An Unexpected Lunch and a Heroic Leap

Li Chunsheng had always possessed an excellent grasp of time. He understood perfectly that having already taken a half-day leave, returning to the office early would not earn him a single additional cent.

Consequently, he deliberately slackened his pace, meandering idly through the streets. By the time he finally reached the company, the clock had just struck lunchtime.

With practiced ease, he punched his time card before casually strolling into the breakroom, his usual haunt during lunch.

Yet, the breakroom, typically bustling and overflowing with colleagues during the lunch break, was now utterly deserted, a silence that verged on unsettling.

“You’re here?” A clear, elegant, and remarkably calm voice broke the stillness.

Li Chunsheng turned his head, his gaze falling upon a familiar figure already seated at one of the long dining tables in the corner of the room, clearly having awaited his arrival for some time.

His expression tightened instantly. It was the one person he least wished to encounter at this moment: Mu Shengling.

After all, he had, by his own reckoning, offended her time and again.

Surely, after so many transgressions, even the most good-natured woman would harbor some resentment towards him.

Yet, to Li Chunsheng’s utter surprise, Mu Shengling displayed not the slightest hint of displeasure.

The young lady spoke unhurriedly, her voice smooth. “I presume, Chunsheng, you haven’t eaten lunch yet?”

“If that’s the case, then let us pick up our unfinished agreement from last time and share a meal.”

Without waiting for Li Chunsheng’s assent, she simply clapped her hands. A grey-haired maid, her expression cool and demeanor efficient, silently entered the breakroom, pushing a dining cart laden with an array of exquisite dishes.

The maid appeared to be a woman in her prime, her figure mature and voluptuous, her beauty only marginally eclipsed by Mu Shengling’s own.

As she passed by Li Chunsheng, the maid shot him a sharp glare, her expression plainly indicating a strong dislike.

“Nanny, once the meal is arranged, you may withdraw,” Mu Shengling instructed.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, the grey-haired maid, addressed as “Nanny,” chose to defy the order. She bowed slightly, her voice a frigid huff. “Miss, I must respectfully decline to obey that command.”

“Has this scoundrel’s past transgressions against you slipped your memory, Miss?”

“If I were to leave now, and he were to harm you once more, what then? How could I possibly answer to the Saintess’s trust?”

“Simply put, I cannot bring myself to leave you alone with him.”

Hearing this, Mu Shengling shook her head with a sigh of resignation. She had no choice but to concede; Nanny, after all, was not her personal maid, but had been specifically dispatched by her mother to ensure her safety, granting her the authority to refuse any command she deemed unreasonable.

A pang of regret, however, also stirred within her. This time, she had indeed harbored the intention of deliberately provoking Li Chunsheng into harming her.

Mu Shengling wished to ascertain whether the significant boost to her appearance, which had occurred after her last injury, was merely a fortuitous coincidence or a reproducible phenomenon.

Alas, the stubbornly principled Nanny by her side had consistently opposed such “adventurous” experiments, only consenting to closer observation.

“Very well, Nanny, since you insist.”

“Come, Chunsheng, please sit,” Mu Shengling invited politely, gesturing to the seat across the table.

Throughout this exchange, Li Chunsheng had been keenly observing Mu Shengling’s expression, noting that she genuinely seemed to have no intention of causing him difficulty. Thus, he graciously accepted her invitation, settling into the opposite seat and unceremoniously digging into the sumptuous meal before him.

“Chunsheng, how is Miss Liuxia’s condition…?” Mu Shengling inquired nonchalantly during their meal, asking about the senior’s well-being.

Li Chunsheng’s heart clenched, but his face remained a mask of nonchalance. “She’s doing alright, no need for your concern, Miss. Liuxia hails from the countryside; her constitution is quite robust. I attended to her all morning, and she’s feeling much better now.”

“Is that so? That’s good then.” To Li Chunsheng’s surprise, Mu Shengling did not press further on the topic. Instead, she abruptly shifted the conversation, inquiring about his own welfare with surprising warmth.

For a moment, he found himself utterly bewildered by her current state of mind. He had offended her on multiple occasions; could she genuinely harbor no anger towards him whatsoever?

Meanwhile, the grey-haired Nanny remained by their side, covertly scrutinizing Li Chunsheng. Yet, no matter how intently she observed, she could discern nothing particularly special about the man before her, beyond his undeniable good looks.

****

Time trickled by. Just as Li Chunsheng was nearing the end of his meal, a sudden chorus of terrified screams erupted from the floors above.

“Someone’s jumping!”

“Ahhhhhh…!!”

Immediately afterward, just beyond the floor-to-ceiling window on their level, a figure plummeted from an upper floor, accompanied by a piercing shriek! It was hurtling past their floor, destined to crash into the ground below!

Li Chunsheng’s eyes narrowed. His dynamic vision, honed to the peak of the Black Iron rank, allowed him to instantly identify the plummeting figure: it was his junior from the security department, the very young guard who had relayed a message to him earlier!

Witnessing this horrifying sight, he didn’t hesitate for a moment, almost instinctively reaching for the bronze rod concealed within his trousers.

The next instant, his form blurred into an afterimage, directly smashing through the reinforced glass before him and rocketing outwards like a cannonball!

His speed was so astonishing that Mu Shengling had no time to react at all. Only the grey-haired Nanny, who had been steadily observing him, let out a sharp, choked gasp.

‘What is he doing? Is he mad?’ she thought.

‘No, that speed…!’

In mid-air, Li Chunsheng’s body precisely intercepted the rapidly descending figure. The instant they made contact, he firmly secured the young guard’s waist with a single arm.

Then, with a sudden, powerful twist of his torso, he rotated half a circle, effectively dissipating the force of the impact while simultaneously hurling the young guard back through the very window he had just exited!

Due to the sheer force of inertia, Li Chunsheng, having completed this incredible feat, found himself propelled even further away from the Mu Group tower.

All these actions unfolded with breathtaking speed, collectively consuming no more than a single second.

It was only then that Mu Shengling finally reacted. Disregarding all decorum, she leaned out the broken window, her gaze fixed with nervous intensity on her plummeting ‘advancement possibility.’

This was, after all, the twentieth floor!

Yet, Li Chunsheng, suspended in the open air, showed no sign of panic. His feet began to furiously stomp at an extraordinary frequency, each powerful thrust generating muffled sonic booms in the air.

At such incredible speeds, the normally invisible air seemed to solidify into a viscous, yielding medium, providing him with ample points of leverage.

Through this astonishing maneuver, his plummeting momentum was abruptly arrested, and he even began to draw closer to the formidable building.

Finally, with a resounding *thump*, he shattered a thirteenth-floor window and tumbled inside, landing in a disheveled heap. The resting colleagues on that floor stared at him, their faces frozen in expressions of utter disbelief, as if they had just witnessed a ghost.

Yet, Li Chunsheng’s own expression at that moment was arguably even more distressed than those who had just seen a phantom.

“Good heavens… I saw someone jump just now, and I just instinctively went to save them…”

“Now… how on earth am I going to explain this power of mine?”

Li Chunsheng mused, panting heavily, a deep furrow of vexation etched across his brow.