The World of Bengtieli: They All Have designs on me

That area, which should have been flat, now had… … a clear, full wheel that didn't belong to the Seven Luo boy at all. That outline.

Hiluva's brain felt like it had been struck by lightning.

She suddenly looked up, her gaze shifting from that place to Luo Ning's flushed face, then slowly, inch by inch, to her younger sister's face, which was always calm but now showed an unusual flush.

An absurd, terrifying, and chilling conjecture instantly took shape.

All her previous anger, questioning, suspicions about the kidnapping and the supplies... at this moment, all became a ridiculous joke.

It turns out that she had been thinking in the wrong direction from the very beginning. She had also misjudged... the type of danger.

The sound of water droplets dripping in the cave, [drip-drip], [drip-drip], was clear and distinct.

The anger on Silva's face faded, replaced by a chilling mix of shock, disgust, and disbelief. She looked at Lingke as if she were a completely unfamiliar monster.

Ling Ke Lang Dao

Her voice was soft, yet more piercing than the polar wind. "What...did you do to him?"

Bronya and Pera also noticed the strange change in the atmosphere. Following Hilva's gaze, their expressions froze simultaneously.

Ling didn't answer.

She simply pulled down the goggles that had been pushed up to her forehead, obscuring her icy blue eyes.

[System: Warning! Strong hostility detected from multiple sources. A full-blown crisis of trust has erupted. Host, the current situation has exceeded the detonation threshold.]

The category of "domestic conflict" is sliding towards "crime charges."

[Luo Ning: ...System, I think I might not be able to explain this clearly.]

Hiluva pulled Luo Ning completely behind her, shielding him with her body. She growled into the communicator, "Everyone, prepare to return. Immediately!"

Chapter 184 What did you do to him?

The air freezes.

Hiluva's question, like a needle chilled to the bone, pierced the ears of everyone present. She stared intently at Ling Ke, her usually languid and nonchalant face now displaying an almost cruel coldness.

Ling didn't answer.

She simply pulled down the goggles that had been pushed up to her forehead, obscuring her icy blue eyes. A large social gathering, intense emotional confrontation, the scrutiny of multiple strangers… all the elements she loathed most had converged at this moment. Her brain issued an overload warning, and the module responsible for processing interpersonal relationships simply went out of control.

The only command is to shut down.

[System: Warning! Strong hostility detected from multiple sources. A full-blown crisis of trust has erupted. Host, the current situation has exceeded the detonation threshold.]

The scope of domestic disputes is sliding towards accusations of deviant crimes.

[Luo Ning...System, I think I might not be able to explain this clearly.]

“Linco Landau.” Silva’s voice was low, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, “I’m asking you a question.”

Lingke's silence, in Shiluwa's eyes, was tacit agreement. A tacit agreement that made her stomach churn. She couldn't imagine that her sister, who was so withdrawn that she was almost autistic, who found everything troublesome, would be like this to a seven-year-old child.

The thought made her tremble.

“Silva, calm down,” Bronya said, placing a hand on Silvova’s shoulder. Her tone was relatively calm, but her furrowed brow betrayed her inner turmoil. She looked at Linko, whose face was hidden behind goggles. “Linko, what happened? We need an explanation.”

Pera stood to the side, seemingly checking the tactical terminal on his wrist, but his eyes behind his glasses were rapidly scanning the three of them.

★【Wow, this is the drama of the year! The icy sister of the Landau family actually went after such a young child? I never would have guessed... the size, the reaction, wow, is it some kind of unusual fetish? This is way more exciting than any of the romance novels I've read.】*

Her inner evil self was clapping wildly, but her mouth uttered a polite, concerned voice: "Luoning looks scared... Is he injured?"

These words were like a bucket of oil poured on Hiluva's fire.

"Yes, he's injured!" She pulled Luo Ning completely behind her, shielding him with her body. "Let me see! What did you, you bastard, do to him!"

As she spoke, she reached out to unbutton Luo Ning's pants.

"No!" Luo Ning screamed in fright, clutching his waistband tightly, his face deathly pale. His scream confirmed everyone's suspicions.

"Look! He's so scared!" Shiluwa's eyes were red. "Linke! Are you even human?!" "I'm not."

Finally, Ling Ke spoke.

The two lessons were dry and monotonous, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, like the sounds produced by a machine.

"You didn't?!" Hiluva almost laughed in anger. "Then why is he like this? Don't tell me that a seven-year-old child can become like this on his own!"

Her hand pointed in the direction of Luo Ning's pants.

All eyes were once again focused on that awkward yet conspicuous spot.

Bronya's face also darkened. She had received the most rigorous education and understood basic physiological knowledge. What she was seeing completely contradicted everything she knew.

Tears welled up in Luo Ning's eyes. He wanted to explain, but how? Should he say he was a transmigrator with a cheat code? Should he say he possessed extraordinary talent? Who would believe him? They would only think he'd been brainwashed, or that he was terrified.

He could only ask for help in the most instinctive way a child can; he looked at the only person who might believe him. "Sister Lingke..."

That one word, "sister," completely shattered Hiluva's reason.

"Shut up! Don't you dare call her that again!" she hissed at Luo Ning, then turned to Ling Ke like an enraged lioness. "What kind of spell did you cast on him? Or what did you threaten him with? Tell me!"

Faced with her sister's barrage of questions, Lingke remained completely still. Her hands were in the pockets of her adventure suit, as if everything around her was irrelevant. This extreme aloofness thoroughly enraged everyone.

Bronya could no longer remain calm: "Linke! Answer the question! This concerns the reputation of the Landau family and the safety of a child!"

Ling Ke has finally made a new move.

She pulled her hand out of her pocket, not to explain, but to point at Luo Ning. "Physiological abnormality."

She gave her second explanation in the tone of a geological report. "What?" Bronya didn't understand.

“The data is outside the normal range. Size, temperature, reactivity.” Ling continued, using her exploration terminology, “The cause is unknown, but it is suspected to be related to the geothermal environment or an unknown energy field. Further research is needed…”

"Research?"

Hiluva repeated the word, the color draining instantly from her face. She stared at her sister as if she were looking at a monster in human skin.

She did such terrible things, and now she wants to use him as an experimental subject for "research"?

Bronya was also stunned; she couldn't understand what Linko meant at all. Pera, meanwhile, discreetly adjusted her glasses, her inner monologue already reaching a restricted level.

It’s over.

Looking at their horrified expressions, Luo Ning felt a chill run through him. He knew that Ling Ke's "scientific explanation" was a million times more ridiculous than Shen Yue's.

If this continues, Lingke will really be arrested as a pervert.

[System: Host, we suggest activating the "acting cute and rolling around" strategy, using illogical childlike behavior to counter the judgment of adult logic.] No, there's another way.

In the stunned silence, Luo Ning made a move that further complicated the situation.

He suddenly broke free from behind Shiluva, like a startled rabbit, and rushed to Lingke in a few steps. But instead of running away, he grabbed Lingke's leg and buried his face tightly in her trouser leg.

"No!" he cried out, his voice muffled from being buried in his throat. "You're not allowed to bully Sister Lingke! She didn't do anything to me! She saved me! She gave me all the last of her nutritional paste!"

The entire snowfield was deathly silent.

Hilva, Bronya, and Pera—three people, three pairs of eyes—were all fixed on this bizarre scene: a child, clearly "abused," was clinging desperately to the "perpetrator's" leg, using all her strength to defend her.

A textbook example of Stockholm syndrome?

Hiluva's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. Her mind went blank; anger, disgust, heartache, and a sense of absurdity she herself couldn't comprehend were all intertwined, rendering her unable to move.

Ling Ke looked down at the small "trouble" hanging on her leg.

She could feel his body trembling, and she could feel the warm dampness coming from the fabric—he was crying.

Her ever-efficient brain could only process this one piece of information at that moment. This trouble made her cry.

She raised her hand, as if to push him away.

But that hand, suspended in mid-air, eventually just stiffly and gently landed on his head.

Chapter 185 Don't touch her!

Dead silence.

Luo Ning's cries were like a pebble thrown into an icy lake; instead of creating ripples, they made the ice layer freeze even thicker.

Hilva, Bronya, and Pera—three people, three pairs of eyes—were all fixed on this strange scene. A child, clearly "violated," was clinging desperately to the leg of her "abuser," using all her strength to defend her.

This... a textbook example of Stockholm syndrome? Ling lowered her head.

In my line of sight was a small, fluffy head.

She could feel his body trembling, and she could also feel a warm, damp sensation rapidly spreading through the fabric of her adventure suit.

He cried. What a hassle. So much trouble.

Her ever-efficient brain could only process this one piece of information at that moment. This trouble made her cry.

He even wiped his nose and tears all over her pants.

She raised her hand, as if trying to tear him off her legs.

But that hand, suspended in mid-air, ultimately just stiffly and gently landed on his head. There was no comforting, no stroking, just a simple placement.

It was as if he was confirming the coordinates of an object. Luo Ning's cries grew louder and more aggrieved.

"Sister Lingke ran out of food because she was saving me. She gave me her coat to cover myself with. She..."

He spoke incoherently and incoherently, saying only the truth, yet it was all pieced together into a lie that was even more incomprehensible to others: "Enough."

Hiluva's voice was hoarse, her outstretched hand hovering in mid-air, unsure whether to retract it or release it. Her mind was blank.

Anger, disgust, heartache, and a sense of absurdity that she herself could not understand intertwined, leaving her unable to move.

“Lonning,” Bronya finally found her voice, she bent down, trying to align her gaze with Lonning’s, “look at me, don’t be afraid. We’re not here to hurt anyone. We just want to know the truth.”

Her voice was steady and powerful, carrying the convincing composure characteristic of the Silver Guard heir.

Luo Ning sobbed, lifting a tear-streaked face from Ling Ke's trouser leg. He looked at Bronya, then timidly glanced back at Ling Ke.

Lingke remained unresponsive; her goggles concealed all her expressions, and the hand resting on his head resembled a lifeless sculpture.

[System: Performance Phase Two, "Seeking Third-Party Arbitration Mode Initiated. Target: Bronya. Utilize her orderly and rational nature.]

Its key feature is that it shifts the focus from a family drama to a criminal investigation, using procedural justice to buy time.

“Sister Bronya…” Luo Ning’s voice was thick with nasal tone, “I… I’m telling the truth. Sister Ling Ke is a good person.”

*【Wow, they're even saying things like "He's a good person" now. Is the next thing they're going to say, "Stop pressuring him!"? The plot of this novel is getting more and more exciting.】*

Pera's inner voice had already brought out a stool and some sunflower seeds, but her face wore a perfectly measured expression of worry.

“Hiluva, Bronya,” Pera pushed up her glasses and intervened in a professional tone, “I think Lonin’s mental state might be unstable right now. Perhaps we shouldn’t be here, interrogating him in this way… The most urgent thing is to take him back to the city for a comprehensive physical and psychological evaluation.”

Her words were like a bucket of cold water poured on Silva's anger, which was about to reignite.

Yes. Assess. Inspect.

Let a professional doctor determine whether he has been brainwashed, given some kind of drug, or suffered more serious, irreversible damage.

Hiluva's face turned deathly pale.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

She stepped forward, and this time, her movements were no longer so forceful, but rather carried a hint of cautious gentleness.

“Luoning, come to me.” She held out her hand to him. “Let’s go home. I’ll take you home.” Luoning looked at her hesitantly, but his little hands gripped Ling Ke’s trouser leg even tighter.

He shook his head. "No"

"Why?" Hiluva's voice held a hint of pleading.

"You...you will bully Sister Lingke," Luo Ning whispered, like a cub guarding its food, unwilling to let anyone touch the one it had chosen to rely on, even though it was starving to death itself.

These words caused the hand that Lingke had placed on his head to twitch almost imperceptibly. It felt as if a hand had gripped Shiluwa's heart tightly.

She looked at her younger sister, the perpetually indifferent and detached Ling Kelang.

What did she do to make a child develop such a morbid dependence on her in such a short period of time?

“We will not,” Bronya promised, her expression serious and solemn. “I guarantee, on the honor of the Landau family and the Silver Sacrifice Guard, that no one will harm Master Linko until the matter is thoroughly investigated.”

Her words were clearly more effective than Shiluva's words of comfort.