"Well then, I'm off! You be good and stay put. I'll be back tonight."
After saying all that, Wanhua glanced at her phone and left in a hurry.
Before reaching the door, she poked her head back in.
"Oh, and don't be jealous, okay? I'm doing this for the sake of our happy future together!"
After she spoke, without waiting for Alain's reply, with two "whirring" sounds, the combination lock and the mechanical lock simultaneously trapped him within this cage.
Alain stared with dead-fish eyes, looking down at his own body. His skin was sticky, making him feel uncomfortable all over.
Yang Wanhua—she wasn't just a lunatic, she was a pervert.
Just now, she had perfectly acted on her words: she didn't dislike any part of Alain. She had completely licked his entire body. He hadn't showered last night, so today she had[washed]him.
Unbelievable...
"Click."
Fortunately, she was still a woman of her word. The restraints on Alain's body gradually loosened until they vanished completely into the bed frame.
He was granted a brief moment of freedom.
Alain stood up, feeling the weakness and soreness in his limbs, and looked at the red rings on his body where the restraints had tightened his skin until it turned red.
Lunatic...
He walked quickly to the bathroom and started to wash.
Shhh—
Under the spray of the showerhead, Alain began to sort through the information he had gathered.
First off—what exactly was going on with this illusion?
He recalled the scenes he had witnessed; they were... far too real.
Alain's true memory only went as far as Wanhua using the pinhole in the bracelet to drug him. The original world line was: he was knocked out by Wanhua, and when he woke up, he could move freely.
And the place of his imprisonment was not this new house.
After that, he seemed to have escaped by some method, but the specific details... Alain felt a sharp pain in his head; he couldn't quite remember.
In the illusion this time, he had taken off the bracelet and chosen a completely new world line: He told Wanhua he was going out to find a job. And he returned the bracelet.
The result, unexpectedly, was an accident: this time she didn't use the pinhole in the bracelet, but a baseball bat to knock him out. And she brought him to this house with no discernible address.
The current new world line was: the new house, plus Wanhua was by his side when he woke up. At the same time, there was the intervention of the professor.
It was a[brand new]development.
He watched the hot mist gradually condense on the glass wall. Two drops of water trembled and fell, leaving a winding, crooked trail, and finally converged.
Alain believed... he could compare the two world lines to two different world lines in Steins;Gate.
At the[Debt Discussion Node], this time he chose to[go out and work to repay the debt], thinking he could escape to freedom, but the result was a[World Line Convergence]: he was imprisoned again, and it evolved into a brand new outcome he didn't know.
The illusion... could it be like when he first met Monika, where by extrapolating that he hadn't entered the game world, it could deduce the possibility of Crazy Mita and everyone else?
If so, this was far too real.
He thought of Wanhua's vivid face, and the bone-chilling coldness he felt when he looked into her eyes.
Furthermore, those "inhumane" words, Alain felt, were truly something she could say. After all, she was just that kind of lunatic.
As the shower gel foam flowed towards the drain, the traces of Wanhua's saliva on Alain's body were gone.
"Swoosh."
He turned the shower handle off, picked up a towel, and pushed open the glass door of the shower stall.
Alain walked to the mirror, watching his reflection shrouded in a thin mist... The thin mist seamlessly flooded his surroundings.
At this point... he should first consider how to break through the illusion.
Since Yang Wanhua kept her promise: to give Alain temporary freedom of movement while she was away. Then, he had no reason to waste it.
The deadline was when Wanhua returned. At that time, if Alain hadn't returned to bed, she would most likely use the pinhole in the bracelet.
However...
Alain thought of that psycho's nature: Yang Wanhua was a lunatic, but also... a genius.
If his option was to[escape], then she would have definitely anticipated all possible scenarios and made arrangements.
But Alain also had a trump card. A... certain understanding of her, honed after long-term association with Wanhua... But he didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary.
"Hah..." He let out a breath. The mist on the mirror thickened a little more.
At this point... I'll just try every method I can think of first.
Alain tilted his head back, got dressed, and returned to the room.
Click!
The bedroom was no different from when he left. Among the dishes Wanhua had left, the food was still emitting a gentle warmth.
Alain's gaze landed on a fork on the plate. He turned to look at the window glass, deep in thought.
He picked up the fork and walked straight toward the window.
First, the scenery outside the window wasn't sealed off. The beautiful sunlight created a Tyndall effect, shimmering in the lush green forest.
Alain suspected this was a beautiful view Wanhua had deliberately arranged for his physical and mental well-being.
He tried to observe the things outside the window. It was just natural scenery, without even a small path for people to walk on.
Alain looked at the windowsill; there was no switch to open it.
As expected... she would have definitely considered something like this.
Bang!!!
He threw a punch at the window. The motion, as if venting his anger, made the window tremble slightly. Other than that, there was no other movement.
"Hiss..." He looked at the red mark on his fist, focused his gaze on the fork in his other hand, and forcefully stabbed it at the window.
Screech—ya!
The harsh scraping sound was like a cat's claws scratching a blackboard, making him instinctively close his eyes, clench his jaw against the sourness, and even his ears felt a bit numb.
Seeing that not even a scratch had appeared, Alain took the tip of the fork and struck with all his might.
A minute later, he stared at the bent fork, lost in thought.
"...What kind of glass is this?" He changed his grip, switching to the end of the fork, and struck it twice more.
But the result was still the same; the glass didn't move at all.
"???"
Judging by the feel of the fork, it was undoubtedly metal. And yet, it couldn't do any damage to the glass?
As Alain was pondering whether to try a chair, he happened to see a manual in the crack of the windowsill.
"Prince Rupert's Drop plus tempered glass double-layer structure, with shape-memory alloy coated on the glass surface. This conceals the weakness of its fragile base while further strengthening its overall hardness."
This so-called manual was not printed... It was handwritten.
In other words, Wanhua had deliberately left this for him to see.
He flipped it over to the back:
[By the way, the glass has a constant temperature heating wire hidden inside. Even if you target the Prince Rupert's Drop's weakness to temperature fluctuations, it won't work~]
"..."
To be honest, Alain really hadn't thought of that. He had barely even heard of "Prince Rupert's Drops," only knowing it was a type of glass with extremely high hardness, even capable of stopping bullets.
Under certain specific conditions, it could withstand a hydraulic press. He learned this while watching hydraulic press videos.
Speaking of which, don't all the projects in Wanhua's lab involve AI, software, and the like? Did she cross disciplines into the field of glass?
Alain noticed there was another line of text at the bottom of the manual:
[Oh, stop it, I'm not that amazing~]
He chose to crumple the manual into a ball of paper and toss it into a drawer.
The window was a dead end for now. Alain planned to try the door.
He looked at the main door, covered with combination and electronic locks, and could feel its weight just by stroking its surface.
"...Trying this will definitely be exhausting. I should conserve my strength first." Alain grumbled to himself, then unlocked his screen.
What appeared was the melody sphere on the right side of the screen.
"..."
He remembered this was an AI that Wanhua had installed for him last night.
He first tried to uninstall it—and failed, as expected.
Alain understood something and proceeded to check the map software.
As expected... There were no map coordinates on the software, just a large blank space.
He opened the phone app again, flipping through his contact list— Thankfully, his contact list hadn't changed at all.
"No..." Alain understood that if Yang Wanhua wanted to, she could even prevent him from making a single call.
He scrolled through his contact list and soon found[Counselor].
Alain's fingertip hovered over her name for two seconds, then he pressed it.
The screen changed to the "dialing" interface. So far, nothing had happened...
He swallowed, glancing at the camera on the ceiling. He was on the bed now, almost half of him in a surveillance blind spot.
The carrier's hold music came from the receiver. The music was supposed to be Richard Clayderman's Vanessa's Smile. But hearing this piece now, Alain didn't feel like smiling at all.
The next moment, before Alain himself could even react—the music stopped. The lock screen showed the counselor's name, along with the words[Call in Progress]and[Voicemail].
It's going through!
He breathed a sigh of relief, about to speak—
[Hello? Miss me already?]
That lilting tone made Alain's heart sink quickly.
[You're really something else. I'm still working on a project, I'll be back to keep you company tonight.]
From the receiver came the "tick-tock" sound of a mouse and keyboard.
[Wait for me—]
Before she could finish, Alain hung up.
He didn't lose heart. He opened WeChat, found a classmate, and sent a message for help.
[Miss me again?]
"..."
Another classmate, sent.
[Still me?]
Found a teacher, sent.
[You're really something else~]
He found his scumbag parents, and while he was still typing...
Instantly, his phone began to vibrate with a "rumble-rumble," as a series of familiar and unfamiliar WeChat notifications popped up.
Hundreds of friends private messaged him at the same time, turning his phone into a symphony of vibrations.
All of them, at the same moment... sent him the same message:
[I love you]
___
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