"Anchor point stripping".

These four words echoed wildly in Su Nian's mind like the most vicious curse, bringing a chilling cold. Stripped away? How? Was it to extract her soul from this body? Or to completely erase her from this world? Either way, it meant the end of existence.

The Main God Space finally tore off its mask of hypocrisy, no longer satisfied with "guiding" and "recycling," but deciding to directly eliminate her as an "unstable factor." And the executor was Gu Lin, who appeared gentle and refined but was actually like a sophisticated killing weapon.

Did Xie Chen know the whole plan? Or was he merely told that "testing" and "stabilization" were needed? Was his tacit approval beneath his calm gaze due to a decreased tolerance for "impurities," or... was the lurking "fragment of the god" instinctively rejecting her as an overly strong "anchor point"?

Su Nian didn't know, nor could she verify. After issuing that broken warning, System 088 completely entered a "silent protocol" state, its response so weak it was almost imperceptible, as if it might disappear completely at any moment. She was truly alone, trapped in this magnificent cage, facing a "teacher" with deadly intentions and an unpredictable "prisoner."

Fear, like cold vines, coiled around her heart, almost suffocating her. But she knew she couldn't just sit and wait to die.

Gu Lin's life after officially moving in turned into a silent, omnipresent psychological battle.

His surveillance wasn't blatant; it permeated every detail. At breakfast, he would "just happen" to sit in a spot where he could clearly observe her subtle expressions, chatting with her about seemingly unimportant topics, from the weather to the latest news, and then to some abstract questions involving philosophy and the meaning of existence. His words were gentle, but his logic was relentless, trying to find logical loopholes or traces beyond "Lin Nuannuan's" comprehension in her casual answers.

Piano lessons became the main battleground. He no longer merely corrected her fingering, but began to guide her in a kind of "spiritual meditation" playing.

“Close your eyes, Miss Lin.” Gu Lin’s voice was like magic, calm yet undeniable. “Don’t use your eyes to see, don’t use your brain to remember. Let your fingers feel the ‘essence’ of the music, to pursue the deepest resonance in your heart…”

Su Nian closed her eyes as instructed, her mind racing with alarm bells. She sensed Gu Lin's spiritual power, like countless fine threads, quietly permeating the air, attempting to entangle her consciousness, probe the structure of her mental world, and search for any possible abnormal fluctuations belonging to the "system" or "anomaly".

She had to be extremely careful. She drew upon all the shallow and sentimental knowledge that belonged to "Lin Nuannuan," trying to make her thoughts as simple as possible, and to make the melody under her fingers sound clumsy yet full of "human" feeling, rather than any guided precision. She deliberately made mistakes in certain places, revealing the hesitation and uncertainty of a beginner.

This is difficult. Especially under Gu Lin's all-seeing gaze, she felt like she was walking a tightrope on a precipice, and the slightest mistake would mean certain death.

Xie Chen spent most of his time in his study or out. But he wasn't oblivious to everything. Su Nian could occasionally catch glimpses of his deep, unfathomable gaze peeking from behind the study door. He seemed to be observing an experiment, calmly assessing the progress and outcome. His silence itself was a form of pressure.

On one occasion, after Gu Lin had once again conducted one of those "spiritual guidance" style teaching sessions, Su Nian appeared unusually exhausted and pale due to the intense mental strain. Xie Chen came out of the study to get water and happened to run into her.

He paused for a moment, his gaze lingering on her face.

"Are you feeling unwell?" he asked, his tone still indifferent.

Su Nian lowered her eyelashes and gently shook her head: "No, I'm just a little tired."

Xie Chen didn't say anything more, but as she brushed past him, he uttered a very low, almost soliloquized, sentence:

"Some boundaries, once crossed, can never be reversed."

Su Nian's heart sank. Was he warning her? Or...reminding her?

Which side is he actually on?

That night, Su Nian slept very restlessly. Half-asleep, she seemed to hear a faint, rhythmic, and cold "beeping" sound, as if from a distant void. The sound seemed to be coming from... the direction of the guest room?

Is Gu Lin performing some kind of operation?!

She woke up instantly, held her breath, and listened intently. But the sound disappeared, as if it had just been her hallucination.

However, a strong sense of unease drove her. She quietly got up, barefoot, and walked silently to the door like a cat, pressing her ear against the cold wooden door.

It was deathly silent outside.

Just as she thought she had misheard and was about to go back to bed, a very faint but rhythmic sound of footsteps came from afar and stopped outside her door!

It's Gu Lin!

Su Nian's heart jumped into her throat, her muscles tensed, and she even stopped breathing.

The person outside didn't move or knock. They just stood there silently. Su Nian could even feel a cold, scanner-like gaze piercing through the thick door and landing on her!

What was he doing? Was he checking her vital signs? Or was he trying to penetrate her mental defenses using some unknown means?

Time ticked by, each second feeling like an eternity. Su Nian covered her mouth tightly, afraid to make a sound. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

After an unknown amount of time, the footsteps sounded again, moving away softly and at a steady pace, eventually disappearing in the direction of the guest room.

Su Nian collapsed to the ground, her back pressed against the cold door, panting heavily, her heart still pounding wildly.

It was terrifying! This ever-present feeling, as if a hand could reach out from the darkness and drag her into the abyss at any moment, was driving her almost insane!

She can't continue to defend herself passively like this! She has to find a way to fight back, or... find a breakthrough.

Where is the breakthrough? Xie Chen? Or... Gu Lin himself?

The next day, Su Nian appeared at the breakfast table with faint dark circles under her eyes. She seemed more silent than usual, even somewhat absent-minded. When she picked up the milk glass, her fingers trembled slightly, and she almost knocked it over.

Gu Lin looked at her with concern: "Miss Lin, you don't look well. Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Su Nian raised her eyes and looked at him, her gaze carrying just the right amount of timidity and unease that belonged to "Lin Nuannuan".

“Teacher Gu…” her voice was weak and hesitant, “I… I think I had a nightmare last night, I heard some strange noises… it seemed… it seemed to be coming from your room…”

She deliberately spoke vaguely and uncertainly, as if it were just the paranoia of a young girl.

Gu Lin's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes sharpened almost imperceptibly for a moment, like the shadow of a fish suddenly flashing beneath the surface of a calm lake.

"A strange sound?" He adjusted his glasses, his tone still gentle. "It could be the air conditioner unit downstairs, or the sound of water pipes. The soundproofing in this building... can be a bit tricky sometimes. I'm so sorry to have startled Ms. Lin."

His explanation was reasonable and irrefutable.

However, the moment he finished speaking, Xie Chen, who was sitting in the main seat without saying a word and quietly reading the newspaper, suddenly let out a very slight, almost inaudible, cold laugh.

The laughter was soft, carrying a cold, all-knowing mockery.

Gu Lin's smile froze slightly.

Su Nian's heart skipped a beat.

Xie Chen put down the newspaper, his gaze falling formally on Gu Lin for the first time. His tone was calm, yet carried an invisible pressure:

“Teacher Gu,” he said slowly, “since you’re here to teach, focus your energy on teaching.”

"It's better to clean up some...unnecessary 'background noise'."

"I don't want any more 'accidents'... to disturb the peace here."

After saying that, he stopped looking at anyone, picked up the newspaper again, and acted as if he had just said something insignificant.

Gu Lin's smile vanished completely. He lowered his eyelids slightly, concealing the cold glint that flashed in his eyes, and respectfully replied, "Yes, Mr. Xie, I understand."

Su Nian lowered her head, her fingertips curling slightly with nervousness and a sliver of hope.

Xie Chen... he intervened?

Was he warning Gu Lin not to go too far? He... didn't completely agree, or at least, didn't want an "accident" to happen in public?

Was this the first crack she saw in her desperate situation?

However, when she secretly raised her eyes to look at Xie Chen, she found that his gaze as he read the newspaper was cold and focused, as if his pointed remark just now was not out of protection for anyone, but merely... displeasure at the disruption of the peace of his own territory.

The suspense in the story becomes even more subtle at this point—the female protagonist attempts a counterattack under extreme pressure, and the male protagonist's intervention seems to bring a turning point, but his motives remain unclear. Will Gu Lin resort to more covert methods after being warned? Is this brief stalemate the calm before the storm, or the beginning of a true turning point? Everything awaits to be revealed in the next chapter.