CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 100: VERBAL BATTLE! CHEN THE GREAT DECEIVER上线

In the secret room next to Chen Pingchuan’s room.

Yes, a secret room. Belia had forcibly remodeled this old-fashioned building, smashing through the wall of the adjacent room to create a temporary, secret office.

At this moment, Belia, dressed in a pink silk robe, was lazily draped over a leather chair. She rested her chin on one hand and gently tapped her fingertips on the mahogany desk before her.

Across the desk, the Captain of the Guard and the head maid, who usually masqueraded as her and Chen Pingchuan’s parents, had just finished reporting on their recent work.

"So, you’re telling me there’s still a pile of work at the City Lord’s Mansion that needs my approval?"

Belia’s voice had the soft, cherubic quality of a little girl. Yet, this sweet sound offered no warmth to the two people standing before her. Instead, it felt as if they had been plunged into an ice cave, and they dared not even lift their heads.

They knew that the calmer Belia appeared, the fouler her mood was. If she yelled at you, on the other hand, it usually meant you were safe.

Watching the two of them tremble, Belia’s brow furrowed.

The people around me are truly despicable. They all feign deference, acting as if they admire and revere me. But beneath those loyal facades lies a deep-seated fear. This duplicity is utterly nauseating.

Even the maid who had been with her since childhood had become like this. Belia’s interest in the matter vanished.

She raised an eyebrow and said softly, "Forget it. You don’t need to answer. Tell the chancellor to keep things running as they have been. If a department causes problems, clean it out. If every department is causing problems, tell him to choose a dignified way to die. Understood?"

"Yes, City Lord!"

"Understood! I will relay your orders to the chancellor at once," the Captain of the Guard replied hastily. He couldn’t answer her earlier question, but relaying orders was a task he was good at. To ensure he lived longer and didn’t share the fate of his predecessor, he was always extremely cautious with his words and actions.

"Good. You may leave."

The Captain of the Guard was inwardly ecstatic but betrayed no emotion on his face. He quickly turned and left.

Watching his retreating back, Belia’s mood soured further.

Not a single one of my subordinates is truly loyal. The only person who doesn’t hold any prejudice against me is my amnesiac fake brother. How ironic. This world is becoming more and more loathsome.

Meanwhile, Chen Pingchuan was oblivious to the changes in the room next door. He was desperately trying to find information related to the Energy Crystal mine, but his efforts were fruitless.

[Feng Jiaqi unconditionally accepted your proposal. Ye Luo remained neutral, stating that any mission was acceptable. Liu Haofeng, however, noticed your fixation on the mine mission. Acting on the principle that an enemy’s frustration is his own joy, he staunchly maintained his opposition.]

[You hadn’t wanted to bother with him, but faced with this insignificant clown getting in your face, you still gave him a cordial ’rearrangement’ of his features. This time, without the head teacher’s protection, your practical combat mission was ruined.]

"Screw you, Liu Haofeng! You’re a dead man, I swear it. No one will be able to save you."

Chen Pingchuan had never hated someone so intensely. To be honest, he hadn’t even hated the thugs from the Purple Bird Gang who constantly gave him trouble. Others had their reasons for provoking him. But this moron, Liu Haofeng, had no history with him whatsoever...

As he thought about it, something clicked.

My "Friend to Womankind" talent seems to have a powerful side effect: it incites hostility from their admirers. Feng Jiaqi, Liu Haofeng... damn it, so that’s where the problem is.

Unlike before, Chen Pingchuan untangled the threads of the problem with ease. He realized that his seemingly powerful skills all came with subtle side effects. It was just like his "Pilfering Hands" skill, which had an unknown outcome; it could either take a life or turn him into a pervert who steals his female teacher’s underwear.

Chen Pingchuan thought back carefully.

Apparently, the problem with my previous titles was also quite severe. The taunt attribute they carried was likely the key to my persistent bad luck.

The only silver lining was that all of that seemed to be in the past. Now that he understood the side effects of his skills, he could take targeted measures to avoid them. Moreover, he could leverage their positive aspects to pull off some unconventional maneuvers. First, he needed to max out the levels of "Friend to Womankind" and "Enacting Justice for Heaven."

[Expelled from school, you had no choice but to return home. When Belia learned of your expulsion, a peculiar look crossed her face. Although she didn’t directly reveal your identity, the relevant school administrators knew you had been placed there by the City Lord’s Mansion.]

[Belia questioned you in detail about the incident. You briefly recounted what happened and then ignored her, your mind completely preoccupied with the Energy Crystal mine.]

[Noticing your preoccupation, Belia feigned a furious expression and sided with you completely. She declared that you were right and that annoying flies like him deserved to be swatted dead. Giving him a few slaps was, in her opinion, an act of extraordinary mercy.]

[You sensed Belia’s mental instability and saw an opportunity. You began to verbally brainwash her, summarizing the plot of a powerful-female-protagonist novel from your memory. Belia was deeply captivated by your story.]

[Thanks to your high affinity, you successfully shattered Belia’s mental defenses. You laid your cards on the table, revealing that not only had your memory returned, but you also knew her true identity. Belia’s expression shifted as she used her special talent, telepathy, on you.]

[The results of the telepathy stunned Belia. She found your heart completely untroubled, as if her identity was of no consequence to you.]

[Now doubting her own abilities, Belia decided to test you again. She discovered that as the two of you grew physically closer, you both reacted—body and mind. That sense of anticipation made her realize her talent hadn’t vanished. At the same time, an inexplicable sense of delight bloomed in her heart.]

"Slander! That’s blatant slander!"

"I seriously suspect that divinity within me hasn’t vanished at all, even though the simulator seems to have patched the loophole."

Chen Pingchuan’s suspicion was not without reason. He had recovered his past memories and felt a strange sense of familiarity with the divinity on his status panel.

Could this divinity be a part of the greater divine self, extracted and infused into my body? The law of conservation of energy might not be universal across all realms, but the major worlds are still built upon its framework. Energy cannot be created from nothing. Whether you use Spirit Stones, Spiritual Qi, Energy Crystals, body refinement with Blood Qi, or qi consumption, it all boils down to a process of devouring the myriad things to strengthen oneself. Even this world must obey the basic law of conservation of energy. The simulator might seem to defy logic, but it achieves its results by clipping segments from timelines. It’s as if I’m stealing things from other versions of myself on other timelines.

"Seriously, how many of ’me’ are there?"

They say you shouldn’t dwell on philosophy because you’ll never figure it out. Since he couldn’t make sense of it, Chen Pingchuan decided to set the question aside for now, because the information in the simulator was changing.

[You delivered a parting speech to Belia. You told her that her future shouldn’t be confined to this tiny corner of the world, but should be one of ’poetry and distant lands.’ Completely played by your manipulations, she offered to join you on your journey.]