Chapter 4

The screen was still playing.

Was the real show about to begin?

Li Mo stared at the replay in front of him and didn’t even dare blink.

He watched on, full of anticipation.

The scene cut to a barbecue stand.

One of those open-air places, with plastic stools and plastic tables, bamboo skewers and beer bottle caps scattered all over the ground.

He in the video was sitting at a table, with three people opposite him.

All of them were men in T-shirts and shorts, clearly his age.

Narration floated up.

[College roommates’ dinner. Location: Old Liu’s BBQ, south gate of Jiangcheng University Town. Time: the ninth month after joining Xinghai Group.]

There were more than a dozen empty bottles on the table.

He in the video was red as a boiled shrimp, his tongue thick, his speech already slurring.

"I’m telling you... our President Liu... she’s really... really fucking amazing..."

A guy across from him, wearing glasses, shook a bottle in his hand.

"You’ve said that eight hundred times. We know your President Liu is pretty."

"Not pretty!" He slapped the table, and the chopsticks bounced up and fell to the ground. "It’s... it’s that kind of... you know? Just..."

"Yeah, yeah, a goddess. Fine." Another roommate, bald-headed, snatched his beer bottle away. "Stop drinking. Don’t you have work tomorrow?"

"Work my ass off..."

He collapsed onto the table, cheek pressed against the greasy surface, muttering something nobody could make out.

Then he suddenly sat up. His eyes were hazy, but his hand had already found the phone in his pocket.

"I’m calling her..."

"Calling who?"

"Ruyan..."

"Who??"

The roommate with glasses nearly spat out his beer.

"You fucking call your chairman Ruyan??"

He in the video was already ignoring them.

His fingers jabbed at the screen for a long time before he finally found Liu Ruyan’s number and hit dial.

Beep-beep.

She answered.

For a second, the line stayed quiet.

Then Liu Ruyan’s voice came through, carrying a hint of surprise.

"Li Mo? It’s this late..."

"Ruyan..."

He in the video leaned back against the plastic chair, wearing a goofy grin.

"Ruyan... heh heh..."

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

"Have you been drinking?"

"Not much... just a little bit..." He held up one finger, waving it at the air.

She didn’t answer.

Then the replay cut to the other end of the call. Liu Ruyan’s bedroom.

She was leaning against the headboard in a black camisole nightdress, the phone pressed to her ear. The lights were off, and only the glow from the screen lit her face.

Her lips pressed together.

Then loosened.

"What did you call me?"

"Ruyan..." He in the video was smiling so hard his eyes were nearly closed.

"Ruyan... heh, Ruyan, Ruyan, Ruyan..."

Liu Ruyan pulled the phone a little away from her ear.

She lowered her head.

Her fingers clenched the edge of the blanket until her knuckles went white.

Her breathing was clearly getting heavier.

Even the rise and fall of her chest could be seen in the phone’s light.

She brought the phone back to her ear, lowering her voice.

"Where are you?"

"I’m at... at that... Old Liu... skewers..."

"Send me the address."

"Huh?"

"Send the address."

The screen suddenly went black.

Then four words appeared in the center.

[Stay tuned]

Li Mo nearly jumped out of bed.

"You fucking kidding me??"

He glared at the empty space in front of him, his blood pressure shooting straight to the top of his head.

"That’s it?? Did she drive over to find me or not?? What happened after she got there??"

No answer.

The blue panel hung quietly in midair, leaving only one line on it.

[Current status: simulation in progress]

"Cliffhanger bastard..." Li Mo gritted his teeth, the pressure in his chest almost exploding him. "System, you’re a cliffhanger bastard, aren’t you??"

The panel didn’t budge.

He took a deep breath, then another, then five or six in a row before he finally forced the anger down a little.

"Fine."

"You win."

He got out of bed and stepped onto the carpet barefoot.

It was thick pile, and his toes sank all the way in.

Standing in the middle of the bedroom, he looked around.

He had to figure out exactly what kind of place this was.

He opened the bedroom door and walked out.

The hallway was long, with paintings hanging on both sides. He didn’t know who any of them were.

The first room was a study.

Solid wood bookshelves ran from the floor to the ceiling, packed with hundreds of books.

He glanced over them. Most were business management and law books; one shelf held English originals, and in one cubby there were several Japanese books.

A laptop sat on the desk.

He walked over and opened it. The screen lit up, asking for a password.

He tried a few.

123456, wrong.

His own birthday, wrong.

Liu Ruyan’s name in pinyin, wrong.

"Forget it."

He closed the laptop and kept going.

The second room.

The moment he opened the door, he froze.

A walk-in closet.

No, calling it a walk-in closet was underselling it. It was more like a wardrobe hall.

The entire left wall was Liu Ruyan’s side: suits, dresses, qipaos, coats, all arranged neatly by color.

The lower row was all shoes, high heels making up eighty percent of them, in every color and every style.

The right wall was his.

Suits, shirts, T-shirts, pants, also sorted by color.

He pulled out a suit at random and looked at the label on the lining.

Custom-made, no brand logo, only a handwritten number.

He hung it back up and backed out.

Kept walking.

The living room was absurdly huge. The sofa was U-shaped, and the TV was mounted on the wall, at least seventy inches by eye.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was a terrace, with lounge chairs and a sun umbrella.

Look farther out, and half of Jiangcheng’s skyline came into view.

This was the top floor.

He walked to the entrance.

The front door was the hotel-style electronic lock kind, with a shoe cabinet beside it.

He reached out and pressed the handle.

The blue panel popped up.

[Going out feature: not enabled]

"..."

Li Mo stared at those words for three seconds.

"I can’t leave?"

He pressed it again.

[Going out feature: not enabled]

He let go, then turned back into the living room.

He sat on the sofa and thought for a while, then stood up again and went to the study.

Opened the computer - still asking for a password.

He said to the blue panel, "Can you give me the computer password?"

The panel didn’t react.

"Fine."

He thought about it some more, went back to the living room, found the TV remote, and turned on the television.

The news channel was airing the weather forecast.

"July 15, 2023, Jiangcheng, high temperature 38 degrees..."

2023.

He memorized it.

He switched to the financial channel, wanting to look at stocks.

The picture came up, but all the numbers were blurred, like they’d been mosaicked.

The blue panel floated up.

[Financial information query feature: not enabled]

Li Mo’s mouth twitched.

He changed to the lottery channel.

Same thing, all the numbers mosaicked.

[Gambling information query feature: not enabled]

He threw the remote onto the sofa and leaned back.

"You won’t let me look at anything, and you won’t let me go out. What the hell are you keeping me here for? Waiting for Liu Ruyan to come back?"

"What exactly did you even turn on?"

The blue panel went quiet for a second, then popped out a line.

[Currently enabled functions: life replay, identity binding, communications (limited contacts).]

"Communications?"

Li Mo froze.

He instinctively patted his pants pocket. No phone.

He went back to the bedroom and found a phone on the bedside table, the screen already lit and unlocked.

He picked it up and swiped once.

All the apps were greyed out and wouldn’t open.

Browser, grey.

Maps, grey.

Only one green icon was lit up.

He tapped it.

The contact list had only one name.

The moment he saw the saved name, his hand almost fumbled the phone.

"Little Bitch."

Li Mo’s hand holding the phone shook.

"Was this fucking saved by me??"

He quickly opened the chat history.

The latest message was from this morning, sent by Liu Ruyan.

[Got to the office, Master~ Today’s meeting was so boring. Did you miss me?]

There was a little dog sticker after it.

He scrolled up to yesterday night’s record. Liu Ruyan had sent a voice message, which he couldn’t hear; the text transcription was shown beside it.

[Master, I’m exhausted today. I really want you to hold me while I sleep...]

Further up.

Several pictures.

He opened the first one.

A selfie of Liu Ruyan, probably taken in the office, with that huge floor-to-ceiling window in the background.

She was wearing a white shirt, her hair down, chin slightly lifted, eyes looking down at the camera, lips slightly parted.

Three buttons were undone.

No, four.

He could see her collarbones, he could see the edge of her bra.

He swallowed and opened the second picture.

Still the office.

This time the shirt was wide open.

A white bra was being lightly lifted by one hand, exposing half of it. The outline of the nipple was perfectly clear.

Below the picture, Liu Ruyan had sent a line of text.

[Master, want a taste? Come back and play with me~]

Li Mo slapped the phone screen against his thigh.

His breathing was already completely out of control.

His heart hammered inside his chest like a drum.

When he closed his eyes, all he could see was that open shirt.

He turned the phone over and looked at the image again.

His finger unconsciously zoomed in a little.

The texture of the skin was so clear he could see every pore.

The hand lifting the bra had burgundy nail polish on its fingernails, the exact same color as the toenails in the replay earlier.

He stared at it for five seconds.

Then he abruptly put the phone on the coffee table and stood up.

He paced around the living room twice.

His body was already completely beyond control.

"Calm down... I need to calm down..."

He went into the bathroom, turned on the cold water, and splashed his face more than a dozen times.

Water ran down from his chin and dripped onto the tile.

He braced himself on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were red, his face burned hot, his lips were cracked and dry.

The person in the mirror was completely different from the one he’d seen in the rented room.

"When is she coming back..."

He heard himself ask that.

His voice was rough beyond belief.

By the time Liu Ruyan came back, it was already pitch dark.

He was sitting on the living room sofa, the TV on, but he hadn’t taken in a single thing.

From the afternoon until now, he had only done one thing.

Wait.

The lock clicked.

High heels tapped on the entryway floor once, twice, three times.

Then stopped.

Liu Ruyan was standing at the entrance, changing her shoes.

Today she was wearing the white shirt and black skirt from that morning, her hair still tied up, but a few loose strands had come undone and were stuck to her neck.

She must have been busy all day.

She lifted her head and saw Li Mo on the sofa. She smiled.

"Master, I’m back."

Her voice was completely different from this morning.

This morning it had been lazy and groggy, with a touch of bedhead crankiness.

Now it was soft, sweet, with the tail end of each word curling upward.

Li Mo’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He watched Liu Ruyan walk over.

She kicked off her heels and padded barefoot onto the carpet, her toes curling as if the floor were cold.

She stopped in front of the sofa, but didn’t sit down.

Instead, she dropped straight to her knees.

Her knees hit the carpet, her body leaning forward, both hands braced on either side of Li Mo’s thighs.

She lifted her head to look at him.

That face.

The makeup she’d worn all day had smeared a little, her lipstick had faded, but the eyeliner was still there, the line at the corner of her eye slightly lifted. Seen from below like this, her eyes looked huge and bright.

"Master, this little dog worked all day, I’m so tired..."

Her hand slid up from Li Mo’s knee, slowly, and through his pants she stroked the bulge between his legs.

"Can you give this little dog a reward?"

Li Mo’s breathing caught at once.

He looked down at Liu Ruyan, kneeling by his legs.

She was between his thighs, her face tilted up, making a pitiful little expression.

Her hand was still on his crotch.

Liu Ruyan felt the change in him.

The thing under her palm was hardening rapidly.

The corner of her mouth curved, and her fingers hooked around his belt.

"Master seems to already miss this little dog very much..."

She pulled down the zipper.

Li Mo didn’t stop her.

He couldn’t stop her.

Liu Ruyan tugged his pants down a bit, and the outline of his underwear was already stretched out of shape.

She reached out and squeezed through the fabric once.

Then she looked up at him, her eyes innocent as hell.

"So big..."

She pulled the edge of the underwear down, and the whole thing sprang out, almost hitting her in the face.

Liu Ruyan blinked as if startled.

Then she stuck out her tongue. The tip was pink, with a slight sheen of wetness.

Starting from the base, she licked slowly upward along the shaft.

Small sounds slipped out of her mouth too.

"Mm... mm-mm..."

Like a little puppy.

Li Mo’s fingers dug so hard into the sofa leather that they nearly tore it.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Completely couldn’t take it anymore.

He grabbed Liu Ruyan’s arm, hauled her up from the floor, and slammed her flat onto the carpet behind him.

Liu Ruyan’s back hit the thick carpet with a muffled thud.

Before she could react, Li Mo’s mouth was already crushing down on hers.

The kiss slammed into her lips, hard and urgent.

His tongue shoved straight past her teeth and tangled inside.

Liu Ruyan froze for a second, then answered him.

Her tongue wound up around his, tangling with it, a muffled moan slipping out from between her lips.

Her hands found his chest, her fingertips hooking onto his collar and tugging it apart on both sides.

Two buttons popped off, bouncing onto the carpet without a sound.

Her fingers slipped inside, found his chest muscles, then her nails lightly scraped across his nipples.

Li Mo’s whole body jolted.

It was like being shocked.

No one had ever touched him there before.

Liu Ruyan’s fingertips didn’t stop, circling that little patch of skin, her nails gently teasing it, over and over.

Li Mo felt like he was going insane.

His hands started stripping at Liu Ruyan’s clothes without thinking.

There were too many buttons on the white shirt; he didn’t have the patience to undo them one by one, so he grabbed the collar and tore it open to both sides.

Riiip.

The sound of fabric splitting.

Liu Ruyan’s body was exposed.

Black underwear, wrapping the thing he had seen in the chat photos.

But photos were nothing compared with the real thing.

His hand grabbed at her. Through the underwear, his fingers sank in. Elasticity and softness surged up from his palm at the same time, a whole handful of her spilling through his fingers.

Liu Ruyan’s body trembled, and a short moan leaked out of her throat.

Li Mo lowered his head, his lips landing on her jaw as his tongue licked down along the line of her jaw.

Her throat. Collarbone.

The hollow at the base of her throat.

All the way down.

Liu Ruyan’s chest rose and fell, her breathing getting faster and faster, broken sounds spilling from her mouth.

"Master... Master..."

Li Mo pushed her bra upward, and two glaringly white mounds bounced free.

Her nipples were pale pink, standing slightly erect from the blood rushing to them.

He opened his mouth and took one side in, circling it with his tongue twice before sucking hard. Liu Ruyan’s back arched at once.

Her fingers buried themselves in Li Mo’s hair, her nails scraping at his scalp.

"Ah... Master... I want... Master, I want it..."

Li Mo’s hand slipped downward. It glided along Liu Ruyan’s waist, passed over her lower abdomen, and slipped into her skirt.

The moment his fingers brushed the edge of her underwear, he found a patch of wetness.

Not just a little.

She was already soaked through.

The whole palm pressed against her was slick with liquid, and the heat of it was shocking.

Liu Ruyan’s legs clenched once, then loosened again.

Li Mo pressed through the fabric against the slit at the center. Liu Ruyan’s waist jerked violently upward, and the moan in her mouth changed pitch.

He no longer hesitated.

His fingers hooked the edge of her underwear and dragged it down, all the way to her knees.

Liu Ruyan kicked it off herself, flicking the fabric away.

Li Mo looked once.

Clean, pale, wet, gleaming with moisture.

His palm covered her again, the heel of his hand pressing down on top while his middle finger slid into the crease.

Hot, tight, slick.

Liu Ruyan’s legs opened all the way, heels digging into the carpet, toes curling white.

"Master... put it in... please..."

Li Mo’s other hand went for his own pants.

The pants slid down to his thighs, and he guided himself to the entrance.

He could feel that opening tightening, as if it were trying to suck him in.

He pushed forward.

The head just squeezed in a little. The blue panel popped up.

[Sex function: not enabled]

His hips stopped.

The panel hovered in front of him, its blue light spilling over Liu Ruyan’s body.

[Sex function: not enabled]

Li Mo stared at those words, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints.

He pushed again.

It wouldn’t go in.

It wasn’t Liu Ruyan refusing him; his body had been locked down by some invisible force, and everything from the waist down was completely immobilized.

[Sex function: not enabled]

The same prompt popped up for the third time.

Li Mo’s brain went with a bang.

"You fucking..."

His fist slammed into the carpet.

Liu Ruyan lay beneath him, her legs spread wide, her face flushed, eyes hazy, lips slightly parted, still panting.

"Master... what’s wrong? Why aren’t you coming in...?"

Li Mo couldn’t answer.

He couldn’t answer at all.

He pressed his forehead against Liu Ruyan’s shoulder, closed his eyes, and ground his teeth.

The fire inside him was burning, burning until his organs were twitching, but he still couldn’t move.

He’d been stopped by a fucking panel.

Slowly, he pushed himself up off Liu Ruyan and sat back down on the sofa.

His pants were still hanging around his thighs, that hard thing aching painfully, thrust out into the air.

He covered his face with both hands.

Liu Ruyan still didn’t understand what had happened.

She rose from the carpet, her shirt in shreds, her bra hanging up over her collarbone, her skirt skewed to one side, the whole of her a mess as she knelt between his legs.

"Master? You don’t want it anymore?"

Her voice was still ragged, her eyes full of confusion and hurt.

Li Mo didn’t answer.

He couldn’t answer.

Liu Ruyan looked at him for a few seconds, then seemed to misunderstand something, the corner of her mouth lifting.

"Does Master want to change the way?"

Her hand wrapped around that thing again.

Then she lowered her head and opened her mouth, taking him in.

Warm, wet mouth enclosed him. Her tongue slid up along the shaft, circling the head at the tip.

Li Mo’s hand slid down from his face and came to rest on Liu Ruyan’s head.

Her hair slipped through his fingers, soft and silky.

Liu Ruyan looked up at him, mouth full, yet her eyes were crystal clear.

Innocent, obedient.

Like she was truly waiting for his orders.

Li Mo’s other hand reached down, signaling for her to turn around.

Liu Ruyan obediently shifted position, turning sideways without releasing him.

Her hips were right beside his hand.

A perfect curve, full and round, lifted slightly by the kneeling pose.

Li Mo’s hand settled on it.

His fingers sank in, flesh pressing out between them.

He squeezed once.

Liu Ruyan let out a muffled moan, and the suction in her mouth suddenly tightened.

Li Mo sucked in a sharp breath.

Pleasure surged from his lower abdomen up his spine, wave after wave, faster and denser.

He looked down at Liu Ruyan.

Her lips were sealed around his shaft, her cheeks faintly hollowed, and he could see the motion of her swallowing and releasing.

Her eyes were still on him.

Filled with that same innocent, wet look.

Li Mo’s hand on the top of her head unconsciously tightened.

Liu Ruyan didn’t resist. She followed the pressure and sank lower, taking him all the way into the back of her throat.

Her throat muscles tightened, pulsed, and squeezed.

"Fuck..."

The word squeezed out between his teeth.

His tailbone jolted tight.

He came.

All of it poured into Liu Ruyan’s throat.

Liu Ruyan closed her eyes, her throat working as she swallowed mouthful after mouthful.

It went on for several seconds.

When the final wave passed, she slowly lifted her head and spit the contents from her mouth.

Then she opened her lips and stuck out her tongue.

A trail of white was still left on the surface.

She smiled at Li Mo.

"Master, the puppy ate it all."

Li Mo leaned back against the sofa, his chest heaving violently, his mind a blank.

The aftershocks of pleasure were still turning through his body.