After Becoming a CEO, I Ended Up With the Gorgeous Lunatic Villainess - Chapter 30

As He Shu sat up in alarm and panic, she blurted out a question. Something felt off. Was it really just her underwear that had gone missing??

She looked down at what she was wearing. This could barely be called clothing. It was a white bathrobe, the kind they hand out on airplanes.

She peeked through the loose collar. It was easy to see inside…

There was nothing underneath!

She was wearing nothing but this single bathrobe. If the tie around her waist came undone even a little, the whole thing would fall open completely.

With a jolt, He Shu crossed her arms tightly over her chest and turned toward the other side of the bed where someone was slowly sitting up.

“You… What did you do?!”

Her voice came out loud and sharp, shaking her entire body with the force of it.

That tremble brought another discovery. Her head… Ouch. It hurts so bad…

Cen Qianyi had slept well the night before, not waking even once. Being disturbed now actually left her a bit regretful.

She turned to the one who had woken her. Her sleepiness cleared, her thoughts snapped into place, and the memories of the previous night flowed back in an instant.

“What did I do?” Cen Qianyi looked at He Shu, her eyes resting on the slightly red rims of the other woman’s eyes. “What could I have done?”

He Shu felt like Cen Qianyi was just playing dumb. The whole situation clearly screamed that something was wrong.

“You don’t know what you did?! You filthy pervert!”

The last few words stirred up a rather amusing memory from the night before. Cen Qianyi’s gaze flickered with a brief, unreadable smile.

“You’re talking about last night? What, you don’t remember it?”

She hadn’t done anything excessive the night before. She hadn’t planted any fake memories to cover up the period when He Shu lost consciousness.

It was as if she didn’t care whether He Shu figured out that something was off.

She was even a little curious. What would He Shu do if she realized things weren’t how she had assumed?

He Shu clutched her head, trying hard to recall. But every attempt to think sent a spike of pain through her skull.

She remembered bathing last night, then changing into her nightdress and throwing a robe over it.

She hadn’t worn a bra, but she had worn underwear!

Her eyes widened as a flash of clarity cut through the headache. She remembered now!

After she came out of the bathroom, she had been startled by Cen Qianyi and stumbled backward straight into the bathtub!

Cen Qianyi had come in after that, saying some weird things and even trying to undress her.

Of course she had refused. She had stopped her. And then?

Then… she lost consciousness!

Now she remembered everything. Right before blacking out, she had even been thinking that this woman must be trying something perverted.

Oh no. Did she really get taken advantage of?

He Shu’s eyes widened as she turned sharply toward Cen Qianyi. “Did you take off my clothes?!”

Cen Qianyi didn’t deny it. “What, did you want to sleep in wet clothes?”

“So it was you!” He Shu’s face turned red with anger, now that she had confirmation.

Cen Qianyi looked completely unbothered, even slightly innocent. “If you didn’t want me to do it, then who on this plane did you want to help you change?”

He Shu’s breath caught sharply in her throat. What kind of question was that?!

Cen Qianyi even seemed to be giving it serious thought. “Would you rather your assistant do it?”

He Shu frowned instinctively. What did that even mean?

“Hmm?” Cen Qianyi pressed on. “You wanted her to undress you?”

He Shu’s brows furrowed tightly. If she had no choice and had to pick someone, then yes, she would rather Su Zhi help her.

Wait a second! What kind of logic was this? What was wrong with Cen Qianyi? How did the topic end up here?

Couldn’t she have undressed herself?! If Cen Qianyi hadn’t hypnotized her, none of this would have happened. If she hadn’t scared her, she wouldn’t have fallen into the bathtub in the first place.

Just as she was about to curse her out, Cen Qianyi spoke again.

“Then pretend it was her who undressed you.”

Pretend? That wasn’t even the point! He Shu almost let herself get sidetracked.

“You didn’t just take off… my clothes… Did you do anything else?”

Cen Qianyi tilted her head like she didn’t understand. “Do anything else?”

He Shu smacked her thigh in frustration. “Don’t pretend! Just say it. Did you or didn’t you?!”

Cen Qianyi still wore that same innocent expression. “Did or didn’t what?”

If He Shu couldn’t tell this was on purpose, then she had no brain at all.

She was furious. She had woken up from sleep to find her underwear gone. And the pervert who had stripped her was sitting there acting like nothing had happened, clearly refusing to admit a thing.

With her eyes lowered and her brow twitching, He Shu focused. She carefully checked her body for anything unusual.

But aside from the pounding headache, there was nothing else that felt out of place.

Cen Qianyi watched her in silence, noticing her unease. The corners of her lips twitched in amusement. This woman must have remembered everything she could. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem shocked at all that she had lost consciousness.

What she appeared most concerned about… was her missing underwear and whether anything else had been done to her.

What did she think Cen Qianyi had done?

Cen Qianyi let her continue unraveling, then calmly pushed the blanket aside and stepped out of bed, heading toward the bathroom.

It was morning now. The plane would soon be landing near the island. She had already heard He Shu’s assistant calling to wake them up.

He Shu watched her walk away, feeling like she was trying to make a getaway. She called out after her retreating figure.

“Did you do anything… anything that people can only do after taking off their clothes?”

Her phrasing was a bit roundabout, but any adult would understand what she meant.

Cen Qianyi turned back and looked at her.

This woman seemed to care a lot about things like that… which was rather odd.

Based on the information she had found, He Shu had kept at least seven lovers for amusement. Those were just the ones she had taken home. There were even more beyond that.

Shouldn’t someone like that be pretty casual about this kind of thing?

“If I say I didn’t, would you believe me?”

Of course not! How could He Shu possibly believe that someone who had already taken off her underwear had done nothing else?

Cen Qianyi noticed the expression in her eyes, which gave away exactly what she was thinking. She lifted an eyebrow, said nothing, and quietly turned to head into the bathroom.

He Shu still had things to say, but the sound of the door closing seemed to snap her mind out of the fog.

She remembered. She had a system!

He Shu shouted in her mind. “System, get out here! What happened last night?!“

“Good morning, Host. It’s a brand-new day.”

“Don’t give me that cheery nonsense. What happened last night?!”

“You were hypnotized again.”

Just as she thought. He Shu wasn’t even surprised. She clearly remembered how shocked she had been right before it happened.

“And then? What happened after I was hypnotized?”

“You tried to hit Cen Qianyi.”

“What?!”

“You missed, of course.”

The system sounded unusually chipper, gossiping like it was recounting a funny story. It told her how Cen Qianyi hypnotized her, and how He Shu, even in that state, had raised a fist and tried to punch her while cursing her as a pervert.

Then it told her about how she had been told to remove her own wet clothes and clean herself up. But she tripped over her own underwear, fell, and hit her head. In the end, it had been Cen Qianyi who came in to tidy things up.

The more He Shu listened, the darker her expression became. Still, something felt off.

“Why do you sound… happy?”

“Not at all, Host. What is there to be happy about?”

It really did sound like it was watching her make a fool of herself and enjoying the show.

Wait a second. Making a fool of herself?

He Shu broke into a cold sweat.

“So she saw me completely naked?!”

The system quickly replied. “No, no. Relax. Based on the angle you fell and the way she entered, she only saw your back. And your butt.”

The last two words came out with a bounce in the system’s voice, almost like it was laughing.

He Shu clenched her backside and gritted her teeth.

“So that damn pervert saw my butt but didn’t even put underwear on me?!”

“Did you want Cen Qianyi to put your underwear on for you?”

This time, the system sounded genuinely surprised. It had not expected this. Its host had suddenly become so bold. Not only did she punch people, now she even wanted Cen Qianyi to dress her.

He Shu realized the same thing. Wait. Could she really ask Cen Qianyi to do something like that…?

Taking her clothes off had been out of necessity. But putting them back on?

She imagined it. Cen Qianyi picking up clean underwear, spreading her legs, slipping it on, pulling it up…

Every step of that mental image felt like a horror scene.

Terrifying.

He Shu clutched her chest. She couldn’t think about that anymore. Now that she knew nothing had really happened, aside from her butt being seen, she felt a little relieved.

So, nothing happened. She had just been seen naked from behind.

She gave her backside a squeeze. Whatever. Everyone’s born naked. If she lost a bit of dignity, she could live with that.

Still, something bothered her. Cen Qianyi’s attitude earlier… Why did she act like something had happened?

As she was thinking, the bathroom door opened and Cen Qianyi walked out.

She looked like she had just washed her face. There was still moisture on her skin, and small droplets clung to the loose strands of hair around her forehead. She looked more refreshed now, more awake.

She actually seemed well-rested.

He Shu remembered how they had woken up that morning… How had they ended up sleeping in the same bed?

She was about to ask the system when she saw Cen Qianyi lift her robe, revealing a glimpse of her slim waist.

“What are you doing?!”

He Shu yelled so loudly that Cen Qianyi froze mid-motion.

“Changing clothes.”

Her tone was calm. Her actions were natural. It was as if He Shu was the one acting strange.

No. This was too natural. How could someone just change clothes in front of her like that…

He Shu jumped off the bed, dashed into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut behind her.

What a casual woman! Changing clothes right in front of me.

He Shu exhaled sharply. But she wasn’t a casual person.

She looked at herself in the mirror. That much was obvious, right? She was a decent person!

Wait… She thought about the character she was supposed to play in the book, and all the things she had been forced to do…

Fine. Maybe she didn’t look that decent. But in her heart, she was a proper person!

A proper person with a giant bump on her head. She leaned in close to the mirror to get a better look.

How had she hurt herself this badly? The veins in the bump had turned red, some even scabbed over.

Ouch. No wonder it hurts so much.

She reached up and gently touched it. That damned pervert villainess. What did she want by hypnotizing her? As she examined the bump, she asked the system again.

“She just asked you a few questions.”

“I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t have, right?”

“Relax. I muted those parts for you.”

Still worried, He Shu asked for a replay. The system said Cen Qianyi had asked why she saved her and why she had given her shoes.

When He Shu heard her own answer, she froze.

“I said I pitied her?”

“Yes.”

That was a huge misunderstanding. It was only because she had been affected by the dream. If there was pity, it was for the poor girl in the dream.

But then again, it wasn’t the worst thing to be misunderstood about.

“So… did Cen Qianyi feel moved when she heard that?”

“That’s beyond this system’s knowledge.”

He Shu sighed. Of course her dumb system wouldn’t be able to read Cen Qianyi’s emotions.

A more important problem came to mind. This villainess’s power-up was way too overpowered.

She had hypnosis, truth-telling, memory manipulation… That was terrifying.

“Is there any way to not be hypnotized?”

“Probably…”

“What do you mean probably?”

“Host, don’t you remember? This book never had a proper ending. A lot of things were left unexplained, including the villainess’s powers. But it did say there was one person who couldn’t be hypnotized. So that means it should be possible.”

He Shu guessed immediately. “The main character, Nie Wenyu?”

“Yes, it was her.”

This must be the so-called protagonist halo. He Shu envied it, but the moment she thought about Nie Wenyu, she grew irritated. That woman had disappeared without a trace. Did she even see the messages sent to her department? Why hadn’t she replied at all?

He Shu wondered if she should send another message, perhaps a more detailed one, as she squeezed toothpaste onto her brush. Just then, the bathroom door opened. Another figure appeared in the mirror.

The moment she saw Cen Qianyi’s face, her hand jerked, and a long squirt of toothpaste shot out.

She had just been thinking the lead had been captured. Yet here she was. He Shu felt slightly guilty as she stared at the reflection moving closer in the mirror. The toothpaste kept squirting, growing longer and longer.

The figure approached and stood directly behind her. He Shu dared not turn around.

Cen Qianyi reached out as if to embrace her from behind.

Just as He Shu was about to blurt out, “What are you doing,” she saw the hand land on the sink to pick up a comb…

Whew. She exhaled in relief. She scared herself for nothing. She just wanted to comb her hair.

Cen Qianyi noticed how flustered He Shu looked and recalled what she had said the night before about being scared.

She was afraid of her, though the reason remained unclear.

Cen Qianyi raised her eyebrows, silently brushing her bed-tousled hair with the comb.

He Shu glanced at those eyes in the mirror. Why was this woman brushing her hair so close to her?

Just as she was about to ask her to step back, the other beat her to it.

“Brushing your teeth?”

He Shu frowned. What a pointless question.

“How many teeth do you have?”

He Shu raised an eyebrow. How many could she possibly have? She ran her tongue along them. None of these fancy wisdom teeth had been extracted. So including those, she should have…

Wait. Why was she counting her teeth? She should be telling her to move away!

“You—”

Just as she opened her mouth, the woman in the mirror smiled. “Stop squeezing. That’s enough toothpaste to brush a shark’s teeth.”

He Shu stared blankly and looked down. Oh no. She had nearly emptied the whole tube.

A soft laugh came from behind her ear.

He Shu was utterly embarrassed but desperately wanted to shove all that toothpaste into Cen Qianyi’s mouth just to shut her up.

This was ridiculous. Cen Qianyi had turned into a completely different person today. She was unusually chatty.

“That bump on your head. Don’t you want to ask whether I caused it?”

He Shu raised her brows and met the woman’s gaze again in the mirror.

What did that even mean?

Cen Qianyi studied the unguarded expression in her eyes and looked mildly surprised.

“You don’t think I did it?”

He Shu blinked. She knew it wasn’t her.

Cen Qianyi put away the comb and stepped to the side, no longer speaking through the mirror. She faced He Shu directly.

“So, your underwear vanished, and you thought I did something to you. But the injury on your head, you don’t think I caused it.”

As she spoke, she took a step closer. Her breath landed softly on He Shu’s lips.

“In your mind, I’m the kind of person who might take advantage of you but wouldn’t hurt you?”

What kind of twisted logic was that…

He Shu’s brow furrowed. None of this made sense.

Ugh, why did her head start to hurt every time she tried to think? What on earth was Cen Qianyi talking about?

Even Cen Qianyi seemed surprised by her own conclusion.

He Shu gritted her teeth and forced her mind to work. She realized what Cen Qianyi meant. She had forgotten. She had no memory of how she got hurt.

Great. First, her underwear disappeared, now her brain was malfunctioning too.

Right! She hadn’t even put on her underwear yet!

Suddenly, a saying popped into her mind. It might have been a proverb or just a silly joke, but it went like this: the butt decides the brain. She wondered if it could actually be true. Were there really people whose thinking stopped working the moment they lost their underwear?

Terrifying. She stopped her spiraling thoughts and forced herself to focus. She needed to say something now.

“This, uh… this is clearly a bruise from a bump!” He Shu blurted out. “Anyone could tell. Of course I can tell!”

Cen Qianyi watched as He Shu started squeezing toothpaste again, a faint smile flickering in her eyes before she even realized it.

“Do you remember how you got that bump?”

This time, He Shu’s mind moved fast. She had been hypnotized. She wasn’t supposed to remember.

“Probably an accident. I can’t recall. So strange. Did I just suddenly fall asleep last night?”

Now she started probing her back, curious how Cen Qianyi would explain it.

Cen Qianyi looked unbothered. With a straight face, she replied, “Yes. You fell asleep mid-sentence.”

He Shu inhaled sharply and screamed in her mind. What is she, a pig? Even pigs don’t fall asleep mid-sentence!

Wait, pigs don’t even talk!

Seeing how the woman tried to blame her sudden blackout on simply falling asleep, He Shu had no choice but to accept it.

“Heh. That just means I live with a clear conscience. I eat well and sleep soundly.”

Unlike some people who must have nightmares from all their shady deeds!

Cen Qianyi showed no change in expression and kept talking nonsense with a straight face. “After you fell asleep, you sleepwalked.”

He Shu turned around, flicked the excess toothpaste off her brush again, and started brushing in silence.

Cen Qianyi went on, “You knelt down and begged me not to leave. You asked me to stay by your side forever. Then you banged your head on the floor.”

She smiled. “That bump came from that.”

He Shu whipped her head toward her, more shocked by what she was doing than the ridiculous lie.

Was Cen Qianyi… teasing her?

That thought made her scalp tingle. Had something else happened last night that she didn’t know about? Cen Qianyi seemed to be in an awfully good mood today…

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Headache.”

She had woken up and found the villainess completely changed. It was terrifying.

Cen Qianyi stepped closer upon hearing about the pain, seemingly to check the wound.

He Shu quickly stepped back.

Cen Qianyi noticed her tension. The hint of a smile faded as she quietly studied her.

Just as He Shu was about to summon the system to see if her Killing Intent Sensor Card was still active, Cen Qianyi turned and walked out.

Before leaving, she said, “Get your assistant to apply the medicine.”

…

The bump on He Shu’s head made Su Zhi incredibly worried the moment she saw it.

She applied some of the emergency medication kept on the plane and insisted they visit a hospital after landing.

He Shu refused. It was just a superficial wound.

When Su Zhi asked how it happened, she made up a story, claiming she slipped in the shower and hit her head.

Su Zhi grew even more concerned. Thank goodness it was just a bump. What if she had passed out from the fall? She gave Cen Qianyi a disapproving look.

This woman didn’t even remind the boss to apply medicine last night.

Clearly someone who didn’t care about the boss at all.

Now that only the boss and Cen Qianyi were heading to Forget-Me Island, she was truly worried.

This island was highly unusual. It was considered a “three-non” zone, meaning it had no national affiliation, no organizational oversight, and no legal jurisdiction. The sea it sat in belonged to no one, governed by no authority.

Whoever owned these private islands had to be either extremely wealthy or unbelievably powerful. On the island, they were practically royalty.

Without an invitation, setting foot on the island meant certain death.

This time, only the boss had received an invitation. She could bring one “companion.”

Su Zhi, Tu Xuan, and two bodyguards had to wait on the transit island.

“Boss, why don’t you let me go with you?”

Su Zhi looked at the bump on He Shu’s head. One step out and she was already injured. Something felt wrong.

Besides, she glanced at Cen Qianyi. If anything really happened, the boss would end up protecting her instead.

He Shu would have liked to bring her, but she couldn’t. Actually, if she had the choice, she wouldn’t even go herself!

It was all because of the person standing beside her that she had no choice. And there were still more “plot points” ahead…

For some reason, He Shu also felt uneasy.

But she didn’t want her assistant to worry. It was enough that she was anxious.

She joked with a smile, “You’ll have to wear a bikini to go to the island.”

Su Zhi didn’t care, as long as she could protect the boss.

She was about to say more when Tu Xuan stepped forward, pushing Su Zhi aside.

“What’s the point of you going? Boss, if you’re worried, I’ll go with you.”

Su Zhi and He Shu both looked at Tu Xuan.

Dressed in combat gear, her sturdy, muscular build showed through the fabric. He Shu imagined her in a bikini.

Wow. It would be like a bodybuilding competition. One of those focused on bulging muscles.

Su Zhi was shocked. Tu Xuan was typically dutiful but not exactly proactive. She rarely volunteered unless specifically assigned.

What was going on today?

Still, with that physique and style, she clearly didn’t fit the role of a “companion.” Su Zhi felt she was the better choice.

She was just about to argue again when the person behind He Shu moved.

Cen Qianyi stepped closer and wrapped her arm around He Shu’s.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”

She leaned against He Shu’s arm as if relying on her.

He Shu’s arm instantly stiffened. It felt like she was being constricted by a python. She didn’t dare move.

She had no idea what Cen Qianyi was up to this time…

Su Zhi’s expression said it all. Her eyes screamed, What use are you?

Cen Qianyi pressed her lips together, her voice as soft as a sea breeze drifting across the island.

“She’ll come back safe.”

That breeze slipped into He Shu’s ear and made her scalp tingle. It felt more like a tidal wave.

What the hell. Why say something so ominous?

In movies, whenever someone said that, it almost guaranteed they wouldn’t come back.

“You don’t believe me?”

Cen Qianyi leaned close and whispered those words directly into He Shu’s ear, soft enough that only they could hear.

The heat brushing her earlobe snapped He Shu out of her daze. She was stunned.

Cen Qianyi was here to kill someone. She wasn’t. She was just here as a guest. What danger could she possibly be in?

Her biggest danger was right next to her.

As long as she didn’t want to kill her, she would be fine.

Thinking that way, those earlier words could almost be taken as a promise from Cen Qianyi.

At least on this island, she wouldn’t try to kill her.

He Shu exhaled and leaned toward Cen Qianyi’s ear, replying in the same low voice.

“Of course I do. How could I not trust my security advisor?”