At three in the morning, the breathing in the master bedroom was even and long.
Rong Shenghan was fast asleep, his arm still wrapped around Yu Jiuyuan's waist, like a large dog that was both wary and affectionate.
Yu Jiuyuan opened her eyes and, using the moonlight filtering through the curtains, traced the lines of his tightly pursed lips. This was the gentleness she had personally crafted, yet it also concealed a possessiveness that should not be underestimated.
She gently moved his arm away, stepped barefoot onto the carpet, and walked onto the terrace.
The night breeze, carrying a damp warmth, lifted the loose collar of her nightgown.
She leaned against the carved railing, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the cold stone surface, and silently called out in her mind, "System."
[Host.] A cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind, devoid of any emotion.
Yu Jiuyuan gazed at the outline of the Yu family manor in the distance, where the lights resembled scattered stars, the territory she was born into.
"Lin Yanran's favorability rating has reached 86."
She spoke calmly, as if stating something insignificant, "When he reaches 100, does that mean all the strategy tasks are completed?"
[Theoretically, yes. The mission is considered successfully completed when all designated targets reach 100% favorability.]
"A perfect ending?" Yu Jiuyuan chuckled softly, twirling a strand of hair ruffled by the wind between her fingers. "And then? Will you disappear? Or will you give me a 'graduation certificate'?"
The system will unbind the host upon completion of the task, and the host's life will return to its original state.
"The original trajectory?" she repeated the four words, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes.
From the day she was bound, her trajectory was rewritten.
Those seemingly passionate moments, those tender and affectionate maneuvers, were nothing more than carefully calculated moves in her game.
She was the eldest daughter of the Yu family, born to stand at the top of the pyramid. The system mission was just a ladder she grabbed along the way as she climbed up.
"Returning to the original trajectory...that sounds easy."
She said softly, "But you didn't say what would happen to these people I've won over."
The target individual's emotional state falls within their own conscious control, and the system will not interfere.
"Autonomy?"
Yu Jiuyuan recalled the pause when Xie Zhecheng's fingertips inadvertently brushed against the back of her hand as he handed her the documents.
She recalled the rare Phalaenopsis orchid that Yuan Xu had specially reserved for her in the laboratory.
I recall the brokenness and obsession in Ji Luoqin's last glance at her when she was abandoned by her family.
Even Rong Shenghan, who is sleeping in the room at this moment, has a possessiveness hidden deep in his eyes that is no longer easily controlled by his "self-awareness".
She suddenly found it somewhat amusing.
These privileged individuals, standing atop the clouds, ultimately became pawns in her hands, yet unknowingly, she wove them into a web that entangled her.
“I’m asking you,” Yu Jiuyuan’s tone turned serious, “after the mission is completed, will they disappear because of the ‘strategy’ connection? Or… will you erase their memories?”
No. The system is only responsible for guiding the host through the emotional strategy; it does not have the ability to modify or physically erase memories.
Yu Jiuyuan breathed a sigh of relief, not because she was worried about them, but because she was worried that all her hard work would be in vain.
Xie Zhecheng's business acumen, Yuan Xu's talent in the field of biology, Rong Shenghan's hidden power, and even the Lin family behind Lin Yanran—these are all important bargaining chips for her to expand the Yu family's territory in the future.
She never does anything that doesn't benefit her; her strategy to win them over wasn't just about completing a mission.
"That's good." She said softly, "I thought that the dog I had raised with so much care would end up being taken away by you."
[...The host's analogy is unethical.] The system's mechanical voice rarely showed any fluctuation, as if it were performing a program calibration.
Yu Jiuyuan ignored its correction and instead thought of something else: "System, how many wishes do I have now?"
[The host has successfully won over four targets: Xie Zhecheng, Yuan Xu, Rong Shenghan, and Ji Luoqin, accumulating four wish-granting opportunities. Each wish can be granted for one desire that does not exceed the rules of the current world.]
Four times.
Yu Jiuyuan was making plans in her mind.
This number isn't much, but it's enough to influence a lot of things.
She recalled the map showing the distribution of the remaining Su family forces that Su Jingshu had handed her, the frequent appearances of Ji Nianqin at Saint Sakura Academy recently, and the overseas energy mining area that her father had mentioned at the family meeting, which was in dire need of development.
"Is the scope of the wish 'within the current world rules'?"
She pressed further, "For example, how about tripling the Yu family's stock price within a year? Or causing a business rival to suddenly go bankrupt?"
[Yes. However, please note that excessive intervention in the economic order may trigger unpredictable chain reactions, and the system does not recommend that the host perform such operations.]
"I don't need your advice."
Yu Jiuyuan interrupted it, her tone carrying an undeniable force, "I only need to know whether these wishes are feasible."
【……feasible.】
She smiled with satisfaction.
It seems that these four wishes were more effective than she had imagined.
She never believed in free lunches. The system binding might have been an accident, but these four wishes were spoils of war she had painstakingly won, and they should be used where they were most needed.
"What if I made a wish and Lin Yanran's favorability rating instantly reached 100?"
She suddenly thought of this shortcut, and a sly glint flashed in her eyes.
[The system does not support wishes that directly interfere with the target's emotions. Favorability must be increased through the host's actual actions; this is the core rule of the mission.]
"How boring." Yu Jiuyuan pouted, but wasn't too disappointed.
If it were that easy to accomplish, then Lin Yanran would be far too cheap a pawn.
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