After Jiang Yunli and the others left, Chen Ningshuang's mood remained low.
Her head hung down, and her delicate body trembled uncontrollably.
It seemed like she was about to shed tears, feeling utterly wronged.
If it were before, she might have felt some guilt for injuring Jiang Che, but now... she knew it was all a trap he had set for her!
Jiang Che's ancient martial arts skills had always been stronger than hers, and her instincts hadn't been wrong back then.
There was no way she could have injured him; he had been faking it all along.
But now... it was too late. She had already been forced onto Jiang Che's pirate ship.
"Shuang'er, you hit me back then... can't you let my mom say a few words? You know how protective she is of me," Jiang Che said as his large hand wrapped around Chen Ningshuang's shoulder, pulling her into his embrace.
"You're lying! It was all your plan. Don't think I don't know... you set this trap and waited for me to fall into it!" Chen Ningshuang retorted, her eyes red as she glared at Jiang Che's smirking face.
His smile was so infuriating; it made her want to punch him!
"What? You want to hit me? If you break me, who's going to help you improve your skills? That rocket-speed cultivation progress... you can't forget that, can you?"
Chen Ningshuang fell silent. She really couldn't bring herself to hit him now.
She could overpower him, but she didn't want to!
"Tsk tsk tsk, Shuang'er, could it be... you've fallen for me?" Jiang Che suddenly blurted out, throwing Chen Ningshuang into disarray, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Who would fall for you? I'd rather jump off a building than fall for you!"
Jiang Che kindly reminded her, "This is the first floor. Go ahead and jump."
Chen Ningshuang: "......"
She was scared. If she truly had nothing to feel guilty about... why would she be so flustered?
Had she really grown accustomed to this scoundrel's presence?
Or had she actually fallen for him?
No... she had been coerced and tempted. How could she have developed feelings?
......
"No!!! Let go of me! Let go! You're trespassing, you know that?"
Qin Tian was utterly distraught, struggling incessantly. Ever since he decided not to repay his online loan, he had even fled to another city to live.
But the loan company's people had still found him!
And this time, the person who came for him... was none other than Brother Qiang, the man who had brought endless psychological trauma to Qin Tian.
"It's you!!!"
Qin Tian almost wet himself when he saw the outline of the bald-headed Brother Qiang.
This bald man was the shame of his life.
"You little brat, you ran all the way here to avoid paying your debt?"
Qin Tian panicked completely. "I'll pay! I'll pay! I'll pay back the principal and interest in full! Just let me go!"
But clearly, Brother Qiang wasn't about to let go of his prey so easily.
"Lin Yu, Liangchen, grab him."
That's right, after Lin Yu, Ye Liangchen had also completely submitted to Brother Qiang's authority!
Under the torment of Brother Qiang and Lin Yu, he had come to terms with reality.
"You— Ah!"
Qin Tian screamed as Ye Liangchen's fists rained down on his face, seemingly venting all his pent-up anger.
[Ding! Host has successfully acted like a lunatic. Reward: 3 days of cultivation progress.]
"Alright, alright, Liangchen, take it easy... this guy is still useful!"
Brother Qiang still held some authority, and with just one word, Ye Liangchen stopped.
"Qin Tian, Jiang Che mentioned... you're quite skilled at stock trading. Coincidentally, I'm also pretty good at it!"
Qin Tian's eyes widened. "Forget it! I'd rather die than work for you!"
Though he was a bit foolish, he wasn't completely stupid. It was likely that Jiang Che had noticed his stock trading skills and wanted to exploit him to make a fortune!
Brother Qiang wasn't angry. Instead, he chuckled.
"So, you don't understand anything, huh?"
Then, he turned to Lin Yu and Ye Liangchen and said, "Take him away!"
Qin Tian panicked. "What are you doing? This is kidnapping! This is illegal!"
But his protests clearly had little effect. Soon, a pair of underwear was stuffed into his mouth.
"Mmmph—"
Qin Tian, the stock trading prodigy, was really about to become a "stock"-trading prodigy.
......
"Tsk tsk tsk, this Brother Qiang is something else. His brainwashing skills are top-notch!"
Jiang Che looked at the photos Brother Qiang had sent him, showing Qin Tian tied up in a dark room. The scene was enough to make anyone clench their buttocks in fear.
Moreover, they had also extracted some valuable information from him: a certain stock would experience continuous price surges in the future.
This ability to foresee the future was completely wasted on Qin Tian. The guy only dared to make small profits, but with Jiang Che's business team handling it, things would be different!
Making hundreds of millions would be no problem!
"This Brother Qiang is a talent. Can't let him go to waste."
Who could resist such a guy? He's practically a factory for refining protagonists!
Once those arrogant protagonists entered Brother Qiang's dark room, they would become as docile as lambs in just over half a month.
"Though Brother Qiang is quite loyal, his loyalty to me is at 85. A few small favors should bring it up to 90."
While he couldn't make the protagonists genuinely obey him, having Brother Qiang obey him was just as effective.
My vassal's vassal is still my vassal!
"You've done well. From now on, if I encounter any unruly individuals... I'll leave them to you."
Brother Qiang on the other end was immediately thrilled. "Young Master Jiang... your kindness to me is as vast as the flowing river..."
As Brother Qiang showered him with flattery, his loyalty rose to 90 points.
Jiang Che shuddered. A loyalty of 90 was just right; any higher would be terrifying!
He quickly hung up the phone.
Damn, those photos from Brother Qiang had really grossed him out.
He desperately needed to cleanse his eyes.
[I'm hungry...]
Jiang Che glanced over and saw a small silver figure sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window. It was none other than Dong'er.
Dong'er seemed different from before. In the past, Jiang Che had never been able to hear her thoughts, but recently, he could.
Though all he heard was... hunger!
"Little glutton!"
Jiang Che smirked, walking over to Dong'er and effortlessly scooping her up with one hand. The height difference made it look like he was carrying his own daughter.
"My Dong'er is so adorable."
Jiang Che pinched Dong'er's cheek and planted a big kiss on her face.
Dong'er tilted her head, looking at Jiang Che, and opened her tiny mouth. "Hungry—"
Jiang Che: "......"
A true glutton, no doubt about it!
After being grossed out by Qin Tian's photos, he desperately needed a cute little girl to cleanse his eyes.
As Jiang Che held Dong'er in his arms, a wildly improbable thought crossed his mind: he wanted Dong'er, the system puppet, to fall in love with him!
After all, Dong'er had no soul. No soul meant no thoughts, but now... he could hear her thoughts.
Making Dong'er develop feelings for him would be as difficult as giving an AI robot consciousness.
But Jiang Che loved challenging his own limits.