[Beep, beep, beep, beep-] [30 seconds until punishment.]
The stabbing pain in his mind grew increasingly pronounced. Unable to communicate with System 615, the Little Orange Cat, Shen Yangge put the cat down.
[Ten seconds until punishment.] [Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.] [Punishment generated. Duration: five days.]
Five days?
Upon learning that the punishment would last only five days, Shen Yangge relaxed a little, but the strange sensation that followed put him on edge again.
What sort of punishment lasted only five days?
"Meow, meow!!"
System 615, the Little Orange Cat, let out a shrill cry. A soft white light radiated from Shen Yangge's body, and he instinctively looked at his hands.
Then his eyes slowly widened, and his vision gradually blurred, as though a thin film had coated his retinas, cutting off the clarity he once had.
The hands before him were dry and wrinkled. Their former fair, smooth skin was gone, leaving only a thin, shriveled layer wrapped around the slender bones.
He raised his hands, a series of terribly hoarse sounds escaping his throat.
This punishment was different from all the ones before it.
No wonder he had felt that faint unease all along. So... so this was what it had meant. Shen Yangge slowly walked into a room in the side hall, shut the door, and stood before the dressing table to look at himself in the bronze mirror.
The man in the bronze mirror had graying hair, an aged face, and a body as thin as a rake, looking as though he already had one foot in the grave.
Yet however old the man in the mirror looked, the dark green robe he wore lent him an air that made one think his charm had not