Passing through the corridor lined with thick wool carpet along the side of the banquet hall, the clamor was thrown far behind them.
Eden pushed open the two heavy brass-carved glass doors at the far end.
The rear garden of the "Starhall" Panoramic Hotel was built atop the rooftop terrace.
The July evening breeze swept toward them, carrying the fragrance of artificially cultivated roses.
On either side of the boardwalk paved with preservative-treated wood, low ground lamps cast a dim yellow halo, illuminating cluster after cluster of blooming shrubbery.
In the distance lay the dazzling neon sea of all of Arc City; standing here felt like floating on a solitary island suspended above the city.
Eden's high heels clicked against the wooden boardwalk in a steady, light rhythm.
Su Yu followed two steps behind, his gaze naturally falling onto the trailing hem of that dark-gold haute couture evening gown.
The skirt swayed gently with her steps, faintly revealing the smooth contours of her calves.
That scent uniquely Eden's—mingling the mellow aroma of top-grade red wine with some kind of expensive floral note—was drawn out into a faint, barely-there thread on the wind, boring all the way into Su Yu's nostrils.
Eden stopped.
This was the very edge of the terrace; beyond the glass railing was a hundred-meter drop.
There were no idle bystanders here, only the sound of the wind and the occasional faint honk of car horns drifting up from the streets below.
Su Yu halted half a meter to her side.
"Sister Eden, calling me out here alone—do you have some secret instructions to…"
Before he could finish, a faint yet razor-sharp whoosh of wind suddenly bore down on him.
Eden's body, which had been facing away from him, pivoted on her left foot and instantly completed a one-hundred-eighty-degree spin.
Su Yu's pupils abruptly contracted, the perceptual amplification granted by the Tai Xu Sword Qi driven to its absolute limit in that moment.
The surrounding world seemed to have its slow-motion button pressed; he clearly saw the true face of that afterimage—it was a long, perfectly straight thigh, wrapped in top-grade sheer black stockings.
The diamond-chip-inlaid high heel at her toe was slashing diagonally toward the side of his face, at a speed and angle that utterly defied the common sense of physics.
Fenghuang's voice exploded in his mind in an instant: "Dodge!"
The flow of the wind around him, the play of light and shadow, even the faint vibrations that high heel made as it sliced through the air—all of it was broken down in Su Yu's mind into slow-motion frame-by-frame images.
Relying on instinct, Su Yu's body lurched violently to one side, leaning backward.
The heel skimmed past, all but grazing the tip of his nose, kicking up a strange, faint fragrance.
It was that scent unique to Eden, blending mellow red wine with some kind of precious woody note—yet at this moment it carried a deadly allure.
Smack.
His palm struck the stocking-wrapped skin, producing a dull, muffled sound.
The wind stopped.
The skirt drifted back down.
Su Yu was half-leaning back, Eden's calf gripped in his hand.
The feel of it was simply incredible—beneath the cool, silky smoothness of the stockings was firm, supple muscle, warm and tender as a piece of fine warm jade.
Eden, meanwhile, balanced on one leg, the other lifted high by Su Yu into what was almost a perfect front split.
The dark-gold couture skirt slid to either side because of this exaggerated movement, exposing a wide expanse of the absolute territory wrapped in black stockings.
The night wind blew past; the atmosphere had reached the very pinnacle of awkwardness.
Eden's evening gown already had a high slit to begin with.
Now, with her right leg hoisted up high, that high slit had completely lost any meaning as a covering.
From Su Yu's upward-looking angle, the dark-gold skirt hem cascaded down both sides like a waterfall.
That long, beautiful leg sheathed in black stockings displayed its heart-stopping curves without the slightest reserve.
From the straight calf, to the round, full knee, and up to that stretch of thigh so plump it made it impossible to look away.
And even further up…
Su Yu shut his eyes for a moment, forcibly wrenching his gaze away from that abyss-like angle and fixing it on Eden's face.
"Sister Eden." Su Yu sighed, his tone brimming with helplessness. "Pulling a high sweeping kick in a couture gown like that—aren't you afraid of having a wardrobe malfunction right in front of me?"
The woman acknowledged by the world as the most beautiful, the mistress of the Golden Courtyard, was at this very moment all but throwing herself at him, delivering the pair of legs she was proudest of straight into his hands.
Eden looked at Su Yu.
In those gorgeous eyes that usually carried a tipsy, smiling glint, a flicker of astonishment flashed across just now.
But that flicker of astonishment lasted only half a second before dissolving into the upward curve of her lips.
She didn't try to pull her leg back.
Instead she let Su Yu hold it, leaning her body slightly forward, that mellow, wine-like breath drawing nearer.
"When I heard the inside intel from Lewis's side, I thought she was exaggerating." Eden's voice dropped very low. "But now I'm certain."
Her gaze lingered for an instant on the hand gripping her calf, then met Su Yu's eyes again.
"Su Yu, what exactly has happened to you?"
Su Yu's lips moved; he was just about to fob her off with that "descendant of the ancient martial arts" excuse.
Eden moved.
The toes of her left foot, planted on the ground, suddenly stamped down on the wooden boardwalk, producing a dull, resounding thud.
Borrowing that explosive force, plus the fixed pivot point formed by her right leg in Su Yu's grip, Eden's entire body actually launched into the air.
The dark-gold evening gown bloomed in midair like a bizarre flower in full blossom.
Su Yu only felt his vision become completely filled with dark-gold fabric and black stockings.
Midair, Eden completed a full rotation of her body in a fraction of a second.
Her right leg, the one Su Yu had been gripping, slid up onto his shoulder, while her left leg, trailing a sharp whistle of wind, clamped down fiercely against the other side of his neck.
This was a classic jiu-jitsu strangling maneuver—a standing variation of the triangle choke.
But the one executing it was a world-class superstar in a couture gown and stiletto heels.
The enormous impact, combined with the weight suddenly added to his neck, threw Su Yu's center of gravity instantly off balance.
The world spun.
Thud.
The two of them crashed hard onto the preservative-wood boardwalk.
In the instant he fell, Su Yu instinctively protected the back of his head while shedding as much of his body's weight as possible, to avoid crushing the woman on top of him.
His vision refocused.
His back pressed against the cold wooden planks.
The halo of the ground lamps glared into his face.
And above his head, Eden was straddling somewhere near his chest.
Worse still, Eden's two legs were crossed and locked tightly against both sides of his neck.
The full, powerful inner sides of her thighs pressed firmly against his cheeks and arteries through the thin layer of stockings.
Soft, warm, yet carrying a strength that allowed no escape.
Her slightly disheveled wine-red hair tumbled down, several strands brushing against Su Yu's cheek, ticklish.
That enticing fragrance, at this distance, became so thick it was almost impossible to dispel.
Su Yu lay on the ground and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
That force-borrowing leaping choke just now had indeed been gorgeous—clean and crisp in execution.
Had it been an ordinary person, they'd have long since blacked out under such impact.
But this was obviously nowhere near enough to injure the enhanced Su Yu.
"Sister Eden." Su Yu's voice came out from the gap between her two thighs, sounding a little muffled from being squeezed. "You didn't really call me out here just to beat me up on the ground, did you?"
Eden said nothing, only looked at him.
"And besides…" Su Yu strained to roll his eyes. "This position… if by some chance someone pushed the door open and saw us—I could jump into the Yellow River and still never wash myself clean."
Pinned to the ground by a world-class actress's long legs.
If this scene got snapped by the paparazzi, tomorrow's entertainment headlines in Arc City could crash the servers.
"If you can't wash it clean, then don't."
Eden finally spoke.
Her voice had lost its usual languid, smiling warmth, gaining instead a rare seriousness and chill.
Her hands, propped against the wooden planks, tightened slightly.
"One person."
She stared into Su Yu's eyes.
"Facing dozens of armed thugs, going bare-handed to disarm an induction bomb."
With each sentence she spoke, the force in her thighs increased by a notch.
Though it still fell far, far short of anything lethal, that soft, pressing sensation made one's heart race.
"Is playing the hero so much fun, Su Yu?"
Su Yu looked up at that absolutely stunning face above him.
"When I first got the news, do you know that Fuxi was so frantic in the studio she was about to cry? If I hadn't suppressed this whole matter, if I hadn't kept that hot-tempered Kalpas from going and telling Ellie, do you think you'd still be sitting here with all four limbs intact? You'd have long since been pummeled into a wall-hanging by Ellie's fists!"
Hearing this, Su Yu guiltily shrank his neck back—which only made his cheeks sink even deeper into that softness.
"Sister Eden, I had no choice either, it happened so suddenly…" Su Yu tried to wriggle, only to find his opponent's locking technique exceedingly exquisite. "Um, could you let go a little faster? If you keep squeezing I'm really going to run out of oxygen and suffocate."
He strained to raise one hand, making a gesture of surrender in midair.
Where was the apology?
Eden didn't let go.
Instead she applied force again, pressing her upper body down a little more.
The muscles at the base of her thighs completely enveloped Su Yu's neck.
This application of force brought no destructive pressure at all.
On the contrary, with the squeeze of the muscle groups, that plump flesh of her thighs beneath the black stockings clung even more snugly to Su Yu's cheek and neck.
That sensation, carrying astonishing elasticity and warmth, was transmitted through the thin fabric without the slightest reserve.
This wasn't any lethal stranglehold at all—it was simply a deadly, sweet punishment.
"I'm sorry!"
Su Yu hollered at the top of his lungs, his tone as sincere as could be.
"I was wrong! I really do know I was wrong! I shouldn't have gone off alone to play the big shot, shouldn't have made you worry, Sister Eden, shouldn't have made Sister Fuxi anxious! I promise, I swear! From now on, even if I see an old granny collapsed beside a bundle of explosives, I'll call you first to report in! There absolutely won't be a next time for this!"
He rattled off a long string of heart-rending apologies like beans tumbling out of a sack.
Eden stared at him for a few seconds.
"Pfft."
She finally couldn't hold it in; the taut corners of her mouth broke and she laughed out loud.
The two legs locked around Su Yu's neck finally released.
That suffocating pressure and fragrance eased considerably as she withdrew.
Eden propped her hands on the wooden planks and rolled off Su Yu.
Su Yu took a great gasp of air and hurriedly scrambled up from the ground.
He lowered his head and patted the dust off himself, then looked up at Eden.
Having just risen from the ground, Eden now carried a different sort of disheveled beauty.
The dark-gold couture evening gown had been crumpled into quite a few creases during that tumble just now.
Her hair, once meticulously combed, now hung somewhat loosely over her shoulders.
The stiletto on her left foot had, at some unknown moment, flown off, leaving only her stocking-clad foot stepping on the planks.
And those black pantyhose…
Because of the fierce motion just now and the friction against the rough planks, several obvious runs had been drawn out across the knee and the outer thigh.
One spot had even been torn open at the mesh, exposing the dazzlingly white skin beneath.
"Sister Eden, I really never expected…" Su Yu clutched his forehead, unable to resist a quip, "You usually look so noble and elegant, but when you throw down you're actually this… wild."
Fenghuang's voice once again sounded faintly in Su Yu's mind.
"I'm afraid you have a great misunderstanding about Eden."
Her tone carried a touch of reminiscence about the past, and a faint, lurking wariness.
"I'm afraid you've misunderstood Eden. In fact, in that world of mine, when it truly came to a moment when fighting was unavoidable, Eden was the maddest one of all."
"If you'd ever seen the way she fought, you'd understand—Kalpas's straightforward, blunt sort of temper doesn't even count for anything."
Fenghuang paused.
"The good news is, when she just choked you with her legs, I roughly calculated her physical data. The Eden of this world right now bears no trace of having undergone any bodily modification."
"Then this skill of hers…" Su Yu asked in his mind.
"It should be the result of extremely rigorous training kept up over a long period. Although her force-application technique isn't as exquisite as the Tai Xu Sword Qi, her muscle activation rate has reached the limit of an ordinary human."
Su Yu nodded inwardly.
Made sense.
In this peaceful world, a world-class superstar like Eden, perpetually exposed to the public eye.
Without a bit of self-defense skill on her, she'd long since have been swallowed alive by those fanatical fans.
Though in both speed and destructive power she fell far short of his current self and Kiana, among ordinary people this was absolutely already a ceiling-tier existence.
She could even spar a round or two with those few exceptionally talented senior sisters at the Inch Heart Dojo. Of course, Cheng Lingshuang excepted—that salted-fish who did nothing all day but sleep and play games had martial talent that defied all reason.
Eden tidied her somewhat disheveled hair.
She didn't go put on the high heel that had dropped several meters away, simply standing there in the night wind with one bare foot clad in tattered stockings.
"Don't change the subject, Su Yu." Eden's voice dropped very low, carrying a soul-piercing penetration.
"Tell me honestly."
She fixed her eyes intently on Su Yu, asking the biggest question that had been haunting her heart.
"This strength of yours that completely defies common sense… were you dragged off by Mobius into her secret laboratory and made the subject of some illegal human modification experiment?"
Meanwhile.
Inside the resplendent, glittering banquet hall of the Starhall Hotel.
Soothing jazz flowed through the air; amid the rustle of fine garments and gleam of jewelry, glasses clinked in merry exchange.
But over by the dessert table at the very edge of the banquet hall, the scene was an entirely different picture.
Kiana held a huge Alaskan king crab claw in her left hand and a plate of exquisite strawberry mousse in her right, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster hoarding rations for the winter.
She had no idea at all that in the rear garden separated by a single wall, her own "exclusive feeder-cum-Reality Anchor" had just gone through an ambiguous, blush-inducing, heart-racing bout of intimate contact with the lady hosting this very banquet.
"Burp."
Kiana let out a satisfied belch and casually picked up a napkin from the table to wipe the cream from the corner of her mouth.
She raised her hand and touched the top of her head.
"Strange…" Kiana tilted her head, a flicker of clear puzzlement passing through her heterochromatic eyes of mingled gray-blue and golden-yellow. "Why does it feel… like there's something a bit heavy on top of my head?"
She reached up and pulled off the hat that Elysia had forcibly placed on her head earlier, holding it up before her eyes to examine.
It was an extremely adorable, emerald-green Homu merchandise hat.
And right in the center of the hat was printed a huge, extremely conspicuous yellow exclamation mark.
"This pink-haired woman has really weird taste," Kiana muttered, then clapped that bright-green hat back onto her head and continued to extend her sinful claws toward the next plate of Australian lobster.
If Bronie were here, she'd most likely say—Use your head a little, you idiot.
Though Kiana would most likely reply—"Snack? Where's the snack? Is it tasty?"
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