Chapter 170: Rejecting Me Carries Serious Consequences

At first, Li Mengmeng had only arranged to grab coffee with a close friend.

Her friend was running late, so she sat waiting idly inside the café beneath the mall.

Only eighteen this year, she had already graduated from Qing Harbor Satellite City No.2’s Third Middle School.

She was at the peak of her youth, with collagen so radiant it could light up an entire street.

That day, her hair was a simple, long, straight black cascade. Her outfit was equally uncomplicated: a short-sleeved T-shirt bearing a blue cartoon print and denim shorts barely thirty centimeters long. Standing at one hundred sixty-eight centimeters tall, her long, straight legs were impossible to miss.

She was beautiful—and knew it.

Whether walking down the street or seated in the café, countless gazes confirmed this truth.

As a young woman in her prime, she rather enjoyed such attention.

Sipping and passing the time, half her coffee vanished.

Her friend hadn’t arrived, but outside the glass window, a man caught Li Mengmeng’s attention.

He sat beneath an umbrella outside the café, dressed in a light gray trench coat over a suit. Tall, handsome, and undeniably attractive—a rare sight. Yet, what drew Li Mengmeng’s focus was his stare.

From the moment he settled outside, his eyes fixated on her, unwavering.

His gaze was brazen and bold, utterly devoid of subtlety.

This unsettled Li Mengmeng. She might have exchanged a few words if he had approached politely. Instead, as his eyes grew increasingly audacious and lingered endlessly, her irritation swelled.

She decided to gather her things and wait elsewhere for her friend.

Suddenly, however, the man stood and entered the café, seating himself directly across from her.

“Waiting for someone?”

His eyes swept her face and chest. His pupils dilated slightly as a grin spread across his face.

Li Mengmeng ignored him, wordlessly collecting her purse to leave.

“Why leave so soon?”

The man caught her purse strap, pinning her with an intense stare. “Let’s be friends!”

“I have a boyfriend!”

Li Mengmeng wrenched her purse free, rejecting him with a frown.

The man wrinkled his brow briefly before forcing another smile. “That’s fine. You can always trade up.”

He leaned back casually. “After all, the Red Moon has appeared. Anything can happen now, right?”

Irritated, Li Mengmeng dismissed him outright. “I don’t like this approach. Go bother someone else.”

She rose to her feet.

“Wait!”

The call halted her. His eyes still locked onto her, gleaming with what resembled admiration—or greed. He chuckled. “I get it. You women only want money and handsome men? Well, I happen to have both!”

He pulled a thick wad of cash from his pocket, flashed it briefly, then stuffed it away.

“Well?”

His smile turned predatory. “Have dinner with me. You won’t regret it.”

Disgust flooded Li Mengmeng’s expression. “I like money and handsome men—just not you!”

“The Guard Bureau is right next door, so I suggest you stop harassing me.”

“…”

With that, she spun around and left, her chair scraping the floor loudly.

The man didn’t pursue her. He simply sat there, a slow, unnerving smile forming on his lips.

“You should reconsider…”

His voice boomed after her. “Refusing me carries serious consequences…”

“…”

“You—”

Angered by his threat, Li Mengmeng whipped her head around to glare at him.

But the man merely fixed her with one last deep gaze before rising gracefully. Smiling, he walked out of the café.

Outside, he turned and waved farewell.

……

“What a psycho!”

Li Mengmeng detested his smile. Yet, inexplicably, the man’s parting grin gave her a chill.

“Hey…”

Suddenly someone patted her shoulder. Li Mengmeng jumped in fright before realizing it was her female friend.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Her friend noticed Li Mengmeng’s troubled expression and asked curiously.

“It’s nothing. I just ran into some extremely annoying person. I said I had a boyfriend, but he kept pestering me.”

“Haha…”

Her friend immediately laughed. “How come I didn’t know you had a boyfriend? Since when?”

Li Mengmeng rolled her eyes at her friend. “Isn’t that you?”

…

After meeting her friend, Li Mengmeng quickly forgot about the earlier unpleasantness.

Walking arm-in-arm, the two entered the mall across the street.

While chattering happily about job searching after graduation, they visited shops one by one.

Though they only bought a pair of plastic drop earrings after an entire day, their hearts felt deeply satisfied.

After shopping, they went back to Li Mengmeng’s friend’s rented apartment. Taking off their high heels, they stretched their toes, sprawled across the bed, and watched Era of Civilization movies copied onto the hard drive — all played on a computer born before the Cataclysm and retrofitted since.

At this time, this was a common pastime for the masses.

Many entertainment nerds collected these pre-Cataclysm films and songs to recommend or even resell.

“So boring…”

This movie wasn’t good. Halfway through, both lost heart, rolling around in boredom. “All these films are from before the Cataclysm. Nobody films anything new these days. Even the few they manage to produce are unwatchable.”

Li Mengmeng nodded. “True. But I’ve heard Qinggang’s starting up the entertainment industry. Wonder what it’ll be like.”

Her friend looked Li Mengmeng over from head to toe, her grin slowly spreading.

Her gaze lingered deliberately on Li Mengmeng — from her face down to her unremarkably small chest, her partly exposed waist, and finally resting on those long, straight legs. Her expression mixed reflection and envy.

Shaking her head, she chuckled softly, “But if it does happen — you’re definitely star material, girl.”

Li Mengmeng trembled beneath that look. For a moment, she was stunned.

Then she snapped back to awareness and laughed, smacking her friend’s shoulder. “Your eyes are freaky perverted, you know that?”

“Haha!”

Her friend laughed heartily, flipped off the bed, and grabbed a bottle of red wine from the shelf. “Let’s drink!”

Li Mengmeng stared, shocked. “That’s your treasure! You’d actually open it?”

Her friend’s smile curved gently as she replied, “Wine exists to be drunk. This one’s for you, okay?”

Part of Li Mengmeng liked the idea — yet something felt… off about her friend tonight.

Maybe she’s acting out again… Recalling her friend’s temperament, Li Mengmeng imagined this rare generosity would melt away instantly. Soon the friend would groan, clutching about “how costly it was” and guilt Li Mengmeng into covering her dinner for a whole week. With strained cheer, Li Mengmeng refused, “No, no. Save it.”

“I hear pre-Cataclysm wines — both red and white — grow more expensive daily now…”

At her refusal, the friend’s smile froze hard.

Her face slowly relaxed, yet her lips coiled into a strange crescent. Softly lowering her voice to a whisper, she murmured, “Know what? Consequences turn dire if you refuse me…”

A cold shiver crawled down Li Mengmeng’s spine. She quickly jerked her gaze toward her friend —

And saw a completely normal expression. The friend was rummaging around for a cork puller.

Hallucination?

The thought flicked instinctively through Li Mengmeng’s mind. But inexplicably, uneasiness settled into her gut.

…

The bottle was opened, but both spat out their first sip.

Not all wines age well. Looks had deceived — the treasured bottle tasted entirely spoiled.

Still, they had a good time laughing late into the night. With her friend pleading hard, Li Mengmeng stayed over — she’d slept at her place many times before. She even kept toothbrushes and soap in the bathroom here.

But tonight was different. Li Mengmeng usually slept well. Suddenly, around midnight, stifling heat jolted her awake.

And as her eyes opened — she saw her friend had rolled on top of her.

Straddled across Li Mengmeng’s stomach. With her head tucked downward, one palm resting on Li Mengmeng’s lower abdomen.

“Really… sleeping terribly tonight.” Li Mengmeng pushed her friend’s hand away. But the hand returned lazily, draping over her thigh.

Pushing it away again, Li Mengmeng sat up, planning to go drink some water.

“Where are you going?”

The second her body shifted, a voice sliced through the dark.

Li Mengmeng froze instantly.

She lowered her eyes — and saw her friend’s head slowly lifting from beneath.

Their eyes locked. That strange smile etched the friend’s face.

Her gaze roamed over Li Mengmeng greedily as her forefinger began “walking” small, deliberate steps up Li Mengmeng’s thigh — crawling like a tiny figure.

Step…

Moving higher.

All the while, the friend’s eyes never left Li Mengmeng’s. Her whisper felt silky and unnerving:

“You’re truly beautiful, girl. Your face. This body…”

…

The voice alone — or everything combined — turned Li Mengmeng’s nerves to ice.

She bolted upright, shoving her friend off hard. “What are you doing? Lost your mind?!”

“Haha!” The friend laughed loudly suddenly. Yanking off her sleep shirts, she flashed a bright smile. “It’s hot. Let’s go shower together!”

“A shower… in midnight?”

Unease tightened Li Mengmeng’s throat. She instinctively shook her head rapidly. “I won’t. Go yourself.”

“You won’t?”

As those words landed, her friend’s face darkened instantly.

Neon streetlight outside seeped through faintly colorful rays, casting fragments of light and shadow across the friend’s expression turned toward Li Mengmeng — some parts lit in shifting hues, far more drowned in darkness. Aberrant tension crackled.

“You know?”

She looked Li Mengmeng dead in the eyes. A flicker of something unsettling glinted. Her voice dropped like a blade:

“Consequences turn severe for denying me…”