After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Entangled by a Crazy and Beautiful Villain - Chapter 61

Whispers of the Dark Fruit

Chi Qianning quieted down instantly, her face taking on a thoughtful expression as if she were contemplating something deep. Song Linlin, seeing her companion fall silent and not respond, frowned, staring intently at Chi Qianning.

“What are you thinking about?” Song Linlin asked, slightly displeased that Chi Qianning was distracted while they were talking.

As she spoke, a bad premonition suddenly arose. If Song Linlin remembered correctly, Chi Qianning, like herself, seemed to possess a constitution most suitable for cultivating with yin energy. This meant that the Dark Underworld Fruit (Tongyou Guo) would definitely be a great asset for Chi Qianning as well.

Song Linlin’s eyes widened in disbelief. She stammered, “You, you… You wouldn’t be thinking of going to snatch the Dark Underworld Fruit from the Mysterious Yin Realm, would you?”

Chi Qianning looked at Song Linlin in surprise, wondering how this girl suddenly got so smart. She hadn’t explicitly said she wanted to steal it, yet Song Linlin had managed to guess. Chi Qianning didn’t deny it; she indeed had the thought of snatching the fruit. So, she gave a generous nod, confirming Song Linlin’s suspicion.

“Mm,” Chi Qianning softly replied.

Song Linlin was so shocked that her upper body leaned backward. She stared at Chi Qianning in utter dismay, seemingly terrified by the admission and speechless for a good while.

She had told Chi Qianning about the Dark Underworld Fruit in the Mysterious Yin Realm precisely to illustrate the danger of the journey. Why had it, instead, made the other person interested, even inspiring the idea to go and snatch the fruit?

“Hiss—” Thinking of the scene that would unfold, Song Linlin couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

That great villain alone would be a headache, and now Chi Qianning also wanted to jump into this messy situation?

Song Linlin recalled the book’s description of the villain Hong Ye, coupled with the information she had gathered these past few days, and concluded that this villain was truly not someone easy to deal with: powerful and virtually a cold-blooded killer.

With such a dangerous person involved, Song Linlin felt they should stay far away from the core area in the Mysterious Yin Realm to avoid collateral damage—that would be a total loss!

Yet now, Chi Qianning was eager to rush toward trouble.

Song Linlin immediately grabbed Chi Qianning’s arm, her face aghast. She loudly warned, “No, you absolutely cannot go! This is truly off-limits!”

“Oh?” Chi Qianning squinted at Song Linlin, clearly not taking her words to heart, and asked lightly, “Why not?”

Song Linlin couldn’t be too direct, so she had to speak vaguely, “There will definitely be a formidable person going after the Dark Underworld Fruit! This person is incredibly strong, yet their nature is ruthless. It would be terrible to be targeted by her!”

Especially since Hong Ye was quite petty in the book. Because she was injured by Ye Tingran, she held a grudge against him and relentlessly pursued and hunted him down after her injuries healed. If she were to list the details, Song Linlin could come up with a huge list.

“Is that so?” Chi Qianning frowned, still not entirely convinced by Song Linlin’s words. However, for prudence, she patiently asked, “Who is this person?”

At this, Song Linlin was stumped. Since she had transmigrated, she naturally knew the main plot and where the danger lay, but this would sound completely unbelievable to anyone else.

Her successful guess that there would be chaos in the Mysterious Yin Realm was understandable, but being able to name the exact person? That would be too suspicious.

Especially since Hong Ye had nothing to do with her right now. If she stated it so plainly, and Hong Ye did successfully steal the item, it might arouse suspicion.

After all, everyone was unaware that Hong Ye would come to steal the fruit, but Song Linlin knew in advance. It would be hard for people not to imagine something, and then Song Linlin would truly be in an impossible position.

So, when faced with Chi Qianning’s question, Song Linlin could only pretend to be ignorant and vaguely say, “Anyway, she’s very formidable! Otherwise, she wouldn’t dare to come and steal something from the Mysterious Cloud Sect.”

Since Song Linlin couldn’t clearly state who exactly would come to steal the item, Chi Qianning found Song Linlin’s words even more ridiculous and completely disregarded her warning.

In Song Linlin’s eyes, “formidable” likely applied to anyone slightly stronger than herself. In reality, they were probably just small-fry, offering no real credibility.

Song Linlin continued to stare at Chi Qianning. Having spent this much time together, Song Linlin naturally saw that the other person hadn’t taken her advice seriously and was still intent on doing things her own way.

Facing this attitude, Song Linlin anxiously reached out both hands, cupped Chi Qianning’s face, forcing her to turn and look at her. Then, she leaned in close and said seriously, “No, look at me!”

“What are you doing?” Chi Qianning was still a bit confused, not understanding why Song Linlin suddenly became so serious.

“Are you still planning to go after that Dark Underworld Fruit?” Song Linlin asked, narrowing her eyes.

Chi Qianning felt a pang of guilt under her scrutiny. In the end, she remained silent, looking away to avoid her gaze, but she didn’t deny it either.

“Heh!”

Song Linlin knew this would be the result. No denial meant a tacit admission, and given Chi Qianning’s casual attitude earlier, it would be a miracle if she had listened so easily.

Since Chi Qianning now wouldn’t even look her in the eye, Song Linlin couldn’t resist gently pinching Chi Qianning’s cheek. Her fingers couldn’t find much extra soft flesh on the taut skin, so Song Linlin ended up pinching a large area, successfully making Chi Qianning look back at her—though this time, her eyes held a hint of grievance.

Song Linlin released her fingers. Even though she hadn’t used much force in the earlier action, Chi Qianning’s skin was so fair that the pinch still left two noticeable red marks on her face, clearly showing that she had just been pinched.

This made Song Linlin feel a little embarrassed. She could only clear her throat guiltily and change the subject, “In short, you really can’t just casually go and try to steal that Dark Underworld Fruit. This is not something we should get involved in, got it?”

Actually, Song Linlin wasn’t convinced that Chi Qianning would necessarily lose to Hong Ye if she tried to snatch the fruit. But regardless, the other person was a major villain. Even if she appeared severely injured at the time, her raw power was evident, and she certainly wouldn’t be weak.

She remembered that Chi Qianning was still in a weakened state, her strength not fully recovered. Confronting the villain Hong Ye like this would be a significant disadvantage…

Moreover, based on the description in the book, this Hong Ye was somewhat psychologically unstable. Adhering to the principle of “less trouble is better,” Song Linlin felt it was best to avoid provoking such a person.

Chi Qianning looked at Song Linlin helplessly. She felt that if she didn’t agree to Song Linlin’s demand right now, Song Linlin wouldn’t let go of her anytime soon.

So, she placed her hand on Song Linlin’s wrist, met her gaze, and following the thread of her earlier words, said, “Alright, I won’t casually go for the Dark Underworld Fruit before someone else makes a move. Is that acceptable?”

This sentence catered to Song Linlin’s wishes, but Chi Qianning didn’t explicitly say she wouldn’t steal it at all; she added the qualifier, “before someone else makes a move.”

The meaning, of course, was that if no one else made a move, she wouldn’t actively stir up trouble. However, if that person successfully snatched it, she could absolutely go after the one who obtained it. Conversely, if that person failed, Chi Qianning wouldn’t mind trying her luck against the elder guarding it this time.

But Song Linlin was completely unaware of these hidden meanings. Hearing Chi Qianning obediently agree to her request, she nodded with satisfaction, completely failing to anticipate that Chi Qianning could pull off such a clever maneuver. She truly was just a naive girl who had yet to experience the harsh realities of the world.

Song Linlin let go of the hand that had been cupping Chi Qianning’s cheeks, freeing her from the restraint. Chi Qianning raised her hand and touched the spot where Song Linlin had pinched her. She couldn’t see the exact situation, but the sensation still lingered slightly. So, she said with exasperation, “You really went through with it.”

Song Linlin looked up and saw Chi Qianning’s fingertip resting on her fair, delicate cheek. The area she had just pinched had turned even more vividly red.

The mark might not have been so noticeable on someone else’s face, but Chi Qianning was so fair that she looked almost luminous in the sunlight, making the contrast of red against white on her face exceptionally conspicuous.

Song Linlin recalled that she genuinely hadn’t used much force when she pinched her. Chi Qianning was simply more prone to bruising than others after being pinched. So, Song Linlin mumbled quietly, “What’s the big deal? I didn’t use any force.”

It was just a little pinch on the cheek; how much could it hurt?

Why hadn’t she been so sensitive to pain before?

Despite her internal complaint, Song Linlin still shifted closer to Chi Qianning, leaning in. Her tone was suggestive, “Hmm? What’s wrong? Does it hurt a lot?”

As she spoke, Song Linlin reached out and pinched Chi Qianning’s waist, as if probing, and asked, “Does this hurt?”

Without waiting for Chi Qianning’s answer, she switched to a softer spot and pinched it again, still gently, “How about this?”

Chi Qianning was rendered speechless by the pinching. Song Linlin’s seemingly casual touches were actually aimed at spots she had noticed were particularly sensitive to Chi Qianning during their recent intimate moments. She was naturally targeting Chi Qianning’s weak points.

Chi Qianning wanted to glare at Song Linlin, but her eyes lacked any real threat, and Song Linlin wasn’t afraid of her at all. Chi Qianning’s face flushed slightly, and she reached out to grab Song Linlin’s mischievous wrist, saying, “Song Linlin, stop messing around.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pinched you,” Song Linlin chose to apologize obediently when her wrist was caught.

However, her tone changed, and she raised the hand that hadn’t been caught, easily pulling down the hand Chi Qianning was using to restrain her wrist.

Song Linlin’s tone was sincere, adopting the manner of someone who had genuinely repented and intended to make amends, “Pinching you was truly wrong of me. Since I pinched you and it hurts, let me give you a rub, how about that?”

Song Linlin certainly followed through on her word and deeply reflected on her actions. At that moment, she was very diligent, her hand movements earnest and focused on making amends.

The effect was quite obvious. Chi Qianning no longer felt pain, nor did she complain about it hurting anymore.

…