Damn it, I'm surrounded by insane Alphas!

The door behind him slammed shut.

Shi Ran rushed over and banged on the door: "What are you doing? Wen Yiheng? What do you mean?"

There was no answer from outside the door.

He clapped twice more, his hand hovering in mid-air, and then suddenly stopped moving.

The express delivery box, the opened packaging, the hand that Wen Yiheng used to support him in the KTV corridor, every step he took.

This was a trap, and he walked right into it.

Shi Ran panicked a little and started looking for her keys in the room, rummaging through the closet drawers, but she found nothing.

His phone is also missing.

Only then did he notice that the bedroom had been cleaned, and many things had been removed, or rather, everything that would help him escape.

Of course, there are also some additional things.

Shi Ran slowly raised her head. In the 20-square-meter space, there were cameras installed in all four corners.

The red dot flickered in the darkness, like the sinister eyes of a venomous snake.

Shi Ran finally realized that Wen Yiheng was serious this time.

"Wen Yiheng! I know you're outside! Open the door! Open the door now!"

"Sometimes."

Wen Yiheng's voice came from outside the door, her tone calm and patient, like the tone when saying goodnight to him before going to sleep.

Shi Ran's fist stopped in mid-air.

"Obey your handcuffs and chain yourself to the bed."

"Are you fucking crazy? You think you can just let me out after I handcuff me?"

"Maybe if I see something I like on the surveillance footage."

Wen Yiheng left only an ambiguous answer.

"Oh, right," his voice came again, as if he had turned back halfway, "I have to go on a business trip for two days. Be good, sweetie, I don't want you to suffer too much."

Shi Ran was stunned for a moment, then heard the door close with a crisp, muffled thud.

Shi Ran panicked and rushed to the window, only to find that the security bars outside the window were newly installed, painted the same white as the window frame, and welded into the wall.

He looked up at the camera in the corner, hurled all the profanities at him until his voice cracked and he was barely breathing, before finally sliding down to the ground.

It was late at night, and he had no strength left. He could only pull the blanket off and wrap it around himself, huddling in a corner, far away from the handcuffs.

When Shi Ran woke up again, the room was pitch black.

He fumbled for the small alarm clock by his bedside; the fluorescent hands pointed to eleven o'clock.

Is it 11 a.m. yet?

He walked to the window, drew back the curtains, but still no light came in.

Behind the curtains were sealed blinds, and outside was a newly installed blackout panel that completely blocked out the sunlight.

Wen Yiheng didn't leave him even a sliver of natural light.

He tried to turn on the light, but all the switches he tried had the power cut off.

Security grilles and sunshades were not spur-of-the-moment decisions, nor were they prepared today.

Wen Yiheng had wanted to do this for a long time; he was just waiting for a reason.

In the darkness, Shi Ran stood under the four cameras and looked up, knowing that Wen Yiheng was watching him.

"I'm hungry, Wen Yiheng."

"My stomach hurts so much."

What this person cares about most is whether he eats properly. Before, he didn't like to eat breakfast, so I tried all sorts of ways to coax him to eat until he was satisfied.

But there has been no response so far.

Shi Ran searched the entire room, but only the bathroom faucet was still working. He drank a lot of cold water, which made his stomach hurt even more.

My fingertips were covered in dust from scratching through the window cracks, and a hangnail stuck up next to my nail, stinging painfully when I touched it.

He slept a few times in between, and each time he woke up, it was the same darkness and the same silence.

I don't know how much time has passed, maybe a few hours, maybe another day.

A faint hissing sound of electricity suddenly came from the darkness, and then a red dot went out.

Suddenly, he raised his head and stared at the dark corner.

Three seconds later, the second red dot went out.

Then came the third, then the fourth, and the room was plunged into complete darkness.

Shi Ran's breathing suddenly became rapid.

He could endure being watched, he could endure hunger, and he could endure Wen Yiheng's silence.

But he couldn't bear this, couldn't bear being thrown into complete darkness, with even the little bit of red light taking away his company.

That was the only evidence he could have in the room that he was still being watched.

"Wen Yiheng?" His voice sounded very faint in the darkness.

He got out of bed, not knowing which way to go. Without that red light, he couldn't even tell which wall had a door.

"Wen Yiheng? You're not watching anymore?"

Shi Ran turned around, her voice trembling, "Aren't you afraid I'll die in your room?"

The darkness did not answer him.

But Shi Ran knew that Wen Yiheng wasn't watching anymore, which meant she wasn't interested, and being uninterested meant she didn't want him anymore.

Shi Ran slid down the wall and sat down, burying her face in her knees, and smelled the familiar scent of Wen Yiheng.

It has a woody tone, is clean, and feels like the wind in a pine forest after a snowfall.

He pressed his collar to his nose and inhaled deeply, trying to fill his lungs with the lingering scent, and then drifted off to sleep again.

I don't know how long I slept, but I was suddenly woken up by an alarm and realized that the camera was on again.

Shi Ran practically tumbled off the bed, his knees hitting the floor, making him gasp in pain. "You're looking, aren't you? You saw me—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

The green light went out, then jumped back to red, and the room plunged back into darkness.

Shi Ran immediately pulled out her alarm clock; it was 8:03, not a second earlier.

He knew Wen Yiheng did it on purpose, to let him know he was still watching, and then she turned it off right in front of him.

It was like someone walking up to the cage, standing there for a moment, glancing at him through the bars, then turning away without saying a word.

Shi Ran lowered his head and walked back to the bedside. This time he didn't curse or give the middle finger to the camera. He just sat wrapped in the blanket, unconsciously biting the hangnail on his hand.

At first, I just gently tapped it with my teeth, trying to bite off the peeling dead skin.

But once the dead skin is bitten off, the tender flesh underneath is exposed, and a new one will sprout up next to it after a couple of days.

He started tearing and biting, and couldn't stop.

By the time he realized what was happening, his fingertips were already stained red with blood, and the skin had been torn open, revealing the pink dermis underneath.

pain.

But this pain is real, controllable, and belongs to him.

When all senses are stripped away, leaving only four red dots, pain becomes the only way to confirm that one is still alive.

He stared at his fingers for a while, then put the fingertips in his mouth.

The blood tasted fishy, ​​mixed with saliva, and salty.

He held it in his mouth for a while, then took it out to look at it again, raising his hand towards the closed camera.

"Wen Yiheng," he said softly, as if talking to thin air, "look, you're bleeding."

"I saw it."

A voice suddenly rang out in the darkness. Shi Ran was momentarily dazed before realizing that it was the system responding to him.

"Shi Ran, you're in terrible shape. It's been three days already. If this continues, you'll...you'll fail."

Can you hear me?

"Shiran?"

Shi Ran simply lowered her head and continued biting her nails, without reacting.

On the third night, hunger was no longer a pain; instead, a hollow numbness spread from my abdomen to my limbs.

He started to feel cold; even though he was wrapped in a blanket, his fingers were still icy.

He started dreaming, like a lucid daydream. In his dream, Wen Yiheng was frying eggs in the kitchen, and he was lying on the dining table, with sunlight streaming in through the French windows, warming his back.

He heard Wen Yiheng ask, "Are you hungry?" He muttered, "Your baby is starving." Wen Yiheng smiled and brought over the food, just like every morning.

Wen Yiheng always granted his every request, seemingly with inexhaustible patience. Sometimes, even when he felt he was being unreasonable, Wen Yiheng would just smile and say, "No problem, leave it to me."

Shi Ran was bewitched by Wen Yiheng, gradually lowering her guard and forgetting the tricks Wen Yiheng had used when they first met.

But it's too late to regret it now.

On the fourth day, when the fluorescent pointer pointed to 7:50, Shi Ran was already sitting on the edge of the bed, quietly waiting for Wen Yiheng to arrive.

Shi Ran thought that this was no different from a timed feeder for a dog.

Feed your pet regularly and in measured amounts, letting it know who is feeding it.

He gave a self-deprecating smile. He had thought about it for a long time last night, trying to figure out what Wen Yiheng really wanted.

The handcuffs from the gift box were still lying at the foot of the bed; he had nothing else to give except this.

The monitor finally lit up. Shi Ran was sitting on the edge of the bed, having waited for a while.

His left wrist was already handcuffed. He looked up and stared silently at the red dot, too weak to speak.

He knew that if Wen Yiheng was still not satisfied today and didn't give him any food, he might really die here.

He suddenly realized that perhaps Wen Yiheng didn't even care about his death.

"Good boy/girl."

In the darkness, Wen Yiheng's voice finally rang out.

As always, she was gentle and patient, as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly, as if by reflex, he leaned forward abruptly, the chain taut, tightening around his wrist.

He struggled, and the chain struck the wrought iron railing with a piercing sound.

"Wen Yiheng, I know I was wrong... Please come back?"

Wen Yiheng smiled very softly.

"There's a cabinet under the bed. Could you help me get the things out of it?"

Shi Ran paused for half a second, then knelt on the floor, her unhandled right hand reaching under the bed.

There was a paper bag containing a bag of bread, and it's unclear how long it had been there.

He tore open the bag and wolfed it down, the dry dough choking him. He forced it down, tears welling in his eyes.

He didn't care, he just ate heartily.

Bread crumbs fell on his knees and onto the floor; he picked them up and put them back.

The moment I swallowed the last bite, my stomach suddenly convulsed violently.

A surge of acid rose from the bottom of his stomach. He bent over and dry heaved, but nothing came out except for acidic fluid and tears.

He knelt on the floor, his forehead pressed against the cold tiles, panting and trembling.

"Do something nice, sweetie."

Wen Yiheng's voice rang out again, as if she were coaxing someone.

Shi Ran knelt on the floor, slowly raised her head, and looked at the camera.

He recalled what Wen Yiheng had said before she left: "If I see something I'm satisfied with in the surveillance footage, maybe I will."

What exactly does he want to see?

Shi Ran lowered his head, his fingers still trembling from gagging. He took off his T-shirt, then his pants, and then knelt on the floor again, looking up at himself.

Is this what you wanted to see?

no respond.

Shi Ran knelt there and suddenly felt very helpless.

He stripped himself naked, handcuffed himself, and ate the bread that had been sitting out for who knows how long, but he still didn't know what Wen Yiheng wanted.

The red light started flashing intermittently, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and I knew it was a signal that it was about to turn off.

Shi Ran's pupils constricted sharply, and he shouted, "Don't go!"

Suddenly, Shi Ran's right hand reached down and grasped himself.

He acted without hesitation, because there was no time to hesitate; the red light would go out in a few seconds, and he only had those few seconds.

He wrapped himself up in his arms, his body feeling numb, but he dared not stop.

His breathing was rapid and labored, and a suppressed, almost pleading gasp rolled out of his throat.

The flickering stopped.

It finally stopped.

The tiny red light shone steadily again, like an eye that had reopened.

(The rest of this chapter is on Weibo~ usual place! There are still 3,000 words left, don't miss it! After you finish reading, you can come back and leave a comment. Love you!)