Chapter 10: Touch His Waist and Run
Yun Sheng tentatively reached out and touched Si Jin’s waist again.
"Mmm..."
A low, muffled groan escaped Si Jin’s throat. He wasn’t fully conscious, but he instinctively sniffed the top of her head and mumbled two words.
"...Smells good."
The next second, a hand shot out and seized her waist, a powerful force pulling her tightly against Si Jin’s chest.
She was held so tightly she could barely breathe.
To make matters worse, the furry head at her feet kept nudging against her calf.
She looked down.
The large dog at her feet was staring up at her with glistening, deep blue eyes. When it saw her looking, it even tilted its head cutely.
Yun Sheng: "..."
’Damn it, who could resist this kind of unexpected cuteness!’
’If her life wasn’t in Si Jin’s hands, she would’ve pounced on it and petted it to her heart’s content.’
Just as her attention was diverted, Si Jin’s body suddenly swayed. It was as if all his strength had been drained at once, and his full, heavy weight collapsed against her.
’He... actually fell asleep just like that?’
Or perhaps, it was a brief state of collapse after his rampage, and he had fallen into a deep slumber.
Yun Sheng was nearly crushed. It took a herculean effort for her to move Si Jin to the side and prop him up against the wall.
She sprang back a few steps and turned to run.
"Whimper..."
The large dog at her feet circled her calves anxiously, nudging her repeatedly with its head, clearly not wanting her to leave.
Yun Sheng paused. Seeing its pitiful expression, she quickly crouched down and gave its furry head a couple of vigorous ruffles.
It was warm and soft to the touch, feeling unbelievably good.
"Good doggy," she whispered, as if coaxing a child. "I have to get out of here. When your master wakes up, I’m toast. You watch over him, okay?"
The big dog, soothed by her petting, let out a rumbling sound from its throat and actually sat down on the spot.
But its big eyes remained fixed on her, unblinking, its tail sweeping gently across the floor.
Yun Sheng’s heart nearly melted from the cuteness, but she didn’t dare delay any longer. She turned, ran out of the isolation room, and sprinted down the corridor in the opposite direction from which she came.
Drawing on her experience playing escape rooms before she transmigrated, her excellent sense of direction, and a little bit of luck, she quickly found an emergency exit. She followed the stairs all the way up and finally returned to the relatively bright ground floor.
She had just cautiously peeked her head out to observe the situation in the main hall when a familiar, cold voice reached her ears.
"...Seal all exits, check every..."
’It was Bai Ye!’
’He was still looking for her, as she’d expected. Or rather... looking for traces of Si Jin.’
Yun Sheng immediately pulled her head back.
’Bai Ye’s eyes were too sharp and his mind too meticulous. She wouldn’t be able to withstand his thorough interrogation.’
’If he found her now, it would surely lead to endless suspicion and investigation.’
’She absolutely could not let him find her!’
Yun Sheng made a snap decision, abandoning her plan to leave through the main hall. She turned and ran in the opposite direction.
The inside of the research institute was still in a state of chaos. She avoided the main corridors, winding her way through to find a relatively remote side door.
The side door had an identity recognition lock, but it seemed to have malfunctioned due to the earlier energy surge, and it was flashing an unstable red light.
She tried pushing it hard, and with a CREAK, the door loosened, opening a crack.
She immediately squeezed through the opening.
An hour later, a slightly weary Yun Sheng arrived back at the entrance of the Lin Family’s main manor house.
Just as she stepped into the foyer, she heard Lin Hao’s resentful voice coming from the living room.
"Mom! How can you be so unreasonable? The research institute was perfectly calm when Sister Yue Yao and I left. Who knew something like that would happen later! How can you blame this on us?"
"Besides, Yun Sheng was with Bai Ye at the time! And who is Bai Ye? The Star Alliance War God! With him around, what could possibly happen to her? Your worrying is completely unnecessary!"
Su Wan glared at him. "Lin Hao, that’s your sister! The research institute triggered its highest alert. Don’t you know how dangerous the situation was? You just left her there all alone..."
"Sister? I don’t acknowledge her as my sister!"
Like a lit firecracker, Lin Hao completely exploded.
"She’s only been back for two days! Just two days! How many times have you yelled at me for her sake? You were never like this before. Now that she’s back, is there no place for me in this family anymore? Fine, I’ll leave! Let her have this house to herself. After all, Mom, you only have eyes for her now!"
"You...!"
Su Wan was so furious at his outrageous words that she trembled all over, unable to speak.
Just then, a voice as calm as still water suddenly cut in.
"I’m back."
All three turned their heads at once to see Yun Sheng standing quietly at the entrance to the living room.
Seeing her, Lin Hao’s anger flared, and he blurted out, "Yun Sheng, you’re back just in time! Look at what you’ve done. As soon as you came back, my mom started—"
"Lin Hao."
Yun Sheng cut him off. Her voice was still quiet, but it carried a strange, piercing quality.
"You just said that this family used to be wonderful. So, can you tell me, how has your life been in this home for the past eighteen years?"
Lin Hao was taken aback by her question. His first instinct was to brag about his privileged life in the Lin Family, but when he met Yun Sheng’s unnervingly calm eyes, he felt a strange sense of guilt and found himself at a loss for words.
Yun Sheng didn’t wait for his answer and simply began to speak.
"I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived. But I can tell you about the life I lived for the past eighteen years in the slums of the Eighth Star Zone."
"My mother was in poor health and bedridden for years. My father was a gambling addict who lost everything of value in our home. From a young age, I did all the housework, but even so, Yun Dafu would still beat me at the slightest provocation...
"Do you know what it’s like to fight with a group of vagrants over relief rations? Do you know how many Star Coins you can earn in a day digging in the high-radiation scrap mines of the Eighth Star Zone?"
As Lin Hao listened, the anger on his face vanished, replaced by an awkward stiffness and... an imperceptible trace of panic.
He wanted to retort, to say, ’What does that have to do with me,’ but it felt as if something was caught in his throat.
"After I failed my coming-of-age awakening, Yun Dafu decided I had lost my last shred of value. He contacted people on the black market, planning to sell me to pay off his gambling debts," Yun Sheng continued. "Before General Bai Ye found and took me away, I was running for my life. If I hadn’t escaped, I would have been sold to the black market, treated like a piece of cargo without dignity, to be trampled, humiliated, and sold at will..."
Su Wan clamped her hands tightly over her mouth, but tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
The words on the investigation report had been cold and impersonal, but hearing Yun Sheng describe her past eighteen years with her own voice, every word felt like a knife twisting in her heart.
She thought about how her daughter, who should have grown up cherished and pampered by her side, had instead suffered so much, while her son was still fussing over such trivial matters...
"Lin Hao!" Su Wan whirled around, her red-rimmed eyes glaring at her son. "Listen to the life your sister has lived! How dare you still make a scene?"
She turned away from the frozen Lin Hao and walked over to take Yun Sheng’s hand.
"Shengsheng... It’s Mom who has wronged you. The Lin Family has wronged you... Mom will make it up to you, I promise! I’ll have your father come back right now and transfer 10% of the Lin Family’s shares to you. It’s what you deserve!"
’Ten percent of the shares!’
Lin Yueyao’s head snapped up, her gentle mask completely shattering, revealing the unconcealable shock and disappointment in her eyes.
Lin Hao gasped, and the flicker of guilt he had just felt vanished without a trace.
"Mom, are you crazy?!" he practically roared, pointing at Yun Sheng. "I’m your son, and I only have 5% of the Lin Family’s shares to my name! And you’re going to give this good-for-nothing 10%?"