Chapter 166: Delusion?

A familiar character from the original novel immediately came to mind.

’Could he be Sheng Ouling?’

Sheng Ouling was one of the supporting characters who had caused considerable trouble for the original heroine, Su Yao.

In the novel, Su Yao possessed a system that continuously provided her with resources and rewards.

However, the system also frequently issued missions related to acquiring new husbands.

Whenever a suitable target appeared, Su Yao would receive a notification encouraging her to pursue him.

As Ni Mengxue recalled the original plot, she couldn’t help feeling that Su Yao had treated the entire process like a game.

Whenever a new target appeared, Su Yao would gradually lose interest in her existing husbands.

She would then come up with various excuses to justify pursuing another man.

Sheng Ouling had been one of those targets.

However, unlike many of the others, he had been exceptionally difficult to win over.

Su Yao had pursued him for three entire years before he finally accepted her proposal.

Unfortunately, his life after marriage hadn’t been particularly pleasant.

He suffered considerably because of Su Yao’s treatment.

Yet by then, he had fallen so deeply in love with her that he interpreted those hardships as sacrifices necessary to maintain their marriage.

He never realized that Su Yao was deliberately punishing him for the difficulties he had caused during their courtship.

And Su Yao had never bothered explaining the truth.

Recalling all this, Ni Mengxue became curious.

She walked closer to the young man and examined him carefully.

Sure enough, his appearance matched the description of Sheng Ouling from the novel.

Ni Mengxue pursed her lips.

’How did one of Su Yao’s future husbands end up in my base?’

However, another question quickly occurred to her. ’Why did I blacklist him?’

She immediately opened the system records.

After searching through the list, she found his name.

Sure enough, Sheng Ouling was among the residents who had exploited the quest completion loophole.

Ni Mengxue let out a chuckle. As expected of people associated with Su Yao. All of them are con artists.

She approached the crowd just as several residents began defending him.

"Is the base leader some kind of tyrant?"

"Why would they blacklist such a young man?"

Another resident whispered, "Sheng Ouling is actually a very kind person. Once, when my leg cramped so badly that I couldn’t move, he brought me food."

"That’s right. He even ran an errand for me when I was injured. He’s always willing to help others."

Ni Mengxue listened quietly.

From what she remembered, Sheng Ouling was indeed a kindhearted person.

He genuinely enjoyed helping people and rarely refused someone in need.

Unfortunately, he also had a rather troublesome habit.

Whenever he was assigned physically demanding work, he would look for shortcuts.

And now, that habit had apparently caused him trouble.

Ni Mengxue took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"Well, I heard that everyone who previously cheated the system has been blacklisted."

The surrounding residents immediately turned toward her.

One of them frowned. "And who are you?"

Ni Mengxue calmly replied, "I’m an acquisition representative."

She continued, "I’m responsible for recruiting residents from other bases. The base leader recently informed me about several people who took advantage of the employment system."

The crowd fell silent.

Ni Mengxue explained, "Apparently, some residents believed nobody was monitoring their activities. They accepted collection quests, submitted nothing, and still claimed the rewards by marking their tasks as completed."

She shook her head.

"After reviewing the records, the base leader became furious and blacklisted everyone involved."

Hearing her explanation, the residents began whispering among themselves.

Some looked surprised, while others appeared doubtful.

However, Sheng Ouling immediately became agitated.

His face flushed as he pointed toward Ni Mengxue. "You’re talking nonsense!"

Yet internally he was filled with panic and unwillingness, ’I indeed did it three to four times but that was because I was busy helping others complete their quest and hadn’t collected enough point to afford any food. Does the base leader need to be so mean?’

Ni Mengxue blinked.

Before she could respond, he continued angrily, "Just because you’re beautiful doesn’t mean you can use such ridiculous tricks to attract my attention!"

Ni Mengxue stared at him. ’What?’

For a moment, she genuinely wondered whether she had heard him correctly.

’Is there something wrong with this guy’s brain?’

She had merely explained why certain residents had been blacklisted.

How had that turned into an attempt to attract his attention?

Before she could say anything, a cold female voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Well, perhaps she really is trying to attract your attention."

Everyone turned around.

Miley was standing nearby, watching the situation with obvious amusement.

She glanced at Ni Mengxue before shifting her attention toward Sheng Ouling.

"Otherwise, why would she bother saying all that nonsense to you?"

Turning toward Sheng Ouling she smiled and motioned with her hand. "Ouling, come here."

Her voice softened. "Join me. I promise I’ll treat you well."

Sheng Ouling looked at her briefly before turning his face away.

He had no intention of rushing over simply because a woman called him.

In his opinion, a man who abandoned his dignity and obeyed a woman’s every command would eventually lose all respect.

Besides, he had already noticed Miley’s interest in him.

The more he ignored her, the more determined she became to win his affection.

He had been deliberately playing hard to get, and judging from her reaction, the strategy was working perfectly.

Sure enough, Miley didn’t appear offended by his refusal.

Instead, her smile widened. "What a cutie."

She looked at Sheng Ouling with increasing interest.

"Man, you have successfully caught my attention."

Ni Mengxue blinked. Then she stared at Ma Li in disbelief.

’Wait a minute. Wasn’t that the classic line of a domineering CEO?’

Miley suddenly turned toward Ni Mengxue and gave a disdainful snort. "And you! Leave this base before I become furious with you."

"On what grounds are you saying these words?" Ni Mengxue gave a low laugh, but her smile froze when she heard what she said.

"On the grounds that the base leader is pursuing me!"