Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?
Chapter 168 - 165: Oh, Man

Through the invisible barrier around the refresh point, Guan Ailin looked down, watching the hand Wen Nan extended towards her. Between his fingers, he held an unremarkable-looking Storage Ring.

A trace of confusion appeared in her eyes.

She didn't understand why this man would say such things, yet subconsciously, she didn't know why, but she wanted to trust him.

Unlike the confusion on Guan Ailin's face, Yu Shujun was stunned the moment she saw Wen Nan take out that ring.

Those beautiful azure eyes had inexplicably turned red while Wen Nan and Guan Ailin were talking, filled with tears.

And at this moment, as her gaze fell on the ring, Yu Shujun's eyes showed another expression of shock, "You... you actually..."

She stopped halfway through her sentence.

Glancing over Wen Nan's shoulder at the refresh point's monitoring system, Yu Shujun finally swallowed the rest of her words. If such things were discovered by the system within this instance, compensation in the next calculation would definitely not pass.

Thinking of this, Yu Shujun withdrew her gaze and focused on Wen Nan, raising her eyebrows slightly with a look that seemed to question him:

You dare to fool even the system within this instance?

Wen Nan caught her expression and immediately understood her meaning. He shrugged, silently acknowledging it, while his eyes indicated:

It's already done, so what?

Yu Shujun shook her head gently.

Recalling not long ago, beyond the mountain, Silver Thorn had used all her strength to draw Yu Shujun away, and those words she uttered before she died...

The corners of Yu Shujun's lips involuntarily lifted into a small arc filled with mockery.

If she knew that losing her life led to this result, how would that woman feel?

But that didn't matter anymore. Silver Thorn's intent to die was such that when Yu Shujun's light sword fell, it was merely a release for her. Perhaps she never cared whether her mission succeeded from the beginning.

However, this man in front of her...

Ha, the same man who can make Yu Shujun stumble over the Divine Staff Fragment can naturally make the people from the Ghost Control Master Alliance stumble as well.

Drawing her thoughts back, Yu Shujun raised her hand to take the ring from Wen Nan's fingers and placed it in Guan Ailin's hand.

The moment the palm of her hand contacted the ring's surface, Guan Ailin seemed to sense something; her lashes trembled violently, then she raised her gaze abruptly, looking at Wen Nan.

Wen Nan lightly curled his lips into a smile, the mirth in his eyes like a spring breeze blowing into Guan Ailin's heart, smoothing her chaotic thoughts.

Strangely calming down, Guan Ailin tightly clenched the ring, the confusion in her eyes gradually dissipating, her gaze firming.

Wen Nan timely retrieved a contract from the system meant to be signed with characters of ten-star level and above—The "Character Native Instance Ownership Transfer Agreement."

Just as he was about to present the agreement to Guan Ailin, a system prompt suddenly echoed in his mind—

9527: [Attention! It has been detected that the target character 'Executive with many layers of outer cold but inner warmth' has excessively used soul threads, causing buildings within the instance to riot and leaving the body in an extremely weakened state, unable to maintain normal functions of the soul threads.

Meanwhile, the character's star level is closely connected to her link with the Erin Group Headquarters Building.

Considering the associated soul threads have become inactive, it is estimated by the instance system that the character will downgrade to nine stars in nine minutes and thirty seconds, a star level insufficient to allow her to exit the current instance. Do you still wish to sign this agreement?]

Hearing this prompt, Wen Nan hesitated slightly.

So, the reason Guan Ailin had a ten-star level is partly because she had a connection through soul threads to that headquarters building.

And now, with that link gone, she can't maintain her star level.

A nine-star character without control patterns cannot be removed from this instance.

Even if Wen Nan successfully signed this agreement with her now, it would only last for less than ten minutes...

Wen Nan delved into thought.

The system, not receiving a response, asked again: [Do you still wish to sign this agreement?]

Wen Nan: [Sign!]

The agreement was sent out, and immediately a notification came that Guan Ailin agreed to sign it.

In just a second, the ownership of the outwardly cold yet inwardly soft executive fell into Wen Nan's hands.

Of course, this ownership could only be maintained for less than nine minutes.

Wen Nan was naturally not going to wait for this agreement to become ineffective.

Since she was his already, there was no reason to let go.

From the system's inventory, he took out the reward item from a previous side quest—

[State Lock Card: Applicable only to NPCs and characters. With the consent of the NPC or character, this card can be used to lock the target's current state (star level, skills, attributes). During the item's usage, the character will be temporarily sealed within the card. To reactivate the locked target, simply tear the card.]

This was the reward obtained after completing the "Office's Romantic Scenery" side quest.

Back then, Wen Nan had merely glanced at the item description, then placed the card into the inventory, thinking it unlikely to ever be useful.

The main issue with this item was the extreme restriction—it required putting the character into the card, effectively turning them into a literal "paper man."

Just this one restriction made Wen Nan feel no NPC or character would ever agree to it.

Unexpectedly, it was quite fitting now.

Presenting the item card to Guan Ailin, Wen Nan softly said:

"Erin, you're too weak right now to maintain your level. To leave here, I need to temporarily lock you in this card. Once I find a way to restore your state, I'll release you. Do you… agree?"

How to restore Guan Ailin's state? Should he find another system-bug-concealing large building like the Erin Group Headquarters for her to link her soul threads to?

This was a question Wen Nan had no answer to at present.

If Guan Ailin asked, he wouldn't be able to respond.

What he was offering was essentially a blank check.

But Guan Ailin didn't ask anything, she merely looked once at the handsome face of the man kneeling before her, eyes brimming with tears, and gently nodded, "I agree."

As her words fell, her figure gradually turned blurry and faded, and eventually, like smoke, was completely absorbed into the small card in Wen Nan's palm.

The ring held by Guan Ailin slipped to the ground, spinning once or twice, making crisp clinking sounds.

Wen Nan's fingers gently touched the face of Guan Ailin printed on the card, then placed the card and ring together back into the inventory.

At this moment, Huang Yan's voice came from behind:

"President! It's time for your settlement!"

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