Chapter 588: Chapter 587: Take Care of Brother Cheng

After a moment of silence, Mu Qiu went to try to persuade him again.

This time, she quickly poked him like touching the tip of a needle and said, "I think you should at least listen to my perfect plan."

Li Yang stood against the wall, staring at her warily: "Can I leave after hearing it?"

"... Can’t you at least listen? What if you’re really tempted by the plan?"

"Impossible, I won’t believe you anymore. Every time you form alliances with people, it’s just a bunch of sweet-talking."

Mu Qiu laughed again, with a cheerful smile: "Who said anything about alliances?"

Apart from alliances, there’s also forced subjugation.

She took out a gilded card from her pocket and covered half of it, showing it to him.

Li Yang’s eyes widened immediately.

"You found the archive card?!"

"Lower your voice," Mu Qiu gave him a glance. She waved the cards again and put them away, "Did you see clearly? The monster archive card looks like this; you haven’t seen it before, have you?"

"Don’t insult me," Li Yang’s eyes followed the card, and when it disappeared, he put his gaze back on her, "Just because I haven’t found it before doesn’t mean I can’t find it later."

At least his first step was accomplished; he saw the true appearance of the archive card and had a target.

Mu Qiu wore a face of "everything is under control," tilted her head, and raised an eyebrow, exuding a frivolous, proud attitude.

"What’s yet to come will come later, but now you can’t escape. With just a word from me, you and Guo Yin can achieve the cycle’s first goal of getting completely slaughtered, happily becoming last place.

Then in the next cycle, you’d become a fixed NPC with no capability to act, just being pushed onto the set to learn acting in front of all fans.

But don’t worry, others will come to watch your performance and care about you, and if they’re in a good mood, they might even toss a couple of five-cent coins your way."

Just imagining it made Li Yang feel unbearable. If that really happened, it would be too embarrassing, and he’d definitely lose fans!

He shivered, looked at Mu Qiu, gritted his teeth, and asked, "So what do you want? When did you find this card? Have you activated it?"

Mu Qiu’s eyes rolled: "Not yet, but activation only takes a word, it’s no big deal. And you probably don’t know which monster this card represents. Here, take another look."

She showed off the card again, waving it for a glance before beckoning to Li Yang.

This time Li Yang cautiously approached, his awkward body language somewhat conveying the reluctance of a teenage boy unwilling to succumb to a plain rich woman.

"SCP—049, Plague Doctor? What’s that?"

"That’s the monster’s name. The moment I combine your name with two specific words, this monster will stop at nothing to claim your life. Do you want to come in last place?"

"Isn’t that a stupid question?" It was clear from the obvious bad intentions.

Mu Qiu clapped her hands: "It’s best if you don’t. Now you have two choices, one is to cooperate with us and solve the others first.

The second is you go out and tell others we’ve found the card, and the moment you step out the door, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of."

As she mentioned the words "taken care of," she made a neck-cutting gesture, complete with a tilted head and tongue sticking out to signify a thorough death.

Li Yang angrily gritted his teeth: "Is this a threat?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

He didn’t expect someone so skilled at feigning confusion to hunt opponents would switch to a simplified route, playing the direct threat game.

Mu Qiu shrugged, carefully putting the card away, and asked innocently, "So do you have time to squat down and listen properly now?"

"... I’ll listen!"

Zhao Yu had been a listener the whole time, listening to how Mu Qiu threatened Li Yang. Once Li Yang was forced to agree to discuss cooperation, she even thoughtfully made space for him to squat down comfortably.

Li Yang, with a dead-hearted expression, sat down cross-legged and got straight to the point, asking Mu Qiu, "Go ahead, what do you want to blackmail me into doing?"

"How could this be called blackmail? Listen to me carefully analyze, and you’ll realize this is recruiting talent, and you’re someone who knows to adapt to circumstances."

Li Yang let out a half-real laugh: "Go ahead."

"First of all, I know Guo Yin isn’t completely gone, right?"

Li Yang tilted his head and stared at her.

"Guo Yin has disappeared."

"Disappeared doesn’t mean slaughtered and out. When you said he vanished, only the first archive card was activated. I’ve figured out what that card is."

"What is it?"

"SCP—813."

"It’s 813 and yours, 049, brothers?"

Mu Qiu had a moment of "aha" but then realized, with a complex expression, she said:

"Well, you could say that, but they aren’t related by blood. 813 is a pile of glass shards, and 049 is a bird-beak doctor."

"A pile of what???"

Zhao Yu sympathetically repeated: "Glass shards. See, like those by your leg, can parasitize in human eyes."

"... What kind of nonsense is this?!" Li Yang frantically kicked away the glass shards, supporting himself with hands on the ground, staring at them in terror.

Parasitism? What kind of thing parasitizes in the eyes?! How did this suddenly turn into a biohazard scenario?!

The expression was just too recognizable, Mu Qiu spoke to soothe him: "Don’t be alarmed, these are small issues.

The real issue is if you didn’t get the first card, then the glass shards parasitizing in his eyes will jump to yours, controlling your body until you’re gone. So, tell us, was the first card yours?"

"No!!!"

"I don’t believe you. Swear an oath. If you’re lying, may your agent prepare a hundred poems for you to memorize, and may you attend acting classes every day. Also, if you’re lying, you’re the first fixed NPC in this show!"

"Why don’t you just say all curses should fall on me? But it’s truly not me!"

"Then I’ll temporarily trust you. Next, everything you hear is highly confidential, you must only listen and remember in your heart, neither speak of it nor write it down. Understood?"

Li Yang: "... Will your secret involve the destruction of the universe? Or... have you secretly read the program’s script and know what monsters there are?!"

"Read my foot, if I had seen it, would I still be here talking to you? I’d have long soared to the sky!"

Li Yang twisted his mouth, showing a "go ahead, do whatever" attitude: "Alright, speak, and I’ll think about whether to cooperate."

Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu exchanged a glance, then she said, "I want you to follow Brother Cheng."

"???" His expression was complex, "Isn’t this inappropriate? On the show, Brother Cheng is such a gentleman, doesn’t act randomly, why do you want me to watch him..."

"I beg you to shut up! I think the first card is in Brother Cheng’s hands. He and Shen Zhousong must have some conspiracy. You follow them, and inform me at needed times, and take out Brother Cheng!"