Hearing this, Luo Zhao froze for a moment before a deeply complicated, bitter smile touched her lips.
"You should know," she said slowly. Her voice had regained its former calm, but it felt even more distant.
"Such a thing as absolute trust cannot possibly exist."
"Yes, I know it's impossible too."
Gu Chengyin sighed softly, as if he had anticipated this. But then, his tone took a sudden turn.
"So, Your Highness, why don't we make a bet?"
"A bet?" Luo Zhao's vigilance instantly spiked to its peak.
Proposing a wager while she was completely at his mercy reeked of a conspiracy no matter how she looked at it.
"If Your Highness wins, I will untie you immediately. From then on, I am at your disposal. Whether you wish to kill me or torture me, it is entirely up to you."
"But if I win... I will still untie you. You only need to agree to what I said just now and grant me your utmost trust."
Gu Chengyin took a step forward, closing the distance between them. His eyes were clear, even appearing somewhat innocent.
"The wager is also very simple. We lock eyes. As long as Your Highness does not blink for five seconds, you win."
Luo Zhao was stunned.
Lock eyes for five seconds without blinking?
What kind of wager was this?
But her mind raced, quickly deducing the outcomes: whether she won or lost, the other party promised to release her.
If she won, not only would she regain her freedom, but she could also subdue this unfathomable talent.
If she lost, she would merely have to agree to his seemingly absurd, yet actually quite absurd, demand for trust.
As for the reality of that trust, wasn't that entirely up to her? No matter how she looked at it, this wager was extremely favorable to her.
Although stalling for time was also a sound strategy.
However, Shangguan Yunying had yet to appear, and the building was abnormally quiet. She feared her only chance of escape lay in drawing the attention of Chen Busha.
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind in the blink of an eye.
Ultimately, Luo Zhao suppressed the lingering trace of unease in her heart. Meeting Gu Chengyin's gaze, she nodded resolutely.
"Very well, I will take your wager."
"Your Highness is straightforward."
Gu Chengyin smiled faintly and slowly raised his eyes, meeting Luo Zhao's gaze with a peaceful look.
Luo Zhao also stared intently, focusing all her willpower to control her eyelashes, ready to endure these seemingly simple five seconds.
One, two...
Time flowed steadily by.
Luo Zhao's pupils clearly reflected Gu Chengyin's calm face.
Three...
However, just at the split second when the fourth second was about to tick into the fifth.
A sudden change occurred!
Deep within Gu Chengyin's originally clear and peaceful eyes, it was as if an abyssal vortex silently exploded!
It was not a trick of light and shadow, but a magnetic pull acting directly upon the level of consciousness.
Luo Zhao felt her vision being violently sucked in!
Immediately after, the world began to twist and turn upside down in a frenzy!
"Ugh..."
Luo Zhao wanted to look away, to close her eyes, to cry out.
But her eyelids, her vocal cords, all of her muscles, they seemed to no longer belong to her.
Only Gu Chengyin's face remained clearly suspended in the center of her rapidly blurring vision.
The hateful smile on his face became the final brand burned into her mind before her consciousness plunged into darkness.
Her last sliver of lucid awareness, like shattered ice sinking into the deep sea, crashed into the depths of her soul with a piercing chill.
[Hypnosis Successful]
After successfully hypnotizing Luo Zhao, Gu Chengyin did not leave.
He calmly untied the restraints around the fake Luo Zhao's wrists.
Then, through a series of commands, he guided the now-controlled Highness to take a seat with him on opposite sides of the tea table.
The fragrant tea swirled with faint steam. As the two sat opposite each other sipping tea, their postures displayed a somewhat eerie harmony under the flickering candlelight.
However, Gu Chengyin's gaze drifted toward the tightly closed door from time to time. His fingertips tapped lightly against the rim of his cup, as if he were waiting for something.
Sure enough, hurried footsteps approached from afar. Accompanied by the sharp, clanging sound of armor plates rubbing together, they shattered the silence within the building.
"Your Highness! Are you..."
Shangguan Yunying burst through the door first, rushing in with a voice that was shrill from extreme anxiety.
However, when she got a clear look at the scene inside:
Her Highness and a strange man were sitting across from each other, sipping tea. The atmosphere was so peaceful it bordered on leisurely. The rest of her words caught in her throat, and she froze in place.
Chen Busha, who followed closely behind, had almost the exact same reaction.
Just moments ago, he had bumped into a dazed Shangguan Yunying downstairs.
Upon hearing from her that she had absolutely no memory of bringing anyone upstairs, the battle-hardened general felt as though he had been plunged into an icy abyss.
He had actually allowed an assassin of unknown origins to get close to Her Highness right under his nose!
But the scene before him... how did this look anything like an assassination?
Instead, it looked like... Her Highness was having a secret, late-night meeting with a highly important guest?
Just as the two stood there in shock and bewilderment, the fake Luo Zhao raised her eyes, her expression instantly darkening.
"How utterly audacious of you." Her voice was not loud, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.
"Do you not see that I am discussing matters with a distinguished guest? To barge in without being announced..."
Her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze piercing the two of them like ice picks. "Are you planning a rebellion?"
"This subordinate would never dare! Please quell your anger, Your Highness!" Chen Busha trembled violently. This bone-chilling tone, this commanding and majestic posture, it was absolutely Her Highness, without a doubt!
An immense terror instantly seized him. Without a shred of hesitation, he immediately bowed and cupped his fists, not daring to steal even another glance.
"This subordinate was reckless and will withdraw immediately! Please forgive my offense, Your Highness!"
With that, he hastily retreated, his figure swiftly vanishing outside the door, leaving behind only a bewildered Shangguan Yunying.
Shangguan Yunying's gaze darted back and forth between the fake Luo Zhao and Gu Chengyin, her face written with disbelief and immense confusion.
An unprecedented sense of crisis violently pierced her heart.
Just a short while ago, she had lost Her Highness's favor due to a slip of the tongue.
In the blink of an eye, a stranger, whom she had no recollection of, yet who could sit on equal footing with her master, had appeared by Her Highness's side?
How could she not panic? How could she not be thrown into disarray?
The fake Luo Zhao's eyes sharpened. Seeing Shangguan Yunying still standing there in a daze, she was just about to reprimand her again.
"Please quell your anger, Your Highness," Gu Chengyin spoke up at the perfect moment. His voice was gentle, carrying just the right tone of mediation.
"Lord Shangguan and General Chen were merely eager to protect their master. In their desperation, they lost their sense of propriety."
He stood up and slowly walked over to Shangguan Yunying, who was still in a state of shocked bewilderment. Smiling faintly, he said:
"Does Lord Shangguan not remember? It was you who introduced me to Her Highness."
Shangguan Yunying blinked hard, her gaze toward Gu Chengyin now filled with even deeper confusion and vigilance.
Introduced him? Why did she have absolutely no memory of this?
At this moment, Gu Chengyin was also feeling quite helpless. The system's rules were clear: there could only be one hypnosis target at a time.
When he chose Luo Zhao as his new target, the hypnosis on Shangguan Yunying was naturally lifted.
Fortunately, she would not retain any memories from that period, otherwise the situation would be far more troublesome.
But looking at Shangguan Yunying's complete disbelief, and the faint scrutiny and hostility in her eyes...
Gu Chengyin knew he had no choice but to use his final trump card.
"You..." Shangguan Yunying furrowed her brows, just about to demand answers.
"Shang! Guan! Yun! Ying!"
The fake Luo Zhao's icy voice suddenly rang out. She enunciated every single syllable, each word feeling as if it were coated in shards of ice, slamming mercilessly into Shangguan Yunying's heart.
This unprecedented, bone-chilling call by her full name instantly detonated the most primal fear deep within her soul.
All suspicions regarding Gu Chengyin and confusion over the bizarre situation before her vanished into thin air the moment she heard that reprimand.
"This subordinate deserves death!"
Her knees gave way, and she dropped heavily to the ground with a thud, her forehead knocking hard against the cold floor. Her voice trembled uncontrollably with fear:
"This subordinate was reckless and foolish to offend our distinguished guest! I beg Your Highness to... grant me death!"
The fake Luo Zhao rose to her feet and paced slowly toward her, looking down from above with a gaze of unquestionable, absolute authority:
"Mr. Gu is an honored guest I have invited, and he is the key to breaking this deadlock."
"From this moment on, all matters inside and out, regardless of their magnitude, shall be decided entirely by Mr. Gu. He will temporarily assume the authority of the Chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau."
Her voice suddenly grew heavier, ringing out like the clash of iron and steel, echoing through the silent room:
"You, Chen Busha, and everyone else must obey Mr. Gu's orders unconditionally. There shall be not the slightest questioning or delay."
She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice even further, yet it only made it all the more bone-chilling:
"Am I understood?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
