Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Lu Yao heard a startled cry. When she turned, she saw Zheng Yushu suddenly collapse.
The production’s medical staff rushed over. Surprisingly, Zheng Yushu had not lost consciousness. He recovered almost the moment he hit the ground and even stood up by himself.
The suffocating agony of his heart being tightly constricted vanished too, so quickly that everything moments ago seemed like an illusion.
Landi Entertainment was an investor, after all, and Zheng Yushu was not merely one of Landi’s managers but also a shareholder. The production took the incident very seriously and immediately arranged a car to take him to the hospital.
Surrounded by concerned people asking after him, Zheng Yushu suddenly raised his head and stared directly at Zhu Yin beyond the crowd.
“Was it you?” he mouthed silently.
Zhu Yin tilted her head and gave him a puzzled, innocent smile.
Zheng Yushu underwent a detailed examination at the hospital. The results were exactly as he expected. His heart was perfectly healthy, with no problems whatsoever.
The doctor even expressed doubts about his claim that his heart had been in excruciating pain.
That evening, Lu Yao came to visit him.
“Yao, tell me. Is that Zhu Yin really your cousin?” Zheng Yushu found something deeply unsettling about her.
Lu Yao’s heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, she was no longer as easy to read as before.
“Of course she is. Brother Zheng, why are you suddenly asking?”
Zheng Yushu also realized that he had been too eager. He softened his voice and explained, “We’ve known each other for so long, but I’ve never heard you mention her before.”
“What did she do for work in the past? Does she plan to remain your assistant from now on?”
She used to be an immortal among the stars, Lu Yao thought privately.
She hesitated.
Zheng Yushu immediately asked, “What is it?”
He teased, “Did her former job involve the sort of work that has to remain confidential?”
“Not exactly.” Lu Yao recalled the explanation Zhu Yin had instructed her to give. “Zhu Yin belongs to an ethnic minority. She used to be a priestess in her community.”
It sounded rather fantastical. At the time, Lu Yao had asked why Zhu Yin wanted her to say that. Zhu Yin said it would prove useful and told her Zheng Yushu would certainly ask.
Brother Zheng had indeed asked.
And for some reason, his face turned extremely ugly when he heard the answer.
Lu Yao found it rather strange.
Before, Zheng Yushu had only been somewhat suspicious. Now he was certain that the strange agony in his heart had something to do with Zhu Yin.
He looked at Lu Yao. The young woman’s concern for him did not seem feigned. In all likelihood, she knew nothing about it.
Zheng Yushu asked, “Where is she? Didn’t she come with you? I want to see her.”
It was exactly as Zhu Yin had predicted. He really had said those words again.
Lu Yao still answered as Zhu Yin had instructed. “Zhu Yin is busy now. She said you’ll naturally see her when the time is right.”
While they spoke, the beautiful young woman in question was standing in a long line with a cat in her arms, waiting to buy flower-filled pastries.
The vendor only set up the stall in the evening, made a limited quantity, and left when they sold out. It had been that way for years. No matter how good business became, the owner never made more or opened a permanent shop.
Standing in the crowd, Zhu Yin and her cat were both extraordinarily beautiful. They attracted countless looks, and some people even approached in hopes of petting the cat and taking photos with it.
Barbara had never personally faced so many people. It became so shy that it nearly lost control of its simulated form and almost turned into a truly pink cat.
But it was genuinely happy too. Its large tail wagged so fast that it nearly left afterimages.
Because its true form was an energy body, whenever Zhu Yin ate something delicious and wanted Barbara to taste it, the process was extremely troublesome. She had simply made it a simulated shell that allowed it to touch the physical world.
Barbara had never heard of such a feat on the forum either.
When it mentioned the matter on the forum a few days ago, its account was still new and low-level. The senior systems assumed it was a rookie’s fantasy and mocked it for daydreaming.
Zhu Yin left contentedly with a bag of flower-filled pastries. She had no idea that a food influencer had captured her in a video and that she would inexplicably go viral for a while.
Late that night, the sleeping Zheng Yushu suddenly felt his heart palpitate. He opened his eyes warily to a room swallowed in darkness.
Terrifyingly, within that dense, profound darkness, he could clearly see someone sitting in his room.
He instinctively reached for the switch beside the bed.
The visitor did not stop him. Snow-white light flooded the room, reassuring him slightly.
But only slightly. Without drawing attention to it, he looked at the floor beneath Zhu Yin. Both she and the cat cast distinct shadows.
He exhaled heavily and rubbed between his brows. “Miss Zhu Yin, trespassing in someone else’s room in the middle of the night is no laughing matter.”
“I heard you wanted to see me. I wasn’t free at any other time,” Zhu Yin said.
So you came to frighten me in the middle of the night? For a moment, Zheng Yushu did not know where to begin complaining.
But Zhu Yin had not come to exchange pleasantries. “Ask whatever you want directly. You won’t get another chance.”
Seeing her impatience, Zheng Yushu turned serious. “Then I’ll ask. Did the sudden pain in my heart today have anything to do with you?”
She had intended to let him know about this anyway. “It did, and it didn’t. You merely suffered the consequences of an oath you agreed to yourself.”
An oath I agreed to? Zheng Yushu searched his memory in confusion, then suddenly turned deathly pale.
He remembered his conversation with Zhu Yin that day.
“…Anyone with wicked designs on Yao deserves punishment…”
He looked at Zhu Yin in horror.
Zhu Yin smiled faintly. “It seems you remember.”
Her deep, shadowy gaze struck straight into his heart and laid bare every shameful desire he kept hidden.
Her smile vanished. The sweet young woman from a moment before suddenly turned frosty. “Now that you remember, behave yourself and try to be a decent person. If you have any more filthy thoughts–”
Across the empty space, she lightly pointed a finger at Zheng Yushu’s chest.
Invisible chains wrapped around his heart, contorting Zheng Yushu’s face with pain.
“It’ll be eaten.”
Darkness surged like a tide from behind the young woman, swallowing the brilliant lights and drowning his vision.
When light returned, the room was utterly silent. Not the slightest trace remained to show that anyone had visited.
Yet Zheng Yushu could not dismiss everything as a dream. Drenched in cold sweat, he reached behind himself beneath the covers and pulled out his phone. A red light blinked on the screen, clearly showing that it was recording.
His heart eased slightly. He saved the recording and tapped play.
Only static hissed from the speaker.
His briefly relaxed expression darkened completely.
.
He did not know that the unfathomable, ghostlike young woman in his eyes was currently holding her partner and boasting with a smug expression.
“Barbara, wasn’t the exit I carefully designed unbelievably cool?”
“Meow!”
“Come on! I’m taking you out for barbecue!”