Sigh.
The next day, when Lin Gui finally woke up completely, his very first thought was one of utter helplessness.
He hadn't expected Theia to actually make a move on him.
Unlike Elvia, whose pestering was confined to verbal sparring and scheming, Theia chose the most direct and brutal method possible—
A physical takedown.
The only thing Lin Gui didn't understand was...
He tilted his head slightly, looking toward the corner of the basement.
Theia was sitting on a small wooden stool.
Under the dim, warm glow of a magic lamp, she was holding a book, reading with rapt attention.
The book had a gaudy, colorful cover, and the title was glaringly obvious—
《The Domineering Magic Dragon's Sweet Little Wife》.
Lin Gui remembered that it was one of those cheesy romance novels she had bought in the Royal Capital, and one of her favorites.
Right now, however, she looked as if she were studying some profound, ancient tome.
With her brow slightly furrowed, her finger traced the lines of text page by page as her lips moved silently, mumbling to herself.
This scene...
It was so bizarre that Lin Gui began to wonder.
Could it be that the trap Theia had so carefully laid to catch him last night wasn't for that?
Was it just a simple... prank?
Lin Gui tried to move.
He was tied to a sturdy wooden bed with tough beast-sinew ropes.
And his mouth was stuffed with... a clean sock.
If not for this thing gagging him, Lin Gui really wanted to ask:
“What on earth are you doing?”
How helpless.
He decided to take a small risk.
With a slight nudge of his thoughts.
【Storage】.
The ball of fabric in his mouth instantly vanished, taken into his unique pocket dimension.
His mouth free once more, he gently worked his slightly stiff jaw.
Lin Gui took a breath of the cool air and, lowering his voice, asked with deep confusion:
“I say...”
“What are you reading?”
“I feel like you've flipped through that book countless times already.”
Theia seemed completely absorbed in her book.
She answered subconsciously:
“Looking for practical applications.”
“Practical applications?” Lin Gui was even more baffled. “What practical applications?”
Theia's gaze didn't leave the page as she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone:
“Practical applications for making babies, of course.”
“I've almost worn this book out, but I still haven't found any concrete, detailed descriptions.”
Lin Gui: “...”
He fell silent for two seconds, trying to make his voice sound normal:
“Uh... do you really think those kinds of details...”
“...would actually show up in a novel sold openly on the market?”
Theia immediately looked up to argue, her crimson eyes filled with an expression that screamed, 'You don't understand':
“But there are plenty of details in human male-friendship novels!”
“They write them in such great detail!”
Lin Gui subconsciously followed up on her words:
“What det—”
Before he could finish the word 'details,' he regretted it.
Under the gaze of Theia's pure eyes, which shone with an excitement that seemed to say, “Let me open the doors to a whole new world for you”...
And through her completely unabashed, almost academic descriptions...
Some extremely vivid, concrete, and completely biologically inaccurate images...
...uncontrollably floated into Lin Gui's mind.
A shattered chrysanthemum, a trail of devastation.
Lin Gui felt a cold shiver run from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head.
Instantly polluting his 'relatively' pure heart.
Theia closed the book and sighed.
“There's no other way. I'll just have to ask someone else.”
Lin Gui couldn't help but ask, “You've been hanging around Caran City for so long, and you've never seen a similar scene?”
“Aren't some nobles quite... adventurous with their play?”
Back when he was in New Covenant City, he had witnessed 'stimulating' scenes behind noble manors or in the woods more than once.
Not to mention the raw, survival-entangled desires of the slums.
Those were truly tragic dramas that one couldn't even watch with a casual, gossiping mindset.
Even if Theia hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she should have guessed the general idea just from hearing the vulgar conversations of the highly stressed commoners.
Theia shrugged, her expression somewhat helpless:
“The moment I direct my gaze there, before I can even start 'observing'...”
“...they pull up their pants and run faster than the wind.”
Lin Gui then realized he had overlooked a point.
Theia wasn't human.
She was an elf.
A race with an extremely conservative culture regarding such matters.
So conservative that they required specialized mentors—usually mothers or maternal elders—to provide oral instruction at specific times.
It was somewhat like the ancient society of his hometown.
And Theia's mother, according to her, had died in the wilderness long ago.
So, she planned to ask a reliable female elder she knew.
“Lin Gui, behave yourself and wait for me to come back, okay?”
Theia closed the book, stood up, pushed open the door, and left the basement.
Once the door closed, Lin Gui's eyes darted around.
His gaze fell upon the complex hemp ropes binding him.
Theia's knotting technique was indeed tricky and experienced.
The knots were tied in positions where it was difficult to exert force, overlapping layer upon layer. Even a rogue skilled in escape would find it a headache.
If it were the old Lin Gui, being bound like this without tools, he might indeed be trapped for a while.
It was true that power-suppressing handcuffs could prevent a mage from casting mid-to-high rank magic.
But Theia, who knew Lin Gui's abilities like the back of her hand, naturally wouldn't be as careless as Morpheus.
The hemp ropes she used had tough iron wires tightly woven into them.
Fire couldn't burn through them.
Want 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.
Furthermore, this basement was completely empty except for this bed and a magic lamp.
However, Theia probably hadn't expected one thing.
Just a short while ago, Lin Gui had acquired a brand-new ability.
【Storage】.
After obtaining this spatial magic, Lin Gui would study 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 inside.
It could not store a portion of an object; it possessed no cutting or offensive capabilities.
In other words, as long as the target was a 'whole' and could 'fit,' it could be stored.
Otherwise, it wouldn't work.
And right now, these ropes binding him so tightly,
though firmly fixed to the bed, were ultimately 'complete objects' independent of the bed frame.
Lin Gui concentrated, sensing the ropes.
His mind locked onto a taut section of the rope.
With a slight shift of his thoughts.
【Storage】.
The restraint on his wrist suddenly loosened.
Lin Gui had just focused his mind, intending to continue storing the other parts of the rope—
Creak.
The basement door was suddenly pushed open.
Lin Gui shuddered and immediately stopped his actions, leaning his body back against the wooden board.
Theia's puzzled face poked in.
She walked over to the bed in a few steps, her crimson eyes staring sharply at Lin Gui.
Making Lin Gui's scalp tingle.
“Cough, cough,” Lin Gui took the initiative. “Uh... what's wrong? Weren't you going out to ask someone?”
Theia clicked her tongue, her gaze falling on his mouth.
“I just walked out when I remembered...”
“How are you able to speak?”
“Didn't I gag you with Eve's sock?”
Without changing his expression, Lin Gui said righteously:
“I just pushed it out with my tongue.”
As he spoke, he quietly retrieved the sock from his storage space.
With an extremely subtle flick of his wrist, he tossed it onto the floor, out of Theia's line of sight.
Then he gestured with his eyes for her to look over there.
“Look, it fell over there.”
Theia followed his gaze and indeed saw a sock.
She picked it up with a strange expression and looked at it.
But Lin Gui suddenly realized something and asked in shock:
“Wait a minute? Whose sock did you say that was just now?”
Theia replied calmly:
“Eve's. Why, is there a problem?”
Lin Gui: “...Why did you have to use a sock? And why hers?”
“Couldn't you have just found any random piece of cloth? Is that so hard to find?”
Theia's face was written with 'what's so strange about that':
“Isn't a sock just a ball of cloth anyway?”
“As for why it's Eve's...”
“Because she was the one who handed it to me, so I just used it.”
After saying that, she stuffed the fabric back into Lin Gui's mouth without another word.
Her movements were swift and decisive.
“Lin Gui, behave yourself.”
“Don't even think about escaping.”
“When the time is right, I will naturally let you go.”
Gagged, Lin Gui could only make muffled noises:
“Mmph... mmph? (Until when?)”
A faint blush suddenly swept across Theia's face.
Her gaze also drifted slightly.
“Well... the pregnancy rate for elves is very low.”
“So, uh... cough cough...”
She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound confident and righteous:
“In short! Until Eve confirms that I've 'conceived'...”
“...you will stay right here!”
“I will take care of all your physical needs.”
“Including... using the restroom.”
With that, she turned and walked toward the door.
With her hand on the doorknob, she looked back and flashed Lin Gui a bright, slightly sly smile.
“For the days to come...”
“...just enjoy a life where you don't have to lift a finger.”
“My dear.”
Click.
The door was gently closed, followed by the sound of the lock turning.
Silence returned to the basement.
Only Lin Gui remained lying on the bed, staring at the shadows cast by the swaying magic lamp on the ceiling.
About five minutes passed like this.
Reflecting on his recent encounter,
Lin Gui felt extremely bizarre.
A stunningly beautiful, white-haired, red-eyed elf had imprisoned him in a basement.
And her goal was actually to explore the great harmony of life with him until she conceived a little darling before letting him go...
Had he seen a similar plot in some obscure corner before?
Like some 'room you can't leave unless you do ####' scenario!
The key was, for a man, something that seemed like a lifelong fantasy actually happening to him...
...and Lin Gui's very first thought was to run.
A spineless coward, a wimp, not a real man.
A gorgeous elf throwing herself at him, yet he only wanted to escape.
What kind of useless, overly gentle, trashy anime protagonist was he?
Lin Gui speechlessly roasted himself.
But his ears remained strained, listening intently.
Once he was certain there was indeed no movement outside and Theia's footsteps had completely faded away—
His gaze sharpened.
【Storage】.
With his thoughts, he locked onto every section of the rope one by one.
Wrists, ankles, chest... they vanished one after another.
Those intricately tied hemp ropes vanished into air, section by section, as if erased by an invisible eraser.
Lin Gui stretched his sore wrists and ankles, then sat up.
His joints let out a soft crack.
He let out a helpless sigh, his whisper exceptionally clear in the empty basement:
“Looks like... I'll have to hide for a while.”
“Once the Demon King returns and confirms that Avalon is safe...”
“...I'll quietly leave with Eve.”
The oak staff appeared in his palm out of thin air.
The warm texture of the wood brought a trace of stability.
Gripping the staff, he lightly hopped off the bed, preparing to leave this temporary cell.
Just as he turned and his gaze casually drifted toward the door—
His movements froze instantly.
That wooden door...
At some point, it had silently cracked open.
Theia was standing at the threshold.
In her left hand, she held a piece of rock-hard black bread.
In her right hand, she carried a wooden cup filled with clean water.
The expression on her face shifted from initial ease to utter shock upon seeing Lin Gui standing on the floor, free of his restraints.
Then, the moment her gaze landed on the staff in his hand—clearly prepared to cast a spell—it instantly turned into sharp vigilance.
The entire process took less than a second.
Lin Gui's lips twitched.
A feint?
And twice at that?!
“You... why did you come back?” he asked subconsciously.
Theia also answered subconsciously:
“I was halfway there when I thought you might be hungry when you woke up this morning...”
“...so I grabbed some breakfast to bring to you...”
Before she could finish her sentence,
her eyes had already completed the transition from confusion to alertness.
Especially when she saw the staff in Lin Gui's hand, clearly ready to cast a spell.
The faint glow of 'Levitation' had just lit up beneath Lin Gui's feet.
But Theia's figure was already like a silver bolt of lightning, appearing before him in an instant!
Her blood-red eyes trailed afterimages in her extreme speed.
That seemingly slender fist, yet carrying the powerful wind of a Transcendent Ranger, was already right in front of Lin Gui's eyes.
There was absolutely no time to react.
BOOM!!!
A dull thud echoed.
Lin Gui felt a violent shock to his face, and stars erupted before his eyes.
The massive force sent him flying backward, slamming heavily into the wooden crates stacked in the corner.
A sharp, dull pain throbbed at the back of his head.
Once again, his consciousness was brutally dragged down into the familiar darkness.
Meanwhile,
that merciless punch had knocked the squishy little mage out cold.
After pulling back her fist, Theia scanned the floor.
It was completely empty; the ropes that should have been scattered all over the ground were nowhere to be seen.
She blinked, a bit bewildered:
“How on earth did this guy break free?”
“Those were 'steel-wrapped cords' that even a living Transcendent Rank demon couldn't break...”
Her confusion lasted only a few seconds.
She walked over to Lin Gui and squatted down.
Looking at the human man lying on the ground, his cheek swollen and unconscious,
a faint trace of grievance gradually welled up in her crimson eyes.
“Honestly...”
she mumbled softly, gently poking Lin Gui's swollen cheek with her finger.
“Do you really not want to... be with me that much?”
“Do you really not want to have babies with me?”
“I'm a beautiful elf girl, you know. The kind of beauty that symbolizes the ultimate reward for the protagonist in storybooks.”
“Do you dislike me that much?”
“You jerk.”
Biting her lip, that trace of grievance was quickly suppressed by an even more stubborn determination.
She turned around, pulled Lin Gui's arms over, and draped them around her shoulders.
Then, reaching back to grab his wrists, she used a thicker, tougher leather strap retrieved from who-knows-where to quickly and securely bind their wrists together.
Next came the waist and legs.
Like packing an important piece of luggage, she firmly secured Lin Gui to her back.
Every knot was tied dead tight, with a few extra wraps for reinforcement.
Only after confirming that it would be absolutely impossible for Lin Gui to break free even if he woke up did Theia stand up straight.
She hefted the weight of the man on her back and let out a cold snort:
“Hmph.”
“Let's see how you escape now.”
“I don't care whether you're willing or not.”
“In short, don't even think about escaping my grasp!”
She paused, her voice softening until it was barely audible even to herself:
“At least... don't leave me here all alone, you idiot.”
Rate on N.U.
