29. Persuade with reason
The little match girl spread her arms wide, shielding the butler tightly behind her, and glared angrily at the two of them, clearly regarding them as enemies.
Although she didn't understand the little girl's true strength, it was best not to make a move if possible. After glancing at the butler's expression, Pi Min decisively decided to lie: "Don't misunderstand, we're just playing a game with the butler."
The butler, clearly not wanting the young girl's fragile heart to be hurt, nodded repeatedly: "Yes, we were playing a game, and something went wrong."
The little girl was just young, not stupid. Upon hearing this, she immediately frowned: "Really?"
The man dressed as a woman nodded matter-of-factly and laughed, "Of course it's true! Look, the butler even gave us his tinderbox. Only true friends would go to such lengths."
Upon hearing this, Pi Min couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smile. Thinking back to where the butler had just stabbed her with the dagger, it certainly felt like a heart-wrenching attack.
Just as the little match girl was filled with doubt, the two men arrived in front of the butler and helped him up from the ground, one on each side.
The man continued to reason with the other person: "I never expected that the top player without the game system's boost would be this weak. You probably only have some game items left now, right? If a real fight breaks out, do you think you can protect your wife and kids?"
The butler shuddered.
Seeing that he seemed to be convinced, the man quickly pressed on: "Do you want to live like a rat in the gutter for the rest of your life? Don't you want to be with your wife and children openly and honestly?"
“If you want to, then keep quiet and do nothing.” He smiled slightly as he said this. “Of course, if you really don’t want to keep quiet, I also have some methods.”
The butler lowered his voice, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "What exactly do you want?"
The wavy-haired beauty returned his smile with an extremely bright one: "Of course, it's about opening up this instance!"
What?! Uncover a dungeon?!
Pi Min: No, I didn't, it's none of my business!
I glanced at the person who was currently spouting nonsense.
Forget it, I'd better not undermine him.
When you don't know what expression to use, just smile and nod.
With children in front of you, continuing to shout and threaten violence seems inappropriate.
In the end, the two did nothing to the butler, but simply helped him up from the ground and kindly dusted off his clothes.
"We are not your enemies. Believe it or not, it doesn't matter."
Whether she had lost the ability to resist or had truly been persuaded by the man, the butler did not take any extreme actions.
As soon as the two returned to the room, Pi Min couldn't wait to pull off the shoulder strap of the woman's long, yellow dress and examine it carefully. Although the sound of the knife piercing her skin was strange, it had indeed torn the man's dress, and she couldn't rest easy without checking.
Are you alright?
To her surprise, when the shoulder strap was pulled down, what appeared before her eyes was neither a bloody wound nor the metal protective gear she had imagined, but a man's firm and beautiful pectoral muscles.
"No wounds, no protective gear..." This is outrageous.
"Are you relieved now?" Seeing Pi Min's shocked expression, the man smiled and explained, "This is fully invisible liquid metal armor."
As he spoke, he grabbed Pi Min's hand and pressed it against his chest.
Since the man had extended such a warm invitation, Pi Min didn't hesitate to reach out and touch him a couple of times.
It's soft, warm, and elastic—it feels just like normal skin.
Realizing what she had just done, her face instantly turned red.
Just as she was so embarrassed that she didn't know where to put her hands and feet, the man had already taken off a metal wristband from his wrist and put it on her hand without hesitation.
The moment the metal wristband was fastened to her body, Pi Min felt an invisible, icy liquid flow through her entire body. Although there was no visible mark on her body, she could clearly feel that her body was now separated from the surrounding world by a layer.
"Here you go. That was really dangerous. If you had been even a second slower with that kick, you would have lost this leg."
"No! I don't want to!" Realizing what the man had just done, she hurriedly reached out to try to untie the wristband and return it.
However, in the blink of an eye, the metal wristband on her wrist had vanished. Although she could still touch it with her fingers, she couldn't remove it no matter how hard she tried.
"This armor won't affect your normal life, so just wear it. Even if you ever encounter a fatal attack, with it on, at least you'll be left with a whole corpse."
Pi Min, who was struggling to remove the wristband, was stunned by what she heard. Her expression instantly changed from flattered to angry after being offended.
Does this person even know how to speak?
As it turned out, he really couldn't speak.
Seeing that she was angry, he felt no remorse whatsoever; instead, his smile grew even brighter: "Your reaction just now made me realize something."
"What's up?"
"If we encounter danger, I won't die; instead, you might die trying to save me. To prevent you from accidentally dying, you can keep the armor."
“No, I don’t want to, you’re overthinking it!” Pi Min shook her head repeatedly. “At worst, next time, if a similar situation occurs, I won’t care about you.”
Upon hearing this, the man's pupils contracted, and he stepped forward, grabbing her leg in one swift motion.
"No! Please, take care of me! Please continue to protect me like you did before!" As he spoke, he even shamelessly rubbed his cheek against her thigh. His posture of clinging to her thigh and refusing to let go was nothing short of servile.
"Although I don't need your protection, I was really happy and blessed when you stood up for me. So, I'm giving you the armor so you can continue to protect me."
That's an incredible train of thought, no wonder it's him...
Those whose thought processes can't keep up with him might misunderstand and think he's deliberately using her as a bodyguard.
But based on Pi Min's understanding of him, his doing this probably just meant that the protective effect of this fully invisible liquid metal armor was indeed incredible.
In order to get her to accept the armor, even though he was a powerful player who could take on the former number one player in the game, he insisted on acting like a kitten, clinging to her leg and acting cute.
"Fine, whatever makes you happy."
Pi Min stopped refusing and steered the conversation back to the tinderbox he had just snatched back: "What do you need the tinderbox for?"
The man who had just been pretending to be a kitten curled his lips into a smirk, revealing an expression unique to evil wolves: "Of course, we're going to cause trouble!"
He said it, and he did it.
After closing the door and drawing the curtains to make sure he wouldn't be disturbed by outsiders, he immediately opened the tinderbox with great enthusiasm.
As the flames flashed again and again, the hellhound from the story appeared before the two of them time and time again.
In the original story, Cerberus stole the princess from the tinderbox, but here it's the Countess.
All seventy-five countesses, not one missing.
Pimin watched helplessly as the wavy-haired beauty, now dressed in a green dress, began to bewitch the abducted countesses like a seductive demon.
"Madam, do you want freedom?"
"Madam, do you still remember your dream?"
"Madam, are you truly content to be trapped in this castle for the rest of your life?"
...
They also watched as the eyes of the countesses changed from initial bewilderment to anticipation.
Do I really still have a chance?
They all opened their mouths at the same time, revealing the sharp fangs unique to vampires.
The man, however, smiled and reassured her: "You've just become a vampire, not died. Why not? As long as you can leave the castle, life still holds endless possibilities."
The countesses' wives all reacted with the same pessimism: "Can I really leave here?"
Men always react with the same positive and optimistic attitude as if they've just been injected with adrenaline: "Then let's take a gamble together. If we win, everyone's happy. If we lose, your situation can't be any worse than it is now anyway."
In the end, he successfully persuaded everyone to participate in his grand plan.
There were seventy-five people, seventy-five stories, and seventy-five civilizations. Although, as he had said before, most of the civilizations were indeed humanoid, the differences in appearance between them were enormous.
One moment it's a giant several meters tall, the next it's a dwarf shorter than a table. While marveling at the count's enormous appetite, all that's left is shock.
Had she not been warned by men beforehand, Pimin would have screamed at the sight of those countesses. Although she didn't lose her composure, she remained on edge throughout, barely daring to breathe, and simply served as a companion.
Surprisingly, this companionship actually became an important part of the men's efforts to persuade the countesses.
People always harbored doubts about his proposal, but whenever they saw the two holding hands tightly, they immediately lowered their guard and readily agreed. While agreeing, they would also wear a mysterious smile. Clearly, they saw the two as a lesbian couple.
The fact that a lesbian, unwilling to be separated from her lover, fights desperately in the dungeon is indeed a very reasonable motivation for resistance.
Watching the man calmly and confidently seducing one countess after another, Pimin became even more certain that this guy had definitely read the script!
No wonder everyone else was walking on thin ice, while he seemed to be playing a game with a strategy guide, looking completely relaxed and carefree.
After listening to the tearful complaints of several countesses, Pimin finally realized just how insane this dungeon was: the winners were left inside, while the losers were able to leave safely with a large reward.
Imagine a player giving it their all to survive to the end, fully expecting to win the game and leave the instance with rewards once they become the Countess, only to be told that the victor will become the real Countess and remain in the instance forever. If she were in that situation, she would also be devastated.
On the contrary, a certain guy dressed as a woman remained calm no matter how outrageous the story was.
"Is that hard to understand? If it's like selecting a concubine by collecting stamps, of course you have to choose the best. The so-called rules are just lies used by those in power to deceive those in power. The real rule in this world is always that might makes right."
Seeing that Pi Min still looked uncomfortable, the man smiled and gently stroked her hair.
"Don't be afraid, I will try my best to become the truth. I'm going to sleep for a while, wake me up when it's time for the ball."
After he finished speaking, he immediately collapsed onto the bed as if a power had been cut off, and the room was soon filled with the even and long breathing sounds that only come from someone who has fallen into a deep sleep.
Looking at the man's peaceful sleeping face, Pi Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Persuading people with reason is indeed hard work; look how tired the child is.
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