“So you can speak after all…”
‘She actually… lied to me twice…?’
Luwei twirled a strand of hair, her expression turning slightly resentful.
She remembered that among Shuangna’s Traits, there was a blue one called [Negotiation Expert].
At the time, she had wondered why a little mute girl would have such a trait.
It turned out the little thing was being dishonest…
But despite that, Luwei couldn’t find it in her heart to blame her.
Perhaps it was because the scene from earlier had just been too impactful.
Luwei turned to look at Shuangna, who was kneeling on the ground.
Her ears drooped as she wiped her tears away, sobbing too hard to speak.
She looked terrified, as if she were afraid of being bullied.
Slowly, strange emotions bubbled up in Luwei’s heart—sympathy, understanding, and pity.
She really wanted to comfort this suffering beast-eared girl.
Wait, was something wrong?
Luwei rubbed her chin.
Was this the persona of ‘Villain Luwei’?
She felt that seeing Shuangna’s pitiful state should have triggered a burst of sadistic desire.
Like taking out a whip and using the girl’s precious older sister as a threat to enjoy the sound of her begging for mercy.
But Luwei didn’t do that.
On the contrary, she felt frighteningly calm.
‘What exactly is this…?’
She could only think of one possibility—
[Negotiation Expert: When this unit performs negotiation or persuasion tasks, the success rate is significantly increased.]
Luwei’s eyes lit up slightly.
What a pleasant surprise.
She hadn’t expected the blue trait she had previously ignored to have such a powerful effect.
Just by opening her mouth, the girl could make the naturally violent Villain Luwei feel kindness.
At this thought, Shuangna’s importance in Luwei’s heart grew a bit more.
The girl’s crying hadn’t stopped yet, so Luwei crouched down and gently patted her shoulder in a comforting manner.
“Assessing the situation and knowing how to hide your talent… very good. But lying to me multiple times? This matter can’t just be ignored.”
Luwei’s gaze was dark as she quietly waited for the other girl’s emotions to settle.
Silence gradually returned, leaving only the sound of cicadas and the faint breathing of the two.
“…How do you intend to deal with me?”
Perhaps because she had just cried, Shuangna’s voice was thick with nasal congestion.
“I am someone who values profit,”
Luwei said flatly.
“You still have value, so in my eyes, you are a tool.”
Hearing this, Shuangna’s eyes flickered.
But before she could speak, Luwei suddenly changed her tone.
“However, if the day comes when I find you can no longer match the value I expect…”
She reached out to stroke Shuangna’s cheek.
She felt the girl’s slight trembling beneath her fingertips.
“Then you can only be a toy.”
Shuangna’s nose twitched slightly, as if she were sniffing Luwei’s words to see how many were lies.
Then, her expression became somewhat relieved.
“You are an enlightened master…”
Shuangna said with a forced smile.
Under the moonlight, her ice-blue pupils appeared ethereal.
“Meeting you is a blessing for my sister and me.”
ding-dong
[The girl’s heart is thumping because of you. Shuangna is looking forward to what happens next!]
[1. Turn hostile immediately. Threaten her with her favorite sister and enjoy her servitude. (Condition: Panic; Result: Work Efficiency Up)]
[2. Severely punish her laziness and order her to work until dawn. (Result: Work Efficiency Up)]
[3. Do nothing and let the feelings simmer in the silence. (Result: Strategy Progress Up)]
Luwei scanned the small text before her, and her gaze finally landed on Option 3.
‘This is…?’
Luwei’s eyes brightened.
It finally appeared—Strategy Progress!
She suddenly felt a sense of relief.
Villain Luwei’s luck with women was truly terrible; the progress bar only moved just now.
She remembered that in the original story, the male lead could make anyone’s heart flutter just by looking at them.
Listening to the cicadas, Shuangna seemed to have finally let go of her wariness.
She leaned her head against Luwei’s shoulder.
[Strategy Progress has reached 20%. Draw Count +1]
Seeing the small text scroll by, the corners of Luwei’s mouth curled up slightly
***
In Bonds, every beautiful girl bound to a player has her own independent Strategy Progress bar.
To encourage players to pursue more girls, the game grants a card draw when progress reaches 10%, 50%, and 100%.
Skills can be extracted from the target and given to the player.
At this thought, Luwei made a mental command.
‘Give me my card!’
Subsequently, a large screen appeared in her vision, and a grand card-drawing animation began.
Shooting stars fell from the sky, streaking over Luwei and Shuangna’s heads.
Then, the two on the ground looked at each other and smiled.
A faint radiance surrounded them, merging with the meteors in the sky to create a breathtaking scene…
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Predator’s Intimidation (D-)]
[Units viewed as prey by this individual have a probability of being inflicted with the Panic state.]
‘Predator?’
Luwei looked at the delicate and weak-looking Shuangna beside her.
It was hard to understand why she had such a skill.
Well… it wasn’t useless.
Luwei thought to herself.
As a future big boss with such a fragile appearance, she definitely needed an imposing skill like this to command respect!
“Have you rested enough? It’s time to assign you some work…”
Pushing the fuzzy head away, Luwei spoke with a stern face.
“My work? Helping you find treasures?”
Luwei didn’t answer.
She simply reached out her right hand and grasped the air.
In the next second, accompanied by a slight ripple in space, an ancient scroll landed in her hand.
[Basic Healing Potion Recipe]
This was the reward Luwei had received for completing Floxi’s Romance Quest.
She unrolled the scroll in front of Shuangna, showing her the magical materials required for the recipe.
“This is your job. Collect these herbs in this area—as many as possible. I trust that with your talent, gathering these low-level magical materials should be second nature, right?”
This was the reason Luwei had brought Shuangna to the City Suburbs—to have her gather wild herbs.
Luwei naturally had her own considerations.
Although magical materials growing in the wild were precious, collecting them was extremely difficult.
Most magical materials possessed a form of consciousness; low-level materials were like weak monsters that would deliberately avoid humans, while high-level materials even possessed dangerous offensive capabilities.
With the development of Magic technology, most low-level materials could now be cultivated artificially.
However, the cost of artificial cultivation was extremely high… currently, they were only slightly cheaper than wild materials.
But for Shuangna, who had treasure-hunting Traits, the situation was completely different!
Under her nose, these cunning magical materials had nowhere to hide.
She could grab them by the handful, as if she were picking them up for free.
While Luwei was weighing the pros and cons, Shuangna’s expression seemed a bit off.
Holding the [Basic Healing Potion Recipe], a look of confusion appeared in her eyes.
“Master… is this recipe wrong?”
To train her sense of smell, Shuangna had read many books on herbs.
As for the [Healing Potion], it was a common item.
She didn’t even need Luwei to give her the recipe; she could recite several herb combinations with her eyes closed.
But the one recorded on this scroll was different from any healing potion recipe she knew.
“Foxtail grass from the roadside? This can be used for Alchemy? And what does orange peel mean…?”
Shuangna was stunned.
Only three of the herbs listed on the recipe could actually be called magical materials.
A normal [Healing Potion] required more than ten types of mana-infused herbs to be mixed!
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
Facing her doubts, Luwei didn’t show any unusual expression.
“Do your job and don’t overstep your authority by interfering in other matters. That is a basic requirement for an employee…”