Elder Sister left her chair and slowly approached Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming only felt a crushing pressure and undisguised killing intent washing over him.
Under this heavy suppression, he tried to take a step back to alleviate the burden, only to tragically realise that he could not even muster such a simple movement.
His body felt as if it were firmly nailed to the spot. Unable to budge an inch, he could only watch helplessly as Elder Sister closed the distance step by step.
Ultimately, Elder Sister leaned in close to Jiang Ming's face. She lifted his chin with her index finger. With her coquettish gaze, the scene between them looked intensely intimate.
However, as the person actually involved, Jiang Ming felt nothing of the sort. Staring at the peerless visage mere inches away, his pupils constricted slightly as cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
Jiang Ming's brain spun wildly, constantly calculating any possibility of survival.
Yet, the deeper he pondered, the paler his face became. Before such a terrifying entity, it felt as though all schemes and calculations were rendered utterly useless.
Elder Sister simply observed the struggling Jiang Ming with a frivolous gaze, seemingly pondering something.
She turned her head to look at Da Huang, who was shivering on the sidelines, then looked back at Jiang Ming. She let out a light chuckle and spoke:
“Xiao Ming, do you want to live?”
“Of course I do!!”
Hearing those words was like hearing heavenly music that instantly cleared his mind. Overjoyed beyond measure, he knew one thing: one should not fear a fierce anomaly, but rather an unreasonable one.
As long as this vicious entity was willing to communicate, he could rely on his unrivalled silver tongue to carve out a path to survival!
Furthermore, based on Jiang Ming's years of experience navigating the treacherous world, when the dominant party uttered such a phrase, it usually meant they needed the inferior party to perform a task.
Being needed meant he had value.
And having value meant he would not die!
At that thought, a brilliant light erupted in Jiang Ming's eyes, brimming with an absolute thirst for survival!
He had already made up his mind. Even if this vicious entity forced him to commit unconscionable acts that violated all his principles, he could only bite the bullet and carry them out.
One must never underestimate Jiang Ming's will to live!
At this very moment, Jiang Ming was fully prepared to abandon his morals.
But the next second, Elder Sister's words nearly caused him to collapse:
“Then tell me, why should I let you go?”
Jiang Ming: ?
He was instantly dumbfounded.
This was slightly different from what he had expected.
However, staring at the peerless beauty before him, Jiang Ming could only bite the bullet and speak:
“Because…”
“I have value to you.”
Elder Sister asked with piqued interest, “Oh? What kind of value?” Get faster updates on g.com.
Jiang Ming's brain whirred at top speed, yet he could not come up with a single thing. After all, he was a pure weakling; he had only transmigrated to this world a mere four days ago.
But under Elder Sister's intense gaze, Jiang Ming forced himself to continue:
“Uh…”
“My, my value is that I can run errands for you?”
Jiang Ming stammered for a good while before finally offering a completely mediocre answer.
“Oh?”
“Then tell me, what kind of errands can you run for me?”
Elder Sister's expression turned cold, as if she was highly dissatisfied with this answer.
Feeling the increasingly dense killing intent surrounding him, Jiang Ming knew this was her final shred of tolerance.
If he still failed to provide a satisfactory answer, or rather, failed to demonstrate his value, what awaited him might just be death!
Or perhaps, a fate even crueller than death!
Jiang Ming's mind raced, constantly analysing exactly what use he could possibly be to this anomaly. What value did he hold for her?
If he was utterly useless to her, she would have undoubtedly killed him by now.
Then again, that was not an absolute certainty. Perhaps after entering this room, she was bound by the rules and thus could not murder him?
But this was mere conjecture; he could not pin all his hopes on such an assumption.
After all, if even a dog could find loopholes in the rules, there was no reason this Elder Sister could not do the same.
Watching Jiang Ming's current display, Elder Sister's expression grew ever more glacial as she spoke frostily:
“You have one minute left.”
Hearing this, Jiang Ming's face drained of even more colour.
He frantically scoured his memories. Countless clues collided within his mind as past scenes seemed to replay before his very eyes.
Elder Sister merely watched this unfold in silence. A moment later, she announced:
“You have twenty-five seconds left.”
Jiang Ming stood frozen in place, his eyes hollow, completely immersed in his own thoughts.
…
“Ten, nine, eight, seven…”
Every number in the countdown was like a death knell echoing throughout the room. Jiang Ming furrowed his brows; it seemed he had finally grasped the crucial point.
“Three, two…”
As the time continuously dwindled, the killing intent saturating the air reached an incredibly palpable state.
From the blood-red umbrella above Elder Sister's head, countless pale arms stretched outwards, continuously extending. A sea of blood surged all around them, sounding as if countless aggrieved souls were wailing in agony.
Right at this critical juncture, Jiang Ming finally snapped out of his contemplation.
Yet, his eyes blazed with spirit. The previous panic had vanished, replaced by an absolute surge of confidence.
“You cannot kill me because you are my Elder Sister!”
The moment those words left his mouth, a dead silence fell over the room.
It was a laughable statement. Rather than proving his worth, it sounded more like Jiang Ming was playing the emotional card and begging for mercy.
Strangely enough, however, upon hearing those words, Elder Sister blanked out for a moment before laughing. A look of satisfaction graced her features:
“Not bad, you are quite clever.”
Seeing her reaction, Jiang Ming's tightly strung heart finally relaxed. Just as he thought, he had guessed right!
Just moments ago, Jiang Ming had been desperately pondering: what exact value could he offer this anomaly?
He was merely a mortal of flesh and blood. Anything he could do, she could undoubtedly do as well; she simply did not need his help.
But these Rule-Based Anomalies would definitely not engineer an inescapable death trap for him. There had to be a silver lining of survival. Where exactly did that lifeline lie?
Jiang Ming had sunk into deep thought, his mind constantly rewinding. He thought back to when Elder Sister first appeared, back to his conversation with Uncle Li, all the way back to the very beginning.
“Always remember the role you are playing!”
It was this seemingly inconspicuous phrase that allowed Jiang Ming to connect all the dots!
In the world of Rule-Based Anomalies, everyone had a role they were meant to play!
Whether it was the real Uncle Li or the fake Uncle Li, the role they played was that of his neighbour.
Furthermore, logical loopholes existed within them. Just like his previous conversation with the real Uncle Li: he had to personally acknowledge that there was a dog in the house for the man to form a closed logical loop.
The dog was the same. The role it played in this house was that of a dog. Even if it could eat human food and speak human language, it was still fundamentally not human.
It was not until Elder Sister bestowed it the name ‘Da Huang' moments ago that the final missing link was completed for it!
As for the peerless beauty before him, the moment she appeared, she assigned herself the identity of ‘Elder Sister.' That was the role she was playing!
After entering the apartment, she had chatted with him, eaten his food, and spent a long time in his company. Yet, something was still missing, rendering her identity as an Elder Sister imperfect.
Just like how the dog had always been missing a name.
After all, although he had been verbally acknowledging her as his Elder Sister, it was not out of genuine sentiment. In other words, he had not recognised this identity from the bottom of his heart.
Ultimately, his classification of her had always been ‘Mother's' friend. Elder Sister was nothing more than a mere form of address.
Therefore, his true value was to grant her the identity of ‘Elder Sister'!
The peerless beauty in front of him flashed a radiant smile: “So, you admit that I am your Elder Sister now?”
Jiang Ming nodded, his sincerity absolute:
“Of course.”
“You are my actual, biological Elder Sister!”