Enticement

"Are you out of your mind—" Though Feili had wanted to say that for a while now, she hadn't expected she would actually blurt out her innermost thoughts right in front of Yaxiu. Inside a private dining room at Nebula University's cafeteria, facing Feili's helpless fury, Yaxiu turned to Rose beside him. "See? I told you we shouldn't have created a special award. We should've just given her the fashion design award directly." Savoring her steak, Vichy chimed in, never one to miss a chance to stir up chaos: "One award isn't nearly shocking enough. You should shower her with several—preferably breaking the record for the most awards won by a single person! Then string up gigantic banners across newspapers, the internet, bus shelters, and building facades, before making a high-profile announcement that she's the leading lady in your next film. That's how you shoot someone to stardom overnight! You two are still thinking far too small." "Right you are," Yaxiu patted Vichy's pink-haired dog head. "Who knew that alongside all that malice, your brain could actually be useful?" "More like shot straight into ruin!" Feili felt like she was losing her mind. "Seriously, Mr. Heath, are you filming some variety prank show to mess with me? Did I offend you somehow?" "What's the matter?" Yaxiu asked, genuinely baffled. "Isn't this great? You're famous now! And please, just call me Yaxiu." "That's notoriety, not fame!" The blonde girl let out a long sigh. "My work isn't anywhere near award-winning quality! And on top of that, it's an award you personally added out of thin air... Right now, everyone must be guessing whether I have some massive, shady family background!" A light seemed to dawn on Yaxiu, and he nodded. "I understand. I'll take care of it." Feili looked up, hopeful. "You'll revoke the award?" "Rose, find a way to substitute a masterpiece under Feili's name so she wins it fair and square," Yaxiu instructed seriously. "Build up hype across social media and the campus forums. Put out full-page features on how hard Feili works, how brilliant her talent is, and how she pushed through studying even with a fever over forty degrees. We can't allow a single dissenting murmur of slander against her!" "Understood," Rose nodded. "That's not what I meant at all!" Feili went utterly numb. "I don't want an award! I don't want fame! I just want to graduate in peace and become an ordinary fashion designer." "Message received." Yaxiu turned to Rose. "Do I have any fashion brands under my name?" "Only shareholdings," Rose replied. "Though we can acquire one." "Sounds good—" "It doesn't sound good at all!" Feili slammed both hands on the table. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the three people before her. To the left sat Miss Rose, whose long, dark blue hair and breathtaking looks easily rivaled a celebrity's; even with an emotionless expression, she made anyone feel ashamed of their own plainness. To the right was the wicked Vichy, clad in a lace-trimmed miniskirt maid uniform and currently working her way through a third steak; oddly enough, her hair had been red last night, but had now turned pink. And sitting between them in casual clothes with an innocent expression was the man who had completely bewildered Nebula University—the special consultant to the University Cup Committee, Yaxiu Heath. "You don't like it?" Yaxiu asked. "Prestige, status, honors... whatever you want, I can spare you decades of struggle and take you straight to the finish line." "It's not that I dislike them, it's just... I... Mr. Heath—" "Yaxiu." "Yaxiu," Feili said, lowering her gaze to her chest. "I didn't earn any of this. If something isn't mine, even if I get hold of it for a moment, it won't truly belong to me." A brief silence descended upon the room. The blonde girl felt uneasy, and more than a little frightened. The unease naturally stemmed from having brazenly rejected the celebrity Yaxiu's offer, while the fear arose from the terrifying power he commanded. *I'm done for. He wouldn't have that mind sorcerer brainwash me and train me into a compliant sow at his beck and call, would he? Or have that necromancer turn me into a corpse to slowly modify and exploit?* *And being turned down like that must be humiliating for him. What if he loses his temper and has the university expel me? What if he gets me kicked out of my apartment? What if he sends people to abduct me?* Just as Feili's runaway imagination reached the dark dungeon stage, Yaxiu let out a long sigh. "Two days ago, I promised I would make an offer full of sincerity. Looking back, it seems I broke my word." Taking a bite of Blazing Lalafell, he said, "You're a sharp girl. You saw right through my terms and knew there was no genuine sincerity in them." Feili froze, then quickly waved her hands in denial. "No, Yaxiu, your offer was truly incredible. It's just that I—" "But it's nothing more than vanity," Yaxiu said. "Status, companies, honors... you know none of it would be earned through your own ability. It wouldn't bring you any sense of security, nor would you feel fulfilled in your own worth. I originally hoped to sway you with vanity, but you possess the wisdom to resist temptation." Feili flushed slightly. "I'm really not that impressive..." "Actually, my situation isn't so different from yours. Swept onto an unpredictable stage, surrounded by overwhelming temptations," Yaxiu said. "I'm not the real Yaxiu Heath. You can think of me as a traveler who crossed over from a parallel world. You might not believe it, but just a few days ago, I was a wanted fugitive hunted across an entire nation, living on borrowed time with danger lurking at every turn, having to steal someone else's clothes just to go on a date." Feili thought to herself, *It's not that I don't believe you. After all, you have a deceiver and a necromancer at your side—anyone can tell you can't be an upstanding citizen...* She couldn't help glancing at Rose, whose expression remained placid, as though she hadn't heard a word Yaxiu said. Let alone Rose; even Feili herself couldn't bring herself to fully believe it. It sounded far too much like an artistic creator who had suddenly lost his grip on reality, or the character setup of a sci-fi movie protagonist. "These past two days have felt like a dream. Here, I'm a respected, successful figure. More people invite me out to dinner every day than the total number of people I even know. I have powerful, influential followers. The wealth at my disposal could buy up half of Jiashi, and countless people revere and admire me." Propping his cheek in his left hand, Yaxiu said leisurely, "A few days ago, I had to sleep out in the wilderness, yet now I can sleep comfortably in a mansion's king-sized bed until I wake naturally. If I claimed I hadn't lingered on this identity for even a second, that would be a lie. But do you know how I master temptation?" Feili listened intently. "How do you master it?" "I don't," Yaxiu spread his hands. "All I get to live here is the life of a successful man. But as long as I make it back alive, I can live like a king." "Didn't you just say you were a wanted fugitive?!" "I'm a fugitive in one nation, but in another, I'm the closest relative to the Empress." Yaxiu winked. "Temptation cannot be mastered, but it can be overridden by a higher temptation." "That's why I squander Heath's wealth without a second thought. After all, I'll be leaving this world sooner or later, so everything here is nothing but flowers in a mirror or the moon on water—not worth clinging to, and not needing to be treasured." "For you, however, it's different. For you, this world is reality," Yaxiu said earnestly. "I would gladly mentor you slowly, map out your career path, place you in suitable training roles, and gradually shape you into an exceptional, confident, successful woman. That might well have been the best offer I could have given." "But I don't have that much time. That's why I can only offer whatever you desire: honors, status, a career, romance... Tell me what would tempt you. As long as Heath is capable of providing it, I won't hesitate to pay the price." Feili fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What exactly do you want me to do?" "Fight for me," Yaxiu said. "You might even die for me." Feili tightened her grip on the tablecloth, making no sound. "How high is the probability of death?" "If our luck is bad, up to four teams like ours could appear, and only one will survive in the end," Yaxiu said. "So the probability is... eighty percent." Feili lowered her head, her blonde hair spilling down to veil her face. Seeing this, Yaxiu sighed inwardly. He didn't understand why Feili was a Demon, but being one clearly hadn't altered her disposition—she was, after all, just an ordinary young woman. She wasn't a madwoman, had no disability, and faced no imminent crisis. Who in their right mind would participate in a game with an eighty percent death rate? Yaxiu would have preferred Feili to be a death-row convict, a conspirator, or a religious zealot. Though loath to admit it, he was genuinely adept at dealing with scumbags, and could employ any ruthless methods without a pang of conscience. But toward an ordinary person like Feili, inducement through material gain was already his absolute moral boundary. Coercion, brainwashing, intimidation—it wasn't that he was incapable of doing those things, but that he simply couldn't bring himself to do them. Beside him, Rose and Vichy kept shooting him pointed glances. The former suggested something harsher, namely tying Feili up and slowly conditioning her into submission; the latter thought a milder approach would suffice—just abduct her directly and brainwash her with hypnotic techniques. "I agree." Feili's response took all three of them by surprise. Lifting her head, she said in earnest, "As long as you agree to one condition of mine." "Name it." "I want to find my biological father," Feili said. "That's all." Yaxiu nodded. Without asking any further questions, he signaled Rose to write it down. "Anything else? Really, don't hold back. Fulfilling your requests is my top priority. I wouldn't want you slacking off during battle just because I treated you poorly." "There is one more thing..." Feili hesitated. "If possible, I hope you can see to it that Senior Dimi'er gets the award he deserves." "Dimi'er Vosloda?" Yaxiu blinked. He had noticed this person early on. After all, he had heard Sword Princess speak of two Voslodas in the past: Felix, and Dimi. Dimi'er was clearly Dimi's projection, though Felix's projection appeared to have vanished, leaving Dimi'er an only child with no younger brother. From what Sword Princess had said, Dimi was an immensely popular campus heartthrob in the Starry Country, so it was hardly surprising that his projection, Dimi'er, had numerous admirers in the Nation of Stars. Yet compared to Dimi, Dimi'er seemed lacking in confidence, even excessively timid. If Heath's information regarding the United Hearts chain was true, then the original Dimi had hoarded all the confidence and courage for himself, leaving his projection with nothing but self-doubt and weakness. Just as Niya was so guarded and manic, likely because Sword Princess was overly comfortable and gentle in reality. "Do you like Dimi'er?" Feili's face burned crimson, and she frantically waved her hands. "I don't... I just couldn't stand by and watch. They went way too far, and I wanted to protect my senior's rights..." "You want to protect him?" summarized Vichy, who was already on her fifth steak. "The protective instinct only exists toward pets, romantic partners, and kin. Friends don't evoke an urge to protect, because a friend isn't 'your possession.' A synonym for protectiveness is possessiveness; it means an unbreakable bond ties you to that person." For a demigod living her third life, a few casual words from Vichy were an overwhelming dimensional strike against the barely twenty-year-old Feili. Blushing so deeply that blood seemed ready to seep from her skin, the blonde girl stiffly changed the subject: "Yaxiu, who are we going to kill?" "For now, there's only one target. She should reveal her trail soon," Yaxiu said. "That's also why I was in such a hurry to entice you—I truly don't have much time." "Who?" "'Dead Frenzy' Niya Sevier. You might know her. She's—" "Niya?" Feili paused in surprise. "She... we had a class together. I shared my notes with her. Are you going to kill her?" "No." Yaxiu slowly shook his head, a gentle warmth softening his eyes. "I want to protect her."