Sigh.
The next day, after Lin Gui had fully woken up, his first thought was one of helplessness.
He hadn't expected that Theia would actually make a move on him.
Unlike Elvia's entanglements, which stayed at the level of words and calculations, Theia had chosen the most direct and crude method—
Physical incapacitation.
What Lin Gui didn't understand was...
He tilted his head slightly and looked toward the corner of the basement.
Theia was sitting on a small wooden stool.
Under the dim light of a magic lamp, she was holding a book and reading with intense concentration.
The book's cover was gaudy and colorful, and the title was strikingly—
《The Domineering Magic Dragon's Sweet Little Wife》.
Lin Gui remembered that this was one of the melodramatic novels Theia had bought in the Royal Capital, and it was one of her favorites.
At this moment, however, she looked as if she were studying some profound ancient tome.
Her brow was slightly furrowed, her finger traced the lines of text one by one, and her lips moved silently as she murmured to herself.
This scene...
It was so bizarre that Lin Gui began to have doubts.
Had Theia meticulously designed a trap to catch him last night not for "that matter"?
Was it just a simple... prank?
Lin Gui tried to move.
He was bound to a sturdy wooden bed with tough beast-tendon ropes.
A... clean sock was stuffed into his mouth.
If his mouth weren't blocked by this thing, Lin Gui really wanted to speak up and ask: What on earth are you doing?
Helpless.
He decided to take a small risk.
With a slight thought.
Storage.
The fabric in his mouth disappeared instantly, tucked away into his unique extradimensional space.
With his mouth free, he gently moved his stiff jaw.
Lin Gui took a breath of the cool air and lowered his voice, asking with deep confusion, "I say..."
"What are you reading?"
"I've seen you flip through that book so many times I've lost count."
Theia seemed completely immersed in the book.
She answered subconsciously, "Looking for practical application."
"Practical application?" Lin Gui was even more baffled. "Practical application of what?"
Theia's gaze still didn't leave the pages, her tone matter-of-fact: "The practical application of having babies, of course."
"I've practically worn this book out, but I still haven't found any specific detailed descriptions."
Lin Gui: "..."
He fell silent for two seconds, trying to make his tone sound normal. "Uh... do you think that kind of detail... would really appear in a novel that can be sold openly on the counter?"
Theia immediately looked up to refute him, her crimson eyes filled with an expression of "you just don't understand." "But human male friendship novels have details!"
"They're written very clearly!"
Lin Gui subconsciously followed up on her words. "What detai—"
Before he could finish the word "details," he regretted it.
Under the gaze of Theia's pure eyes, which were filled with excitement as if she were "opening the door to a new world for him," and through her unreserved, almost academic-like description...
Some extremely vivid, concrete, and completely physiologically impossible images uncontrollably floated into Lin Gui's mind.
Broken chrysanthemums, scattered injuries.
Lin Gui only felt a chill rush from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head.
It instantly polluted his "relatively" pure heart.
Theia closed the book and sighed.
"There's no other way. I'll just have to go ask someone else."
Lin Gui couldn't help but ask, "You've been hanging around Caran City for so long; you've never seen a scene like that?"
"Don't some of the nobles play around quite a bit?"
Back in New Covenant City, he had witnessed "stimulating" scenes behind noble manors or in small groves more than once.
Not to mention the naked desires tangled with survival in the slums.
Those were truly "misery dramas" that one could not watch with a casual, gossiping mindset.
Even if Theia hadn't seen it with her own eyes, just hearing the crude conversations between highly stressed commoners should have allowed her to guess the general idea.
Theia shrugged, her expression somewhat helpless. "As soon as I set my eyes there and haven't even started 'observing' yet..."
"The other person pulls up their pants and runs faster than the wind."
Only then did Lin Gui realize he had overlooked one point.
Theia wasn't human.
She was an elf.
A race with an extremely conservative culture regarding these matters.
So conservative that they needed a specific guide—usually a mother or a maternal elder—to provide oral instruction at a specific time.
It was somewhat like the ancient society of his hometown.
And Theia's mother, according to her, had died in the wilderness long ago.
Therefore, she intended to go ask a reliable female elder she knew.
"Lin Gui, stay here and be good. Wait for me to come back."
Theia closed the book, stood up, pushed the door open, and left the basement.
After the door closed, Lin Gui's eyes darted around.
His gaze landed on the complex hemp ropes binding him.
Theia's technique was indeed tricky and veteran.
The knots were tied in positions where it was difficult to exert force, and they were layered in a way that would give even a thief skilled in escape a headache.
If it were the old Lin Gui, being tied up like this without tools would probably keep him trapped for a while.
It was true that power-suppressing handcuffs could limit a mage from casting middle- or high-tier spells.
But Theia, who knew Lin Gui's abilities like the back of her hand, naturally wouldn't be as careless as Morpheus.
The hemp rope she used was densely woven with coils of tough iron wire.
Fire wouldn't burn through it.
Trying to break free with brute force?
With Lin Gui's physical strength, even if he used Levitation to control a small knife to saw at it, there was no telling how long it would take.
What's more, this basement was empty except for the bed and a magic lamp.
However, Theia probably hadn't expected that not long ago, Lin Gui had acquired a brand-new ability.
Storage.
After obtaining this spatial magic, Lin Gui had been studying it whenever he had free time.
He discovered that as long as it was a complete, independent object in contact with his body, and its volume did not exceed the space's capacity, it could be stored.
It could not store parts of an object; it lacked the ability to cut or attack.
In other words, as long as the target was a "whole" and "fit," it could be taken in.
Conversely, if it wasn't a whole, it couldn't.
And right now, these ropes binding him tightly, although they were firmly fixed to the bed, were ultimately "complete objects" independent of the bed's frame.
Lin Gui concentrated, feeling the ropes.
His mind locked onto a taut section of the rope.
With a thought.
Storage.
His wrists suddenly felt loose.
Just as Lin Gui concentrated his mind, planning to continue storing the other parts of the ropes—
"Creak."
The basement door was suddenly pushed open.
Lin Gui gave a start and immediately stopped his movements, leaning his body back against the bed board.
Theia's confused face poked in.
She walked to the bedside in a few steps, her crimson eyes staring sharply at Lin Gui.
It made Lin Gui's scalp tingle.
"Cough, cough," Lin Gui struck first. "Uh... what's wrong? Aren't you going out to ask someone?"
Theia made a clicking sound with her tongue, her gaze landing on his mouth.
"I just went out and remembered..."
"How are you able to speak?"
"Didn't I use Eve's sock to stuff your mouth?"
Lin Gui didn't bat an eye, his expression righteous. "I just pushed it out with my tongue."
As he spoke, he secretly retrieved the sock from the space.
With a very light flick of his wrist, he tossed it to the ground in Theia's blind spot.
Then he signaled with his eyes for Theia to look over there.
"Look, it fell there."
Theia followed his gaze and indeed saw a sock.
She picked it up with a strange expression and looked at it.
Lin Gui, however, suddenly realized something and asked in shock, "Wait? Whose sock did you just say it was?"
Theia answered calmly, "Eve's. Why? Is there a problem?"
Lin Gui: "...Why use a sock? And why use hers?"
"Can't you just find any old cloth? Is it that hard to find?"
Theia's face was filled with a look of "what's so strange about that?"
"Isn't a sock also a piece of cloth?"
"As for why it's Eve's..."
"Because she's the one who handed it to me, so I just used it as it came to hand."
After saying that, she didn't leave him any room for argument and stuffed the fabric back into Lin Gui's mouth.
Her movements were crisp and clean.
"Lin Gui, be a good boy and stay here."
"Don't think about escaping."
"When the time comes, I will naturally let you go."
With his mouth stuffed, Lin Gui could only make muffled sounds: "Mmph, mmph... mmph? (Until when?)"
A faint blush suddenly appeared on Theia's face.
Her gaze also became somewhat flighty.
"Um... the pregnancy probability for elves is very low."
"So, uh... cough, cough..."
She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound confident. "In short! Until Eve confirms that I've 'hit the mark'..."
"You'll stay here honestly!"
"I'll take care of all your physiological needs."
"Including... going to the toilet."
With that, she turned toward the door.
When her hand was on the door handle, she turned back again and gave Lin Gui a bright yet slightly mischievous smile.
"For the days to come..."
"Just enjoy a life where you don't have to lift a finger for food or anything else."
"My dear."
"Click."
The door was gently closed, and the sound of the lock falling followed.
The basement returned to silence.
Only Lin Gui was left lying on the bed, staring at the magic lamp flickering on the ceiling.
About five minutes passed like this.
Recalling what had just happened, Lin Gui felt extremely strange.
A stunningly beautiful white-haired, red-eyed elf had imprisoned him in a basement.
The purpose was actually to discuss the great harmony of life with him and not let him go until she was pregnant with a little cutie...
He felt like he had seen a similar plot in some obscure corner before.
A room you can't leave unless you do ####!
The key was that for a man, something he had always seemingly longed for had actually landed on his head.
Lin Gui's first thought was to escape.
"Soft-legged shrimp, turtle man, not a man."
"A peerless elf throws herself at him, but he only thinks about escaping."
"What kind of incompetent, overly-gentle Japanese manga protagonist am I?"
Lin Gui gave himself a speechless critique.
But his ears remained focused, listening intently.
After confirming that there was indeed no movement outside the door and that Theia's footsteps had completely faded away—
His eyes narrowed.
Storage.
As far as his mind reached, all the rope sections were locked onto one after another.
Wrists, ankles, chest... they disappeared in succession.
Those hemp ropes with their tricky structure were like being erased by an invisible eraser, vanishing piece by piece into thin air.
Lin Gui moved his wrists and ankles, which were sore from being bound, and sat up.
His bones made a slight "crack" sound.
He let out a helpless sigh, his whisper exceptionally clear in the empty basement: "It looks like... I have to hide for a while."
"Once the Demon King returns and confirms Avalon is safe..."
"I'll quietly take Eve and leave."
The oak staff appeared in his palm out of thin air.
The warm texture of the wood brought a sense of stability.
Gripping the staff tightly, he nimbly jumped off the bed, prepared to leave this temporary prison.
Just as he turned and his gaze inadvertently flicked toward the door—
His movements froze instantly.
That wooden door...
At some point, it had silently opened a crack.
Theia was standing at the door.
Her left hand was holding a piece of black bread that looked as hard as a rock.
Her right hand held a wooden cup filled with clear water.
The expression on her face shifted from its initial ease to shock at seeing Lin Gui free and standing on the floor.
Then, as her gaze landed on the staff in his hand, clearly ready to cast a spell, it instantly turned into sharp alertness.
The whole process took less than a second.
Lin Gui's mouth twitched.
A feint? Turning back?
And she did it twice?!
"Why... are you back?" he asked subconsciously.
Theia also answered subconsciously, "I thought halfway through that you might be hungry when you woke up this morning..."
"So I grabbed some breakfast and thought I'd bring it to you..."
Before the words had completely fallen, her eyes had completed the transition from confusion to alertness.
Especially upon seeing that staff in Lin Gui's hand, clearly prepared for magic.
The faint light of Levitation had just lit up beneath Lin Gui's feet when Theia's figure arrived before him like a streak of silver lightning!
Her crimson eyes left afterimages in her extreme speed.
A fist that looked delicate but was wrapped in the battle force of a Transcendent Ranger was already in front of Lin Gui's eyes.
There was no time to react at all.
"Bang!!!"
A muffled sound rang out.
Lin Gui only felt a shock to his face, and stars exploded before his eyes.
He was knocked flying by the massive force, slamming hard into the wooden boxes piled in the corner.
A sharp, dull pain came from the back of his head.
His consciousness was once again crudely dragged down into the familiar darkness.
On the other side.
With one merciless punch, the squishy little mage was directly KO'd.
After retracting her fist, Theia's gaze swept over the floor.
It was empty; the ropes that should have been scattered all over the ground had vanished without a trace.
She blinked, a bit confused. "This guy... how on earth did he break free?"
"Those were steel-wrapped cords that even a Transcendent Rank living demon couldn't break..."
The confusion lasted only a few seconds.
She walked to Lin Gui's front and squatted down.
Looking at the human man on the ground with a swollen red cheek and who was unconscious, a layer of faint grievance gradually rose in her crimson eyes.
"Seriously..."
She mumbled softly, her finger gently poking Lin Gui's swollen cheek.
"Do you really not want to... be with me that much?"
"Don't you want to have children with me?"
"I'm a beautiful elven maiden, you know? The kind of beauty in storybooks that symbolizes the protagonist's ultimate reward."
"Do you really find me that repulsive?"
"Stinky man."
Biting her lip, that grievance was quickly suppressed by a more stubborn determination.
She turned around and pulled Lin Gui's arm over her shoulder and neck.
Then she grabbed his wrist behind her and, using a thicker and tougher leather strap she had fished out from somewhere, quickly and firmly bound their wrists together.
Then came the waist and the legs.
She fixed Lin Gui firmly onto her back as if she were packing a piece of important luggage.
Every knot was tied tight, with extra wraps for reinforcement.
After confirming that it would be extremely difficult for Lin Gui to escape even if he woke up, Theia stood straight.
She adjusted the weight of the man on her back and gave a cold hmph.
"Hmph."
"Let's see you escape now."
"I don't care if you're willing or not."
"In short, don't even think about escaping my grasp!"
She paused, and her voice lowered, almost only audible to herself.
"At least, don't leave me here alone, you idiot."
Rate on N.U.
