78: Forced Love Overlord 3

After Wen Ci hugged Li Jin, she returned to her room to sleep.

Li Jin's state of mind had improved significantly, but Su Wanqing's successful escape still smashed a bottomless black hole into his seemingly solid, but in reality, already fractured psychological barrier.

That was not just the anger of a 'prey' slipping away; it was a fundamental collapse of security, enough to destroy his sanity.

"If she can run, what about Wen Ci?"

This thought, like a maggot in the bone, gnawed at Li Jin's nerves day and night.

He didn't dare to think, much less ask.

He knew how terrifying he could be when he lost control, and he was also afraid that one day he would see fear of him in Wen Ci's eyes.

Questioning? Ordering? Chains? No, Li Jin didn't even dare to imagine using such crude methods on Wen Ci.

He feared that it would only push her further away, accelerating her escape.

Thus, a more insidious, more pathological mode of probing and 'guarding' quietly unfolded in the Li Residence, weaving an invisible cage even more impenetrable.

Insomnia became Li Jin's norm.

When the entire Li Residence fell into dead silence, with only the wind whimpering outside the window, he would appear like a true ghost, silently at the end of the corridor outside Wen Ci's room.

His tall figure was hidden in the deep shadows, holding his breath, all his senses heightened to the extreme, just to catch that faint line of warm light under the door crack, signifying her continued existence.

Time flowed in the dead silence, every second stretching out endlessly.

He was like a cold stone statue; only the frantic pounding of his heart in his chest betrayed the tumultuous waves within him.

Any slight sound—the rustle of fabric, the slight creak of the mattress when she turned over, or even just a vague murmur in her sleep—would instantly make Li Jin's muscles tense, as if facing a formidable enemy.

He would instinctively lean forward, his fingertips almost touching the cold door panel, to confirm that the sound was not a prelude to departure, but proof of her safe presence.

Only after confirming it, would his heart, which was almost leaping out of his throat, be forcibly pressed back into his chest, leaving him with a back full of cold sweat and a deeper sense of emptiness.

Night was his domain, and day was the butler's.

"Wen Miss, have you seen today's morning paper?" Butler Lin Bo, carrying tea and snacks, his face adorned with a professional expression tinged with a perfectly appropriate hint of worry, 'casually' brought up the topic as Wen Ci quietly read her book.

"Ah, it's really getting more and more chaotic outside. Yesterday, another violent robbery occurred in the East District, in broad daylight, it's terrifying. And there are these endless online scams, specifically targeting young women living alone…"

Wen Ci was eating breakfast and looked up at the butler with some confusion upon hearing this.

Lin Bo felt a bit uncomfortable under her gaze and, steeling himself, continued: "So, that's why our Li Residence is so good, with its high-level security, as solid as a fortress. Mr. Li is most concerned about everyone's safety; those messy things outside will absolutely not touch us here."

He tried to speak sincerely, attempting to find a trace of agreement or lingering fear on Wen Ci's face.

And in the shadows of the corridor corner, Li Jin pressed tightly against the cold wall, almost merging with the darkness.

His breathing was extremely light, all his attention focused on Wen Ci's expression, so nervous that his palms were sweating.

Although he appeared expressionless, he couldn't help but continuously mutter to himself: "Did you hear? It's too dangerous outside… those people are like wolves and tigers… only here, only by my side, is the safest… stay… please, stay…"

Wen Ci nodded slightly and smiled gently: "Thank you for the reminder, Lin Bo, I understand." Her tone was gentle, yet carried an undeniable aloofness, as if to say, "Thank you, but I have my own judgment."

Li Jin's heart sank sharply. No fear, no dependence, only a polite response.

His carefully arranged 'intimidation' was like a punch into cotton, a feeling of powerlessness mixed with deeper panic instantly seizing him.

Li Jin issued even more stringent orders.

Within the mansion, Wen Ci's activity areas saw a doubled increase in visible and hidden security forces.

The garden, the corridors, even that window-side corner she frequented, always had inconspicuous 'shadows' maintaining precise distances, on 24-hour shifts, ensuring her figure remained within a certain line of sight.

"Ensure her absolute safety! No accidents are allowed to happen! Especially—" Li Jin's voice was chilling enough to freeze the air, "Absolutely! Do not let her notice! Do not let her feel the slightest discomfort or sense of being watched!

If anyone exposes themselves, making her frown… bear the consequences!"

This was an almost impossible task.

Both strict surveillance and invisible like air.

The bodyguards were in agony, each like dancing on a knife's edge, their nerves highly strung, fearing that a slightly heavier breath would disturb the quiet and gentle Wen Miss.

Wen Ci was not a dull hothouse flower. Her senses were sharper than ordinary people's.

Those gazes hidden behind plants, in the shadows of pillars, or even inadvertently caught through certain reflective surfaces, that atmosphere that suddenly became cautious and almost held its breath when she appeared, and that heavy, oppressive presence outside her door late at night… she was fully aware of it all.

The curve of her lips couldn't help but deepen slightly.

She chose to cooperate without a word.

She still maintained an extremely regular routine: appearing punctually in the small kitchen each morning to prepare specific tea and snacks, quietly organizing Mr. Li's almost untouched books and documents in the study in the morning, and in the afternoon, in a permitted corner of the garden, tending to the few pots of jasmine and green radish she personally cared for, which were thriving.

On sunny afternoons, she would sit on the stone bench in the garden, holding a book, reading quietly.

The sunlight spilled on her dark hair and serene profile, outlining a soft halo.

Occasionally, she would look up, her gaze sweeping over the blooming white jasmine, or looking towards the distant azure sky, a gentle, seemingly heartfelt smile slowly spreading across her lips.

She knew he was watching.

Perhaps behind a monitor screen, perhaps in the shadows of a window.

That smile was her silent response, her piece of clear sky reserved for herself in this invisible cage, and also a kind of… strange comfort she offered to that anxious gaze in the darkness.

Wen Ci's calmness was the only light in Li Jin's abyss of panic.

Every time he saw her peaceful figure on the monitor screen, every time he confirmed she was still in that room, every time he caught her serene profile in the garden, it was like a powerful tranquilizer, allowing his near-collapsed nerves to breathe.

"She didn't leave! She's still here! Right here in my mansion!" The euphoria brought by this realization almost overwhelmed him.

However, this euphoria was fleeting, immediately swallowed by a more surging darkness.

Her disregard! She never actively looked at him, never tried to communicate with him.

She was like an exquisite and aloof phantom, living in his space, yet having no interaction with him.

All her calmness and smiles were given to books, flowers, sunlight… but not a single bit was for him.

"Does she actually hate it here? Hate me? Hate these omnipresent gazes? Is her calmness just endurance? That smile directed at the flowers… so beautiful, but not for me… what is she thinking? What is she planning? Is she waiting for an opportunity? Like Su Wanqing? When will she leave? Tomorrow? The next second?"

These thoughts, like venomous snakes, frantically gnawed at his sanity.

He didn't even dare to approach her, didn't dare to appear before her with commands or a forceful demeanor as he used to.

He feared that if he spoke, the forcibly suppressed panic and possessiveness would burst forth and scare her away.

He couldn't even muster the courage to ask a most ordinary greeting—"Are you comfortable here?"

He was afraid to hear what would inevitably be a polite and thorough conventional lie, and even more afraid… afraid to see a trace of genuine disgust or fear in those clear eyes.

That would destroy him more thoroughly than Su Wanqing's escape.

Thus, he could only, like a trapped beast outside a glass dome, greedily and desperately absorb the images of her existence from the surveillance footage, while simultaneously being repeatedly tortured by his own frantic delusions and anxieties.

Wen Ci's calmness became his deepest torment; her existence was the oxygen he relied on to breathe, and also the chains dragging him into an unending hell.

This impregnable Li Residence, at this moment, was nothing short of a purgatory built of fear and self-doubt for him.