Overtime? Not a Chance

[Tyrant's Fist: Weapon]

[Effect: Releases a Scarlet Whip to torment enemies. Each strike causes the target to lose their mind.]

[A tyrant's fist usually takes the form of a whip.]

Fu Qian looked at his special kill reward.

It was the first time he had gotten a weapon in all this time.

But its appearance really challenged the imagination.

With a name as imposing as Tyrant's Fist, it turned out to be a ring!

The ring was clearly not made of metal. It was formed from countless smooth, fine strands twisted together, dark red all over, and even a little warm to the touch.

Scarlet Fever? It was hard not to think of that thing.

Fu Qian had never worn a ring in his life.

He picked up Tyrant's Fist, hesitated for a moment, then struck a domineering pose with his right hand and slipped the ring on.

His blood surged. Fu Qian flicked his right hand, and a long whip made of twisted veins flashed through the air.

Its strength and speed were both decent, and it was quite discreet to use. It was almost like an extension of his arm.

Not bad. It made up for his lack of mid-range attack options.

Before, he had Air Bullets for ranged attacks and feared no one in close combat. Now, with this thing, he could stretch and retract at will, long or short, his golden spear never falling—bah!

As for the effect that made people lose their minds...

Fu Qian thought for a moment, then swung his arm and struck himself across the back with the Scarlet Whip.

As blood sprayed, a flash of frenzied killing intent surged through his heart and vanished.

Excellent!

After eating something so disgusting, at least he had some consolation!

Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction and reached out to touch the Mist Door before him.

[Consume 1 Sanity Value to attempt containment again]

[...1%...5%...18%...50%...99.5%...100%, Containment Scene loaded]

Now he had to go finish his job.

Overtime? Not a chance.

[Skills: Air Bullet, Internal Organ Critical Hit, Cat School]

[Weapon: Tyrant's Fist]

[Current Sanity Value: 32]

Rippling water shimmered as the Wen Family's lakeside mansion came into view once more.

"Stop looking around!"

Facing Captain Gu, who wore a stern expression, Fu Qian patted the shoulder of this shirking-work ringleader.

"Got it."

He slipped in through a broken pillar, kicked in the door, and smashed the bowl.

After kicking Miss Wen flying and turning to shatter the stone pillar that came hurtling toward him, Fu Qian picked up Wen Li and made his way to the underground safe room.

The instant the safe room door shut, Fu Qian saw Young Master Ye hurrying over after hearing the commotion, held back firmly by Mr. Ji.

"How long do we have to stay here?"

Inside the safe room, Fu Qian held up one finger again in response to Wen Li's question.

"A week?"

"No, one hour."

Fu Qian shook his head.

"If you still haven't reached Tier Six in an hour, I'll peel off—your skin!"

"I'm sorry, but that's impossible for me. Maybe you should just kill me."

Wen Li stared blankly at Fu Qian's face. After a long while, she gave a bleak smile.

"This was never your task to begin with."

Fu Qian blinked.

"Come out!"

"I don't understand what you mean..."

Wen Li's big eyes were full of confusion.

Riiip!

Fu Qian tore the heavy metal tabletop off once more.

The next moment, he hurled it toward the ceiling. It sliced through the ventilation duct opening and blocked it solidly.

A thunderous crash shook the entire safe room.

"You have fifty-eight minutes left."

Fu Qian kept staring at Wen Li, expressionless.

She stared right back at him. After a long while, her face relaxed into a smile.

"You really are impossible! But one hour really isn't enough!"

Her earlier helpless bewilderment had vanished completely. Wen Li walked over and sat down with an elegant air.

Just as I thought. I knew there was something strange about you.

"What should I call you?"

"Wen Li is fine, isn't it? After all, she and I are essentially the same person."

"Wen Li" blinked and crossed her legs.

"I don't know why you insisted I come out, but it's nice to have someone to talk to."

"Having a gift isn't always a blessing."

"Over the years, I've been forced to listen to countless people's innermost thoughts and feel their emotions. The voices are so noisy that you can forget what your own feelings were in the first place."

"Amid endless turmoil and confusion, one day, 'I' became 'we'—"

"That's a nice story, but unfortunately, I hate it when people waste my time."

Before "Wen Li" had finished speaking, an Air Bullet skimmed past her forehead. Her scalp stung, and countless strands of hair slid down.

"You can be anything you like, but you're definitely not Wen Li."

Fu Qian lowered his hand and spoke lazily.

"Why do you say that?"

"Wen Li" sat bolt upright, her expression turning serious for the first time.

Obviously, if you were a product of Wen Li's dissociative identity, I wouldn't bother with you.

It didn't matter which of you reached Tier Six; my mission would be complete. After that, you could do whatever you wanted.

But the problem was that last time, she had clearly advanced to Tier Six, yet the prompt I received said Wen Li had died and the mission had failed.

The only explanation was that even though you shared one body, you and Wen Li were two completely different individuals.

That was also why Fu Qian had given her only an hour this time, and why his threat had gone from stripping her naked and throwing her out to killing her outright.

Last time, she hadn't appeared even when threatened with having her clothes removed, which meant she didn't care much about that sort of thing.

As expected, while Wen Li was so afraid of being stripped that her soul nearly left her body, this one had instead faced death without flinching and appeared straightaway. She clearly cared more about staying alive.

Fu Qian, of course, wasn't going to explain any of that. He snorted.

"I've wandered Jianghu for years and seen countless women. I've long since trained a pair of discerning eyes. Your little trick won't fool me!"

"By all means, keep making things up. But as a friendly reminder, you only have fifty minutes left."

"You can call me Eve."

The fake Wen Li's expression turned completely cold.

"You really are quite unusual!"

"Thanks for the compliment. Could you tell me where you really came from?"

This was what Fu Qian was genuinely curious about. His intuition told him this was the key to Wen Li's connection to the containment object.

[2-292; Cocoon Room]

"You guessed right. Although I was born from her, I'm definitely not her."

"But what I said just now wasn't entirely false, either."

"Wen Li's pain and confusion were real. I was born from those emotions, which could never be resolved. Of course, she never knew I existed. In a sense, I am Supernatural Power itself, and Wen Li was merely the soil in which I grew."

"Because of this, as long as she reaches Tier Six, I can fully awaken inside her, and she will disappear forever."

"I think what I've told you shows enough good faith, doesn't it?"

Eve stared at Fu Qian.

"Whatever your objective is, I have to make this clear: reaching Tier Six within an hour is impossible."

"Now that I've completely taken over the body, and my accumulated power has reached a bottleneck, all you have to do is give me another day—no, five hours—and I'll be able to try to meet your demand."

Eve gave him a sweet smile, took Fu Qian's hand, and pressed it against her dazzlingly white thigh.

"I don't need things to stay so quiet during the process. You can make whatever use you want of that extra time."

Her skin was smooth as silk. Fu Qian looked closely, and even under the most critical scrutiny, he couldn't find a single flaw.

"Perfect. I happen to have some special techniques for making use of it."