Chapter 40: Next Chapter: The Death of Ji Ping & Xia An
“Hmph!”
Seeing the pathetic state of the two, Yi Ning let out a snort of disdain.
She turned and walked toward the sofa, intending to properly judge the two idiots.
But after only a few steps, a tugging sensation came from her hand.
She turned back—her hand was still tightly grasping Lu Zheng’s.
Flustered by the antics of those two fools, she had forgotten she was still holding onto him.
She paused for a moment, cheeks flushed, and released his hand with a casual air.
“Ho——”
Somehow, the two prostrated on the ground had lifted their heads, casting a knowing look at the pair across from them.
“Hm?”
But the moment Yi Ning’s voice rang out, they quickly planted their faces back on the floor.
“Speak. What were you thinking?”
Yi Ning sat on the sofa and resumed her interrogation.
Lu Zheng, hesitating slightly, glanced between her and the two on screen before deciding to sit beside her.
“Well… we just…”
Under Yi Ning’s cold gaze, the two sweat profusely and began stammering.
“You’re always threatening us with blackmail, and this was such a rare chance, so we thought…”
Yi Ning’s eyes grew even colder.
“So you’re saying—it’s my fault?”
Neither Ji Ping nor Xia An dared admit to that now.
They bowed even lower.
“Never! It was our fault entirely—we were out of line! We just saw you being so… friendly with a guy we didn’t know and thought we’d tease you…”
“Friendly? Which part of your eyeballs saw us being friendly?”
Yi Ning’s face turned red. She looked at Lu Zheng, who had withdrawn slightly from her anger, and pointed at him in indignation.
“Didn’t you look all flirty earlier?”
Ji Ping mumbled from the floor.
“Flirty? Do your brains run on pink fluff? That was normal communication! How is that flirting?”
Yi Ning burst out laughing from sheer rage.
She jabbed a finger at Ji Ping.
“If that counts as intimate, then no wonder you’re still a virgin.”
With a huff, she scoffed at him.
Ji Ping’s face soured, but he couldn’t argue—the power dynamic was not in his favor.
“I wouldn’t say it’s not that…”
Seeing her teammate silenced, Xia An naturally jumped in.
As someone “experienced,” virgin insults didn’t work on her.
“In my years of romantic escapades, I can tell when there’s clearly—”
Too bad she didn’t get to finish before Yi Ning cut her off coldly.
“Virgin, know your place.”
“?”
Xia An froze.
After a long pause, she murmured, “I do have a girlfriend, you know.”
“Oh? Are you the one on the bottom?”
Yi Ning raised an eyebrow with a challenging grin.
Xia An couldn’t take that.
She sprang up, arms raised in protest: “Of course I’m on top! Even as a woman, I’m still the dominant one!”
“Still a virgin.”
Yi Ning swung her arm decisively.
Not done yet, she pointed at Ji Ping.
“Virgin!”
Then at Xia An.
“Virgin!”
“With skills like yours, you’ve got no right to comment on anyone else’s love life!”
Neither of them could respond.
They fumed in silence, trying to mount a counterattack.
“You’re a virgin too, aren’t you? How can you say this with such confidence?”
“……”
Yi Ning’s face darkened further, but after a pause, she sneered.
“Heh~”
“Who told you I’m a virgin?”
She was, of course. But there was no way she’d admit it now.
And yet—how strange was it that something like chastity, which should be a virtue, had become ammunition for mutual slander?
It left her feeling vaguely off.
“Tch.”
The two grumbled under their breath but didn’t dare speak up.
They knew Yi Ning too well—she was lying, clearly—but with the odds against them, they held their tongues.
“Now tell me—how did you bypass surveillance?”
Once her mood had settled, Yi Ning resumed questioning.
“Of course we relied on our ultra-super-cute treasured princess Gu Ke!”
Surprisingly, the two even sounded proud.
“Just the Evil Council’s surveillance? You think they’d dare defy someone protected by Lady Gu Ke?”
Xia An raised her head and laughed loudly.
Riding the high, she even began gesturing above her head.
“I’m telling you, the boss is living the dream right now.”
According to Xia An, Gu Ke was practically the protagonist of a power fantasy novel.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west. The Gu family had finally produced a daughter after four sons, and now she was pampered to the heavens.
Yi Ning was skeptical.
She turned to Ji Ping, silently asking for a less dramatic version.
“Actually, Xia An wasn’t exaggerating much.”
Yi Ning was stunned.
What do you mean ‘not much’?
“Well, maybe not the thirty-year stuff,” Ji Ping explained.
“The boss wasn’t that neglected growing up, but as the youngest son, most family resources went to his older brothers. He just got a stipend to run the evil org with us.”
“But now that the boss is a girl? She gets anything she wants. Ask for the stars, and someone’ll fetch them for her.”
“And by the way—the Gu family’s even categorized people trying to get close to her.”
Ji Ping pointed to himself.
“I’m male, so I’m Tier 3. I can only be alone with her for ten minutes.”
Then he pointed to Xia An.
“She plays around too much, so she’s Tier 2. Without same-sex chaperones or direct family present, she’s banned from coming within ten meters.”
Yi Ning raised an eyebrow.
“What about me?”
“You’re Tier 1. Absolutely forbidden within thirty meters of her.”
“?”
Yi Ning blinked.
“I’ve never even dated anyone, and I’m not male. Why am I Tier 1?”
“Probably because they’re afraid you’ll turn her back into a guy.”
Xia An chimed in.
That logic was unassailable.
Yi Ning could only roll her eyes and quietly curse Gu Ke’s family somewhere out there.