Chainsaw Man, starting contract to cut down the Demon Line

"Nothing special on my itinerary," Yan Liang replied casually. "After dinner, I plan to go to the library."

"The library?"

Upon hearing this place, Leisei's tone carried a hint of anticipation:

"That……"

"Mr. Yanliang, may I go with you?"

"No way!"

Before Yan Liang could even speak, Dongshan Xiaohong, sitting opposite him, preemptively gave the answer for him:

"The captain once said that when he has free time, he likes to go to the library alone to read books and clear his mind. He doesn't like being disturbed by others!"

At this point, Xiao Hong added confidently, "I once said I wanted to go out and broaden my horizons with the captain, but he refused! So, Miss Leise, you should just stay home..."

"Yes, Xiaohong is right."

Yan Liang nodded, confirming Xiao Hong's statement: "It's really unnecessary to bring an extra person to a quiet place like the library."

Hearing Yan Liang affirm her words, Xiao Hong straightened her back slightly.

See? So what if you're a great cook? I'm the one who knows the captain's habits best! The captain is a man of principle!

However, what Dongshan Xiaohong didn't realize was that Yan Liang's tone of refusal was very perfunctory. It even seemed to be waiting for Lei Sai to continue begging him. The latter also vaguely understood Yan Liang's meaning and did not back down. A faint sense of disappointment appeared in Lei Sai's eyes.

She bit her lip and said softly:

"But... I'm so bored being all alone in this big, unfamiliar house."

Leise looked at Yan Liang with pitiful eyes, like a little kitten left at home with no one to keep it company:

"I just wanted to read books."

“I promise I won’t say anything out of line or bother you once I get there… Is that not even okay, Mr. Yanliang?”

"..."

These words were spoken with great finesse and tact. Yan Liang remained silent on the surface, but he was thinking much more in his heart.

He knew why Leise insisted on following him. Even though he knew she harbored ill intentions, Yan Liang didn't mind spending more time alone with Leise.

"Since you find it boring..."

Yan Liang tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice, then quickly made a decision, nodding decisively: "Let's go together then. Go change into your clothes, I'll wait for you in the living room."

"Really? That's great! Thank you, Mr. Yan Liang!" As if afraid that Yan Liang would change his mind, Lei Sai immediately stood up and ran back to the guest room.

Meanwhile, Dongshan Xiaohong, who was sitting opposite, had become mute.

She stared at Yan Liang with her mouth agape, her mind a complete mess.

What is this?!

What happened to the promise of absolute quiet and hating being disturbed?! Why can this woman change her mind and the captain's principles just by being a little coquettish?!

This unfair double standard made Xiaohong feel extremely resentful, and in a moment of impulsiveness, she blurted it out.

"Well... since Miss Leise can go, can I... can I go with you?"

Yan Liang turned his head and looked calmly at Xiao Hong, without even a second of hesitation:

"No."

"..."

Xiao Hong felt a tightness in her chest from this clean and decisive rejection.

"But why?!" Little Red cried out anxiously, her hands unconsciously gripping the tablecloth tightly. "Miss Leisei can go, so why can't I..."

"Get this straight, Leise isn't going to keep me company; she wants to read. What are you going to the library for, to be my page?" Yan Liang interrupted her matter-of-factly. "If you really have nothing to do, go report to the police. I think they're very busy right now and definitely need some help."

Xiao Hong opened her mouth, wanting to say a few more words in rebuttal.

But when she met Yan Liang's calm eyes, reason suddenly washed over her like a bucket of cold water.

She suddenly regained consciousness.

What am I doing? I'm actually questioning the team leader?

She was just a subordinate, a worker who had shamelessly stayed here to save her life and get paid. Who the team leader wanted to take out, who he wanted to be nice to—it was none of her business to tell him what to do. If she continued to pester him like this, she would really be crossing the line.

If I anger the captain, how many good days will I have left?

Thinking of this, Xiao Hong swallowed back the protest that was stuck in her throat.

"I...I know."

Xiao Hong silently lowered her head. Unlike usual, she didn't shed tears out of fear. Instead, she picked up her knife and fork and forcefully stabbed at the remaining piece of bacon on her plate, silently sulking.

Seeing Xiao Hong's clearly aggrieved yet hesitant expression, Yan Liang was slightly surprised. But he didn't say anything more.

Soon, Leise came out after changing her clothes.

……

Half an hour later, Yan Liang led Lei Sai to a red brick building whose exterior walls were covered with ivy.

This wasn't one of those bustling, crowded public libraries. The place Yan Liang arrived at was more like a private library. It was empty; through the window, one could only see what appeared to be an elderly woman with a full head of silver hair and wearing glasses.

"Oh, it's Mr. Yan Liang..." Seeing Yan Liang bring Lei in, a kind smile appeared on her wrinkled face, as if she had known Yan Liang for a long time:

"Is it the same old routine today?"

“Yes, the usual procedure.” Yan Liang nodded. “I don’t want any outsiders to come in and disturb us until closing time.”

"Hehehe, I know, I know. Mr. Yanliang always likes peace and quiet. Please go ahead, I'm going to the backyard to sunbathe. No one will bother me." The old lady said with a smile, skillfully took out a wooden sign, and walked unsteadily out of the main hall.

Seeing this, Lei Sai, who was following behind Yan Liang, blinked her beautiful eyes.

Private room?

She originally thought that Yan Liang meant going to the library as a regular public library and finding a corner to sit in. But she didn't expect that he would just pay to book the whole place just to read a book.

Just how much does he resent crowds?

"Sit wherever you like, and find whatever you want to read." Yan Liang ignored Lei Sai's scrutiny, picked out two large books with practiced ease, and then found a corner seat by the window to sit down.

This man... is so strange.

His strength is unfathomable, and he acts without any taboos, yet he has some obsessive habits that are incomprehensible to ordinary people.

She sat down next to Yan Liang, and in the quiet space, the girl's soft voice suddenly rang out:

“That…Mr. Yan Liang.”

Yan Liang didn't look up, his gaze still fixed on the pages of the book: "Didn't you promise before you left that you would never say anything out of line or bother me after you came back?"

Chapter 198 You're such a straight man!

Yan Liang's voice was devoid of emotion, causing Lei Sai to choke slightly, her fair cheeks flushing red. She muttered softly, somewhat aggrieved:

"But... I don't know how to find the books."

Yan Liang paused in his book-turning motion. He looked at the girl opposite him, who was hanging her head like a primary school student who had done something wrong. Her pitiful appearance was indeed easy to evoke a protective instinct.

With a sigh, Yan Liang closed the heavy book and stood up:

"Come with me."

"Okay~" Leise, who had just been looking aggrieved, immediately put on a bright smile and followed along briskly.

The two arrived in front of two rows of huge solid wood bookshelves, with a vintage wooden drawer placed in the center.

“These are the library’s paper index cards.” Yan Liang opened one of the drawers, his eyes quickly scanning the densely packed cards. “The horizontal axis is the first letter, and the vertical axis is the category. Find the corresponding number for the type you want to see, and then look for it on the shelf.”

Leisai was very close. So close that Yan Liang could even smell her faint fragrance, similar to the morning dew.

She stared at the complicated index cards for a while, then frowned with a troubled expression.

"Just looking at it makes me dizzy..." Leise's tone carried a hint of dependent coquettishness:

"Since Mr. Yan Liang is so familiar with this place, why don't you... recommend a book for me?"

"Let me recommend one?"

Is this an act, or does he genuinely not know what he wants to see?

Yan Liang pondered to himself, but soon he made a decision. He felt that the mischievousness hidden in his heart stirring again, and after thinking about what he was going to do next, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"Okay."

Yan Liang walked towards the literature section not far away. He casually reached out and pulled a slightly old hardcover book from the bookshelf.

“Here, this should be quite suitable for you.” Yan Liang handed the book to Lei Sai.

"Thank you……"

She intended to reach out and take it with a smile, but when Leisel's gaze fell on the title on the cover, her smile faltered slightly—

Gentlemen of Moscow

Ta-da!

In that instant, Leisser felt her heart pounding. Although she didn't know the plot, she knew the title—this book was on the Soviet Union's forbidden list. If she actually opened it, she might face censorship later.

And why this particular book of all?!

Did he just grab it casually, or... did he already know my identity and was deliberately testing me?

"What's wrong?" Yan Liang looked at Lei Sai, who was frozen in place, and asked knowingly, "Don't you like it?"

"Ah...no, that's not it."

Having gathered her thoughts, Leise chuckled dryly, and withdrew her outstretched hand as if electrocuted, looking embarrassed.

"Well... to be honest, Mr. Yanliang, I haven't had much formal schooling, and I don't know many characters. I'd probably fall asleep after flipping through two pages of this kind of serious novel..."

"Really? That's such a shame."

Yan Liang found her slightly stiff expression somewhat amusing, but he didn't expose her lie.

He casually shoved the book back onto the shelf and then turned to walk to another, slightly more ornate bookshelf.

This time, Yan Liang pulled out a light novel with a brightly colored cover and casually tossed it to Lei Sai like a sandbag. The latter caught it in a flurry.

"Then take a look at this," Yan Liang said somewhat perfunctorily. "It's a Japanese high school romance novel, a very novel kind of literature."

Leise, clutching the light novel with its cover adorned with pink bubbles and high school uniforms, smiled and nodded: "Thank you, Mr. Yanliang. I'll go read this now~"

The two returned to their window seats. Sunlight streamed through the windowpane, slowly shifting across the table. In the vast library, only the occasional soft sound of them turning pages could be heard.

Yan Liang reopened his book. Meanwhile, Lei Sai, sitting opposite him, had initially just opened the campus novel out of boredom, intending to pretend to pass the time.

After all, the reason she followed Yan Liang here was to gather information about him. But she didn't expect that Yan Liang was just here to read, leaving her with no opportunity.

However...

Ten minutes later, Leisai's page-turning speed had unconsciously increased. She had thought she would read something meaningless, but unexpectedly, it was precisely the meaningless things that were most attractive.

The book simply depicts the daily life of an ordinary high school girl named Yumi. In order to talk to the boy from the next class who always reads by the window at the school festival, she reluctantly signed up to be an executive committee member, a position that no one else wanted to take, and the various events that followed.

She understood all the words, but for most of the plot, Leisei could only rely on her imagination to understand the content, but that didn't stop her from becoming engrossed in it.

Half an hour later, Leise had completely changed her posture. Holding the book in both hands, she was unconsciously immersed in its world. When she read about the heroine in the novel frantically making tamagoyaki in the kitchen to prepare a bento for the boy she secretly loved, and finally shyly handing the bento to him on the rooftop…

"Well……"

Leisei couldn't help but frown.

“This kind of thing…” She seemed to have completely forgotten her promise not to say anything carelessly. Staring at the pages of the book, she muttered to herself in confusion, “I just got up early to make rice balls and fried eggs. Would a man really be that happy to receive a bento box like this?”

The Soviet training institution had only told her that cooking for men would make them happy, so she learned to cook. But for normal people, cooking itself isn't important; what's important is using cooking to convey emotions that can't be expressed in words. However, Reese was completely unaware of this.

She raised her head, her somewhat hazy green eyes staring straight at Yan Liang opposite her.

“Hey, Mr. Yan Liang.”

Leisei rested her chin on her hands, a glimpse of her delicate collarbone peeking out from beneath her neckline. With a genuine girlish curiosity that she herself was unaware of, she asked softly:

"And you? What kind of girl does Mr. Yanliang like? Is it a girl like in novels, who can make cute bento boxes?"

In the quiet library, the girl's voice sounded exceptionally clear.