The heavy rain continued outside, with rolling thunder and occasional flashes of lightning suggesting the storm wouldn't let up anytime soon. The living room remained dim, illuminated only by the faint glow of a small lamp beside the sofa.
Yu Li lay on the couch, tilting her head back as she glanced at the wall clock before turning her gaze to the downpour outside, idly playing with her phone between her fingertips. Bo Jingmo... had been lingering outside for quite some time.
Suddenly, the Film Set System screeched sharply in her mind. "Yu Li Yu Li Yu Li Yu Li Yu Li!! Your husband has gone crazy!!"
She rubbed her temples. "Convert to text. Don't shout in my head."
[Your husband has gone mad! He's trying to capture Rong Fan and take him to the research institute!]
[Oh?! That's all you say?!?]
This woman only ever talked about benefits.
[...Do you want me to give you full system permissions?]
Yu Li replied perfunctorily, "Wow, really? How exciting!"
[...Could you at least pretend to care?]
Yu Li chuckled and sat up properly, her lips parting deliberately: "No."
[You already have all the high-level player permissions. What else could you want? Don't tell me you're short on points?]
Yu Li merely stroked her chin. "I seem to recall there's a function that lets you forcibly bind someone to team up with you?"
[There is, but you need to have teamed up with them at least once before binding.]
"Oh... Well now I know what I want."
The Film Set System instantly understood her implication. [Who do you want to team up with?]
Yu Li's eyes curved slightly as she leisurely uttered two words. "Everyone."
She had grown tired of playing the slow game. If they were going to do this, she might as well take them all down at once.
Did Jiang Xi and Hou Liang think they could escape her? Maybe in their next life.
The system didn't quite grasp who she meant by "everyone"—or perhaps it simply couldn't believe what it was hearing. [Your 'everyone'... refers to whom exactly?]
"Those old fools who only know how to put on airs in the real world." Yu Li pinched her fingertips, then added as if remembering something, "Ah yes, one more condition—you'll need to change how your dungeons work too."
The system paused. [What do you mean?]
She blinked, wearing an innocent smile. "Just broadcasting to the audience is boring. Next dungeon, let all the players watch together."
Feeling the system's silence, Yu Li calmly pulled out her phone and slowly feigned panic: "Let me think... What was Bo Jingmo's number again? How troublesome, I can't quite remember."
If the system had a physical form, it would have been gritting its teeth in frustration by now. [Fine, I agree.]
Her lips curled into a smile as she abruptly set the phone down. "Deal."
The system felt cheated. [Why didn't you call him!?]
But the woman merely raised an eyebrow. "No need. Bo Jingmo was just scaring him."
[...But I don't think... Bo Jingmo was joking. He genuinely seemed like he wanted to kill Rong Fan.]
[Rong Fan... might have done something truly unforgivable.]
The system hesitated. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel~fire~net
Yu Li glanced at the message and pondered for a moment before slowly dialing a number.
"Beep... beep... We're sorry, the number you have dialed is currently busy. Please try again later."
Hearing the cold automated voice, she was slightly surprised. Bo Jingmo was on another call? Why was the system making such a big deal out of this?
Then, as if realizing the situation had changed unexpectedly, the Film Set System awkwardly coughed. [Uh, well... seems like it's fine now.]
Whatever. It wasn't her loss anyway.
But this "unforgivable" thing the system mentioned—what could it be? How could Rong Fan possibly provoke Bo Jingmo?
Just then, her phone buzzed with a message. She initially thought it was from Bo Jingmo, but upon opening it, she saw it was actually from Xin Hao.
Xin Hao: [Hey, I've been thinking—Bo Jingmo suddenly asking about Limu and Rong Fan earlier was kind of weird. Did something happen on your end?]
Reading this, Yu Li froze momentarily before letting out a soft hiss.
Yu Li: [What exactly did you tell him?]
Xin Hao proceeded to copy and paste their earlier conversation, adding at the end: [Was there something wrong with what I said? After that, Bo Jingmo stopped replying altogether.]
After reading everything, Yu Li: "..."
She pinched the bridge of her nose, standing up from the sofa to gaze at the rainy scenery outside, her eyes narrowing slowly.
She seemed to have... forgotten to tell Bo Jingmo how she first met Rong Fan.
At the time, it hadn't seemed important.
Now, however, that clearly wasn't the case.
Ignoring Xin Hao's follow-up questions, she tried calling Bo Jingmo again—only to find his phone turned off this time.
Seeing Xin Hao still pestering her, she frowned and replied.
Yu Li: [Everything you said was wrong.]
Yu Li: [I saved Rong Fan back then because he kept begging me. I only took pity on him and helped cover for him—that's all.]
Xin Hao, currently in another province: ?
What do you mean you saved him??
Yu Li, I think you mistyped!
Disregarding the flood of question marks from Xin Hao, she grabbed a jacket from the sofa and put it on as she walked toward the door.
Just as she was about to take the car keys Bo Jingmo kept in the drawer, Yu Li abruptly froze.
Wait a minute—she didn't have a driver's license in this world.
And knowing how things worked here, she'd definitely get stopped by traffic police, which would only create more trouble.
As Yu Li stood before the drawer weighing her options, footsteps suddenly sounded at the entrance, followed by the beep of the door unlocking.
Yu Li paused and turned to look.
The door opened halfway, revealing the familiar figure of a man standing hesitantly behind it.
Bo Jingmo clearly hadn't expected Yu Li to be home—let alone standing right by the entrance. He froze momentarily, his grip on the door stiffening.
His voice carried a slight hoarseness. "You... why are you here?"
Yu Li stared at him for several seconds before her gaze landed on the faint, unwashed bloodstain on his face.
Then, she pushed the drawer shut with a sharp snap.
The sound seemed to startle the man outside, who instinctively looked toward the source before tentatively asking, "Were you... trying to get the car keys just now?"
Yu Li replied calmly, "No, I was contemplating whether to break the law."
Before he could process that statement, the woman's composed voice cut through the air.
"Bo Jingmo, who did you meet? Why are you back so late?"
His body tensed, fingers curling unconsciously around the doorknob.
"Did you go see Rong Fan?"
Yu Li interrupted him directly, casting him a sidelong glance before slowly adding, "If you wanted to see him so badly, why didn't you come earlier when I was with him?"