Chapter 131

【Honestly, before this I always thought the streamer kidnapping the company CEO was just talk—I didn’t think they’d actually do it for real?】

【You must be a new viewer. Wifey always does what she says. Never just talks big.】

【Damn, although—this feels kinda backwards? Just now I was watching other streamers getting tormented half to death by ghosts in the restroom, and now these three are in the same restroom kidnapping an NPC?】

In summary: So weird. Gotta watch it a billion more times.

Clap—clap—clap

A few clapping-like sounds suddenly rang out.

Shi Jian paused her one-sided verbal onslaught against the CEO. She frowned and looked around—what was that sound?

Tang Tian pointed a short distance away, signaling for Shi Jian to look. “The Long-Tongued Woman.”

The sounds had come from the Long-Tongued Woman. Though she basically lived in the breakroom, that didn’t mean she couldn’t move. She’d known from the start that Shi Jian and the others were up to something—how could she not come watch the show?

After watching, her mind was filled with—

So exciting, wow!

Then she began wildly flailing her long red tongue in excitement.

Shi Jian: “……”

Her first instinct was to quickly put distance between herself and the Long-Tongued Woman to avoid getting sprayed with spit.

Once Shi Jian had positioned herself properly, she made a silencing gesture toward the Long-Tongued Woman. “Shhh. Keep it down. Don’t draw attention—we need to keep it low-key.”

The CEO, all tied up: You didn’t exactly keep it low-key earlier when you told me to scream until my throat gave out.

Still, the Long-Tongued Woman stopped wagging her tongue. She was quite afraid of Shi Jian hitting her again with a chainsaw. She skillfully tied a knot in her tongue to stop herself from rambling.

“Mmmph mmph mmph…”

The CEO of Gongfu Company, his mouth gagged, could only let out muffled whimpers from his throat, staring in terror at the three of them.

Shi Jian and the others could easily guess what he was thinking.

The CEO wanted to know what this random trio—two women and one man—who suddenly tied him up, actually wanted.

Tang Tian crouched next to him and tried to interpret the sounds. “Huh, he’s asking if we want money.”

The CEO let out a few more monosyllabic sounds.

Xu An guessed, “Maybe he’s begging us not to kill him. Saying we can name any price…”

The CEO nodded frantically like a garlic crusher.

Shi Jian’s beautiful face showed a disapproving expression. “We’re not that kind of people.”

They only kidnapped the CEO to complete a mission.

But soon after, Shi Jian cleared her throat and asked, “Where’s the money? Is it a lot?”

…Making money wasn’t the main goal—Shi Jian and the others kidnapped the CEO to get promoted, earn a raise, and clear the level.

The CEO of Gongfu Company hadn’t turned into a monster. At the moment, he looked entirely like a normal person.

After learning that what they wanted was a promotion and raise, he even tried to be clever.

He claimed that a promotion required an official appointment letter.

What he was thinking: Isn’t this a perfect chance to call for help?

What, had he raised a bunch of useless staff? He’d been missing this long and not a single one had come looking for him!

But then the CEO saw all three of them smiling knowingly, like they’d expected this all along.

CEO: ???

No extra steps needed—Xu An had already taken out a printed appointment letter, the official company seal, and a pen for signing.

Shi Jian looked down at the CEO, arms crossed, red lips curled into a slight smile. “Since we were going to kidnap you anyway, of course we came prepared.”

Brought it all to you!

Sign it!

Tang Tian hurried him along, “Move it. Don’t stall.”

Sign it and they’d let him go.

They’d be exiting the instance anyway.

The CEO had no choice. Under Xu An’s control, he signed the promotion letter in humiliation. As for any thoughts of trickery—that was pure fantasy.

Shi Jian’s big chainsaw was already revving right behind his neck.

Shi Jian: “I always give courtesy before force, y’know.”

The Long-Tongued Woman, being a ghost who had been through this, couldn’t help but chime in, “Nih hi shtillisten... koh yeh shuffuh hess…”

Because her tongue was still tied in a knot, her speech was muffled and slurred.

But there were always experts in the livestream room—someone had already deciphered it.

She’d said: “You’d better behave—you’ll suffer less that way.”

CEO: “……”

He got the message. He signed his name quickly without daring to pause even a second.

Then he was tied up again.

Shi Jian, Tang Tian, and Xu An each held an official promotion letter. After confirming everything was in order—

Tang Tian got a little excited. “Does this mean we’ve cleared it?”

She marveled in her heart—this level was cleared so fast!

While other streamers were still grinding away at work, Shi Jian’s team was already on the fifth floor, completing the promotion and raise mission first.

After all, not many people besides Shi Jian would actually go and kidnap the CEO.But after waiting for a while, Shi Jian felt something was off.

It was too quiet.

The familiar “mission clear” beeping didn’t sound. Usually, once a task was completed, music would start playing.

“Did you get any mission-clear notification sound on your side?”

Xu An shook his head. “No.”

Tang Tian didn’t get one either.

Shi Jian felt something was wrong. Her eyelid twitched twice. “Is it that we didn’t actually complete it, or is this a bug?”

Could it be that this kind of promotion-and-raise method wasn’t allowed?

Before Xu An or Tang Tian could reply, Shi Jian’s expression instantly shifted from worried to excited. She said, “If it’s a bug, I’ll have to go to the Judgment Room.”

But Shi Jian didn’t end up going, because Xu An looked at his phone screen and said, “I just got a message…”

At the same time, Shi Jian and Tang Tian also felt their phones vibrate twice. They quickly looked down to check.

Previously, the instance mission had been sent to each streamer’s phone. The conditions to clear it were a promotion and a raise.

Now a new notification popped up on their screens—identical for all three.

The phone screen read: “Congratulations, streamer, for successfully clearing the level. You’ve now unlocked a side mission [Disrupt the Evil Ritual]. Would you like to accept it? Friendly reminder: completing the side mission comes with a luxury gift reward.”

After that was a question mark icon, with a note in parentheses: “If you have any questions, tap here.”

A side mission.

Shi Jian: ???

“We just got a side mission?” Shi Jian was still trying to process it.

Tang Tian nodded. “Looks like it!”

This was Shi Jian’s first time encountering a side mission. Since arriving here, she’d only heard about them from Tang Tian.

Tang Tian had gained her invisibility skill through a side mission in a previous instance. “But mine was different—I got it directly from an NPC.”

This time, the mission came directly through their phones.

From this message, it was clear that their method of clearing the level was valid, and they’d already passed the main task.

Earlier, with the company ghost stories and the team leaders suddenly starting to give off strange scents, all the streamers had sensed something more was going on.

But Shi Jian had never planned to investigate—it all sounded too complicated and dangerous.

She was very aware of her own strengths, and preferred simple, direct solutions.

However, the side mission now brought them right back into this mess.

Shi Jian asked the other two, “What do you think?”

Tang Tian scratched her head and answered honestly, “I’m kinda curious what the luxury gift is.”

Xu An’s intuition: “It’s an opportunity—and a challenge.”After thinking for a moment, Xu An suggested, “Isn’t there a button? Why don’t we press it and see what happens?”

Shi Jian had also noticed that button. She’d already been tempted to tap it, so when Xu An made the suggestion, she clicked on the question mark.

Based on Shi Jian’s guess, pressing it would probably bring up a block of explanatory text. What she didn’t expect was that a man in a red tailcoat, wearing a black top hat and sporting a thin mustache, came riding a bicycle toward them from the distance—on the phone screen.

“……”

If not for remembering they were livestreaming, Shi Jian would’ve flung her phone away on the spot.

Fortunately, the man didn’t get too close to the screen. With a loud screech of brakes—“screech”—he landed successfully.

He grew from a tiny figure on the screen to life-size.

Tang Tian pressed up next to Shi Jian and whispered, “He looks familiar, isn’t he that…”

Before Tang Tian could finish, the man removed his hat and bowed.

“Long time no see. I’m your old friend, Xiao Jin.”

His gaze shifted to Shi Jian, and his eyes lit up instantly. He gave her a bright, eager smile. “Beautiful lady, what an honor to meet you again. You’ve gotten even more stunning.”

He still remembered Shi Jian.

Shi Jian also recognized him. He was the host who introduced the welfare instance back at the transit station—the one whose head was half-chewed off by the irritable Mr. Rabbit.

Now Shi Jian noticed his head was fully intact.

They actually arranged a live person for the explanation.

Xu An interrupted Xiao Jin’s small talk and got straight to the point. “Please explain the side mission.”

Shi Jian also noticed something else—after Xiao Jin appeared, both the Long-Tongued Woman and the CEO of Gongfu Corporation had disappeared.

She suspected they had temporarily entered some kind of closed space, similar to the Judgment Room.

Xiao Jin smiled at Xu An and said, “Handsome guy, you’re so impatient. I’m about to explain, alright? It won’t take up your time.”

Then Xiao Jin turned back to Shi Jian. “Those things haven’t disappeared—they’re just temporarily isolated from you. During our conversation, the instance is frozen.”

Shi Jian: It really is similar to the Judgment Room.

Xiao Jin explained in an exaggerated tone, “A side mission, as the name suggests, is a task separate from the main storyline. These are very rare, so the rewards are also extremely appealing… Let me see, you’ve already cleared the instance, haven’t you?”

“Fantastic! Beauty, your luck is amazing!”

“Hurry and seize the chance—take on the side mission…”

Though Xiao Jin’s tone was theatrical, it was very infectious, stirring people’s emotions and making them feel urgent and exhilarated.

It gave the strong impression that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Xiao Jin waited for Shi Jian to accept the mission, but she flatly refused. “Not doing it.”

Shi Jian rolled her eyes to the heavens and asked in exasperation, “Do I look like someone missing a brainstem?”

Xiao Jin was left speechless.

A trace of amusement flickered in Xu An’s eyes, but he said nothing more.Shi Jian's combat power was off the charts—enough already.

Shi Jian rattled off angrily, “You don’t say what the reward is, don’t say whether we can leave the instance after accepting the side mission, don’t say whether there’s a penalty if we fail—and you expect me to just accept the mission like that?”

“Not accepting.”

Shi Jian demanded, “We’ve cleared the instance. We want to leave now.”

Xiao Jin visibly panicked. A light sheen of sweat even appeared on his forehead, and he spoke reluctantly.

“It’s not that I don’t want to reveal it—some things just can’t be said… Ai, fine, I still can’t tell you what the reward is, but I can tell you the rest.”

“Once the side mission is accepted, you can’t leave the instance—you must complete it. The penalty for failure is all the points you earned in this instance will be wiped out.”

Tang Tian wanted to slam the table in outrage and arrange a sterilization package for whoever was behind this.

That kind of garbage deserves to have no descendants!

They already knew the game was a scam, but after going through all that danger and anxiety in the instance, to then be trapped just for accepting a side mission?

Even if they were strong and lucky enough to survive, if they failed the mission, all their points would disappear.

How was this any different from Gongfu Corporation? They were basically working for the livestream app for free—getting nothing out of it.

Shi Jian thought the same.

Expressionless, she threw a question at Xiao Jin: “No benefits, only drawbacks—tell me, who would accept that side mission?”

“Not accepting!”

Xiao Jin tried to persuade her earnestly, “You can’t look at it like that. I promise the reward after completing the mission is extremely useful.”

Shi Jian: “Not accepting not accepting not accepting not accepting…”

Shi Jian-brand repeater had gone online.

Let them leave.

Shi Jian’s attitude was extremely firm. Xiao Jin realized he really had nothing that could tempt her.

She didn’t believe in his so-called generous reward at all.

Xiao Jin hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and took another step back: “If you complete the side mission, the reward is a [Time Reversal Card].”

Shi Jian snapped out of her stubborn resistance and looked at the [Time Reversal Card] Xiao Jin presented.

The card wasn’t big—it was blue and gold, with illustrations of the sun, moon, and stars.

It didn’t seem all that special and definitely wasn’t as pretty as Shi Jian’s Seamless Garment.

But the description written on it read:

[There’s no such thing as a regret pill in this world—but there is a Time Reversal Card. Have you ever dreamed of turning back time? Using this will rewind time to five seconds earlier. Note: Group skill. One-time use only.]

In an instant, Shi Jian felt her heartbeat thunder in her ears.

She exchanged glances with Tang Tian and Xu An. All of them instantly understood just how powerful this skill was.

Tang Tian’s hand gripping Shi Jian’s arm was already shaking, unconsciously tightening.

Reversing time—this meant even if they died, they could rewind to five seconds before death.This skill can bring people back from the dead—it can save lives!

And it’s a group skill.

…

Shi Jian whispered in a voice so low that only the three of them and the livestream viewers could hear:

“As expected, the most effective move against shady, manipulative merchants is—‘Alright then, I’m leaving.’”

Most likely, if they had obediently completed the side mission, they wouldn’t have received the [Time Reversal Card] at all. But faced with “customer” Shi Jian’s refusal to cooperate, the “shady manipulative merchant” Xiao Jin had no choice but to bring out the most attractive reward to make her cooperate.

Viewers: ??? Once you accept this logic, there’s no going back.