Chapter 267: Child of Heaven's Mandate

The dim yellow lamplight made the two people sitting on the bed seem somewhat ambiguous.

At least for Fan Bing, that was indeed the case.

Beneath her coat, her long, snow‑white thighs pressed tightly against Lin An without restraint, her right hand braced on his knee, her upper body leaning sideways until they were almost touching.

A subtle, ambiguous feeling swayed on the thread, left and right.

Just like that fine needle in her heart.

Fan Bing's cheeks flushed slightly, and the jade hand resting on Lin An's leg trembled.

Yet, faced with the beauty before him, Lin An seemed unmoved.

Beneath his calm gaze, it seemed he was pondering something.

"hua"

On the black leather boots, the metal chain was pulled open.

She freed her left hand, unwilling to leave Lin An even a little, swayed her body slightly, hooked her foot, and then slowly pulled down the chain on the leather boot.

A pair of bare feet slipped out of the boots, the round toes fair and smooth, lightly stepping on the bedside.

Seeing that Lin An offered no obstruction, her breath suddenly grew a little ragged, and her lowered eyelashes trembled slightly.

Her courage seemed to have grown a bit.

She moved her right hand away from the man's leg, then gently rested it on the coat's waist, staring blankly at his face as her vermilion lips parted:

"Look at me..."

Her voice was like a mosquito's buzz, yet it could not hide her resolve.

The room's temperature was slightly low, as it always was in the evening.

She slowly slipped off the coat she was wearing, revealing a pure‑white shirt; the motion was slow, yet it held a strange beauty.

In the dim light, the buttons on the shirt came undone one by one, exposing snow‑white skin.

After the last button was undone, Fan Bing, half‑kneeling on the bed with bare legs, crawled toward the calmly gazing Lin An and embraced him.

She wrapped both arms around his shoulders, then pressed her chest tightly against Lin An's torso.

Scorching, icy cold.

Lin An could feel that softness on his chest; beneath the opened shirt gap, snow‑white skin was faintly visible.

Dim yellow, snow‑white, entwined.

Like a frame frozen in a film.

Her right fingertip lightly slid across Lin An's chest, while her left hand twisted the shirt on her and pulled it down her shoulders.

Her breathing quickened; Fan Bing lifted her head, her profile absolutely beautiful.

After the final shirt was taken off and lightly tossed to the floor below, skin as smooth as jade was bare and exposed to the slight chill.

She gathered her courage, straightened her body, her bound hair falling loose over her shoulders, unreservedly displaying her most beautiful side before Lin An's eyes, then tilted her head toward his lips and murmured:

"Take me..."

"Then, take me away..."

At the instant their lips and teeth touched, Lin An suddenly turned his head, his right hand clamping her chin like an iron vise.

The feel in his hand was smooth and gentle, yet it did not diminish the coldness in his eyes:

"You have no qualification to make a deal with me."

"You are useful; I will naturally spare your life."

"Now."

"You only need to tell me what Li Lei's talent is."

His voice was ice‑cold, leaving no room for doubt.

Fan Bing threw her head back; the sudden turn of events left her incredulous.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with incomprehension.

Her naked body trembled in the air; such an alluring scene seemed to vanish from Lin An's sight.

Why?

No time to think; under telekinetic control, the coat instantly draped over her, and the pen and paper that had fallen to the floor were tossed before her eyes.

"Write now."

Lin An's icy voice sounded like a command, utterly unsympathetic.

Resentment, loss, and even a hint of humiliation.

Fan Bing stared blankly at the white sheet before her, her eye sockets instantly turning red.

I've done all this... why is it still not enough?

Once as proud as she, she believed she had already cast aside everything.

She had almost disregarded any dignity, offering up her everything.

Yet, while others saw her as a treasure, the self she frenziedly pursued was, in Lin An's eyes, no more than a useless blank sheet.

In disbelief, she stubbornly lifted her head, yanked off the coat draped over her, and her eyes grew moist:

"Do you really have not even a shred of feeling for me!"

"What exactly do you like! I have everything you like!"

"I don't believe you feel nothing!"

Her stunning appearance and her heart‑stirring tactics were her pride; feeling doubly humiliated, she could not bear this blow.

Lin An saw this and slightly furrowed his brows.

Women are often emotional, just like Fan Bing before him; now, because he had ignored her, she lost control of her emotions...

He had completely forgotten what her true purpose was.

Well then, Li Lei's talent still needs to be obtained from her mouth.

Suppressing his impatience, Lin An made the pen and paper float before her eyes, his tone gentler:

"Two minutes, if you can't write it, you go die..."

Fan Bing heard the voice and was stunned, feeling that the man before her was a devil.

One minute later, Lin An looked solemnly at the talent information listed on the white paper, while beside him was Fan Bing, fully dressed, her face full of resentment and indignation.

"A-rank high-tier talent: Heaven Fortune Spirit Gathering."

"Heaven Fortune Spirit Gathering: all attributes +1 (lower rank +2...), hidden attribute: Luck +5."

"Passive Skill 1-Heaven Fortune: You will gain extraordinary luck beyond ordinary people under the guidance of fortune, and be able to avoid disasters and sense danger."

"Equipment drop rate increased, props drop rate increased, spiritual energy fruit acquisition rate increased, critical hit rate increased."

"Reduce the probability of disasters occurring in your area, reduce the probability of supernatural incidents occurring, reduce the probability of meme events occurring, reduce the probability of encountering special events."

"Passive Skill 2-Child of Fortune (Weak): System quest difficulty decreases, quest rewards increase. You will not receive death-level quests, and any of your actions will be corrected by fortune and develop in a beneficial direction."

"Passive Skill 3-Heaven's Mandate (Weak): The success rate of any of your thoughts will increase, and any event you undertake will tend to unfold as you wish."

"Note: Weak 【Heaven's Mandate】, the success rate of any action will be affected by reasonableness, logic, and actual success rate."

"For example, if you hold a revolver to commit suicide, when the revolver contains six bullets (a full magazine) 【Heaven's Mandate】 cannot be triggered, but if there are five bullets, you will almost certainly not be hit by a bullet."

"Note: This effect will be weakened or strengthened depending on the actual situation; when the enemy is overly strong, the skill will be weakened."

"Active Skill: Spirit Gathering"

"Spirit Gathering: Consumes spiritual power, gathers the free-floating spiritual energy in the air and inflicts damage based on charging time."

"Any of your attacks can carry spiritual energy damage, and you can continue to charge."

"Note: As an Awakened Ones of the Heaven Fortune Spirit Gathering talent, you are considered the main character of the game within the current scope in the system's judgment."

A long silence.

Lin An's spiritual power shuddered, and in an instant he shattered the white paper in his hand into pieces.

He took a deep breath, and a gleam flashed in his eyes before vanishing.

A-rank talent, Heaven Fortune Spirit Gathering. Or rather, it's almost comparable to an S-rank talent.

With such an exaggerated talent, it's no wonder Li Lei still dares to have designs on him...

The talent's passive skills are so numerous they're terrifying, practically a protagonist template.

Under the system's cheat-like support, even a pig could become a formidable power.

Although the attack skills are slightly lacking, they are still far superior to a B-rank talent.

Luck... Fortune.

These two attributes have never been heard of before; they appear to be hidden attributes.

Indifferent and speechless.

Lin An's heart suddenly gave rise to a strange feeling.

He indeed wanted to eat the Manchineel Flower, and right in front of Li Lei!

Li Lei daring to have designs on him is not only due to his talent, but likely also related to the hidden spiritual entity in his necklace!

Therefore Lin An plans to eat it in person, luring that mysterious spiritual entity to manifest and act.

Just like the power in the Soul-devouring Hand, this power does not actively appear; one cannot grasp it at will.

Just that.

Lin An scanned the spiritual energy core inside the ring with his mind, feeling doubtful and uneasy.

Li Lei firmly believes he will eat the Manchineel Flower; is it because his talent secretly calculated that he would use the spiritual energy core, or is it merely a coincidence?

Without the Judgment Eye, he would indeed have a high chance of eating it.

But he has the Judgment Eye to probe information; yet without the spiritual energy core, he would not eat it.

How exactly is it calculated?

Exactly which point does Li Lei's talent skill calculate? Or, in what way does the so-called 'thoughts become reality' actually excel?

Is everything under the control of his talent? Or is it merely a disguised coincidence?

For a moment, Lin An actually found himself unable to infer anything.

After a while, he turned his head to look at Fan Bing beside him and asked, slightly puzzled:

"To be honest, Li Lei's talent is indeed terrifying."

"But why did you still choose to "betray" him?"

"In the system's evaluation, they gave exaggerated descriptions like protagonist and Child of Heaven; shouldn't you think his chances of winning are greater?"

Fan Bing blinked her eyes at him, hesitated a moment, then slowly spoke:

"This is how I think."

"Luck is part of strength."

"Li Lei's talent can almost be said to defy heaven with luck; it indeed startled me, and I once thought who could possibly oppose him with such talent."

"But after thinking it over carefully, it's actually not the case."

"Oh?"

Fan Bing stared fixedly into Lin An's eyes, leaning close to his ear:

"Luck is part of strength; conversely, great strength also indicates good luck."

"But you are clearly much stronger than him."

"Then it can only mean one thing..."

Lin An's thoughts stalled, he faintly felt as if he had thought of something.

Only to see Fan Bing suddenly throw her arms around his neck, her warm breath blowing into his ear:

"Just like when I act in a play, I am often the female lead in the movie."

"If we say Li Lei is the main role in the movie clip..."

"Then you are the lead of the entire play..."

"Fan Bing's eyes flickered, but she only saw Lin An standing there, stunned as if his mind and spirit had been shaken."