Chapter 174 Chicken Noodle Soup

Zhao Chen's gaze was like substance, locking onto Yu Ling's lowered eyes tightly, filled with deep love and guilt.

"Lingling, I admit that my world is complicated, dangerous, and full of calculations and helplessness. I may not be as pure and clean as the 'Zhao Chen' you first knew. But I love you..."

He spoke again, word by word, clearly and solemnly:

"From the beginning to the end, there has been no deception. My love for you is truer than gold."

"That 100 million Shiba Inu coins..." He pointed at Yu Ling's phone on the sofa. "They're not dividends. They're part of what I accumulated in my personal name when I first entered the cryptocurrency market. Transfer them to the wallet named after you, with no strings attached. They belong to you, and only you. It's the fastest way I can think of to give you absolute independence and confidence. Even if you choose to leave me, it will ensure you have a comfortable life for the rest of your life, free from coercion."

The living room fell into a long silence, with only the soft glow of the floor lamp casting a shadow over the two of them.

Yu Ling lowered her head, holding the mug with the silly-smiling Shiba Inu in her hands tightly, the warm walls of the cup soothing her cold palms.

Zhao Chen's words, like a key, roughly pried open the tightly closed door of her heart. Shock, anger, grievance, fear... and that faint, yet never-extinguished, trace of love that had been forcibly suppressed... surged wildly in her chest.

Lies are false.

The danger is real.

The identity is fake.

Guardianship is real.

The means are cold.

My heart is burning hot.

Tears burst out without warning, and big drops fell into the Shiba Inu cup in her hand, splashing small water.

It wasn't grievance or anger, but a huge emotional torrent mixed with heartache, relief, and belated understanding that broke down all her defenses.

Zhao Chen panicked when he saw her tears. He almost leaned over at a loss, wanting to wipe her tears, but he was afraid of being rude.

"Lingling... don't cry... I'm the bastard... it's all my fault..." His voice was tense, filled with regret and heartache, "If you're angry, you can hit me or scold me, just don't cry..."

Just then—

"Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!"

Yu Ling's phone, which she had thrown on the sofa, began to vibrate wildly! Su Xiao's video request profile picture flashed on the screen, his face distorted with extreme excitement!

Yu Ling was so startled by the sudden ringing that her shoulders trembled and she forgot to shed tears.

Zhao Chen's brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of displeasure at being interrupted flashing across his eyes. But he quickly calmed down and looked at Yu Ling with a questioning look.

Yu Ling sniffed, wiped the tears from her face, hesitated for a moment, and finally connected the video call. She needed a little external stimulation to break the overly heavy and private atmosphere.

"Reiko!!! Reiko!!! Holy shit!!! Guess what I dug up?!"

Lidya Su’s scream instantly exploded the speaker of her mobile phone, with the background of densely packed equity penetration diagrams on her computer screen.

"'Wow Group'! It! It! It controls 'Obsidian International Security'! 'Arctic Fox PMC'! And! And! It indirectly holds 51% of the shares of 'Prism' intelligence analysis company! Damn it! Your Zhao Chen is not the Godfather! He is the hidden emperor of the global shadow world!!! Lingzi! You are so awesome! Quick! Get him to sign for me! I want to pay my respects!!!"

Lidya Su was so excited that he was incoherent and spitting everywhere.

Yu Ling: “…”

She held up her phone, the screen showing her best friend's frantic face and those suffocating company names. She turned her head stiffly and extremely slowly, looking at Zhao Chen, who was also frozen beside her.

The expression on Zhao Chen's face was extremely interesting - there was the embarrassment of being accurately exposed, the helplessness of having their world of two disturbed, and a hint of absurdity of "Can this fucking be dug out?"

He raised his hand and pinched his brow helplessly. Then, under the sharp gaze of Yu Ling and Su Xiao (via video), he cleared his throat and said to Su Xiao on the phone screen in an extremely serious and official tone:

"Ms. Su, please be careful with your wording. Obsidian and Arctic Fox are the top PVP guild allies of Ark of Doom - Shiba Inu Security Team in Europe and the US. Prism..."

He paused, as if trying to fabricate something, "…This is our guild's outsourced technical team for data mining and analysis. There is no such thing as a 'Shadow Emperor'."

He finished his nonsense seriously, then quickly reached out and hung up the video call before Yu Ling could react!

The world suddenly became quiet.

Once again, the two of them were alone in the living room. The atmosphere became strange and subtle due to Su Xiao's earth-shattering and absurd "nuclear bombshell" and Zhao Chen's unblushing "game guild alliance theory."

Yu Ling looked at Zhao Chen's face, which was trying hard to remain serious but with a slightly reddened look on his face, and then at the grinning Shiba Inu mug in his hand...

“Puff—”

An uncontrollable laugh with a strong nasal tone burst out from Yu Ling's throat without warning!

Then, as if a switch was turned on, she laughed louder and louder, her shoulders shook constantly, and tears welled up again, but she was crying with laughter.

"Hahahaha... PVP guild allies... outsourced technical team... Zhao Chen... you... can you make up anything more outrageous?! Hahahaha..." She laughed so hard that she could hardly breathe, pointing at Zhao Chen, crying and laughing.

Zhao Chen looked at her and finally smiled. Although she was crying and laughing, the thick layer of frost in her eyes seemed to finally crack and melt.

The huge rock in his heart that had been suffocating him finally loosened. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise, with a sense of relief and indulgence after surviving a disaster.

"Yes." He answered decisively, his eyes shining brightly.

"For example, I can tell you that the Level 7 members of our 'Shiba Inu Security Team', besides being able to crash cars and save people, are actually best at..."

He paused deliberately, leaned closer to Yu Ling, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of bewitching smile, "...make ginger tea and fried soft-boiled eggs for sister-in-law?"

"Pfft...get out!" Yu Ling smiled and pushed him away, but her force was weak.

Zhao Chen took her hand and didn't let go this time. His palm was burning hot, his eyes were gentle and firm, with a hint of caution:

"The noodles are clumping. Do you still want to eat? I'll fry you an egg again."

Yu Ling looked at his eyes that were filled with stars, and then looked at the bowl of chicken noodle soup on the coffee table that was still steaming and had a silly grinning Shiba Inu printed on it.