Chapter 39: Reasons for Trust

After a long silence, Ouyang Lin spoke up.

"Then tell me, what conditions must be met for you to be willing to share your secret with me?"

Shen Xing frowned, confused. "Why are you suddenly interested in this? Just because I peeked at your photo album?"

"At first, yes. But now my sixth sense tells me that this secret will be of great help to me. At my level of cultivation, intuition can be considered a reliable reference. You should seriously consider this; we could definitely find a win-win way to get along."

Ouyang Lin spoke with a flat expression. Although there was no hint of a smile, it actually made Shen Xing feel much more at ease. Through their time together, he had learned that this was Ouyang Lin's safest state. Any time she displayed obvious emotions—even if she looked like she was laughing happily—she was dangerous.

Shen Xing instinctively wanted to refuse, but he ultimately remained silent. He had been pondering a problem for some time: for the foreseeable future, he was bound to Ouyang Lin. His own growth in strength would be difficult to hide forever. If their relationship remained rigid and hostile, his actions would inevitably be restricted. His previous conclusion was that he needed to improve their relationship, if only to ensure she wouldn't cause him trouble later.

However, he had never considered sharing his secret. Who was worthy of such a secret? Not even Ouyang Lin, or even family members, could be trusted with it. Aside from himself, anyone could potentially betray him.

*If I refuse her now, she won't let it go,* Shen Xing thought. *She’s serious now, and that makes things complicated. Should I really tell her? No, I don't have the strength to protect myself against her yet; it's impossible to know what she would do if she knew.*

After weighing his options, he came up with only one solution: stall. Give her hope, keep her steady, but never actually fulfill the promise.

"Alright," Shen Xing said. "Since you want to talk about this seriously, I'll be honest with you. First, this secret is extremely important to me. If I tell you, I can't guarantee what my fate will be afterward. Therefore, there is a trust issue. We haven't known each other long, and our relationship is... well, hard to define. My level of trust in you is nowhere near the point where I would entrust my life and future to you."

"Secondly, your intuition is correct—I do have a way to help you. But first, I must be certain that we are on the same side."

Ouyang Lin nodded thoughtfully after listening. "Very reasonable. It seems you have truly considered this. So, there are two problems to solve: increasing trust and becoming 'our own people.' Do you have any good ideas regarding these two points?"

Shen Xing glanced at her, thinking to himself that the prospect of increasing her strength was truly the most tempting bait; he had never seen her be this rational before.

"That's not difficult. For example, between a man and a woman, the simplest and most effective way is to sleep together and establish an intimate relationship. But since you're a lesbian, that option is off the table."

Unexpectedly, Ouyang Lin countered him. "Who told you I was a lesbian?"

"The photo album is still there, isn't it? You were taking candid photos of those women like a total creep. If you weren't into women, why would you do that?"

"I mean, how are you so sure I'm *only* a lesbian?"

Shen Xing was stunned, then nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wait... no way. You're bisexual? That’s... that’s very trendy of you." He found himself at a loss for words.

"Not exactly. My sexual orientation is generally normal. I just have a little quirk compared to most women. You think I’m into women, but that's wrong. I just like the feeling of taking candid photos, and it’s strictly limited to young girls." Ouyang Lin spoke softly, sounding quite sincere.

Shen Xing was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that. As he realized the truth, he suddenly paused. When he had dismissed the idea of sleeping together earlier, she had countered him—what did that mean? Did she not object to that approach?

"You don't object to... being intimate with me?" Shen Xing asked bluntly.

Ouyang Lin glared at him and said calmly, "We are discussing how to solve the problem. We can decide which specific methods to adopt or discard once we have a general framework."

Shen Xing felt a pang of disappointment. He didn't want to admit it, but if he could win over Ouyang Lin, many of his problems would be solved. With Ouyang Lin shielding him from the pressure of the military district, he could enjoy their resources while boosting his strength without inhibition. Of course, this would require her to be completely won over, to the point where she truly became his ally.

"Fine. Where were we?"

"How to increase trust."

"Oh, right. Besides intimate contact, there's the 'life and death' bond—what we call military camaraderie. You're from the military, so you know more about that than I do. If we can go through life and death together, we would naturally trust each other."

Ouyang Lin looked at him with disdain. "Given the gap in our strength, the odds of us going through life and death together are even lower than us sleeping together. Anything else?"

Shen Xing nodded. "There is one last way, very practical and effective: deep-rooted alignment of interests. For instance, you could give me half the control over your most important resources. You could also split your assets with me. In short, if I were to meet with an accident, you would lose half your life."

Ouyang Lin hesitated, wanting to say something. Shen Xing could tell she wanted to say: *You aren't worth it.*

"It seems all three options are difficult to achieve. What about becoming 'our own people'? What about that?" Ouyang Lin asked with a sneer.

"If that's the case, then being 'our own people' is even further out of reach. Because if you combine those three conditions and we become a community of shared destiny, then we would be 'our own people,'" Shen Xing said with a smile.

Since his plan was to make her give up, he didn't mind being bold. The more he made her fear the commitment, the greater the chance she would let it drop.

"I see." Ouyang Lin didn't get angry; she nodded in understanding and confirmed, "So, to summarize: I either sleep with you or give you half my life, otherwise there's no deal, right?"

Shen Xing bit the bullet and corrected her, "Ahem, to be precise, it's not just sleeping together once; we would have to be together permanently."

"Oh, so you mean I'd have to marry you?"

"Something like that. Of course, if I can feel that you are truly sincere, we don't have to rush the wedding..."