Chapter 44

Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded and truly had no way to explain that he wasn’t that kind of person.

But this guy was seriously overthinking things!

First “seducing,” and now “pervert.”

“Nothing to say? Can’t find an excuse?” Seeing Jiang Xiao’s hesitant expression, Lu Moxing revealed a “just as I thought” look. “Or am I completely right?”

“You wanted to seduce me and have certain… unsavory fetishes. Too bad I saw right through you.”

Jiang Xiao: “…”

“You deliberately threw yourself into my arms just now. Did you think I wouldn’t see through your little scheme?” Lu Moxing had, of course, seen similar tactics before. To him, an empty-headed beauty was worth less than a business report.

But no one had ever dared to be this bold…

“You’re saying I seduced you?” Jiang Xiao suddenly said, taking a few steps forward. The distance between them shrank rapidly until he was standing right in front of Lu Moxing.

Jiang Xiao leaned down slightly, planting one hand on the sofa behind Lu Moxing.

Lu Moxing remained seated on the sofa. This time, it was Jiang Xiao looking down at him from above.

The balance of power instantly reversed.

Lu Moxing wore a black shirt similar to the one in his magazine feature, several buttons undone, exuding the dangerously wild and untamed aura of a hunter. He didn’t regard Jiang Xiao’s provocative gesture as worthy of his notice.

Great CEO Lu had never been pinned against a sofa by anyone before. He found it rather novel. He raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery curving his lips. “Isn’t that right?”

But he didn’t refuse Jiang Xiao’s proximity, wanting to see exactly what Jiang Xiao dared to do to him.

As Jiang Xiao drew near, the first thing that reached Lu Moxing was a fresh, clean scent, like sweet orange baked under sunlight. Then came the slightly richer fragrance of agarwood. Lu Moxing only lost his focus for a split second before the faint sweetness was completely suppressed by the agarwood, not a trace remaining.

Lu Moxing didn’t usually like oranges, but now he suddenly thought it might not be so bad.

If he took a bite, would sweet, fragrant juice flow out?

Lu Moxing was deep in thought when a single finger tilted his chin up.

No one in this world had ever dared do something so outrageously bold to CEO Lu. The spark of anger had just begun to kindle in Lu Moxing’s heart, but when his gaze lifted, it collided with Jiang Xiao’s.

Jiang Xiao was… staring at him very seriously.

His clear, black-and-white eyes reflected his image.

Looking utterly captivated and lost in his charm.

Ha.

Jiang Xiao was indeed looking at Lu Moxing, but for a reason entirely different from what Lu Moxing thought.

He was trying hard to memorize Lu Moxing’s face. He looked and looked, yet couldn’t manage to leave any impression in his mind whatsoever.

Jiang Xiao had been staring at him intently for several minutes now.

No one had ever dared to do this to him. Lu Moxing felt as if Jiang Xiao’s finger possessed magic, flames burning from the point of contact all the way into his blood vessels. His eyes grew darker and darker. Yet, in the very next second, Jiang Xiao released his hand and spoke in a tone of pity:

“CEO Lu, how did you end up with such a forgettable face?”

Lu Moxing: “?”

Lu Moxing couldn’t believe his ears. What had he just heard?

Lu Moxing clenched his jaw, enunciating each word: “For-gettable… face?”

“Yeah. Although your physique is well-built, your looks lack distinctiveness. I simply can’t remember them.” Jiang Xiao shook his head and continued, “Now you can rest assured, right? I wouldn’t try to seduce a man whose face I can’t even remember.”

Lu Moxing’s expression gradually turned ashen.

The muscles in his arms tensed up, bit by bit, twisting into curves that made one’s blood race.

Jiang Xiao smiled. “Now do you believe me? I really wasn’t lying. And just now, I was just in too much of a hurry to get out and accidentally bumped into you. If you mind, I’ll apologize.”

With that, Jiang Xiao made to stand and leave. But at that moment, an arm wrapped around his lower back. The sudden, brute force made Jiang Xiao stagger. His center of gravity was thrown off, and with no point of leverage, he tumbled uncontrollably into Lu Moxing’s embrace.

The large hand on his waist clamped down on Jiang Xiao like iron, veins bulging. A cold flame blazed in Lu Moxing’s pitch-black eyes. The original lazy, contemptuous, dismissive look was gone. He spat out a few harsh, rigid words:

“Say that again.”

Before Jiang Xiao could speak, a “beep” sounded from near the door, followed by a “click.” The door handle turned a few times, and the door swung open.

The newcomer clearly hadn’t expected to walk into such an explosive scene, and Jiang Xiao hadn’t expected someone to enter at this exact moment.

At this moment, their posture, one on top of the other, looked very much like they were doing something that wouldn’t pass censorship…

Jiang Xiao immediately pushed Lu Moxing away and stood up, straightening his clothes.

Jiang Xiao’s original plan was to shift suspicion onto Lu Moxing—you show me no courtesy, and I’ll do the same. But that required making Lu Moxing think he wasn’t straight, hence the scene just now.

He hadn’t expected anyone to witness it.

The calmest person present was Lu Moxing.

Or rather, Lu Moxing didn’t care what others thought. He just swept a cold, indifferent glance at the intruder, signaling him to get as far away as possible and drop dead.

For a moment, the room fell deathly silent.

If awkwardness could solidify, this room would have been packed full, without a single crack of space left.

The newcomer was not deterred by CEO Lu’s icy stare. His dark eyes slowly scanned the two people in the room, finally settling on Jiang Xiao.

More precisely, on the clearly ill-fitting suit jacket Jiang Xiao was wearing.

He remained silent, deep in thought.

The newcomer wore a white shirt and black trousers, impeccably neat, his shirt buttoned up meticulously. He formed a stark contrast with Lu Moxing, embodying the concept of “asceticism” to the extreme.

But notably, he wore a pair of thin, gold-rimmed glasses.

Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but look at him a few times more.

He didn’t notice that while he was intently studying the man, Lu Moxing was also watching him.

Seeing Jiang Xiao staring fixedly at the other man’s face, Lu Moxing also glanced over.

Pretty average-looking. Was he worth staring at for so long?

Jiang Xiao saw the neatly folded bright orange square draped over the newcomer’s arm and froze for a second. Only then did he seriously scrutinize the man.

“It’s you…?”

The man nodded, then said, “My apologies. Does my clothing not fit you very well?”

Hearing this, the contemptuous curve on Lu Moxing’s lips froze over.

Jiang Xiao: “I should be thanking you. If you hadn’t lent me your clothes, I’d probably have had to streak.”

Jiang Xiao was genuinely grateful. If it had been Lu Moxing, he probably would have mocked and ridiculed him before walking off. As for clothes? Even if he had an extra jacket, he likely wouldn’t have given it.

As Jiang Xiao spoke, the man approached, handing Jiang Xiao the T-shirt and gesturing for him to change.

Jiang Xiao had never had his clothes folded so neatly before. He took it, intending to find a corner, but the man said, “You can change in my room. There’s a wardrobe in there.”

Although his tone was unruffled, the content was very considerate.

There were too many cameras in the room; naturally, no one was oblivious to their presence.

Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but feel a bit of goodwill towards him. Just as he was about to leave, Lu Moxing’s voice sounded from behind him: “Wait.”

Lu Moxing was no longer wearing that careless, casual expression. He narrowed his eyes slightly, like a cheetah poised to strike in the jungle, his gaze sweeping over the two men like an x-ray. He lightly tapped a finger on the glass table, radiating presidential authority:

“Are you two in cahoots?”

His tone was cold and low, tinged with a faint, barely perceptible anger at being deceived.

“He was my partner in the first secret room,” Jiang Xiao said, truly exasperated by Lu Moxing’s stubbornness. “Actually, we don’t know each other. We both just woke up and ended up here… right?”

The man in the shirt was silent for a moment before giving a soft, “Mm.”

“But you know my name,” Lu Moxing said, displeased.

“I just saw that in the magazine,” Jiang Xiao replied smoothly. “Wasn’t I just reading that earlier?”

“If I had some ulterior motive towards you, I wouldn’t need to drag you to a place like this to play escape rooms. Wouldn’t it be easier just to lock you up directly?” Jiang Xiao said. “And I have a feeling, since we all fainted in the middle of joining a love variety show… there must be other people here.”

“Find them, and maybe we’ll also find clues.”

CEO Lu, who was invincible in the business world, couldn’t detect any trace of a lie in Jiang Xiao. If it wasn’t that his acting skills were superbly high, enough to deceive even him, then there was only one possibility.

He was telling the truth.

But with Lu Moxing’s sharp intuition, Jiang Xiao was definitely hiding some information.

Otherwise, how could he say with his mouth “I’m not seducing you,” while his body was so honestly drawing closer?

Seeing that Lu Moxing raised no further objections, Jiang Xiao let out a long sigh of relief, as if he’d just solved an extremely thorny problem.

Just as he was about to turn and leave.

Suddenly, he heard a sound from above, filled with a mechanical sensation:

【Rule Breaker, Eliminated】

All three people heard this voice.

Clearly, this sentence was targeted at the T-shirt Jiang Xiao had just retrieved.

Jiang Xiao’s steps halted.

He just wanted to change back his clothes. Was that not allowed either?

Before meeting the others, he couldn’t keep maintaining this state, right? Anyone could tell he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

Lu Moxing looked up, scanning around. There was no broadcast device or anything of the sort, only a bunch of surveillance cameras flashing red lights.

Lu Moxing finally stood up. Jiang Xiao took a step back, but Lu Moxing ignored him. He circled the room once, then crooked a finger at Jiang Xiao.

“What for?” Jiang Xiao didn’t want to go over.

“Are you sure you didn’t orchestrate all this?” Lu Moxing turned his face, his cold, stern gaze falling on him. “If it were you, I might still be a bit more soft-hearted.”

“Of course not!”

“I figured you didn’t have the guts.” As Lu Moxing spoke, he picked up a vase from the table and smashed it with a throw.

Bang! A surveillance monitor was knocked down, reduced to wreckage on the floor.

Lu Moxing followed the same method, picking up fragments of the shattered vase and, with lightning speed, smashed every single surveillance monitor.

He turned around to find Jiang Xiao looking dumbstruck. Lu Moxing said, “What are you standing there for? Strip.”

It belatedly dawned on Jiang Xiao that Lu Moxing’s intention in smashing the monitors was… to give him time to change?

Why did this guy suddenly grow a conscience?

Jiang Xiao shot him a few suspicious glances. At the same time, an alarm blared through the room, red lights flashing.

【Anomaly Detected! Anomaly Detected!】

This move actually worked.

So it seemed whoever was hiding behind the scenes had been observing them through the monitors, controlling their actions. But once the monitors were smashed, they temporarily broke free from that control.

The situation was urgent; they didn’t know how soon the surveillance would be restored. Jiang Xiao was about to take his clothes off when the man in the shirt spoke:

“—No.”

Jiang Xiao instantly understood his meaning.

He couldn’t change back into this outfit.

Otherwise, when the surveillance was restored, Jiang Xiao might still be eliminated.

As for what happened after elimination, was still unknown.

The alarm kept buzzing in their ears, as incessant and annoying as a mosquito’s hum. The red light flickered, making Jiang Xiao somewhat irritable.

“I can…”

This voice was barely audible amidst the alarm’s blaring. What drew more attention was Lu Moxing.

He took off his shirt and held it out to Jiang Xiao.

Jiang Xiao politely refused, “CEO Lu, is that really appropriate?”

But he still couldn’t help glancing at him.

Lu Moxing was now bare-chested. Jiang Xiao’s imagination turned into reality.

Mm… As expected, CEO Lu’s physique was indeed impressive. It was the type of build Jiang Xiao greatly admired—broad shoulders, narrow waist, pectoral muscles with solid, full contours that weren’t overly exaggerated. It really looked like he could hold a pencil between them.

Lu Moxing showed no shame whatsoever at exposing his body in front of others. He even completely ignored the man in the shirt, chatting with Jiang Xiao as if they were alone.

“A stranger’s clothes you can wear, but mine won’t do?”

“That was just out of necessity earlier…”

“Then I must have misjudged. You actually do prefer being called a pervert and a sex maniac.”

Six dots materialized above Jiang Xiao’s head. His temple throbbed involuntarily. “You’re acting even more like a perverted sex maniac than me right now! CEO Lu, please put your clothes back on!”