Chapter 11: The Dove Occupies the Magpie's Nest (Edited) "Let's make a bet, young master..."
late at night.
Karasuma Shigeharu, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes.
Someone knocks on the door.
"Who?" he asked.
The person knocking on the door didn't answer, but didn't stop knocking.
Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.
The knocking was rhythmic, with the time intervals between the knocks being the same.
Several figures flashed through Karasuma Moharu's mind. He frowned, slid off the bed, and pulled out a pistol from under his pillow, holding it in his hand.
He opened the door.
There was someone outside the door who he didn't expect.
"Ms. Lin?"
Karasuma Shigeharu stepped aside to make room, "What do you want—"
The dark muzzle of the gun silenced his words.
The moonlight shone through the window lattice onto the girl, making her honey-colored eyes, which were kind and warm during the day, glow with a cold light.
Even in this situation, she was still joking.
"What else can a man and a woman do when they meet in a private setting at midnight?" She pointed the gun forward and walked forward, closing the door behind her.
"It's just the same two things—love affairs and conspiracy."
"Young Master, do you think we are the former or the latter?"
Karasuma Moharu's whole body was tense.
He clenched the pistol in his hand at his side and forced a smile: "Miss Lin is pointing this thing at me. It would be foolish of me to still guess the former."
"What does Miss Lin want me to do?"
Lin Xi smiled.
"Young Master, do you want to avenge your mother?"
"Wha… I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Cooperate with me," Lin Xi said. "You also want to kill Karasuma Renye, right? I believe that with the young master's ability, he already has his own plan and is executing it step by step."
"According to the young master's plan, Karasuma Renya will die sooner or later. But, haha, I am even more anxious than the young master. I don't even want him to survive this summer."
"If the young master agrees, I can offer you a chance. A chance to kill Karasuma Renya more quickly and easily."
Karasuma Shigeharu stared at the girl.
The gun in his hand was also against Lin Xi's waist.
"It's hard to believe your sincerity when you come to me with a gun and say these things, Ms. Lin. How can I be sure that you really want to cooperate with me and not just turn around and tell my father about it?"
"Besides, what makes you think I need the chance you give me? You said cooperation, so how can you help me?"
"Ah, that's indeed a problem." Lin Xi nodded. "It seems that my only useful ability is my ability to research medicine. Young Master doesn't look like someone who would be keen on immortality. The immortality medicine is not that attractive to you."
"Then, that's all."
She put down her gun and unloaded six bullets from the magazine in front of Karasuma Shigeharu.
She seemed not to care about the pistol that Karasuma Shigeharu pointed at her waist, and showed the pistol in her hand to Karasuma Shigeharu.
"I heard the young master frequents brothels and casinos, so he must be familiar with all sorts of gambling. You've surely heard of 'Russian Roulette'? It's a rather cruel game – a revolver with a bullet in each of its six chambers, a revolver with a random rotation, and then the revolver is closed. Players take turns pointing the pistol to their heads and pulling the trigger. The person who gets shot loses, and the one who survives is the winner."
Lin Xi put a bullet into the magazine and casually rotated the cylinder.
"Now, I'll invite you to play a game, young master." She took Karasuma Moharu's hand. The young man's palm was already wet with sticky sweat.
The revolver was placed in the palm of Karasuma Shigeharu's hand.
"...What?" His voice was dry, as if he hadn't figured out the situation yet.
"Please shoot me in the heart, young master." Lin Xi smiled politely, but that smile didn't warm Karasuma Maochun, only chilled him. "In the first round, I will put one bullet in, and young master can shoot five times. In the second round, I will put two bullets in, and young master can shoot four times... and so on, until the fifth round."
"Ah, don't get me wrong, the rules are different from Russian roulette. I'm the only player in this game. In other words, I'm the only one who could lose my life. Young Master is only responsible for pulling the trigger."
"By the end of the game, my chances of survival were approximately 0.0006 percent."
Lin Xi held his hand, forced his sweaty hand to hold the gun, adjusted the angle, and aimed it at his heart.
"Let's make a bet, young master. I bet I can survive to the end. If I lose, I will die. But if I win... please cooperate with me, young master."
There was silence.
Is this woman crazy?
For a moment, Karasuma Shigeharu felt that Lin Xi did it on purpose and wanted him to kill her here.
What was her purpose? Did she really want to cooperate with him and kill Karasuma Renye? Karasuma Renye offered her the highest salary and the best treatment in the company!
How did she know about my plan?
Why would she bet with him on a game she had no chance of winning? The odds were 0.0006...
If she lost... if he killed her here, the gunshot would wake up everyone in the manor, and Lin Xi would fall in his room, becoming direct evidence of his murder.
My father will be furious...his plans will certainly be affected...
Thoughts jumbled together in Karasuma Moharu's head, finally converging into one idea:
No matter what, this woman is definitely not a simple researcher!
"What's wrong?" Lin Xi tilted her head slightly. "Time is money, huh? I want to go back to the house and rest early."
"Are you afraid to do it? Or is this hand not your dominant one? It's a pity that the gun in the young master's other hand is not a revolver, so you can't play Russian roulette. Otherwise, using the young master's own gun might give you more courage."
Karasuma Shigeharu's mind was in a mess.
In the moonlight, his shadow drew a clear dividing line on Lin Xi.
The girl's mouth curves as usual, and her casually draped hair adds a touch of laziness to her temperament. At this moment, Karasuma Moharu wishes that his eyes could see through a person's thoughts so that he wouldn't be so frightened.
They confronted each other for a while, and Karasuma Shigeharu saw the girl's eyelids droop slightly, and she sighed softly.
"Since the young master is unwilling, let me help you." She held the hand holding the gun of Karasuma Shigeharu, pulled it up hard, so that the deviated muzzle was facing the heart, and then suddenly pressed down Karasuma Shigeharu's index finger.
Click.
There was only the sound of the trigger being pulled.
A drop of sweat fell from Karasuma Moharu's forehead.
The previous posture brought them closer together, and at that ambiguous distance like lovers, Karasuma Shigeharu could clearly see the interest in the girl's eyes.
……madman.
"This is just the beginning." Lin Xi said with a smile, "Please continue, young master."
Perhaps the desire for revenge day after day had already twisted his heart.
Maybe he was born with a tendency towards madness.
Perhaps it's because the moonlight tonight is too bright, and the fragrance of the flowers is too strong...
As if bewitched, Karasuma Shigeharu pulled the trigger.
Click.
Click, click, click…
Click.
The first game is over.
The girl's gaze didn't waver at all.
Not to mention being nervous, there wasn't even a trace of sweat.
She seemed to really treat all this as a bedtime game, and she could turn over and go back to sleep at any time after the game was over.
She gently took the pistol, showed him the unfired bullet, inserted the second, turned the cylinder, and handed the gun to him.
The second game begins. Then the third game...
Before the end of each round of the game, Lin Xi would show him the remaining bullets.
In fact, there is no need to go to so much trouble.
Karasuma Shigeharu could see that she had not done anything to the pistol.
This wasn't some magic trick—no matter what it was, he was confident he could see through it; it was his ability—this was pure luck.
If he didn't attribute it to luck, Karasuma Shigeharu could not find any other reason to explain the occurrence of this phenomenon.
He was practically numb from the end of the shooting. Except for the girl, who seemed tired of aiming at her heart and let him point the gun at her head instead, nothing happened—the bullet didn't fire, her heart and head weren't hit, and she didn't die.
When the fourth game was about to begin, Shigeharu Karasuma called for a stop.
"I'll cooperate with you." He said, returning the revolver to Lin Xi, his hands still shaking a little.
Lin Xi yawned.
"Not going on?"
No matter how it goes on, you will definitely win... Karasuma Shigeharu shook his head.
"I'll cooperate with you." He repeated, this time more firmly than before.
"However, I still have some questions for you to answer... Uh, please bear with me for a moment, my questions are very brief." Seeing Lin Xi yawn again, Wuhuan Maochun felt a subtle sense of helplessness in his heart. "Why do you want to cooperate with me?"
"With such incredible...powers, you could kill Karasuma Renya on your own, right? Why did you choose me?"
"Time is money, young master." Lin Xi pursed her lips and swallowed back the yawn that was about to escape her lips. "I like to achieve my goals in the most efficient way. Well, tonight is also the same. Although it may scare the young master, this is indeed the fastest way to convince him to cooperate with me."
"As for why I want to cooperate with you... Young Master, you are good-looking and interesting."
"Interesting?" Karasuma Shigeharu shook his head. "Please don't give me a perfunctory answer. If you find someone interesting, there has to be a reason."
"Haha." Lin Xi raised his eyes to look at the young man.
Purple clouds shrouded in mist were sealed beneath soft eyelashes. His expression became tense under her gaze, his pale lips pursed tightly, and the corners of his mouth flattened.
She suddenly attacked, using her palm as a knife, and attacked Karasuma Shigeharu.
As expected, his wrist was controlled and stopped in the air, unable to move forward.
Karasuma Moharu looked like he was about to explode, his entire body tense. It looked like if Lin Xi made another move, he would be ready to subdue her at any moment.
"Look, that's it." Lin Xi loosened his grip and pulled his hand back. "The outside world has a terrible opinion of the young master. They say you're decadent, useless, shameless, and come from a poor background. You spend your days doing nothing, hanging around in casinos and brothels, bringing shame to the Karasuma family."
"But these are all disguises, young master. You are nimble and quick to react, and your hands are covered in calluses from spear training. You appear to have great respect for Karasuma Renya, but in your heart you are plotting to kill him. You frequent casinos and brothels, presumably because they conceal your presence and allow you to secretly contact your followers."
"The contrast in the young master attracted me from the very beginning, and it also made me feel that we... are the same kind of people."
"Well, it's getting late, young master, it's time to rest early. Oh, I almost forgot, I said I would give the young master a chance... Have you seen the experimental subject I brought back? In fact, his body has already achieved immortality."
"With him, I can develop the elixir of life within three weeks. I'm sure you, with your intelligence, have seen how many opportunities there are to exploit."
"Well, good night, young master. Phew... Sleep is a very precious thing to me, and I can't waste any more time sleeping today."
After saying that, she left, taking her revolver with her, leaving Karasuma Shigeharu alone in the sleepless night.
He stared blankly at the closed door, a strange thought rising in his mind:
Could it be that she really wanted to go to bed early, so she used such a crazy and rough way to facilitate this cooperation?
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