Chapter 29: Despicable Man and Woman

Yan Jing hadn't expected this woman's trump card to be sheer shamelessness.

Everyone else here was dressed in sharp suits and leather shoes. Meanwhile, the woman in front of him was sprawled on the floor in her pajamas, entirely disregarding her image as she clung to his thigh.

Yan Jing nodded.

This was exactly the unique touch he was looking for.

"Then let's talk, Ms. Shen."

They returned to the room. Yan Jing watched Shen Youran lock the door and turn to stare straight at him.

"Mr. Yan!"

Shen Youran gave a cheeky laugh, her demeanor completely different from just a few minutes ago.

"I think we had a little misunderstanding just now!"

She bent over, rummaged through a black garbage bag for a moment, and miraculously fished out a bottle of cola. With a sudden, deep bow, she offered it to Yan Jing with both hands.

"Boss, have some tea!"

Yan Jing accepted the cola, twisted off the cap, and scraped it against the rim of the bottle as if skimming tea leaves.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, Ms. Shen. I'd like to hear your terms directly."

In less than three minutes, their positions had completely reversed.

Shen Youran showed no trace of dissatisfaction. She took a large stride forward, grabbed Yan Jing's arm, and looked at him with shining eyes.

"An A-grade contract! Mr. Yan, if you're willing to sign, it will naturally be the highest-tier A-grade contract!"

Yan Jing shook his head.

"If I walk out that door, turn right, and head over to Star Orbit Investment Bank next door, I imagine they'll offer me an A-grade contract too. And it certainly wouldn't be any worse than yours, Ms. Shen."

"But they wouldn't pour their heart and soul into you like I would!"

Shen Youran blinked furiously, trying to move Yan Jing with a gaze of utter sincerity.

"They give out so many of those A-grade contracts, and every investor has multiple investees under them. I'm different. I promise, from today onward, I'll be wholeheartedly devoted to you and you alone!"

Yan Jing's heart remained as still as water in the face of Shen Youran's empty promises.

He reached out and, finger by finger, pried her hand off his arm.

"Ms. Shen, you should know perfectly well that investing is essentially a business. Business is about the exchange of benefits; personal feelings shouldn't be mixed into it."

"From your position, it must be quite difficult to find another investee with a yellow-quality Day Selection Ritual. So, I must ask you to show some tangible sincerity."

"Who says I can't find one? What if..."

Shen Youran had wanted to argue further, but as she looked up into Yan Jing's placid eyes, her voice guiltily trailed off.

"Contact me when you've figured it out. Assuming I haven't signed with someone else by then."

Leaving those words behind, Yan Jing turned to leave.

Seeing Yan Jing's hand reach for the doorknob, the hesitation on Shen Youran's face turned to sheer panic.

Finally, she lunged forward and blocked the door.

"Wait! Mr. Yan, I think we can discuss this a little more."

"State your terms."

Yan Jing said calmly.

"...Twenty percent more than my previous offer!"

Shen Youran ground the words out through clenched teeth, but Yan Jing merely shook his head.

"Not enough, Ms. Shen."

"No one else is going to offer you a cut that high!"

"Not necessarily."

Yan Jing's expression remained entirely unchanged.

"..."

Utterly conflicted, Shen Youran clenched her fists, released them, and clenched them again. After repeating this several times, she finally made up her mind.

"Fifty percent!"

"I can add fifty percent to the base offer at most! There is absolutely no way anyone else can go higher than that!"

But Yan Jing refused again.

"Still not enough, Ms. Shen. You know exactly why no one with good talent comes to you. I'd be taking on a massive risk. We're talking about the potential hostility of a major Clan from the Third Ring Domain. A mere fifty percent isn't nearly enough to offset that."

"...Seventy percent..."

Shen Youran clenched her fists rock hard.

"If I went to another investment bank, I'd likely receive protection and guidance from high-Tier entities. You don't seem to offer that service. As far as I'm aware, your talent when it comes to dungeons isn't particularly outstanding."

"...Ninety percent!"

Shen Youran felt as though she might shatter her own teeth from clenching them so hard.

"Investees are required to complete the objectives set by their investors. Your objectives are undoubtedly quite high; that must also be factored in."

"..."

This time, the silence was unusually long.

Just as Yan Jing was about to step out the door, however, Shen Youran finally broke. She lunged forward and grabbed his arm.

"Wait!"

In that split second, she caught the fleeting smile at the corner of Yan Jing's lips.

'Despicable man!'

She felt her heart bleeding.

But then she thought of her monumental, seemingly hopeless quest for revenge. She thought of the years of waiting and disappointment.

Taking a deep breath, Shen Youran finally spoke.

"I can offer more, but we have to change the way we sign this contract!"

A pair of matching rings materialized above her right hand. She looked up at Yan Jing.

"We'll use Betrayer's End."

Yan Jing took one of the rings.

It was a solid black ring, the exact opposite color of the one remaining in her hand. It was set with a tiny, shadowy gemstone and had rough, handcrafted patterns carved along its outer band.

[Item Name: Betrayer's End]

[Quality: Yellow]

[Tier Requirement: First Tier]

[Effect: Both parties may establish a contract prior to wearing this item. Once the contract is established and both parties put on the rings, the contract forcibly takes effect and is acknowledged by the Inner World System.]

[Description: An item forged by two deeply in-love partners so they could stay together forever. They believed in love but did not believe in time, so they made a pact: the one who betrays shall face their doom.]

"Betrayer's End is a very common item, though most are white-quality with no Tier requirement, or Green-quality First Tier."

"My pair is yellow-quality First Tier; the contract effect is a bit stronger."

Staring intently at Yan Jing, Shen Youran said slowly, "I only ask that there be no betrayal during our partnership."

"If you're willing to agree to that, these are my terms."

She channeled weird energy into the ring resting in her palm. A line of text slowly drifted out from it:

[The ringbearer shall fully invest in the other party, providing all of their financial resources and offering personal assistance within their capabilities while the contract is active! This includes, but is not limited to, the ringbearer's wisdom, experience, knowledge, and emotional support, valued at approximately 60 million Surface World Currency in total.]

[Furthermore, for fifteen years, the ringbearer is barred from making investments or taking similar actions with anyone else.]

[While the contract is active, neither party may commit acts of betrayal or harm against each other until the contract's terms are fulfilled.]

"This covers everything I have. Even if you asked for more, I wouldn't have it to give. I'm all in."

Shen Youran took a deep breath and added softly, "Of course, Mr. Yan, you should take a look at my requirements first."

Yan Jing channeled weird energy into the ring in his hand and saw a condition that was, by comparison, remarkably simple and clear:

[The ringbearer must assist the other party in returning to the Third Ring Domain within ten years.]

Yan Jing looked at Shen Youran, deep in thought.

Betrayer's End was extremely famous on the player forums. It functioned as an official contract mandated by the Inner World System itself, and he had never heard of anyone being able to forge it.

Before arriving, he had already decided to fully exploit the fact that this woman had no way out, using it to secure the best possible terms for himself.

He just hadn't expected it to work out even better than he had imagined.

He stared deeply into Shen Youran's fox-like eyes, trying to peer through them to read the heart of a woman so skilled at disguises.

Their gazes locked for a few seconds, and then Yan Jing suddenly smiled.

He felt he had seen through her.

So, he nodded.

"Agreed."

"Good."

Without another word, they both slipped the rings onto their fingers.

The contract was sealed.

The instant the contract was formed...

Shen Youran let out a long sigh of relief. Her entire body visibly relaxed.

As if the tight string of tension in her heart had finally relaxed, she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Yan, but I think I forgot to mention something to you."

Apology was written all over her face.

"That sixty million listed on the contract is just a conceptual figure calculated by the Inner World System. It's mostly valuing my experience and knowledge. The actual cash in my accounts..."

"...is less than five hundred thousand."

A faint glimmer of slyness danced in those fox-like eyes.

As she spoke, she lowered her head with feigned bashfulness.

"But since we've put the rings on, I suppose you could say we're engaged. If you want to back out of the marriage now, I'm afraid it's a bit too late."

Yan Jing laughed.

He had guessed completely right.

The only loophole that could be exploited in Betrayer's End was the exact wording of the contract's terms. He had already guessed that Shen Youran was playing a word game with that sixty million.

Thanks to the notes left behind by his body's original owner, he had naturally known all along that Shen Youran's pockets were practically empty.

But he wasn't here for the money anyway.

The Shen Family, a former behemoth of the Third Ring Domain, had left behind things that couldn't possibly be measured with money.

If the original owner's notes were accurate, there was an astonishing fortune waiting to be tapped into with this woman.

That was his true reason for seeking Shen Youran out to be his investor.

"Now that you mention it, Ms. Shen, I think I forgot to tell you something as well."

Shen Youran's smug expression instantly froze at his words.

"Wh-what did you forget?"

Looking at the smile spreading across Yan Jing's face, an ominous feeling welled up in her chest.

"It's nothing major, really. It's just my upcoming dungeon. I checked out its details before I left the house, and it seems to be a little on the difficult side."

Yan Jing put on a troubled look.

Shen Youran breathed a sigh of relief.

She had thought it was going to be something serious.

"Oh, is that all? Don't you worry, Xiao Yanzi! Just tell me the dungeon's name. I've got your back!"

Her transition from "Mr. Yan" to "Xiao Yanzi" was incredibly seamless.

Shen Youran nimbly scrambled over a mountain of trash and turned on her Computer, ready to look it up.

"The dungeon is called Sun-Swallowing Tower."

A smile colored Yan Jing's otherwise calm tone.

"Sun-Swallowing... Tower..."

Shen Youran repeated the words with a look of confusion.

"Why does that name sound so familiar?"

She hit the Enter key, simultaneously searching her own memory. The name felt increasingly familiar; she had definitely heard it somewhere before.

Finally, the loading circle on the screen vanished, and the related data on Sun-Swallowing Tower popped up.

And Shen Youran finally remembered exactly which dungeon it was.

Her entire body froze solid.

On the screen, the information read:

[Sun-Swallowing Tower]

[First to Third Tier dungeon. Forum statistics estimate the First Tier mortality rate at 94.7%. Official statistics put the mortality rate at 97.6%.]

[Danger Level: EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!!!]

[Note: Players selected for this dungeon may call 1468871 for a 50% discount on an all-inclusive funeral package.]

Bang!

Yan Jing felt like a fox in pajamas had just launched itself from the Computer desk straight to his side. She was so unbelievably agile that she seemed like a completely different person from the woman who had nearly face-planted earlier. In a split second, she had vaulted over the trash mountain, seized his hand tightly, and started clawing at the ring on his finger.

"Take it off! Noooo!"

Beneath her black-framed glasses, those fox-like eyes were brimming with tears, practically welling over.

"I take it back! Hurry up and take it off!"

"It's a bit too late to call off the wedding now, Ms. Shen."

Yan Jing's smile grew even more radiant as he gently caught Shen Youran's hands.

"After all, we've already put the rings on."

"I look forward to your guidance."

"Now, I believe we can discuss some other matters. For instance, how do you plan to ensure that I survive my next dungeon?"