Chapter 194 : Chapter 194
194. Now It’s Imagination Time
Lu Zheng had just finished showering.
Because she’d been instantly exposed by Lu Zheng’s one-liner, Yi Ning couldn’t continue her teasing act and simply hopped off the bed and went to bathe.
However, as she left the room, she still leaned against the doorway, deliberately stretched out her right hand, and stuck her thumb between her index and middle fingers, grinning wickedly at Lu Zheng.
“I won’t lock the door~”
Of course, Lu Zheng had no intention of actually sneaking into the bathroom to pull anything. So, the time passed uneventfully as he washed up.
“Take it off, throw it in, wash and dry it all at once. Even though this civilization looks medieval, it’s surprisingly convenient in these areas.”
“Magic really is amazing.”
Lu Zheng bent down to retrieve his clothes from a square box and put them back on.
Judging by the familiar defective product seal on the box, this thing was probably church-issued as well.
Lester had originally intended to lend Lu Zheng an old set of pajamas, but for some reason, that set had mysteriously gone missing.
Left with no choice, Lu Zheng had to wear his regular clothes again.
Not that he minded.
When it came to sleeping, he didn’t have many requirements—a flat surface was good enough.
Even if it wasn’t flat, a little unevenness on the ground was nothing he couldn’t handle.
His biggest problem right now was that he was going to have to sleep in the same room as Yi Ning.
This would be his first time sharing a room overnight with a cute girl who wasn’t a blood relative.
Even if there were several meters between them, the key point was—they’d still be in the same room!
The same room!
Can you understand?
Breathing the same air, sharing the same silence, and maybe—just maybe—there would be that kind of scenario where she says, “I’m scared… how about you come up here and sleep~”?
How could Lu Zheng not be excited?
He was a teenager in the prime of his youth, after all!
This was imagination time!
Sure, Lu Zheng knew that this “cute girl” was actually a wicked man on the inside, and whatever he was fantasizing about would never happen.
But still—it was a dream! A man’s dream!
As long as Yi Ning didn’t say it outright, Lu Zheng could almost pretend she wasn’t male.
What could he do? Being good-looking really was an unfair advantage.
Lu Zheng pushed open the door, carrying the quiet melancholy of an artsy youth, and looked toward his bedding for the night.
It was gone.
He blinked, rubbed his eyes.
Still gone.
Where’s my bed?
After so much effort asking Lester for a quilt and carefully laying it out, how had it disappeared in just the time it took to shower?
Lu Zheng looked up at the room’s only suspect—Miss Yi Ning.
She was lying on the bed, little feet raised, hugging a pillow, with earphones in both ears and staring at her glowing phone, clearly absorbed in something.
“Your phone still has battery?”
Seeing that lit-up rectangular screen, Lu Zheng paused, temporarily forgetting what he’d intended to ask.
After all, he and Yi Ning had come to this alien world during work hours, so his phone battery hadn’t been full. It died completely during last night’s night watch.
And since arriving on this planet, Lu Zheng hadn’t seen Yi Ning take out her phone even once—he’d assumed she hadn’t brought it.
“When you’re out working, you have to bring things like power banks, right?”
“And this one was hand-crafted by yours truly—manual crank, solar-powered, geothermal, wind-powered, even doubles as a brick… It’s the perfect tool for travel, murder, and arson!”
Yi Ning took out one earbud, turned her head slightly, and waved the charging cable connected to her phone. Then she moved the pillow she was hugging to reveal the power bank underneath.
Lu Zheng went silent.
The annoyance on his face faded instantly. Rubbing his hands together, he smiled ingratiatingly.
“Could I… borrow it after you’re done charging?”
“Sure.”
Lu Zheng froze.
Yi Ning had actually agreed that easily?
No teasing? No extortion of additional conditions?
She just… agreed?
It was so out of character that Lu Zheng found himself hesitant.
When something’s too convenient, there’s always a catch!
Sure enough, before he could respond, Yi Ning offered the trap herself.
“I don’t mind if you charge it.”
“But have you considered—I could’ve tampered with that power bank?”
“The moment you plug in the cable, it might immediately collect all your browser history and cloud storage data, back it up, back it up again, and back it up a third time—then, once it connects to the internet, it could automatically upload it all online.”
“Uh…”
Lu Zheng hesitated.
Even though he suspected Yi Ning was bluffing, when it came to his reputation and innocence, Lu Zheng figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
Which brought him back to the original question.
“By the way, did you see a quilt I laid out over here earlier?”
Yi Ning turned her head, glanced in the direction he pointed, and gestured with her head toward the room’s cabinet.
“I saw someone leaving their bedding on the floor without a shred of class, so I reluctantly played the good Samaritan and put it back in the cabinet.”
Why always with the backhanded insult?
Lu Zheng sighed.
He didn’t believe for a second that Yi Ning didn’t know whose quilt it was, or why it had been laid out on the floor.
Wait a second…
If she knew why he laid out the quilt, and still went and put it away…
Lu Zheng froze.
He instinctively looked at Yi Ning on the bed.
It was a double bed, and Yi Ning’s petite frame didn’t even come close to filling it.
She was sprawled on one side, her feet raised and swinging in the air.
And on the other side—there was just enough space for one more person.
Could it be…
Fantasy was about to become reality?
Lu Zheng cautiously asked, “So… where am I sleeping tonight?”
“Your eyes don’t seem broken, do they?”
Yi Ning didn’t even turn around, her voice full of disdain.
“Right here.”
She still didn’t look back. She just extended a hand and patted the empty space beside her.
Fantasy was really about to become reality.
Same bed… same sleep?
Yi Ning retracted her hand. Maybe she felt her posture was off, so she shifted a bit, her face turning slightly away from Lu Zheng as she stared at her phone screen.
Maybe it was the burning gaze stabbing into her back, but Yi Ning started to feel a little uneasy.
She paused for a moment.
“After all, you didn’t sleep at all yesterday, and you did a lot of work. If I still made you sleep on the floor, my persona as a kind and benevolent boss would totally collapse.”
Lu Zheng: “……”
What kind and benevolent persona?
Yet, even when faced with the chance to share a bed with a cute girl, Lu Zheng still chose to prioritize roasting Yi Ning.
But once the roast was over, his trial was far from it.
One room. One man. One woman. Same bed.
Just putting those words together was enough to spark countless blush-worthy daydreams.
Let alone when the invitation came from such a dangerously adorable girl.
Unfortunately, that adorable girl was actually an evil scientist with an extremely nasty personality.
This so-called generous treatment felt more like a worm wriggling on a fishhook—irresistibly tempting, but obviously suspicious.
Yi Ning had never let him enjoy this level of benefit without some kind of twist. Now the door was wide open… There had to be a trap inside.
Once he stepped in, he’d never get out—even with wings.
“I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
Lu Zheng chickened out.
No—how could you call that chickening out?
This was Grandmaster Lu’s wise foresight! He’d seen through the trap Yi Ning had laid!
Facing Lu Zheng’s brilliant tactical withdrawal, Yi Ning just presented him with the back of her head.
Only, her feet, once swinging casually in midair, were now tangled together nervously. Her pearl-like toes had curled inward, forming a delicate arc with her soles.
“Tch. Coward.”
Yi Ning still didn’t look back.