When the audience in the livestream saw Ruan Qing’s reddened palms, they couldn't help but comment.
[My wife is so delicate after losing his memory. In the last level, he was stabbed in the abdomen and didn’t even frown, but now he’s almost crying just from moving something. Who could possibly resist this?!]
[He’s indeed so delicate, and it’s making my heart ache. I just want to crawl through the screen and help him move things.]
[I have a feeling something’s off with him. Maybe his acting is just too good.]
[Why does he always act when entering a dungeon? His acting is too realistic. If it weren’t for this livestream, I might have thought he was an NPC.]
Other viewers also found it odd, because no player would act like an NPC in every instance.
Other players only act according to their assigned role when the instance required them to do so. In those kinds of instances, if a player didn’t follow their role card, they usually ended up being the first to get targeted by the NPCs and the first to die.
Could this instance be one that had special requirements for players?
The audience in the livestream wasn’t sure. Many of them left the livestream and searched for the name of this level, <Haunted Building>, in the lobby.
They wanted to see if other players also needed to play specific roles.
The livestream platform allowed viewers to search by instance name, but when they searched, they only found one result: Ruan Qing’s livestream.
It’s worth noting that most instances did’t have a solo mode, and it’s very rare for only one player to enter an instance.
But the search results confirmed that Ruan Qing’s was the only livestream for this instance.
...Maybe the other players in this instance just hadn’t started their livestreams yet.
It’s common for high-level players not to stream, so it’s not surprising if they didn’t.
However, it was odd that only high-level players seemed to be in this instance. That wasn’t quite normal.
Was there something special about this dungeon?
The audience suppressed their confusion and continued watching the livestream carefully.
Xu He put down the miscellaneous items he had been carrying when he saw Ruan Qing struggling with his load. When he noticed his delicate face scrunched up in pain, he immediately pulled his hands over to inspect them.
Clearly, the boy had never done any work in his life; even the skin on his palms was as tender as a newborn’s.
At this moment, however, the boy's pale palm was tinged with red marks, and even his delicate white fingers had a faint pink hue.
They were so beautiful that one couldn't look away.
So delicate that one couldn't bear to let go.
Although the boy was male, he was undeniably delicate.
Xu He had never seen anyone as delicate as this boy, so delicate that it stirred a dark desire within him.
So delicate that it provoked an urge to dominate.
Xu He lowered his eyes, hiding the darkness within. He gently pulled Ruan Qing's hand to his lips, softly blew on it a few times, then looked up and spoke warmly, "Let me do it. You just hold the light for me."
Hearing this, Ruan Qing withdrew his hand, feeling a bit downhearted and responded with a low "Oh."
He was clearly disappointed that he couldn't help.
Xu He paused for a moment when he noticed this. He casually picked up a small object, something like a tape measure, and placed it in Ruan Qing's hand.
"Here, carry these small things. They're too small for me to handle."
Ruan Qing blinked at the object in his hand, then tightened his grip slightly, holding the tape measure firmly. He looked up at Xu He with a serious expression and nodded earnestly. "Okay."
That serious look made it seem as if he had been entrusted with an important mission.
Since the tape measure was small, Ruan Qing could still hold the flashlight even while carrying it.
This time, instead of standing by and watching Xu He toss objects, Ruan Qing also stood at the doorway. Imitating Xu He's movements, he exerted all his strength and threw the tape measure out.
He followed Xu He’s actions to the letter.
However, the objects in Xu He's hands were heavy, so even when he threw them with force, they didn’t go far from the doorway.
But it was different for Ruan Qing. His was just a small item, and when he threw it with force, no one knew where it ended up.
After throwing it, Ruan Qing felt a bit uneasy. The beam of his flashlight instinctively swung in the direction of his throw, as if he wanted to see where it had gone.
Ruan Qing wasn’t really interested in where it landed; he just wanted to see what was outside.
As expected, it was a corridor.
Moreover, both sides of the corridor were lined with walls, and at the end was a staircase leading upwards.
The staircase twisted and turned, and from where they stood, they couldn’t see where it led, nor could they discern what was at the top.
The typical structure of a room would not allow for such a situation; this place felt more like a basement.
A basement filled with clutter.
After seeing the outside clearly, Ruan Qing's heart sank slightly. It seemed the basement had only one exit: the stairs. If someone was guarding the top, there would be almost no chance of escaping.
Moreover, this basement was very odd. The walls were merely plastered with cement, without any further decoration.
The cement marks were still fresh, slightly damp, as if they had only recently been applied.
This place appeared to be part of a newly constructed building.
Buildings like this tend to be chaotic. Apart from the workers here, almost no one else would come.
And the workers here were precisely the ones who had kidnapped him.
Unless they willingly let him go, escaping from here would be harder than climbing the sky.
Ruan Qing tightened his grip on the flashlight, but his expression remained unchanged. In fact, he even appeared somewhat dazed.
Xu He glanced at Ruan Qing, who had just finished tossing some items and was now standing idly, and let out a soft chuckle, amusement glinting in his eyes.
Ruan Qing, feeling a little embarrassed, gave Xu He a brief glance and then continued obediently helping to move things.
Because the items were being gradually removed, the rats hiding among the clutter had long since screeched and scurried out of the basement.
Thanks to their efforts, more than half of the basement's clutter was quickly cleared.
Meanwhile, Zhou Jinchen stood by the entire time, neither speaking nor stepping forward to help.
When there were only a few minutes left until the agreed half-hour, both Zhou Jinchen's and Xu He's phones rang in succession.
Xu He put down the item he was holding and took out his phone. After seeing who was calling, he paused, then looked up at Zhou Jinchen.
Zhou Jinchen did the same.
The two exchanged a brief, knowing glance. Neither of them answered the call; instead, they directly walked out of the basement.
Before leaving, Xu He turned to Ruan Qing and gave him a gentle smile. "I have something to take care of. I'll come back to help you move things later."
Without waiting for Ruan Qing's response, Xu He turned and left.
Once again, the dim basement was left with only Ruan Qing.
Ruan Qing looked at the locked door, pressed his lips together anxiously, and finally, holding the flashlight, found a corner to sit down in.
***
Just outside the basement was an unfinished building, with construction materials piled up everywhere. Many workers in uniforms were moving in and out.
It looked extremely busy, and also quite chaotic.
So, no one noticed two workers emerging from a corner.
Even if they had noticed, they probably wouldn't have thought much of it.
After all, the one thing a construction site didn't lack was workers.
In the corner, Duan Ming glanced at the two people coming out of the basement area, then indifferently withdrew his gaze.
Half an hour had quickly passed. They had given Ren Yanqing exactly half an hour.
Transferring the money directly would easily expose them, so they wanted cash.
As long as Ren Yanqing left the cash at the designated spot, they would send someone to collect it.
Once they got the money, they would quietly vanish from the city, and the kidnapping case would be over.
After the two arrived, Duan Ming dialed Ren Yanqing's number again and put it on speaker.
“Beep—”
“Beep—”
“Beep—”
“Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later…”
Everyone present frowned slightly when they heard the automated message.
Duan Ming paused, then dialed the number again.
It still went unanswered.
It would be normal if the line was busy, but for the call to go unanswered repeatedly was definitely abnormal.
It felt as if Duan Ming had already… been blocked.
Duan Ming tried several more times, all with the same result.
His expression turned cold. Without a word, he took the phone that Zhou Jinchen handed him.
He looked at the number on his phone, entered it into Zhou Jinchen's phone, and made the call.
This time, it barely rang three times before it was picked up.
The next second after the call connected, a gentle and refined voice came through from the other end of the phone, "Hello, who is this?"
It was unmistakably Ren Yanqing's voice.
Clearly, Duan Ming had been blacklisted by Ren Yanqing.
Duan Ming spoke coldly, his voice hoarse and carrying a menacing tone, "Boss Ren, it seems you don't want your son to return alive."
The man on the other end chuckled lightly, his voice showing no hint of panic. "Has no one told you?"
"Your method of scamming is a bit outdated."
Just as Duan Ming was about to respond, the sound of beeping echoed from the phone.
That was the sound you hear when a call has been hung up.
Everyone present furrowed their brows. Did Ren Yanqing think they were playing a trick on him?
But confirming whether his son had been kidnapped or not wasn’t difficult—it would only take one call home to find out.
They had already held the young master hostage for over three hours, yet Ren Yanqing hadn’t once checked if his son was home.
Was he too busy?
Or... did he simply not care about the young master’s life?
The group began to sense that something was off. Ren Yanqing’s attitude didn’t seem like that of someone concerned about his only son.
Zhou Jinchen took his phone back from Duan Ming and dialed again.
"The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later..."
"Don’t believe it?" Zhou Jinchen’s expression turned cold, and he sneered. "Then let’s make him believe it."
After saying that, Zhou Jinchen, radiating hostility, turned and headed straight for the basement.
Xu He narrowed his eyes at the sight and immediately followed without hesitation.
The others exchanged glances and quickly followed as well.
The sky outside was gradually darkening, and the workers at the construction site were starting to leave for the day, though many were still working overtime.
The group walked towards a secluded corner, unnoticed by anyone.
I know they won't cut his hand as they said, but this is still bad for him. May they only take a normal picture of him imprisoned and nothing weird
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