Marry the NPC with Money, Wife Comes Knocking - Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Suspended above a lone island was an enormous spherical building. It resembled the World Eye, as if not the slightest stir anywhere in the world could escape its all-seeing gaze.

Inside the sphere was a vast living space for humans, comparable to an entire community. There were residential areas and trading districts, and more than a thousand people lived there.

This was the Thriller Research Agency Center. Every one of those thousand-plus people was a researcher, with a small number of individuals blessed with extraordinary fortune who were less susceptible to Thriller Contamination. Those people were considered key research subjects.

Of course, their research did not involve inhumane methods like imprisonment or dissection. They merely performed routine genetic analysis. After discovering that these individuals were connected to the speed at which Thriller spread, the Agency used various technological means to prioritize protecting their survival rates inside dungeons.

The Agency had been established with funding and directives from the highest political body of Great City. Its purpose was to respond to the Thriller crisis and seek a solution.

The first batch of researchers had joined under Dr. Quan’s leadership. After that, the team gradually expanded until it reached its current scale of more than a thousand people.

At this moment, Dr. Quan and his two disciples were in the dungeon observation room. He had just tried to control a burrowing robot hidden underground to take Hua Suihe away, but Ye Susheng had guarded her too tightly. There had not been the slightest opening, and he could only watch helplessly as the two of them left.

Dr. Quan was now staring at the drones circling in the air after halting their bombardment. His expression was far from pleasant.

His two disciples knew he was angry and immediately shifted the blame elsewhere.

“Teacher, Pei Ying failed to relay the information in time, causing us to miss the best opportunity.”

“After checking the surveillance, we discovered that Hua Suihe had been walking alone outside for quite some time. If Pei Ying had sent the news back promptly, we would have brought her back long ago.”

Dr. Quan was thin and gaunt, with sunken eye sockets, faint stubble, and the appearance of a man in his forties.

He let out a soft laugh and turned his head slightly. His dark, sinister gaze fell on them. “Then what were the two of you doing just now?”

With a flick of his hand, he smashed the pocket watch he was holding against the male disciple’s forehead.

The disciple was so frightened that he bent over and lowered his head, not even daring to touch the spot where he had been struck.

“Useless trash.” Dr. Quan brushed off his sleeve. The female disciple picked up the pocket watch from the floor and presented it to him with both hands.

Dr. Quan took it and placed it back into his pocket. “Shanhu, head to the Protection Zone Dungeon at once. You must find Hua Suihe and forcibly bring her back. Since inviting her politely doesn’t work, we’ll use force first and courtesy later.”

“Yes.”

Watching Shanhu accept the task and leave, Qiaomu remained where he was, miserable inside but not daring to show it.

He did not know how long he waited before he felt his teacher’s finger wipe across his forehead. The mechanical watch had struck him with considerable force just now, and the blow had already drawn blood.

“You can hurry up and get lost too.”

As if he had been granted a pardon, Qiaomu moved with astonishing speed and left the observation room, even closing the door behind him.

Dr. Quan lowered his eyes and looked at his bloodstained fingertip. The madness in his gaze seemed almost ready to spill out. As though he had been suppressing himself for a very long time, he raised his finger to his mouth, smeared the sticky blood across his lips, and licked it with an almost perverse hunger.

It was a scent of blood that was hard to resist.

He would always find a way to resolve these side effects.

Hua Suihe and Ye Susheng stayed at home for a week. During that week, the two of them were inseparable. In the past, Ye Susheng would go out to buy groceries before Hua Hua woke up, but things were different now. She would not let Hua Hua leave her sight, so they had to go together.

Aside from going out to buy groceries, they did not leave the house at all. They did not go shopping or take walks. They simply stayed cooped up at home the entire time.
There was only one downside: aside from the half hour they got to shower, the livestream never stopped. The break was too short, which meant they never had time to get intimate. Even their showers had to be taken separately.

Hua Suihe didn’t really mind. Whenever she had time, she chatted with the fans in the livestream room, and occasionally sent private messages to Gu Gu.

Ye Susheng could sense the change in Hua Suihe. In the past, when they were in a dungeon, Hua Hua rarely talked to the viewers in the livestream room. But these past few days, she was always chatting with a bunch of things Ye Susheng couldn’t see. Sometimes Hua Suihe would read a funny comment aloud to share with her, but Ye Susheng couldn’t laugh.

The private space that belonged to her and Hua Hua was gone.

Clearly, she and Hua Hua were in their own home. Clearly, the black mist had sealed off every corner. It should have been just the two of them.

But that livestream camera couldn’t be seen or touched. That livestream room existed in some empty, intangible form. She couldn’t touch it or grab it, yet it had stolen Hua Hua’s attention away.

Most importantly, Hua Hua seemed completely unaware that this thing affected their life. No matter how much Ye Susheng showed that she disliked the existence of the livestream’s perspective, Hua Hua never noticed her feelings.

Today was the same. After Hua Hua finished her shower, she lay down on the bed. When Ye Susheng came out after her own shower, she saw Hua Hua poking at an invisible screen with her finger.

Judging by the motion, she was typing.

She was chatting with her best friend again. These past few days, she had been having such a lively time talking to her.

Ye Susheng climbed onto the bed and sat beside Hua Suihe, spreading her white hair across the pink blanket. Quietly, she fanned out the strands and draped them in front of Hua Suihe.

Hua Suihe noticed her little movement and turned to look at Ye Susheng. “What’s wrong?”

Ye Susheng’s gaze flickered, and she casually made up an excuse. “I want Hua Hua to braid my hair.”

Hua Suihe didn’t refuse. After asking what style she wanted, she deftly braided her hair. The whole thing took less than ten minutes.

Ye Susheng held her braid in both hands. When she looked back, Hua Hua’s happiness had nothing to do with her again.

Sulking, she flopped down onto the pillow with her back to Hua Suihe. She stared blankly ahead, let her thoughts run wild for a while, and tears quietly welled from her eyes, dampening the pillow.

Perhaps there was a sob in her breathing, because Hua Hua noticed her.

Hua Suihe looked at Ye Susheng lying on her side beside her. Her brows lifted, amusement surfacing in her eyes. She coughed lightly twice, trying to attract a certain someone’s attention, but the effect was poor.

Hua Suihe patted Ye Susheng on the shoulder. “Ye Zi, I want to discuss something with you.”

“It’s pretty serious. It concerns our romantic life.”

Ye Susheng’s ears twitched. She buried her face in the pillow, using it to wipe away her tears before turning back to look at Hua Suihe. Little did she know, her reddened eyes had already betrayed her, making her look like a bullied little thing.

Hua Suihe pressed her lips together and held it in for a moment before she managed not to laugh out loud.

Hua Suihe took the art of filing the first complaint to its absolute limit. “I feel like you’ve been too cold to me. It hurts.”

Ye Susheng’s eyes instantly widened, filled with disbelief and self-doubt. “I haven’t. You’re clearly the one neglecting me.”

Hua Suihe sighed in disappointment. “See? Now you still want to argue and fight. You weren’t like this before.”

With that one sentence, Ye Susheng shot upright. Looking a little flustered, she explained, “I’m not trying to fight.”

Hua Suihe’s eyes were innocent. “Then when I called you just now and you ignored me, wasn’t that because you wanted to neglect me?”