What happened next might as well have been a tired old play, as Miss Cao finally acted like the foolish supporting females from ancient romance stories, starting to physically attack Han Yanyan. On her way home after working late, Han Yanyan was kidnapped into a van. Even with her eyes covered and mouth taped, she couldn’t help but reflect to herself how cliché these old romance story setups were.
Locked inside an abandoned warehouse, Han Yanyan took a bit of a beating. Mostly, it was just Miss Cao hurling abuse, pulling her hair, slapping her a few times, and kicking her twice. It hurt quite a bit, but thankfully it didn’t escalate into one of those dreadful scenarios where the villainess hires thugs to assault the heroine only for it to backfire. Han Yanyan felt relieved.
When she used to write, she steadfastly avoided writing such scenarios. No matter how foolishly she depicted a character, she refused to include it. Her editor even scolded her for not making her stories dramatic enough. Even so, she insisted on keeping those scenes out, thinking they were too distasteful.
Though her face and body ached, Han Yanyan felt a surge of energy, because based on her predictions, she knew she was about to meet the real protagonist of this world soon.
Miss Cao was using her as leverage, calling Zheng Yao to come meet her, threatening his beloved’s life to force him into marrying her. If nothing unexpected happened, Miss Cao would be beaten to a pulp by Zheng Yao’s suddenly-appearing subordinates, sent to jail, and then the Cao Corporation would be entirely taken over by Zheng Yao.
In this event, Han Yanyan, being inadvertently caught in the crossfire as Zheng Yao’s decoy, would finally come into contact with him.
Up to now, all the background and setup was complete. From this point on, she had no foresight into events; the target character's actions became unpredictable and could change at any moment. From here on out, Han Yanyan would have to rely on herself.
A loud slap landed on Han Yanyan's face, knocking her head to one side. Miss Cao, full of resentment, spat, "He hasn’t come even now. Seems he doesn’t like you that much!"
Han Yanyan spat out blood in her mouth and glanced through the messy hair covering her face at her, suddenly feeling sorry for her.
Originally a beautiful, wealthy heiress, her face was now twisted with hatred, making her terribly unsightly. Coming from a privileged background, well-educated, in a normal world she would be a winner in life, a classic “rich, beautiful, and successful” girl with countless young elites vying for her hand. But in this bizarre “quick-wear world”, she could only end up as the wicked supporting character.
Who decides such fate, such a path in life for her?
Life was indeed absurd!
The ear-splitting screeching of a car tire suddenly resonated, closing in fast. The warehouse door was wide open, and a blinding luxury car sped inside, stopping sharply twenty meters away after a drift. The car door swung open, a long and sturdy leg stepped out, shiny leather shoes tapping on the concrete floor...
Han Yanyan had remained calm since entering this world, but now she felt a hint of curiosity, eager to see what this man she was supposed to win over looked like.
But she couldn’t see! Miss Cao’s henchmen surrounded them, and Miss Cao herself stood right in front of Han Yanyan, blocking her view. Despite her slim figure, she coincidentally managed to shield the man from Han Yanyan’s sight!
Han Yanyan could have tilted her body and craned her neck to get a look at him, but she restrained her curiosity and didn’t do it.
She’d been slapped by Miss Cao in anger, leaving her cheek swollen and the corner of her mouth bruised. Her face wasn’t one of stunning beauty anyway, just ordinarily pretty. By lowering her head quietly, she managed to retain a bit of a gentle and weak beauty. Craning her neck to peek would ruin the last bit of delicate appeal.
This was her first meeting with the target! She needed to maintain as elegant a posture as possible under the circumstances. The sneaky glances had to wait.
The sound of a car door shutting echoed in the empty old warehouse.
The man stepped forward a couple of steps and then stopped. Without uttering a word, his powerful presence radiated an overwhelming pressure. Even standing behind Miss Cao, Han Yanyan felt the silent and invisible weight from him, holding her breath slightly.
“Zheng Yao! You finally decided to come!” Miss Cao’s voice was sharp, but at the end, there was a tinge of a sob. The Zheng and Cao families were supposed to be commercially allied, Zheng Yao played the role of someone going through the motions, while Miss Cao had truly tied her heart to him.
Han Yanyan heard Zheng Yao pause slightly before he finally spoke up, asking, "What do you want to do?" His voice was calm and steady, no hint of panic or urgency, just like sitting in a conference room in control of everything.
Miss Cao, as expected by the predictive information in Han Yanyan’s mind, like every foolish villainess, demanded, "I want you to marry me! Otherwise, I’ll kill the woman you love!"
Zheng Yao was playing invisible decoy tricks quite happily without Han Yanyan’s involvement, spreading false information to confuse Miss Cao, leading her to mistakenly believe that Zheng Yao was deeply in love with Han Yanyan.
Calling Miss Cao an NPC was something Han Yanyan would joke about to herself. Miss Cao was actually a living person, just like those bodyguards surrounding them, the colleagues in the office, and so on. They were all real people. However, in the information Han Yanyan had pre-received from a digital voice, the actions and words of these people were already foretold. As long as Han Yanyan didn't disrupt the flow, things would progress smoothly to the current point, like the prelude to a game.
So Han Yanyan privately joked that these people were NPCs.
Within all this, only Han Yanyan herself and Zheng Yao, the target of her strategy, were different.
No need to mention Han Yanyan herself, but as for Zheng Yao... The digital voice could only provide Han Yanyan with background information like his birth, education, relationships, network, assets, etc. Regarding Zheng Yao as a person, the information in Han Yanyan’s mind was pitifully scarce.
For the upcoming development, she had only a vague outline, knowing that Miss Cao and the Cao family faced a tragic ending. But Han Yanyan truly had no idea what Zheng Yao would say, do, or how he would react in this classic romance-novel-like scenario.
If he were a love-struck CEO genuinely in love with Han Yanyan, he might sternly warn Miss Cao not to harm Han Yanyan even a bit, or else he would never let her go.
But Han Yanyan hadn't even started her play against him. Given how things stood, he seemed more like a scheming CEO.
Han Yanyan kept her head slightly lowered, posing as weak, while her keen ears strained to catch what her strategy target would say.
What she heard was silence.
In that silence, Miss Cao’s breathing was particularly loud and rough. Clearly, she was incredibly tense as well.
The man remained silent for a long time before he slowly spoke, "You threaten me with the life of my 'lover' to marry me?"
"Yes! If you don’t agree, I’ll kill her!" Miss Cao shouted hoarsely.
More silence followed.
Han Yanyan couldn’t see him, but she could feel the man's gaze on Miss Cao. Miss Cao’s back involuntarily tensed, passing the pressure of that gaze to Han Yanyan.
The man was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Do you know what a commercial marriage is?"
Miss Cao shrieked, "What do you mean?"
The man called Zheng Yao spoke slowly, "A commercial marriage is when a man and a woman representing two families integrate funds and technology through marriage, connecting networks and resources. It’s a union of the strong."
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was intensely penetrating. What he said was normal and logical, giving Han Yanyan a “he’s the only sane one here” feeling in this crazy “quick-wear world”.
“It’s marriage, not… enmity.”
After a moment of silence, Han Yanyan heard the man say this. She couldn’t help but feel, in this world… there was still someone normal!
But after Zheng Yao finished speaking, he fell silent again.
This time his silence didn’t last long, because Miss Cao began to scream hysterically, “I don't care what you say, I just want to marry you!” Her voice was so piercing, and she was so close to Han Yanyan, it almost shattered her eardrums.
Amidst her screaming, Han Yanyan heard Zheng Yao’s voice clearly. The man seemed to murmur to himself, his voice low, yet somehow it penetrated Miss Cao's sharp screams, reaching Han Yanyan’s ears.
He softly said, “…what nonsense.”
Han Yanyan suddenly felt a foreboding sense of doom.
And just as his words were about to land, something shocking occurred!
The cemented floor beneath the man’s shiny shoes crumbled into powder, revealing not a foundation or soil beneath but nothingness! A storm, with the man at its center, suddenly emerged, swirling and expanding into the surroundings, turning everything it touched into powder.
“What, what is this?! “ Miss Cao screamed in terror, stepping back and accidentally trodding on Han Yanyan's foot.
With the heel of a stiletto digging in, it hurt so much, Han Yanyan’s tears welled up. Ignoring her plans to appear weak, although tied to the chair, she managed to move a bit. She rammed her head forward, catching Miss Cao off guard. Wearing heels, Miss Cao staggered a few steps before sprawling on the ground.
The whirlwind arrived in a blink.
First to turn to sand was Miss Cao’s fingers. She reached forward, arms outstretched, her fingertips the first to encounter the storm.
Han Yanyan watched wide-eyed as Miss Cao turned to sand from fingertips to arms to head, shoulders, back… disintegrating into powder amidst her screams, merging into the storm.
The bodyguards and thugs screamed in terror. One of them even fired a gun at Zheng Yao, but the sound didn’t pull Han Yanyan out of her shock until the storm, in just a few seconds, swept up to her!
She was tied to the chair, her wrists and ankles secured, her knees the parts jutting forward the most.
In Han Yanyan’s eyes, it was like watching a movie in slow motion. She watched as her knees turned to sand, the dust immediately swept into the storm, becoming part of it. There was no blood, no pain, just a loss of sensation in her body as if she never owned those parts to begin with.
As the storm expanded, Han Yanyan lost her legs. Just as it was about to touch her nose, a second before, she snapped out of her shock, turning to the man at the center of the storm.
There was no floor under the man’s feet, nor a roof overhead. Everything material seemed to have collapsed and disappeared. Hands in his pockets, he stood in the void, indifferently observing everything before him.
He remained.
The world crumbled.