Chapter 127: The Stolen First Kiss

Xu Yunzhou's heart was heavily struck.

Suddenly, he understood everything.

The one who accepted the task to assassinate Lin Ruoxuan was the AU assassin organization.

And according to the materials, after Xu Nuo left the Crescent Group, she joined Shadow.

So, it wasn't her going to kill Lin Ruoxuan, but rather...

But rather listening to his words, going to secretly protect her!

It really was hard on this little vinegar jar.

Xu Yunzhou remembered yesterday in the rented room, when he and Lin Ruoxuan were like dry wood and fierce fire about to ignite at a touch, that bird outside the window that inappropriately and precisely "made trouble"...

So it was you, this little vinegar jar, deliberately playing tricks!

But it was also hard on her. Keeping her promise to come to his side, lurking in the dark to fulfill the duty of protection, yet forced to witness with her own eyes the scene of him and another woman being intimate and almost "misfiring"...

Thinking of this, he indeed felt heartache.

But at this moment, what could he do?

Not to mention he couldn't change it, he didn't dare to change it either. After all, it concerned Lin Ruoxuan's life, so he could only follow this "script" and continue acting:

"Thank you Ah Nuo, remember this time point: After May 20, 2025."

"Please, you must come to my side."

"I... need you."

Xu Nuo's pupils contracted slightly in the darkness. Immediately after, she nodded forcefully, almost fiercely:

"Mhm, definitely. A promise worth a thousand pieces of gold."

Then, she raised her head, looking at the teenager close at hand. A sly and soft light flashed through her eyes, and she said softly:

"Then, Teacher..."

Her voice was as light as a feather scratching the tip of a heart, carrying a rare coquettishness,

"Can I..."

She licked her lips. This subtle movement, in the silence, actually carried a breathtakingly soul-stirring allure.

"Take a tiny bit of... advance payment first?"

Xu Yunzhou didn't completely understand what "payment" she was referring to.

Xu Nuo, however, had already reached out her hand, slowly landing on the teenager's cheek.

Feeling the warmth of his skin, and the delicate texture unique to a teenager.

"Teacher, I like him."

She repeated in her mind again, this time, her voice carrying a crying tone.

As if this sentence had been suppressed for too, too long, so long that even she herself had forgotten that it could actually be spoken out loud.

Then, she slowly, extremely lightly and slowly, leaned down.

Her long hair slid from her shoulders, casting soft shadows on the side of the teenager's face.

She moved toward those warm lips that were rising and falling slightly with his breathing.

Closer.

Closer still.

Able to feel his warm breath brushing past the tip of her nose and lips, carrying a teenager's clean, green scent.

Her heart beat crazily in her chest like a drum, her eardrums buzzing, her cheeks so hot they seemed about to burn up.

In the final second before their lips were about to touch, she closed her eyes.

Soft and slightly cool lips, carrying cautious, unsuppressible trembling, gently, gently pressed onto the teenager's warm lower lip.

One touch.

And separated immediately.

As fast as an illusion, as light as a sigh.

She abruptly straightened up like a frightened rabbit, her heart beating so wildly she almost suffocated.

Her whole person was still immersed in the experience of her first kiss, and for a moment she actually didn't realize...

The teenager on the bed slowly, groggily opened his eyes.

Fortunately it was in the darkness, vision blurry.

The teenager muttered somewhat confusedly, fumbling wanting to turn on the bedside lamp.

Right at the instant his fingers were about to touch the switch!

Xu Nuo moved!

Subconsciously, like a conditioned reflex, a precise knifehand strike chopped onto a certain acupoint on the side of the teenager's neck!

The force was controlled exactly right, enough to make a person instantly lose consciousness without causing substantial harm.

"Ugh..."

The teenager let out a muffled groan, his head tilted to the side, falling into deep sleep again.

Xu Yunzhou outside the screen:

"..."

Holy shit?

No wonder when waking up the next day at the time, feeling my neck sour and painful, I even thought I had slept awkwardly and got a stiff neck!

So it was the good deed done by you, this little girl!

In the game footage, Kirigaya Nuo froze in place. Looking at the teenager who had fallen into a coma-like sleep again, a trace of embarrassment flashed across her face.

She explained softly to the void, her tone a bit annoyed:

"Sorry Teacher, purely an accident..."

She paused, muttering softly:

"If I had known earlier... I would have given him some sleeping pills."

After saying that, she hurriedly helped the teenager cover up with the quilt, carefully tucking in the edges of the quilt, her actions unbelievably gentle.

Then, she fled the hotel room as if escaping.

Walking on the silent streets of Nihon late at night, she was expressionless, her pace steady and crisp, changing back again into that calm and self-possessed assassin apprentice.

It was just that...

That originally pale-as-jade earlobe currently revealed a hard-to-ignore, shallow crimson color.

Glowing slightly under the streetlamp.

Xu Yunzhou's voice sounded leisurely in the game, transmitting into her ears through the System, carrying a faint smile:

"You..."

He paused, as if having finally digested this gift spanning spacetime that was both sweet and carried "harm"...

His tone became subtle, the trailing note rising gently, carrying teasing:

"Just like that, stole away... my first kiss?"

Kirigaya Nuo's footsteps paused slightly.

She lowered her head, her voice timid, carrying guilty conscience and unease:

"Teacher, will you... be angry?"

"Mhm..."

Xu Yunzhou pondered, as if carefully savoring this "fact" that had happened long ago but he had just come to know.

A few seconds later, the smile deepened, sighing lightly:

"But... thinking about it, it seems... not bad either?"

At least, it wasn't given to Su Qianran.

But rather given to this... true N, this young girl who carved a unique mark in his life and whose promise was worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Early the next morning.

In the hotel room, sunlight cut bright bands of light through the gap in the curtains, dust slowly floating in the light.

Teenager Xu Yunzhou woke up from his dream, sitting on the bed wrapped in the quilt, groggily rubbing his eyes.

He spaced out for a while, always feeling... something wasn't quite right.

Everything in the room was as usual.

The suitcase leaning against the wall hadn't been moved, wallet and phone were placed properly on the nightstand, and the empty coffee can drunk last night was still in the trash can.

But...

There was just a lingering weird feeling.

As if in the middle of the night... someone had come in?

In the air, there seemed to remain a trace of extremely faint, cold, almost imperceptible fragrance, not hotel aromatherapy, nor his own scent.

Also...

His neck seemed to hurt a bit?

He twisted his neck, and a burst of slight sourness transmitted over.

And his lips.

There... seemed to be a bit of anomaly?

Couldn't put it into words, not painful or itchy, but the sense of presence was inexplicably strong, as if touched very lightly by something extremely soft, leaving some kind of subtle, lingering tactile memory.

The teenager shook his head, trying to shake this absurd feeling out of his mind.

"Must be too tired, plus tossing and turning running around everywhere yesterday..."

He muttered, getting out of bed to wash up.

Splashing ice-cold water on his face sobered him up a bit, but that subtle feeling still lingered.

While brushing his teeth facing the mirror, he looked at his still-green face in the mirror and suddenly shivered.

Last night... seemed to have dreamed of someone sitting at the head of the bed?

Or was it real?

"As expected of Nihon..."

With foam in his mouth, he mumbled to himself indistinctly, carrying a bit of exaggerated suspicion unique to teenagers:

"Heard there are particularly many supernatural legends over here, urban legends, vengeful spirits in hotels... This hotel looks like it has some years on it too, couldn't be... really unclean, right?"

He already didn't have much of a deep filter for Nihon to begin with. After this "haunting" experience, he silently deducted a few more points from the impression score of this country in his heart without batting an eyelid.

As expected, home is still the best.

...

Time flew by, and soon, it was winter of another year.

After the Kisei tournament league matches that lasted for months, she advanced to the finals with an all-win record, obtaining the right to challenge for the Kisei title.

The opponent was exactly the one she crushed during her professional examination—the current Kisei, Iyama Shota 9-dan.

This time, the media headlines were almost frantic:

"17-Year-Old Genius Girl vs. Current Kisei! The Night the Go World Changes Dynasties is Tonight!"

"Can the All-Win Myth Continue? Kirigaya Nuo—The Name of a Miracle, or the End of a Dimensional Strike?"

"AlphaGo beat Lee Se-yan, but hasn't beaten our Queen yet! Humanity has not yet submitted!"

In the game interface, Xu Yunzhou pulled up Xu Nuo's current attribute panel.

[Xu Nuo (Current Identity: Kirigaya Nuo)]

[Birth Year: 1999, Current Age: 17, Height: 164cm, Weight: 48kg]

[Appearance: 91/100 (Long-term strictly executed scientific routine and extremely reasonable nutritional intake have ensured the luster of her skin and the vitality of her body.)]

[Figure: 86/100 (Unshakeable daily high-intensity physical training and precise nutritional support have shaped smooth and firm muscle lines, controlling body fat percentage at an excellent athlete level.)]

[Knowledge: 85/100 (In the fields of network security, cryptography, and system penetration, relying on talent and the instillation of "future knowledge," she is already a top-tier existence in the top 1% of the world, making many national-level security agencies look sideways.)]

[Temperament: 88/100 (Tempered by an extremely regular, even harsh dual life, rhythm is implicit in her walking, sitting, and lying down, emitting a powerful aura of being highly controlled.)]

[Influence: 75/100 (In the Nihon Go world, she is already a super rising star with soaring fame and numerous fans, the focus of media; in the yakuza dark world, she has begun to reveal her sharpness, viewed as an important asset by the higher-ups of the Crescent Group; and in the even more hidden dark web hacker world, her alias is already an awe-inspiring, top-ranking legendary existence.)]

[Comprehensive Charm Value: 85/100 (Significant growth. The healthy foundation brought by high self-discipline and scientific management has significantly improved her overall charm.)]

[Hidden Talent: Limitless Will (Activated 80%)]

[Currently Controlled Wealth: Approx. 5 billion Yen (Approx. 250 million RMB)]

Note sources:

1. Remuneration in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin obtained on the dark web through superb hacker methods;

2. High commissions from Crescent Group assassination missions;

3. Investment income in the global financial market from 2016-2017 guided by "Teacher" utilizing future information.

This massive sum has been broken into parts and hidden in multiple offshore accounts and anonymous cryptocurrency wallets through complex paths. This is the indispensable economic cornerstone for her future "slipping out of the shell like a cicada" plan.

Xu Yunzhou's gaze lingered for a moment on the line of text in the "Wealth" column, unable to help but smile.

These numbers are already just numbers, and are still continuously inflating.

For example, the one thousand Bitcoins remuneration obtained from assassinating Yamamoto Ryuichi last time, in the current 2016, is nothing more than a nice windfall, only about three hundred thousand US dollars.

But only he knows—by 2025, what kind of astonishing astronomical figure this "windfall" will inflate into.

"85 points... to reach the ultimate goal of 90 points, only the final kick at the goal remains."

He looked toward the game footage, at that cold and detached young girl resting with her eyes closed in a quiet room, making final preparations for the upcoming battle of the century.

The ultimate throne on the Go board.

The bloody settlement outside the Go board.

The Kisei tournament.

Takemiya Susumu.

These two lines intertwining bright glory and dark destiny were finally going to welcome their convergence and endgame in the days to come.