Response 1

In the dark, Wang Yiyang stared intently at the lines of data appearing in the system.

'Identity mission: Successfully suppress the hypnotically induced fatal alcohol addiction and quit drinking for good.'

'Mission completion reward: Randomly restore one of the Hypnosis abilities you possessed at your peak as Finn.'

'Warning: Once an identity is generated, it will remain effective permanently.'

'Warning: The greater the convenience an identity brings, the greater the accompanying risks.'

'Warning:

1. You have seventeen days to prepare before facing the enormous danger that comes with it.

2. You have six days to prepare before facing the serious trouble you encountered as Finn.

3. A space-time embedding conflict has occurred. This identity has automatically merged into an unknown space.'

"Holy crap!!" After reading all the details, Wang Yiyang's first thought was that this was a hell of a stroke of luck!!

Just from the system's description, he could tell how powerful this new identity was.

If the Hypnosis ability tied to this identity was really as powerful as the description claimed,

then he would have a far better chance of breaking free from this crisis.

"But this alcohol addiction?" Wang Yiyang hadn't yet figured out what was going on.

Suddenly, a huge amount of information about Finn flooded into his mind.

The pride, arrogance, smugness, and pain he'd felt as Finn.

Ugh...!!!

He clutched his head, bent over, and let out a cry of pain.

Scene after scene, memory after memory, carved itself into his mind like a graver.

Especially the despair of sinking into the Abyss after the Red Hypnotist had defeated him one-on-one. It stood out in his memories, as sharp as a needle.

Along with it came a deep-seated hatred of the Red Hypnotist.

Then came the scenes after he'd been crushed and defeated: he'd started drinking like a maniac. His body had been weakened by the damage caused by all the alcohol.

But he couldn't control himself. Every time he woke up, he had to drink.

In the end, he'd simply started drinking alcohol instead of water.

The last memory froze on him holding a bottle of pure alcohol, about to gulp it down.

"Whew!!"

Wang Yiyang was drenched in sweat as he came to.

When he finally got his bearings, he realized he was standing beside the cabinet. At some point, he'd picked up a beer he'd stored away long ago and was pouring it into his mouth.

"When did I...?!!" He shuddered. Was this the Red Hypnotist's Hypnosis??

He'd thought the other party's Hypnosis was, at most, an enhanced version of the ordinary Hypnotists in the Mien Federation.

Now he could see that it was far more than an enhanced version. This was outright control over the subconscious!

Coming back to himself, he was horrified to discover he'd raised the bottle to his mouth again.

"No! I have to think of something!!"

He hadn't drunk much yet, so his mind was still relatively clear.

With his other hand, he immediately pulled out his phone and called Jian.

Jian was the person he trusted most right now.

The phone rang for a while. Wang Yiyang found himself tilting his head back and taking another big gulp without even realizing it before the call finally connected.

"Hello, Boss. I just fell asleep," Jian said from the other end.

"Come over. Bring a strong hypnotic injection, rope, and a gag. Now!"

"??!!"

Silence fell at the other end of the line.

After a brief pause,

"B-Boss... I... I think you'd be better off calling Lei Wei..."

Jian was breathing with difficulty. His scalp prickled.

"Cut the crap! I told you to come, so come, hic... We're both men. What's there to be afraid of!" Wang Yiyang could feel his right hand slipping out of his control. He could only watch as it stuffed the bottle into his mouth again.

"..." Being men was exactly why Jian was afraid!!

Jian screamed inwardly. All traces of sleepiness had vanished.

He might look rugged, dress like a gay man, and often get hit on by gay men, but he was still attracted to women.

It was so late, and at this hour, he was being asked to bring rope and a gag... along with a strong hypnotic injection...

Boss... How had he never realized you were into this kind of thing?

Jian was on the verge of tears. But with his chip under the boss's control, he could only agree, his heart in turmoil.

To be safe, he also called two of his buddies to come along.

That way, if the boss tried to force himself on him, his friends could rush in and rescue him in time.

Fifteen minutes later.

Jian had just walked in with a bag of supplies when Wang Yiyang locked the door behind him.

"Quick, tie me up!! Quick!"

Wang Yiyang's face was deathly pale, and his belly bulged. Who knew how much he'd drunk?

The beers he'd stored for guests were scattered all over the floor.

Jian shuddered and looked from his boss to the floor. He didn't dare move.

"B-Boss... This... isn't this a bit much?"

"My drinking addiction's acting up. Hurry and tie me up, then give me an injection!" Wang Yiyang hurriedly blurted out the whole sentence in one breath.

Jian paused, looking from the bottles on the floor to Wang Yiyang.

"Come on!" Wang Yiyang roared angrily.

"Yes!" Jian seemed to realize he'd misunderstood. He hurried over, expertly took a syringe of medication from his waist pouch, and injected it into Wang Yiyang's thigh.

He watched as Wang Yiyang's eyes rolled back and his breathing gradually slowed.

Not daring to waste time, he helped him onto the bed and dutifully bound him with rope, wrapping him up from head to toe.

Once he'd finished, he let out a long breath and sat down on a chair nearby, about to rest for a moment.

Bang!

The bed suddenly jolted violently.

Wang Yiyang, who had just been tied up, began thrashing around with his eyes closed.

His whole body was bound like a spindle, yet he could still twist himself into one bizarre pose after another.

The worst part was that he was twisting toward the pile of beer bottles on the living room floor nearby.

"He can still move after a strong hypnotic injection?!" Jian was a little horrified, but remembering his boss's instructions, he hurried over and pinned Wang Yiyang down.

Thankfully, after thrashing for a while, the injection seemed to take effect, and Wang Yiyang gradually grew weaker.

About ten minutes later, he finally lay completely still on the bed.

Only then did Jian relax.

While Jian was relieved, Wang Yiyang was suffering in his sleep.

Even in his dreams, he was drinking endlessly.

He dreamed he was sitting on the floor at home, surrounded by countless bottles of beer, baijiu, red wine, and huangjiu.

The different kinds of alcohol flew out of the bottles on their own, turning into streams that converged on him and poured into his mouth.

He felt his internal organs soaking in liquor. His whole body was groggy, and his thoughts sluggish.

This state went on for an unknown length of time.

Whenever Wang Yiyang thought he couldn't hold on much longer, his will to survive made him struggle again and again, fighting to put it off for just a little longer.

Struggling again and again, putting it off again and again.

He didn't know how many times it happened.

He'd even grown numb. He felt his mind gradually drifting away as the alcohol soaked into him.

The feeling of watching himself slowly grow stupid, powerless to stop it, nearly drove him mad.

"No! If this keeps up, I'll die!!" Wang Yiyang felt himself sliding ever deeper into the Abyss of madness, and the sense of danger rising in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

He tried hard to open his eyes.

He saw that he was lying in his living room, surrounded by amber-colored liquor that filled the entire room.

Alcohol fumes streamed into him through his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

He lowered his head and saw that his belly was as big as a soccer ball. It kept expanding rapidly.

The pressure in his belly and the dull ache in his brain took turns tormenting his nerves.

He felt like he was going mad. The endless torment made him nearly lose his mind and give up on reason several times.

But he knew that if he gave up, he might become a madman who had completely lost his mind.

Again and again.

Wang Yiyang struggled to maintain what little reason he had left. The overwhelming drunken sluggishness and dull aches were like two ropes, desperately trying to drag him into the Abyss.

Time seemed to lose all meaning.

Wang Yiyang didn't know how many times he'd struggled.

A hundred? A thousand?

He couldn't remember anymore.

To preserve the last of his reason,

he began trying, bit by bit, to keep his thoughts fixed, so his increasingly sluggish brain wouldn't go haywire.

How could he keep his thoughts fixed?

He began recalling his life, digging through his memories from when he was very young, bit by bit, making himself remember.

But soon, it proved too complicated. He couldn't keep it up for long.

Then he tried another method: arithmetic.

He soon abandoned that too, for the same reason. It was too complicated, and he couldn't keep it up.

Next, he began singing, recalling one familiar song after another.

Soon, he gave up on the more complicated songs. Only the simplest nursery rhymes, tongue twisters, and chain songs remained.

"One plus one equals two."

"Two plus two equals four."

"What's three plus three?"

"Is it six or seven? Is it seven or nine?"

"Floating, floating."

"Swaying, swaying."

"You are my little boat; you are my wind."

"The wind blows the little boat, rumble, rumble. The wind blows the little boat, gurgle, gurgle."

Wang Yiyang forgot everything and simply kept singing over and over.

He could only cling to his existence by singing the nursery rhymes he knew best.

He didn't even dare stop. The moment he did, an overwhelming sense of danger seized him, as if he might forget everything, forget who he was.

Over and over, he kept repeating them.

Time seemed to lose all meaning. Everything around him gradually blurred.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

An hour? A whole night? A whole day? Or longer?

Wang Yiyang slowly opened his heavy eyelids.

The white light coming through the window was so bright he could barely open his eyes.

"Boss, you finally woke up!" Jian cried out in relief beside him.

Wang Yiyang felt someone help him sit up. A cup of warm milk was held out in front of him.

He parted his lips and slowly drank.

The slightly hot whole milk seemed to flow into his stomach like a powerful current of warmth, then spread outward in every direction from his stomach.