Lin Hao, feigning unconsciousness, narrowed his eyes to steal glances at Tang Ziyuan.
He wanted to see what Tang Ziyuan was up to.
Most importantly, Tang Ziyuan's ability to use sleeping smoke indicated she was no ordinary person.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Lin Hao continued to peek at Tang Ziyuan through slitted eyes.
He saw Tang Ziyuan pat her chest as if startled.
Then, Tang Ziyuan took two steps towards Lin Hao, squatted down, and stared at him lying unconscious by the door. After a moment, she said with some dejection, "You really got off easy."
With that, she began to undress.
Lin Hao was startled but, to discover Tang Ziyuan's true intentions, he forced himself to suppress his shock.
In the blink of an eye, Tang Ziyuan was completely undressed.
Her figure was already perfect, especially her fair, slender, long legs, which could make any man's blood surge and his mind wander.
And at this moment, all of Tang Ziyuan's allure was laid bare before Lin Hao's eyes.
Lin Hao, who hadn't actually been affected by the sleeping smoke, nearly fainted at that instant.
He truly hadn't expected Tang Ziyuan to strip completely and stand before him naked.
In that moment, Lin Hao's brain seemed to short-circuit, and a surge of heat rushed into his head, making him feel dizzy.
Just then, Tang Ziyuan squatted down and reached out to unbutton Lin Hao's clothes.
Lin Hao's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly snapped out of his dazed state.
"Pervert!"
"This woman is a pervert!"
This was Lin Hao's first thought upon regaining consciousness.
What else could she be if she put sleeping smoke in his room, knocked him out, and then secretly did this?
"You... what do you want to do!?" Lin Hao finally couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Although he enjoyed such dramatic scenarios, who knew what this perverted woman would do next?
What if she pulled out a steel wool ball?
A shiver ran down Lin Hao's spine, and he finally cried out in shock.
The moment Lin Hao spoke, Tang Ziyuan, who had been calm and collected, screamed in fright and jumped onto the bed, burrowing under the covers.
Lin Hao was bewildered; he was the one who should have been startled!
"Get out!"
"Get out!"
Just as Lin Hao was about to speak, Tang Ziyuan, hiding under the covers on the bed, shouted loudly.
Lin Hao instinctively wanted to retreat, but as he moved, a thought suddenly struck him.
This was his room; shouldn't she be the one to leave?
Lin Hao stopped and looked at Tang Ziyuan hiding under the covers on the bed, saying seriously, "Hey, even if you really like me, you don't have to do this. If you really want something to happen between us, just say it. As long as you like it, it's fine if I take a loss. I'm quite generous."
"Scram!"
"Get out!"
"Hey, can we talk properly? This is my room, you know?"
"Scram!!!"
Tang Ziyuan roared, almost exploding.
Lin Hao was startled and quickly closed the door, coming out.
He went to the living room, sat on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and after a couple of puffs, he suddenly felt something was off.
When he was in the room, he thought Tang Ziyuan was a female pervert, but now, thinking about it carefully, it didn't seem right.
Although Tang Ziyuan's actions were very strange, Lin Hao remembered she had said something before she started undressing.
Moreover, her expression and tone of voice were dejected and helpless.
It seemed like she wasn't doing this willingly, but out of desperation.
Could she have some unspeakable secret?
As Lin Hao pondered this with a frown, the bedroom door creaked open.
Tang Ziyuan walked out of the room, already dressed.
Lin Hao looked at Tang Ziyuan, about to speak, but Tang Ziyuan beat him to it, saying, "I'll make a deal with you."
Lin Hao was stunned, then looked at Tang Ziyuan and asked, "What deal?"
"I'll give myself to you, and you give me a million." Tang Ziyuan said expressionlessly.
Lin Hao was dumbfounded, not expecting the deal Tang Ziyuan proposed to be this.
However, Lin Hao immediately felt that something was not right.
He suspected that Tang Ziyuan's so-called deal was a pretense.
Tang Ziyuan was likely trying to conceal her true purpose with this supposed transaction.
Because, in Lin Hao's opinion, Tang Ziyuan didn't seem like someone who lacked money.
Nor did she seem like someone who would sell her body for money.
Tang Ziyuan was definitely hiding something.
Lin Hao frowned slightly, then looked up at Tang Ziyuan.
He wanted to see if he could discern anything from her facial features.
But the result was fruitless.
Tang Ziyuan's facial features were still the same as during the day, with a dark印堂 (yīntáng - the space between the eyebrows) and a deathly mist descending upon her天庭 (tiāntíng - the forehead), clearly indicating someone close to death.
Beyond that, there was nothing else.
Lin Hao felt a wave of confusion. Why would someone on the verge of death suddenly come to find him?
And why had she placed sleeping smoke in his room beforehand, intending to knock him out?
These actions seemed utterly abnormal.
When something is abnormal, there must be a reason. Lin Hao furrowed his brow and began to recall everything from the moment he first saw Tang Ziyuan during the day.
Just then, Tang Ziyuan frowned, looked at Lin Hao, and said coldly, "What? Is a million too much?"
"Fine, if you think it's too much, then fifty thousand."
After speaking, Tang Ziyuan looked at Lin Hao and warned, "Don't push your luck. I'm still a maiden; fifty thousand isn't a loss for you."
Lin Hao was taken aback, then looked at Tang Ziyuan, his expression turning cold.
"Tell me your origin and purpose, or don't blame me for being ruthless and destroying the flower."
After carefully recalling all the scenes since he first met Tang Ziyuan, a guess suddenly formed in Lin Hao's mind.
From the fact that Tang Ziyuan, upon first seeing him during the day, had asked about his marriage prospects, all signs pointed to one thing.
Tang Ziyuan's true purpose was not to inquire about marriage.
It was reconnaissance.
Yes, reconnaissance.
After all, he had immediately told her that she didn't have long to live.
Yet Tang Ziyuan acted as if she hadn't heard him, completely disregarding it.
This was impossible for anyone.
Therefore, the only possibility was that she already knew she was close to death and her real purpose in seeking him out for a reading was to see if his vitality was strong.
Lin Hao believed that Tang Ziyuan had either been guided by someone practicing dark arts or was herself a practitioner of dark arts.
Her purpose was also simple: to use his vitality to extend her own life.
Lin Hao knew that for those who practiced dark arts, using the vitality of a living person, especially someone like him who had cultivated arcane arts since childhood, to extend their life was a perfectly normal practice.
And this beautiful woman, who looked like a celestial being, was undoubtedly a practitioner of dark arts.