Moonlight quietly spilled across the floor. Chi Liu, wrapped in a blanket, slept soundly on the floor.

The tightly shut metal door emitted a dull “ding.” Someone removed the peephole glass, and an excessively pale, slender, and bony finger probed inside. As it merged with the shadows, a deep blue tentacle, newly formed from the fingertip, reached towards the youth in the moonlight.

It crawled into the blanket, the tentacle coiled around the young man’s slender ankle, its suckers clinging with feverish devotion to the warm, smooth skin of his calf. Slowly, almost teasingly, it slithered upward along the seam of his trousers…

Chi Liu, with his eyes closed, suddenly frowned. His moist lips parted slightly, and he unconsciously “mmmed,” his body arching gently. The hand resting on his abdomen gripped the fabric tightly.

Outside the window, the mimosa tree swayed gently. In the tranquil moonlight, the youth lay curled up like a cooked shrimp. An unusual flush colored his face, and pearly beads of sweat dotted his fair forehead.

One foot had somehow slipped out from under the blanket, its ankle tightly entwined by a tentacle radiating a deep blue light. The toes, the same color as the moonlight, slowly curled up, gradually tinged with pink…

…

After an unknown amount of time, the tentacle finally released the youth’s clothing, sated. It politely and thoroughly covered the youth again with the blanket and drew the curtains over the French windows.

Before departing, as if struck by a thought, it located the thermostat switch in the house and activated it—its master, standing outside the door, suddenly recalled that NPCs seemed to be extraordinarily sensitive to cold temperatures.

…

Chu Qi, who had retracted the tentacle outside the door, stared at the peephole for a long time. Finally, he abandoned the idea of replacing the peephole glass with his own eyeball. He flawlessly replaced the original glass, just as he had removed it—as if he were cheating.

Chu Qi put the removed eyeball back into his eye socket, a satisfied yet helpless smile on his face—his little believer was already fanatical enough; he couldn’t let him become even more so because of this eyeball.

It was said that overly intense emotions were detrimental to an NPC’s health.

But, if what just happened could be considered an intangible reward, what tangible reward should he give him?

Chu Qi tilted his head in thought for a moment. The glass window beside the corridor automatically slid open, and countless dreamlike, pale pink blossoms reluctantly detached from the branches outside, drifting toward him.

Pale pink, soft flowers carpeted the area in front of Chi Liu’s door. Chu Qi examined his body for a long time, finally neatly and cleanly snapping off his entire left ring finger.

The flesh on the finger instantly withered as it left its master, leaving behind only three clean finger bones.

He placed the finger bone in the center of the mimosa flower bed, a strange smile returning to his face.

Yes, ribs, eyeballs, and hearts would drive his little believer crazy, but a finger bone was just right.

Chu Qi looked at everything with satisfaction and turned to leave in a good mood, returning to his own home.

…

The next day, the brilliant sunlight of May shone brightly through the sheer white curtains. Chi Liu groggily sat up and began to unbutton his shirt—he felt a little hot.

Suddenly, sensing something, he paused, his eyes widening. A blush crept up his neck and onto his cheeks.

He twitched his lips and glanced down after lifting the blanket, his fair face turning completely red.

After calming himself by touching his forehead for a while, Chi Liu took a deep breath and got up to go to the bathroom. As he walked, he thought with some embarrassment about how he should return this set of clothes to Secretary Wen.

After washing up, changing into his newly bought loungewear, throwing the used clothes into the washing machine, and eating breakfast, he reported the automatically opened thermostat from the previous night to the property management. Only then did Chi Liu sit down on the sofa with a cup of coffee.

Perhaps he had been too tired these past few days; he had slept from yesterday afternoon until now.

The fragrant aroma of the hot coffee wafted upwards. Chi Liu took a sip, his brow slightly furrowing: why was the latte so bitter? He had clearly added plenty of milk.

Actually, while he was eating breakfast, he noticed that his sense of taste seemed to have suddenly become very… sensitive…

Chi Liu simply set down the coffee and blinked: he had originally planned to go to the bar today to oversee the renovations, but maybe he should rest for a day.

He had to attend a wine tasting event the following night, which would require socializing, so he should conserve his energy now.

After making his decision, Chi Liu got up and walked toward the door. Having a rare day off in this unfamiliar world, he wanted to cook something he felt like eating.

As soon as he opened the door, Chi Liu: “Achoo!”

Several pink, fluffy little flowers were shaken up by the opening of the door and floated into the air. Chi Liu, who had a slight pollen allergy, covered his nose with his sleeve and widened his eyes: “???”

He saw that the entire half of the corridor outside his door was covered in a thick layer of mimosa flowers!

The mimosa trees outside the corridor had been stripped bare!

His eyesight was always good, so he immediately saw that there seemed to be a white bone in the center of the mimosa flower bed!

Good heavens, in broad daylight! Had he encountered a pervert!

Chi Liu was shocked: on the fourth day after transmigrating to another world, had he offended someone to this extent?

Just how lacking in public morality was the person who used such a childish method to retaliate against him!

The mimosa flowers grow well and provoke him!

While wondering if it could be that starlet from yesterday, Chi Liu covered his nose and walked into the mimosa flower bed to pick up the bone.

After skillfully rubbing it at the joints, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: it looked like a human finger bone, but the feel of the bone was different from human bone.

Although the fact that he couldn’t identify the type of bone was also quite scary, at least no one was harmed.

Chi Liu twitched his lips and disgustedly pinched it with two fingers, returning home and casually throwing it into a glass jar he was planning to throw away.

He wanted to throw it directly into the trash can, but some indescribable sixth sense told him that it was better not to throw it away…

After dealing with the bone, Chi Liu put on a mask and took out cleaning tools, cursing the person who had done this a hundred times in his heart while cleaning up the unfortunate mimosa flowers to avoid causing trouble for the cleaning auntie.

…

Yingwang Building, President’s Office.

Having just finished a video conference, Secretary Wen looked at his boss in horror.

The boss was still sitting behind that imposing and exaggerated desk, his face still handsome and unparalleled, and he still gave off a strong sense of oppression as always.

But he was looking at a certain finger on his left hand with a, uh, gentle and unsettling gaze…

Secretary Wen was shocked: what was wrong with his boss?

Could a mental-type player have attacked him?

His boss was wise, disciplined, and invincible; how could a mere mental-type player defeat him?

Seeing that the gaze was becoming more and more horrifying, even developing in a perverted direction, Secretary Wen finally couldn’t help but speak: “Boss, you…”

What is it?

Chu Qi raised his deep black eyes and showed him his left hand, specifically, his ring finger (newly grown): “My clever little believer immediately recognized my gift. He happily accepted it. He is so devout, so loving and respectful of me, he caressed my finger bone inch by inch, reluctant to let go, until he treasured it and preserved it.”

As he spoke, he smiled helplessly: “I never knew before that there was a believer in this world who was so in tune with me.”

When the little believer caressed his finger bone, the sensation made his entire left hand tremble; it was so wonderful…

Secretary Wen’s face showed a subtle, indescribable expression: “Uh… Mr. Chi seems…” not like a very fanatical person…

And he didn’t understand how his boss had determined that the other person was a believer…

There were indeed some inexplicable groups of believers in the vacation world, but they were simply extremely sensitive and fragile in spirit, perhaps catching a glimpse of “that world” in their dreams in a vague way, and thus believing in a fictional god.

Referring to it as a belief felt more like a gathering of individuals united by shared interests and fears—similar to a darker take on the Paranormal Research Association.

None of them had ever come before the boss, nor did they know that their god existed in this world.

Chu Qi looked at him at this time, his handsome face unusually vivid, the edges of his dark pupils flashing with excited red light: “…Although being too clingy is really a headache, he is really cute, isn’t he?”

Secretary Wen’s mind was blank, wanting to say something but unable to say anything. His lips twitched subtly, but he still forced himself to say, “…Of course.”

After a pause, he finally remembered the business at hand and said, “Boss, can I bring Xiang Xiang to the NPC wine tasting event tomorrow night? It’s time for him to get some experience.”

Chu Qi wasn’t interested in such details. He continued to admire his extremely pale left hand, saying casually, “You can arrange such things.”

Secretary Wen lowered his head slightly and said respectfully, “Yes.”

…

The next night, a grand wine tasting event arrived as scheduled.

Secretary Wen was still wearing his salaryman suit, smiling and socializing with every NPC guest. Xiang Xiang hid behind him, staring at the ceiling in a daze.

After seeing off a wave of people, Secretary Wen stared at the red velvet curtain not far away with a headache.

Behind it was a lounge.

A few minutes ago, just as the banquet started, his boss, with a perfect and eerie smile, took their mission target—that starlet Xu Pei—inside.

Completely disrupting their planned approach of getting close to the other party by dancing first, and then slowly inducing them to provide information.

He should have realized long ago that the boss didn’t have that kind of patience and would only use the most brutal and effective methods to solve problems.

He doesn’t want to imagine what that NPC would encounter…

Secretary Wen pinched his brow and looked at Xiang Xiang: “Currently, the players who have arrived here don’t know our identities. If a certain player is close to Xu Pei, then he is likely to be here tonight.”

“Xiang Xiang, you have to learn to identify them by their scent, understand?”

Xiang Xiang’s little face was now filled with excitement. He slowly raised his arm and pointed toward the door, his left blue eyeball shining brightly: “Little Chi.”

Secretary Wen’s pupils shrank.

…

“Achoo.”

Chi Liu, who was a little late, bumped into a man in the wine area.

The rose scent on the other person was so strong that he couldn’t help but sneeze softly.

“I’m so sorry,” a pair of large hands supported Chi Liu’s arm, the man’s voice unbelievably gentle: “Are you alright?”

Whether intentional or unintentional, the man’s overly long thumb slid ambiguously and meaningfully towards the wrist bone outside Chi Liu’s sleeve, seemingly wanting to touch the skin there.

Chi Liu paused, and after steadying himself, neatly retracted his arm before the man’s hand touched his skin. He raised his head, and a pair of blue eyes were reflected in his pupils.

It was a flawless face, every facial feature perfect, as if every detail had been carefully carved.

The man, dressed in an expensive suit, showed a hint of regret on his face, and a pair of green, glowing eyes looked at Chi Liu affectionately. “I bumped into you; let me compensate you, okay?” he continued.

Chi Liu smiled slightly: “No need.”

The man extended his hand towards him in a gentlemanly manner: “Then, may I have the honor of knowing you? I am Xu Chen, and I just acquired several old wineries in southern Europe. Perhaps you would be interested in our wine.”

Chi Liu came here to connect with suppliers and get the best quality wine at the most favorable prices. He raised an eyebrow and was about to shake the man’s hand, but his movement paused.

His brow furrowed slightly, and his gaze swept subtly towards his flat abdomen: Was it his imagination?

Just now, it felt like something inside had lightly and urgently bumped against his belly…

He seemed to know instinctively that it was anxiously reminding him: run away quickly…

——————–

The first reunion of a family of three (?)