"This establishment is acceptable."
Sitting in the softly lit, high-end Western restaurant, Adrian nodded slowly, an aristocratic sneer masking his cynical boredom. In the apocalyptic ruins, he had enjoyed absolute, bloody power, but true, pristine luxury was something a dead world simply could not provide.
"Their signature set meal is particularly exquisite, and at only 198 yuan per person, it is an excellent value. You will understand once you taste it!" Fan Shengmei recommended with a beaming, perfectly practiced smile.
Honestly, she had racked her calculating brain trying to select the perfect venue. If a billionaire told you to pick any restaurant, it was a massive psychological test. If she picked a cheap diner, she would look like low-class trash. If she picked a Michelin-starred palace, she would look like a desperate, gold-digging parasite trying to bleed him dry on the first date. This was her calculated middle ground—classy, elegant, but ostensibly affordable for two.
"This 'Royal' set looks passable. We will take two," Adrian commanded lazily, flipping directly to the absolute last page of the leather-bound menu without glancing at the prices.
"Oh, Mr. Li, that is far too extravagant! This..." Fan Shengmei gasped, her manicured hands waving in manufactured panic. 'A Royal package for 2,888 yuan per person?!' she shrieked internally.
"And bring us a bottle of the '86 Lafite. Ensure it is properly decanted. And remember, absolutely not the '82," Adrian ordered the trembling waiter, completely ignoring the woman's fake modesty.
Fan Shengmei felt her knees go weak under the heavy tablecloth. A casual dinner for two that would instantly burn through nearly twenty thousand yuan was completely beyond her pathetic, debt-ridden comprehension. She had attended countless networking dinners over her desperate years in Shanghai, but those exceeding a four-figure bill were incredibly rare. A five-figure dinner on a random Tuesday night? It was staggering.
"It is nothing. I simply have an appetite tonight," Adrian smiled, leaning back in his velvet chair.
He raised his dark eyes, conducting a slow, predatory dissection of his prey across the table. Fan Shengmei was genuinely beautiful. Although she was crossing into her thirties, she was an aging wine in the absolute prime of her maturity. Compared to the flat-chested, pathetic girls he had observed earlier, she was top-tier livestock. With heavy, natural D-cup breasts pushing against her red dress and a plush, round ass, her thick body was practically begging to be violently used.
In the dead world, he had gorged himself on meat. Now, with the System granting him double the superhuman stamina and kidney function, the dark, pent-up violence in his blood desperately needed an outlet. He needed a heavy, durable woman to break.
"Mr. Li... what exactly line of work are you in?" Fan Shengmei asked softly.
She wasn't blind; she noticed the dark, crushing possessiveness in the man's eyes. He wasn't looking at her like a date; he was looking at her like a piece of prime meat on a butcher's block. A younger, naive girl might have panicked under such a terrifying, predatory stare and run for the exit. But Fan Shengmei was a desperate, aging predator herself. She only saw long-term capital. She had to hook this billionaire.
"Me? I do absolutely nothing. I simply bleed my family's trust fund dry from the comfort of my penthouse," Adrian lied smoothly, a cynical smirk playing on his lips. He could clearly see the gears turning in her calculating, greedy head.
"Oh, Mr. Li, you are far too modest!" Fan Shengmei's eyes lit up, immediately deploying her sickening flattery. "A man as dashing and elegant as you is clearly a hidden dragon. An absolute top-tier talent taking a well-deserved rest!"
A transactional parasite like her possessed no real-world talents other than blowing smoke and massaging massive male egos.
Adrian didn't bother to refute her garbage. In truth, he was quietly calculating his overarching strategy. His current liquid assets of twenty million and monthly rental income of a hundred thousand yuan made him a god to desperate trash like Fan Shengmei. But to the true, high-society targets on the hit list? It was pocket change.
Take the Tiny Times elite, for example. With his current capital, he could effortlessly buy the submission of the poorest one, Nan Xiang. But Gu Li possessed a net worth exponentially higher than his. And the manipulative Lin Xiao had deep family money and Gu Li's infinite backing. If he tossed a million yuan on the table to break Nan Xiang's loyalty, Lin Xiao would merely sneer at him.
And as for using the absolute, violent methods he had perfected in the apocalypse? This was modern Shanghai. If he dragged Gu Li into a basement by her hair, he would be facing a firing squad within a month. The correct approach in this civilized jungle was primarily overwhelming monetary bribery, supplemented by targeted extortion. He had to conquer them using psychological warfare and absolute financial dominance.
The two spent the next hour engaging in a manufactured, transactional dance. Adrian poured the expensive vintage heavily, intentionally trying to blur her senses, while she eagerly drank to please him. Soon, a bottle of wine worth tens of thousands of yuan was completely empty.
"Mr. Li... you really went to far too much trouble tonight. I will absolutely have to treat you next time," Fan Shengmei purred, her cheeks dusted with a very slight, manufactured flush.
'Fuck,' Adrian cursed internally. 'This bitch has an iron liver.'
Adrian stared at her with cynical frustration. Apart from the slight pink on her cheeks, her eyes were razor-sharp. He had severely miscalculated. As a seasoned corporate HR executive and a relentless gold-digger who attended networking parties constantly, Fan Shengmei was a highly functional alcoholic. The System had doubled his sexual stamina, but it hadn't granted him magical immunity to alcohol poisoning.
For a manipulative parasite like Fan Shengmei, if she wanted to play the helpless victim, half a beer would make her swoon into a man's arms. But when she was actively playing a high-stakes, strategic game of chess? She could likely down two bottles of premium liquor without slurring a single syllable.
"It is past ten o'clock. Allow me to escort you home," Adrian said smoothly, masking his dark frustration as he checked his platinum watch.
"Oh... I couldn't possibly impose any further. I am so embarrassed," Fan Shengmei demurred weakly, before immediately offering a coquettish smile and nodding her consent.
Internally, she knew exactly what the billionaire wanted to do to her tonight. During the decadent meal, she had even briefly considered whether she should just fake a drunken swoon and let him drag her heavy body to a luxury hotel suite to secure the bag.
However, her calculating mind had overridden her greed. 'Men never cherish what they conquer too easily,' she rationalized defensively. 'If I let him fuck me on the very first date, he will just view me as another cheap, heavy whore he can pump and dump. I have to make him invest before I open my legs.'
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