[I received my bonus! I bought you a gift~ You can use it in the next world!]

The system light flickered slightly as it jumped around.

"Wow, little system, you even bought me a gift! What is it?"

Zi Xi was surprised. Although the system was small, it was really honest!

She felt that she was being taken care of.

Hehehe, I won't tell you! You'll find out in the next world!

"Thank you in advance."

Zi Xi chuckled softly and closed her eyes to rest.

*

Rain pattered against the windowpane, blurring the city into a hazy, watercolor-like scene.

In Jin Ye's studio, time seemed to stand still, isolated from the outside world.

The studio was spacious yet oppressive, with only a large window on the north side letting in a sparse amount of light.

The walls were covered with layers of paint, a chaotic background of deep red, black, and indigo, with countless sketches and torn pages pinned to them.

In the deepest darkness of the corner of the studio, the glass of the decorative cabinet on the wall looked like a blurry tear.

Inside the cabinet, on the black velvet lining, lay living creatures.

They were as quiet as an eerie specimen, occasionally emitting a faint light that didn't belong in this room.

There were no other decorations in the cabinet, only these.

In the center of the studio, a young woman was curled up in an extremely unnatural position on a scarlet velvet sofa.

She had been in this position for nearly three hours, and fine beads of sweat slid down her temples, her muscles trembling slightly uncontrollably.

"I told you, don't move."

A deep, hoarse voice came from the shadows.

Jin Ye stood in front of the easel, his slender fingers gripping the paintbrush tightly.

He was wearing black overalls stained with paint, and only a worn-out gray T-shirt on his upper body, with his pale but muscular forearms showing through the cuffs.

His handsome face appeared sharply defined in the dim light, and his long, messy black hair fell over his forehead, almost obscuring his overly sharp eyes.

But when he inadvertently glances at the model, his eyes flash with an almost inhuman focus, like a wild beast locking onto its prey.

The canvas already shows a rudimentary human figure, but it is not an ordinary portrait.

The model's body was distorted and reassembled against a backdrop of burning vortexes, the colors so intense they were almost suffocating.

What was most unsettling were those eyes, empty and lifeless.

"Boss...I...I can't hold on any longer..."

The model's voice was choked with sobs, and her body began to sway noticeably.

Jin Ye threw down his paintbrush, making a crisp sound.

He strode toward the model, his footsteps silent yet menacing.

The model was so frightened that she shrank back, but fell to the ground because she had been holding the same pose for too long.

"waste."

"If you can't even achieve the most basic stillness, how can you presume to be part of art?"

He uttered these words coldly, looking down at her.

"No one can stay still for hours like you're asking!"

"Besides, your paintings don't need models, do they?! They're so horrifying, so distorted they could give you nightmares..."

The girl hurriedly grabbed the robe beside her and wrapped it around herself, her tears finally bursting forth.

"Now, take your money and get out."

Jin Ye's lips curled into a smileless arc.

The girl practically crawled to gather her things and stumbled towards the door.