The crystal chandeliers at the ball refracted countless points of light, which fell on Yu Jiuyuan's moon-white dress, like a handful of crushed diamonds.
She moved among the guests with a glass of champagne, a perfectly timed smile playing on her lips.
As the student council president, she was the absolute protagonist of this grand event, exuding an air of composure and control over the entire situation.
"President Yu looks beautiful tonight." A middle-aged man, a stranger, walked over with a wine glass in hand. His name tag read "Special Guest: Lu Mingyuan." His smile was gentle but scrutinizing.
“I am a partner of the Su Group. I have often heard Chairman Su mention you. You truly live up to your reputation.”
Yu Jiuyuan raised her glass in acknowledgment, tapping her fingertips lightly on the rim of the glass. This was a secret signal she and Rong Shenghan had agreed upon, a warning when encountering suspicious individuals.
The man's gaze lingered on her neck for too long, carrying an aggressive quality that went beyond mere business pleasantries, causing her to instinctively tense up.
"Mr. Lu, you flatter me." She turned to avoid his attempt to touch her wrist, maintaining a polite distance in her tone. "Vice President Rong is over there; you might have something in common to talk about."
The man's smile froze for half a second, then returned to its gentle tone: "That's unfortunate, I was actually hoping to ask President Yu to dance for me."
He put down his wine glass, gestured invitingly, and the silver ring on his finger gleamed coldly under the light. "Just to show some respect to this guest who has come from afar?"
[System Alert: High concentration of compound drug detected, composition unknown, central nervous system excitation index exceeds the standard by 500%, with accompanying nerve paralysis effect.]
As the cold, mechanical voice crashed into her mind, Yu Jiuyuan suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the back of her neck.
She turned around abruptly and saw only the back of a waiter hurriedly retreating into the crowd, with a used syringe on the tray in his hand.
Lu Mingyuan, who had just been there, had already disappeared in the direction of the revolving door.
"President?" Lin Yanran's voice came from behind. He was wearing a sharp black suit, and his tie was slightly crooked, clearly indicating that this was his first time attending such an event.
"Why do you look so pale? What did that guy surnamed Lu do to you just now?"
Yu Jiuyuan steadied herself by holding onto the pillar, her fingertips as cold as if she were holding a block of ice.
The heat inside my body was ten times more intense than last time, like magma instantly engulfing my limbs and bones, even the cracks in my bones felt burning and itchy.
She gritted her teeth and shook her head, her vision already blurring: "It's nothing... Go call Rong Shenghan and Xie Zhecheng to the office..."
Before she could finish speaking, she staggered toward the office. The hem of her dress swept across the floor, carrying a fragrant breeze that mingled with the spreading, sweet, metallic scent of the medicine, like a white rose laced with poison.
Snowflakes tapped against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the student council office, making a soft, pattering sound, as if setting the stage for this out-of-control night.
Yu Jiuyuan curled up deep inside the sofa, the hem of her moon-white dress wrinkled from cold sweat, clinging to her bare calves and outlining her slender lines.
Rong Shenghan's suit jacket was draped over her, carrying a scent of mint and ebony, but it couldn't suppress the heat that seeped from her very bones.
The heat within my body had breached the dam of reason, even more intense than before, like magma churning in my veins, every inch of my skin screaming with desire.
"Temperature 39.7 degrees Celsius." Yuan Xu's voice trembled unusually. He had just finished taking the temperature with his portable thermometer. His pupils behind his gold-rimmed glasses were dilated with anxiety. Half of a syringe containing a sedative was sticking out of his white coat pocket, but he knew better than anyone that the stuff was completely ineffective against the Su family's specially made medicine.
Yu Jiuyuan suddenly laughed, her laughter tinged with a breathy quality, and a slightly hoarse sound as if she had been burned.
She raised her hand to touch Yuan Xu's glasses, but her fingertips were grabbed by another hand.
Xie Zhecheng's palms were icy cold, and his well-defined fingers were gripping her bones so tightly that they almost crushed them. Yet, his usually indifferent eyes were now churning with a turbulent undercurrent.
"Who did this?" His voice was as deep as ice, his gaze sweeping over her collar where the two pearl buttons had been undone, where an unnatural flush tinged the area, like cinnabar splashed on snow.
"Ask this... instead of asking, let's think of a solution." Yu Jiuyuan turned her head away, avoiding his gaze, but met Rong Shenghan's eyes, which were filled with a stormy atmosphere. The cuffs of her white shirt were rolled up to her forearms, revealing the pale blue veins on her wrists.
"A solution?" Lin Yanran scoffed. He leaned against his desk, his fingers fidgeting with his tie, crumpling the expensive silk into a mess.
"Isn't President Yu the most capable? Now she looks like a rabbit waiting to be slaughtered." Although his words were harsh, the frequent glances at Yu Jiuyuan's reddened eyes betrayed the anxiety beneath his arrogant exterior.
Yu Jiuyuan's breathing suddenly quickened. She curled her fingers and grabbed Xie Zhecheng's sleeve, her nails almost digging into his flesh. Her fragile voice rang out: "Deep intimate contact."
The system's cold notification exploded in my mind: [Vital signs continue to decline, heart rate 150 beats/minute, blood pressure soaring. Please make deep intimate contact with the target as soon as possible. Countdown: 40 minutes]
“Deep…intimate contact?” Yuan Xu repeated the words, his cheeks instantly turning red. He looked sharply at the other three, his gold-rimmed glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. “You mean…”
"Otherwise what?" Rong Shenghan walked to the wine cabinet, poured a glass of ice water and handed it over. Water droplets on the glass fell onto Yu Jiuyuan's hand, bringing a fleeting coolness.
His fingertips brushed against the inside of her wrist, where the artery was throbbing wildly. "The Su family's medicines have always been so insidious."
Yu Jiuyuan took the water glass and drank it all in one gulp. The ice water slid down her throat, but it was like oil poured on a raging fire, only making the burning sensation even more intense.
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