Feeling the undeniable terrifying force and killing intent at her neck, the woman was forced to stop struggling, her chest heaving violently from fear and oxygen deprivation.
A clear, elegant scent, reminiscent of cedarwood and white tea, quietly drifted into Lin Chen's nostrils.
He slowly released the hand covering her mouth, but the restraint of his other hand didn't lessen in the slightest, forcing her to turn around.
The morning sunlight happened to leak through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating her face.
Lin Chen's pupils suddenly contracted: "It's you?!"
—It was precisely that flight attendant with the extraordinary presence from the return flight, Li Ya.
She was also the woman he had coincidentally saved in his previous life, who had later helped him in return.
As Li Ya recovered from her shock and clearly saw the face of her captor, she also froze, finding him strangely familiar yet unable to recall where she had seen him before.
"You... who are you? What do you want..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably, but deep in her eyes, beyond the fear, there remained a trace of feigned composure.
"Is this your home?" Lin Chen countered instead of answering, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"Yes... it was my father's birthday gift to me." She bit her lower lip, her voice still trembling. "He's Li Zhenbang of South China Real Estate... I, I'm his illegitimate daughter. Please don't hurt me, I can give you a lot of money."
Lin Chen's heart stirred slightly. Li Zhenbang? That real estate magnate whose businesses spanned the entire country, nicknamed "Half-City Li"?
"So you're just here today to check on the property?"
"Not entirely." She shook her head, a flicker of sorrow passing through her eyes. "I came to retrieve some old belongings my mother left here... After she passed away, I dismissed the servants here and moved out myself, never returning since."
Lin Chen fell silent for a moment—no wonder he had seen a photo of a beautiful middle-aged woman and some old items in one of the second-floor rooms earlier; he hadn't paid much attention to them at the time.
"With your status, you certainly don't lack money. Why did you become a flight attendant?" he continued to press, his tone slightly softer.
"Becoming a flight attendant was my own choice." She lowered her eyelids, her long lashes casting a small shadow beneath them. "I just... wanted to see what kind of life I could build for myself without relying on his name and wealth."
Lin Chen led her to sit on the living room sofa, slightly loosening his grip on her but not releasing her completely.
"Listen, I'm not a robber, nor am I here for money."
He paused, then made a decision: "For the next 24 hours, as long as you cooperate, I won't harm you. But you cannot leave this house."
As he spoke, he took her handbag from beside her and quickly checked it, confirming her phone was inside.
"Are you illegally confining me?" she frowned, her tone mixed with anger and confusion.
"It's not confinement." Lin Chen's tone was calm yet brooked no argument. "At least within the confines of this villa, you are free."
"Aren't you afraid I'll find an opportunity to secretly escape, or call the police?"
Lin Chen didn't answer, only moved abruptly without any warning—
"Swish!" His figure vanished into thin air, and the next second, he was already leaning leisurely against the carved handrail of the spiral staircase on the second floor.
Another flash—
"Swish!" He stood before her again, so close that they could feel each other's breath.
"Now, do you still think you can run away?"
Li Ya instantly widened her beautiful eyes, the fear on her face receding like a tide.
In its place was an almost girlish, pure and fervent excitement and curiosity: "You... you can teleport?! Are you a god?"
"Not a god," Lin Chen stated calmly. "This is just one of my Special Abilities, called 'Space Shuttle.'"
"Special Ability?!" The two words seemed to light up the stars in her eyes, the radiance nearly overflowing. "Wow! That's so cool! Can... can you teach me? I want to learn too!"
Lin Chen was taken aback, completely unprepared for the conversation to take this turn.
"I can't teach you," he said somewhat helplessly. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two!" she blurted out, then a faint blush spread across her fair cheeks as she added in a soft voice, "Then... what about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No."
"Then..." She blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings, her voice suddenly becoming light and soft, carrying a hint of testing and playfulness, "What do you think... about me being your girlfriend?"
Lin Chen was momentarily speechless: "...?"
The scene he had anticipated should have been questioning, sobbing, fierce resistance, or even a desperate struggle for life.
He never expected that in just a few minutes, the other party would transform from a terrified "hostage" into an adoring "Special Ability fangirl."
Her face might as well have been stamped with the words, "Brother, you're amazing! I want to follow you!"
He turned away with a headache, walking toward the open kitchen, trying to steer the conversation back on track:
"Regardless, it's a fact that I 'occupied' your house. As an apology... are you hungry? I'll cook you a bowl of egg noodles."
From behind him came Li Ya's noticeably lighter, even slightly coquettish reply: "Okay~"
As Lin Chen fried the eggs, his mind raced: "Should I give her a Creation Spirit Crystal now to test its effects? I have 30 stored in my space, and I don't need them myself. It's a waste to just leave them there."
Li Ya sat on a high stool in the kitchen, chin in her hands, staring intently at his busy back, her eyes sparkling: "From what you said earlier, it seems like you've seen me before?"
"Four days ago, on the flight from Japan to Yangcheng, you were a flight attendant on that plane," Lin Chen replied casually, of course omitting the complicated entanglement from his past life.
"Ah! I remember now!" she exclaimed in sudden realization, her cheeks slightly reddening—at the time on the plane, she had thought this sharp-eyed passenger was just another one of her many admirers.
They chatted idly, exchanging a few words here and there.
In his previous life, Lin Chen had only had Zhao Kai and Li Qiang by his side—two "brothers" who hadn't hesitated to stab him in the back at a critical moment.
As for women? They were merely transactional partners in the apocalypse, exchanged for a brief night of warmth with food or supplies—cold and pragmatic.
He suddenly realized a fact he had overlooked: in the apocalypse, while men were generally stronger and more decisive, they were also often greedier, more ruthless, and driven by inflated ambitions.
Ambition is like the deadliest virus; once infected, it can drive a person to raise the blade against their closest kin.
As for women... they are not incapable of ruthlessness, but in most extreme situations, their desires tend to lean more toward "survival" and "protecting what they cherish," rather than grand ambitions like "ruling the world."
"Perhaps... in this life, I truly won't have to fight alone anymore." A thought quietly took root in his heart, and an elusive smile appeared on his face.
"I can assemble a special team, a legion composed entirely of women—with the Creation Spirit Crystal, they may be more loyal, more resilient, with less internal strife, and... indeed pleasing to the eye.
More importantly, the Creation Spirit Crystal ensures they awaken at least an A-grade Special Ability, making them powerful as well.
As for male members... for now, he cannot be certain whether the 'loyalty enhancement' brought by the Creation Spirit Crystal is enough to restrain the unpredictable ambition and desire for control that accompany the male instinct when empowered with great strength."