A cold, mechanical voice exploded abruptly inside her mind.
The jarring sound shattered Shen Yu’s hazy stupor, snapping her back to reality as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice water.
“What system? A gossip-eating system?”
A translucent, glowing blue panel suddenly manifested directly in her field of vision. A few lines of bizarre progress bars and data flickered across it.
As a modern young woman who had devoured countless web novels, Shen Yu instantly understood what this was. A golden cheat! The signature tool for a transmigrated heroine had finally arrived!
However, before she could even begin to investigate what this so-called “Holographic Gossip-Eating System” actually did, a sharp, stinging pain at her throat ruthlessly dragged her drifting thoughts back to reality.
Chu Xiao’s black iron dagger, a blade that could slice through metal like silk, pressed another half-inch deeper without mercy. The icy sensation of the metal felt as though it had already pierced her fragile skin. If he pushed just a little harder, she would truly be bleeding out in this gloomy wedding chamber today.
“If you don’t want to die, answer my question.”
Chu Xiao’s voice was completely devoid of emotion, as if he were staring at a lifeless corpse. Because they were so close, Shen Yu could even feel his cold breath against the tip of her nose as he spoke.
Instinctively, her eyes widened, her gaze uncontrollably fixed on the face inches from her own. As a die-hard fan of attractive men who had been single since birth, Shen Yu’s brain—under the extreme pressure of terror—actually, shamefully, glitched.
Her focus drifted in a truly incredible direction.
This face was a top-tier masterpiece, as if Nuwa had exhausted her life’s effort to sculpt it! His sword-like brows slanted toward his temples, and his nose bridge was so high one could use it as a slide. Especially those deep, narrow eyes—even though they were filled with murderous intent, they were still ridiculously, damnably gorgeous.
(Wow! So this is the legendary cold-blooded tyrant who kills without batting an eye?!)
A bright, crisp, and irrepressibly excited girl’s voice rang out in the quiet wedding chamber without any warning. Like a stone thrown into a still pond, it instantly shattered the deathly silence of the room.
The hand gripping the dagger hesitated, ever so slightly.
Having practiced martial arts for years, Chu Xiao possessed deep internal power and hearing far sharper than the average person. In this room, there was clearly only him and the terrified Second Miss of the Marquis’s estate. Where did that voice come from?
Chu Xiao’s gaze swept across the room like lightning. There was no sound of a hidden assassin’s breath; even the wind outside the window was clearly audible. It wasn’t an assassin, nor was it telepathy.
Just as his vigilance spiked, that cheerful girl’s voice sounded again.
Shen Yu had no idea that her inner thoughts were being broadcasted “full-channel and without blind spots” by the system directly into Chu Xiao’s mind.
Her gaze followed his perfect jawline, obsessively trailing downward. Chu Xiao wasn’t wearing wedding attire today, but a dark black pythons-patterned robe with gold accents. Because he had been in a wheelchair for years, his collar was slightly open, and the fabric clung tightly to his torso. The perfect lines of his muscles were visible under the flickering candlelight, filled with explosive, untamed beauty.
(These broad shoulders! This narrow waist! Those god-defying long legs!)
Shen Yu screamed frantically in her heart. If she weren’t tied up, she would be banging the table and cheering.
(My god! The outline of those abs barely visible under the fabric! There have to be at least eight of them?!)
(This cold, ascetic aura! Truly, the number one male deity of the capital!)
(It’s a shame rumors say he’s a eunuch, otherwise I would have definitely reached out for a feel! It’s a waste of heaven’s treasure not to touch a body like this!)
The more Shen Yu thought, the more excited she became, even swallowing a loud gulp of saliva in an incredibly ungraceful moment.
Chu Xiao’s pupils shrank violently. He stared in disbelief at the woman in front of him, whose face was pale and whose lips were still trembling. The voice clearly came from her! Yet, her mouth hadn’t moved once!
Abs? Broad shoulders and a narrow waist? She wanted to touch him?!
Having spent years on the battlefield, Chu Xiao had heard countless enemies wail for mercy and heard the sycophantic flattery of old foxes in the imperial court. But in his twenty-two years, this was the first time he had heard such shameless, daring, and untamed words!
Chu Xiao felt a rush of blood to his head; his ears were uncontrollably starting to burn. His right hand—which had never faltered even while executing a hundred men—actually trembled violently. The dagger that had been pressed against Shen Yu’s carotid artery shifted half an inch away from the lethal spot.
What kind of chaotic, useless garbage is stored in this woman’s brain?!
Isn’t she a death squad agent carefully trained by the Marquis of Dingguo’s estate to spy for information? What kind of spy drools over the enemy’s body while a blade is against their throat and they are about to lose their head?!
Absurd! Ridiculous! Utterly incomprehensible!
Chu Xiao gritted his teeth, suppressing the strange, surreal feeling in his heart. He prepared to use his internal energy to seal the woman’s mute acupuncture point to see if she was using some kind of black magic.
Just then, the cheerful girl’s voice suddenly changed its tone. This time, it wasn’t filled with lustful infatuation, but with extreme shock and disbelief.
(Wait a minute?! System, are you kidding me?)
In her mind, Shen Yu stared at the green scanning panel that had just popped up, her jaw practically dropping to the floor.
(Rumor has it that the Ninth Prince injured his spine in a battle three years ago, leaving his legs completely crippled, forcing him to stay in a wheelchair for life? There are even rumors that he’s incapable of performing as a man!)
Chu Xiao let out a cold hum. The rumors, of course, were spread by him intentionally. To lower the guard of that suspicious old Emperor in the palace, he had sat in this wheelchair for three full years.
(Lies! This is basically the biggest piece of fake news in the Great Chu Dynasty!)
Shen Yu’s inner scream spiked an octave, leaving Chu Xiao’s head buzzing.
(System scan shows his leg muscles are firm and powerful, his blood circulation is perfectly normal, and there isn’t a single sign of atrophy! With leg strength like this, let alone being disabled, he could probably run a marathon and take first place right now!)
(Oh my god! So he’s not sick at all—he’s faking a disability?!)
Shen Yu’s inner thoughts went off like a string of firecrackers, popping and crackling inside Chu Xiao’s mind.
BOOM.
Chu Xiao felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his brain. A storm surged in the depths of his eyes—shock, horror, and disbelief were all intertwined. The cold, glistening black iron dagger froze in mid-air.
How is this possible?!
The fact that he was faking his disability was something no one in the world could possibly know, except for himself and his most loyal shadow guards! To play the part of a “useless man,” he had even gone as far as consuming herbs that damaged his blood circulation for years. He had made his legs appear pale and weak, deceiving even the imperial physicians at the hospital.
Yet, this woman—the obscure, famously dim-witted Second Miss of the Marquis’s estate—had seen through his earth-shattering secret, which he had hidden for three years, at a single glance?!
Who exactly is she? What kind of terrifying monster is this “System” she speaks of? How many secrets does the Marquis’s estate hold regarding me?
Chu Xiao’s breathing became heavy. His gaze toward Shen Yu shifted from looking at an insignificant ant he could crush at will to a highly dangerous, uncontrollable variable that could overturn all his plans.
This woman… she must not be allowed to live! Even if she were truly a fool, or a monster capable of reading minds, she had to die here today!
Chu Xiao lunged forward, his tall frame carrying an overwhelming sense of terror. He pinned Shen Yu between the cold bed and his rigid wheelchair, leaving her with nowhere to retreat. The black iron dagger, just pulled away, pressed back against her like a venomous snake baring its fangs. This time, the blade didn’t just touch her skin—it pressed into the flesh, drawing a bead of blood.
The icy, bone-chilling sensation and the faint sting instantly snapped Shen Yu out of her “gossip-eating” excitement.
It’s over. I got too cocky!
How could she have forgotten that the handsome man in front of her, even if he was a fake invalid, was a living Yama king in the flesh? Seeing that terrifying look—the one that suggested he was about to eat her alive—he really had murderous intent and was going to silence her!
Shen Yu was so frightened that she even stopped breathing, her heart pounding in her chest like a war drum.
Chu Xiao narrowed his eyes dangerously, his pupils filled with deep, inescapable killing intent and suspicion. He glared hard at Shen Yu’s eyes, which looked extraordinarily clear due to her fear.
The dagger pressed a fraction closer. He spoke coldly: “Where are you looking?”
His low, gravelly voice echoed in the quiet wedding chamber, carrying the weight of a death sentence. Shen Yu struggled to swallow, her Adam’s apple rolling against the cold blade. She dared not look into Chu Xiao’s murderous eyes; driven by a mixture of extreme terror and human instinct, her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the table…