A "Warm" Candlelit Dinner

The vast mansion was cold and quiet, returning to its initial silence.

After confirming that Helena had truly left, Luo Wei twisted his hands cuffed behind his back.

The handcuffs were very secure and sturdy, impossible to break free from with his current strength.

And in this position, even using tools to pry them open would be extremely difficult.

Luo Wei felt helpless; this was treating him like a criminal.

Since he had already chosen to return with Helena, he actually had no intention of escaping.

Luo Wei slowly walked upstairs, using his mouth to grip the doorknob and struggling to open a room door.

A pitch-black room appeared before him, with a large table - this was his alchemy table for brewing potions.

This was actually the main interface from the "Anomalous Species Containment Facility" game, where he usually used exchanged resources to concoct potions and formulate corresponding containment plans.

The reason he had to return to the mansion was for this.

In the game's world, supernatural power was an extremely dangerous thing, often accompanied by corruption, chaos, and madness.

Human supernatural beings and anomalous creatures would inevitably descend into madness as their powers grew stronger.

This was because the stronger the power, the more inspiration increased, allowing one to hear voices others couldn't, see things others couldn't, and feel the call and summons of indescribable things from the source of power.

As such, fragile minds would be strongly affected, becoming increasingly unstable.

Until complete loss of control, becoming madmen who babbled nonsense all day, with twisted inner worlds, threatening social stability.

Helena was currently in this state.

Luo Wei had to use the appropriate suppression potion to stabilize her Stability Level, only then could he successfully contain her again.

However, the bottles and various alchemy equipment on the table had all been hidden away, and the cabinets were empty.

Without much thought, it was clearly Helena's doing.

She knew he would concoct something.

The reason for handcuffing him was also to prevent him from tampering with things here.

Luo Wei chuckled softly.

Helena certainly wouldn't have guessed... that he was a "player".

Luo Wei opened the potion/alchemy interface, and a floating screen appeared before his eyes with many materials and potion recipes.

In fact, the instruments on the table were just for show; the real work was done by the alchemy system.

[Hybrid Species (Shoggoth: Writhing, tentacles, a twisted being that makes one's sanity plummet)]

[Stability Suppression Potion (Basic) x1]

[Potion crafting in progress...]

An animation of potion configuration appeared on the game interface.

In the dark room, Luo Wei kept glancing back at the door crack, waiting nervously.

Faster.

A little faster...

His chance of survival depended entirely on this potion...

What Luo Wei regretted most was that after searching extensively, among all these materials, he could only make four potions that would truly be effective against Helena.

One was a basic potion for her human form, and three were advanced potions for her monster form.

They couldn't be mixed, otherwise the effect would be counterproductive.

So only one potion could actually be useful.

The reason for this was long to explain, but basically in the first playthrough he had already reached the late game, with more and more monster types, and potion varieties became quite complex. Plus, Helena had already been contained, so he had no need to stockpile these materials.

How could he have known that he would need to contain Helena again...

As the configuration success prompt appeared, Luo Wei's eyes lit up.

Done!

He turned his back, struggling but quickly slipping the slender glass vial into his trouser pocket.

Just then, Luo Wei suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs.

The sound of steps on the floorboards, neither fast nor slow, but it made his heart race suddenly.

He was about to be discovered.

How did she return so quickly?

Luo Wei hurriedly moved to push open the room's door.

But as he turned his head, he saw an eye appear in the narrow crack of the door!

That eye, unblinking, was peering at him, and the atmosphere suddenly became inexplicably eerie.

Luo Wei's heart skipped a beat.

In the dark room, the old wooden door made a creaking sound, and Helena, expressionless, stood motionless before his eyes.

"Brother, what are you doing here?"

Caught off guard, Luo Wei struggled to maintain a calm expression.

"Oh... it's Helena..."

He smiled gently, looking towards his workbench.

"It's been four years since I left, I came to check on my old friends. Hey, Helena, why were you gone so long?"

Luo Wei asked with a smile, "Did you buy something good for brother to eat?"

Helena was holding a large paper bag, "There's bread, cheese, beef, and cauliflower..."

"Hmm..." Luo Wei wanted to pat Helena's hair but realized he was still handcuffed.

"All things brother loves to eat, Helena is so good."

Helena, however, continued to stare at Luo Wei expressionlessly.

She turned on the gas lamp in the room, and the warm yellow light made Luo Wei's eyes sting a little.

Then, Helena walked past Luo Wei and looked at the workbench behind him.

She began to inspect it carefully.

Luo Wei felt the cold touch of the potion in his pocket, praying she wouldn't discover it.

After her inspection, Helena found that Luo Wei's workbench was exactly the same as when she left, with no changes at all.

Her expressionless face finally showed some relaxation.

"Uh... actually, brother wanted to make some potions for self-defense."

"Hm?" Helena turned her head, her brow slightly furrowed.

It was a look of suspicion.

Luo Wei put on a slightly worried expression.

"You probably don't know, but there's been a disappearance at Callen University recently, all the students are talking about it..."

Helena still didn't speak, just silently looking at him.

Luo Wei continued: "So, brother wanted to come make some potions, after all, it's brother's old profession!"

The best lies are half-truths, with a small amount of falsehood mixed into a large amount of truth.

This is the least likely to arouse suspicion.

Luo Wei calmly faced her gaze.

Helena nodded slightly after hearing this; she should have heard something about this incident.

"Brother..."

She quietly walked up to Luo Wei and gently hugged him.

"Brother probably doesn't know, but Helena is very capable now."

"From now on, I won't let brother do such dangerous things anymore..."

"Brother just needs to stay at home and keep Helena company."

"Helena won't let brother encounter any danger..."

Luo Wei felt the warmth of the girl's embrace and nodded silently.

"Alright."

But what he thought was...

In the current situation, you're probably the most dangerous...

Of course, he didn't dare express this at all.

Walking out of the workroom, Helena exaggeratedly added three more locks to the door.

Only then did she truly relax, a smile reappearing on her face.

"Brother must be hungry!"

Helena looked at Luo Wei nodding obediently, her smile growing happier.

"In the past, it was always brother cooking for me, now Helena can finally take care of brother!"

She eagerly seated the handcuffed Luo Wei at the head of the dining table, then humming a tune, began preparing dinner for him.

When the table was filled with dishes full of color, aroma, and flavor, she eagerly picked up a knife and fork, cut a piece of gravy-covered steak, and held it to Luo Wei's mouth.

Then.

Luo Wei hesitated for a moment.

He looked around; all the curtains were tightly drawn, and she had nailed wooden boards over the windows. The entire mansion was pitch black...

Only the candles on the dining table were lit, their flames flickering, much like his mood.

"Brother doesn't like it?" Looking at Helena's sweet smile, Luo Wei didn't dare shake his head, he could only smile bitterly and appeal to her sympathy.

"Helena... if you try eating like this, would you still have any appetite?"

"Brother..." Helena's mouth opened and closed, she looked at Luo Wei's miserable face and finally realized she had gone too far.

"Please untie brother..."

Luo Wei looked at her, patiently persuading.

"Brother has already promised to stay with you, and won't go back on his word."

"Why do you still treat brother like this? Brother is practically like a prisoner."

"I'm very disappointed..."

Helena lowered her head guiltily, "I'm sorry, brother. It's Helena's fault..."

"Helena was just... just afraid..."

"Afraid that brother would disappear again."

Luo Wei stared at her intently, "Brother won't disappear anymore."

"Alright then..." Helena stood up and slowly walked towards Luo Wei.

As he felt the heavy handcuffs gradually being removed, Luo Wei's heart began to ease.