Overtime

Stop playing, hurry inside!

Ye Qing's hand shook as he tried to put the key into the keyhole, but the iron key seemed smeared with oil and kept missing the slot.

Sure enough, tension and exhaustion led to difficult calibration.

Having just survived a desperate, high-speed run for his life, Ye Qing still had to breathe through his mouth, gradually steadying his breath.

He had almost been caught by an adult Bloodkin for snatching a little girl's lollipop, which would have been fine if he just lowered his head and apologized.

In case the other party had a fiery temper and insisted on reporting him to the authorities, or worse, posting it online, he would lose all face.

At the very least, his childhood friend would laugh at him for a whole year, and if his parents found out, it would be utterly unimaginable.

Click, click.

The key slid into the keyhole and made a sound as he turned it, and Ye Qing pulled open the door of his rented apartment.

Unseen from behind, a narrow escape smile appeared on Ye Qing's face, matching that dyed blonde hair and looking exceptionally evil.

It was like a villain preparing to step into an unknown, dark space filled with fresh lives pickled in formalin.

Accompanied by the gentle closing of the door, a plop like the abrupt wail of a horror movie sounded, just like a scene transition in a film!

Oh, it turned out he had pressed the light switch.

The previously dim and dark room instantly brightened.

The scene inside was indeed unmentionable, but this unmentionable was not that unmentionable.

The interior of the rented apartment had undergone a small modification, and upon entering, one could see various transparent display cabinets stationed about.

Inside the transparent cases were all sorts of merchandise, ranging from magical girl characters in various two-dimensional media to actual figures of various magical girls.

Compared to being discovered running a dark space, being found out as a stinking hardcore otaku whose home was crammed full of figures was obviously much worse.

Ye Qing, twenty-four years old, was a veteran otaku.

Even after living for twenty odd years, he still felt like an outlander here in Demon Star.

His homesickness was hard to suppress, so he had thrown his whole body into the grand two-dimensional enterprise.

Because whether it was the planet of his past life or the planet of his present life, that group of so-called two-dimensional fans still had the exact same flavor.

It had a certain flavor.

The two-flavored essence exclusive to two-dimensional fandoms.

The way of speaking, game character designs, novel plots, manga art styles, anime visuals—they were almost no different from his past life.

Chatting with folks on the internet, the responses were still clichés like "Is that so," "Indeed," and "Not bad."

Whenever he saw a meme, he would copy and paste it, repeating it endlessly.

When greeting people, he would occasionally run into things like "Kekeke" and "Kekeke."

It was hard to tell what difference there was from his past life.

The moment he went online, it was just like returning to the past, which was why Ye Qing was only half an otaku in his previous life, but became a full otaku in this one.

Whenever he had leisure time, he would bury himself in the virtual world, preferring to grind souls-like games for hundreds of hours rather than take a long-distance trip.

Ye Qing changed into indoor slippers in the entryway, without first turning on the computer or eating dinner.

Instead, as if cradling a precious and fragile item, he took out a limited-edition magical girl figure.

He carefully placed it in the most conspicuous position inside the transparent cabinet, right where it could be seen upon entering.

"Wryyy!!! Sensen Luya!"

Ye Qing arched his back as if driven mad, and let out a meaningless howl.

His magical girl collection was becoming increasingly complete.

At the top stood the complete veteran Magical Girl Squad, the Magical Girl Detectives who had debuted just over two years ago, and even the hottest magical girl idol in the entertainment industry today.

The limited-edition magical girl detective piece gifted by Karina today was like adding wings to a tiger, pushing his otaku concentration up yet another gradient.

Quietly admiring the limited-edition Luya in the transparent cabinet for a moment, Ye Qing suddenly lost his strength and sank his whole body into the sofa.

Tired.

If he weren't carrying a limited-edition figure, he wouldn't have bolted straight home like a madman.

Gurgle...

After sitting in a daze and resting for a long while, Ye Qing finally recovered from his physical and mental exhaustion.

He took out a 1+1 value meal from the burger joint and prepared to stick the straw into the drink when a phone call that shouldn't have rung sounded at that moment.

The ringtone I set for the BOSS?

Listening to the familiar yet slightly unfamiliar ringtone, Ye Qing muttered uncertainly.

He got up and looked at the lit-up phone screen; the big "BOSS" contact note made him suddenly feel puzzled.

This was the first time he had received a call from the BOSS after getting off work and returning home.

Ye Qing answered the phone, and the BOSS's electronic voice, devoid of discernible gender and age, immediately rang out.

"Department Head Ye, the time to test the results has come."

"What does that mean?" Ye Qing muttered in confusion, then hurriedly raised his voice and replied:

"BOSS, what do you mean?"

"We captured two magical girls alive, and next it's your turn to perform," the BOSS explained.

Bzz!

A current instantly coursed through Ye Qing's entire body, and for a moment his hand hung limply down without making a timely reply.

Why were magical girls captured?

Was his job about to be finished?

If he confessed honestly right now, could he be dealt with leniently?

Anyway, stay calm first!

"Ahem."

Ye Qing reacted extremely quickly, employed the adult-customary tactic of dragging things out, and said without hesitation:

"BOSS, it's off-duty time now."

"Overtime recorded for you, five times the hourly wage, travel expenses reimbursed, dinner included."

Thump! Thump!

It was the beating of his heart! Palpitation!

Ye Qing clenched his teeth: "BOSS, I have some urgent matters right now, it's not very convenient to go over to the base."

"Is that so? Then I won't force it." The BOSS changed the subject, not rushing into the hypnosis experiment at all for the moment:

"After all, the ones captured this time are veteran magical girls, and one of the three has yet to be caught, so their rescue will presumably be extremely fast.

Perhaps they'll be freed tonight, and it's hard to change their common sense in a short while; we'll leave the hypnosis experiment as our trump card for a safer future."

Ye Qing listened in silence as his profit-first mindset began to spin.

This was the first time the BOSS had asked him to work overtime, and it wasn't very polite to refuse.

Who knows, the BOSS might want to use this incident to test his attitude.

If he didn't agree, his salary might be docked in the future, ultimately leading to banishment and dismissal.

Since the BOSS guessed that the magical girls would be rescued tonight, there was a high probability it wasn't fake.

At the latest, it wouldn't exceed three to five days.

Wasn't a hypnosis experiment something he could just make up?

He only needed to fabricate the general experimental situation based on the event of the magical girls being rescued.

Five times the overtime pay, plus a chance to butter up the BOSS.

It was worth it.

He had to work this overtime.

Ye Qing silently came to this conclusion.

Considering it was a super good BOSS whom he would have to grovel to in his previous life, to deceive them like this without giving some emotional value would be a bit embarrassing.

"It's fine, BOSS, my matters here aren't all that urgent, but captured magical girls are hard to come by.

I'll return to the base immediately and start preparing for the experiment. You can rest assured!"

"Mm, I've already arranged for Karina to tie the two of them up in your laboratory. Remember to prepare for both contingencies, and don't let the records be lost or discovered when reinforcements arrive for the magical girls."

After urging him with that final sentence, the BOSS cut off the call. Ye Qing stared at the desktop ahead and pondered for a moment.

That's right, placed right there on the desktop was...

The value meal 1+1.

"I'll take it on the road and eat it." Ye Qing decided thus.