Chapter 457 - 291: You’re Spying on Me?

Chapter 457: Chapter 291: You’re Spying on Me?

"Isn’t this something I, as her mother, should be concerned about?"

Marcia nodded seriously, her expression matter-of-fact. "While it’s true I’m usually too busy with business to be very involved in your life, I’ve still been gathering information on you. As long as I can confirm you’re living comfortably and safely, I can rest easy."

"My daughter is so beautiful. She’s been attracting hordes of boys since she was little, and even more so now. I don’t want my precious girl to suddenly show up at my door with a big belly, knocked up by some unsuitable man."

"Oh, don’t worry, young man. I’m not talking about you. I’ve looked into you as well. If it were you, I’d actually be a little more at ease."

"You’re spying on me?!?!!!!!"

Erica shrieked.

"No, not spying. Merely gathering intelligence, like a businesswoman."

"Leaving that aside for a moment, how could you ask him that sort of thing? That’s so rude!"

"I know, which is why I prefaced it. Since he’s chosen to be with my daughter, I certainly have the right to ask about such matters."

"Please, I’m twenty-five, not fifteen! Don’t I even have that much freedom?"

"Does that mean you two have already..."

"We haven’t!"

Lin Chen couldn’t listen anymore. He quickly interjected, not daring to keep driving. He simply pulled the handbrake and stopped the car in the forest.

He turned around to face them both and held up a finger.

"First, Erica and I are not together right now. We are just partners and friends. Please don’t misstate that when you talk. It creates a lot of trouble for me."

"Second, based on the previous point, it’s impossible for anything intimate to happen between Erica and me. Lady Marcia, please don’t worry yourself over it."

"Finally, while it may not be my place to say this as an outsider who knows nothing about your family matters, you two are still mother and daughter. You have countless ties that bind you, and there’s no deep-seated hatred between you. Please try to be a little more patient when you communicate. Using such an aggressive tone will only escalate the conflict."

"Especially you, Erica. I know you’re upset, but treating your mother this way will only make her upset, too. This does absolutely no good and only harm when it comes to mending your relationship."

"Mend our relationship? Who, me? With her? Heh!"

Erica let out two cold laughs, but out of respect for Lin Chen, she closed her mouth and turned to stare straight ahead.

Seeing Erica quiet down, Lin Chen turned to Marcia. "My lady, what about you?"

The woman nodded gravely. "Of course I don’t want to argue with her. As you can see, my tone has been perfectly calm. I don’t understand why she always speaks to me in such an emotional way."

Her words nearly set off Erica, who had just managed to calm down. Just as she was about to erupt, Lin Chen placed a hand on her arm and shook his head. She took a few deep breaths, opened the car window to let in the fresh air, and did her best to suppress the rage boiling inside her.

"Other than her father, I’ve never seen her listen to anyone. Lin, you truly are special."

"It’s my honor. But Lady Marcia, you should also say a little less. Since you know you two argue the moment you meet, it means there’s definitely a problem with how you communicate. If you don’t want to make things worse, please try to minimize topics related to her. Otherwise, I’m afraid we won’t be able to go through with this experience."

"Alright, alright. We’ll put these things aside for now and talk after the experience is over. I also want to experience for myself what kind of life my daughter has been living all these years."

Lin Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief as the dispute subsided.

As he turned back around, he couldn’t help but glance at Erica, worried about her emotional state, especially since he had been suppressing her the whole time.

Fortunately, the girl just rolled her eyes. She didn’t seem too upset, and the target of her eye-roll seemed to be the woman in the back, not him.

The SUV drove through the forest with ease, quickly arriving at an area cordoned off with netting.

"Everything behind this fence is my territory. The road we just took will be paved eventually so you can drive right in. It’s just that those workers are so inefficient. They haven’t even dug much of the roadbed after three days."

"That’s how it is," Marcia said in agreement. "In my years of work, I’ve been to many countries around the world, and I have to admit that in this respect, Westerners are truly too lazy. It’s as if they only work to complete a task, not to strive for a better life."

"Only people from a few countries in Asia work relatively hard, especially the Filipinos and you Da Xia People. Some people from the Middle East are also good to work with."

"It’s nearly impossible to make these lazy folks more diligent, unless you can find their weakness or figure out a way to increase their motivation. Only then might you improve their work efficiency."

’Increase their motivation...’

Lin Chen nodded thoughtfully. He got out of the car, opened the gate in the fence, drove through, and locked it again, parking the car just off to the side.

"These are GoPros. They’ll record each of our perspectives and will provide the footage for the video later. I hope you both can restrain yourselves a bit while we’re recording."

After they put on the cameras, Lin Chen gave them one last reminder, then signaled that they could start recording.

"Welcome, everyone, to my survival experience channel. I’m Lin Chen, and this is Erica. Today, we are honored to have invited a lucky winner chosen by the number of likes from all of you—Lady Marcia!"

Lin Chen first held the camera up to himself, panned over to Erica, and finally focused on Marcia.

"Hello, everyone~"

The woman smiled and waved.

After a simple and direct opening, Lin Chen cut straight to the chase.

"Miss Marcia hopes to experience the same no-tool survival we did in Panama. And she has no experience in this area. She’s cranking the difficulty up to the max right from the start! Her spirit is commendable."

"Because this is an experience, and to ensure safety, Erica and I will still carry the necessary tools, but we will try our best not to use them. If, after some time, we find that no-tool survival is too difficult, we can start using them at any time."

"Well then, Lady Marcia, please begin. Choose where you want to go."

Lin Chen made a gesture of invitation, took two steps back, and handed the lead over to her.

Since it was an experience, it wouldn’t feel like much of one if the two of them, with all their expertise, took the lead. It would be more like a scenic tour, lacking the urgent pressure of survival.

So, he and Erica had discussed it at length over the past few days and decided on a plan where the participant would move freely on their own, with the two of them simply following.

The experience would last for three days. On the first day, they would do nothing but follow. If the participant couldn’t find food, they would go hungry too.

If the situation hadn’t improved by the second day, only then would they intervene.

The moment Lin Chen finished speaking, Erica was already crossing her arms and looking at Marcia with a smirk, her expression screaming, ’I’d like to see what you’ve got.’

Although she didn’t say it, Lin Chen could guess what she was thinking.

’It was probably something along the lines of, ’Didn’t you say you were gathering intel on me? You must have watched *Wild Survival*, then. Go on, prove you weren’t lying.’’

Marcia was, after all, a powerful businesswoman who had poured almost all her time into her work. She really didn’t have much of a concept of wilderness survival.

If her daughter hadn’t participated in that show, she probably would have never even taken the time to watch TV.

Upon learning that she would have to rely on herself for the entire day, the business titan seemed unusually calm, with not a trace of panic on her face.

She looked around. They were still at the foot of the mountain—no, they were actually a fair distance from it. It probably didn’t matter which direction she went.

However, she didn’t move right away. Instead, she rested her chin in her hand, closed her eyes, and thought for a moment before suddenly striding off to the east.

"Oh?"

Seeing the direction she chose, a flash of surprise crossed Lin Chen’s face. He nudged Erica with his elbow.

"Your mom didn’t just pick that randomly, did she? She must have chosen that direction for a reason."

There was no way they could fit three days of recording into one video, so this part of the conversation could just be edited out. He didn’t need to worry about revealing any secrets.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right. She must have looked at a map beforehand."

A woman who could claw her way up in the United States business world and establish her own hotel chain wouldn’t act without preparation.

To the east, whether you headed north, south, or straight, you would eventually reach the sea.

This wasn’t a sandy beach, but the channel that extended to Albany Port, the kind that large cargo ships could navigate. For a tiny human, there wasn’t much difference.

It might not look far on a map, but on foot, the journey would still take some time.

"Your mom’s so busy she doesn’t even have time to see you or call you. Does she have time to work out?"

"Hah, I hope she makes a fool of herself. It would be best if she gave up in a few hours, then she’d never have the nerve to show her face in front of me again."

"Stop being so defensive. I don’t know what happened between you two, but saying such nasty things is what children do. It will only make your relationship worse."

"Tch, you’re a few months younger than me, but you talk like an old man. Are you an old man? Lecturing people every time you open your mouth."

"Age isn’t the point. It’s because you keep doing childish things. From my perspective, you just look like a kid acting out to get someone’s attention."

It was just an offhand comment, but to his surprise, a flash of panic appeared in Erica’s eyes. She vehemently denied it.

"Nonsense! Who would want to get her attention?"