Chapter 197: Play to Your Strengths (ii)

The livestream chat exploded.

"Holy crap! A bird!"

"What a huge bird!"

"Why did Mo Xian agree to everything? Now she’s angry!"

"So that’s why Mr. Fu’s daughter keeps failing at blind dates!"

"Mo Xian is doomed!"

"If he agrees, she transforms into a pigeon and attacks him."

"But if he refuses, the deal fails."

"This is a deadlock!"

Inside Room 513, the giant pigeon flapped its enormous wings.

Rotten feathers covered its body.

Some were wrinkled and decayed.

Worse—

Maggots crawled between them.

The stench filling the room came from those rotten feathers.

Mo Xian stood slowly.

"Damn."

"The more I agree, the more unreasonable you become."

He glanced toward the door.

At this point, successfully closing the sales deal would be a miracle.

The giant pigeon shrieked.

"Say it!"

"Will you agree?"

"Will you agree?!"

Flap!

Its enormous wings beat the air.

Despite the low ceiling, it rose into the air.

Then it suddenly dove toward Mo Xian.

Its claws extended.

Ten curved talons flashed like blades.

They aimed directly at his head.

Mo Xian’s scalp tightened.

He couldn’t reach the door in time.

So he dropped.

Bang!

The claws missed his head.

Mo Xian rolled several times across the floor and immediately crawled beneath the table.

The pigeon screamed.

"Say it!"

"When you encounter a difficult question, you just stay silent?!"

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Its claws slammed into the table.

Cracks spread across the wooden surface.

Mo Xian remained underneath.

But his expression had suddenly become calm.

He looked at the cracks.

Then—

A strange light flashed through his eyes.

"Time Jump."

Buzz!

The air trembled.

For a moment, everything around Mo Xian seemed to distort.

A scene appeared inside his mind.

Not the present.

The future.

He saw the next fifteen seconds.

The pigeon would destroy the table.

The table would collapse.

Mo Xian would roll away.

The pigeon would notice him.

It would dive again.

He would attempt to reach the door.

Then—

The future continued.

Mo Xian’s eyes narrowed.

He didn’t need to experience those fifteen seconds.

He only needed to choose where he wanted to arrive.

Buzz!

The space around his body trembled.

Time Jump activated.

The fifteen seconds between his current position and the selected future point were simply erased.

To Mo Xian—

He had experienced the entire sequence in his mind.

To everyone else—

Those fifteen seconds had never happened.

Bang!

The table suddenly exploded.

The pigeon stared at the wreckage.

But Mo Xian was no longer beneath it.

He was already standing beside the door.

The pigeon froze.

Its head turned toward him.

"What...?"

Mo Xian didn’t hesitate.

Creak!

He opened the door.

Then sprinted into the corridor.

Behind him, the pigeon finally reacted.

"Don’t go!"

"Don’t go!"

It flapped violently and chased after him.

Mo Xian ran toward the elevator.

Step.

Step.

Step.

The pigeon was getting closer.

He looked ahead.

Then—

His eyes flashed again.

"Time Jump."

Buzz!

Another future scene appeared.

He saw himself entering the elevator.

He saw himself desperately pressing the close-door button.

He saw the pigeon reaching him.

Then—

Boom!

The elevator doors would close.

The pigeon would slam into them.

Mo Xian’s eyes hardened.

That was enough.

He activated the ability.

Buzz!

The world trembled.

The intermediate process disappeared.

In one instant—

Mo Xian was already inside the elevator.

His finger was pressing the close-door button.

The pigeon lunged.

Boom!

The elevator doors slammed shut just before its claws reached him.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The elevator began descending.

The giant pigeon stood outside in confusion.

It looked at the closed doors.

Then at the corridor.

Then back at the doors.

It didn’t understand.

Just moments ago, Mo Xian had been running down the corridor.

Now he was suddenly inside the elevator.

To the pigeon, it looked as though Mo Xian had simply teleported.

Inside the elevator, Mo Xian collapsed against the wall.

He breathed heavily.

Then a system notification appeared before his eyes.

[SS-Rank Talent — Time Jump]

Time Jump: You can observe the next 30 seconds of the future and directly skip the intermediate process, arriving at any chosen point within those thirty seconds.

During a Time Jump, the damage your body would have suffered during the skipped period is also skipped.

The events occurring during the skipped period are retained in your memory.

However, other individuals affected by the Time Jump will have no memory of the skipped period.

Daily Usage Limit: 3 times.

Exceeding the limit will cause irreversible damage to the body.

Current Usage: 2/3.

Mo Xian’s expression alternated between relief and frustration.

"Damn it."

"If I weren’t the one negotiating this contract, anyone else would’ve been in serious trouble."

"This contract..."

"This contract is impossible to complete."

Then he suddenly remembered Shen Yu.

"Where’s Shen Yu?"

"That guy should’ve arrived by now."

"He’s going to die."

"He’s definitely going to die."

Mo Xian gritted his teeth.

He stared at the descending elevator.

Then he pressed the fifth-floor button again.

The livestream audience finally understood what they had witnessed.

"Peppa the Wild Boar: So that’s what happened!"

"I knew it! The strange fast-forward effect wasn’t an editing problem."

"It’s Time Jump!"

"He isn’t moving faster."

"He’s skipping the time between two points!"

"Exactly. The viewers can see the missing time because we’re watching the entire timeline."

"But the people inside the dungeon can’t!"

"That’s why the pigeon was so confused!"

"From its perspective, Mo Xian was under the table one moment and at the door the next!"

"I’ve only been watching this stream for a few minutes, but my rice cooker has already finished cooking."

"Nearly thirty minutes were skipped!"

"At least we can react from outside the screen."

"Inside the dungeon, nobody can react to time they don’t even realize has disappeared."

Meanwhile—

Shen Yu had finally entered Room 514.

Creak.

The wooden door slowly opened.

A young woman in pajamas sat on the sofa.

She looked irritated.

"You’re the person who came for my sister’s simulated date?"

She glanced at the clock.

"You arrived half an hour late."

"Do you not take me seriously?"

She was about to continue scolding him.

Then she saw Shen Yu.

Her words stopped.

Her eyes widened slightly.

This man...

He didn’t look bad.

Shen Yu calmly looked at her.

Then he spoke first.

"Good."

"If you’ve stayed here waiting for half an hour, you’re qualified."

"I’ll add three points to my impression of you."

The woman’s mouth fell open.

"What?"

Shen Yu walked inside and sat beside her.

The livestream erupted.

"666!"

"He’s late for the blind date, yet he’s acting like she’s the one being tested!"

"No wonder they call him the charm demon!"

"He turned being late into a test of her patience!"

"What a pity he doesn’t know he’s walking into a bird dungeon."

"Mo Xian already ran away."

"Shen Yu is probably going to have to use a skill to survive too."

But Shen Yu didn’t seem worried.

He deliberately loosened several buttons of his shirt.

His chiseled physique became slightly more visible.

A clean, refreshing scent spread through the room.

The girl’s expression subtly changed.

She subconsciously licked her lips.

The anger she had felt moments earlier seemed to disappear by half.

Honestly...

Waiting half an hour for someone on a simulated blind date was ridiculous.

Yet for some reason, when she looked at Shen Yu—

It suddenly didn’t seem so unreasonable.

"You..."

"What are your conditions?"

She prepared to follow the usual process.

But Shen Yu crossed his legs comfortably.

He leaned back against the sofa as though he owned the place.

Then he asked first.

"What’s your family situation, little sister?"

The girl froze.

"Me?"

"Shouldn’t you be telling me your situation first?"

Shen Yu smiled.

"I’m in my twenties."

"I don’t have a house."

"No car."

"No savings."

"But so what?"

"That doesn’t stop me from being a high-quality man."

"You know how many people are chasing me?"

"The people who want to date me can line up from Qingshan Mental Hospital all the way to Evolution Food Company."

"The daughter of the hospital leader."

"Female executives from this company."

"All of them."

"You should consider yourself lucky that I took time out of my busy schedule to meet you."

"I made you wait half an hour."

"You should be grateful."

The girl stared at him.

"You..."

"You just said my lines."

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow.

The girl’s expression became increasingly strange.

"Why..."

"Why do I feel like what you said actually makes some sense?"

The livestream exploded.

"666!"

"999!"

"The roles have completely reversed!"

"Nothing has been accomplished, yet somehow he makes it sound incredibly attractive!"

"Only Shen Yu can pull this off!"

"Handsome men really are unfair."

"I’ve learned this technique."

"Don’t try it!"

"I used this move on my blind date and she called me a low-tier guy!"

Shen Yu ignored the barrage.

He looked at the woman.

"Hey."

"I’m asking you something."

"How is your family doing?"

The woman hesitated.

Then instinctively answered.

"My father owns the entire fifth floor."

"It’s just me and my sister at home."

"Our family earns more in rent every month than an ordinary person earns in a year."

Shen Yu nodded.

"That’s acceptable."

"That income is enough for me to change my watch every month."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You have the house."

"I won’t make a fuss about it."

"Just give me a two-hundred-square-meter apartment when the time comes."

"But the car..."

Shen Yu tilted his head.

"Let me ask you, sis."

"What kind of car can your family buy me?"

The girl’s eyes widened.

Why was this man acting as though he were the one choosing a wife?

She stared into Shen Yu’s dark eyes.

For some reason, her heartbeat accelerated.

Then—

Ding!

[Little Dove’s Affection toward you +5]

[Current Affection: 20]

The girl immediately frowned.

"A car?"

"Why should my family buy you a car?"

"Shouldn’t you be the one buying one for us?"