Alice's skin was exceptionally pale, so when her long black lace dress slid down in that moment, it was like a pristine snow mountain transitioning from night to dawn...
The veil of shadow retreated downward all the way to the mountain's foot, while the morning light fell in turns upon the undulating white snow of the peaks.
Unfortunately, Liu Shiheng did not witness this spectacle right away. He had cracked far too many similar jokes with Alice, never once receiving a proper reaction. Having spoken off the cuff, he naturally had not expected anything to come of it.
Nor did he particularly mind.
Life in isolation down here had gone on for far too long. His monotonous days could be roughly divided into three simple routines: chatting with Ne in the little blue chapel; spending ambiguous, amusing time with Alice; and rooming with Ye Jian.
Aside from that, the Subglacial City felt to Liu Shiheng like nothing more than a gathering of the walking dead.
Through those endless, tedious days—days where hope had even begun to slip away of late—Alice was probably the sole reason Young Master Shiheng had managed not to lose his mind, given how much he loved excitement, feared death, and craved novelty.
She was ever enigmatic, seductive, and captivating, all while maintaining an aloof distance that kept him hanging.
At that moment, only the two of them were in the library. Vast, empty, and quiet, it was almost always just the two of them... Yet Young Master Shiheng was not standing before Alice.
He was behind the first row of bookshelves.
The shelves here were perhaps over twenty meters tall. Liu Shiheng sat on the floor with his back against the second row, clutching a French book he had casually pulled from a shelf just moments before.
"The hell with your..." Young Master Shiheng had meant to say *the hell with your idea*, just as he normally did whenever Alice pulled his leg. At the same time, *fl-fl-fl-flap*—the book was right before his eyes, its pages fluttering swiftly beneath the pad of his thumb.
The young master inadvertently peeked through the fluttering pages, his gaze slipping between the books lining the first row of shelves...
Just then, the long black lace dress drifted softly onto the floor.
Alice was barefoot.
...The light source in the Subglacial City had always been peculiar. Perhaps because it filtered through the ice sheets, it carried a glittering, crystalline sheen like rippling water.
"Holy crap! This is a library, a sacred temple of knowledge... and this book is damn gorgeous." Young Master Shiheng lowered the book in his hands, because the "book" before his eyes was simply far too alluring.
"Are you looking?" Alice asked. Her voice, subtly distinct from its usual tone, carried a raw, youthful seductiveness that lingered softly between the shelves of the cavernous library.
"I saw by accident," Young Master Shiheng replied woodenly, staring through the gap between the shelves at Alice's long, pale legs.
He considered himself a veteran of many romantic battles, yet...
"Beyond what you imagined?"
"I suppose I'm probably not someone who excels at imagining things."
When a woman who already possessed a flawless figure and breathtaking looks was nourished by source energy from childhood, kept on a strict diet, and cultivated in grace, Young Master Shiheng had to admit that the final result was entirely beyond imagination.
"Then where is your courage? Why don't you stand up?" Alice continued.
As she spoke, her footsteps shifted, and she vanished behind another section of the bookshelf.
The lower shelves of this section were stacked far too densely with books. Irritated, Liu Shiheng stood up and peered through the shelves.
He was no coward, but he did not spot Alice right away.
That was hardly surprising. With her strength, moving swiftly and silently to evade Liu Shiheng's sight was effortless. The young master turned around, glancing toward one end of the bookshelf...
The warmth of life stirred behind him.
Then, a hand reached from behind, brushing over Liu Shiheng's shoulder, along his neck, across his earlobe, and finally against his cheek.
"Do you know? I don't really like this world, but I think I rather like you. Perhaps you are right—we are the most fragile of living creatures, and we will both die very soon..."
The whispered murmur brushed his ear, her warm breath caressing his neck.
"...Sigh!" Young Master Shiheng suddenly let out a heavy sigh. In that same instant, both his hands shot up, seizing the fair wrist before him with an explosive burst of force...
A shoulder throw.
*Smack!* Alice crashed heavily onto the floor.
An impact of that degree naturally could not harm her. Truth be told, her being thrown over in the first place had been an accident. In a fleeting flash of thought, Young Master Shiheng had pulled off a stunt he found mind-bogglingly cool. Having executed it, he dropped onto one knee, lowered his torso, and reached out.
His hand looked as though it were about to grip Alice's slender neck, but the motion softened as it descended, his knuckles gently cradling her jaw while the pad of his thumb lightly stroked the contour of her chin.
Alice lay on her back, gazing up at him. Her azure eyes were wide, looking somewhat dazed and at a loss.
*Right, who could have seen a shoulder throw coming!* Liu Shiheng thought to himself.
Then, he spoke awkwardly, "Sorry, I had to do that to cool my head."
Young Master Shiheng looked into those eyes, daring only to look at her eyes, and continued, "Actually, I could have told you after it was done, or simply not told you at all, but... consider this a rare moment of gentlemanliness from this young master. I'm going to break my word. I almost never keep my promises anyway."
According to the terms of their earlier exchange, if Liu Shiheng accepted this honeypot trap, the price he would pay was betraying Han Qingyu and the others who were on their way.
He had decided he would not do that.
In truth, he could have kept quiet about it for now; he had never been an honest person. Yet facing Alice, he said it anyway.
"Besides, you seem a bit off!" Liu Shiheng finished, looking up into the empty air. "Could it be that bastard Ne tampered with you in some way?"
"That's a bit shameless of you, Uncle Ne!"
His cursing echoed in the air.
No one answered from the void.
Meanwhile, Alice, still lying on the floor, finally came to her senses completely. Gritting her teeth, she cursed furiously in her mind, *Get lost!*
It had not been her in control of her body just now; she had only begun to resist the moment her wrist was seized.
*Why? I think this is a splendid trade, and it aligns with your desires,* Nikola's consciousness spoke within her mind. *Could what I just said not be the voice of your own heart?*
*I told you to get lost!* Alice spoke again with utter gravity, threatening amid humiliation and fury, *Otherwise, I swear I'll make sure 'we' all pay the price.*
Nikola fell silent.
While there were virtually no secrets among the three of them, he was indeed intensely interested in the arrival of Han Qingyu and his party. And the core target among them was not Han Qingyu... but Rusty Sister.
This sole asterisk experimental subject, by Ne's assessment, was likely nearing the completion of her evolution. She was not a Yanxiu, yet she had undergone a flawless source energy modification, leaving the logic of her life force infinitely close to that of a high-tier Great Spike itself. Consequently, there was a high probability she could offer Nikola fresh inspiration and the hope of resurrection.
Unfortunately, "they" had been cut off from the outside world for far too long. Judging by the intelligence gathered earlier, Nikola lacked absolute confidence regarding the impending clash.
*I believe...* he attempted to persuade her.
*Get lost! This is the last time,* Alice said with unwavering resolve. *Unless you want to die.*
In this state of three entities sharing a single life, if one of them feared death the least right now, it was undeniably Alice.
If things continued down this path, the probability of Alice's eventual demise was infinitely close to one hundred percent. Moreover, her pure individual mind frequently felt disgusted and repulsed by this condition.
Consciousness could not lie. Sensing Alice's determination, Nikola felt fear—a fear that registered with vivid clarity... and his will began to slowly withdraw.
At the same time, Ne's presence dissipated alongside it.
Throughout the process just now, Ne had certainly manifested due to the merging of Alice's and Nikola's consciousnesses, yet he had done nothing and said nothing, as though completely devoid of interest.
...
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
When Alice returned to being just Alice, Liu Shiheng's voice, forcedly steady, pulled her back from the realm of consciousness to reality.
The reality was that she was still lying on the floor... right in front of Young Master Shiheng.
Having shed the interference of the other two consciousnesses, her gaze refreshed without a trace. Alice blinked, looking back at Liu Shiheng.
"Ahem, do you... want me to go pick up your dress for you?" Young Master Shiheng averted his gaze, speaking through internal turmoil.
Alice fell silent for a moment.
*Do you know? I don't really like this world, but I think I rather like you. Perhaps you are right—we are the most fragile of living creatures, and we will both die very soon...*
Those words had been spoken under Nikola's control, yet just as he had said, they were also the true feelings of Alice's heart.
Originally, she had merely been a girl raised from childhood in a monotonous, peculiar environment. She had not met many people in her life, nor had she experienced many things.
Later, she had suddenly been plunged into such a state, her life so fragile that death was plainly in sight.
And so she had lived on—tenacious, helpless, and numb.
Until an offbeat interlude had entered the story...
"Fine, forget it if you're not going to speak. You make it seem like I was the instigator... It's not every day I manage to be honest for once... I'll go get your dress."
Young Master Shiheng put a tremendous amount of effort into turning around, intending to stand up.
Yet a soft hand reached out from behind, catching his wrist
and pulling him back.
"Young Master Shiheng." Their gazes met once more, and Alice looked straight at him with boldness.
"Yeah?"
"You don't have to keep your promise. I'm just a secretary, after all."
Alice looked into his eyes and spoke calmly, then broke into a brilliant smile.
Chapter 763