After absorbing the sphere of light and carefully sensing the changes within her body, a faint smile curled at Jian's lips.
She quickly realized how useful this thing was. With it, her personal safety would be greatly improved in the future.
Even though she was currently undercover in the Mountain Lion Gang—and those people all looked like a bunch of brainless brutes—who could say for sure? What if something unexpected happened?
"Thanks."
She shot Valerius a teasing glance, then returned to the group of players.
"Wow, there's actually something like this?"
Su Shang stared in envy. She wanted something like that too.
Only Huang Quan looked completely puzzled. What was this even for?
With the rewards distributed, it was time for punishment. Valerius's gaze swept toward the three of them, and he once again pulled out the punishment machine.
"You can choose a representative to draw now."
The three exchanged glances.
"How about… Miss Huang Quan, you go?"
"…Alright."
There was no avoiding it anyway, and the other two clearly didn't want to draw. Huang Quan could only nod and step forward, pulling the lever.
A card dropped out.
Valerius caught it and glanced at it. He nearly burst out laughing.
"What is it? What kind of punishment is it?"
Seeing his reaction, the others grew uneasy. Why did it feel like something bad had been drawn?
"It's fine. This punishment isn't difficult."
Giving them a reassuring look, Valerius handed the card over.
[Version T0: For the next week, you will be infused with the strongest current Version T0 personality.]
"Huh? What does that even mean?"
"Personality?"
The three of them were confused. What exactly was a "T0-level personality"? Did it mean their personalities would change for the next week?
The card vanished, and all three trembled slightly. Then they looked at each other—and instantly, a sense of familiarity and closeness appeared in their eyes.
They immediately huddled together, whispering among themselves.
From time to time, they shot disdainful looks toward Xiangling and the others nearby.
"To actually give up… how embarrassing for us women."
"Exactly. If I ever gave up like that, I wouldn't even have the face to keep living."
"Sigh… we're all women, so why is the difference so huge?"
Their voices weren't quiet, and combined with those contemptuous looks, Eula instantly grew irritated.
What was that supposed to mean? You got punished, so why drag us into it?
She crossed her arms and turned her head. "Don't bring us into this. If you're bad, that's on you."
"Oh?" Huang Quan rolled her eyes, instantly getting angry. "If it weren't for us, you'd be the ones getting punished. We paved the way for you, and instead of being grateful, you call us bad?"
"Exactly!" Caesar immediately chimed in. "If it weren't for us, you'd have no idea where to cry. And you even spent so many points, dragging us into punishment. It's all because of them."
"Yeah, acting like you're so capable, but in the end, you still relied on us!"
Jian frowned slightly. Something felt off. Were these really their personalities?
And the things they were saying… weren't they completely unreasonable?
They lost the game themselves, yet somehow blamed others?
Hearing this, Aileen couldn't hold back and stepped forward. "What do you mean? Are only you allowed to win, and we're not allowed to avoid punishment?"
"That's not what we mean," Huang Quan replied, "but if you beat us fair and square, we'd have nothing to say. But you spent so many points, still failed, and then gave up at the end. That's just embarrassing."
"As fellow women, we're ashamed of you."
At this point, their personalities had clearly changed. Their core logic was simple: I'm not wrong—you are.
"Pfft!"
Valerius couldn't help laughing. This punishment was something else. Huang Quan now felt completely out of character.
His laughter immediately drew their attention.
The moment they saw it was him, Su Shang instantly pulled out her phone and started recording.
"Guys, seriously, who understands this? We just ran into a total red-flag man."
"He sets up a game and keeps targeting us. If you ever meet a guy like this, stay far away. It's just disgusting."
What the hell?!
Valerius nearly kicked her on the spot. The sense of déjà vu was way too strong.
"You lost the game yourselves. Don't drag me into it."
"Heh." Caesar sneered. "Sure, we lost the game ourselves. But setting aside the facts, do you really have no fault at all?"
"What fault do I have?!"
Not just the others—even Valerius was struggling to keep up.
"The game's over. You can go back now."
He waved them off and stopped engaging. These three had become far too terrifying.
As soon as Valerius left, Su Shang broke into a triumphant grin.
"Trash man. Loser. You'll never even afford four dishes in your life."
Inside the livestream:
[Guinaifen: Shangshang, what are you even saying?!]
[Bailu: Version T0… that's terrifying.]
[Silver Wolf: I thought it was a game meta T0… what a letdown.]
[Kafka: Not good… I think I'm starting to feel fear again.]
[Silver Wolf: That's a good thing.]
[Dr. Ratio: May I ask… what exactly do those statements mean?]
Even Dr. Ratio couldn't understand. What did "setting aside the facts" even mean? If you ignore the facts, what are you supposed to talk about?
It felt like the punishment had turned them into completely unreasonable people.
[Jing Yuan: So this is Version T0? I need to remember this and avoid it in the future.]
[Qingque: Wow… I can already imagine the chaos Su Shang will cause in Luofu this week. Let's go watch together.]
[Tingyun: What a pity. I won't be able to witness such a spectacle.]
[Bailu: Waaa… I can't get out, but I want to see!]
[Jingliu: If the Dragon Lady is interested, I can take you out.]
[Jing Yuan: No, no, no—I'll handle it, I'll handle it!]
He was terrified. If she came out, who knew what kind of disaster would follow?
[Yunli: I want to go watch too, but oh well.]
[Guinaifen: No worries, everyone! Follow my stream—I'll broadcast everything live!]
[Yukong: What a great friend you are.]
[Ningguang: What a great friend you are.]
[Yae Miko: You're amazing.]
[Black Swan: Miss Huang Quan should be in Penacony. Could be worth watching.]
[Sunday: ...…]
[Robin: ...…]
It was over. They could already imagine what Penacony would look like over the next week.
"This won't do. I need to prepare in advance."
Huang Quan was nothing like Su Shang. Luofu could just lock Su Shang up for a week, limiting the damage. But Huang Quan was different—she was an Emanator. If she got pushed too far and resorted to force…
Would Penacony even survive?
Sunday felt a headache coming on. Was this punishment for them—or for him?
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