While Huo Ting accepted the surveillance equipment, back in the study, Yu Mian was typing away furiously, entirely unaware of the impending “crisis”.
Thanks to Huo Yan and the system, Yu Mian had grown so accustomed to sneaking out of the aquarium unnoticed that the initial thrill had turned to complete nonchalance.
Now, he even felt it was not as dangerous as he initially imagined.
Every time enough energy had accumulated to transform his tail into legs, he couldn’t resist sneaking out for a stroll.
“It’s just that my tail has been feeling itchy lately…”
After successfully publishing the latest update of “Eternal Night Rose” for the day, Yu Mian took advantage of the fact that Huo Ting was still out to sit on the chair and check his fishtail.
He flicked the tip of his tail back and forth. The light golden fishtail skirt seemed to have grown even more dreamy recently.
[Could it be that you’ve been spending too much time out of the water? Maybe your tail is becoming irritated or dry.]
The system observed Yu Mian’s tail and speculated cautiously.
After all, ever since Yu Mian became addicted to sneaking out, he almost always used up all the time he could transform his legs before reluctantly returning to the aquarium.
“That shouldn’t be the case,” Yu Mian murmured, brushing his fingers across his scales, only to flinch at the ticklish sensation.
It looked beautiful, sure, but it was really impractical.
Perhaps soaking in water more often in the future might be a good idea?
“By the way, the task mentioned a lucky bag reward. Should we try to complete it this time?”
Yu Mian opened the system interface and noticed that the popularity reward for “Contract Marriage” was almost maxed out. Once the adaptation aired, the reward would officially be granted.
However, the rent for staying in the aquarium was almost due again.
The last task had reached S-grade achievement, which triggered a side task challenge: Have the target consume your cooking three times to receive a random lucky bag reward.]
Honestly, Yu Mian was very curious about what the lucky bag would contain.
Later that evening, when Huo Ting returned from the military headquarters, with Secretary Hals following with a box of surveillance equipment, he unexpectedly found that the night snack was unusually exquisite again.
The centerpiece was a bowl of savory mushroom chicken congee, accompanied by a plate of light, golden egg rolls that looked refreshing and delicious.
The purity of the food seemed to stir the mental energy in the room.
“Did they make a big meal for the weekend again? Qiao Ni’s cooking skills seem to have improved lately.”
After confirming no one else was in the study, Secretary Hals set the surveillance equipment box aside and glanced at the meal prepared by Qiao Ni.
He thought his boss had decided to stop with such things after last time.
However, when Huo Ting walked to the desk, he frowned slightly and scanned the room.
“Do you still feel something’s off? Everything appears normal.”
Secretary Hals was clearly aware of Huo Ting’s suspicions.
But if someone were indeed hiding in the study, perfectly deceiving high-level mental power users like him and Huo Ting, what could their objective possibly be?
After all, nothing suspicious or dangerous had happened in this period.
“Besides, those important files left on the desk have remained untouched for weeks.”
Secretary Hals picked up the documents, and looked at Huo Ting with puzzlement.
If the infiltrator intended to steal classified information, there would have been some evidence of tampering with these materials left in the corner of the study.
It was like laying a trap, only for no one to take the bait.
Aside from his boss’ persistent sense that something was off, everything seemed perfectly normal.
“There’s indeed no sign of any leaked information.”
Huo Ting flipped through the classified files, confirming they had not been tampered with.
If anyone had touched the cleverly disguised documents, there would definitely have been some activity after.
Moreover, compared to the military department, this old residence had little of true value.
Could it be that he had misjudged the situation entirely?
For the first time, Huo Ting began doubting his own perceptions.
Meanwhile, in the aquarium, Yu Mian observed Huo Ting’s unusually cautious demeanor tonight, and also noticed that Secretary Hals had brought back a large box.
“What are they talking about? Why doesn’t he just eat first!”
Yu Mian was annoyed by Huo Ting’s slow pace. After all, the lucky bag reward was so close at hand.
It was a rare opportunity that he just stopped my internship and had time to complete the side task to get rewards. What does it mean that this guy doesn’t start eating already?
In fact, the materials deliberately left in the study were meaningless to Yu Mian, who had no ill intentions whatsoever.
The only time Yu Mian had touched Huo Ting’s documents was by accident when he bumped into information about the Bart clan. Even then, he had carefully put it back.
After all, given the system’s arrangement for his stay here, touching Huo Ting’s documents unnecessarily felt quite rude.
“I think you’ve been under too much tension lately,” Secretary Hals commented, tapping the surveillance equipment box as he offered a suggestion.
“Why not eat and rest early tonight? You’ve just come back from the lab, after all.”
If the surveillance footage later revealed nothing, then it would mean a simple case of overthinking.
Besides, the faint aroma of tonight’s meal wafting through the air was an almost unbearable temptation for someone with heightened mental power.
Has Qiao Ni’s cooking improved this much?
[He’s eating it! We’re just one step away from completing the task!]
The system became excited as it saw Huo Ting finally pick up his spoon.
Watching Huo Ting obediently finish his meal, Yu Mian felt like he’d learned something.
“It turns out his taste isn’t all that different from Huo Yan’s.”
It was just that, between these cousins, Huo Yan would loudly exclaim how delicious and how much he loved the food, while this guy preferred to stay silent, neither saying anything nor showing much emotion.
But if he could eat it, it meant he definitely didn’t dislike it.
Thinking back to earlier tonight when Huo Yan had snuck while he was cooking and eagerly devoured the scraps from the egg rolls’s edges he fed him, without a single complaint, Yu Mian couldn’t help but chuckle.
[If Qiao Ni knew what you did, she’d probably scream…]
The little system was shocked. After all, feeding the young master of the Huo family scraps from egg rolls? Only its host could pull off something like that.
The key was that he wasn’t picky at all, totally different from his cousin.
“We were pressed for time this time. Next time, I’ll make a fresh batch just for Huo Yan,” Yu Mian said, feeling a little embarrassed.
However, just as Yu Mian confidently planned to complete his final system task, he suddenly noticed Secretary Hals returning with a group of workers.
“Huh…What are they doing?!”
In the aquarium, Yu Mian watched as the workers outside began unpacking a box under Secretary Hals’ instructions and started installing cameras in the study and the corridor outside.
He was installing surveillance cameras?!
Yu Mian spun in circles in the aquarium, completely stunned. He confirmed again and again that these workers were indeed installing cameras in every corner of the study.
“Oh my god, how could he be so heartless!? I feed him, and he installs surveillance cameras to spy on me?!”
This was blatant ingratitude!
If he could take action at this moment, he would have loved to shake and beat Huo Ting up (if he could manage it).
[W-What should we do? I can help, but at most, I can only erase footage from unimportant moments.]
However, interfering with the cameras installed for specific purposes by an important plot character like Huo Ting could easily cause bugs in the small world.
The little system couldn’t help but panic:
[This means that even when no one’s around, you won’t be able to come out freely! What about our updates and popularity points?!]
“Ah…”
After his initial disbelief, Yu Mian let out a long sigh and floated in the water in a daze.
“What else can we do…? I definitely can’t go out for now.”
He had to think of a plan. What could he do in this situation?
As for updates of “Eternal Night Rose”, it seemed he’d have to leave the pressure to Huanyu.
After all, this really wasn’t his fault! Blame Huo Ting for suddenly deciding to install surveillance cameras!
—
By 6 p.m, countless interstellar readers that were eagerly waiting for the latest update of “Eternal Night Rose” found themselves in shock as they refreshed the page endlessly, only to find no new chapter. Naturally, chaos ensued.
[Ah, did Huanyu’s crappy servers crash again?! Spit out Eternal Night Rose’s manuscript, I’m warning you! You’re driving me crazy!]
[Huanyu, you villain! Where’s the update from my favorite author? I’ve been refreshing for over half an hour! If I don’t see the update soon, I’ll report you to the authorities—!]
[Where’s the update? My update! The sweet update I was supposed to enjoy before bed, why isn’t it here yet?!]
Initially, for the first ten minutes, the comment section of “Eternal Night Rose” was filled with frantic readers assuming there was a minor technical glitch. But as a full hour passed with no sign of an update, the hashtag #HuanyuCrashed# astonishingly and wildly shot up the hot search!
This was because Yu Mian had an impeccable record for reliability.
Aside from the one unexpected interruption during the early updates of “Contract Marriage”, his updates had always been stable and punctual.
There have even been unexpected big updates with happy additional drops, and there has never been a record of delaying updates or ghosting.
So, when “Eternal Night Rose” failed to update on time, most readers subconsciously assumed it was the Huanyu Reading Platform acting up.
[Seriously, fix your lousy server! If you want to break down, don’t choose 6 p.m. to break down!]
—
“What?! The platform crashed?!”
Hearing the news from the higher-ups, the deputy chief editor rushed to the interstellar network with sweat on his forehead. Sure enough, #HuanyuCrashed# was high on the hot search.
The comments under the tag could be described as bloody and violent, to the point of uprooting and shaking the entire universe to get an answer.
But when the deputy chief editor hurried to the tech department, he found the staff baffled and aggrieved.
“Deputy chief, I swear, nothing’s wrong! The platform is running perfectly fine!”
“Then why isn’t the author’s update showing? This is a major work error! Don’t you know how many people wait every day at 6 p.m. for Fish Soup Noodles’ updates… huh?”
When the deputy chief editor checked the system, he too was speechless. There didn’t seem to be any issues at all. All other pages on the platform were working flawlessly.
“It seems like… the author didn’t update. Their backend account hasn’t even logged in today. Should we ask the editor to contact him?”
The tech staff hesitated before cautiously suggesting this possibility.
On the other side, Shaxs, the editor in charge of Yu Mian, was equally distressed.
“Fish Soup Noodles is completely unreachable… The author’s profile is greyed out and hasn’t logged in all day, Deputy chief!”
This final confirmation left everyone in Huanyu’s editorial department exchanging nervous glances.
Because…wasn’t this even more terrifying?
