After Gu Chengyin asked this question, Luo Zhao's mind, hidden behind the consciousness puppet, instantly tensed up.
She was like a voyeur hiding behind a heavy curtain, carefully watching everything happening outside.
The question came too suddenly, making Luo Zhao almost think she had been discovered.
But in the next moment, she saw herself shake her head and answer with a hollow expression:
"I don't know."
After giving this answer, Luo Zhao's tense mind finally relaxed.
Only then did she remember that she had simply told Gu Xiaoli to come out of the Ten Thousand Phenomena Tower and instructed her not to be discovered by Gu Chengyin.
As for where the world-weary little girl ultimately went, she truly didn't know.
That cat always acted according to her own will; not going to Gu Chengyin was already considered obedient.
Luckily, Gu Chengyin had asked "Where did Gu Xiaoli go?" rather than "Was Gu Xiaoli called away by you?"
If it had been the latter, given the consciousness puppet's response mechanism, they would likely have been exposed.
After all, the consciousness puppet was absolutely obedient to Gu Chengyin. Faced with such a pointed question,
it would have honestly answered that Luo Zhao had called Gu Xiaoli away.
This left Luo Zhao secretly grateful.
After receiving the answer, Gu Chengyin didn’t think much of it.
He didn’t even spare Luo Zhao another glance. He simply nodded casually and turned his attention to Shangguan Yunying.
After all, in Gu Chengyin's mind at the moment, this magnificent Highness posed less threat than a dog—about the same level as a paramecium.
"Yunying, want to eat together?"
Gu Chengyin glanced at the sky outside. The dusk was deep, and the lanterns under the palace eaves had already been lit, their dim halos swaying in the twilight.
He figured that, no matter what, Gu Xiaoli couldn't possibly not come back even at night, right?
Even if she was a cat that liked nighttime activities, she wouldn't just disappear tomorrow, would she?
Gu Chengyin refused to believe he couldn’t catch that cat by waiting for her at the old haunt.
Hearing Gu Chengyin’s invitation, Shangguan Yunying’s eyes lit up instantly, their brightness so intense it nearly illuminated the entire hall.
She was about to agree when she suddenly remembered something and instinctively glanced at Luo Zhao, hesitating:
"I do have time... but Her Highness..."
Before she could finish, Gu Chengyin walked right up to Shangguan Yunying as if no one else were present.
He reached out, pulled her into his arms, and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips.
Nonchalantly, he asked, "What about Her Highness?"
This sudden assault caught Shangguan Yunying off guard. Her brain couldn’t process it in time.
By the time she came to her senses, her entire face had turned bright red, as if dusted with the finest rouge.
From her cheeks to her ears and even her neck, she was tinged with a faint pink hue.
Shangguan Yunying buried her head directly into Gu Chengyin’s chest, hiding her face against his torso, and muttered in a muffled voice:
"How can you be like this! Her Highness is still here!"
Her voice was so soft it could be squeezed out like water, carrying a hint of shyness and reproach yet laced with undisguised joy.
This scene of mutual affection caused two women to spit with disgust at the same time.
Lin Qingyan, hiding behind her inner demon, watched this scene with hatred gnawing at her teeth.
Despicable Shangguan Yunying!
If it weren’t for the fact that she had to pretend to be sugar-coated and maintain that persona, how would this woman ever get the chance to act coy and adorable in front of Gu Chengyin?
In looks, family background, and cultivation level, how could Shangguan Yunying compare to her?!
It was just a matter of being close enough to get in first!
Bide her time for now!
Bide her time for now!
Lin Qingyan silently recited these four words in her heart, desperately suppressing the impulse to rush out.
She couldn’t expose herself; she had to keep up the act.
She couldn’t let Gu Chengyin discover that she had deceived him time and again.
Meanwhile, behind the consciousness puppet, Luo Zhao watched this scene and nearly fainted from anger.
Before, there had at least been some pretense of testing her—showing intimacy in front of her but still maintaining some semblance of decorum.
Now, they weren’t even pretending. They were doing it right in front of her!
Embracing, kissing—what did they take her, the Crown Prince, for?
Air?
Furniture?
Gu Chengyin, you bastard!
When the day came to turn the tables, she would make sure he gets what he deserves!
And Shangguan Yunying! That was enough! She was the chief female officer, after all; couldn’t she have a little dignity!
Endure for now!
Endure for now!
Luo Zhao silently recited these four words in her heart, desperately suppressing the impulse to rush out.
She couldn’t expose herself; at least until she pulled Gu Chengyin down, she had to keep up the act.
This was the only chance to turn the tables and the only hope for a counterattack.
Two women, one older and one younger, with strikingly similar features, harbored different thoughts yet unanimously suppressed their impulses.
Meanwhile, Gu Chengyin had already taken Shangguan Yunying and started walking out without further ado.
"Her Highness isn’t dead. She can eat, drink, and sleep, so stop worrying about her."
Gu Chengyin’s voice drifted back, careless and indifferent.
"But... but..."
Shangguan Yunying wanted to say more, but her voice grew fainter and farther away.
Luo Zhao indeed wasn’t dead, but she was wide awake—wide awake and watching this scene unfold!
Shangguan Yunying, held tightly by Gu Chengyin as they walked out, felt quite uneasy.
While Gu Chengyin might be safe for now—since Luo Zhao was still biding her time and wouldn’t act rashly—she herself wasn’t safe!
What if Luo Zhao got angry and gave her some strange tasks to retaliate against Gu Chengyin?
Like forbidding him from touching her, as before? That would torment her!
She had worked so hard to get to this point with Gu Chengyin.
If it came to a critical moment and he wasn’t allowed to touch her, she would surely die of frustration.
But...
Shangguan Yunying thought again. Even if Luo Zhao issued tasks, it probably wouldn’t matter.
She could still defy them; Luo Zhao wouldn’t dare show her face before Gu Chengyin and couldn’t punish her much for it.
If the punishment were too severe, Gu Chengyin would surely notice.
Thinking this way, Shangguan Yunying felt much more at ease.
Since that was the case, she would definitely side with Gu Chengyin!
She immediately grew excited, looked up at Gu Chengyin’s profile, and asked with sparkling eyes:
"So what are we going to eat? I heard there’s a new restaurant in the Eastern Market."
"They say the roasted lamb there is especially delicious. Let’s go there, okay!"
A hint of a smile curled at the corner of Gu Chengyin’s mouth: "You’re well-informed."
"Of course!"
Shangguan Yunying lifted her chin proudly:
"I love eating the most. Wherever there’s good food, I’m the first to know!"
Their voices gradually faded away, and their figures disappeared beyond the palace door.
The hall fell silent again.
Luo Zhao sat behind the long table, watching the two leave with a hollow expression.
The consciousness puppet maintained its fixed posture, its gaze blank.
Its face was calm, as if it had no awareness of what had just happened.
Time ticked by one after another.
Footsteps came from outside. A female official arrived to report that the Junior Master Gu and the Chief Secretary had left the Crown Prince’s palace and were heading toward the Eastern Market.
Luo Zhao nodded and motioned for the official to withdraw.
The reporting official exited the hall and gently closed the door behind her.
Only Luo Zhao remained alone in the hall.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
