Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Maiden’s King Engine is Roaring

Of course, Wang Xi didn’t actually call the Overlook Bureau. He was just pretending to with his phone.

But Chu Nai finally cracked, her composure shattering.

"So embarrassing..."

She sat on the bench, burying her face in her hands, her voice a barely audible murmur.

The tips of her ears, peeking out from between her silver hair, were bright red.

Wang Xi had actually seen through her act long ago. The girl had most likely read some so-called "seduction guide" online, but her acting skills were so terrible that the effect was a complete disaster.

It was like someone watching a pro-gamer’s tutorial videos for two days and starting to think they were invincible, getting the false impression that ’Diamond? Challenger? They’re nothing but pushovers.’

You couldn’t say she underperformed; you could only say there was room for improvement.

Perhaps.

Perhaps, when it came to romance, Chu Nai possessed an extraordinary, world-shattering wisdom.

Faced with this situation, a person with low emotional intelligence would try to comfort her. But Wang Xi wasn’t like that. He had high emotional intelligence.

"Xiao Nai."

Wang Xi pulled up Chu Nai by the wrist and saw the lower half of her flushed face. The girl’s eyes were squeezed shut, her long eyelashes trembling, wearing an expression of utter despair.

She didn’t speak. She didn’t dare to.

She was terrified Wang Xi would laugh at her.

However, she heard him say with great interest:

"There’s a merry-go-round over there. Let’s go for a ride."

"Huh?" Chu Nai peeked open one eye and saw the young man turning his head to look at something in the distance, pointing at the amusement park ride.

She couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

’Brother Xi didn’t mention what just happened at all.’

Chu Nai hummed in agreement and obediently stood up, letting Wang Xi lead her to the merry-go-round.

It was a weekday, so there weren’t too many visitors. The two of them got on the horses with almost no wait.

"Don’t you think this is a little childish, Brother Xi?"

Chu Nai asked curiously, sitting sidesaddle on a white horse and gripping the metal pole.

"It’s a bit childish for little kids, but for big kids like us, it’s just right."

Wang Xi said with a perfectly straight face, mounted on a black horse.

"Besides, it can make up for the youth that was devoured by your studies and work."

Hearing this, Chu Nai gave a sweet smile.

’If I had to ride this alone, I definitely wouldn’t be interested. But with Brother Xi, even the most ordinary things become vivid and fun.’

A short while later.

The merry-go-round had completed half a rotation, but Chu Nai lowered her head, her expression a little strange... as if she wasn’t used to the up-and-down rocking motion.

"What’s wrong?" Wang Xi asked.

"I was just remembering the horse-riding game we used to play when we were little..."

Chu Nai whispered, her cheeks flushing.

Wang Xi froze at her words.

Now that she mentioned it, he did remember.

They had indeed played a horse-riding game as kids, only Wang Xi had been the horse, and it ended with Chu Nai falling flat on her butt and bursting into tears.

Later, Wang Xi suggested they take turns riding, but Chu Nai had refused.

’Man, oh man,’ Wang Xi thought to himself.

’Was I already such a creep back then?’

A cold sweat broke out on his brow.

"It seems like you’ve loved riding horses ever since you were little, Brother Xi. You’re still the same now that you’re grown up."

Chu Nai said, holding back a smile.

"When I was studying in the Eastern Continent, I saw that the Sky Dome Conglomerate built a large equestrian center there, with real horses you can ride... When I’ve saved up enough money, I’ll take you there to try it sometime. I’m sure with your talent, you’ll learn in no time."

"Sure," Wang Xi said with a cheerful laugh.

Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that his Equestrian skills were actually superb. That would be a bit of a buzzkill for Chu Nai.

BZZT.

Just then, Chu Nai’s phone vibrated.

She took it out and glanced at it. Her smile faded, but it quickly returned to normal as she put the phone away.

"Work?" Wang Xi asked.

"Mhm." Chu Nai smoothed back her hair and nodded. "Just some unimportant official business. More new documents to organize... It’s fine, I can deal with it tomorrow."

Wang Xi knew she was lying, but he didn’t call her out on it.

BZZT.

Just then, a phone went off again.

Chu Nai paused.

But it was Wang Xi’s phone.

"..."

He took it out and glanced at the screen.

It was a message from Bai Qimeng, saying her villa was quite large and that he was welcome to come over and hang out. If he got tired, he could just sleep over, no problem.

It had a pool, sports courts, a racetrack, a game room, a figure collection room, and so on. He could take any of the hovering supercars in the garage for a spin.

There was all sorts of food and drink, and he could even pick any of the beautiful Mechanical Doll maids, whose top-tier massage techniques were guaranteed to make Wang Xi feel like he was flying.

’Damn you, capitalism, trying to corrupt my pure body and soul yet again...’

’No way!’

Filled with righteous indignation, Wang Xi quickly replied: "Not today."

After sending it, he nonchalantly stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

Chu Nai watched him suspiciously and asked:

"Who was that, Brother Xi?"

"A friend," Wang Xi answered casually. "I was recently transferred to the General Affairs Department as a Deacon, and I met her—the client—after taking on a commission to go into a Maze."

"Oh, I see."

Chu Nai nodded.

She glanced sideways at him again and asked:

"Are they rich? Are they pretty?"

"Rich!" Wang Xi said with great seriousness. "Very rich!"

"Oh..."

Chu Nai responded softly.

"So she’s very pretty, too, right?" she said with a small smile, seemingly having read between the lines as she lowered her gaze. "Could you introduce me to her, Brother Xi?"

"No," Wang Xi refused decisively. "Absolutely not."

Chu Nai’s eyes crinkled into a smile as she looked at him.

Wang Xi felt an inexplicable shiver run down his spine. He leaned in, lowered his voice, and said in the tone of someone telling a ghost story:

"She’s into girls..."

"Huh?"

Chu Nai looked astonished.

Wang Xi then pointed to his head, sighed, and shook his head gently.

The girl nodded, seeming to half-understand, and the unease that had just begun to rise in her heart instantly vanished.

...

...

After the merry-go-round, the two of them went on several other rides.

As they passed a row of snack shops by the artificial lake, Wang Xi bought some fried chicken, Demon Child Soda, and grilled squid, and they ate as they walked.

The prices at this amusement park were absurdly high, three or four times more expensive than outside. A single bottle of Demon Child Soda cost 20 Credit Points.

’Damn capitalism!’

He took a vicious bite of a squid tentacle, cursing inwardly.

"Brother Xi, let’s go play that!"

Chu Nai suddenly saw something, her eyes lighting up, and she pulled Wang Xi over—it was a shooting game.

All these years later, even in 2045, this thing was still a permanent fixture in amusement parks. You shoot balloons with a toy gun to earn points, then exchange the points for prizes.

Wang Xi glanced at the prize counter inside, which was displaying building blocks, dolls, puzzles, rubber chickens, basketballs, and other such things—all of it pretty cheap stuff.

But since Chu Nai was interested, he didn’t mind. He paid 100 Credit Points and received a toy gun and 50 water pellets from the Mechanical Doll attendant.

His gaze lingered for a moment on a row of black cat plushies. He planned to redeem one of those as a gift for Chu Nai.

But Wang Xi had greatly overestimated his own marksmanship.

The shooting position was over eight paces from the balloon targets, and he missed nine out of ten shots, making Chu Nai giggle beside him.

"If the Professional Warrior assessment included a marksmanship test, you would definitely fail, Brother Xi,"

the girl said cheerfully.

"There’s something wrong with this gun," Wang Xi said, exasperated, pointing at the toy gun in his hand. "Its trajectory is off to the left!"

"Huh? If it’s off to the left, then just aim a little to the right."

"It doesn’t work. I tried that. If I aim to the right, the trajectory goes off to the right."

"That’s so weird," Chu Nai said in surprise.

"Yeah, so it’s not my fault I can’t hit anything. It’s the gun’s fault."

Wang Xi declared confidently, then thought with dark suspicion:

’The owner must have done it on purpose so customers can’t just pick it up and use it easily. That way, they can make more money.’

"Brother Xi, can I try?"

Chu Nai asked, hesitantly holding out her hand.

Wang Xi handed the toy gun to her.

The moment the silver-haired girl held the toy gun, her entire demeanor changed. It was as if she had stepped onto a battlefield, and she began to radiate a piercing aura.

Her blue eyes stared intently at the balloon targets, and then she pulled the trigger.

POP! POP! POP!

One shot, one balloon. She didn’t miss a single one.

Wang Xi: "...?"

A moment later.

The young man was walking down the path with his arms full of black cat plushies. Chu Nai followed silently beside him, her hands behind her back.

"Is that enough, Brother Xi?"

she asked cautiously.

"I saw you staring at them earlier, so you must really like them, right? It’s a shame there were only this many on the prize shelf."

"..."

Wang Xi didn’t understand.

’My Crossbow Skill is so high, so why is my marksmanship with a gun so terrible? Could it be that Blood Orchid Elegy only buffs my Crossbow Skill and doesn’t have any crossover effect at all?’

’How could the Universal Card be so inconvenient!’

’It’s a Useless Card!’

"I love them." What else could Wang Xi say? He could only smile and nod. "Thank you, Xiao Nai."

"You’re welcome," Chu Nai said, holding back a proud smile. ’That so-called fifteen-character maxim has nothing on my own improvisation,’ she thought, pleased with herself. "As long as you like them, Brother Xi."

"Here."

Wang Xi pulled one of the black cat plushies from his arms and handed it to Chu Nai.

The girl looked at him, confused.

"It pains me to part with it, but I’ll give you one. With this, your work will go smoothly, you’ll be happy every day, and you’ll get promotions and make a fortune."

"Huh?" Chu Nai said hesitantly. "But... I don’t think there are any legends about black cats like that..."

"There are," Wang Xi said seriously. "The Youyang Miscellaneous Collection records the saying ’Black Cat Exorcism,’ as black cats were believed to deter plagues of rats and drive away evil spirits. In the folklore of Shimahara Country, the prototype for the Lucky Cat, a black cat named ’thin cloud ink,’ was seen by merchants as an omen of wealth."

"Brother Xi, you know so much..."

Chu Nai hugged the plushie tightly, looking at him with smiling eyes, her tone filled with a cute sort of adoration.

"In that case, I’ll have to enshrine it properly."

...

...

The night was as black as ink, the neon lights like stars.

Wang Xi and Chu Nai stood side-by-side in one of the Ferris wheel’s small cabins, looking out the window at the world below.

The myriad colored lights of the Ark Carnival flowed beneath their feet, melting into the slightly bluish twilight like an overturned jewelry box.

The cabin slowly ascended. Chu Nai pressed her face against the glass, her breath fogging a small, hazy patch on the window.

Wang Xi suddenly realized that the lights reflected in the silver-haired girl’s eyes were brighter than any part of the nightscape.

"Brother Xi, did you forget something?"

Just then, Chu Nai tilted her head slightly, looking at him with a half-smile as she spoke.

"What?" Wang Xi asked, feigning ignorance.

"The reason I won the ’Ark Carnival Runaway Princess Pageant’!"

Chu Nai huffed.

Wang Xi pulled his gaze back and stared into the girl’s eyes.

"The reason is—"

After a slight pause, he chuckled and said:

"Because you look really beautiful today."

Chu Nai froze.

The screams of visitors on a distant roller coaster could be heard, but in that moment, all she could hear was her own deafening heartbeat.

—Like a roaring engine.

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