Yesterday, he got drained so many times and was pinned down by a ghost all night. He didn't get any proper rest at all. His body had only recovered a little, and he was still weak as hell.

Zhong Cheng wasn't some inflatable doll. He couldn't just deflate, shrivel up, then bounce back with a few pumps of air.

He was a living person. Recovery took time. It took the right conditions too.

He felt like the Ghost Emperor didn't see him as a person at all, just some corporate slave to squeeze dry and butcher at will.

Just throw money at him, promise fake promotions and raises, then make him work 996. No concern for how bad his condition was, or whether his body could even handle that kind of intensity.

Not a shred of human warmth. Cold and ruthless.

Did she even know how many people died from overwork every year? Did she know that number was still rising?

Screw 996!

Zhong Cheng didn't want to get drained again. He begged for mercy.

Too bad he had no right to refuse.

The Ghost Emperor was already leaning over. Her black hair swayed, painting a dreamlike scene. Her expression was alluring and seductive, so romantic it almost looked like love.

But Zhong Cheng had stopped believing in love a long time ago, so there was no way he'd buy it!

That breathtaking face moved closer to him...

Zhong Cheng wanted to dodge, but his chin was seized hard. The grip was like iron tongs. He couldn't avoid her at all.

Even pressing his lips tightly shut was useless.

Like a helpless girl cornered by a creep, too weak to resist, pitiful, tiny, and utterly defenseless.

Suck—

When the Ghost Emperor lightly drew in a breath with her little mouth, Zhong Cheng's tightly pressed lips were forced open by an invisible power, leaving him completely at her mercy.

Green smoke drifted out of Zhong Cheng's mouth and into hers.

Compared to before, this green smoke was much thinner. It came out in wisps and threads, like a faucet with no water pressure, awkwardly close to running dry at any moment.

But what was running out here wasn't water.

It was his life.

His fierce survival instinct made Zhong Cheng struggle with all his might. Sadly, just like every time before, no matter how hard he fought, it was useless. If anything, it only made the Ghost Emperor more excited.

The more you struggle, the more excited I get!

Zhong Cheng finally understood what it felt like to be forcibly overpowered by a man. It was like being force-kissed by some musclebound brute. He couldn't resist. Trapped in arms thicker than his thighs, he could only submit unwillingly.

What utter humiliation.

"What are you two doing...?"

Zhong Xi had just come out of her room and happened to see this shocking scene. Her big black-and-white eyes went wide with disbelief.

She hurriedly covered her little oval face with her pale, delicate hands, but spread her fingers wide apart, her eyes rolling as she peeked through the gaps at the two of them.

Her sudden appearance interrupted them, and the two finally separated.

The Ghost Emperor licked her lips, looking unsatisfied.

Zhong Cheng gasped for air, like someone who had just barely recovered from suffocation.

After panting for a while, Zhong Cheng finally felt a little better. He turned to look at his sister. She was still covering her face with both hands, with no intention of putting them down.

What was she even doing?

He should've been grateful she showed up and interrupted the Ghost Emperor's forceful domination, but now that his sister had seen it, he had no idea how to explain it.

"Xiao Xi, it's not what you think..." Zhong Cheng said weakly.

"I know, I know. This is the adult world, right? Kissing is normal. It's just my first time seeing it up close, so I got a little startled. Don't mind me."

"But next time you do something this intimate, could you please pick a place where no one will walk in? It's kind of awkward to see."

"Seriously. Even if you're a couple, getting this heated first thing in the morning... how am I, a poor single dog, supposed to handle that?" his sister muttered at the end, sounding a little dissatisfied.

"..."

What was she even talking about?

So she thought they were just kissing?

Then again, that was the normal conclusion.

What normal person would think she was sucking out his yang energy?

Honestly, that worked out fine. It saved him the trouble of explaining.

After absorbing his yang energy, the Ghost Emperor looked rosy and satisfied.

Zhong Cheng, meanwhile, was still breathing in soft, broken gasps. His face was pale, the bags under his eyes deep, like someone in the terminal stages of kidney deficiency.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he'd just been thoroughly ravished.

And his sister really did think her brother had been ravished. She had already lowered her hands and walked over with a slightly envious look.

She had clearly seen it just now. It was Sister Weiwei who made the first move, forcefully kissing her brother in a domineering, top-down way.

That was seriously cool. She was totally into it.

A pretty, cool, big-breasted older sister—who wouldn't love that?

Compared to her, her brother was the submissive one, a pretty boy, not handsome at all.

Though to be fair, his sister had known that for a long time.

What a waste. A flower stuck in cow dung. Such a waste of that chest.

"What?" Zhong Cheng noticed the strange look in his sister's eyes and asked.

"Nothing." Zhong Xi curled her lips and replied.

His sister was acting a little weird, but then again, what teenage boy or girl wasn't weird in some way?

...

It was already getting late.

Zhong Cheng opened Ele.me and ordered some takeout for breakfast.

He had originally wanted to make breakfast himself, but after getting drained once by the Ghost Emperor, all he wanted was to be a quiet salted fish.

The takeout arrived quickly.

But for some reason, the delivery guy had been stopped at the entrance of the residential complex and wasn't allowed in. He could only leave the food at the security booth.

The delivery guy had already called Zhong Cheng and told him to come get it himself.

Delivery guys these days were getting lazier and lazier. He wouldn't even climb to the third floor. Zhong Cheng was definitely giving him a bad review later!

This whole "got stopped" thing was probably just an excuse.

It wasn't like he had never ordered takeout before. Since when had they ever stopped deliveries?

"Xiao Xi, go get the takeout," said Zhong Cheng, too deep in salted-fish mode to move, so he sent his sister instead.

"No. This match isn't over yet. I can't screw over my teammates." His trashy little sister was busy playing Honor of Kings and couldn't be bothered with him.

Damn it.

This useless little gremlin. He took such good care of her, and now she wouldn't even go downstairs to grab takeout for him.

What "can't screw over my teammates"? As if she hadn't already screwed over plenty of teammates before. One more time wouldn't make a difference.

Too useless.

"Ghost... wife, can you go get the takeout?" Zhong Cheng turned a hopeful gaze toward the Ghost Emperor.

"What do you think?" the Ghost Emperor replied with a smile.

Heh.

Since both of them were acting like this, then he, Zhong Cheng, wasn't the kind of man who liked begging people in a low voice anyway!

Zhong Cheng resolutely got to his feet, dragged his exhausted body out the door, and headed downstairs.

A moment later, he reached the bottom.

Because his condition was so poor, it took him more than twice as long as usual to get downstairs.

At the stairwell, he ran into two residents whispering to each other. He couldn't hear what they were saying. Their voices were low, like they were plotting something. It felt suspicious.

When Zhong Cheng walked closer, the two residents immediately shut up and shot him wary looks.

Why were they looking at him like that?

Before Zhong Cheng could ask, the two turned around and left in a hurry, leaving him completely baffled.

He didn't think much of it. Maybe they just had something urgent to do.

Zhong Cheng started walking again and stepped out of the building.

Just then, another resident approached from the side.

If neither of them changed direction, they would bump into each other in ten steps.

Of course they wouldn't actually collide. They weren't trains on rails. Changing direction was easy.

Normally, before two people bumped into each other, one side would smoothly avoid the other, and they'd pass by without issue.

The other person saw Zhong Cheng, then immediately turned around with a wary face, stopped, and stared at him like a tiger watching its prey.

"??" Zhong Cheng.

Wasn't that avoidance a little too dramatic? Just how scared were you of bumping into him?

What was going on?

Why was everyone acting like avoiding him would bring good fortune?

If it had only happened once or twice, fine. But from the moment Zhong Cheng came downstairs until now, this had already happened four times in a row.

Sure, he wasn't exactly outgoing, and his popularity in the complex was pretty average, but there was no need to avoid him like the plague, right?

I seriously suspect you people are messing with my mental state!

He hadn't done anything bad, yet people were treating him like some criminal. Didn't they know that kind of thing could really mess someone up?

Please, I'm begging you, be decent people and stop messing with me. Sure, I browse porn sites, play pirated games, love freeloading, and always say "next time for sure," but I'm really not a bad person. I'm a good kid.

Thankfully, Zhong Cheng soon realized the residents weren't targeting only him, because he wasn't the only one being watched warily.

The courtyard wasn't large. It was clean, well landscaped, and the air was fresh. There was a small plaza in the middle, paths connecting the different buildings, and a few long stone benches and stone tables.

This was the gathering spot for the residents of Xingfu Building Complex.

You could often see residents gathered here, especially the aunties, chatting happily while secretly trading information in a warm, lively atmosphere.

With a few laughs and casual words, they could dig up whatever gossip they wanted, finding out what had happened in whose home, how someone's child was doing, and so on.

Even when no information was being traded, the place usually carried an easy, relaxed mood.

But today, the courtyard was eerily deserted, and the atmosphere was strange.

There were far fewer residents lingering around. And even when there were people, they kept to themselves and watched each other with caution.

It was like a mole had appeared among them, forcing all transactions to stop until the hidden traitor was found.

The few residents wandering in the courtyard all acted independently. They looked relaxed and casual on the surface, but in truth, their eyes kept drifting toward the other residents, and sharp glints would flash through them from time to time.

The smiles they showed when greeting each other looked sincere at first, but if you watched carefully for a while, you'd be horrified to realize those smiles were stiff and soulless.

A template. A template. Recycled smiles over and over again. Pure customer-service smiles!

They weren't being sincere at all. They were just going through the motions, all while sizing up the other residents with deep, watchful eyes, like they were screening for something.

A mole. They were looking for the hidden mole.

There was no mistake. The mole was here.

Every one of them looked ordinary, just average busy commoners, but they had extraordinary powers of observation. Their disguises were excellent. They might even be former KGB agents.

Zhong Cheng couldn't help feeling solemn respect.

Then he wisely kept his distance.

He had absolutely no idea what these people were trying to do.