“Everything went smoothly this time, according to your account. You resolved all the players.”

He had heard about Mingmei and Mu Chen switching roles in the game a long time ago, and Yan Hui had even prepared him for it.

After all, Mingmei's emotions were usually calm and didn't fluctuate much. This time, with the role change, the school's student mental health monitoring system would definitely notice.

Sure enough, the next morning, Mingmei came to him citing "excessive emotional fluctuations and multiple instances of extreme emotions" in the game.

Ruan Xun was also very surprised by Mingmei's performance in the game.

The scenes of Mingmei's multiple extreme emotions all occurred when she was fighting players.

Extreme acts of killing and extreme negative emotions appeared almost simultaneously.

One-hit kills, malicious pursuit—each time Mingmei's killing behavior lasted, the extreme emotions would accompany it for just as long.

He even noticed the data detected by the system when Mingmei chased and killed four players in a row at the end. Almost the entire day was filled with those high negative emotions, with no sign of them subsiding.

However, besides the moments of killing, there were other situations where Mingmei's emotions were extremely negative.

Ruan Xun looked down at the screen showing Mingmei sitting there in her disheveled pajamas, holding Mu Chen's face. The girl held the man's face expressionlessly, the sinister and obsessive light in her eyes undisguised.

The whole scene looked both arousing and dark.

Ruan Xun became more and more curious. What was Mingmei thinking at the time?

Was she thinking of "devouring" Mu Chen alive?

"Uncle, you know that's not what I meant."

Just as Ruan Xun was lost in thought, Mingmei interrupted the reverie of this hundred-year-old bachelor.

Mingmei immediately went from lounging on the sofa to sitting upright.

She looked up at Ruan Xun, who was sitting across from her, and said seriously, "I mean, playing the villainous boss and playing the mysterious merchant feel completely different."

"Different functions, naturally different," Ruan Xun said, his tone making Mingmei frown.

Clearly, Ruan Xun was being evasive.

"But the role-playing of a villainous boss has too many negative emotions, right? And the performer is required to empathize with the character. Normal people can't handle those extreme negative emotions."

"You're just telling me you're worried that Mu Chen playing the villainous boss will affect his physical and mental health, right?"

Ruan Xun directly pointed out what Mingmei wanted to express most, causing her to pause for a few seconds.

"You should tell this to Yan Hui. Telling me won't help," Ruan Xun said, pushing the responsibility away as soon as he pointed out her true thoughts, which made Mingmei feel a little stuffy.

If she could contact Yan Hui, would she need to talk to Uncle Ruan Xun?

"Then Mu Chen... how long has he been doing this job?"

Seeing this, Mingmei could only ask another question. Ruan Xun's face suddenly became serious.

He looked at Mingmei and asked again, "Do you really want to know that much?"

"Don't tell me to ask Mu Chen. I haven't told him, and I don't think he would say it on his own. I still want to know, so I can only ask you. My intuition tells me that you know, so I have to ask you!"

To prevent Ruan Xun from telling her to ask Mu Chen or Yan Hui again, Mingmei directly blocked all those possibilities.

"Ha."

Ruan Xun was amused by Mingmei's reaction. He shook his head. When Mingmei saw that he was unwilling to say anything, she felt a slight disappointment in her heart, but then she heard him say, "Fifty years."

"What?!"

Mingmei suddenly looked up and met Ruan Xun's serious eyes. She heard "fifty years" again, and at that moment, her pupils involuntarily contracted sharply in surprise.

Fifty years!

What kind of concept was that?!

Since the game was created, Mu Chen had been in this game, playing various villainous bosses?!

"Uncle, don't joke. Fifty years..."

Mingmei recovered and said with a dry laugh, looking at Ruan Xun's eyes. Ruan Xun didn't speak again, but just looked at Mingmei quietly, letting her figure it out for herself.

Finally, a look that was both tearful and smiling appeared on Mingmei's face, like the awkward expression she often showed when she first practiced smiling kindly at others with her poker face.

"This isn't a job at all, is it? Fifty years... is this definitely not some torturous punishment?"

"Yeah, it's a punishment he deserves."

The smile that Ruan Xun usually wore on his face gradually disappeared. He stared at Mingmei's surprised expression and said, "He made a mistake, so he got this punishment. He is troubled by extreme emotions every day, and he tastes the emotions of unfulfilled desires and painful farewells experienced by all the villainous characters. He has to experience it all."

"And then, he has to check his mental state regularly. If it's not normal, then he will eventually be like those villainous bosses in the game, boom!"

As he spoke, Ruan Xun made an exploding gesture with his hand, "Either he's destroyed by the players, or he'll head towards self-destruction, you know."

"So, every time he empathizes with those extreme and dark negative emotions, he has to work hard to wake himself up after the game ends and adjust his state. And then, with the mindset of an ordinary person, he empathizes with those extremely terrible emotional memories again... This cycle repeats until his punishment time is over."

"Why..."

Mingmei was stunned. Who came up with this terrible punishment?

Meeting Mingmei's confused eyes, Ruan Xun replied lightly, "Because he made a mistake. If you make a mistake, you have to atone for it and accept the punishment. If you perform well and get through it, then now... he's free."

***

"Meimei?"

Mingmei followed the voice and looked up at Mu Chen, who was looking at her with concern. Mingmei clearly saw that her current dazed appearance was reflected in his eyes.

Since she came out of the counseling room, she had been sitting quietly in the corner, absorbing all the news she had heard today.

[Actually, your Uncle Yan Hui's holographic escape game has many more functions than you see.]

[If Meimei doesn't believe it, you can ask Mu Chen. But you also said that if he doesn't say it, you won't force him to say it. Actually... you've noticed it, haven't you? No matter what you ask, he won't lie to you.]

[Meimei knows how to take care of other people's feelings now.]

Ruan Xun's words were still in her ears, but the person in front of her had already asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you hungry?"

Seeing Mingmei staring at him blankly without saying a word, Mu Chen silently looked at the time on his optical brain. It seemed that it was indeed time for dinner.

So, he gently suggested again, "The cafeteria has a new dish recently. I tasted it yesterday, and it was pretty good. Do you want to try it?"

"Okay..."

Finally, Mingmei slowly opened her mouth, but she was still sitting there without moving, lowering her head and reaching out to hold Mu Chen's hand, as if not letting him leave.

"Are you still troubled by the game emotions from yesterday?"

Seeing Mingmei like this, Mu Chen remembered that she had just come out of the mental health room with a worried look on her face. He felt that she had not done well in the psychological counseling just now, so he squatted down and looked up at Mingmei sitting on the bench, gently stroking Mingmei's cheek with his other hand.

"There are no classes in the afternoon. How about I take you to Star Network to play some other holographic decompression games? You can also call Lu Xiaoyao and Bai Xiao to come along..."

Mingmei was pulled out of her uncomfortable emotions by the warmth in his palm. She looked at Mu Chen's face, and his warm smile was so dazzling that Mingmei was a little dazed.

"Mu Chen."

"I'm here."

"In the future, you can play the player in the game, okay? It's better not to be a boss or anything."

"Okay."

He still smiled gently, agreeing to all the requests of the person in front of him.