Chapter 106

Chapter 106

The psychologist couldn’t believe anyone could escape his hypnosis. He crouched in the corner, looking as if his mind had come a little unhinged.

He kept muttering under his breath, “Why weren’t you hypnotized? Why? Why?”

Qiao Yu ignored him and picked up the folder on the desk to read through it.

And once he did, oh boy.

Good grief. The personal information and family assets of every streamer in Rooms 602 to 613 had all been thoroughly dug up by him.

And Qiao Yu discovered that Luo Ziwei’s family was really, really, really rich.

That Shengshi Consortium from the financial news belonged to his family, and he was their only son.

It wasn’t just him, either. Not one of these patients came from a family short on money. The poorest among them, aside from Qiao Yu himself, was probably Fan Jianqiang, who had just inherited twenty million from his grandfather.

Twenty million… heh… heh…

No wonder it had been so easy for him to get hired and start working here. So that was it-they were afraid he couldn’t afford the medical bills.

Qiao Yu stared at the long strings of zeroes on the page, so envious his eyes were practically turning red.

He snapped the folder shut with a smack, his voice turning cold. “Let me ask you something. You’re neither a streamer nor an NPC, so why are you inside the Instance?”

The psychologist looked up at Qiao Yu and stayed silent for a long while. Then he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

The emotions in his eyes carried a strained quality… one that felt somewhat familiar.

Qiao Yu looked away, slightly disappointed. “I’m not trying to be rude, but can you psychologists be normal for once? One of you gets obsessed with curses, another is a homophobe, and now here’s a lackey of capitalism. Seriously, learning to be good is hard, but sliding into evil? Smooth as butter…”

Qiao Yu set the folder down and didn’t make things harder for him. He got up and left the counseling room.

After he came out, Chi Shang stepped forward as if he wanted to ask something, but Qiao Yu grabbed the still-dazed Luo Ziwei and stormed off with a sour face without even saying hello.

Chi Shang stared at Luo Ziwei’s wrist, now red from being gripped, and frowned. He lifted his foot to chase after them.

But the head nurse shifted one step and blocked his way. “It’s your turn.”

“Your turn, my ass. Move!”

Chi Shang raised his hand and slapped an Immobilization Talisman onto her, then went around the head nurse to chase after them. But the elevator doors closed one step before he arrived.

Furious, Chi Shang kicked the trash can beside the elevator doors…

Meanwhile, Qiao Yu stood inside the elevator. His gaze lingered on the number 7 for a moment before he pressed the button for the sixth floor.

He recognized the look in the psychologist’s eyes, because he had seen far too many eyes like that.

Eyes that had been coerced, even humiliated.

With a ding, the elevator doors slowly opened.

Behind them stood Shang Yan with a stern expression. His gaze locked onto Qiao Yu’s fingers wrapped around Luo Ziwei’s wrist, and the jar of vinegar overturned yet again. “Have I even been gone two hours? And you’re already holding someone else’s hand?”

Faced with his boyfriend, who might as well own a jealousy factory, Qiao Yu instantly went numb. “…”

“Qiao Yu, still can’t bear to let go? What are you, Ximen Qing?”

Qiao Yu hurriedly released his silly son’s wrist, raised his arm, and instinctively shot back, “What Ximen Qing? If anything, I’m Qiao Hongxing.”

“Hongxing? You want to climb over the wall?!”

Qiao Yu rolled his eyes. “…I’m not climbing over any wall. I’m playing four twos with two jokers.”

Shang Yan: “…”

Sure enough, he had all the makings of a scumbag. His ability to dodge with nonsense was first-rate.

After the two of them delivered Luo Ziwei back to his ward, Qiao Yu returned to the elevator lobby.

He didn’t press any floor. He just stood there inside, staring hard at the button for the seventh floor.

Anyone downstairs who wanted to go up was out of luck. Before the doors could close, Qiao Yu would press the open button to stop them.

In short… this behavior was deeply unethical.

The Staircase Ghost couldn’t take it anymore. “You’re already an adult, aren’t you?”

Qiao Yu lazily lifted his eyelids. “Are you blind?”
“…Stop playing with the elevator!”

At that, he gave a shrug, looking every inch the shameless rascal. “Then take me up to the seventh floor.”

Staircase Ghost: “When the seventh floor isn’t open, I can’t get up there.”

“When does it open?”

“No idea.”

“There’s no pattern?”

“None.”

Qiao Yu narrowed his eyes. The Elevator Ghost hovering overhead was instantly so frightened that it ducked into the vent, no longer caring about Qiao Yu messing around with the elevator.

After thinking it over, he decided to stop making things difficult for the Elevator Ghost and ran toward the stairwell.

Then he tentatively went up one flight and looked up.

As expected, it was still the sixth floor.

“You want to go to the seventh floor that badly?”

Shang Yan, who had been committed to his role of “just here for the company,” suddenly spoke up.

Qiao Yu shot him a sideways glance. As he calculated the time in his head, he realized this guy’s forty-eight-hour stowaway period had long since expired, and couldn’t help pressing, “You have a way?”

The corner of Shang Yan’s mouth lifted. He was just about to speak when Qiao Yu abruptly clapped a hand over his mouth. ??

As if he’d seen this coming, Qiao Yu threatened him fiercely, “Just tell me the method. If you say anything sleazy like ‘kiss me and I’ll tell you,’ I’ll show you exactly why flowers are so red.”

Shang Yan blinked innocently. “…Mmph.”

Only then did Qiao Yu let go.

But before his hand could even fall, Shang Yan caught it, pulled him out of the elevator, and headed toward the corridor window.

Then Shang Yan pushed the window open.

Qiao Yu stared at him expressionlessly. “Shang Yan, dying for love is an ancient legend. There’s no need to put it into practice.”

Shang Yan sighed helplessly. “Who said I was dying for love with you? My family still has billions in assets waiting for me to inherit.”

Qiao Yu instantly lost it and flung his hand away. “Why won’t you die for love with me?!”

Shang Yan was speechless. From his Spatial Grid, he took out some unknown object: a pitch-black iron tube with a handle, something that looked like a miniature rocket launcher.

“What’s that?”

Qiao Yu’s mood changed as quickly as summer weather.

He reached out curiously and touched it. When he spotted the grappling hook at the end, suspicion flickered in his eyes.

“Guess.”

Qiao Yu considered it seriously for a moment. “A Flying Claw Hundred-Chain Lock?”

The corner of Shang Yan’s mouth twitched. “…Let’s not make it sound so martial-world. This thing is called a grappling hook launcher.”

Qiao Yu gave an oh.

Fine. Whatever it was called.

The important thing was…

“Even if you give me this thing, I don’t know how to use it!”

“I’ll teach you.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Qiao Yu’s waist was pulled into Shang Yan’s arms. With a sharp whoosh, Shang Yan carried him out through the window.

Yes. They were now outside the sixth-floor window.

Beneath their feet was soft, empty air, without the slightest place to stand. Above them stretched an ink-black night sky, not a single star in sight.

Their only support was the steel cable in Shang Yan’s hand.

“Hold on tight.”

At the sound of his voice, Qiao Yu lifted his head. The wind swept up Shang Yan’s jet-black hair, drawing a beautiful arc before his eyes.

The smile spilling through his brows and eyes was breathtakingly vivid. His pupils were like the sun rising over the horizon, filled with an amber morning mist. He looked composed and noble, proud and entirely at ease.

“What are you spacing out for? Hold on tight!”

Qiao Yu blinked rapidly twice. For once, he didn’t run his mouth. He obediently reached out and wrapped his arms around Shang Yan’s neck.

The hand around his waist suddenly let go and landed on the steel cable.

This sensation of hanging in midair, clinging tightly to another person, felt strangely novel to Qiao Yu. Unafraid of death, he lowered his head to gaze at the vast emptiness below and imagined the scene of his blood splattering everywhere after he fell.

He wondered which hurt more: jumping off a building, or getting hit by a car?