Sorry, I Don't Play Games with "Puzzles"

"BOOM—CRASH!"

Several heavy metal fire doors slammed down at once. The thunderous noise shook the floor of the entire studio.

The once-glamorous stage instantly became an airtight steel cage.

The screams stalled for two seconds before erupting.

"The doors are locked! What's going on?!"

"Help! I don't want to die!"

"That X... his face! He's a monster!"

The audience was thrown into complete chaos. Fans in the front rows desperately tried to flee backward while those in the back shoved forward, mixed with crying, screaming, and the crashes of overturned tables and chairs.

Amid the chaos, only Lin Yu (X) remained standing steadily at the center of the stage.

With a face covered in black cracks like shattered porcelain, he took a deep, almost blissful breath, as though the fear in the air were some delicious nourishment.

"Quiet."

Lin Yu softly spoke two words into the microphone.

His voice was not loud, but it carried that scalp-tingling infrasonic wave.

The chaotic crowd seemed to have been put on pause, their movements instantly stiffening. Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned toward the stage in unison, the fear in them gradually fading and giving way to hollow obedience.

Jian Ning stood at the judges' table, watching the scene as a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

[Mass hypnosis?]

[What on earth did Lin Yu go through? The Everyone's Favorite System only made people like him before, but this... this is straight-up turning people into puppets!]

The system's alert sounded urgently in his mind:

[ Ding! Deep analysis complete. ]

[Lin Yu's system absorbed the biological energy of "Mandala Snake Venom" during the castle explosion and mutated. He is now a walking "Mental Pollution source."]

[Warning: Although the host has a system shield, Huo Si does not. Please reunite with Huo Si as soon as possible!]

Jian Ning abruptly looked toward the VIP seats below the stage.

The seat where Huo Si had been sitting was now empty.

"Huo Si?!" Panic rose in Jian Ning's heart.

"I'm here."

A deep, familiar, exceptionally steady voice pierced through the eerie silence around them and sounded behind Jian Ning.

Jian Ning spun around.

Huo Si had somehow already climbed over the barrier and was standing at the edge of the judges' table.

His black overcoat was slightly rumpled, and his collar hung open. He had clearly just fought his way through a fierce "breakout." Yet his deep eyes remained clear and calm, showing no sign that he had been hypnotized.

"Mr. Huo!"

Without even thinking, Jian Ning threw himself at him.

Huo Si caught him with one hand, smoothly pulling him behind himself as his cold gaze met Lin Yu's at the center of the stage.

"Don't be afraid."

Huo Si's voice sounded beside his ear, carrying a reassuring warmth. "I'm here."

Jian Ning clutched his sleeve tightly and asked in a low voice, "Are you okay? That sound just now..."

"A little noisy." Huo Si frowned and rubbed his temple. "Like hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing inside my head. But..."

He lowered his gaze to Jian Ning, a trace of softness passing through his eyes.

"As long as I look at you, it isn't noisy anymore."

Jian Ning: "..."

[He can still flirt at a time like this?]

[Old Huo, is your willpower made of iron?]

Onstage, Lin Yu watched the two of them openly showing affection as though no one else existed. His broken face instantly twisted, and the already hideous cracks seemed to seep black mist.

"Huo Si..."

Lin Yu's voice was hoarse and grating, like sandpaper scraping glass. "You really... still only see him."

"Even if I become this hideous, even if I possess godlike power, in your eyes... there is still only this substitute!"

He suddenly waved a hand.

"Since that's the case, let's play a game."

Lin Yu snapped his fingers.

The giant screen above the stage suddenly lit up, displaying an enormous countdown: [10:00].

"The rules are simple."

Lin Yu pointed at Jian Ning, his gaze venomous.

"Truth or dare."

"I ask, and you answer. If you lie, or if your answer doesn't satisfy me..."

He pointed toward the hundreds of blank-faced audience members below.

"They'll become my 'corpse horde' and rush over to tear you to pieces."

"Of course, to be fair, if you answer correctly, I'll unlock one of the doors."

The entire venue fell silent.

What kind of game was this? It was clearly one-sided torture.

Jian Ning poked his head out from behind Huo Si and looked at the countdown on the big screen, then at Lin Yu's half-human, half-ghost face.

He suddenly laughed.

It was not the forced smile of fear, but a genuine laugh, as though he were looking at an idiot.

"Truth or dare?"

Jian Ning picked up the half-finished bottle of mineral water from the table, twisted open the cap, and took a drink to wet his throat.

"Lin Yu, have you soaked in the castle's water prison so long that water got into your brain?"

"I came here to be a judge and earn an appearance fee, not to play house with you."

Lin Yu's eyes sharpened. "What did you say?!"

Jian Ning shrugged with an innocent expression.

"Besides, with the way you look now... honestly, you make a pretty appetizing sight. Like a defective puzzle that fell onto the floor halfway through being assembled."

"I don't play games with puzzles. It lowers my standards."

[Sharp-tongue skill activated!]

[Since this is a mental attack, I'll attack your mind too! Let's see who breaks first!]

The word "puzzle" made Lin Yu tremble all over with rage.

What he cared about most was his appearance! For this face, he had even been willing to make a deal with the devil—the system!

"Jian Ning! I'll kill you!!!"

Lin Yu roared and ordered the audience below.

"Get them! Catch them! I'm going to tear Jian Ning's mouth apart!"

Following his command, the previously quiet audience suddenly stirred.

Hundreds of people moved like zombies, growling from their throats as they stiffly began climbing toward the judges' table.

"Huo Si." Jian Ning looked at the dense crowd and swallowed. "That... is kind of a lot."

Huo Si undid his cufflinks, removed his overcoat, and casually tossed it aside.

Underneath was a fitted white shirt that outlined his broad shoulders and narrow waist. He slowly rolled up his sleeves, exposing his strong forearms, his gaze sharp and cold as a blade.

"Not a lot."

Huo Si flexed his wrist, producing a series of crisp cracks.

"Just enough to warm up."

He pushed Jian Ning into the safest corner of the judges' table—Sister Na and Teacher Ding had long since fainted beneath the table—and said in a deep voice:

"Stay there. Don't move."

"Unless I tell you to stop, you are not allowed to come out."

After saying that, Huo Si took one long stride and blocked the only entrance to the judges' table.

One man held the pass.

The first "zombie" fan to rush over was a burly man. With claws raised, he lunged at Huo Si.

Huo Si did not even lift his eyelids. He sidestepped, seized him, and threw him over his shoulder.

"BANG!"

The movement was fluid, clean, and decisive. Before the burly man could react, he was already lying on the floor questioning his life choices.

Then came the second, the third...

Huo Si did not strike to kill. He merely used clever force to dislocate their joints or hit pressure points that knocked them unconscious.

Even so, the momentum of one man holding off a thousand still stunned the entire venue.

Jian Ning hid behind the table and watched Huo Si's back.

That not particularly wide entrance was defended by him like an impregnable fortress. Not a single "dirty hand" could touch Jian Ning in the slightest.

[So cool...]

[Is this what feeling safe is like?]

[But... this can't go on. No matter how good Huo Si's stamina is, he's still human. There are hundreds of them. They can wear him to death.]

[I have to solve the problem at its source!]

Jian Ning turned his gaze toward Lin Yu onstage.

[To catch the bandits, catch their leader first.]

[As long as I break Lin Yu's "mental control," these people can wake up!]

"System! Is there any way to cut off his control signal?" Jian Ning urgently asked in his mind.

System: [Lin Yu's source of control is his singing. Although the performance has ended, every word he speaks and every breath he takes is continuously releasing these frequencies.]

[Method of breaking it: use a louder, more brainwashing sound with completely opposite frequencies to create a "sonic counterforce."]

[Although the square-dancing hit song worked earlier, the opponent has developed resistance. The host needs a sound... with greater destructive power.]

Jian Ning's eyes shifted.

Greater destructive power?

Brainwashing?

Opposite frequency?

His gaze landed on the suona sitting at the judges' table, which had originally belonged to music critic Teacher Ding.

As everyone knew.

When the suona came out, the whole show ended.

It was the hooligan of musical instruments, the nuclear weapon of sound waves!

Jian Ning grabbed the suona.

Although he did not know how to play it.

But...

[System! Exchange for the God-Tier Suona Skill (Trial Version)! Hurry!]

System: [Ding! Exchange successful. 500 points deducted. Remaining duration: 3 minutes.]

Jian Ning took a deep breath, stood up, and planted one foot on the judges' table.

He looked at Lin Yu, who was still directing the "zombies" to attack, and raised the suona in his hand.

"Lin Yu!" Jian Ning shouted.

Lin Yu instinctively looked up. "What? Begging for mercy?"

Jian Ning grinned.

"Beg for mercy? No."

"I'm here to send you on your way."

The next second—

Jian Ning puffed up his cheeks and blew the suona with all his strength.

"DEE—DEE—DAA—DEE—!!!"

A famous piece called Cry to Heaven, piercing and profoundly mournful, traditionally played for weddings and funerals, instantly rang through the entire studio.

The sound was shrill, piercing, and overbearing.

It was like hundreds of screaming rubber chickens wailing at once, like a howl from the depths of the soul.

It ignored air resistance, ignored Lin Yu's infrasonic waves, and drilled straight into everyone's ears, shaking every bit of their brain matter.

The attacking "zombies" instantly froze.

The hollowness in their eyes began to scatter, and painful expressions appeared on their faces—because it was too damn loud.

Lin Yu onstage bore the brunt of it.

He felt as though his brain had been brutally struck by a sledgehammer.

"Aah—!!!"

Lin Yu covered his ears and screamed. His mental-control frequencies, fragile as paper before those utterly unreasonable "suona sound waves," instantly collapsed.

As the suona's melody surged to one climax after another.

The black lines on Lin Yu's face began spreading wildly, as though that stitched-together face were being subjected to tremendous pressure.

"Stop! Stop it now!"

Lin Yu rolled around onstage. His microphone fell to the floor, letting out piercing feedback.

"My face... my face is going to crack!"

Jian Ning completely ignored him.

He was getting into it, even improvising a flourish with rapid tongue trills.

[Take that, your Mental Pollution! Take that, you pretentious fraud!]

[In front of our ancestors' instruments, your Western sorcery is nothing!]

Finally.

With a sharp crack.

The mask on Lin Yu's face completely shattered and fell away.

It revealed a face... already utterly disfigured, even somewhat rotten.

The music came to an abrupt halt.

The audience gradually came to their senses.

When they saw the monster onstage clutching his face and howling, screams rang out again.

But this time, they were screams of lucid terror.

"Who is that?!"

"A ghost!"

"X is a monster!"

Lin Yu lay sprawled on the ground, listening to the disgusted screams of fans who had once worshipped him, and completely broke down.

"No... Don't look at me... Don't look at me!"

Jian Ning lowered the suona, panting as he wiped away his sweat.

He looked at Huo Si.

Huo Si stood below the stage, his shirt somewhat rumpled but without a single injury on him.

He looked at the still-smoking suona in Jian Ning's hand, and there was actually a hint of... appreciation in his eyes?

"You played well." Huo Si walked over and lifted him down from the table. "You can play it at home next time. It wards off evil."

Jian Ning: "..."

[At home? Do you want to send Brother Jian Xiu off?]

However, just when everyone thought the crisis had been resolved.

The large screen in the studio suddenly went black.

Then, a distorted electronic voice echoed throughout the venue:

"The game... isn't over yet."

"Lin Yu was only an appetizer."

"Jian Ning, you destroyed my masterpiece. Then you'll have to pay the price."

Jian Ning's heart tightened.

[There's someone else?]

[Someone else was behind Lin Yu? Wasn't King dead?]

System notification:

[Ding! A new signal source has been detected!]

[It isn't on-site. It's at... the Huo Group headquarters building.]

[The Huo Group's main server is under hacker attack! The other party is stealing the group's core secrets and has activated the self-destruct program!]

Huo Si's phone rang at the same time.

Assistant Lin's terrified voice came through:

"President Huo! This is bad! The company system has been hacked! All the files are being automatically deleted! And... and that hacker left a message saying he put something in your office..."