Ninety-nine Percent!

It was the director's voice!!

Seconds. In those few desperate seconds, Yu Qing had already entered code into the system and synthesized the director's screams from memory. It wasn't a perfect match, but...

"Ahhh... Mom... Mom..."

As those helpless cries of "Mom" rang out, the mass of flesh and blood stopped attacking.

Bright red blood obscured her eyes. Unable to see, she began wandering aimlessly around the room, groping with both hands and stumbling as she searched for her crying son.

"Don't... don't be afraid..."

Her hoarse voice soothed him: "...Mommy's... here..."

Blood dripped steadily from her lips. As the blood-soaked figure moved away, the flesh wrapped around Yu Qing's feet loosened considerably.

The clean-cut young man regained his freedom, but running wasn't the first thing he did once he could move.

His hand emerged from his sleeve again. He took out the supposedly useless Ghost-Exorcising Talisman Qian Lai had given him earlier. Snap-

He struck first, decisively slapping it onto the blood-soaked figure's back!

"AAAAAAAAAH-"

A scream erupted, and the Livestream Room switched to mute. In the endless darkness, he was trapped with a dangerous blood-soaked figure-and this was a level-five Killing Dungeon!

Anyone else would have run long ago!

Yet, holding their breath, the viewers watched Yu Qing buy a Voice Recorder from the System Shop, record the director's screams, and casually toss it aside.

Clack.

He threw it into a hidden corner to lure the blood-soaked figure over, while he continued searching the Director's Office.

This was a level-five dungeon, after all. The blood-soaked figure wasn't so easily fooled. After crushing the Voice Recorder underfoot, she immediately turned back, trailing dripping blood as she approached Yu Qing step by step.

Then, clack.

He threw out a second Voice Recorder, and the blood-soaked figure went searching again.

The cycle repeated. Before long, the entire Director's Office was littered with Voice Recorders, and the once panic-filled Livestream Room had become: [...]

[I'm starting to think this streamer's kind of a bastard.]

[How can you call that being a bastard? Can anything a streamer does be called that? That's cleverness. Cleverness!]

[Seriously? Anyone clever would've run already. Why's he still rummaging through everything? Don't tell me...]

Just as the question arose, [Ding-]

The system announcement rang out again:

[Congratulations to streamer Yu Qing on discovering the key clue, "The Director's Diary." Plot exploration: 99%.]

[Only 1% remains until full exploration. Keep up the good work!]

By the end, the system's voice had distinctly risen in excitement.

Clearly, none of the streamers it had followed before had ever achieved such a high exploration rate!

[99%! Fuck! This kid's about to die, and he's still digging into the plot?!]

[Look, look, look! I really want to know what happened! (Tip: +1,000 points)]

...Found it. Finally found it!

Holding the Diary, Yu Qing's hands trembled with tension. Without even taking a look, he was ready to clutch it to his chest and hurry away. But when he looked up, the lock on the door clicked twice, followed by what sounded like footsteps hastily retreating.

Sure enough, when he reached the door, it wouldn't open.

Someone had locked it from outside, deliberately trying to get him killed!

Yu Qing opened the system space again and was about to buy something when suddenly, splat-

A lump of thick flesh and blood stuck directly to his right hand...

Sharp pain struck. The young man gritted his teeth, breaking into a sweat from the unbearable agony.

He didn't look back!

He didn't need to look to know what bloody horror was behind him. Sunlight would soon shine into the room, but... something stuck to his back again.

Drip, drip.

Two thick drops of blood landed on his shoulder. There was no way he could hold out until the sunlight arrived!

I'm going to be eaten...

"Kill you... bullied my son... kill you..."

His body dragged backward. The sensation of being devoured grew stronger and stronger, and his limbs no longer obeyed him.

Just as half his body was about to be swallowed, Yu Qing suddenly gave a mocking smile. "You're such an idiot~"

He murmured, "You want to protect your son, but your son wants to kill you. What a failure of a mother you are!"

Suddenly, the violent swallowing sensation stopped. As though she had never heard anything like that in all these years, the sticky mass of flesh froze, gurgling and muttering as she pondered something.

To keep her from coming to her senses and continuing to devour him, Yu Qing immediately continued, "Doesn't it break your heart? Even after dying, you still want to protect him, but he'll stop at nothing to kill you. Want to see what's written in here?"

The young man raised the Diary. "This belongs to your son. The very first page shows the ritual for destroying you!"

"No..." The mass of flesh convulsed, the voice spilling out of her terribly hoarse. She resisted. "He wouldn't... wouldn't..."

"He wouldn't?" Yu Qing chuckled. His smile was gentle, yet crueler than any vengeful ghost. "Then let me read it to you."

"No..."

"XX year, X month, X day. I dreamed about Mom again. She looked so disgusting without any skin. Even in that state, she still comes into my dreams to bother me. She deserves to die ten thousand times."

"No... don't read..." After only a few lines, the mass of flesh recoiled several steps, putting considerable distance between herself and Yu Qing.

The situation turned around again, and the Livestream Room grew excited once more.

The intense sensation of being devoured receded, but Yu Qing didn't leave immediately.

Often, the greater the danger, the more information there was to gain. Leaning against the door, he took a couple of gentle breaths and continued reading.

"XX year, X month, X day. I finally found a way to suppress Mom. All I need to do is turn people into animals and have them guard the base of Mom's stone statue, replacing them once a month. Then this disgusting woman won't cause any more trouble."

"I really hate Mom. I hate her control, and I hate her nagging. But she's the only person in the world who treats me well. I can't live without her, and I can't bear to let her go. So... I sealed her inside a stone statue, so she could stay by my side forever."

"I'm such a dutiful son. Why is she still not satisfied?"

"XX year, X month, X day. My skin is aging even worse now. I'm only twenty-six, but I look like an old man. Mom's skin, which I transplanted before, isn't working anymore. I have to... find a new target."

"XX year, X month, X day. The Sanatorium's patients are a good choice. After all, the mentally ill don't deserve to live. Killing them is a contribution to humanity."

Splat-

After only a few entries, the blood-soaked figure seemed to suffer some tremendous shock. She crouched in a corner, futilely covering her ears. "Don't... no... stop reading..."

But Yu Qing had no intention of listening to her!

The fine-featured young man had an innate difficulty with empathy. He struggled to experience the rich emotional fluctuations normal people did, yet simply reading these malicious words made his fingertips tremble and sent chills down his back.

He continued turning the pages. "XX year, X month, X day. Xu Han discovered that I was 'using living human sacrifices to suppress Mom.' He condemned me so self-righteously. I don't understand. The mentally ill don't deserve to live in the first place. What I'm doing contributes to humanity's collective development. What does he know?"

"A psychiatric sanatorium is a place for killing patients!"

"Xu Han was far too disobedient. I killed him, hollowed out his organs, and filled his body with mercury, making him keep a smile forever and preside over this sacrificial ritual as its priest."

"As for his identity? I just had to find someone to replace him. No trouble at all."

"XX year, X month, X day. That fake Xu Han is really quite good. He even sends his wife to me. After waiting so long, it's finally my turn to beat someone else."

"Ah, having control over someone else's life feels so good."

"XX year, X month, X day. I've been diagnosed with stomach cancer. I don't have long to live, but that's all right."

"They say that if I sell my soul to the Deity, the Deity can grant my wish."

"I want... to stay with my mom... in a place with a sanatorium..."

The last few words were scrawled crookedly, and blood stained the page. Clearly, the director had written them as he lay dying.

He turned another page...

Yu Qing's fingertips froze, and his eyes suddenly widened!