Lan Yucheng awoke to an extreme sense of unsettling emptiness.
The moment her consciousness returned, she instinctively reached out beside her—only to find it empty. The bedsheets were cold and smooth; there was no familiar body warmth, no tangled strands of hair, no… Xiao Xue.
Her heart plummeted! Panic, like ice water, instantly drenched her entire body!
“Where was Xiao Xue?!” she cried out in her mind. “Had the seven days stipulated by the system already passed? Had she simply vanished? Without even a word of goodbye?”
‘No, impossible! The system had promised…’
She tried to sit up abruptly, but was horrified to find her limbs unnaturally heavy, completely unresponsive! Even more terrifying was the distinct, taut sensation of restraint at her wrists and ankles!
She laboriously turned her stiff neck and looked down. Her hands were secured separately to either side of the headboard by soft, yet incredibly tough, silk restraints.
Her feet were similarly bound apart at the foot of the bed. The bindings were professional, designed not to cause bruising or excessive discomfort, yet they made it utterly impossible for her to break free!
‘What was going on?! Did Xiao Xue do this? No… impossible! Xiao Xue wouldn’t use this method… and Xiao Xue was already gone!’
“System! System!” Lan Yucheng screamed frantically in her mind, her voice distorted by fear. “What’s happening? Where’s Qing Xinxue? Let me go!”
Only a deathly silence answered her.
The Little Sprite, whose voice was always tinged with sarcasm or laziness, was now utterly gone, as if completely evaporated, offering no response. She tried to summon the system panel, but only boundless darkness met her gaze.
Her connection to that supernatural power felt as if it had been severed with a single stroke!
A profound sense of utter helplessness, like a cold hand, clutched at her throat! She was trapped! In a completely unfamiliar place!
Only now did she belatedly realize that the room’s decor and the scent of the sheets were not from her familiar home.
Thirst and the urge to urinate assailed her in waves, intensifying her panic and physical discomfort. She began to struggle, twisting her wrists with all her might, but the specialized restraints remained completely unmoving, only chafing faint red marks onto her delicate skin.
She opened her mouth to cry for help, yet found she lacked even the strength to shout loudly, her voice as weak as a whimper.
“Is anyone there… let me go…” Tears welled in her eyes from fear and humiliation.
Just then—
“Tap… tap… tap…”
A clear, rhythmic sound of high heels striking the floor drifted closer from a distance, neither fast nor slow. Each tap resonated directly on Lan Yucheng’s taut nerves.
‘Who was it?!’
Her heart pounded wildly as she stared intently at the bedroom door.
“Click.”
The door lock was gently turned.
A slender figure appeared in the doorway, silhouetted against the light from the hallway outside. The light outlined her familiar form, yet she carried an unnervingly calm demeanor that Lan Yucheng had never witnessed before.
It was Su Yiyi.
She was dressed in a sharply tailored dark suit, her face even adorned with delicate, light makeup, and a faint, yet utterly cold… smile played on her lips. Her eyes were calm and unruffled, even holding a strange… pleasure? As if the bound scene before her was a long-awaited masterpiece.
“Awake?” Su Yiyi’s voice remained gentle, yet it was like a viper’s tongue, licking Lan Yucheng’s skin, instantly raising goosebumps. “Thirsty? Or do you need to use the restroom?” She walked closer, the sound of her high heels piercingly loud in the silent room.
Lan Yucheng watched her in terror, her body trembling uncontrollably. “Su Yiyi… what… what do you want to do? Let me go!”
Su Yiyi did not answer. Instead, she walked to the bedside and looked down at her, her gaze like that of someone admiring a precious collection piece caught in a trap. From a small handbag she carried, she took out a soft, black silk eye mask.
“No… don’t!” Lan Yucheng realized what she intended to do and desperately shook her head.
Su Yiyi, however, ignored her resistance, gently but irresistibly placing the eye mask over her eyes. The world instantly plunged into suffocating darkness! With her vision stripped away, her other senses were infinitely magnified, and her fear escalated exponentially!
“Wuu…” Lan Yucheng let out a desperate whimper.
Then, she felt cold alcohol swab her upper arm. She flinched violently! “What are you doing?! What injection?!”
The answer was the slight prick of a needle entering her skin. A cool liquid was pushed into her bloodstream.
Seconds later, Lan Yucheng was horrified to discover that her already weak limbs had completely gone limp; she couldn’t even lift a single finger. It felt as though all her muscles had betrayed her, with only her consciousness remaining terrifyingly awake.
This was a form of confinement more despairing than mere physical binding!
“Don’t be afraid, it’s just a muscle relaxant to make you more comfortable,” Su Yiyi’s voice was close, carrying a chilling gentleness. She then began to deftly untie the restraints from Lan Yucheng’s wrists and ankles.
Though freed from her bonds, Lan Yucheng lay on the bed like a pile of mud, unable to even shift. She felt like a puppet, at the mercy of another.
Su Yiyi easily lifted her horizontally and carried her towards the bathroom. Lan Yucheng trembled with shame; she was being carried to the toilet, completely devoid of autonomy!
Throughout the entire process, Su Yiyi was extraordinarily “considerate,” her movements practiced as if rehearsed countless times, without a hint of awkwardness, only a calm sense of complete control.
After being placed back on the bed, Lan Yucheng’s spirit was almost shattered, tears soaking her eye mask. “Su Yiyi… what… what exactly do you want to do to me?! Let me go! This is illegal imprisonment!”
Su Yiyi gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, her fingertips cold. She leaned down and pressed a soft, yet possessive, kiss onto Lan Yucheng’s violently trembling lips.
Then, in a near-whisper, tinged with a hint of grievance mixed with cold anger, she spoke softly into Lan Yucheng’s ear:
“Chengcheng, you lied to me, used me, treated me like a disposable tool… I’m very angry.”
“Very, very angry.”
“So, until you learn… to truly belong to me, don’t even think about going anywhere.”
With that, she straightened up, and the sound of her high heels echoed once more, gradually receding. The door was gently closed, the click of the lock clearly audible.