Chapter 8: Coercion

Tianhe Hotel. Room 207.

Shen Xing placed the woman on the bed, his expression stern. Her injuries had not improved, leaving her unable to move freely.

"Are you not going to help me treat these wounds?" The woman, unnerved by Shen Xing’s steady gaze, could not help but ask.

Shen Xing took out a dagger and idly traced the tip along her body. "Who exactly are you?"

"You don't even know who I am, yet you dared to save me?"

Shen Xing was silent for a moment before answering truthfully, "Regardless, the fact that the police mobilized so many people to rescue you means you must be with the authorities. By extension, those people are part of an evil faction. In terms of both logic and morality, I had to choose to help you. I’m still young; I can't afford to head down a path of crime so recklessly."

The woman was stunned, then couldn't help but laugh. The movement pulled at her wounds, causing her to gasp in pain. "Is that really it? If I didn't happen to know sign language, would you have still chosen to help me? I must say, it was clever of you to use sign language to communicate with me in secret."

Shen Xing’s expression remained grim. "Regardless, my choice to save you wouldn't have changed. It’s just that you knowing sign language made things much easier. As a basic courtesy, shouldn't you introduce yourself now? It will determine how I treat you moving forward."

The woman turned serious. She hesitated, but eventually said, "I cannot tell you my name. You can call me 'Shadow.' I am from the Qingbei Advanced Martial Arts Academy. I came to Tianhe City to make contact with an incoming freshman."

Shen Xing’s heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out, "Tang Xinya?"

The woman was startled. "How did you know?"

Shen Xing didn't respond, instead changing the subject. "Is an incoming freshman really worth those people launching such an operation? Carrying out a terrorist attack? I have a feeling they were targeting you, not some student. You might be telling the truth, but you’re definitely hiding the truly important information. Tell me, who are those people? And why were they so determined to capture you?"

Shen Xing’s sharpness and assertiveness caught the woman off guard. Flustered, she avoided his gaze and fell silent. Shen Xing didn't press her; he called downstairs and ordered a late-night snack. Having skipped dinner and endured high-tension nerves, he felt ravenous now that he had relaxed.

The food arrived shortly after. Shen Xing took a large gulp of hot coffee and let out a satisfied sigh.

The woman on the bed suddenly spoke up.

"Why did you give me that serum back then? And if you had already given it to me, why did you still have another one? One that was... shockingly potent?"

Shen Xing paused in the middle of biting his burger. He chewed slowly and walked back over to her. Their eyes met, both filled with complex emotions.

This was the source of Shen Xing’s dilemma. He had used the Ten-Thousand-Fold Return System to give the thug's serum to this woman. Afterward, he chose to upgrade the quality rather than the quantity, obtaining a powerful anesthetic with a ten-thousand-fold efficacy boost. The results were indeed impressive, but they inevitably aroused her suspicion.

This was Shen Xing’s deepest secret, one he absolutely could not let anyone know. At least, not anyone from the outside. Was this woman an outsider? Undoubtedly. But the problem was that he couldn't kill her. Doing so would bring massive trouble and maximize his losses.

Shen Xing had been considering the best way to resolve this since the very beginning.

Seeing the shifting expressions on his face, the woman quickly tried to remedy the situation. "I was just asking. You don't have to answer. In this day and age, everyone has secrets. What the secret is doesn't matter. What matters is whether the person holding the secret is a friend. Regardless, you saved me, and I will repay you. I’m not the type to return kindness with cruelty; you can rest assured of that."

Shen Xing remained unconvinced. He pressed the tip of his knife slightly into her lower abdomen. "How can I trust you?"

The woman rolled her eyes at him. "I am from the Qingbei Advanced Martial Arts Academy; do you think I would lie to you? As you said, the price the police paid to save me shows the weight of my identity. You don't have to trust me, but surely you trust the Great Xia authorities?"

Shen Xing shook his head. "None of that matters. As of now, I only trust myself. A part of my secret has already been exposed to you, which poses a grave risk to me. If you want to be safe, give me a secret of yours that concerns your own life in exchange."

The woman was stunned, disbelieving. "Are you crazy? This was supposed to be a good deed—saving someone—so why make it so complicated? If I can't come up with one, are you actually going to kill me? Think carefully about the consequences if you do. Both sides will hunt you down; you’ll have nowhere to hide."

Shen Xing shook his head. "No, of course I won't kill you; that would be stupid. If you don't have a secret of equal value, then I will have to use my own methods to scrape together some leverage and try my luck."

A sense of dread filled the woman. "What do you want to do?"

Shen Xing pulled out his phone, adjusted the angle, and placed it on the table so the lens was aimed directly at the bed. As he began to undress, he said, "Though it’s a bit despicable, for a woman, this should be a fairly effective threat. Especially for someone like you who clearly has a status to maintain."

Before the woman could even process what was happening, Shen Xing had stripped down to his underwear. He then reached out to undo her clothes. As he pulled off her coat, revealing the high-end lingerie underneath, the woman finally erupted.

"Get away from me! You psycho! You bastard!"

Shen Xing ignored her, even leaning his body over hers. The rush of masculine scent made panic visibly cloud the woman’s face. She hurriedly spoke up, "I’ve thought of one! I have a secret to trade! Stop, please!"

Shen Xing lifted his head, his gaze dark as he stared at her. "Speak."

"Can you get off me first?"

"If you don't speak now, you won't get another chance."

"...The serum. I have a special serum on me—a poison. After injection, it triggers periodically, causing excruciating full-body pain and leaving me weak. To alleviate it, I must take an antidote on schedule. Only by finishing all the doses can I recover. You can inject me with it and keep the antidote yourself. Once you fully trust me, you can give it to me."

Shen Xing reached into her bodice and pulled out two silver vials, one large and one small. Through a system scan, he verified that she was telling the truth. He nodded and injected the larger vial into her body.

Soon, as the serum entered her system, a plum-blossom-shaped black mark slowly appeared on her lower abdomen, resembling a tattoo.

Shen Xing shook the antidote in his hand. "If this antidote is gone, will you die?"

"Not immediately, but the intervals between episodes will get shorter and shorter, eventually becoming a living hell until I’d likely choose to end it myself."

Shen Xing hummed, then leaned back over her.

The woman cried out in horror, "Get off! You have no honor!"

Shen Xing retorted, "No, I just find that communication is more efficient in this state. The first problem is solved. Now, the second: Why were those people so determined to capture you? What is your most important objective in coming to Tianhe City?"