Chapter 68: Not Enough to Satisfy You, Fiancé Calls to Check In
The heavy carved wooden door closed behind Susan, shutting out the view from the outside.
Susan stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror, clutching the royal blue velvet evening gown in her hands.
The form-fitting gown clung to her skin.
Looking at the woman in the mirror, even she felt like a complete stranger.
The off-the-shoulder design perfectly showcased her long, swan-like neck and beautiful collarbones.
The cinched waist was ingeniously designed; any tighter would be too restrictive, any looser would fail to provide support.
She bit her lower lip, forcing herself not to think of Reed.
Her fiancé only showed passion when faced with data.
This face and the man outside who kept pressing closer constantly intertwined, tearing her composure to shreds.
She pushed open the door.
Lin Nuo was sitting on a black leather armchair, reading a document with one hand. Hearing the movement, he raised his eyelids.
Those eyes, obscured by gold-rimmed glasses, darkened abruptly the moment they touched upon Susan, desire surging within them.
Without any superfluous movement, Lin Nuo tossed the document aside and stood up.
He strode over, stopping in front of her.
"It fits perfectly."
The man's voice was a few shades huskier than before, his rough fingertips sliding naturally over her rounded shoulders, exposed to the air.
"I'm very glad you didn't actually make me go in and help you change."
The heat from that brief skin-to-skin contact made Susanrecoil half a step.
"Mr. Lin, I've changed the clothes. If there's nothing else..."
"I'm hungry."
Lin Nuo mercilessly interrupted her weak excuse.
His long arm wrapped directly around her slender waist.
His large palm rested on the soft flesh of her waist, which felt like it could be spanned by a single hand, the heat from his palm penetrating the velvet fabric and reaching her skin.
"Join me for dinner; the three-billion agreement includes this item."
Without any room to resist, Susan was half-forced by the man as he ushered her out of the lounge.
At the end of the corridor was a private dining room with panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows.
There were no glaring lights inside, only dim, warm wall lamps.
Outside the window was the bustling, brilliant night view of Manhattan.
The dining table was round.
Susan had originally intended to walk to the opposite side and pull out a chair.
But Lin Nuo's large hand didn't move from her waist, and he pressed her directly into the seat to his left.
The two of them were too close.
Whenever he turned his head, his scorching breath would brush against her earlobe.
Waiters served the dishes silently and opened a bottle of unlabeled red wine.
The red liquid was poured into a decanter, releasing an alluring aroma of fruit and wood.
Soon, the staff retreated, leaving only the two of them in the spacious private room.
This enclosed space was too intimate.
Coupled with the man's unmasked gaze beside her, Susan's sense of unease reached its peak.
She could only keep clasping her hands together to hide the anxiety in her heart.
Lin Nuo picked up the wine glass in front of him and swirled it gently, the red wine leaving an alluring curve on the glass walls.
"Try it."
Susan swallowed hard, her throat dry; this was exactly what she needed.
She desperately needed some alcohol to numb her heart, which felt like it was about to jump out of her chest, and to suppress the humiliation of being abandoned by her fiancé on their anniversary.
She reached out with her slender, fair fingers to pick up the glass and took a large gulp.
The mellow liquid slid down her throat, carrying a slightly astringent aftertaste.
She was not one to hold her liquor well.
After that one gulp, the alcohol quickly took effect in her bloodstream, and a charming flush rapidly spread across her cheeks.
"It's very good." She lowered her head, her voice very soft.
To avoid the man's scorching gaze, she raised the glass again, wanting to down the remaining half.
Before the rim of the glass touched her lips, a large, warm palm reached over and accurately pressed against the side of the glass.
The crook of the man's thumb slid down, directly gripping her slender, fragile wrist.
His rough thumb pressed exactly against her pulse.
The rapidly beating blood vessels and the hurried rhythm beneath it betrayed her panic without reservation.
"Drinking too fast is bad for you, Susan."
Lin Nuo lowered his voice, his magnetic tone making her ears feel weak.
Susan's hand trembled, and her fingers gripping the stem of the glass turned white from the force.
The two of them remained in a stalemate, separated only by the thin glass wall.
"I'm not drunk, I can still drink!"
Her eyes reddened, and her tone carried a grievance she hadn't even realized.
Lin Nuo applied slight pressure, irresistibly taking the wine glass from her hand.
The man's large palm completely enveloped the glass.
Under Susan's stunned gaze, his distinct, bony fingers held the stem, and his wrist dexterously turned half a circle.
On the edge of the glass was a faint pink lipstick mark.
That was the mark left by Susan when she drank too quickly just now.
Lin Nuo pressed his thin lips directly onto the spot where her lipstick mark was.
Susan's face and ears burned, the heat spreading all the way down to her collarbone.
Shamefully and angrily, she tried to stand up, but was forced back into the chair by the man's other hand pressing on the back of her knees.
"Let go..." she pushed back weakly.
Lin Nuo put down the empty wine glass, his free hand resting on the back of the chair behind Susan.
This posture effectively trapped her entirely within his territory.
He lowered his head, his lips almost brushing her earlobe as he spoke: "Moving too fast makes it easy to overlook the scenery along the way."
"Miss Stone, don't you think this glass of wine is much mellower than the cheap coffee you usually drink?"
The man's breath carried the mellow aroma of red wine, spraying onto her most sensitive ear area.
Every word of this sentence was aimed at her.
The "cheap coffee" was a reference to that fiancé in the dilapidated Underground Room in Brooklyn, living a monotonous, boring life day after day, wasn't it?
Lacking any sense of romance, not even remembering their anniversary.
And this expensive, mellow wine represented the capital tycoon before her who could cover the sky with one hand.
He knew how to wrap her in all her grievances with a dominant stance.
"Don't compare yourselves..." Susan's defenses were crumbling, and she could only retort in a weak voice, "I don't belong to you! You're just taking advantage of the situation!"
Lin Nuo chuckled lowly, the vibration of his chest transmitting through their clothes.
"On that contract priced at three billion, it's written clearly in black and white. Everything of yours, even the dress you put on for me tonight, belongs to me to command!"
He lowered his head and gently bit her fair, sensitive earlobe, causing her to shudder all over.
"Can that blockhead who only understands books give you this sense of being thoroughly cherished?"
"You're shameless!"
"I'm happy to accept that evaluation."
The man's fingers moved downward, gently tracing over her tense back through the velvet fabric.
"As long as you're a little more obedient and call me 'husband,' I'll teach you how to be a smart woman."
"Admit it, Susan."
"That relationship, as dry as seven-year-old dried bread, simply cannot satisfy you."
Lin Nuo's words were as cruel as a knife and as seductive as poison.
"You need something more nutritious. Like being absolutely possessed, like sitting here and enjoying everything you deserve."
Susan closed her eyes, and a hot tear spilled from the corner of her eye.
All of her self-esteem was stripped away completely in the face of these words.
Lin Nuo turned his head. His scorching lips pressed against her cheek, directly sucking away that tear.
The sensation of skin-to-skin contact brought a strong shudder.
Susan gasped, instinctively wanting to dodge, but her chin was gripped by the man, both forcefully and gently.
"Don't dodge, look at me!" Lin Nuo's voice was shockingly husky, "Watch how I help you escape your misery."
Just as Lin Nuo was about to go further, the phone on the table vibrated abruptly.
Susan was suddenly jolted awake, and her arms pushing against Lin Nuo's chest finally had some strength.
She turned her head in a panic, her gaze falling on the lit-up screen.
The name displayed on the incoming call: Reed.
Chapter 69: A Kiss on the Nape, She Hears Her Fiancé's True Heart
The phone screen lit up persistently.
In the slightly dim private booth, it shattered the originally seductive atmosphere.
"Answer it." Lin Nuo's voice was hoarse to the extreme. "Haven't you been waiting for news from him?"
"President Lin, please let me go..." Susan's voice trembled as her hands fruitlessly tried to pry the man's fingers away. "This is my private business."
A cold laugh escaped Lin Nuo's throat, the vibration of his chest clearly transmitting through her back where they were pressed together.
Instead of backing away, he completely imprisoned her in his arms.
His rough fingertips kneaded and circled wantonly.
Through that layer of expensive royal blue velvet fabric, he accurately toyed with the sensitive soft flesh on her waist.
"Put it on speaker."
Lin Nuo tilted his head, his hot lips almost touching her ear, his scorching breath spraying entirely against the side of her neck.
Susan was forced to slide the answer key, her fingers shaking as she pressed the speakerphone button.
"Susan! Where are you?!"
Reed's voice came through the speaker at a very high volume.
He offered no explanation, didn't mention the missed anniversary; there was only frantic anxiety.
"Get back to the Base immediately! Hurry!"
Susan's breathing became rapid due to the movements of Lin Nuo's fingertips.
She bit her lower lip hard to prevent any strange sounds from escaping her throat.
Her voice was incredibly soft: "What's wrong... what kind of madness are you in?"
"The data has changed! The Cosmic Radiation Storm is coming early!"
Reed was screaming hoarsely on the other end of the line.
The background noise was filled with the frantic clatter of keyboard typing and piercing alarms.
"The original three-day window is gone! It's tonight! If we miss it, we'll have to wait twelve years for the next one!"
Susan's mind went blank.
She couldn't even worry about the mischievous hand on her waist and blurted out.
"What did you say? Tonight? But the shield's pressure test hasn't even been finished! The success rate for a launch right now is too low!"
In the gap between her words, Lin Nuo's thin lips aggressively pressed against her fair nape.
The man didn't make any substantial moves.
He just slowly ground his teeth against that delicate skin with a sense of punishment.
The electric shock-like shudder made Susan quickly cover her mouth.
A flush of red was forced into the corners of her eyes, and she only had time to let out a suppressed whimper.
On the other end of the phone, Reed was completely oblivious to this strange noise.
He was entirely immersed in his own fanaticism.
"The success rate is forty percent! That's enough! Start the launch sequence immediately! Ignition in half an hour!"
"Half an hour?!" Susan grew anxious, desperately pushing away the burning source at her neck. "Reed, you're crazy! The shield can't withstand the peak of the radiation; everyone will die!"
"Scientific truth is right before our eyes, what does a little risk matter! This is a miracle in the history of human spaceflight!"
Reed's tone became extremely impatient: "Get your ass back here right now! You're in charge of the main console!"
Susan's eyes turned red.
The grievances of these seven years reached a peak at this moment.
"I said no! Without an eighty percent safety threshold, I will never agree to the launch!"
"Enough! I don't need your agreement!"
Reed interrupted her irritably, his tone laced with selfish indifference.
"You don't understand the value of this storm; no one can stop me! If you won't go, I'll go myself!"
The phone emitted a series of busy beeps.
A deathly silence fell over the private booth.
The hand Susan used to hold the phone dropped weakly.
She slumped into the leather seat like a fragile porcelain doll with the air sucked out of it.
This was the man she had stayed with for seven years.
In the face of his grand ideals, her so-called safety, her protests, even her very self...
Everything was cheaper than a string of garbled code on a screen.
Lin Nuo withdrew his mischievous hand.
He unhurriedly pulled a silk napkin from the table and wiped his knuckles.
"I heard it very clearly. With a forty percent survival rate, he didn't even hesitate before planning to have you buried with him."
Lin Nuo stood up and looked at the pale woman, his tone devoid of any pity.
"Let's go, Miss Stone. Let's go see that fiancé of yours who's ready to throw his life away for some scrap metal."
...
The night rain was still raging on the streets of Manhattan.
The maybach sped through the curtain of rain.
The car hurtled along, driving toward the Long Island Aviation Base taken over by the Star Umbrella Group.
The interior of the car was terrifyingly quiet.
Susan tightly clutched the man's suit jacket she was wearing, her face white without a trace of blood.
Lin Nuo sat in the driver's seat, his well-defined fingers controlling the steering wheel.
He didn't even spare her an extra glance.
He used the most cruel silence to let her swallow this bitter fruit herself.
The car rushed into the Base's underground garage.
Susan didn't wait for the car to come to a complete stop before pushing the door open and running toward the elevator that led directly to the control room.
Lin Nuo pulled out the car key and followed behind her with a steady pace.
He was like a hunter in control of the situation, quietly admiring the prey's final struggle.
In the top-floor control room, red warning lights flashed frantically!
Dozens of staff members were sweating profusely, anxiously tapping on their consoles.
Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling tempered glass, high-energy searchlights on the launch tower tore through the night sky.
That heavy-lift Rocket, which was originally supposed to be in final maintenance, was currently undergoing fuel loading.
"Reed!"
Susan pushed open the heavy alloy door and rushed into the control hall in her stilettos.
Reed Richards was standing in front of the main console.
His hands were propped on the table as he stared intently at the data on the screen.
Hearing the sound, he immediately turned his head.
This was the first time the two had met tonight.
Susan had taken off Lin Nuo's jacket.
She was only wearing that form-fitting royal blue haute couture velvet evening gown, which outlined her curves to perfection.
Her exposed swan-like neck and collarbones were still dazzlingly white under the piercing red light.
There was even a small red teeth mark left on the back of her neck.
Facing his almost unrecognizably beautiful fiancée, Reed's gaze didn't linger for a moment.
Even those expensive fabrics or moving curves failed to attract him for a single second.
"What are you doing dressed like this!"
Reed pointed at Susan in a rage.
"You're wasting time! Why aren't you at control station two checking the power module data! I told you to come back immediately, where on earth have you been fooling around!"
This single sentence completely crushed the last of the hope in Susan's heart into powder.
The idea of a woman dressing up for the one she loves was a ridiculous joke here.
Susan rushed forward and grabbed Reed's arm!
"Stop! Stop the fuel loading immediately! The shield parameters are wrong!"
"Once you enter the core of the storm, high-energy cosmic rays will penetrate the cabin and burn you all to ashes!"
"Let go!" Reed forcefully shook off her grip.
Susan staggered back several steps, nearly falling.
A strong arm reached out from behind her, steadily supporting the small of Susan's back.
Lin Nuo had walked up behind her at some point.
He didn't speak, only watched the maddened Reed with cold eyes.
Reed noticed this man with a powerful aura.
But his mind was currently filled only with the space storm.
"President Lin? You've come at just the right time! This is the great project you've invested in; tonight we will witness history! Have Susan start the main control system immediately!"
"History?"
The mist in Susan's eyes finally broke into a flood, but her voice was surprisingly devoid of any sob, leaving only a bone-chilling coldness.
"You are dragging everyone to their deaths. Where's Ben? Did you trick him into going up too?"
"Ben is checking the thrusters."
Reed pushed up his glasses indifferently.
"How can there be progress without sacrifice? It is their honor to dedicate themselves to science. If you're not going, then shut up and don't interfere with the ignition!"
Reed didn't give Susan a chance to speak at all.
He turned to grab a portable communicator from the table and strode toward the sterile tunnel connecting to the spacecraft.
"Reed!"
Susan lunged forward like crazy, trying to stop him.
"Get lost! Don't block my way!"
Reed showed no mercy, shoving her toward a nearby metal instrument.
Susan didn't hit the cold metal.
Lin Nuo pulled her back and firmly pressed her against his hard chest.
The man's large palm covered the back of her head.
He completely blocked her view of trying to chase after him within his embrace.
"Enough."
Lin Nuo's voice sounded above her head, carrying an irresistible majesty yet also a deadly sense of comfort.
Susan froze in Lin Nuo's arms.
The sound of the hatch door closing heavily echoed in her ears.
The man who had accompanied her for seven years had heartlessly left her behind when faced with a choice between life and death.
For his truth, he left without looking back.
From the speakers in the control room came the final electronic voice.
"Ignition!"
Chapter 70: The Scum Man Ascends, The Body Is More Honest Than The Mouth
A roar rose from the ground, and the entire foundation of the Base was shaking violently.
A massive blaze tore through the night sky, illuminating the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows with a deathly pallor.
Susan was forcibly pressed against Lin Nuo's hard chest, the deafening roar of the Rocket engine tearing through the air ringing in her ears.
The man who had accompanied her for seven years had truly left her behind!
In the top-secret cabin heading toward the Cosmic Storm, there was Ben, and there were the instruments he treasured as if they were his own life.
Yet, there was no place for her!
Not until the carrier Rocket completely turned into a red dot in the night sky did Lin Nuo slowly loosen the arm that had been imprisoning her waist.
Having lost that oppressive yet surprisingly steady support, Susan's legs were already too weak to stand.
She stumbled half a step and fell directly into the leather command chair behind her.
Inside the control hall, all the technicians were focused intently on the data frantically jumping across the large screen.
The red lights of the alarm sirens flashed alternately, stretching the atmosphere to a breaking point.
No one dared to turn around and glance at what was happening in the corner. In this area, Lin Nuo was the absolute master.
Lin Nuo strode forward, closing in on the woman huddled in the chair.
He did not sit in the adjacent seat, but leaned forward directly, his hands firmly braced on the metal armrests on both sides of Susan's chair.
His tall figure completely blocked Susan's line of sight and sealed off all her paths of retreat.
The man's body heat, radiating through her expensive royal blue velvet evening gown, was transmitted over domineeringly, burning Susan's fingertips until they went numb.
"Did you see that?"
"This is the fiancé you've thrown yourself at for seven years and guarded with unwavering devotion."
Lin Nuo lowered his voice, every word piercing straight into her weak point.
Susan's face was deathly pale, and she bit her lower lip tightly.
Her hands were clasped together, her knuckles white from the force.
"He didn't even leave a single word telling you to stay safe."
Lin Nuo watched her trying so hard to suppress her fragile appearance, raised his right hand, and his rough fingertips pressed lightly and firmly against the wet tear track at the corner of her eye.
The temperature of his fingertips was very high; the moment they touched her cold skin, it made Susanshudder.
"On the road to his so-called truth, you are merely dead weight that can be kicked away at any time."
Lin Nuo's tone revealed the coldness of a capitalist, cruelly tearing off Reed Richards' hypocritical mask.
"He is in space searching for the truth that will make his name go down in history, while you have been left on the ground where even breathing is considered superfluous."
"Susan, tell me, where exactly do you rank in his heart?"
"Don't say any more..." Susan's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, filled with suppressed sobs.
"Why not? Are you afraid to realize that the seven years you spent throwing yourself at him were a complete and utter joke?"
Lin Nuo did not withdraw his finger, but traced it down from the corner of her eye, across her cheek, and finally stopped on her fair, slender neck.
There, the ambiguous mark he had left in the private room still remained.
The man's thumb pressed and kneaded that slight redness maliciously, triggering a shiver like an electric shock.
"He doesn't need you, because you can't calculate those boring orbital change data."
"But with me, even a single strand of hair falling from you is worth a hundred times more than his pile of junk metal!"
Susan's breathing was rapid, her chest heaving violently.
Her already form-fitting velvet skirt hem rolled up due to her movements, revealing a length of blindingly white thigh.
She wanted to turn her head to avoid the man's burning touch, but Lin Nuo grabbed her chin directly, forcing her to lift her head and look straight into those eyes hidden behind gold-rimmed glasses.
"Open your mouth and answer me." Lin Nuo's command carried absolute authority.
"Is that good-for-nothing, who would let you die for a broken machine, still worth you shedding tears here?"
"I didn't..." Susan was forced to open her lips, her breathing completely chaotic, "He's just... paranoid..."
"Still lying to yourself."
Lin Nuo chuckled, the vibration of his chest conducting through the distance where they overlapped.
"You don't even have the confidence to lie."
"Baby, your body is much more honest than your mouth."
"Are you shaking so badly right now because you're afraid that blind fool will have an accident, or because I touched you here?"
The man's fingers traced down along her jawline, wantonly probing into the edge of her off-shoulder top, gently circling the hollow of her collarbone.
The aggressive action forced a flush of crimson to the corners of Susan's eyes, and a stifled sob escaped her throat.
She reached out to grab the hem of Lin Nuo's shirt, but the force of her resistance was soft and limp, appearing more like playing hard to get.
This intense feeling of being torn made her bounce back and forth on the edge of shame and sinking into it.
She despaired to find that at this moment, having been heartlessly abandoned by Reed Richards, the only one who could provide her with a sense of security was the domineering, completely unreasonable devil before her eyes.
"Mr. Lin, please... not here." Susan gave in, pleading with red-rimmed eyes.
"Not here?" Lin Nuo caught the compromise in her words and stroked her cheek soothingly with his fingertips.
"Does that mean if we go to a more private place, I can teach you even more outrageous things, and you'll obediently cooperate?"
Susan's cheeks flushed crimson, the heat spreading all the way to her ears, and she didn't dare to respond to that sentence at all.
The technicians in front suddenly erupted in terrified screams!
"Parameter anomaly! The Cosmic ray peak has exceeded the maximum threshold by four hundred times!"
"The outer radiation shielding plate is stuck! Structural tearing in the power cabin!"
"Communication signals are being interfered with by a strong magnetic field; they are about to lose contact!"
The piercing, highest-level alarm was ringing wildly in the control room.
Red strobe lights hit every panicked face.
Susan's body stiffened, and the lingering charm just stirred up by Lin Nuo vanished instantly.
She instinctively wanted to stand up and rush towards the main console.
"The shielding plate didn't deploy? Then the high-energy rays will pierce directly through their bodies!"
Lin Nuo didn't give her a chance to get up, wrapping one arm directly around her slender waist and forcibly pressing her back into the seat.
His large palm gripped the soft flesh of her lower back, stopping all her struggles.
"Let me go! They will die!" Susan was so anxious that tears kept falling.
Even if she had given up on Reed Richards, Ben was still up there, along with two other innocent astronauts!
"This is called getting what one deserves."
Lin Nuo's expression didn't fluctuate in the slightest; he didn't even glance at the big screen.
"Since he dared to ignite the Rocket without passing safety tests, he should have the awareness to bear the consequence of becoming space junk."
"No... the ground system can still try to force a restart of the defense module... I have to go to the main console!"
Susan desperately pried at the arm around her waist, which felt like it was cast from iron.
"Save your energy."
"With this level of Cosmic Storm, there is nothing you can do even if you go there now."
Susan completely collapsed in the chair, and the light in her eyes extinguished along with it.
Watching the woman's face, pale with despair, Lin Nuostraightened up.
"Don't punish yourself for someone else's mistakes; it's too stupid."
Lin Nuo reached out his large, bony-knuckled hand, palm up.
The man's gaze locked onto Susan's red lips, his tone filled with undisguised mischievousness.
"The storm that Reed Richards wouldn't take you to see, I will take you to see."
Chapter 71: Pay-to-Win Tycoon, Taking You to Watch Fireworks Together
Susan sat blankly in the leather seat.
Her gaze shifted with difficulty from the increasingly smaller red dot on the big screen to Lin Nuo's hands.
"Go to space?"
Even her voice was drifting.
"Just relying on those backup machines in the Base that haven't even finished their stress tests? That's suicide!"
Two extremely light laughs spilled from Lin Nuo's throat, the vibration of his chest conducting directly through the air.
"Comparing me to that loser who has been scraping by in the Underground Room for seven years?"
He took half a step forward with his long legs.
The fabric of his black dress pants pressed directly against Susan's exposed calves, the scorching heat seeping through unreasonably.
"What Reed plays is a blind box that bankrupts his family; what I play is the max-level experience of a pay-to-win player."
He had no extra patience to wait for Susan to mentally prepare herself.
He backhanded her slender wrist, applied a little force, and pulled her straight up from the chair.
Susan was wearing high heels and her legs were already weak.
Pulled by this force, she crashed straight into the man's broad, solid chest.
"Let's go, I'll take you to see what the romance of a top tycoon is like."
Lin Nuo took the opportunity to wrap his arm around her slender waist, half-dragging and half-carrying her towards the exclusive elevator behind the control room.
The elevator door closed, isolating the noise and the blinding red light outside.
The elevator car did not go up, but descended at an unconventional, rapid speed.
"Where are we going?"
Susan was cornered by him.
Her nose was filled with the man's aggressive woody cologne scent.
She could only press her hands against Lin Nuo's chest, trying to maintain a safe distance.
Lin Nuo let her press softly against him, instead leaning forward.
Susan's back pressed against the cold metal wall of the elevator, with nowhere left to retreat.
The man's scorching breath blew directly onto the top of her head.
"Your fiancé, whom you yearn for, has staked his life on scrap metal."
"I'll be merciful and take you to see with your own eyes how ridiculous his faith, which he treats like a god, is in the face of absolute power!"
...
With a "ding," the elevator door opened. Susan turned her head, her breath hitching completely.
What appeared before her eyes was a secret underground space dock several times larger than the ground launch center.
Under the cold, shadowless lights, a streamlined black warship was docked.
There were no cumbersome fuel tanks, nor crude boosters.
The special black radar-absorbent coating glowed with a faint, dark sheen under the lights.
The ship's surface was seamless, exuding a sense of future technology that did not belong to this era.
This was the stealth cruiser secretly built by the Star Umbrella Group.
It incorporated top-secret blueprints from Stark Industriesand integrated alien technology.
"What... what kind of propulsion system is this?"
Susan's professional instinct was awakened, her eyes filled with disbelief.
She broke free from Lin Nuo's embrace and took two steps forward.
"An arc reactor? No, the energy level is even higher than that!"
"What's wrong? Compared to that piece of junk of Reed's, where even the heat shield would jam, isn't this 'toy' much more pleasing to the eye?"
Lin Nuo strode up to her, standing by her side.
Susan bit her red lips; the scientific understanding she had built over seven years was collapsing wildly.
Reed boasted of being the smartest brain on Earth, thinking he held the key to the future.
But the man before her didn't care about boring theories at all.
He directly used his money power and black technology to create the future!
Dimensional strike, this is a thorough dimensional strike!
Lin Nuo ignored her shock, his large hand clasping her lower back again, the heat from his palm penetrating the velvet fabric.
"Let's go, Miss Stone. Your ex-boyfriend is probably already reciting his last will in that broken Rocket; if we go late, you won't even be able to see his whole body."
The two entered the interior of the warship via a holographic boarding bridge, and the luxury of the main control cabin refreshed Susan's perception once again.
Two fully enveloping leather seats sat side-by-side in front of a huge panoramic window.
"Sit down."
Lin Nuo gave the command.
Susan obediently walked to the co-pilot seat and sat down. The hem of her royal blue velvet evening gown rolled up due to the movement, revealing a large stretch of blindingly white thigh.
Just as she was about to pull the seatbelt herself, Lin Nuo's tall body pressed over.
The man supported himself with one hand on the side of the seat, while his other hand reached across her body to grab the metal buckle.
This posture was truly deadly.
Lin Nuo was almost half-lying on top of her, his solid chest, separated only by a thin high-end shirt, inevitably brushing against the sensitive skin of Susan's chest.
"Mr. Lin... I can do it myself."
Susan's cheeks flushed red, and her voice was shaking uncontrollably.
Her hands had nowhere to rest, so she could only pinch the hem of her skirt.
Lin Nuo didn't listen to her at all, pulling out the seatbelt and crossing it diagonally from below Susan's collarbone.
The man's knuckles pressed intentionally or unintentionally over the curve outlined by her dress.
His rough fingertips brushed across the velvet fabric, the tingling sensation shooting straight to Susan's scalp like an electric current.
The corners of her eyes flushed a deep red, and a suppressed whimper escaped her throat; she quickly bit her lower lip hard.
"What are you shaking for?" Lin Nuo turned his head.
The distance between the two was less than three centimeters, and his warm breath as he spoke sprayed entirely onto Susan's lips.
"Do you think being served by me like this is more interesting than calculating boring code in the Underground Room?"
Lin Nuo's gaze slid from her reddened earlobes all the way to the beautiful cleavage pushed up by her off-shoulder dress.
"Has Reed ever taught you how to enjoy life? He only knows how to squeeze your value dry in scraps of paper."
"Don't mention him..."
Susan turned her face away, not daring to look directly into those eyes.
The line of her neck was taut, showing an alluring sense of fragility.
With a "click," the metal buckle clicked into place.
Lin Nuo didn't stand up immediately; instead, he tilted his head and bit her fair earlobe.
Susan gasped, her hands instinctively gripping the edge of the seat.
The man only used his teeth to grind punishingly twice, without any further excessive actions.
He let go, watching with satisfaction as that patch of skin quickly flushed.
"You say not to mention him, but your body's reaction is honest."
Lin Nuo straightened up, casually adjusted his collar, and walked to the pilot's seat to sit down.
Susan gasped for air, her heartbeat completely out of rhythm; she couldn't even find the strength to retort.
On the edge of reason and betrayal, her body actually developed a shameful attachment to this kind of aggressive touch.
Lin Nuo's slender fingers tapped rapidly on the floating light keys.
"Red Queen, initiate ignition sequence!"
There was no ear-piercing roar, nor violent jolting.
The dark blue plasma exhaust at the bottom of the warship lit up.
The massive hull lifted off vertically and silently, in a posture that defied the common sense of gravity.
Susan sat in the seat.
If it weren't for the launch tower outside the panoramic window falling away rapidly, she wouldn't even have felt that she had left the ground.
"Lock onto the target, find the tin can flying around in the sky."
Lin Nuo's tone was lazy.
The holographic screen in front spread out, clearly displaying the real-time image of Reed's carrier Rocket and its horrific parameters.
At this moment, the communication channel unexpectedly intercepted the audio from inside the Rocket.
Reed's frantic voice echoed in the spacious cockpit.
"Ben! Go and manually lock the thrust valve of the No. 2 cabin! The temperature is too high, the automatic system has crashed!"
Ben's irritable response followed immediately.
"I told you this damn piece of junk wasn't ready! Do you want to get everyone killed?!"
"Shut up! For science, any price is worth it!"
Listening to the absurd argument on the audio, the lingering guilt in Susan's heart was torn to pieces bit by bit.
This was the man she had once tried to defend at all costs.
For the truth he spoke of, other people's lives were simply not worth mentioning.
The warship's ascent speed was extremely fast.
The night outside was quickly replaced by the thin stratosphere; without the cover of the atmosphere, the stars became exceptionally blinding.
Lin Nuo raised an eyebrow, his voice sounding particularly deep in the cabin as the air pressure changed.
"Are you ready? The adult's space walk is just beginning now!"
Chapter 72: Collapse of Reason, Communication in the Zero-Gravity Cabin
The black cruiser silently tore through the night sky, leaving the atmosphere far beneath it.
Susan sat in the leather passenger seat, her hands gripping the metal armrests on either side tightly.
Everything happened too fast!
From being abandoned by Reed Richards at the launch Base, to being forcibly taken aboard the interstellar warship by Lin Nuo.
This warship simply should not exist on Earth's technological tree.
Susan's brain was still a blank slate, completely crashed even now.
"Regret it?" Lin Nuo leaned lazily against the backrest of the pilot's seat, his long legs crossed.
He didn't even look at the complex holographic control screens in front of him, turning his head, his gaze falling wantonly on Susan's tense profile.
"If you beg me now to send you back to that Underground Room filled with the smell of grease and despair, there is still time!"
The man's voice sounded exceptionally deep in the quiet cabin, carrying undisguised mockery.
"I do not regret it!" Susan bit her red lips, stubbornly turning her head away to avoid looking at him.
But those reddened eyes betrayed the strength she was trying so hard to feign.
Just twenty minutes ago, the fiancé she had waited for for seven years had forcibly ignited the engines in pursuit of so-called scientific truth!
The shield parameters at that time were completely wrong! Reed Richards didn't even look back, simply abandoning her in the control room.
In his eyes, those jumping data points were always far more valuable than her.
"Stubborn." A soft chuckle escaped Lin Nuo's throat.
He was just about to lean in when a red warning halo suddenly lit up on the central console.
The voice of the AI Red Queen sounded in the cabin.
"Warning! The hull is about to pass through the ionosphere, high-energy magnetic field turbulence detected!"
"The gravity balance module requires a low-level self-check and restart, estimated to take five seconds."
As soon as the words fell, the seatbelt buckle on the chair emitted a slight click.
To prevent the gravity reversal from putting pressure on the human skeleton, the restraint straps automatically loosened by half an inch.
Before Susan could react, the gravity in the cabin dropped to zero in an instant!
A strong sense of weightlessness swept over her, and Susan's body floated up from the leather seat uncontrollably.
Completely losing the support of solid ground, her hands instinctively flailed in mid-air, wanting to grab onto something.
"Ah!" Extreme panic made her scream, and her whole body collided towards the metal plate on the cabin ceiling.
Just at the moment she was about to hit the cold cabin wall, Lin Nuo moved!
Relying on the fusion of the Asgardian Divine Constitutionand Hulk's genes, Lin Nuo's physical fitness was terrifying.
This level of weightlessness didn't even count as a warm-up for him.
He pushed off the edge of the console with one hand, his tall and sturdy body darting into mid-air like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Reaching out with a long arm, Lin Nuo accurately gripped Susan's slender waist, taking the opportunity to pull her entirely into his embrace.
The cabin tilted to one side in the turbulence.
Under the influence of inertia, the two bodies crashed straight toward the narrow emergency isolation section at the rear.
Susan closed her eyes in fear, waiting for the sharp pain to come.
Bang! A dull thud sounded in her ears.
The pain she expected did not appear. Susan slowly opened her eyes and found herself wrapped in a broad, hot chest.
At the final moment before hitting the metal bulkhead, Lin Nuo forcibly twisted his body.
He used his broad, sturdy back to forcibly shoulder all the impact.
Lin Nuo had no intention of letting go.
That arm wrapped around Susan's waist was more overbearing than the strongest alloy chain, pinning her firmly in his arms.
Inside the cramped emergency section, the oxygen circulation system emitted a slight hum.
This space was too cramped; the two of them didn't even have room to change their posture.
Susan's hands pressed against Lin Nuo's chest, separated by that expensive custom-made shirt.
She could clearly feel the outline of the man's bulging and powerful pectoral muscles, as well as the scorching body temperature being continuously transmitted.
...
And half an hour ago, in the control room of the launch Base.
Facing the scene that was about to spiral out of control, the first thing Reed Richards did was to roughly push her toward that pile of cold metal instruments.
A so-called legitimate fiancé treated her as a shield that could be discarded at any time.
Yet a devilish capitalist who had forced her to sign a contract of indenture using overbearing means had, in the out-of-control space cabin, used his own body as the safest cushion for her.
This absurd contrast shattered the last line of defense in Susan's heart.
"Moving around at this altitude is very dangerous, Miss Stone."
Lin Nuo's voice came directly from above her head.
The two were so close that the warm air expelled when the man spoke sprayed completely onto the most delicate soft flesh on the side of Susan's neck.
A tingling sensation like an electric shock shot straight up her scalp along her spine.
Susan's legs went weak. If she hadn't been in a state of weightlessness, and with that powerful arm clutching her waist, she would definitely have collapsed directly onto the deck.
"Mr. Lin... you can let me go now..."
Susan's voice trembled uncontrollably, carrying a softness and plea she hadn't even realized herself.
"Let you go?" Lin Nuo's large palm not only didn't loosen, but instead slid up half an inch along the curve of her waist.
His rough fingertips, separated by the royal blue velvet fabric, wickedly kneaded the soft flesh there.
"Let you float in this gravity-free cabin as a beautiful blue human specimen?"
"I..." Susan gasped from his kneading, her eye corners forced into a flush of crimson, and a suppressed whimper escaped her throat.
She could clearly hear the steady heartbeat coming from Lin Nuo's chest.
That powerful rhythm, mixed with her own completely out-of-control heartbeat, was amplified infinitely in the enclosed space.
Lin Nuo lowered his head, his high, straight nose bridge brushing against her burning earlobe intentionally or unintentionally.
"Is your heart beating so fast because of the weightlessness, or because I touched you here?"
The aggressive woody cologne scent arrogantly crowded out all the oxygen around Susan.
The man bent one long leg, domineeringly squeezing between Susan's legs, forcibly restricting all her possible movements of escape.
This was a posture of confinement full of absolute possessiveness and oppression.
"Don't do this!"
Susan pushed against his hard chest in vain, her cheeks flushed bright red, the heat spreading all the way to her collarbone.
"You promised, you were just taking me to take a look..."
"I promised to take you to see a show, but I never said I wouldn't collect some interest during the process."
Lin Nuo's free hand gripped her delicate chin, forcing her to raise her head.
In those eyes hidden behind gold-rimmed glasses, desire was surging crazily.
"Your fiancé, who has nothing but scrap paper in his head, was willing to let you wait for him for three hours on Earth."
"In space, for a few sets of broken data, he was even more willing to simply throw you away. Susan, you are truly pitiful!"
Lin Nuo's words were like a sharp scalpel, ruthlessly cutting open her festering wounds.
"Admit it, Susan!"
"Leaving that piece of trash and staying in my arms, isn't it much safer than staying in that broken Underground Room?"
Susan closed her eyes, tears finally gushing down; she could not refute.
Because under this man's rough yet comprehensive protection, her body had indeed betrayed her reason.
She had developed a shameful attachment.
"Be good, open your eyes. Watch how I fill in the emptiness of these seven years of yours."
The moment Susan trembled and opened her eyes, the man lowered his head, directly blocking all her unuttered rebuttals.
This was a deeply predatory kiss. Lin Nuo forcefully pried open her teeth, launching an all-out offensive without reservation.
In the state of weightlessness, Susan had nowhere to leverage force at all.
She could only cling completely to the man's shoulders, letting him deprive her of the last remaining air in her lungs.
The man's lips and tongue, carrying the mellow fragrance of leftover red wine and scorching temperature, arrogantly swept across every inch of sensitivity inside her mouth.
"Mmm..."
Susan was kissed until she couldn't breathe, able only to emit a helpless nasal sound.
Her hands tightly clutched the shirt fabric on Lin Nuo's back, pulling the expensive material into wrinkles.
Lin Nuo's kiss followed the corners of her lips all the way down, lingering on her fair and slender swan-like neck.
His teeth gently sucked and bit on that tender skin, leaving an ambiguous red mark.
"This is mine too."
Lin Nuo lowered his voice, declaring ownership.
Susan's body went limp like a pool of Water, her reason completely collapsing under the man's offensive.
In this vacuum zone far away from Earth, no one could come to save her.
Not even she herself wanted to be redeemed.
Just at this moment, the Red Queen's alarm sound broke the peace once again!
Chapter 73: Burning Chest, the Scum Man Only Sees Data
"Alarm! High-intensity gamma-ray burst detected!"
"An ultra-high-density energy vortex has appeared directly in front of the ship and is approaching rapidly! Contact expected in thirty seconds!"
Susan's brain was still oxygen-deprived from that suffocating kiss just moments ago.
Her whole body had turned to soft water, and she couldn't muster an ounce of strength.
This sudden alarm brought her consciousness back to reality in an instant!
The rich aroma of red wine lingering on her lips and teeth, along with the burning breath belonging to another man, had not yet dissipated, and every inch of her skin was still branded with the temperature of his fingertips.
Susan shuddered and used all her strength to push away the iron-hard chest in front of her!
In the state of weightlessness, she drifted backward uncontrollably.
She tumbled awkwardly in mid-air, finally managing to grab the cold bulkhead and steady herself.
Still shaken, she turned her head and looked out through the massive panoramic porthole.
At just one glance, the blood in her body froze!
The once quiet and deep Universe background was now completely torn apart by a violent, dark red energy!
That was absolutely not some gentle Nebula!
It was a Cosmic Storm!
It had arrived early, and its scale far exceeded the expectations of any theoretical model!
That dark red energy vortex was like an ancient beast waking up, opening its massive mouth to devour everything.
Countless fragments of meteorites were swept into it, and without even a chance to struggle, they were ground into dust by the terrifying energy.
The dark red high-energy rays were like twisted, writhing giant pythons, dancing wildly in the vacuum, releasing energy capable of destroying everything!
Any matter, even a sturdy starship, would be completely disintegrated in less than a second once caught in the energy core!
"It's madness..."
Susan's lips lost all color from fear, and her voice trembled uncontrollably.
"Reed's calculation model is wrong; he has led everyone into a dead end!"
Seven years of waiting, seven years of support...
She had always thought she was supporting a genius, a future leader.
But at this moment, the cruel reality told her that she was only supporting a paranoid gambler!
And he had used everyone's life as a stake.
She turned around in a panic, wanting to rush back to the main console, if only to make some futile effort!
But as soon as she moved, her wrist was grabbed by a warm, powerful hand.
Lin Nuo still maintained his original posture, leaning lazily against the inner wall of the emergency cabin.
The apocalyptic scene behind him, which would have caused any experienced astronaut to have a mental breakdown, was nothing more than an insignificant fireworks display.
There was not a hint of panic on his face; his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were as deep as ever, and even the frequency of his breathing hadn't changed in the slightest.
"What's the rush?"
Lin Nuo's voice was deep and melodious, yet carried a hint of casual amusement.
"The good show has only just begun, hasn't it?"
He applied a little force to his wrist, and an irresistible power pulled Susan back into his arms against her will.
His solid chest collided with her back, and the familiar, overbearing scent of woody cologne enveloped her once again, isolating her from the cold and chaos of the outside World.
"Let go of me!"
Susan's eyes instantly turned red with anxiety, and her voice carried a hint of tears.
"I need to connect to their communication channel! I must make them turn back immediately! There's still a chance now!"
"As you wish."
Far from letting go, Lin Nuo held her even tighter in his arms, forming a posture of absolute confinement.
He used his free hand to tap a few times casually on the emergency communication module on the bulkhead.
"Red Queen, project the internal video and communications from that tin can onto the main screen."
The next second, the holographic screen directly in front of the cockpit suddenly lit up.
On the screen, Reed's crude transport Rocket, modified from a cargo ship, was rolling wildly on the edge of the violent energy vortex like a helpless, tattered leaf in a storm.
The blinding red alarm lights made everyone's face in the cabin look as pale as a ghost.
"Shield energy is down to twelve percent!"
"Structural damage to the right wing of the ship!"
"Ben, you idiot!"
"Why didn't you manually lock the number three cooling valve!"
"Can't you see the temperature is overloading!"
From the communicator came Reed's hysterical roaring, irritable and filled with neuroticism.
Susan held back the bone-chilling cold surging in her heart and spoke tremblingly into the built-in communicator in Lin Nuo's arms.
"Reed, it's Susan!"
"Activate the backup shields immediately and turn back right now!"
"Your shields can't withstand the peak of this storm at all; turn back quickly!"
Her voice, transmitted through a top-secret encrypted channel, reached the Rocket that was about to disintegrate.
On the screen, Reed, who was roaring at the dashboard, paused.
He turned his head stiffly, his eyes, filled with crazed bloodshot veins, staring fixedly at the camera in front of him, as if he wanted to see through the lens to this side.
His eyes revealed a near-pathological madness and jealousy, as if his territory had been violated.
"Susan? Why are you there?"
"What is the ship next to you?!"
Reed did not respond to any of her warnings.
He didn't care about the storm, nor did he care about turning back.
His first reaction was actually to question why she appeared in a safer ship.
In that instant, Susan's heart grew cold inch by inch.
"I said, turn back immediately!"
She screamed with her last ounce of strength.
"Shut up!"
Reed interrupted her rudely, his face twisted with fanaticism.
"What do you know? This is the closest humanity has ever been to the source of the Universe!"
"Data! I want data! All the data!"
He didn't pay any attention to Susan's warning, nor did he care why Susan appeared here, or whether she lived or died.
Like a madman who had completely lost his sanity, he stumbled toward the main console.
He wanted to salvage that cold data from the system that was on the verge of collapse!
"Quick! Protect the core data array in the host!"
"That's my life! It's mine!"
Before he finished speaking, there was a loud bang!
The side of the Rocket was hit by a meteorite fragment accelerated in the vortex, and the fragile hull was torn open with a huge gap!
Terrifying cosmic rays and the vacuum environment instantly poured into the cabin!
The screen shook violently.
Ben roared as he lunged at Reed, wanting to drag him into the only remaining escape pod.
"Are you going to get everyone killed for your pile of junk data!"
"Get lost!"
Reed didn't even look at Ben!
He shoved Ben, who had come to save him, away and used his own body to tightly shield the host hard drive that was flashing with a static screen.
Clutching it like a peerless treasure, he curled up in the shaking corner, protecting the machine in his arms.
"My data can't be lost... can't be lost... not a single bit can be lost..."
Watching this scene on the holographic screen, Susanfroze completely in place, unable to move a muscle.
What crushed the last bit of luck and fantasy in her heart was the near-pathological obsession in his eyes for that cold data.
In his World, besides those codes made of 0s and 1s, there was nothing else worth a glance from him.
There was no concern for her, no regret for the passing of his companions, no basic reverence for life whatsoever.
He was truly just a complete madman.
"Did you see that?"
Lin Nuo's voice echoed softly in her ear, like a demon's whisper, carrying a hint of cold amusement and understanding.
"In his World, a hard drive of a few dozen TB is more important than your life."
Chapter 74: Grasping Her Slender Waist, Whispering in Her Ear, Utterly Provocative
The image on the holographic screen was completely swallowed by a blinding white light that consumed everything amidst the final madness and distortion.
In the communication channel, only the crackling static of the current remained.
Reed's Rocket, carrying his so-called great ideals, along with the man himself, turned into a brilliant yet cold cloud of cosmic dust in the core area of the Cosmic Storm.
Dead?
The man who occupied her entire youth, the man she once looked up to and chased.
Just like that, he died?
Susan stared blankly at the white light that was slowly dissipating, the strength in her body completely drained in that instant.
A piece of her soul had been gouged out, leaving behind a hollow black hole.
She didn't cry; she didn't even feel a shred of sadness.
In the depths of her heart, only a numb coldness remained.
She was like a crazed gambler.
After losing her last chip and being thrown out of the casino with her limbs broken.
Finally, lying in the mud, she welcomed that belated, ridiculously extreme clarity.
She saw clearly how absurd her obsession and fantasies over the past years had been—a one-woman show!
So, love or lack thereof, life or death, to him, were really not even as important as a hard drive.
And she, for such a man, had gambled everything she had!
Just then, a sharp alarm pierced the deathly silence!
"Warning! This ship has entered the core area of the Cosmic Storm! Energy shields at twelve percent, irreversible structural damage has occurred!"
"Warning! Outer armor is beginning to dissolve, dissolution rate at seven percent, fifteen percent, thirty percent!"
"Repeat! Energy shields are about to fail! Five, four, three..."
The cold electronic countdown seemed to be pronouncing their death sentence.
The black cruiser began to shake violently like never before, and the screeching sound of twisting metal came from all directions.
The lights inside the cabin flickered crazily, alternating between light and dark.
Strong sensations of weightlessness and hypergravity alternated irregularly, causing Susan's stomach to churn violently.
She could no longer hold on, her body went limp, and she instinctively closed her eyes.
Using her last ounce of strength, she gripped the crisp shirt of the man in front of her tightly.
The expensive texture of the fabric came through her fingertips; it was the only reality she could perceive at this moment.
Death, in this moment, had actually become a relief.
That's fine...
Let this Cosmic Storm bury all her stupidity and humbleness, along with this weary body!
However, the excruciating pain of her body being torn apart by cosmic rays that she had anticipated did not come.
At the very instant the cruiser's energy shields completely shattered!
A gentle yet peerless, powerful force erupted from the chest of the man she was pressed tightly against!
That was not any known form of energy.
It was intangible and formless, carrying an ancient and domineering aura from the beginning of creation.
Susan clearly felt an invisible membrane spreading silently outward with Lin Nuo as the center.
Like the decree of a god, it instantly opened up an absolute domain with a diameter of about three meters!
Wrapping her and Lin Nuo tightly within it.
The ship's hull, which had been shaking violently and on the verge of disintegration, was instantly hit with a pause button.
All vibrations, shaking, and tearing ceased quietly within this small domain.
The piercing alarm, the groaning of metal, and the roaring of the Cosmic Storm all vanished in an instant.
The World fell into an eerie silence.
Susan trembled and slowly opened her eyes, which were blurred by tears.
The sight before her caused her physics knowledge system, which she had prided herself on, to be crushed to pieces and completely collapse in an instant!
Through that field of force that rippled slightly like Water, she could clearly see the cosmic rays outside the cabin like roaring dark red waves, crazily crashing against this small safe zone.
Those terrifying energies, capable of melting super-alloy armor in one ten-thousandth of a second, hit an invisible wall the moment they touched the edge of the force field!
They were forcibly twisted and decomposed to the sides, dissipating into harmless particle streams.
The inner bulkhead of the cruiser, under the direct irradiation of the rays, was melting rapidly like a candle scorched by flames.
The expensive composite materials didn't even have time to turn into liquid before they sublimated directly into nothingness.
But inside the force field, even the temperature of the air had not changed in the slightest.
She could even smell the crisp, faint scent on Lin Nuo, like a pine forest after snow.
Here was the center of the earth-shattering Cosmic Storm.
Here was also an absolutely safe harbor of Eternity.
Susan stiffly lifted her head, inch by inch.
Her unfocused gaze finally fell upon the face of the man in front of her.
Lin Nuo still held her slender waist, which could be encircled by one hand, with a strong grip.
The force was irresistible, as if he wanted to embed her into his own body.
His other hand was casually tucked into the pocket of his crisp trousers, his posture as relaxed as if he were taking a walk in his own back garden.
His breathing was not the least bit disordered.
In the eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses, there was even a hint of playfulness and interest in appreciating the apocalyptic spectacle.
In his view, the earth-shattering Cosmic Storm outside was nothing more than an afternoon movie with slightly exaggerated special effects.
And he was the only audience.
"You..."
Susan's throat was painfully dry.
Her vocal cords felt as if they had been rubbed with sandpaper; using all her strength, she could only squeeze out a hoarse, broken syllable.
Countless questions were stuck in her throat, but she couldn't ask a single word.
"Shh."
Lin Nuo lowered his head, his slender index finger gently pressing against her cold lips.
The touch was cool like jade, but it contained an irresistible absolute will, instantly stopping all the questions and horror she was about to utter.
"Don't speak, just watch."
The man's voice was deep.
He turned his head slightly, his warm breath spraying onto her ear, bringing a ticklish sensation that made her shiver.
"This is the fireworks I prepared just for you."
His voice carried a hint of cold laughter and a tenderness that was almost cruel.
"Do you like it?"