Honest Beta gets scammed

Upon hearing this, Chu Yi glanced at Li Qing, then shook his head.

"Sorry, I'm really not sure about that... He's actually my boss, but we don't keep in touch much."

Li Qing nodded and didn't press the matter further.

He whispered "thank you," then closed the car door and turned to leave.

Chu Yi watched his slightly unsteady figure walk into the lobby of the apartment building before turning away and driving away.

Li Qing walked into the elevator in a daze, and when he came to his senses, he was already sitting on the sofa in his own living room.

Looking around, the bright and clean surroundings gave him a sense of disorientation, and he suddenly thought of his old house.

Li Qing sat there blankly for a long time, his thoughts in a daze. After a while, he picked up his phone, opened his contacts, found Guan Li's contact information, and stared at the number, but hesitated to press the button.

The time displayed at the top of the screen was a little after 1 a.m.

It's so late, she should have been asleep long ago...

Li Qing turned off the screen, tossed the phone aside, and buried her face in her hands.

The contract regarding Twilight Nebula.

Even without asking, Li Qing felt that the truth was pretty much certain.

Looking back now, everything seemed strange.

He had just left the Shengxin Club and hadn't even walked a few miles from the gate when he bumped into talent scout Jenny on the street. The Alpha named Jenny praised him to the skies, saying that it would be a disservice to his face not to enter the entertainment industry.

But after that, it was as if Jenny had completed his mission; apart from the day he signed the contract, he never contacted him again.

His life suddenly became easier and freer.

At first, Li Qing thought it was just good luck, but now he thinks, where in this world is there so much luck?

From beginning to end, it was all arranged by He Xiangchen.

Li Qing suddenly remembered something from an even earlier time.

Back then, he was still working as a waiter at Shengxin Club. He Xiangchen had done something similar to him. At that time, he was fooled by He Xiangchen's lies about being "helpless" and even foolishly thought that He Xiangchen was some kind of pitiful person.

Looking back now, I realize that from that time on, I may have already become He Xiangchen's target for manipulation.

Li Qing lowered his eyes, feeling a tightness in his chest. He stood up, went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower.

The water stung his skin as it washed over him. Li Qing mechanically scrubbed his body, and when he looked up unintentionally, his reflection appeared in the steamy mirror.

A trail of red marks snaked down his neck, disappearing into the back of his neck where he couldn't see, while the bluish-purple finger marks on his waist and abdomen served as reminders of what he had endured.

Li Qing's eyes trembled slightly, and he quickly looked away, not daring to look at the mirror again. He turned down the water and quickened his movements. Only then did he belatedly feel the pain in the wound on the back of his neck.

After taking a shower, Li Qing was wide awake.

He changed into his pajamas and curled up on the sofa in the living room.

He turned off the main lights in the room, leaving only the television screen flashing colorful lights in the darkness.

A classic comedy cartoon was playing on the screen. Light and shadow danced on his face, accompanied by cheerful and abstract sound effects. Li Qing remained calm, and as the protagonist made a fool of himself and ended up in a mess, he twitched his lips and chuckled.

As I laughed, tears began to fall.

The exaggerated and cheerful sound effects from the cartoon filled the entire room, drowning out his suppressed sobs. Li Qing buried his face deeply between his knees, his shoulders trembling slightly.

My neck hurts so much.

Late at night, Li Qing didn't remember how she got into bed, but she fell asleep quickly.

He was exhausted and wanted to rest, but the nightmares had no intention of giving him peace.

He dreamed again of the pervert who had kidnapped him. The pervert had no form, but was just enveloped in a cloud of black mist, constantly emitting eerie low laughter.

In the past, when he dreamed of this, the scenes were always vague and uncertain, such as a rainy night in the deep mountains or an abandoned warehouse. These were places that Li Qing had never been to but were very scary. But this time, the scene was one that Li Qing had seen before: the room that He Xiangchen dragged him into.

Inside the room, there was no longer only him and that pervert; there was another person—He Xiangchen.

He Xiangchen stood next to the pervert, a twisted and gleeful smile on his face, his eyes shining frighteningly, like two will-o'-the-wisps in the night.

He was clearly not there to act as a savior.

Li Qing was alone, facing the two of them.

This time, no hero descended from the sky, and no one came to his rescue.

He struggled desperately, crying out for help, but in the end, things came to the worst possible end, and despair, like icy seawater, overwhelmed him.

When the die was cast and everything came to a close, Li Qing, having cried his eyes out and lost all his strength, was suddenly enveloped by the monstrous black mist. It moved closer to him, gently stroking his hair in a comforting gesture, while its mouth stretched wildly upwards, forming a terrifying smile.

Then, a familiar voice came from that smiling face.

"Li Qing".

Li Qing's pupils suddenly trembled.

Under his gaze, the black mist slowly shook off and dissipated, revealing its true form.

It was none other than He Xiangchen.

Then his body swayed and slowly overlapped with the figure of another He Xiangchen next to him, eventually becoming one with him, sitting on the edge of the bed and giving him a twisted smile.

"Li Qing, I love you~"

"ah--!"

Li Qing suddenly woke up with a start and cried out.

His eyes were wide open, staring intently at the ceiling, his pupils trembling wildly with fear, and cold sweat soaked his pajamas, sticking stickily to his body.

"Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump..."

There was a constant, urgent knocking at the door.

Li Qing was breathing rapidly. Ignoring the noise outside, she propped herself up and sat up. After calming down for a while, her complexion improved slightly.

He rubbed his temples wearily, and hearing the continued knocking on the door, he weakly called out towards the door.

"They're here..."

He then threw back the covers, picked up his phone from beside his pillow to check the time, only to find the screen completely black and the phone had automatically shut down. He then realized that he had forgotten to charge it when he went to sleep last night.

Li Qing, expressionless, tossed her phone aside, rubbed her eyes in her slippers, and slowly walked out of the bedroom to open the door.

Once outside the bedroom, the knocking became even clearer.

No, it was less like knocking and more like pounding on the door.

Li Qing stopped walking.

He vaguely realized something—who would be in such a hurry to find him at this time…

Sure enough, the next second, a voice he least wanted to hear came through the door, full of urgency.

"Li Qing! Li Qing! Open the door! I know you're home! Please open the door so I can explain things to you properly, okay? Li Qing!"

It is He Xiangchen.