noffsinger Chapter 1568 is good, keep it up.
Chapter 1568 is good, keep it up.
After a brief conversation with Lao Zheng and confirming that Lao Zheng was alright, Lin Yu put Lao Zheng back into the [Item Space].
Regarding the matter of meeting his future mother-in-law in the core area of the Eternal Cage...
Lin Yu doesn't plan to tell Lao Zheng for the time being.
Although he would definitely discuss this matter with Lao Zheng, it wasn't the time yet.
Lin Yu needed to tell Lao Zheng about this at a more appropriate time.
After taking Lao Zheng away, Lin Yu was not in a hurry to leave.
Sitting in the empty hotel room, Lin Yu turned on the TV in front of him and watched as it began to play a screensaver of promotional posters for the hotel.
Although the words "Press any key to continue" floated at the bottom of the screen, Lin Yu did not continue to operate the remote control.
The slogan "Bringing you the warmth of home" and the warm-toned poster images cast light and shadow on Lin Yu's face, making his features appear half-light and half-shadow.
Lin Yu stared intently at the television screen, as if it were some interesting TV program playing right now, rather than a screensaver in standby mode.
Just a few minutes after Lin Yu quietly watched TV...
A dull sound came from the television set that was displaying hotel promotional images.
"How long are you going to stare at this monotonous graphic ad?"
The timbre of the voice seemed to be veiled by something.
Upon hearing these words, even though the tone was somewhat distorted, Lin Yu recognized whose voice it was.
The strange sounds coming from electronic devices could hardly be from anyone else.
"I intend to keep you talking until you speak, Senior Shen Bingmiao."
Lin Yu said softly.
After Lin Yu finished speaking, another "whoosh" sound came from the huge LCD screen of the television hanging on the wall.
It looked like a piece of paper being torn—and correspondingly, the hotel's promotional image screensaver in the picture also appeared to be torn from the upper right corner, with a gap showing.
Beyond that gap lies a space filled with green data streams.
Shen Bingmiao's figure stood in that space—it was she who "torn" the television screen.
Shen Bingmiao, who appeared from behind the screen, continued to tear along the tear in the screen, quickly ripping off the original image from the entire screen. She then crumpled the image in her hand and threw it behind her.
Then, Shen Bingmiao looked at Lin Yu.
How did you know I would be here?
“I didn’t know you would be here. I only knew that you would come to find me, senior,” Lin Yu said with a sigh. “So I found you the biggest electronic screen.”
"Thank you so much," Shen Bingmiao said with a smile, "but... in your opinion, shouldn't I be in the God Realm right now?"
“As a god, it’s not difficult to multitask and appear in two worlds at the same time,” Lin Yu said in a low voice. “Besides… it’s probably not time for you to take the initiative in the God Realm yet, since you’ve already let the ‘Grandmaster’ and ‘Player’ go first.”
"The main reason you couldn't leave the God Realm was because the 'Grandmaster' was trapped—now that the 'Grandmaster' has been freed, I suppose you will be free for the time being, Senior."
"And it's not hard to guess what you'll do after you've had your fun."
As Lin Yu spoke, Shen Bingmiao also chimed in with a smile.
"As expected of my dear junior, my dearest 'ace,' you guessed it so accurately."
Lin Yu said in a low voice, "Not at all, it's all thanks to your excellent guidance, senior... After all, with the help of the 'God of Games and Rules,' it's only natural that I understand and am more perceptive about these things than ordinary 'players,' isn't it?"
Hearing Lin Yu's feignedly polite tone, Shen Bingmiao pouted: "What? You're still bothered that I didn't tell you these things and you're dissatisfied with me... But I didn't deliberately hide it from you. In fact, I even hinted at it to you—otherwise, I wouldn't have given you the [Cyber Ghost's Electronic Coffin]."
Lin Yu shook his head: "No, I don't mind that you hid your divine identity from me. I know it was a necessary concealment... but I do have some dissatisfaction."
Shen Bingmiao crossed her arms and tilted her head to ask, "What's wrong? Tell me."
"I'm very unhappy that you used me as bait."
Lin Yu looked at Shen Bingmiao and said seriously.
Upon hearing this, Shen Bingmiao glanced at the lower right corner of the TV: "Oh dear, why do you say that? I never used you as 'bait'! You're my dear 'ace', how could I treat you like that?"
Lin Yu shook his head: "Stop pretending, senior. You know... you can't fool me."
"This 'trial' in the 'Eternal Cage,' including the 'God-Making Plan' of 'Order'... you foresaw that things probably wouldn't go so smoothly, and that other gods would definitely interfere with this trial in the 'Eternal Cage,' right?"
"Even if you didn't foresee everything... at least you could have predicted two of the four parties that came this time, including the trouble inside the Eternal Cage, right? At most, you might have misjudged their level of determination."
As Lin Yu spoke, Shen Bingmiao sighed on the television screen.
"Well... how should I put it—you're right, but I really didn't expect anyone to take advantage of Nioh's opportunity to become a god and make such a big fuss!"
"Just as I expected," Lin Yu said with some dissatisfaction, gritting his teeth, "Whatever your purpose is... can't you discuss it with me?"
Shen Bingmiao scratched her head and stuck out her tongue: "Hehe...I'm just afraid that if you knew, you'd be on guard and the effect would be diminished."
Lin Yu raised his voice eight octaves: "What do you mean? Are you questioning my acting skills? You think that knowing your thoughts, I can't cooperate well with you—you think I'll give myself away in front of those gods?"
As Lin Yu spoke, Shen Bingmiao shook her head.
"No way, I definitely trust your acting skills... But if you knew what I was thinking, would you really cooperate with me and put yourself in danger?"
of course not.
Lin Yu himself was aware of this.
But of course, he couldn't say it or admit it.
“Whatever my choice is, you should at least give me the opportunity to choose… Shen Bingmiao, even if you are a ‘god’ now, as my senior and my club president, I have always thought that you are still more of a ‘human’,” Lin Yu lowered his eyes and sighed softly, “You should… trust me more, shouldn’t you?”
Shen Bingmiao said apologetically, "Oh yes, oh yes, I'll definitely do it next time."
Lin Yu looked helplessly at Shen Bingmiao, who was bowing to him with her hands clasped together in apology: "I said, can you stop pretending to be stupid and trying to get away with this?"
Shen Bingmiao straightened up and said with a grin, "Aren't you the same, dear 'Ace'? You've been pretending since the beginning that being deceived and used by me makes you 'angry' and 'frustrated,' as if it's something very important that affects your mood and emotions, haven't you?"
"But in reality... you were just putting on an act, right? You didn't really feel anything about my deception or my manipulation of you this time."
Shen Bingmiao said.
Lin Yu was stunned—he really hadn't expected that Shen Bingmiao would see through this.
“Surprised?” Shen Bingmiao continued, “Don’t forget… ‘Ace,’ I’m your president, the person who knows your ‘performance’ best in the world—I’ve seen you practice and perform on stage countless times.”
“Even if your acting skills are so good now that I can’t tell if you’re actually acting… I know all too well when you’ll use your ‘acting skills’,” Shen Bingmiao said calmly, looking at Lin Yu. “So, let’s just say… what do you want by using this method to put pressure on me?”
Upon hearing Shen Bingmiao's words, Lin Yu confirmed that she was not bluffing, but had genuinely assessed his true reaction and emotions.
Therefore, he instantly suppressed all the emotions and micro-expressions he had been putting on and looked at Shen Bingmiao.
"I want to know... why you did this."
"It seems that even the 'Order' and probably even the 'General' are unaware that my 'trial' will have unexpected consequences—even if you kept it from me, it seems you have no intention of communicating with them at all."
“I’m curious…why is that? Why do you need me to be the ‘bait’?”
Shen Bingmiao said, "Because 'order' is unreliable—you know that better than I do."
“I used you as bait because I wanted to see… which beings harbor ill intentions towards you, who would attack you if there were enough benefits, and who would choose to give up benefits just to get rid of you,” Shen Bingmiao said, shaking her head. “There are too many gods and high-ranking beings. It would be too troublesome to distinguish who is friendly to you and who is more hostile to you… It’s better to let them show themselves.”
Lin Yu sighed: "But I almost perished in the 'Eternal Cage'!"
"You're far from being defeated there. Even if I'm not quick enough to save the day, you still have your own methods... I don't know what they are, but you definitely have some, right?"
Shen Bingmiao spoke, and Lin Yu did not deny it.
Because he does still have some.
To prevent the topic from continuing, Lin Yu changed the subject.
"So...you think the 'General' is unreliable too?"
“He was reliable before, but time passes and people’s hearts change—not to mention that after becoming a god, one’s perspective and viewpoint will change, so naturally nothing is truly trustworthy forever.”
As she spoke, Shen Bingmiao reached out and pressed her hand against the screen in front of her. The lines and skin on her palm were squeezed and deformed, as if she were pressing against some transparent glass.
She took a step forward, pressing her face against the transparent barrier, and spoke earnestly.
"Just like today, you might doubt and test me, dear 'Ace'—good, you'd better keep it up."