"You're still trying to feign ignorance to muddle through?"
Zhan Se didn't understand the Quan family's thoughts, but truly admired Sun Ershou's 'skill' at making such sly excuses.
"Baby..." The overly affectionate call from the man above suddenly made her already flushed cheeks burn even hotter, like a monkey's butt.
Was she overacting?!
Ignoring her complexion, the man hooked up a careless smile, "Do you like pig's trotters? The pig's trotters in hotpot taste pretty good."
Pig's trotters in hotpot?! Never heard of it.
Squinting her eyes, Zhan Se hadn't even made a noise when she was shocked by a scream like that of a pig being slaughtered.
"Ah—Fourth Master, spare me—!"
"Ah—!"
The scream was inhuman!
Zhan Se was stunned!
Having lived for twenty-five years, she had never witnessed such a horrifying scene. She saw Iron Hand, expressionless, gripping Sun Ershou's 'pig trotter'—the one holding the chopsticks—and unblinkingly pressed it into the boiling hotpot broth.
"Ah—Four, four, four, four—!"
"What four? Do you think you have the right to say 'four'?!" The man suddenly exploded with rage, hurling a soy sauce bowl that dropped precisely into the hotpot, splashing Sun Ershou's face with chili peppers.
The boiling water, the hotpot's chilies, the excruciating pain—
What would that feel like?!
Seeing Sun Ershou's face beaded with sweat the size of soybeans, his gaping mouth wailing with pain, his twisted and ghastly facial expression... it made her skin crawl, and the stomach acid surged irresistibly upward.
Heavens!
From heaven to earth, from the human world to hell, the situation changed so fast, so fast that she had no mental preparation at all.
Lord Quan the Fourth, this man is terrifying...
Unintentionally, she recalled her own assessment of him—the Post-Jurassic Era where all animals were extinct.
What would be the conditions for such a man to help her?
She couldn't continue to think! The intensely horrifying visual impact inside the private room made her brain do a 360-degree flip. In an instant, she felt the world spinning around her.
Her vision gradually blurred.
Before falling into darkness and chaos, she felt her body collapse into the man's arms.
And above her head, a gaze as ominous as the claws of a wild beast, too sinister...
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a car.
To call it a car, it was more like a mobile mansion, the compartment was filled with all kinds of facilities, much larger than an ordinary car. The light in the carriage was dim, and amidst the faint halo of light, the man's thoughtful side profile looked like a divinely sculpted statue by artisans.
The scenery outside the window was clearly far away from the city.
Where was he taking her?
A slight shock crossed her heart. She coughed softly, raised her head to ask, and met a pair of dark and intimidating eyes.
The unexpected eye contact made her slightly embarrassed.
"Lord Quan, thanks for today's incident, but could you please... take me back now?"
The man gazed at her, his expression mockingly amused yet unfathomably enigmatic.
"Thinking of fleeing?"
"No, I just want to go home. My head hurts a bit."
Emperor Quan raised his eyebrow and started to chuckle, which confused her, causing her to gaze up blankly.
However, at the same moment, he leaned over, reaching his face close to hers and with a flick of his finger, slid her big black-framed glasses from the bridge of her nose to her nostrils.
"Young lady, there's no such thing as a free lunch."
"What do you want?"
Her hoarse question had barely been uttered when the grip on her soft waist suddenly tightened. Iron Hand-like, the man's palm tugged her once, twice, then with a powerful pull, she was plastered against his body without having the strength to resist.
"Forgot what I said, hmm?"
"What did you say?"
"To help you, I have conditions."
Taking a deep breath, her gaze landed on the corner of his eye.
"Just say your conditions, as long as I can do it..."
Staring at her with profound meaning for a few seconds, Emperor Quan suddenly pinched her chin, lifting it forcefully upwards, forcing her to look directly into his eyes, and spoke in a sinister tone.
"What do you mean..."
Zhan Se, her brain dulled by alcohol, couldn't figure it out.
"Don't understand?" The man's slightly upturned lips were almost touching hers.
With her heart feeling like it had been pricked by the tip of a needle, she spoke weakly, "You scoundrel, you..."
Her chest heaved, and she wanted to bite him to death, yet her body was too limp to even struggle.
"...you jerk... Where are you taking me?"
"Aren't you a fortune teller? Why don't you predict it?" the man mocked, crossing his legs and countering.
As her consciousness faded in and out, Zhan Se gritted her teeth, staring at the man in front of her. The black seat, black clothes, black eyes, he was the dark king and evil ruler of an entire dark realm. Especially those cold, sinister eyes, that looked as though they were smiling, yet carried an indescribable chill. If it weren't for the 'eating pig's trotters' incident, she would not have considered a man with the surname Quan to be a great villain, because she trusted her professional judgment.