The dull afternoon air seemed to have solidified, tightly wrapping around the eerie pair of one master and one servant in the living room.
“Hey, Su — “
A familiar name slipped out of Su Yuqing’s mouth subconsciously, but it was immediately and forcefully cut off by reason and fear.
Zhi Ai stopped her movements and slowly raised her head.
Her glazed eyes narrowed slightly, flashing with a dangerous and playful light.
She let out a questioning and warning tone from her nose:
“Hmm…?”
Su Yuqing’s heart constricted violently.
Her survival instinct made her immediately change her words.
“Ah, sorry… Ma-Master.”
Every word felt like it had barbs, scraping against her throat.
“So, you — ”
Zhi Ai suddenly spoke, her sweet voice slicing through the silence.
“Do you really think you can still return to the way things were before?”
She hopped down lightly, her skirt fluttering slightly as she leaned in close to Su Yuqing to continue her questioning.
“Like everything from last night until now — the collar, the restraints, and that damn Ugly White Cat I threw out — none of it ever happened?”
Zhi Ai tilted her head as if she were seriously contemplating a profound philosophical proposition.
The fingertips of her Cat Paw Gloves lightly tapped her chin, and an unreadable light flowed in her eyes.
“I think…”
There was a hint of faint expectation in Su Yuqing’s voice that even she hadn’t noticed, a hope that the other party would deny the possibility, even if it were just a bit of fake hope.
“The answer to that question still depends on what you actually think.”
“…That’s true, meow.”
Zhi Ai nodded subconsciously.
Silence fell again, but the physiological pressure was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.
Su Yuqing felt the swelling pain in her lower abdomen gradually becoming sharp.
So, she licked her dry, cracked lips and spoke again.
“So, Master — “
“What exactly are your… next plans? You… you can’t just keep me tied up like this forever…?”
Hearing this, a sweet yet incredibly cruel smile appeared on Zhi Ai’s face.
“My plans?”
She first imitated Su Yuqing’s timid tone.
Then, her voice suddenly turned cold, filled with the playfulness of a cat catching a mouse.
“Then, of course, I will watch you, bit by bit, starve and die of thirst right here on this sofa because there is nothing to eat or drink in this house!”
Su Yuqing trembled all over, shocked by the malice in those words.
A strange surge of anger rushed to her head, making her blurt out a weak irony.
“How… how cruel… But I guess you’ve already prepared to not do that anymore, right…?”
From beginning to end, she stared fixedly into Zhi Ai’s eyes, trying to find a hint of hesitation.
Zhi Ai let out a *pfft* and laughed.
The smile was so bright it was dazzling.
“I guess you’re half-right~”
She straightened up, crossed her arms, and said in a condescending tone, “This kitty has to think about it first. After all, letting go of a pet that might bite back is a very big risk~”
“And before you come to a conclusion…?”
Su Yuqing asked urgently.
“Before that?”
Zhi Ai blinked.
“Before that, of course, you have to continue staying in this hellhole and stay within this kitty’s line of sight~ Those are the rules, understand?”
“But the point is…!”
Su Yuqing’s face turned bright red.
Her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, filled with embarrassing distress and despair.
“I… I really, really have to go to the bathroom now. What am I supposed to do…?!”
“Oh…?”
Zhi Ai drew out the sound, her face showing an expression as if she had suddenly been enlightened by a deity.
She clapped her hands exaggeratedly, her eyes flashing with excited and evil light.
“Ah! This kitty just had a wonderful idea!”
She walked around the sofa excitedly.
“If everything goes smoothly and no accidents happen… it won’t be long before you can regain your freedom~”
“What idea!? Hurry and tell me…!!!”
A burst of hope instantly erupted in Su Yuqing’s eyes.
Her body even leaned forward slightly due to excitement, as if she had forgotten the ropes binding her.
Zhi Ai stopped her steps, turned around to face her, and then softly and clearly spat out two words from her lips:
“Hold it.”
“…What?”
Su Yuqing froze.
Her brain seemed to have crashed, unable to process the terrifying meaning contained in those two simple words.
“This kitty’s ‘good idea’ is very simple~”
Zhi Ai explained patiently, like she was talking to a kindergartener.
At the same time, she pulled out her phone from somewhere, skillfully unlocked it, and clicked on the camera function.
The cold light of the phone screen reflected on her smiling face.
“Didn’t you just say you wanted to go to the bathroom? Then work hard and try your best to hold it! And then~”
She aimed the camera precisely at Su Yuqing’s face, which was twisted with embarrassment and fear.
“Then, we wait for the moment when you completely and utterly can’t hold it anymore…”
“You… you’re joking… right?”
Su Yuqing’s voice began to tremble violently.
“I’m not, meow~”
Zhi Ai looked at her through the phone screen as if she were admiring a masterpiece she was about to complete.
Her tone was as relaxed as if she were discussing a dinner menu.
“I’m being very serious about earning your ‘freedom.’ Look! I’ve even opened the phone’s camera and adjusted the settings~ I’ll make sure to record every ‘wonderful’ detail.”
She paused, her voice filled with the pleasure and coldness of having total control.
“I imagine… as long as this kitty records your—well, your impatient, eventually broken, and incontinent state in complete, high-definition, uncensored detail, and then keeps many, many backup copies…”
“Then — “
“Even if you had ten times the courage, you wouldn’t dare to do anything… unfavorable to this kitty after you regain your freedom, right? After all, if such a wonderful video were to leak onto the internet, you, the Former Manager, would truly suffer a Social Death~”
“Just imagining it is quite interesting, meow-hahaha~”
“Wait, wait, wait! I promise! I swear!”
Su Yuqing completely panicked. She pleaded incoherently, tears swirling frantically in her eyes.
“As long as you let me go this time and give me my freedom, I promise! Everything from last night until now, everything that happened in this room, I’ll act as if it never, ever happened in this world! I won’t say a single word! Please!”
“Is that so?”
Zhi Ai’s gaze through the phone screen was not only extremely cold but also filled with utter distrust and mockery.
“But why should this kitty believe you so easily? A human’s oath is the most worthless thing. Does a master who has betrayed once still have any credibility?”
“I’m serious… I’m serious, I’m serious!”
Su Yuqing’s physiological pressure and mental fear had both reached their peak.
Her tears finally burst forth, mixing with sweat as they fell.
“Is there really a need to go this far?! If you really do this today… then even if I don’t hate you… I—I will definitely hate you in my heart for the rest of my life…!!!”
The word ‘hate’ was like a poisoned needle that instantly stabbed into Zhi Ai’s most sensitive and painful nerve ending.
It instantly ignited the wild fury she had been suppressing deep in her eyes.
“Hate?”
Zhi Ai’s voice suddenly rose, sharp enough to almost slice the air.
All the playfulness and teasing on her face vanished in a thousandth of a second, replaced by a hideous, savage rage at being thoroughly provoked.
“You… you actually dare to mention that word to me…!?”
With a *shing*, the Dining Knife that had been casually placed on the coffee table was gripped tightly in her hand again.
She slammed her phone aside and stepped forward, pressing her knee heavily onto Su Yuqing’s abdomen.
Then, she used her left hand to choke Su Yuqing’s neck deathly tight. Her right hand was raised high, the cold, gleaming tip of the knife pointing directly at Su Yuqing’s heart!
The murderous intent surging in her eyes was almost tangible!
“You think you have the right to hate me!? Do you have any idea how cold and scared I was when I was buried in that ice-cold Cardboard Box!? Do you know what it feels like to hear the dirt being shoveled over you bit by bit!? And now you’re talking to me about hate!? Are you even worthy…!?”
The tip of the knife, carrying all her malice and pain, was about to stab down hard.
Su Yuqing closed her eyes in terror.
Her mind went blank.
At this minute and this second, the only thing she could feel was the despair before the end of the world.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
At that critical moment, a series of rapid and powerful knocks on the door sounded like a giant stone being thrown into stagnant water, coming clearly from outside the locked security door not far behind them.
Immediately after, the slightly anxious and worried voice of a middle-aged woman rang out through the door panel.
“Excuse me, is the resident of Room 601, Ms. Su Yuqing, at home…?”