The azure sky was dotted with a few white clouds, shadows of the trees danced on the ground, and a gentle breeze blew.
The afternoon sun was so comfortably warm.
On the top floor of the Zhao Group Building, inside one of the offices.
Having just turned down a tall woman who came for a secretary interview, Zhao Yicheng wiped the coffee stain off his suit with a tissue—the stain had been caused by an intern that morning.
Because of Xu Yinsheng’s matters, he had lost quite a bit of time and accumulated a pile of tasks—enough to keep him busy for several weeks.
Frowning slightly as he repeatedly wiped the coffee stain, the faint brown mark on the white collar was still very obvious.
It looked like the suit needed a trip to the dry cleaners.
However, taking advantage of this bit of free time, Zhao Yicheng opened a certain purple spider-shaped software.
After entering a string of passwords, a page quickly popped up.
On the screen, a silver-haired Catgirl was lying on the sofa in the living room.
Her slender, graceful tail swayed gently, and the pair of pure white cat ears on her head twitched delightfully.
His computer was connected to the villa’s cameras, constantly transmitting the latest updates.
At this very moment, inside the villa.
Xu Yinsheng was in a terrible mood, like a girl having her period—her entire cat form was on the verge of fluffing up her fur in irritation.
She mercilessly gave the camera facing her an international friendly gesture.
“Zhao Yicheng, you bastard, you’re not even human!”
“I want my computer, I have Wi-Fi, I want to play games!!”
“If you don’t let me install these things, I swear I’ll smash all the cameras tomorrow!!!”
Perhaps it was truly as the saying goes: “A well-fed person thinks of lust.”
Once locked in a cat cage, Xu Yinsheng’s only pleas were for a serving of braised pork, a bowl of plain rice, and a warm big bed.
But now, Xu Yinsheng could cook whatever she wanted, had vegetables in the fridge, and could sleep in as long as she wanted.
After all, she didn’t have to work—a bona fide cat-shaped rice bug.
Yet being confined inside the villa felt like a larger cat cage.
Though she had no worries about food or clothing, her heart was endlessly empty.
Maslow once proposed five levels of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization.
After the first two needs are met, humans begin to seek social needs—surfing the internet, going out offline, and so on.
Xu Yinsheng was exactly in this situation.
Although the villa had no shortage of food and drink, it was like an ivory tower—beautiful but unable to satisfy her spiritual needs.
Not to mention fancy things like parties or outdoor pools with pretty ladies to hang out with; there wasn’t even a basic game console, TV, or radio.
She was forced to be a beautiful young lady who didn’t hear a thing from the outside world—no, a little cat.
Humans were social creatures, needing to intake external information.
At first, Xu Yinsheng still resisted, maintaining her own thoughts and judgments.
But what if this went on for two or three years?
All the external information Xu Yinsheng received came from Zhao Yicheng.
Whether true or false, she could only passively accept it. Eventually, she would slowly be twisted into the form Zhao Yicheng liked.
Thinking of this, Xu Yinsheng’s anger flared uncontrollably.
She grabbed an apple from the fruit plate and hurled it violently at the camera.
The fist-sized red apple traced an arc through the air, hitting the camera precisely, but there was no sound of it shattering.
The apple silently bounced back, falling at Xu Yinsheng’s feet, rolling twice before coming to a stop.
The camera shifted slightly to face Xu Yinsheng, as if mocking her incompetence.
“This is a military-grade nanomaterial model. It’s impossible to damage without a hydraulic press.”
The voice paused with a hint of amusement.
“If you do manage to break it, you’ll have to pay for repairs out of your own food allowance.”
“You might want to try being a vegetarian for a week. Then the fridge will be full of broccoli—the vegetable you hate most.”
“Damn it! You can hear me!!”
Hearing that familiar male voice, Xu Yinsheng shuddered, nearly scared out of her soul.
To be fair, she was just a spoiled brat and a loudmouth. Usually, she only exchanged verbal jabs, at worst teasing others.
But Zhao Yicheng was different—he was truly mentally unwell and still untreated.
Looking at the long list of rotten things he had done to Xu Yinsheng, if there were a fair trial, after the death sentence, even the prison cell bars would melt three jin (about 1.5 kilograms) of iron.
Who knew if, just because she cursed casually, he’d relapse and torture her on the bed till she was half-dead?
Zhao Yicheng didn’t reply, only chuckled. After amusing himself by cyber-teasing the cat, he opened another webpage and dove back into work.
On the other side, Xu Yinsheng was no longer calm, cautiously apologizing repeatedly.
“Old Zhao, calm down. I was just talking nonsense just now, don’t take it to heart.”
“Old Zhao? Old Zhao?”
“Are you there?”
“Dad? Brother? Master?”
“Darling? Husband? Lord?”
Xu Yinsheng called out several times, seeing no reaction from the camera.
Knowing Zhao Yicheng’s attention was elsewhere, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She picked up the apple on the floor and wiped it with her sleeve.
Abandoning her principle of “don’t eat dirty things,” she took a few careless bites.
Chewing the apple, Xu Yinsheng began wandering around the villa.
With nothing else to do, lying around was as good as moving.
As for planning her next escape…
Zhao Yicheng had once casually discussed with her, holding a bone-cutting knife, about whether she liked being in a wheelchair.
That had scared Xu Yinsheng so badly she almost peed herself.
So, for now, she had no thoughts of running away.
At the same time, Xu Yinsheng was further convinced of one thing—men’s promises were all lies!!
They used to cry and repent, but now?
They knew they were wrong, but simply refused to change!
Scum! Bastards! Death-row criminals!!
While wandering, biting on the apple, Xu Yinsheng discovered a gym inside the villa, filled with an impressive array of fitness equipment that made her eyes widen.
After a round of exploring, Xu Yinsheng climbed onto a treadmill.
Because it was her first time using a treadmill, she felt very awkward standing on it, her movements a bit clumsy.
But as the treadmill slowly started moving, she adapted quickly.
As a Catgirl, Xu Yinsheng was agile, even able to move like a cat flying across rooftops.
But her endurance was poor—after ten minutes or so, she would be gasping for breath.
Running was different, though.
Starting slow, then picking up to a jog, she gradually adapted to the rhythm, matching her breathing to the slow jog.
After running for over an hour, Xu Yinsheng looked at her drenched clothes and laughed and cried at the same time, then quickly changed into workout clothes in the changing room.
The workout clothes were all men’s—perhaps Zhao Yicheng never imagined Xu Yinsheng would exercise on her own.
She picked the smallest size and, to allow freedom for her tail, even cut a hole at the back of the pants with scissors.
After changing, Xu Yinsheng looked at her flushed face in the mirror.
The silver-haired Catgirl’s ears were slightly damp, and her mood lifted as she flicked her tail.
Then she turned her gaze to the other gym equipment.
No need to say more—time to work out!
***
Evening.
Zhao Yicheng returned to the villa.
The hall was very quiet, only the lights were on.
The leftover food in the fridge showed that dinner had been eaten.
Faintly, he heard the creaking sounds of gym equipment from the adjacent room.
Following the noise, Zhao Yicheng walked slowly to the gym door and gently pushed it open a crack.
Through the gap, a tall red-haired lady in workout clothes was operating the machines.
Her movements made the equipment tremble, her full chest pressing forward and dazzling to the eyes.
Because the silver-haired Catgirl’s endurance was too poor during workouts, Xu Yinsheng had simply switched to her tall red-haired Valkyrie avatar.
After finishing a set of exercises, Xu Yinsheng casually sat down and gulped down some electrolyte-rich saline. Sweat soaked her clothes, outlining her graceful curves.
Youthful vitality radiated from her.
Zhao Yicheng stared at her in a daze, unwilling to blink.
Her damp long hair seemed wrapped in thick pheromones.
This was a different Xu Yinsheng—not the rebellious, inactive otaku from high school or university.
Now, she was like a sunny, energetic college girl, radiating with youthful energy.
It made one… unable to resist.
Zhao Yicheng’s Adam’s apple bobbed as a fiery gleam flashed in his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
Xu Yinsheng asked, gulping the saline, naturally noticing the man spying outside the door.
Then she pinched her nose, a look of disgust on her face.
“Such a strong smell of alcohol.”
“What are you trying to pull? Drinking this stuff? It’s just trash that only smells bad and is good for nothing.”
The door clicked open, and Zhao Yicheng entered.
Ignoring Xu Yinsheng’s protests, he forcefully carried her into the bedroom.
“Screw you.”
Just as he said, so he did.