Pierce the Darkness, Revive, My Hamster

Ding!

The microwave finished heating, and the milk was warm, but no one came to fetch it. The Head Maid was still glued to her spot in the server room. The footage on the surveillance monitors refreshed again and again, stimulating the Head Maid's cerebral cortex.

If everyone's life story were to be made into a movie, some would be comedies, some would be tragedies, but Ye Cheng's would definitely be a horror film.

Even though she wasn't at the scene, the Head Maid could feel Ye Cheng's immense pressure through the surveillance feed.

Sometimes, one couldn't help but sigh in admiration. There was a good reason why Ye Cheng could navigate smoothly among several young ladies and still be alive and kicking—he was famously known for having nerves of steel!

After a brief confrontation, the door closed, and the surveillance screen went black. The Head Maid let out a sigh of relief. As if suddenly remembering something, she hurriedly ran out to take the heated milk from next door and sprinted up to the second floor.

Tap, tap, tap. In less than half a minute, the Head Maid returned. This time, she used the excuse of preparing some food, and then stayed downstairs for several more minutes, squatting in the server room to watch the monitors.

Upstairs.

Xia Tongxin was holding a cup of freshly heated milk, sipping it with smacking sounds.

"Xiaxia, I'm so frustrated! Why should I be afraid of them!"

"Xiaxia, tell me... Hmm? Xiaxia? Xiaxia, where are you?"

Xia Tongxin put down her cup, preparing to say something to the Head Maid, only to find her gone. There were only a few little maids waiting nearby, watching their young lady look for someone.

The little maids, who had been specifically instructed by the Head Maid before she left, stepped forward to explain the situation.

"Miss, Sister Xia went downstairs to make you a cake. Please wait a moment," a little maid said. At the same time, following the instructions left by her superior, she turned on the projector to play the anime their young lady followed religiously every week.

Naturally, this was also meant to distract her. Coincidentally, today happened to be update day.

Cake?

Xia Tongxin blinked and subconsciously licked the corners of her mouth. Just as she was about to get out of bed, the projector in front of her turned on and started playing her favorite anime. For a moment, she was caught in a dilemma.

Should she stay here and watch the anime, or go downstairs to pour her heart out to Xiaxia?

The anime was important, of course, but it still fell short compared to her Xiaxia. After a brief weighing of options, Xia Tongxin decided to give up on the anime and watch it later. Right now, she was going to find her Xiaxia to talk!

When the Madam wasn't around, the Head Maid was invincible!

Similarly, the Head Maid also took on the comforting and motherly duties of the Madam to some extent. Of course, it could also be seen as an older sister's role. Regardless, if anyone tried to steal the Head Maid away, Xia Tongxin would get furious with them.

"Miss..."

"Say no more, my mind is made up. Xiaxia is the most important person in my heart. As for this... ugh... let's pause it for now. I'll watch it later."

Xia Tongxin waved her large... well, small hand, making her decision final and allowing no one else to question it!

When the Head Maid wasn't around, there was truly no one who could keep Xia Tongxin in check. A large group of little maids watched helplessly, not daring to speak. They could only stand by and frantically send messages to their superior.

This was also something the Head Maid had instructed before leaving: if the situation got out of hand and their young lady insisted on coming down to find her, they were to message her in advance.

Xia Tongxin bounded off the large bed, her bare feet tapping on the floor as she felt around for her slippers. After a few moments, she finally succeeded in finding her cute pink slippers.

She skipped and quickly ran downstairs.

"Xiaxia, I'm coming!" Xia Tongxin was as happy as a little fool.

Leaning over the staircase, Xia Tongxin looked downstairs, but there was no sign of the Head Maid on the first floor. A giant question mark seemed to pop up over her head.

Where was Xiaxia?

In the kitchen?

Xia Tongxin quickly headed toward the kitchen, but the result was... no one.

"Why isn't Xiaxia here?" Big eyes, big confusion. Moreover, Xia Tongxin noticed that the temperature on the first floor seemed quite a bit higher than on the second floor; it was toasty warm.

This was caused by the heatwaves that had poured out from the server room on the first floor earlier, which hadn't completely dissipated yet. Xia Tongxin's room was kept at a constant temperature all year round.

It was always around twenty-six degrees Celsius, consistently maintained at the most comfortable level, which made Xia Tongxin very sensitive to changes in the surrounding temperature.

Following the source of the heatwave, Xia Tongxin walked toward the server room where the Head Maid was. Halfway there...

Click!

The server room opened, and the Head Maid stepped out, bringing with her a wave of heat and the roaring sound of running graphics cards and processors.

"Miss, why did you come down?" The Head Maid forced a smile onto her face, trying her best to look normal. She casually closed the door and leaned against it, adopting an overall defensive posture.

It was a subconscious action born out of a guilty conscience.

She had been too engrossed in watching just now and hadn't noticed the messages sent by the little maids. It wasn't until she heard someone calling her from outside on the first floor that the Head Maid realized things had gone south.

Xia Tongxin blinked her clear, translucent pale blue eyes. "Xiaxia, what were you doing in there?"

Head Maid: "..."

"Miss, the cake is ready. Shall I take you to eat the cake?" The Head Maid smiled, speaking softly as she reached out to hold her young lady's hand.

"Oh, okay... Wait, no!"

Subconsciously, Xia Tongxin was about to agree to go eat the cake together, but she suddenly realized she was being fooled!

At a speed visible to the naked eye, Xia Tongxin's cheeks puffed out. She glared angrily at the Head Maid in front of her. "Xiaxia, are you deliberately hiding something from me!"

Head Maid: "..."

Oh no, why didn't it work?

Was it really too forced?

The Head Maid felt a headache coming on. This trick had always worked in the past, but not today. Had their young lady become very sensitive?

"How could that be, Miss? I was just afraid the cake would melt if left out for too long." The Head Maid took a deep breath, and the familiar, calm smile appeared on her face once again.

"It's too hot inside. If you sweat, you'll have to take a bath later, which might reduce your sleep time and increase the chances of getting pimples and dark circles..."

The Head Maid frightened the Xia Tongxin in front of her with well-founded reasoning.

Xia Tongxin's face turned pale. "That makes sense. Xiaxia, I wrongly blamed you. Let's go quickly. After eating the cake, I'll go to sleep. I don't want to get dark circles."

The Head Maid breathed a sigh of relief. "Right away, Miss."

Holding Xia Tongxin's hand, she walked toward the kitchen nearby and brought out the cake she had prepared in advance. The two sat at the table. Xia Tongxin dangled her short legs, looking unhappy and preoccupied.

Xia Tongxin muttered about the nightmare she had earlier. The Head Maid kept nodding in agreement, but she seemed a bit absent-minded, her peripheral vision constantly locked on the tightly closed door of the server room.

Suddenly, Xia Tongxin asked, her small face filled with conflict and reluctance.

"Xiaxia, do you think I'm really useless?"

"Mhm..." The Head Maid was still staring toward the server room, her mind completely elsewhere. Burning with anxiety, the cake in her mouth tasted like wax. Unable to taste a thing, she absentmindedly nodded in response to her young lady.

Xia Tongxin: "???"

Xia Tongxin's eyes widened in disbelief, her delicate little face left looking completely dumbfounded.

One of the people closest to her, her favorite Xiaxia... just said she was useless.

The Head Maid finally snapped out of it. Having not heard her young lady chattering for a while, she found it a bit strange. When she turned around, she realized her young lady was standing there stunned.

Head Maid: "???"

"Xiaxia, you big dummy, boohoo..."

Xia Tongxin's defenses crumbled and she burst into tears. Dropping her unfinished cake, she ran upstairs, covering her face as she wept bitterly.

Head Maid: "???"

What just happened?

The Head Maid was completely baffled. She had only zoned out for a moment, so how did it turn into this? Instinctively, the Head Maid wanted to chase after her, but she stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back toward the server room.

Their young lady wouldn't truly be angry with her. She would soften up quickly after some comforting and an apology later, but as for the surveillance feed...

Gritting her teeth, the Head Maid made a decision that went against her ancestral teachings!

Executing an epic aircraft carrier U-turn, she forcefully held herself back and headed toward the server room. At the same time, she sent a message to the little maids upstairs, telling them to comfort the young lady first and that she would be up in a bit.

Upstairs.

"Boohoo, Xiaxia is a big dummy, a big dummy, boohoo..."

Xia Tongxin threw herself onto the bed, hugging her Grandpa Cow dairy cow plushie as she cried loudly. The little maids beside her kept comforting her, and the situation remained at a standstill for quite a while.

The mischievous Xia Tongxin peeked through the crowd, looking for a way to gracefully step down from her tantrum, only to find... the Head Maid wasn't there!

Xia Tongxin: "???"

If Xiaxia wasn't here, wasn't she just crying for nothing?

Xia Tongxin wasn't stupid either. Being a bit dramatic was fine, but it depended on the audience. If she was being dramatic all by herself with no one to comfort her, wasn't it a waste of tears?

A bizarre scene occurred. Without any warning, Xia Tongxin stopped crying. She hopped off the bed, grabbed a tissue to wipe her snot and tears, and headed downstairs.

"None of you follow me, and don't make a sound!" Xia Tongxin instructed.

It was exactly like the comical scene of a child rolling on the floor throwing a tantrum to test the waters for a toy, only to scramble up and chase after their parents when they simply turned and walked away.

In truth... kids understand everything; they just know how to play their audience.

Xia Tongxin seemed to have a sudden epiphany. She stealthily and mischievously sneaked downstairs, moving so fast that the little maids didn't even have time to send a message.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Xiaxia, it's me, open the door." Xia Tongxin's ultimate loli voice echoed through the hall.

Head Maid: "???"

In the room, the Head Maid stiffened, her eyes full of astonishment and shock. Shouldn't their young lady be upstairs hugging a pillow and crying right now? How...

"Xiaxia, hurry and open the door."

"..."

Click!

Bracing herself, the Head Maid opened the door. Just as she was about to step out, Xia Tongxin squeezed her way in, completely unstoppable. Entering the server room, Xia Tongxin was immediately hit in the face by a wave of heat.

"Ugh... it's so hot. Xiaxia, what are you doing in here? Why didn't you come and comfort me? That's so mean, I'm going to ignore you from now on!" Xia Tongxin pouted her red lips, a stubborn look on her little face.

Before the Head Maid could answer, Xia Tongxin was quickly drawn to the surveillance monitors in front of her. Her pale blue eyes widened, sparkling with a strange light, full of curiosity.

"Xiaxia, what is this? Are these the security cameras in our villa?"

"Huh? Is this... Grandpa Cow?" Looking around, Xia Tongxin quickly spotted Ye Cheng on the monitor, her gaze firmly locked onto him.

Also locked onto the screen was another open feed showing the hallway, where Dongfang Zhixia and the mother-daughter duo of Su Su were standing in a standoff, still talking about something.

In the hospital room, Ye Cheng had already begun his awakening work.

He climbed onto the bed, seemingly tinkering with something?

Xia Tongxin: "???"

Her little brain couldn't handle such a massive visual impact all at once; she was completely dumbfounded...

"Is... are they, are they doing that kind of thing?" Xia Tongxin held it in for a long time before finally stammering out this sentence.

Saying that one sentence almost exhausted all her strength and willpower. Her little face flushed red, looking as if it could drip blood, yet her eyes didn't look away for a second, staring wide open.

Head Maid: "..."

You don't say, you really don't say.

The Head Maid was also curious about this question, suspecting whether Ye Cheng was doing something... shameless.

If it were anyone else, it would almost certainly be the case, facing a sleeping girl... but if it was Ye Cheng, you couldn't use common sense to deduce it.

Now, both master and servant were staring at the monitors in front of them, one behind the other, trying to figure out exactly what Ye Cheng was doing.

...

Inside the hospital room.

The comatose Little Secretary's consciousness was gradually waking up, even growing stronger. It was only missing the final push, missing a catalyst!

"Resurrect, my hamster!"

"Ding!"

...

Within the dreamscape.

The Little Secretary was in a daze, surrounded by pitch-black darkness. She crouched in a corner, her body trembling slightly, feeling as though she would never be able to get out.

Fear, terror, helplessness...

During this time, she heard those voices that terrified her: her stepmother and stepsister, as well as her father. Finally, it was the voice of their Eldest Miss, shining in like a beam of light piercing through the darkness.

She wanted to follow it and leave, but she kept walking and walking, walking and walking. She was so tired, yet she couldn't reach the end. The light vanished, leaving her all alone once again.

She wanted to leave this place, but her young lady's voice grew weaker and weaker until she couldn't hear it clearly anymore. It completely disappeared, and everything returned to dead silence.

All alone, she continued to crouch in the corner, her hands hugging her legs, curled up with a vacant stare...

"Miss..."

Tears slid silently down her cheeks. This was why there was the subsequent scene of Dongfang Zhixia calling out to the Little Secretary while she cried endlessly. She had heard her; she just couldn't wake up.

Later, the young lady's voice disappeared as well. The Little Secretary sat blankly in the pitch-black darkness, as if returning to the darkest week of her childhood.

A woman had passed away from illness, and the Little Secretary had stood blankly by her side. Following the burial, she had crouched there just like this for a whole week...

An unknown amount of time passed.

"Mengmeng, come to Mom."

A gentle voice came from the darkness. After so many years, it brought a ripple of emotion to the Little Secretary's lifeless eyes.

Looking around in confusion, a figure from her memories appeared before her. The person walked over and embraced her.

"Mengmeng, you've suffered a lot all these years, haven't you?"

"I'm so sorry. Mom was so selfish to leave you all alone..."

Tears fell like rain. The Little Secretary merely clung tightly to the other person, terrified she would leave. At the same time, this corresponded to the moment in reality when the Little Secretary firmly grabbed onto Ye Cheng, reacting and refusing to let him leave!

Suddenly, the distance between the two of them grew further, and the woman was about to disappear from sight.

"Don't go, don't leave me behind..."

As if hearing her daughter's cries, the fading woman returned and hugged her daughter tightly...

"Mengmeng, you've grown up, so Mom can finally rest easy. Someone will take Mom's place to continue protecting you and loving you..." The woman's eyes were full of reluctance and maternal love. This meeting seemed to make up for the words she never had the chance to say when Mengmeng was little.

Slowly, a knot that had been tangled in her heart for many years gently unraveled.

She used to be too foolish... Although she still wasn't very smart now, she would work hard—work hard to become smarter!

"Mom..." Tears fell silently once again.

Seeming to realize something, the woman held her daughter and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Goodbye, Mengmeng."

"Ding!"

A distinct sound rang out in the pitch-black world—a crisp, synthesized electronic chime, as if some sort of reward had been triggered!

"Resurrect! My hamster!!!" Ye Cheng's excited voice echoed out!

Dispelling the darkness, a dazzling light pierced through everything!

The Little Secretary... opened her eyes!