[Lu Family Courtyard] Instance Ends

On the other side, Lu Qing's expression was stiff. She looked nothing like the gentle, gracious woman from before, but like a puppet whose soul had been sucked out.

"Mother," Lu Zihan said respectfully beside her.

Wasn't he getting a little too into character?

He could feel the emotional energy around him briefly falter. Clearly, the people in the livestream also knew he was about to face the big boss.

Lu Qing's gaze flickered. She stiffly turned to look at Ren Yi and parted her red lips.

"Are you the servant who performed best this time?"

"Yes, madam." Ren Yi immediately followed Lu Zihan's example and bowed as he answered.

"For someone of your lowly 'status' to earn Xiaohan's approval is no small feat." A trace of struggle passed across Lu Qing's face as she spoke.

Ren Yi was slightly taken aback.

The line was fitting enough for the lady of the house, but the name was a little immersion-breaking. That wasn't the point, though.

What's with "Xiaohan"? Isn't that a little too deliberate?

Was Aunt Lu Qing trying to remind me of something?

Before he had time to think, Lu Qing spoke again. "What is your name?"

Oh, so that's what it was. I was wondering what she meant.

I'm Ren Yi, but my identity in the livestream is Mo Ming, so...

"I am Seventeen, madam."

Ren Yi answered calmly.

[4. Servants have no names. Do not let your name dirty your masters' ears. You may address one another by code names.]

Lu Qing's expression immediately softened, and a smile returned to her face. "Seventeen, given your excellent performance, would you be willing to stay with the Lu Family?"

"Of course, madam."

Lu Qing waved a hand. "Good. From now on, you will be Zihan's study attendant. You'll stay in the guest room next to the study. A-Mu, make the arrangements for him. Seventeen, come dine with the young master and me."

Ren Yi noticed that, after Lu Qing settled his new status, a room suddenly appeared next to the study on the second floor.

The sight was rather eerie. It was as if the room had always been there, but only now could Ren Yi finally notice it.

A message came from Lu Qing on the Ghost Net.

[Lu Qing: Well done, Xiao Yi.]

[Lu Qing: Sorry. That rule enforcement just now was mandatory, so we couldn't warn you.]

[Lu Qing: Sigh, we designed that part to make things more difficult and spent ages wrestling with the rules over it. In the end, we nearly caught one of our own in the trap. It really wasn't worth it.]

Her tone was full of frustration.

[Ren Yi: It's all right, Auntie. Besides, the only penalty for "failing to clear the Instance" is "staying in the eerie world forever."] He replied half-jokingly.

Ren Yi sensed another steady stream of positive emotions appearing around him. It seemed quite a few people in the livestream still remembered that "maids" ranked above "servants."

Under the audience's anxious gaze, Ren Yi sat down with Lu Qing and her son.

Then they ate a meal that seemed harmonious on the surface and was harmonious in reality too.

As a result, the positive emotions around him grew even stronger.

Ren Yi couldn't bear the "enthusiasm." After lunch, he used his new status as a "study attendant" to slack off openly, hurriedly dragging the young master of the Lu Family along to "inspect the work." He "fleeced" all the remaining participants, reaping one last round of emotional gains.

The bad news was that several more participants had died that morning. With that, Ren Yi had collected all the gains he could get from this Instance.

The days that followed went fully into "peaceful times" mode.

Ren Yi followed Lu Zihan around and returned to the leisurely life of "slacking off and teasing birds" he had enjoyed on his first day in the Instance.

After becoming a study attendant, he not only had a guest room of his own, but was also completely exempt from his previous servant duties. Life was quite comfortable.

The remaining time in the Instance passed quickly.

On the final night, Ren Yi and Lu Zihan stood a short distance away in the darkness, silently "watching" the dozen or so participants left.

A moment before the countdown reached zero, the participants' faces lit up with relieved smiles, as if they could already see the first glimmer of a successful clear.

The instant the countdown hit zero, Ren Yi felt the sensation of being watched vanish. The positive emotions, which had already grown thin, also melted away in an instant.

It was all over. Ren Yi slowly stretched.

As nice as positive emotions were, being watched all the time was still too uncomfortable.

Finally, I don't have to pretend anymore.

The participant panel flickered several times, and a few lines appeared:

[Congratulations on clearing the "Lu Family Courtyard" Instance]

[Would you like to leave now? [Yes/No] (Countdown: 23:59:59)]

I don't have to leave immediately?

He knew this extra time was an exclusive reward for those who achieved a perfect clear. If participants had fully figured out the Instance's rules, they could use this time to continue exploring and collect additional rewards.

For Ren Yi, this was good news too.

He still had plenty he wanted to discuss with the eerie seniors, and he was also curious about what would happen to the remaining participants.

Ren Yi decisively stayed to watch.

The relieved expressions had yet to fade from the faces of the dozen or so participants when their outlines began to blur and bleed, gradually spreading like ink dropped into clear water.

Skin, clothing, flesh and blood... all their physical attributes peeled away, revealing pure ink-black strokes beneath. The strokes twisted and writhed, rapidly weaving together and rearranging themselves until they finally formed floating characters.

Ren Yi took a closer look and recognized most of them. There were surnames like "Lin" and "Zhou," as well as characters like "wisdom," "ambition," and "sorrow." They floated chaotically in midair, with no apparent pattern.

Ren Yi watched carefully for a while.

What's this? The Instance settlement?

But isn't this settlement method a little too distinctive? It looks more like an eerie being enforcing a rule.

Then, as if receiving a silent summons at the same time, the floating characters all shot toward the distant night sky, vanishing into the moonlight in an instant.

Huh? Why did they fly away?

He had thought that the participants who failed to clear the Instance would belong to Aunt Lu Qing, its owner.

Ren Yi's first suspicion was that he had missed a rule. He quickly went over the Instance description in his head and finally confirmed that none of the rules had mentioned anything like this.

"Congratulations." Just then, a gentle voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Mom!"

"Aunt Lu!"

The two turned around at the same time and saw Lu Qing walking slowly toward them. She stopped beside them and joined them in gazing at the moonlit sky, where a few stars shone.

She had changed out of the dark green brocade qipao and back into her long house dress. Having shed the attire of the lady of the house, she looked particularly relaxed.

"Impressive. You met your quota and conducted your experiment in one go, and you even cleared my Instance."

"Mom, why aren't you praising me?" Lu Zihan protested.

"I only managed it so smoothly because Zihan helped me all along," Ren Yi quickly chimed in, taking the opportunity to exchange compliments.

"And the Instance you designed is what's really impressive, Auntie. So this is how an Instance works. I've really learned something."

As he spoke, he couldn't help asking the question on his mind. "Auntie, why did all those participants fly away just now? Shouldn't they belong to you as the Instance owner?"

"That's right, Mom," Lu Zihan added. "Your spoils are gone."

"Oh, that." Lu Qing's smile remained unchanged as she explained.

"According to the rules, participants who fail to clear an Instance do belong to its owner. That's also our main source of income."

"But this was a special summons, so it counted as a loss-making deal. Those remaining participants all went toward paying the Instance's rent."

"Rent?" Ren Yi was stunned.