088. On his first meeting with his girlfriend, he slapped his future father-in-law across the face.

In a tight black leather suit, a catlike mask, and a long whip, the slender woman looked every inch the figure that had immediately leapt into Suye's mind: Catwoman.

If his memory served, the Catwoman from the comics dressed exactly like this. No matter how you looked at it, she seemed like some domineering queen of sadomasochism.

By comparison, Marvel's black-clad counterpart, Black Cat, lacked so much of that aggressive, dominant aura. From her face to her outfit, there was only one word that could describe her: temptation.

Almost none of Black Cat's photos could be uploaded without censorship...

At that very moment, the system confirmed Suye's guess with a prompt.

"Received: the beauty who walks by night."

"Character: Selina Kyle."

"Current affinity: -10. Cautious."

"Friendly reminder: cats are strange creatures. Even if you give one your whole heart, all you may get in return is indifference. So there is no need to obsess over a negative starting point. Believe that this may not be the worst possible situation."

This prompt made it clear that the girl before him was indeed the character Suye had drawn from his newest girlfriend card, and her name confirmed that she was Catwoman.

It had been more than a month since he opened the card, and at last Catwoman had appeared.

Hadn't even a full menstrual cycle gone by?

But what was this affinity? Negative ten? Could a character drawn from a girlfriend card even have negative affinity?

And this so-called friendly reminder was anything but friendly. After reading it, one only felt even less confident.

This was the first time Suye had ever seen negative affinity. Before, it had always started at twenty, then before long climbed above eighty, after which came content that need not be spoken aloud. It had felt like the most powerful system in the country had gone online, delivering a real girlfriend live to his doorstep.

But what was going on this time? Had the system raised the difficulty? Or was this Catwoman simply a special case?

Amid his wild speculation, Suye caught the whip Catwoman had lashed toward him. Though it had cut through the night with a technique so deft that its shadow was nearly impossible to see, to Suye it moved as slowly as an old ox dragging a broken cart.

When he took hold of the whip, he even had time to yawn, then slap away the burly man attacking with two sharp cat claws in a single crisp, fluid motion.

Then Suye received another system prompt.

"Congratulations, Host, you have triggered a special effect. Selina Kyle's affinity toward you has decreased by 10 points. Current affinity: -20. Dislike."

Suye sucked in a sharp breath.

What did I do to make your affinity drop? Is it because I refused to let you whip me obediently? That's far too domineering.

"Dad! Are you all right?"

At that moment, the slender woman on the opposite side, Selina, shouted at the burly man who had been slapped away. That answered Suye's question.

The ten-point drop in affinity had been caused by his batting away Selina's father. So, on the very first meeting with my girlfriend, I flung her father away?

Was that not the very definition of enjoying the slap for a moment, then suffering in the pursuit of one's wife?

And how was he supposed to smooth things over next? Online, waiting, urgent...

Come to think of it, Selina's affinity had only dropped by ten points, from cautious to dislike. That was already showing him considerable respect.

If he'd known, he wouldn't have thrown that slap just now. But then again, who could resist such a perfectly satisfying angle? To refrain from slapping would have felt like an insult to his own hand.

Strictly speaking, given Suye's current standing, he did not actually need to care about a woman who had started at cautious and was now only at dislike.

If he lost this one tree, he still had an entire forest.

But Selina had, after all, been brought into this world by the girlfriend card he had drawn himself. If he truly gave her up and let her get involved with someone else, would that not mean Suye had been cuckolded?

That was something Suye could never accept.

If her father had not been there, it would have been much easier. He could simply have forced the issue. Low affinity would not matter much. Wasn't there such a thing as Stockholm syndrome? Lock her up and bring her home, and in no more than a few days her affinity would rise from negative to positive.

If only he'd slapped harder just now...

At that thought, Suye nearly slapped his own face. How could he have such outrageous thoughts? Had he been abroad so long that the local customs and atmosphere had rubbed off on him? He had always been such an upright young man.

Suye shook his head and simply released his grip, letting Selina pull back her whip.

"Whatever you people are after, don't set your sights on what's in there. Even Iron Man couldn't take it away. No matter how precious it is, you still won't be able to do anything about it. That's all I have to say."

This unhappy meeting would end here for now. He would worry about affinity another time.

After speaking, Suye turned and leaped down from the rooftop, leaving Selina and the burly man flustered and windswept atop the building.

After a long while, Selina helped the burly man to his feet. Neither said much. Under cover of night, they quietly slipped away.

Even after they got home, they still could not make sense of Suye's background or purpose. He had burst out of nowhere and vanished just as mysteriously. What kind of lunatic was he?

Still, one thing they could be certain of: Suye was formidable, far beyond anything they had imagined.

In fact, if Suye had shown even the slightest urge to kill just now, the two of them would already be dead.

"Selina, it looks like I need to intensify your training."

The burly man covered his swollen face and said helplessly. His daughter was only eighteen and still had room to improve. As for himself, he might need to start thinking about retirement.

The burly man, Selina's father, was publicly known as a salesman, but in truth he was a great thief who roamed the night. Not some noble rogue who stole from the rich to help the poor, just a plain and simple thief. His code name was Agile Cat, though Selina had not known his true identity before.

Now that Selina had graduated from high school at eighteen, Agile Cat felt it was time for her to learn who he really was, so he began teaching her parkour and combat skills, and took her out on nighttime reconnaissance runs.

He had never expected that on their very first outing, they would run into Suye and have him slap him flying. The lofty image of a father collapsed in an instant.

Watching his daughter in the distance, kicking a human-shaped training post until the lower half was nearly smashed apart, Agile Cat suddenly felt some regret.

He should not have brought her onto this path. It would have been fine for her to go to college and live as a carefree student.

'The world now belongs to the young. Once I pull off one more job, make enough money for retirement, I'll quit. As for Selina, I should put an end to her dreams of becoming a thief,' he thought.

Life is often disappointing. Most things cannot possibly develop exactly as people wish.

Just like the final job Agile Cat had resolved to make his last, or the fighting spirit Selina had been stirred into by Suye.

"Hmph! Look down on me, will you, bastard? Someday I'll make you pay for the contempt you showed me today!"

Selina secretly vowed in her heart.

Not long after Suye got home, he soon received another system prompt.

"Selina Kyle's affinity toward you has decreased by 10 points. Current affinity: -30. Dislike."

Suye: ...