Hearing “little lackey,” Gu Rong’s eyes lit up. He shifted his little body on the spot, looked at the stone tomb, and said, “Are you the devil?”

The other party: “…”

How did every sentence feel like an insult?

The other party didn’t bother arguing with a two-year-old toddler… That’s impossible. After all, judging by the voice, the other party might also be a toddler.

Moreover, he was the rumored Lord Devil.

The other party let out a very deliberate “Hmm,” and chuckled: “You little ghost, since you want to be this Lord’s little lackey, then pay your respects to this Lord.”

Gu Rong thought that if he paid his respects, he could become the devil’s little lackey. He immediately got up from the ground and obediently did as he was told, putting his little hands together and bowing towards the stone tomb: “Lord Devil.”

Such a chuunibyou^[1]T/N: chuunibyou – a Japanese term for “middle school second-year syndrome,” referring to adolescents who act like they have special powers or knowledge. conversation would definitely be mocked if it happened among adults, but between two-year-old children, it was perfectly reasonable and didn’t feel awkward at all.

The devil saw that Gu Rong just bowed and said coldly, “Kneel and worship, to show sincerity. You must kneel to worship me.”

Gu Rong was young, but he wasn’t easily fooled. He knew that kneeling to people was a bad thing, and he wouldn’t kneel.

He crossed his little arms and said reasonably, “You’re not a dead kid, why should Zaizai worship you?”

The devil: “…”

…Worship? Zaizai?

This time the devil was silent for even longer, and said displeased: “Rude little ghost.”

If it had been any other adult, He would have swallowed them in one bite. Why would He need to waste so many words?

If it had been any other child, He would have swallowed them too.

It was just that this little ghost had a round head and face, fair skin, and big eyes. His appearance was acceptable, so He would keep this little lackey.

The three who had come with him earlier were no good, their appearance was inferior. The extremely picky Lord Devil definitely wouldn’t have taken a liking to them.

Hearing the other party say he was rude, Gu Rong harrumphed, “I don’t want to play with you anymore.”

The devil: “…………”

Gu Rong listened to 006 and understood that being a little lackey meant being someone’s little underling. Being someone’s underling naturally meant being friends with them.

But the other party was clearly rude and even accused him of being rude, so he didn’t want to play with him anymore.

The devil let out a “heh,” his voice crisp, but full of intimidation: “Play? This Lord never plays with children.”

Gu Rong retorted, “You’re a child yourself.”

The devil: “Don’t talk back. You are this Lord’s little lackey. You must complete the tasks this Lord assigns to you. Don’t be lazy.”

The voice came from the stone tomb. The gates of hell had been sealed by the crucifixes, and a master key was needed to open them.

Even when the devil laughed, it was sinister: “Little lackey, go help this Lord find the master key, or else…”

He ground his teeth: “I’ll eat you.”

The world spun before Gu Rong’s eyes, and a dazzling light shone, making him unable to open his eyes.

The next second, a “ding” sounded in his mind.

[Congratulations, little host, for completing the task and obtaining Identity Card 126: The Devil’s Little Lackey.]

[Success Reward: 100,000 points, Copy Card * 1.]

006’s voice had returned.

Gu Rong opened his eyes in surprise, his little voice excited: [006!!]

Gu Rong had returned to his room, and his soul had returned to his body. He was now lying on the bed.

006 said, still shaken: [Little host, are you okay? For some reason, in the Black Forest, I just called you once, and I was locked in a little dark room. I couldn’t hear or see anything, and I couldn’t speak. I just got out.]

It guessed that the devil had blocked it.

Terrifying. What kind of existence was this devil, to be able to control an NPC’s system?

Gu Rong recounted what had just happened to 006.

His speech was clear, his logic sound and his narration was very organized, not like other children who would jumble things up.

006 was stunned. The little host had even dared to talk back to the Lord Devil?

That was called… a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger?^[2]T/N: A Chinese proverb meaning that young people are often fearless because they are inexperienced.

At this moment, there was another “ding” sound, and the identity card was refreshed.

[Identity Card 126: The Devil’s Little Lackey]

[Task: The devil’s little lackey must help the Lord Devil find five keys, combine them into the master key, open the gates of hell, and release the Lord Devil. The deadline is 8 PM the day after tomorrow.]

[Success Reward: 1,000,000 points, the Devil’s Secret Key.]

[Failure Penalty: Sorry, if you fail, you might anger the Lord Devil and be permanently kept by the devil, forced to work for him for the rest of your life, sell your soul, and become a little drudge who can never turn things around. Please work hard~]

This time, the identity card update didn’t have any other descriptions; it directly gave the task.

8 PM the day after tomorrow, which was one hour before the game ended.

Releasing the devil one hour before the game ended, wouldn’t the players be wiped out?

But this was clearly not something Gu Rong, as an NPC, should be considering.

006: [Little host, we must complete this task, or we’ll become the devil’s little slave!]

This Lord Devil was also quite strange. Couldn’t he see that this was a two-year-old toddler who could barely walk steadily?

He actually entrusted such an important task to this little Zaizai to handle!

006 reasonably suspected that the devil only had this one little lackey, and he had no other choice.

Gu Rong: [Rongrong wants to find Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Ming. Rongrong won’t be a little slave!]

006: [That’s right, the little host won’t be a little slave! We’ll go find the keys next. The five keys are on the five administrators of the mental hospital. The currently confirmed administrators are the nun, Jessie, and the priest.]

Gu Rong said: [And Doctor Uncle.]

006: [Dr. Lin is an external hire. He entered the mental hospital with the patients, just to study them, just like Chief Morrison is just guarding the patients. They’re not administrators.]

Gu Rong let out an “Oh,” and then he was a little troubled, frowning his little eyebrows: [But what if Zaizai asks them for the keys, and they don’t give them?]

006: […]

Good grief, he was planning to ask for them directly?

They definitely wouldn’t give them!

Although the little host was round and cute…

Well, actually, it wouldn’t hurt to try. The little host wasn’t just ordinarily cute. Maybe they’d be so charmed by his cuteness that they’d actually give him the keys to play with?

006: [Little host, look, we now have a Copy Card.]

A copy card floated on the screen in front of Gu Rong.

Gu Rong tapped it with his little hand, and the card flipped over, showing a description.

[Copy Card: Infinite item, reusable, can copy any inanimate object. Copies can be stored in the system backpack.]

[Copy Conditions: The owner must have personally seen the item. Task-related items cannot be copied.]

[Items that cannot be copied in this instance: Keys.]

[Cooldown: 24 hours.]

006 said: [Little host, you can copy anything except keys. You can copy other people’s skills and items!]

Gu Rong nodded and looked at the room: [Can I copy the castle?]

The next second, the entire mental hospital was quickly replicated, one becoming two.

The copy card could only copy inanimate objects. The copied mental hospital had no living beings inside. In other aspects, from the large castle building to the small patterned carvings, everything was identical.

006: […………]

Gu Rong leaned on the window, looking through the wire mesh at the mental hospital that had suddenly appeared outside, letting out a surprised “Wow,” his big eyes sparkling.

006 wiped away non-existent sweat and stored the copied mental hospital in the system backpack.

The next time the copy card could be used would be in 24 hours.

–

Soon, the afternoon break was over.

The female nurse came to open the room again. Seeing Gu Rong already sitting on the bed with his short legs crossed, her eyes immediately lit up, and her voice softened a few degrees: “Little patient, it’s time to get up.”

Gu Rong nodded his little head and slid off the bed himself to put on his shoes: “Uh-huh, get up and eat!”

006: […]

The female nurse: “…”

No, who said it was time to eat?

The female nurse: “Little patient, it’s not dinner time yet. From 3 PM to 5 PM is reading time. All patients must go to the library to read.”

Hearing that he had to read, Gu Rong tilted his little head, spread his pale, pink little hands, and said with a sincere little face, “Zaizai can’t read, how can I read?”

The female nurse: “…”

Good question.

–

Gu Rong obediently let the female nurse hold his hand, leaving the room and heading to the library.

The female nurse held the little darling’s soft, chubby little hand, and the motherly smile on her face never faded.

Gu Rong was a lively cub. He hopped and skipped as he walked, singing a song. This time he changed it up, not singing “Little Jumping Frog,” but singing “Little Donkey” instead.

“I have a little donkey, hmph hmph hmph I don’t ride, hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph go to the market…”^[3]“Little Donkey” is a well-known Chinese children’s song. The hmph sounds are meant to mimic the donkey’s braying, but Gu Rong is replacing most of the lyrics with it.

Everyone: “…”

Shouldn’t this be called “Little Hmph Donkey”?

It was the same infinite game, but this little cub seemed to be on vacation, his joyfulness completely out of place.

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were relieved to see the little cub still alive and kicking.

“Big Brother, Little Brother!”

Gu Rong saw Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao, let go of the female nurse’s hand, and was about to dadada towards the two of them with his short little legs.

At this moment, however, a panel appeared in the empty space in front of him, and countless comments scrolled across the panel.

[??!]

[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

[Who understands my feelings right now? Oh my god, Zaizai is so amazing, he actually unlocked the NPC livestream!]

[Damn, damn, what am I seeing? I finally don’t have to mooch off players’ livestreams to watch Zaizai anymore. I can finally watch him freely, wuwuwu, I’m crying!!!]

[Family, we finally have a home. I’m doing a Thomas the Tank Engine spin and crying! [covers mouth]]

[Zaizai, Zaizai, look at me, look at me, I’m your most loving Auntie! [Gifts points]]

[Gifts points]

–

The viewers began to frantically gift, like money was no object.

Viewers had previously gifted players because Gu Rong appeared in their live streams. Now that they were in the presence of the real deal, they gifted even more generously.

Gu Rong stopped in his tracks, his little head full of big questions.

Huh? What was this?

006 explained: [Congratulations, little host, your total points have exceeded 100,000, unlocking your personal livestream.]

NPCs also had live streams, but they had to earn 100,000+ points in the current instance to unlock them.

Gu Rong had earned a total of 160,000 points, with over 159,000 remaining, after deducting the points the system had used to buy him a comb, hair oil, a lollipop, and snacks.

Gu Rong understood and nodded his little head.

The comments were processed by the system, so Gu Rong could automatically understand them even though he couldn’t read.

He saw the viewers calling themselves Auntie and gifting him, so he politely and gratefully said in a babyish voice, “Thank you, Aunties!”

The female nurse couldn’t see the live stream and thought Gu Rong was thanking her for holding his hand. However, he had called her “Sister” earlier, so why had he changed to “Auntie”?

Actually, calling her Auntie was also okay. The little patient was only two years old.

The female nurse: “You’re welcome.”

[Ahhhhhh, you’re welcome, little darling. Auntie’s is Zaizai’s, and Zaizai’s is still Zaizai’s! [Gifts points]]

[A welcome gift for Zaizai [Gifts points]]

[Pocket money for Zaizai [Gifts points]]

[Wasn’t Zaizai wanting to drink milk? Buying milk for Zaizai [Gifts points]]

[Zaizai is too cute, too cute, cuteness overload!! [Gifts points]]

Gu Rong looked down at himself and even touched his little tummy.

Zaizai didn’t explode!

006: … speechless

At the same time, the viewers in the players’ livestreams finally stopped talking about that cub.

The players were stunned for a moment, and then they were a little uncomfortable, but they also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before they could finish breathing a sigh of relief, they discovered that although the viewers had stopped talking about the cub, the viewership had also plummeted, and the gifts were gone.

The players: …?!