008: "Debt collectors have come knocking on our door."

The man then looked at Huai Yan properly, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

"You got 30,000 so quickly?" He said, opening the envelope and scanning the money through the money detector several times before scoffing, "Since you're rich, why don't you pay back more?"

Huaiyan was startled by the man's gaze and took a step back, her thin shoulder bumping into the supporting pillar behind her.

The boy grunted and shivered under the other person's malicious gaze.

Huaiyan's intuition told her that she couldn't stay in this place any longer.

"N-nothing." He turned around in a panic. "I'll be going now."

The man didn't call out to him again this time.

Huai Yan felt a chill run down his spine; the other person's eyes didn't seem to suggest they would let him off easily.

But the debt has already been paid off, so there's no reason for those people to keep harping on him.

Only when they reached the door of the rented house did each person and each system finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"I...I'm looking for the key..." The boy's voice was still trembling, his words filled with confusion, "Why can't I find it..."

Huaiyan touched every part of his body, and finally collapsed and squatted down at the door of the rented room, hugging himself tightly.

The scarred man's eyes were terrifying; he still feels lingering fear just thinking about it.

"Host, are you alright?" 073 couldn't bear it. "You should go in first. What if that pervert from the live stream comes looking for you later?"

The boy responded sullenly and stood up, his body limp.

He has a live stream tonight, so he can't go into the live stream in this state.

Huaiyan wiped away the tears from his face, his fair face instantly turning bright red from the force he had used.

-

"Okay, I understand."

In the dimly lit rented room, only the faint light from the computer screen remained.

The man hung up the phone, his dark eyes fixed on the screen, his cold gaze seemingly covered by a thick layer of frost.

The twilight outside streamed into the room, casting silhouettes through the window. The man's face was shrouded in a dim shadow, making it impossible to discern his emotions.

Slowly, the boy on the screen stood up from the ground, trembling, and turned the doorknob to enter the rented room.

Soon, the dark corridor was empty, and silence returned to the camera.

The man remained calm, his gaze never leaving the surveillance camera.

-

Huaiyan made a bowl of instant noodles in the cramped kitchen and boiled a kettle of water in preparation for taking a bath later.

Because the rental house is old and only provides normal water and electricity, it cannot support the solar water heater in the bathroom, so he can only boil water to take a bath each time.

But that's alright, Huaiyan has been here for a few days and has now completely adapted.

Aside from the less-than-ideal conditions, everything else here is alright.

The original owner was an orphan, and it's truly remarkable that she has reached this point.

Just as Huaiyan brought the instant noodles into the living room, she heard an unusually urgent knocking sound at the door.

The sound was deafening, as if it contained boundless rage.

The door to the rented room was an old-fashioned iron door; if you got close, you could even clearly hear the sound of fists hitting the iron door.

Huaiyan was startled and almost dropped the instant noodles in her hand.

The deafening knocking continued; if there weren't so few residents in the building, someone would probably have already come to complain.

Huaiyan put down the instant noodles in her hand and stood up from the sofa.

That ominous premonition returned to my heart.

"Host, these should be people who have come to collect a debt."

073 said in a serious voice, "Whatever you do, don't open the door, or you'll be in danger."