Click.
The scorching barrel pressed against Lin Xian's forehead.
He sighed helplessly... this Big-Faced Cat was truly an irredeemable teammate!
The situation just now was clear - CC had been forced into a corner!
Her final words were nothing more than a bluff, a last-ditch effort to see if she could wrangle a breakthrough from the Big-Faced Cat.
But, lo and behold, the Big-Faced Cat was surprisingly cooperative!
He spilled the beans without hesitation: "Invitation letter! Is there an invitation letter to the Genius Club in the safe?!"
Truly, there was no silver lining here!
The son of a Philtz mathematician, and he had this level of intelligence?
Afterward, the Big-Faced Cat was in a state of brain overload.
And CC, feigning surrender, placed her hands behind her head, only to retrieve a gun hidden in her hair bun and shoot him in the head.
...
"Shoot."
Lin Xian was getting tired of this.
Since his plan had failed, there was no point in staying here.
"You really are the most reckless person I've ever seen," CC remarked sincerely from behind the Ultraman mask. "First, you pretended to be me, got into his car, and now caused such a commotion here... are you truly not afraid of death?"
"Stop the nonsense and get on with it," Lin Xian closed his eyes, preparing for an early rest.
"But I still want to know the answer to that question."
He pursed his lips, "Since you're going to kill me anyway, why not tell me the answer? It would be a good deed, at least I'll die knowing."
"What do you want to ask?" CC kept the gun pointed at him.
"I just want to know if there's any connection between us," Lin Xian opened his eyes, staring into CC's gaze. "I don't know how to describe it. But obviously, you're not seeing me for the first time, right? At least, I'm not a complete stranger to you. There must be some special reason that made you spare my life."
"You can kill me later, I won't hold it against you. You can kill me however you want. So, can you honestly tell me now—"
Lin Xian faced the gun barrel head-on, his gaze locked onto CC's eyes:
"Have we met before?"
"..."
"..."
"No," CC raised the gun barrel and met Lin Xian's gaze seriously.
Bam!!!
...
...
The deafening gunshot.
The pungent smell of gunpowder.
The intense ringing in his ears, making Lin Xian's head buzz.
Piercing pain radiated from his ears—
Wait.
His ears?
Lin Xian opened his eyes...
Only to find himself not back in his familiar bedroom but still in the warehouse full of safes.
The gun barrel before him emitted white smoke, slightly off target to the right.
The bullet had pierced Lin Xian's ear bone, embedding into the stone wall behind him. Blood trickled down from his ruptured eardrum.
"Aren't you going to kill me?" Lin Xian couldn't believe it.
He had just done something so outrageous to her, and she had killed the Big-Faced Cat without batting an eyelid. How come she spared him?
Something was clearly amiss...
If this were a martial arts drama, one could easily conclude that this female villain had fallen in love with him!
"Get out of here, don't disturb me," CC turned back, holstering her gun, and headed towards the gaping hole in the wall.
Without a backward glance.
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
The scorching white light engulfed the world again, consuming everything.
...
...
Sigh...
In his bedroom, Lin Xian sighed, keeping his eyes shut.
He felt the weight of today's bedding unusually heavy, making it hard to breathe.
Why did he always feel so conflicted whenever he encountered CC?
Lin Xian wished that everyone in his dreams was a villain, so he could kill without remorse and without feeling guilty.
He enjoyed people like the Big-Faced Cat, who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
And he liked his three minions, each with their own hidden agendas and deceitful hearts.
But alas, there was CC.
"What's going on..." Lin Xian covered his eyes, rubbing them vigorously.
He had enough of exhausting days and socializing during the day; couldn't his dreams be filled with enjoyable storylines?
Lin Xian increasingly admired his own imagination.
The thrilling and logical plotline in his dreams... If he were to write it into a novel and publish it, he would easily become a top-tier author.
"Time to sleep, I still have to work tomorrow," Lin Xian turned over.
A dreamless night.
...
The next day.
Lin Xian encountered a colleague from the production department at the front desk, who waved at him.
"Team Leader Lin, your Rhine Cat doll sample is ready, here's one for you."
The colleague handed him an exquisitely crafted doll.
About the size of a soccer ball, the doll had a great texture, and its details and expressions were on point. A small fluffy tail adorned its rear, adding to its cuteness.
"It's really nice," Lin Xian exclaimed.
He patted the production colleague on the shoulder with a smile, "I'll give this to General Manager Zhao first. Send a few more to my office later."
The colleague nodded and left.
"Oh, Team Leader Lin! Are you going to General Manager Zhao's office?" The receptionist called out to him.
"This morning, a lady left behind an invitation card, saying she wanted to give it to General Manager Zhao. Why don't you take it up for him while you're there?"
"Sure, give it to me."
Since he was going to General Manager Zhao's office anyway, it was no trouble to deliver it.
Lin Xian took the invitation card.
It was a dark red card, folded like a greeting card.
At the opening of the invitation, a lump of red wax sealed it shut, concealing the contents inside. Upon closer inspection, there was an exquisite seal stamped onto the wax, quite high-end.
"Is General Manager Zhao's friend getting married or something?" Lin Xian mused, flipping the invitation card over to look at the back—
A chill ran down his spine... He suddenly remembered what Gao Yang had said in the bar:
"What's strange about something from reality appearing in dreams?"
"And when something from dreams appears in reality, now that's a real big deal!"
Lin Xian frowned.
Staring at the dark red card's back, there were five gilt characters—
[Genius Club]