Favorability Stuck at a Standstill, Frantic Elbow Strikes, Miss Lin Has a Meltdown

In a small alley in the remote suburbs of Dahai City.

Total chaos!

The constant sounds of trash cans being knocked over and numerous pagers incessantly relaying messages echoed through the air.

"Exit One is breached! The target is heading towards Route Three. Everyone, shift to Route Three!"

"Exit Three is breached! The target is heading towards Route Four. Everyone, shift to Route Four!"

"Exit Four is breached! The target..."

Late at night, a highly bizarre scene unfolded in the alleyway. Scattered around, dozens of people tried to intercept the target at various intersections, but all ended in failure. In the dark of the night, a fat but lightning-fast figure could be seen darting through the narrow alleys!

It leaped over glue-covered areas, dodged interception nets, and continuously weaved back and forth through the cramped alleys. The group of bodyguards was played for fools, running around blindly like headless flies.

Fortunately, with so many people involved, even the most incompetent fools were bound to achieve something.

Hard work pays off. They finally managed to successfully attach a tracker onto Da Huang. Beep, beep, beep. The tracker intermittently flashed a red light, broadcasting its exact location to the surroundings.

Ultimately, all these transmitted signals landed on the handheld tracking monitor held by Lin Baizhi.

Looking at the continuously blinking red dot on the tracker in her hand, the corners of Lin Baizhi's mouth curled up. "Go to Exit One."

"Yes, President Lin!" The female driver nodded, started the car, and headed in the direction of Exit One. Before long, the car parked steadily at Exit One.

They waited quietly.

"Woof..." In the back seat of the car were several exceptionally beautiful white dogs of various breeds: Shih Tzus, Pomeranians, Bichon Frises, Poodles...

Almost all the expensive dog breeds available on the market were gathered here. Their coats were thick and glossy, clearly maintained with a great deal of money and effort. They were purebreds of considerable value, with even the cheapest one worth a five-figure sum.

Lin Baizhi held a Pomeranian in her arms. While gently stroking the dog, she looked out the car window at the quiet alleyway. Her dark eyes were inexplicably calm, as if she were pondering something.

It's almost here...

Two and a half minutes later.

A fat, poop-yellow, floppy-eared mutt appeared. It moved slowly and leisurely, as if taking a stroll. The bodyguards trailing it had all been completely shaken off. Looking entirely carefree, it was probably planning to find a place to take a nap.

Once some time passed, those dumbasses would probably leave, and then it could go back...

After taking barely two steps, Da Huang stopped. Staring at the black sedan in the distance, it slowly backed away, ready to bolt the moment anything seemed amiss.

Click!

The back door of the black sedan opened, and Da Huang decisively executed a "Titanic U-turn," preparing to make a run for it!

"Woof!"

"Woof woof..."

"Awoo... woof..."

After the door opened, the beautiful white dogs originally in the back seat all hopped out. Following Lin Baizhi's orders, they wagged their tails and barked softly as they walked toward Da Huang.

Just as anticipated in the plan, upon the appearance of these carefully selected little dogs, Da Huang froze as if hit by an immobilization spell. Seeming to catch a scent, it immediately performed another "Titanic U-turn" right back around.

Seeing these beautiful, young "little sisters" in front of it, Da Huang's eyes went wide and fixated.

"Woof, woof..." The surrounding flock of beauties quickly swarmed it, barking incessantly, as if saying, "Big brother, big brother, you're so fierce and mighty..." and similar such chatter.

Seeing Da Huang completely paralyzed and lost in this land of tender romance, Lin Baizhi revealed a satisfied smile.

Compared to before, this time was much easier.

The last time she captured Da Huang, she used a rather violent method, shooting a tranquilizer dart directly into Da Huang's body. It was only after confirming that it was a male and posed no romantic threat that a jealous Lin Baizhi finally let it go.

However, Lin Baizhi soon realized that she seemed to have gone in the wrong direction. Whether Da Huang was male or female didn't really matter; it didn't affect its status in her brother's heart.

She originally wanted to investigate why her brother was so devoted to a dog, but she found out that since Da Huang wasn't human, there was no way to run a background check, so she had to drop the matter...

However... Lin Baizhi still managed to dig up some information. For instance, this poop-yellow mutt named Da Huang used to have a miserable life; it was a scrawny, unwanted stray dog.

As for why it had become the fat, large, and incredibly agile creature it was now... the turning point was its encounter with Ye Cheng.

The specific details were impossible to verify, but one thing was certain: this poop-yellow mutt named Da Huang had an exceptionally good relationship with her brother...

Her brother's way of thinking was inherently different from ordinary people. There was no way to enter his heart through conventional methods. Otherwise, she would have succeeded long ago, and it wouldn't have been the turn of those rich young ladies buzzing around him.

To put it bluntly, in Lin Baizhi's eyes, whether it was the arrogant eldest daughter of the Dongfang family or the problematic young master of the Shen family, they only seemed to get along harmoniously on the surface. It looked as though her brother liked them all, but in reality, that wasn't the case at all!

Whenever the relationship progress bar reached a certain point, it would just get stuck and stop moving!

They would be just a hair away from increasing their intimacy level, but it simply wouldn't go up. Lin Baizhi knew very well that in her brother's eyes, even if her true identity were revealed, she would still just be a "friend" who was only one tier higher than the people around him.

And even that "friend" status was highly questionable.

She seriously suspected that her brother didn't trust anyone but himself. He was too smart and saw through everything too clearly... Perhaps this was the legendary genius playing the fool?

Judging from the gathered information, her brother's short-term goal was to secure a government job, become a parasite within the system, and then... nothing else?

He had no plans to buy a house, buy a car, enjoy life, or even marry and have children. Even taking the civil service exam was merely to enjoy the feeling of elbowing unruly commoners.

But the problem was that her brother's grades were excellent. If he truly wanted to take the civil service exam and eat the state's rice, he could have easily become a central government fast-track civil servant and directly climbed the ranks.

Yet Ye Cheng didn't do that. It wasn't that he lacked the opportunity; he had the chance but chose not to take it!

He didn't want to aim higher or do better; he just wanted to elbow unruly commoners... If this wasn't the behavior of a madman, what was?

Although there was a lot of information, much of it was bullshit—just useless data.

Seeing the essence through the phenomena, she was certain, absolutely certain, that there was something much deeper she hadn't seen yet. The money her brother had earned from working part-time jobs and tutoring over the years was more than enough for him to live comfortably. Yet he didn't do so, instead choosing to keep himself in a state of just barely surviving...

Just why was that?

All the money he earned had been given to the orphanage where the two of them grew up, but why would her brother do this? If she remembered correctly, it was her brother who used to tell her to be smart and not act like an idiot...

Why didn't this apply when it came to her brother himself? Was he blind to his own situation?

Or could it be... her brother had other plans in mind?

The more she thought about it, the more things seemed off. Even a genius like Lin Baizhi found it a bit too much for her brain to handle... As expected, she was still far inferior to a pure, untamed genius like her brother.

Those idiotic rich girls, did they really think her brother was a fool...

Her wandering thoughts gradually returned, and her gaze finally landed on Da Huang not far away. The most pressing matter was to win over Da Huang. When those other rich girls tried to grind her brother's affection progress bar and found it completely stuck, they would be dumbfounded.

A true wise person would have long jumped out of the chessboard and seen the essence through the phenomena...

So... Miss Lin was going to start elbowing Da Huang.

At this moment, Lin Baizhi's eyes were free of any distractions; there was only the purest greed for the intimacy progress bar with her brother!!!

And then... Lin Baizhi was dumbfounded.

"Arooo..."

"Woof... awooo..."

"Whimper..."

She saw Da Huang not far away frantically elbowing the "pretty sisters" next to him. In no time, he had elbowed the surrounding pretty female dogs until they cowered behind a utility pole. Then, Da Huang shot a look of utter disdain and contempt at Lin Baizhi, who was sitting in the back of the black sedan.

He was inexplicably human-like.

Lin Baizhi: "???"

Something is wrong with this dog!

The honey trap failed just like that?

It would be one thing if it failed on a human, but bro, you're a dog! I brought so many pretty dogs here, and you didn't fall for it?

Are you even human... oh wait, are you even a dog!

Lin Baizhi's worldview was somewhat overturned. This dog was ridiculously smart. Even a Border Collie didn't have such human-like eyes, and it wasn't the uncanny valley type of human-like either. It was a genuine spiritual intelligence that didn't feel creepy at all...

No wonder it could hang out with her brother. This poop-yellow mutt was also a wild genius among dogs.

After showing his contempt for Lin Baizhi, who had caught him once before, Da Huang did a "Titanic U-turn" and turned his chubby body around, getting ready to leave. At this moment, Lin Baizhi brought out another "trump card" from the bottom of her trunk.

The kind she treasured very much...

Damn it, you stupid dog, if you dare ruin it, I'll beat you into a mini sausage!

Gritting her teeth, Lin Baizhi took out her treasure... a piece of clothing, a school uniform, a... school uniform that Ye Cheng had worn.

Lin Baizhi's heart ached for several seconds, but... you can't catch a wolf without using a child as bait. Lin Baizhi still securely tied Ye Cheng's clothes and placed them on the little white Pomeranian in her arms.

"Go on, sweetie. Be careful, don't let it fall." Lin Baizhi put the little white Pomeranian down on the ground, letting it carry the clothes toward Da Huang.

Tap, tap, tap. The little Pomeranian trotted away with light, steady steps and arrived in front of Da Huang. Lin Baizhi watched the scene nervously.

Da Huang narrowed his doggy eyes and sniffed around, seemingly trying to identify something. Once the scent successfully matched, Da Huang's eyes instantly cleared up. His originally drooping tail began to wag, and he looked extremely happy.

Lin Baizhi felt a surge of joy in her heart. Great, there's a chance!

And then... Da Huang bit onto the clothes on the little Pomeranian. After getting the clothes, he kicked the little Pomeranian that delivered them, "elbowing" it away for what seemed like two acres, sending it crashing into a utility pole where it fainted.

Meanwhile, Da Huang took Ye Cheng's clothes and ran off without looking back.

Lin Baizhi: "???"

"Ahhhh, you stupid dog, give the clothes back to me!!!"

Lin Baizhi let out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek, launched herself like a rocket, and chased after him in her high heels...

The driver in the car: "???"

...