Chapter 10: A Call from the Matchmaker

Chapter 10: The Call from the Blind Date

*Hic—*

Lou Li, slumped on the sofa, was increasingly coming to understand just how terrifying Bai Muli truly was.

He glanced to his sides.

To his left, Bai Muli dressed in a bikini and apron leaned against him, her head resting on his left shoulder. He felt as if his left arm was nestled within some soft, tender valley.

On his right sat another Bai Muli, clad in a white blouse and black trousers. Lou Li’s head rested on her lush, supple thigh.

He had to admit, her cooking was indeed delicious and suited his taste perfectly.

The only problem was the appearance of the dishes she made—they were rather unappetizing.

No, that wasn’t it!

It was her ability that was utterly terrifying!

Lou Li was fully aware that he was inside a dream.

Yet, whether it was the taste of the food, the sensation of fullness, the texture of the sofa, or even the cool breeze from the air conditioner, he could feel it all vividly.

This dream was too real, so real that Lou Li could no longer distinguish what was real and what was illusion.

The only certainty was the relentless sound of rain pelting against the windowpane outside.

Could it be that once you enter the dream world, it always rains?

That might not be entirely true, but Lou Li decided to make a note of it for now.

He pressed on, “So, Bai Muli, what exactly is your purpose?”

“Of course, to live together with Mr. Lou,” Bai Muli said with spirited enthusiasm. “I want to create a world where only you and I are forever together!”

Lou Li smirked wryly. “Are you the Uchiha Obito or something?”

“However—”

He vanished from the room in an instant.

Both Bai Muli figures were stunned, then furrowed their brows simultaneously.

“You finally figured it out? Dare to cause trouble for me, and you’re doomed.”

Lou Li opened his eyes to find himself sitting inside a luxury MPV.

He was seated in the second row on the left.

To his right sat Bai Muli in a black suit and tie.

In the driver’s seat and front passenger seat were two men, and in the corner of the third row, trembling nervously, was another man whom Lou Li found familiar.

He squinted.

Those three men—they were the ones who had previously broken into his home and were captured.

How had they escaped?

Also, Lou Li recalled he had been at a hotel at the time.

Then, inexplicably, he fell asleep and entered the dream world.

He had eaten a meal prepared by Bai Muli and experienced the lap pillow.

He even learned about her abilities.

So, in reality, he was being kidnapped?

And he suddenly fell asleep.

So these guys must have been behind it?

They broke out of the police station, drugged him unconscious, and kidnapped him?

Lou Li glanced out the window.

The trees by the roadside were rapidly receding one after another.

They seemed to be in an unfamiliar place, probably the suburbs.

Thankfully, Bai Muli was with him.

Lou Li turned his head to look at Bai Muli on his right, feeling a strange sense of reassurance.

Bai Muli opened her eyes, her unfocused golden gaze fixed on Lou Li.

“Mr. Lou—”

*Bang!*

She exploded like a Mentos dropped into a cola bottle!

Blood, bits of flesh, shattered bones, and fragments of internal organs splattered all over the vehicle!

Except around Lou Li.

His surroundings remained pristine.

Not a drop of blood stained his silver-gray, single-breasted suit.

Yet he was deeply shaken, his mind a blank slate.

The other three men were equally stunned.

Xing Tian, the burly middle-aged man in the driver’s seat, slammed on the brakes, halting the MPV abruptly in the middle of the road.

Fortunately, they were on the roadside in the suburbs, with few passing vehicles.

After a moment, Xing Tian cautiously looked at Lou Li through the rearview mirror and asked, “Uh, can we take a break for a smoke?”

“Of course,” Lou Li replied with a smile. “I was just about to have one myself.”

He found it amusing that these kidnappers were oddly polite.

Originally six in number, one was dead, so there should be five left.

Why were there only three now?

As for the Bai Muli who had exploded—

He wasn’t worried.

Even a heel could deduce that Bai Muli wasn’t truly dead.

After all, Lou Li knew there were several Bai Mulies.

Counting the one just now, there were seven in total.

There was the one in the suit, the one in the white blouse, the maid outfit, the police uniform, and today’s black suit, white blouse, and bikini apron.

He couldn’t help but envy them a little.

But he definitely did not want to become like that.

He got out of the vehicle and stood by the roadside, smoking.

At this moment, Lou Li had no intention of running; he knew escape was impossible.

Though he had his phone, calling emergency services would be noticed.

Even subtly moving his hand in his pocket would be too conspicuous.

Besides, considering they had indirectly killed one of his captors but spared him, they must have some purpose.

He planned to probe further later.

While he pondered over Xing Tian and the others, they stood at a distance, quietly scrutinizing Lou Li’s handsome, cigarette-clad face.

“Boss, let’s run!” urged the blond-haired youth.

Now the group of six was reduced to Xing Tian, the blond youth, and a bespectacled man.

Adjusting his glasses, the bespectacled man sneered coldly, “Run? Do you really think we can get away?”

“Then what do you suggest? Should we just fight him to the death?” The blond youth was on the verge of despair.

The three who had died were all more experienced and stronger than him.

But they had either died mysteriously or been utterly crushed and still died mysteriously.

He wasn’t afraid to die, but he feared dying without understanding why.

Moreover, their captor had said they wouldn’t let them live.

They were essentially three condemned prisoners, aware their execution was imminent, but unsure of the exact day.

“Keep your voice down!” the bespectacled man snapped, then lowered his tone. “Boss, Huang, did you notice his eyes have reverted to black? And his expression no longer carries that suffocating horror from before.”

The blond youth’s eyes lit up. “So, does that mean we have a chance to escape? Or even turn the tables on him?”

“Naïve,” Xing Tian exhaled a smoke ring, then smiled coldly. “Forgot how the Hummingbird died?”

Both the blond youth and the bespectacled man fell silent.

The Hummingbird had tried to kick Lou Li but exploded like being thrown into a microwave—just like the woman who had possessed their comrade’s corpse.

“I have two theories,” Xing Tian said after a drag of his cigarette. “Either he has two abilities. Though we don’t know what controls the mind-suicide ability, the other must be the power to invert everything.”

“What’s the other possibility?” the blond youth couldn’t help asking.

He had to know, because if it really was that, they were doomed.

Their survival depended entirely on another’s whim.

“The other possibility,” Xing Tian flicked his cigarette butt and stomped it out, “is that he’s fighting someone else whose ability is to invert everything—which isn’t his own. The Hummingbird died because he broke some rule set by that other party.”

He paused, then added, “For now, we have to assume the latter is true.”

If it were the first, they might as well give up and die.

“Our only chance is to wait for them to fight and get too distracted to notice us, so they both get hurt. Then we can complete our mission and get out alive.”

“Until then, we must curry favor with this monster.”

The three looked up to see the monster pull out his phone.

“Only in this fleeting world of youth do we dare roam freely across the land.”

The phone rang. Lou Li took out his phone.

An unknown number.

He raised an eyebrow and answered.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Is this Mr. Lou Li?” The voice on the other end was magnetic, with a faint huskiness—somewhere between the tones of Asami Seto and Saori Hayami.

“Yes, speaking. And you are?”

“I’m Luo Qianning. I found your contact through that matchmaking app. Are you busy now? If you don’t mind, could we meet?”

(End of chapter)