Lin Muci followed the address given by Yang Lanyan.
She opened the door with a magnetic card.
The interior was brightly lit, but there were few people. She walked forward along the entrance of the passage, feeling uneasy, while low murmurs reached her ears.
"You're here?"
She turned around abruptly!
Yang Lanyan suddenly appeared beside her.
He was the only one in the laboratory. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and his expression beneath them was unclear. He reached out, put an arm around her shoulder, leaned close to her ear, his breath lingering by her ear.
"Xiao Ci, you still came. Do you want to help him that much?"
Lin Muci reached out, trying to push his hand away!
"What do you want to do?"
The little system trembled.
Having lost contact with the main system, it could no longer see Yang Lanyan's blackening value. But it could guess that Yang Lanyan's blackening value must be very, very high, terrifyingly high!
"Host, please don't... don't provoke him!"
Lin Muci pursed her lips, then said softly.
"Of course, I know."
A man who had blackened could not be provoked.
Yang Lanyan's strength was greater than hers. She couldn't push his hand away at all. He leaned close to her ear and whispered in her ear.
"What are you afraid of?"
"Why, worried I'll do something bad to you? I suppose I am a man—and in my eyes, Xiao Ci, you are the most alluring creature in this world."
Although he was complimenting Lin Muci, she couldn't be happy. She lowered her voice.
"What do you want to do?"
Yang Lanyan was silent for a moment, then he said.
"Xiao Ci, I truly regret it. You still chose Ling Qianhe."
"How can you be so persistent—but it's precisely because you are so persistent that I regret it even more. If you liked me, if I could have met you earlier, perhaps I wouldn't have lost?"
Lin Muci remained silent.
Yang Lanyan's fingers cupped her chin.
The young girl had such a clear and beautiful face.
She was beautiful, astonishingly so, and Yang Lanyan leaned close to her ear, earnestly confessing his hidden love.
"I like you very much. The first time you appeared before me as a patient, I thought, 'Another foolish young girl, bullied at school, gloomy, indifferent, and cowardly.'"
"Such girls are not worth saving."
"But—I later realized I was wrong."
"You are an uncarved jade!"
"You are a jewel yet to reveal its brilliance."
He sighed softly.
"Xiao Ci, you are too perfect. You are so perfect that I feel no one in this world should be worthy of you."
Lin Muci said nothing.
Yang Lanyan continued.
"I was very surprised at first that you liked Ling Qianhe."
"He only has a handsome face, but his soul is dark and degenerate. If you get too close to him, he will drag you into an abyss with no bottom!"
Hearing him mention Ling Qianhe, Lin Muci finally couldn't help it. She looked up, staring at Yang Lanyan fiercely.
"What right do you have to say that?"
Yang Lanyan merely chuckled, then his gaze met hers calmly. He retorted to Lin Muci.
"Isn't it? I believe what I said is not wrong at all."
"Ling Qianhe is a terrible devil."
"If you ask me how I know this..."
He narrowed his eyes.
Then Yang Lanyan continued.
"I hypnotized Mrs. Ling. From her, I learned some astonishing stories."
"Ling Qianhe's mother worked as a maid in the Ling family back then. Her family was poor, and to repay the loans for her parents' funeral, she had to work in a factory. Through an introduction, she went to work for the Ling family. On a stormy night, she was forcibly taken advantage of by the drunk Ling family patriarch—and then she became pregnant with Ling Qianhe."
"She was initially very flustered and didn't know what to do."
"To hide this fact, she could only hide everywhere."
Yang Lanyan paused.
"Then she was discovered by Mrs. Ling, who began to pursue her. She fled, and then gave birth to Ling Qianhe. She originally planned to take a boat overseas, but on the boat, she was killed by assassins sent by Mrs. Ling. Ling Qianhe himself hid on the boat and witnessed it all."
"He was found later and brought back to the Ling family. He lived a miserable life."
Yang Lanyan recounted Ling Qianhe's background expressionlessly!
Lin Muci bit her lip.
"You don't need to continue. I know all this."
She wanted to interrupt Yang Lanyan, but Yang Lanyan paused, then suddenly laughed.
"No. There is something you don't know."
"Ling Qianhe is truly very intelligent."
"When he was only seven or eight years old, he knew how to sow discord between Ling family shareholders and Mrs. Ling. His elder brother, Ling Wanli, was in a car accident. He knew he would become the heir and had been secretly accumulating strength."
"Someone like that, in order to take revenge, is capable of selling his soul to the devil!"
Lin Muci was silent for a moment.
"He has never harmed anyone."
Yang Lanyan's gaze remained fixed on her cheek!
"How do you know Ling Qianhe hasn't harmed anyone?"
However, she hadn't come here to break his prejudice.
But Lin Muci spoke with conviction.
"I believe him."
Lin Muci looked up and asked Yang Lanyan.
"Tell me, where is Ling Qianhe's mother's ashes kept?"
"Can't you hypnotize Mrs. Ling? You must know."
Yang Lanyan lowered his head, leaned close to her ear, and whispered in her ear in an almost seductive whisper.
"You want to know?"
"As long as you are willing to pay the price, I will tell you."
His fingers gently caressed her cheek.
Lin Muci felt a tingling sensation all over!
She remained silent for a moment, then looked up again, a hint of coldness in her eyes!
"Pay the price?"
"Don't push your luck!"
She looked at Yang Lanyan, thinking about how to deal with him.
At that moment, the tightly closed door suddenly opened!
Then Ling Qianhe strode out!
He looked up, his expression cold as he looked at Yang Lanyan, then without hesitation, he threw a punch directly at his forehead!
Yang Lanyan staggered from the blow!
Blood immediately welled up at the corner of his lips.
Ling Qianhe's voice was as cold as ice.
"You, wanting to lust after Xiao Ci? Dream on!"
He turned to Lin Muci.
"You don't need to beg him."
"Let's go!"
Yang Lanyan was stunned. He got up with difficulty and looked at Ling Qianhe.
"Ling Qianhe, you are clearly a man destined for hell, why must you drag her down?"
Ling Qianhe turned to look at Yang Lanyan.
A faint, cold smile appeared on his lips.
"What right do you have to say that to me?"
He looked at Yang Lanyan.
"Aren't you a scumbag too? You know your own intentions for asking Xiao Ci here. If you dare to threaten her again, I will destroy you!"
Yang Lanyan gasped.
"Are you crazy?"
Ling Qianhe raised an eyebrow.
"Behave yourself."
"My woman, no one will touch!"
He sneered.
If he hadn't been worried about the system acting up and forcing Xiao Ci to be intimate with other men, he wouldn't have been forced to sever the system's connection to the world, and Xiao Ci wouldn't be threatened anymore!
He had indeed paid a small price.
But he felt the price was worth it.
His woman, he would protect her with his life!