Detention Room

A piercing [Beeep-] tore through his eardrums, leaving him dizzy.

Yu Qing instinctively frowned. The system in front of him turned red, its alert ringing right beside his ear: [Massive deviations detected among instance NPCs. The system is performing automatic corrections. Please wait ten minutes, streamer!]

[Repeat: please wait ten minutes, streamer!]

"...Fuck!"

Yu Qing's eyes darkened-the clue had been right in front of him!

Perhaps sensing his emotional fluctuations, the system followed up with a timid plea for its survival: [This is an automatic system correction function. Every system has it. Switching systems would make no difference. Please do not blow up the system, streamer.]

[Special reminder: please do not blow up the system, streamer!]

Then Yu Qing realized the livestream hadn't ended. A screenful of [Hahahaha] interrupted his thoughts.

After a brief pause, he simply sighed, picked up the box, and headed downstairs himself, watching the almost jubilant barrage of comments.

[I honestly...this is the first time I've seen a system beg so humbly. Please don't blow me up, streamer, hahahahaha!]

[Kisses for my darling! Don't be angry, darling. The NPCs have stopped moving, but the Keycards still work. At least nobody will bother you for these ten minutes. Take your time trying them~(๑°3°๑)~]

[WTF! This streamer is incredible. He threw so many NPCs off track that the system had to auto-correct, hahahaha, I love him. The last time I saw this happen was in Xie Yiliang's stream, I think. Now he's second in the overall points ranking. (´◊ω◊｀)]

[Don't talk nonsense. Do you have any idea how amazing Xie is? Sanity 105!!! He could overtake first place whenever he wanted. He just wants to stay in the instances.]

[Yeah, he carries a drawing board around and sketches every day. Apparently, it's in remembrance of his dead lover.]

[No, no, no, he isn't mourning. He's waiting. He said he's always believed his lover will come back.]

[Waaah, Xie's devotion is unmatched. I want to slide down his glasses frames QAQ]

After skimming a few comments, Yu Qing reached the door.

He couldn't guarantee that any of these Keycards were genuine, but he still had to try.

So he immediately called Qian Lai and Xue Ziyi over to speed up the process.

Xue Ziyi couldn't compete with him in points or ability, and Zhang Yi had met an unfortunate death the night before.

Now Xue Ziyi was thoroughly obedient. Apart from the occasional stubborn remark, he did almost anything he was told.

The ten minutes flew by. [Countdown to instance resumption: 10, 9, 8...]

They had tried more than half the Keycards. The three of them snapped every unusable one and tossed it onto the floor.

But the door hadn't opened!

A thin sheen of sweat soaked their temples. [Beep, beep, beep] rang frantically in their ears, yet not a single card worked.

But once the instance's corrections were complete, the director would surely wake up. When he discovered that every card in his office had been taken, he certainly wouldn't let it go!

"Hurry..." Yu Qing lowered his eyes. For some reason, an intense sense of unease suddenly welled up inside him.

He couldn't help urging them on. A trickle of sweat slid down his cheek, and the hand holding his card trembled slightly.

[5, 4...]

Tap, tap, tap-

Footsteps came from upstairs, rapidly approaching.

[3...]

[Beep. Invalid card. Please try again!]

[2...]

[Beep. Invalid card. Please try again!]

[1]

[Beep. Card accepted. Opening door.]

Yu Qing froze, his eyes suddenly lighting up, but at that very moment: [System corrections complete. The instance has returned to normal. Please continue the challenge, streamer!]

The mechanical female voice settled beside his ear like a merciless blade, destroying his hope of survival.

As the voice faded, Yu Qing suddenly felt a chill on his shoulder. The director, whose head he had battered bloody, had appeared behind him at some point. A smile spread across the director's face, and his cold voice pierced Yu Qing's ears and heart.

"Disobedient patients get locked in the Detention Room."

"Mmph, mmph..."

Immediately afterward, someone clamped a hand over Yu Qing's mouth. Two skeletal orderlies forcibly hoisted him up, pulled a black bag over his face without hesitation, covering his nose and mouth, and dragged him mercilessly into the darkness!

He thought...he saw Qian Lai and Xue Ziyi get caught too...

What...would happen?

The door had opened...

Could they get out?

Clang-

Yu Qing was thrown down. The door slammed shut, and the clash of metal echoed eerily.

The young man shifted his tongue, his mouth filled with the heavy taste of blood.

His legs hurt too...

They had dragged him too violently. His knees had scraped against the concrete floor and were probably covered in wounds.

The blood would stain his clothes. He'd have to change.

Gritting his teeth, Yu Qing finally reached up and pulled off the hood. A pair of bewitching, strange scarlet eyes met his gaze.

The BOSS!

His heart tightened. Ignoring his wounds, he scrambled to his feet. Before he had taken two steps, suddenly-bang!

A hand clamped around his neck, forcing Yu Qing's head back. That hand brutally lifted his entire body, pressing his back against a cold iron wall steeped in the smell of blood.

The sounds around him buzzed. Cold gathered rapidly, chilling him to the bone.

The young man's face gradually paled. His fingers trembled as he tried to connect to the system and take out the "Obedience Potion" to save himself.

But he couldn't muster any strength in his hands. He couldn't even retrieve the item.

"Ngh..." Yu Qing struggled twice more, his skin shifting as he grasped the Golden Needle. Before he could raise his hand, suddenly-clink-

The other man caught his delicate wrist and, as though toying with it, effortlessly knocked the Golden Needle away and pinned his wrist to the wall.

Then Yu Qing saw those distant, tranquil red eyes approach with languid disdain.

A low, tingling voice fell, steeped in a profound chill. "Who are you calling your husband?"