Chapter 26
Ch.26 How Did I Become a Hostage?
“Mr. Crow, this is already the shop’s last batch—haven’t you found anyone to your liking yet?”
In a room bathed in gorgeous rose-red warm light, Luo Nan’s gaze swept one by one over the Snow Wolf maids Shion had summoned.
Although these Snow Wolf maids had vastly different styles, they all shared one common trait—beauty.
Those not beautiful didn’t even qualify to enter here as merchandise.
Only when the last batch of Snow Wolf maids entered the room did Luo Nan finally feel completely at ease.
“I knew it— at this timeline, Silver Moon Sky Wolf couldn’t possibly be here.”
“In that case, let’s head to the next location.”
Luo Nan waved his hand, signaling these Snow Wolf maids to leave.
He had no intention whatsoever of purchasing Snow Wolf maids—not only was this essentially slave trading, but the maids in the Duke’s mansion, aside from lacking wolf ears and tails, surpassed these Snow Wolves in every other aspect.
Well, although wolf ears and tails were bonus points.
Even though Luo Nan was unsatisfied with the last batch of Snow Wolf maids, Shion didn’t show even a hint of displeasure. She gracefully smiled and said, “Mr. Crow, our shop will recruit more maids in the next market restocking period. If you’re interested, you can come back and take a look then.”
She stood up, swaying her snake-like waist to Luo Nan’s side, bent down, wantonly exposing the snowy white cleavage of her chest, and continued softly, “If you’re willing to come next time, I’ll personally give you a 20% discount~”
Saying this, Shion walked to the Snow Wolf maids and quietly dismissed them.
“What’s that sound?”
Faintly, Luo Nan seemed to hear noisy sounds from the corridor outside.
He immediately activated his power and concentrated his fighting spirit on his ears, enhancing his hearing.
“Catch her!”
“Guards, where are the guards!?”
Bang—
“Hmm, seems like someone’s forcibly broken in? Or… is there internal trouble?”
At the same moment, Shion, who had been smiling pleasantly, also changed expression—but as if recalling something, she instantly plastered her smile back on.
“Mr. Crow, please rest here for a moment—I have some minor matters to handle in the shop. Sisters, please properly attend to Mr. Crow.”
“Yes~ Sister~”
Receiving Shion’s order, those Snow Wolf maids, whose faces had been somewhat downcast, immediately brightened and scrambled to climb onto Luo Nan.
“Why is the sound of fighting getting closer to here? Could it be coming for me?”
Luo Nan instinctively assumed this was a second assassination attempt targeting him, but upon calming down and reconsidering, he felt it was impossible.
“If those guys could find me under these circumstances and carry out an assassination, then it’s game over.”
“So it’s just an accident?”
Just as Luo Nan was calmly analyzing, the room door was violently smashed open with a ‘boom’.
No one in the room reacted in time, and Luo Nan only saw a small, silver-white figure suddenly charging toward him.
“Shit, it really is coming for me!?”
Luo Nan instantly activated his power, but his reaction speed was still a beat too slow—fighting spirit had just begun surging from his ‘point’ when the silver figure leaped behind him and reached toward his neck.
From the corner of his eye, Luo Nan could see resting beside his neck a small, snow-white, tender hand, its five fingers tipped with slightly sharp nails. The slender wrist and arm still bore faint scars.
“Don’t move!”
A childish female voice came from behind, and Luo Nan could sense a hint of nervousness in her tone.
‘Judging by this, it really doesn’t seem to be targeting me—this behavior and voice don’t resemble a well-trained assassin…’
‘It should be an internal issue of this slave trading house—I’m just unlucky enough to be taken hostage by one side.’
‘Sigh, my fate as a villain—wherever I go, misfortune follows.’
Thinking this, Luo Nan’s previously tense nerves slightly relaxed.
“Zhixia, you little brat, quickly release Mr. Crow!”
Shion shouted sternly, attempting to intimidate the silver figure behind Luo Nan with her authority.
Sure enough, when the small figure behind him heard Shion’s rebuke, the small hand resting beside Luo Nan’s neck suddenly retracted.
But she immediately reacted and pressed it back against Luo Nan’s neck.
“It really is their internal issue—judging by the manager’s tone and the reaction of the person behind me, she should also be a Snow Wolf maid here, just disobedient.”
“Hmm, her name is Zhixia—sounds pretty nice.”
“Zhixia… wait! Zhixia!?”
Luo Nan suddenly retrieved this name from his past memories.
‘Silver Moon’s Sky Wolf’ Zhixia Cangya, one of the heroines in ‘The Shining Myriad Tracks’, race: beastkin—Snow Wolf beastkin, possessing an extremely diluted divine beast ‘Sky Wolf’ bloodline. As a loyal companion to the ‘Chosen Hero’, she accompanied her all the way to the final battle chapter.
Luo Nan remembered this girl’s combat power was extremely strong—within Anya Sivans’ protagonist team, she always served in the ‘Berserker’ role.
“But that’s not right—I remember ‘Silver Moon Sky Wolf’ in the game, whether in illustrations or models, was always the ‘mature, elegant older sister’ type—how could she possibly be the person behind me?”
“Could it be that I missed some hidden game content by five yuan?”
Thinking this, Luo Nan felt rather regretful—he never expected that as a loyal fan of ‘The Shining Myriad Tracks’, he’d missed some hidden game content.
“Or… it’s simply a case of identical names.”
“Better if it’s identical names—I really don’t want to get involved again with this heroine, who had no interaction with me in the original plot.”
“Zhixia Cangya, the shop provides you with food and clothing—how have we mistreated you? We’re merely teaching you knowledge and skills befitting a Snow Wolf maid—why must you deliberately harm your sisters?”
Shion again shouted at the small figure behind Luo Nan.
“I didn’t… I didn’t deliberately harm them! It’s just… just that they…”
Seemingly provoked by Shion’s words, the small figure immediately raised her voice to explain.
But as she spoke, her originally high-pitched voice gradually lowered—because she truly had harmed her Snow Wolf sisters.
She simply didn’t want to be treated like other tribespeople, picked over as merchandise, spending her days selling smiles and her body.
She wanted to escape, but due to the collar around her neck, every effort ended in failure.
Not only that—after each failure, she would be physically punished by Shion.
Zhixia glanced at the arm she was currently placing beside that crow-faced person’s neck—her injuries from the last punishment hadn’t fully healed yet.
But it didn’t matter—physical pain is secondary; as long as she could pursue freedom, everything is worth it!
And she discovered that today, most of the guards within the trading house had been temporarily reassigned—though she didn’t know where they’d been sent, it was indeed another good opportunity.
Moreover, just now, other Snow Wolves were called out in batches for unknown purposes, while those not called out were busy applying makeup at their small tables, paying no attention to her.
Thus, she didn’t hesitate and immediately began her fifth escape attempt.
But she didn’t expect to be discovered again.
Fortunately, she caught a hostage.
Although Zhixia didn’t know who this hostage was, judging from Shion’s reaction, she’d caught the right person!
“Nobody move! Whoever moves, I’ll… I’ll kill him!”
The small Snow Wolf girl slightly shook her wrist, threatening the guards flooding in from outside the room.
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