As the saying goes:
A round face brings seventy percent fortune—not necessarily rich, but it keeps the household steady.
Bold and chubby means strength and fat—saves you ten years of detours in life.
“The vibe’s all wrong. This rich woman is nothing like I imagined.”
Li Ran stared in astonishment, and a little admiration at the approaching woman.
She swayed her hips like a butterfly fluttering among flowers, exuding a distinctive femininity from within.
The three men beside him were already captivated, their souls seemingly snared, staring in a trance.
The woman sat gracefully at one of the booth tables, only perching lightly on the edge of the seat. The slit in her cheongsam was cut just right, perfectly framing her long, fair legs.
She plucked a slim cigarette from the box on the table, poised it between her red lips, her alluring back like a wild rose blooming in a forgotten corner.
Yet they all understood—this woman was beautiful, but also dangerous.
At that moment, Xiao Yi nudged Chen Jiabin and whispered, “Go on, now. Don’t forget what I told you.”
Chen Jiabin nodded resolutely. Slinging his injured arm, he puffed out his chest and strode toward the woman.
Click!
He lit the cigarette for her without being asked.
Then he extended his hand and said, “Hello, gorgeous. Can I buy you a drink?”
The woman gave him a contemptuous, indifferent glance. She said nothing.
Rejected right out the gate, Chen Jiabin felt his pride take a hit. He remembered what Xiao Yi had told him—winning over a rich woman required thinking outside the box. The weirder, the better.
Suddenly, he had an idea. A sleazy grin stretched across his face.
“I really don’t get it. How could such a beautiful woman end up in this line of work? Where’s your morality? Your dignity? Your address? Your Feixin account?”
As soon as he said that, Li Ran and Lu Zhaohui both spit out their drinks in unison.
Xiao Yi slapped his forehead. “That—that’s definitely not what I told him to say. I’ll drink as punishment.”
Predictably, the woman finally responded.
“Scram.”
Chen Jiabin slunk back with his tail between his legs and buried his head behind the couch in shame.
Xiao Yi barked at Lu Zhaohui, “You’re next. Go.”
“M-me? I can’t. I’m terrified.”
Lu Zhaohui waved his hands frantically in refusal.
“Relax. Even if you fail, it’s not dangerous. We’ve been doing this for three days.”
That was reassuring enough. Lu Zhaohui stood up, downed a drink to brace himself, and muttered encouragement under his breath.
“You need imagination. Show off your unique charm if you want to catch a rich woman’s eye.”
He approached her nervously, tense to the point where he couldn’t even let out a fart.
“B-beautiful lady… y-you, you’re so pretty.”
The woman elegantly smoked, not even bothering to lift her head, lost in her own distant thoughts.
“Lu Zhaohui, what the hell are you doing? Where’s that creativity? Where’s the bold opening gambit?” Xiao Yi muttered.
After being ignored, Lu Zhaohui puffed out his chest, took a deep breath, and pressed on. “Let me tell you a joke!”
Still no response. He launched into it anyway:
“An old man was riding a camel through the desert. He had some inappropriate urges toward the camel, but the camel resisted too fiercely. So he gave up. Then he found a beautiful woman unconscious in the sand. Barely breathing. He used all his strength to save her. When she woke, she looked around the barren desert and said, ‘We’re going to die out here anyway. Do whatever you want.’
Can you guess what the old man said?”
The smoky haze gave the woman’s flawless face a dreamlike quality. She couldn’t muster any interest in the man or his bad joke.
No reaction.
“You’ll never guess! The old man said: ‘Miss, could you hold down the camel for me?’”
“Hahahaha! Funny, right?”
Lu Zhaohui laughed like an idiot at his own joke.
“…”
Li Ran, Xiao Yi, and Chen Jiabin were speechless.
Eventually, Lu Zhaohui realized he was just making a fool of himself. The sting of failure hit him hard. He covered his face and ran back. “I… I’m not cut out for flirting.”
Li Ran patted his shoulder. “Don’t feel bad. You started with the hardest one. Maybe begin with your guided missions first.”
Xiao Yi sighed. “Guess we’re striking out again today. From normal approaches to weird gimmicks, nothing seems to trigger the rich woman’s quest.”
“Li—”
He turned to look at Li Ran, clearly wanting to suggest he give it a try. But halfway through the thought, he swallowed it. Instead, he poured himself a drink and downed it.
He smoothed his hair, took a breath, and approached the woman with impeccable manners.
His voice was soft, his behavior refined.
The others couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it looked like he was boasting. He sat across from the woman and chatted endlessly.
The woman continued smoking, her eyes distant. She ignored him entirely.
Ten minutes later, perhaps exhausted, Xiao Yi returned and downed two more drinks.
“Pretending to be all high and mighty, huh? If this were the real world, I wouldn’t give her a second glance,” he ranted, clearly stung.
What kind of woman could leave three men rejected like this?
Li Ran’s curiosity was piqued. He looked at the woman’s alluring silhouette.
[Bar Owner: Anna]
[Class B Mental Infection Host]
[Eerie Power: 280]
[A woman who has experienced much. She sees through society, through life, and has let go of everything.]
[Don’t try to amuse her. Don’t try to hurt her. Just sit quietly with her—she may become interested in you.]
The prompt made everything clear to Li Ran.
A woman’s mind is like a difficult book—the more you try to read her, the more obscure and difficult the words become.
Better to counter motion with stillness and let her grow curious about you.
After downing three drinks, Xiao Yi looked at Li Ran. But this time, he didn’t ask him to go. The last thing he wanted was for Li Ran to succeed again and steal another mission.
Chen Jiabin felt the same.
But Lu Zhaohui, oblivious as always, asked curiously, “Li Ran, aren’t you gonna try?”
“If I do, someone might not be happy about it.”
Lu Zhaohui, not understanding the subtext, replied, “How could they not? We’re teammates—we should help each other. If you pull it off, you’ll owe us a big meal!”
Li Ran chuckled. “All right. If I succeed, dinner’s on me.”
Xiao Yi and Chen Jiabin kept their heads down, pretending not to hear.
Only clueless Lu Zhaohui cheered him on.
Li Ran didn’t drink, didn’t tidy his clothes. He grabbed a fashion magazine from a nearby shelf and calmly walked over, sitting naturally across from Anna. He immersed himself in the magazine.
Anna’s eyes remained hazy as she smoked, detached from the world.
In this dusty world, in a place stained with filth and ugliness, every man who saw her desired her. If they couldn’t win her over, they’d slander her behind her back.
Women, meanwhile, hated her with a burning envy.
The three at the booth were puzzled.
“What’s he doing? Reading a magazine?” said Chen Jiabin.
“Getting rejected and killing time. His luck’s finally run out,” Xiao Yi sneered.
Xiao Yi had tried everything—conversation, charm, even bragging.
Li Ran, by contrast, said nothing. He simply sat in silence.
He didn’t even glance at Anna. He just kept reading.
And so they sat together.
Three hours passed like that.
The trio at the booth unknowingly finished all their drinks.
“I’m done waiting. I still have a deal with the doctor. I’m not wasting more time here,” said Chen Jiabin, fed up.
“Li Ran is truly laughable, trying to get the attention of a rich woman in such a way. He's just lying to himself. To this woman, everything is fleeting,” said Xiao Yi.
Lu Zhaohui sighed. “Sigh, looks like this meal isn’t happening.”
The three of them no longer planned to wait and stood up to leave.
But just then, a cold and aloof voice rang out, making the three turn around in disbelief.
“Am I not more interesting than that magazine?”
Anna’s gaze was no longer dazed. In her clear, cool eyes, curiosity flickered as she stared at the man across from her.
From the moment the man sat down, his attention had been solely on the magazine—for three whole hours, not once did he look up at her!
To Anna, this was simply unbelievable.
Men around her usually ogled her, and with her beauty, she only needed to speak and they’d obey.
She had long grown tired of such a life, sick of this ugly world.
Li Ran was still focused on the magazine. From behind it came a calm, indifferent voice, “Some scenery is enough to see just once.”
Anna was stunned. This was the first time someone had ever described her that way.
What did that mean?
Was it a compliment? Maybe… but not really?
What did he mean by “some scenery is enough to see just once”?
Her curiosity was instantly piqued. She gave a charming smile, her eyes flirtatious as she asked, “Want to hear my story?”
[Mission Triggered: Anna’s Story]
[Mission Reward: +100 Eerie Power, +1000 Points]
Hearing the mission trigger, Li Ran closed the fashion magazine and set it aside.
Meeting Anna’s gaze, he gave a slight smile. “Drink?”
(End of Chapter)