Yan Yu closed his eyes, unwilling to look at his injuries. Once he'd steadied himself, he picked up the bathrobe from the floor.
At least his clothes were still in the bathroom. He wouldn't have to leave the room wearing the robe.
After changing, he looked at himself in the mirror. His clothes couldn't conceal every sign of what had happened.
He touched the swelling on his forehead.
Dried blood covered the spot where he'd been hurt the night before.
Overnight, the wound had become inflamed, raising an ugly bump.
He looked away, humiliated, and left the bathroom.
His phone lay beneath a heap of the man's clothes on the floor.
After a night without charging, the ancient device—practically a retiree dragged back to work—had finally gone on strike. It wouldn't turn on.
He stood, discouraged. A flash of light caught his eye.
He turned instinctively. A cufflink.
He didn't recognize the metal. Elaborate detailing held an irregular blue gemstone that scattered brilliant light.
The person he was playing wouldn't know what to call that sparkle, but he knew the cufflink was worth more than he could ever afford.
And something so valuable had simply been discarded on the floor.
He blinked, bent down, and picked it up, unable to resist running a finger over it.
Beautiful.
The man on the bed turned over. Yan Yu flinched, dropping the cufflink. It rolled out of sight.
Afraid Gu Huaizhi would wake, he hurriedly turned away.
He didn't stop to see what his foot had knocked aside. Taking his phone, he fled the room.
[Yan Yu: Another minute and I really might have pocketed that cufflink! Did you see it, System? Such beautiful fire. I want it. T_T]
The System suggested taking it as compensation, in terms crude enough to earn a correction.
[Yan Yu: Restricted vocabulary. ^_^]
[System: Understood. Updating the word list...]
Once it had recorded the offending expression, it continued.
[System: But why not take it? You could use it to save Grandma Director. Then Gu Huaizhi couldn't threaten you with everyone at the orphanage.]
With that worry removed, surely its host's charm would make raising the target's Affinity effortless.
A tiny little mission? Easy!
The System congratulated itself on its brilliance.
[Yan Yu: Clever little thing. Now look at Gu Huaizhi's stats before you say anything else.]
[If I did that, what would happen to his Corruption? Straight through the roof? :)]
The System hurriedly brought up the values.
[Target: Gu Huaizhi]
[Corruption: 95. Affinity: 0.]
A Heartbreak value appeared at the bottom, grayed out and inactive.
Yan Yu had already checked the panel when he received the storyline.
He suspected Corruption had started at one hundred and grudgingly dropped by five points during the night.
[Yan Yu: Hah. Men.]
[System: +_+]
[Yan Yu: Once more, our motto: Let the light of righteousness shine across the land! Taking things without asking is not acceptable.]
He made his way out of the hotel, avoiding everyone he could.
The midday sun was painfully bright. His eyes watered, and he narrowed them against the glare. His throat felt parched.
His phone was dead, and he had no cash. He could only walk back to the orphanage.
After two bottles of wine and the violence of the previous night, this body was close to collapse. Yan Yu's awareness was all that kept it going.
Ninety-five percent pain suppression was no joke. The physical debuffs barely reached him.
He moved slowly along the road, keeping up his performance while educating his innocent System.
[System: If you couldn't take the cufflink, why pick it up at all?]
Its processing capacity was beginning to feel inadequate.
Its host wasn't someone who wasted effort. He must have had a reason!
[Yan Yu sighed: Am I not even allowed to look at something I can't take?]
[System: ...]
[Ding! Gu Huaizhi's Corruption +1. Current Corruption: 96.]
[Affinity +5. Current Affinity: 5.]
[Yan Yu: Guess what Gu Huaizhi's doing now. My bet? Hunting deer.]
[System: +_+ I don't understand.]
On the pavement, Yan Yu finally gave out. His slight frame swayed, his eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious.
There were few pedestrians. No one noticed him collapse.
Already stretched out in system space with an iced drink, Yan Yu clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Bad planning. I should have found a busier place to faint.”
[System: o_o ...]
Elsewhere, Gu Huaizhi woke and gave little thought to the harm he'd caused the previous night. His attention remained fixed on himself.
After spending some time in the bathroom, he lit a cigarette and messaged his assistant, Nan Yi, to bring a fresh set of clothes.
Opening the door, he stepped on something hard.
He frowned. A sapphire cufflink lay on the floor.
A glance around failed to reveal its companion.
He picked it up, rubbing a fingertip over the smooth facets. An unreadable smile appeared on his face.
First an intruder in his room, and now theft?
Nan Yi knocked. Gu Huaizhi accepted the clothes. “Call the police.”
Nan Yi looked blankly at him.
Faced with his employer's impatient stare, he fell silent and wisely withdrew.
In system space, Yan Yu reclined in a massage chair supplied by the System. On the display, a kind passerby took his unconscious body to a hospital, after which Gu Huaizhi's people transferred him to a private room.
A dejected white ball of light huddled beside him.
Gu Huaizhi's Corruption had just reached one hundred.
Maximum Corruption!
“Host, what did you do?”
Yan Yu considered it. “No idea. Maybe his brain short-circuited.”
“Really? He doesn't look as though he has that kind of condition.”
Given a choice between Gu Huaizhi's malfunctioning brain and Yan Yu lying to it, the System needed only one second to take a firm position.
“Poor man.”
“Mm-hmm. Can't judge by appearances,” Yan Yu agreed absentmindedly.
“Little dummy. Check what Gu Huaizhi's doing.”
He was tired of lounging around. If Gu Huaizhi was on his way, it was time to go back out.
Still reviewing the earlier details, the System brought up the other man's location. He was already coming upstairs.
Yan Yu slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, his mind apparently blank.
After a while, he seemed to recover his bearings. He sat up and poured himself a glass of water.
The warm water eased his throat. Only then did he appear to have the energy to consider his situation.
Whoever had brought him to the hospital deserved his thanks. He would thank them properly later and settle the medical bill.
But this room looked expensive. Would he have enough money to pay for it?
Holding the glass, Yan Yu went over what he needed to do, one thing at a time.
That was the scene Gu Huaizhi found when he opened the door.