The Bet

Tutoring wasn't exactly a high-difficulty part-time job; it was like explaining problems to classmates, demanding little from the tutor's expertise. As Feng Qian had said, someone of a similar age might better understand the student's way of thinking, especially since Fu Liangxia herself had excellent grades.

So, if Fu Haoyao cooperated, raising his score by thirty to fifty points wouldn't be a problem.

However, the issue was that Fu Haoyao was too "cooperative."

The current situation: Fu Haoyao played games on his own, while Fu Liangxia lectured to a wall. He didn't even glance her way, occasionally telling his teammates impatiently, "Stop aiming with that M762. You're just playing paintball. If you can't play, get lost."

Fu Liangxia: "..."

Seeming to feel her puzzled gaze, he gestured for her to do as she pleased, not to mind him.

In fact, to "listen" to her lecture, he deliberately didn't wear his headphones. The thundering sounds of airdrops and footsteps rang out, and thanks to the high-quality sound system, it was like 3D surround sound echoing in her ears.

Fu Liangxia's headache worsened. She had promised Feng Qian she'd tutor him properly and improve his grades.

Otherwise, why would that man give resources to the Fu family?

She needed to think of something.

"Young Master Fu," Fu Liangxia closed the book and looked up at him.

"Talk."

In the game, the character he controlled fired three shots but only grazed the window frame, not even taking a sliver of the enemy's health.

"That's not how you shoot."

Before Fu Haoyao could react, she reached over, took the keyboard, her right hand grabbing the mouse, adjusted the character's position, aimed, and fired quickly—

"Bang!"

A headshot.

The enemy's bullet grazed past, but she had already dodged.

"That's how you shoot." Fu Liangxia turned back calmly, raising an eyebrow.

The screen's glow illuminated her face, adding a hint of sharpness to her already beautiful features.

To use the keyboard, her fair wrist passed in front of him, and the faint cool scent of a girl wafted around him—subtle but overwhelmingly present, assaulting his senses.

Fu Haoyao froze for a moment, until a boisterous voice came through the team channel: "Damn! Bro, sharpshooter! Even from that tricky spot?" Only then did he snap back from his racing heart.

He turned away, not looking at her, his expression strange: "You're supposed to teach me math, not gaming."

Fu Liangxia's voice came from beside him, cool and clear, just like her scent: "You know that?"

You know she's here for math, not gaming, so why did you turn on the computer?

Fu Haoyao wasn't wearing his headphones, so their conversation was picked up by the game. His teammate seemed to hear Fu Liangxia's voice and perked up: "Bro, did I hear a girl?"

How rare! When had Fu Haoyao changed so much as to have a girlfriend?

No, what kind of girl could even catch Fu Haoyao's eye, be brought to his house, and game with him?

Wait, thinking about it, no wonder that shot was amazing—it didn't seem like something Brother Fu could do...

Fang Tong was curious on the other side, scratching his head, but afraid of Fu Haoyao's authority, he didn't dare ask.

"Shut up." Fu Haoyao said to them, then quickly muted both the microphone and the speakers.

After all that, he finally turned to look at her: "You..."

"How about we make a bet?" Fu Liangxia interrupted, meeting his eyes. She noticed his pupils had a hint of blue, glittering like a sapphire under the screen light.

She remembered that Fu Haoyao might have some foreign blood; his platinum hair might be natural. No wonder it wasn't dry and frizzy like dyed hair, but soft and glowing.

Fu Liangxia had thought he was using expensive hair treatments.

Fu Haoyao: "What?"

"Even in gaming, without skills, you're just mediocre." A smile curved her lips, making her look like a seductive little fox. "I don't care why you hate tutors, or if you just hate me. Since your brother paid to hire me, don't waste our time. At least you should learn something."

Fu Haoyao wanted to say he didn't hate her, but before he could, Fu Liangxia continued: "You don't want to learn math? Fine, let's learn gaming then."

"Let's play one round. If I win, you'll listen to my lecture obediently."

She said "obediently" softly, as if tasting the word, with a hint of lingering sweetness.

Fu Haoyao suddenly felt a strange sensation—his body tingled, his heart felt odd, a mix of wanting to break something but not violently.

What was wrong with him today? He felt weird. Was he sick?

He tried to rationalize his abnormality, thinking deeply, not noticing he had frozen in place for a while.

He stared at her blankly, his face tense, expression unreadable.

In the quiet, the handsome face of the silent boy could be in a movie, charming most people into thinking he was a god fallen to earth.

Fu Liangxia didn't know what he was thinking, nor was she entirely confident in her proposal, but she knew if he refused, she'd have to come up with another plan.

—She didn't accept failure, nor could she let the promised investment slip away.

But Fu Haoyao agreed, for some reason.

"I won't lose." He said it like a pre-battle declaration.

Looks like it was pride.

Fu Liangxia: "Mhm, gamblers always think they'll strike it rich before placing their bets."

Fu Haoyao: "..."

Fu Haoyao set up another computer for her and lent her his friend's account. They teamed up, agreeing to land at the training ground favored by hot-droppers and see who got more kills by the end.

Neither considered the possibility of landing without finding a weapon or being eliminated immediately. Fu Haoyao was confident that his experience would prevent such rookie mistakes.

As for Fu Liangxia, he wasn't optimistic. He could tell she was unfamiliar with the game—she probably hadn't played many times, maybe tonight was her first, perhaps just learning from watching him. She might not even know how to pick up equipment and would be eliminated on landing.

But if it really was her first time, he had to admit her talent. That headshot just now showed incredible learning ability.

Those thoughts vanished once the game started, and Fu Haoyao truly understood what she meant by "without skills, you're just mediocre."

He loved gaming, especially shooters, and had played similar ones before, reaching the top of the server rankings, albeit near the bottom.

This survival game was new, out for less than two months. He hadn't played much lately due to tennis training for national team selection, but he was just getting the hang of it and was most enthusiastic.

Among his friends who bought the game together, he was the best, almost leading his team to a win.

But even so, when he stole a glance at Fu Liangxia's screen, he couldn't help but pause.

Click. She was fully focused, her gaming headset a bit big for her, making her face look small, her dark eyes gleaming with cold calculation.

He watched her character pick up a gun and load it.

Her movements were clumsy but quick.

Footsteps came through his headset; someone was approaching.

Fu Haoyao diverted some attention to his screen, and the moment the enemy appeared, he raised his shotgun, fired a burst, and eliminated him.

On the other side, Fu Liangxia also encountered someone—unlucky like him, she ran into someone right after picking up a gun.

Fu Haoyao almost held his breath for her.

But the girl remained calm, shooting with incredible speed, no need for aiming time. He only saw her screen flicker—

"Bang!"

Another clean headshot.

In this game, elimination meant depleting the enemy's entire health bar. Body shots take a chunk, headshots immediately kill.

The simpler approach was like his—shoot multiple times to drain health, which was what most players did.

But Fu Liangxia's headshot approach was too hard, too confident.

Like just now, if the enemy had been slightly faster and fired a few shots at her body, they could have eliminated her first.

This was assuming she could even hit the head.

Hitting the head is hard—unlike the large body, the head is tiny, just a dot from a distance. Most players can't aim at it.

Nor could they do it as fast as she did, almost without aiming.

But Fu Haoyao knew it was impossible. No one hits without aiming, unless they're cheating.

But she was on his network, using his computer. If she was hacking, he'd know.

Fu Liangxia must have amazing dynamic vision, and maybe she had some trick.

Fu Haoyao judged her anew, his expression turning serious, no longer underestimating her.

He shifted his focus back to his screen. In the team, they could hear each other's game audio. It wasn't loud, but Fu Liangxia's shots were so decisive—just a short bang each time, very distinctive.

He watched her kill count climb on the scoreboard, his breathing growing heavier, and he frantically hunted for targets too.

The training ground, a place sacred to hot-droppers, was crowded. With Fu Haoyao's decent aim, he quickly caught up in kills.

But unlike Fu Liangxia, who got one kill per bullet, he needed three to five shots per elimination.

So his ammo ran out fast. After looting, he found everyone was equally poor. Forced to leave the building, he jumped down to search the adjacent one.

While focusing on finding ammo, he didn't notice Fu Liangxia glance at the timer, scan his screen, and start moving her character toward him.

Footsteps sounded. Fu Haoyao's heart jumped, but relaxed when he saw the teammate icon on the approaching character.

The burly character in level-three armor stopped in front of him, its dull gaze seemingly piercing the screen.

"What?" He was startled, not understanding why she'd come over.

"Hmm?" Her pleasant voice came through the thick headset, mingling with the in-game voice, a bit distorted. "To end the game, of course."

There was a hint of a smile in her voice.

Fu Haoyao vaguely sensed something was wrong. As he tried to back away, she swiftly raised her gun, just like she did with others, and pulled the trigger fast and clean.

"Bang!"

Fu Haoyao's deep blue eyes widened slightly.

Green blood splattered across the screen in an instant, then the screen went black, reflecting his stunned face.

Thump, thump.

He could hear his heart pounding.

"I win."

Fu Liangxia took off her headset, tilted her head to look at him, and flashed a bold smile.

It was beautiful, radiant, oddly captivating.

Unlike any expression she'd shown before.

Fu Haoyao vaguely felt she had been wearing a blurry mask, hiding her true thoughts.

Now, she had taken it off, revealing a genuine expression—

A true smile, unrelated to romance.

It was wild.

Fu Haoyao felt he saw another proud soul, even more arrogant than him, but with every right to be.

He suddenly felt afraid to look at her.

To meet her gaze.

Clap, clap, clap—

Applause came from the doorway, slow, each clap striking their heartbeats.

"How thrilling."

Fu Liangxia turned to see a tall young man standing at the door, eyebrows raised slightly, wondering how long he'd been watching.

He had a face as beautiful as Fu Haoyao's, but seemed to exude a calm authority she'd never seen in Saintland—perhaps from being in power.

His gaze was cool and indifferent, not like Fu Haoyao's disregard, but a casual ease.

The feeling of everything being under his control.

Fu Liangxia stared at him, suddenly feeling her mouth dry, her heart beating faster, her legs weak, every cell in her body screaming with excitement.

The taste of power.

He was what she yearned for day and night—a ruler.

Holding the power to control money—wasn't that being a ruler in a sense?

No one in Saintland had this aura because they weren't the true controllers behind the conglomerates.

And Fu Langshu, standing before her now, was the first she'd ever encountered.

Fu's father didn't count; he hadn't even squeezed into the ranks of the nouveau riche.

But Fu Liangxia wanted to be a ruler.

She never doubted she couldn't be.

Perhaps her intense desire awakened the System. Its voice sounded in her mind:

[Detected conquerable target: Fu Langshu

Current Affinity: 8

Conquer description: As the older brother of one of the protagonists, Fu Langshu naturally plays an irreplaceable role in the plot. He doesn't appear often, but his presence is strong. Befriending him can increase the host's presence in the worldline and reduce the chance of being rejected by the world's will.

Conquer type: Optional.

Note: Additionally, the System has detected a certain ambition in the host. Analysis suggests that conquering this target is a shortcut to achieving the host's ambition.]

Hearing the System's words, Fu Liangxia was somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected that characters beyond the main plot could be conquerable targets.

But main plot characters were mandatory, while he was optional.

So, what was the System's selection criteria? If it was based on relevance to the plot, many characters had more screen time than Fu Langshu—like the female lead's childhood friend, Li Yuanfan—but they weren't conquerable.

Fu Liangxia thought it was just her confusion, but the System provided an explanation.

[The selection of conquerable targets is mainly based on a character's energy. The greater a character's influence on this world, the more energy they have, and the more likely they are to be judged as a conquerable target.]

Fu Liangxia understood. In other words, the more outstanding, the more likely to become a target.

If that were the case, she suddenly had a bold idea: she was currently rejected by the world's will because she didn't belong here, with too little energy. But what if she became stronger? What if she had enough influence?

Then maybe she could survive without relying on these targets?

Unfortunately, this time her question went unanswered.

While Fu Liangxia was deep in thought, on the other side—

"Bro," Fu Haoyao called out reluctantly, "why are you back so early today?"