Chloe did not consider herself to be a particularly patient person.
On the contrary, she was hot-tempered, sullen, and impatient when dealing with others, often preferring to use her fists to reason.
So this time, she was truly angry and irritated, and her first thought was to pin Anderson down and give him a good beating.
Unfortunately, when she did so, Chloe looked at his calm face and found it difficult to follow through.
At last, exasperated, Chloe put her hand on Anderson's throat and demanded,
"Let me ask you one last time, are you working for me or for Xavier?"
Having his throat gripped was not a pleasant feeling, and Anderson tried to speak but could only cough with difficulty.
Chloe noticed this and loosened her grip slightly.
Anderson's eyes were reddened, unsure whether he had been crying earlier or if it was from being choked and unable to breathe.
Of course, Chloe hoped it was the former.
Anderson's voice was a little hoarse, but he spoke slowly and sincerely:
"...From the beginning, I have been working by the young lady's side. The young lady brought me here, so naturally I belong to the young lady for life."
Hearing this, Chloe raised an eyebrow and finally released her grip on Anderson's throat, satisfied:
"That's more like it," she said, a glint of viciousness flashing in her eyes, "No one can take you away from me except me, understood? Not even Xavier."
Hearing this, Anderson paused briefly, then laughed and nodded, "Alright."
Such an arrogant and overbearing statement was indeed something the young lady could say.
Only she had the confidence and capability to say such things.
Chloe stood up, extending her hand to pull Anderson up from the ground as well, and said slowly:
"Don't worry about what Xavier said or did, do you think he would dare to reassign someone right in front of me?"
At this, Chloe seemed a little exasperated.
She pinched Anderson's cheek and said fiercely:
"You're the only one who believed him and got scared, how stupid."
She, the intelligent Chloe, how could she have such a stupid subordinate like Anderson?
If it wasn't because she favored him, she would never have let Anderson stay by her side.
Thinking of this, Chloe snorted through her nose and said haughtily:
"Look at your stupid state, if it weren't for my favoritism, who knows where you'd be suffering and unable to survive."
Anderson, who had just turned Brut's group into human pigs, nodded obediently, "Yes."
The knot that had been troubling the two of them for so long was finally untied, and their expressions became slightly better.
Chloe propped herself up with one hand and sat on the railing of the roof, her two long legs dangling in the air thousands of meters above the ground. The wind blew her hair wildly, and her dark red eyes narrowed comfortably, occasionally glancing over with a proud and arrogant smile.
Anderson's heart skipped a beat, but in the end he did not sit on the railing like her, only standing next to it with his hands gripped protectively at her side.
He had been by this young lady's side since he was five years old, his life and heart both held in her hands.
He could no longer break free.
...
In the end, Chloe brought Anderson back to the training room together, and the people around them all looked surprised.
Daniel was the first to react, exclaiming, "Whoa, your dad didn't scold you?"
"He dares?" Chloe said indifferently, then looked Daniel up and down, "Or do you want to fight?"
Daniel waved his hands frantically, "No, no, how could I?"
Fight Chloe? He wasn't crazy.
She had no sense of restraint when fighting, always going all out and not stopping until she left the other person bruised and bloodied.
Unless the opponent was an incredibly beautiful woman, like Katherine...
Thinking of this, Daniel deflated again.
Qin Huaibei was not as foolish, quickly changing the subject to something less sensitive, saying:
"It's good that it's resolved. From your dad's look, I thought there would be another big battle. If we lost someone from our protagonist team because of this, I would have withdrawn from the competition."
Hearing this, Chloe rolled her eyes, "Withdraw? Would you really?"
Qin Huaibei smiled but did not respond.
"He really would." Katherine approached from afar, tossing each of them a sports drink, "When you fell, he didn't even compete, just turned and jumped straight into the ice cavern below. No one could stop him."
Hearing this, Qin Huaibei's face turned suspiciously red.
Chloe raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you care about me that much?"
Qin Huaibei's reddened face protested, "Who cares about you? If you hadn't saved me, I wouldn't have cared if you lived or died!"
Seeing this, Katherine laughed, "Alright, enough with the excuses."
Their protagonist team truly could not be missing any one of them, not even a substitute was needed.
They bantered for a while longer, when Chloe suddenly remembered:
"Oh right, what about the people from Brut Military Academy? I almost forgot, I still need to teach them a lesson."
As her words fell, everyone fell silent.
Chloe looked at them, "Why the silence? I have to turn them into eight-legged creatures crawling on the ground today."
Daniel stroked his chin, "Um, maybe you don't need to do it yourself."
Chloe looked at him uncomprehendingly, "Why do you say that?"
Everyone's gazes drifted past her to fall on Anderson behind her.
Yet the person in question looked completely unconcerned, his expression calm, as if he was not the one who had turned people into human pigs.
Chloe was utterly baffled, "What's going on with you all, talking in riddles in front of me?"
Qin Huaibei cleared his throat, "Cough, let me show you a video."
With that, he opened his terminal and played a video that had been saved.
The video was projected above the terminal, and as soon as it appeared, the others spontaneously gathered in front of the projection, snacks in hand, ready to watch intently.
Chloe felt bewildered, "You're about to watch a movie?"
She grabbed a handful of seeds from Daniel and also watched attentively.
It was a recording taken by an audience member of a savage beating, with Brut's group bound in the air, completely defenseless, as a large blade severed their limbs, leaving only a few pieces of flesh and tendon still attached to the bone.
And the protagonist of this brutal video...
Was Anderson.
Chloe looked up, nearly dropping the seeds in her hand.
She felt that this might be the first time she had truly recognized the real Anderson.
