Before she knew it, it was high noon. The sun outside was blinding, like a white curtain.

Jiang Zheyu glanced at the time and stopped typing. It was time for a break. She finished with one last sentence.

"Tears slid from her beautiful eyes, but she smiled gently. Her lovely, blood-stained red lips pressed a kiss to my tattered butterfly wings. She said this was always her favorite place..."

Lunch break had arrived. She was going to lie down and rest.

The livestreaming booth had a nap room, so she just left the stream running and went to rest.

Jiang Zheyu had no idea that after she left, her livestream chat exploded.

RedArmorIsTheBest: Where’d the streamer go? Why aren’t you writing? What’s next?

TheColorOfTheSky: What happened to Yanyan? You worthless Beastman, you can’t even protect your own female! You made her take a blade for you!

DeathToTheZerg: Streamer, if Yanyan dies, I swear I’m coming for you!

Baise: Yanyan is the best female in the universe! Write faster, write faster, I need to know the rest of the story!

...

For a moment, the donations in the livestream chat wouldn’t stop.

TheColorOfTheSky gifted 10 x Hongying Armor.

Baise gifted 999 Resurrection Bottles.

RedArmorIsTheBest gifted 666 Interstellar Peaces.

...

Jiang Zheyu had already lain down. She could only rest for an hour before she had to go back to livestreaming her typing in the afternoon.

Without really looking at the comment barrage, she started typing again.

"I don’t know why she was so foolish, rushing over to take a blade for me. Doesn’t she know I’m a Beastman, that I can recover quickly even if I’m injured? All I knew was that in that moment, my breath grew ragged, like the labored gasps of the dying..."

Jiang Zheyu casually glanced at her earnings, and her eyes widened. Her income had actually reached ten thousand!

The System hadn’t lied to her. The interstellar Beastmen really did love this story. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Jiang Zheyu breathed a sigh of relief and continued to type.

But since she had already met her quota, Jiang Zheyu’s typing slowed. It wasn’t like she got to keep the money anyway. She wanted to cry but had no tears left.

She was nothing more than a Black Slave now. ’Even actual Black Slaves aren’t exploited this ruthlessly.’

The day finally dragged on until evening.

Jiang Zheyu shuffled back to her cell, her eyes darting around, not daring to look at anything too openly.

Once inside the cell, she went and sat on her bunk.

Ache, whose bunk was next to hers, wasn’t back yet. She had no idea where he’d gone.

’He should be back soon, though.’

Sure enough, the cell doors began to open one by one as everyone returned around the same time.

The old-timers in the cells all looked normal enough; they probably had patrons looking out for them.

It was the other four Beastmen, the new arrivals who came with her, who looked grim.

Especially Ache. His face was pale and his brows were tightly furrowed, his anxiety plain to see.

Jiang Zheyu guessed his livestream hadn’t gone well.

She decided not to say anything, not wanting to poke a sore spot and make him feel worse.

Ache came and sat on the bunk beside her. He looked over at Jiang Zheyu and, noticing how quiet she was, seemed to come to a realization. He figured A Yu’s livestream probably hadn’t gone well either, and she might have even been bullied by the whales in her chatroom.

In reality, Jiang Zheyu was quiet because she thought he was upset and didn’t want to bother him, giving him space to process his feelings. She never expected him to misunderstand her silence.

"A Yu, don’t worry." Ache took Jiang Zheyu’s hand, his expression perpetually shrouded in a layer of sorrow, like a male version of Lin Daiyu. "We’ll just have to take a few beatings for the first few days. Our livestream income will definitely meet the quota eventually, and things will get better."

Jiang Zheyu paused. ’Wait, has this boy misunderstood something?’

Jiang Zheyu could only offer a dry reply, "Yeah... things will definitely get better for us."

"A Yu, come out for a second." A knock echoed from the iron cell door.

Jiang Zheyu froze for a second before looking over. She saw her group leader, Brother Xiang, standing there. With one hand in his pocket, he gestured for her to come over as if calling a puppy, then stepped back outside.

She pursed her lips. ’I wonder what this group leader wants with me now.’

Jiang Zheyu had no choice but to step outside. Seeing Brother Xiang leaning against the wall, she asked, "Brother Xiang, did you need me for something?"

"I looked at your livestream results today. Not bad." Brother Xiang said slowly, exhaling a puff of smoke. "But ten or twenty thousand is way too little. You know Ah Bai? He can pull in five million a day."

"Brother Bai is incredible, of course. I’m just a newcomer, so it’s only natural I can’t compare to him," Jiang Zheyu said, forcing a timid smile.

’Is five million really that easy to make?’

’Of course it isn’t.’

"You can beat him," Brother Xiang said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Jiang Zheyu: "..."

’But I don’t want to beat him!’

"Tomorrow morning, you can keep livestreaming your typing. In the afternoon, try livestreaming some scrubbing." With that, Brother Xiang gave Jiang Zheyu an order she couldn’t refuse.

"But didn’t you say I just had to earn ten thousand?" Jiang Zheyu’s expression turned pained.

"Meeting your daily income quota means you get to avoid the punishment for failing to meet your quota," Brother Xiang sneered. "But disobeying your group leader? That’s a different punishment altogether."

’Completely unscrupulous.’

Jiang Zheyu gritted her teeth.

"Okay, Brother Xiang. I understand," Jiang Zheyu could only feign compliance.

’I really can’t stand this place a second longer.’

Jiang Zheyu returned to her cell.

She now felt just like Ache, her own face shrouded in a cloud of melancholy.

’Just when I thought I was safe for a while... Who knew this group leader would be so inhuman?’

’When will I get a chance to escape?!’

Midnight passed, and a new purification quest refreshed.

But Jiang Zheyu didn’t dare to start the purification right away. She was afraid the others weren’t sound asleep yet. If she woke them, it would be disastrous.

So, Jiang Zheyu told the System to wake her up around three or four in the morning.

At 3:00 AM, the System woke Jiang Zheyu right on time.

After waking up, Jiang Zheyu was groggy for a moment. She shook her head to clear it, then used her spiritual power to put the three people she was about to purify under hypnosis.

She crept over slowly, feeling inexplicably guilty.

’I feel like some kind of pervert, sneaking around to hold someone’s hand...’

Purified Butterfly Beast, obtained 86 Beastification Value.

Purified Ragdoll Cat, obtained 84 Beastification Value.

Purified Rat, obtained 84 Beastification Value.

...

Jiang Zheyu was stunned. ’To think such a delicate-looking boy is actually a rat!’

The big, black, food-stealing kind, no less.

When Jiang Zheyu had entered his consciousness without warning, she’d jumped in fright. After all, a rat the size of a person—how could that not be terrifying?

Thankfully, the rat was sleeping soundly, and all she needed to do was grab the dark energy.

’Phew, good thing I used hypnosis. A human-sized rat opening its eyes to stare at me would be absolutely horrifying.’