walk away.”

Lin Yi viciously grabbed Li Huayu’s wrist. No way was he letting this oversized “truck” walk away now.

Things had already gone this far—he wasn’t about to abandon the mission.

The fact that this “truck” could climb from the first floor to the thirteenth had reshaped his perspective again.

To survive in this absurd world, he couldn’t afford to pass up the system’s reward tasks.

This “truck”? He was definitely crashing into it.

”…Then what do you want?”

Li Huayu stiffened. She didn’t turn around, and her voice carried a hint of vulnerability.

[Mission Complete: 🐴 Collides with 🚗]

[Reward: Perfect Star Platinum (Can stop time for 10 seconds; user remains mobile during time stop)]

Lin Yi’s eyebrow twitched, but he kept his predatory glare fixed on Li Huayu.

”Simple. Bark like a dog. I’m recording it.”

”…Fine.”

To his surprise, Li Huayu agreed without resistance. Before he could react, she pulled a camcorder from her pocket, twisted his wrist, and yanked him into her embrace.

Lin Yi was once again smothered in soft, slime-like flesh.

Li Huayu aimed the camcorder at them, then parted her delicate lips.

”Woof woof~ woof woof~”

Her barks were crisp and sweet—nothing like an actual dog’s. It sounded more like a girlfriend playfully humoring her boyfriend’s demand.

”Here.”

She released Lin Yi, shoved the camcorder into his hands, and strode toward the door without looking back.

Lin Yi watched her retreating figure, eyes glinting.

[Perfect Star Platinum—activate!]

In an instant—

The world flickered into monochrome.

Lin Yi felt everything around him freeze—even his own heartbeat.

He pressed a hand to his chest. No pulse. His breath had stopped too, yet his body could still move freely.

He darted behind Li Huayu. As much as he resented this “truck,” that slap had made one thing clear: his full strength barely fazed her.

She hadn’t even gasped. She’d just… taken it.

Lin Yi’s gaze traveled up her voluptuous figure.

Normally, a body like hers would have some softness around the waist.

But Li Huayu’s stomach was flawlessly flat—unnaturally so.

A true eight-foot-tall truck.

This wasn’t just a “gun mount.”

This was the artillery itself.

Ten seconds ended.

Li Huayu noticed nothing. Unaware of Lin Yi’s sudden proximity, she opened the door, stepped out, and headed to her own apartment. A fingerprint scan later, she slipped inside.

Lin Yi shut the door behind him and exhaled heavily.

In the ambient light, he saw his palm—bright red, fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Ridiculous.

Just how high were this “truck’s” stats?!

That hit didn’t even scratch her?

Unbelievable.

At least Li Huayu had chosen to leave. If she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have known how to handle her.

Lin Yi quickly cleaned up the wrecked living room, then quietly returned to the bedroom.

Zhuang Yayun lay undisturbed, sleeping as peacefully as when he’d left.

Sound asleep.

Your husband was just kidnapped from bed by another woman.

She almost got a front-row seat to “spousal betrayal in progress.”

Lin Yi climbed back into bed.

The Star Platinum ability’s usage was tied to stamina—each activation drained a quarter of his energy.

Maximum three uses per day.

Thirty seconds of stopped time was more than enough.

—

—

Inside Li Huayu’s apartment.

The beautiful girl trembled against the door, her hands scraping against the wood, teeth sinking into her lower lip.

”Something… something’s been unlocked…”

”It hurts…”

”But… it feels amazing.”

Meanwhile, beneath Li Huayu’s bedroom window—

A rope dangled inexplicably from her balcony.

A silver-haired girl in yoga clothes clung to it, swaying midair.

”Damn it!”

”Who the hell is this woman?!”

”I was sleeping, and she made me listen to that shameless live performance!”

”I’m going to see your face if it’s the last thing I do!”

Luo Tianyou gritted her teeth, her grip tightening on the nylon rope until it nearly deformed.

She’d never tried climbing like this before, yet it felt oddly effortless.

Just one more minute to adjust, and she’d scale this balcony.

But then—

Amid the howling wind—

Luo Tianyou watched in horror as the rope’s hook began to slip.

SNAP!