The ventilation duct was small and narrow, stuffy, and permeated with the acrid smell of accumulated dust. Yet You Mingxu seemed to be in a meditative state, oblivious to these conditions, crawling quickly and silently. As she moved, a thought crossed her mind: fortunate it was her here—if it had been someone else, says Xu Mengshan, they might not have even fit through. Even if they had, they certainly couldn’t move as quickly and efficiently as she could.

Ding Xiongwei lucked out with her.

Despite these somewhat arrogant thoughts, her mind kept drifting back to Yin Feng’s silent gaze from earlier. Suddenly, she remembered the past, when he was still Yu Yingjun, how he would watch her with star-bright eyes every time she had to leave. When she left, the stars would fall from his eyes.

But now, he had matured, cared about his image, and stayed quiet, his eyes no longer glowing. Even when unwilling, he wouldn’t express it directly, only speaking with subtle sarcasm.

Thinking about this, warmth spread through You Mingxu’s heart, and as she looked toward the tunnel that led to either death or victory, her limbs seemed filled with renewed strength.

You stupid man, wait for me to return.

Stay safe, so we can take down the Punishers together.

Finally reaching the duct’s end, You Mingxu was extremely careful, first lying flat at the ventilation window, looking down. As shown on the map, below was a bathroom. She listened for several seconds—no movement. The Punishers must be too busy with their earth-shattering plans to use the restroom. She carefully lifted the small window and dropped to the floor.

The surroundings were quiet, with distant sounds of movement. Like a cat, You Mingxu pressed against the wall, took a deep breath, and slowly opened the bathroom door.

Outside was a corridor, silent.

She peeked out, immediately pulling back.

No guards in the hallway.

Makeup Room 3 was closest, just ten steps across the corridor.

“Fortune favors the bold.” The phrase popped into her mind, along with fleeting images of people and scenes from long ago. Then her entire aura settled, her body becoming light as a wild goose as she darted along the corridor.

After four or five steps, low voices came from the corridor’s end. You Mingxu’s eyebrows lifted as she smoothly pushed open a door beside her and slipped inside.

It was a small storage room, dark and empty.

After half a minute, hearing no more movement outside, You Mingxu steadied herself, suppressing her rapid heartbeat, and reopened the door.

She quickly reached Makeup Room 3. No one in sight.

According to the map’s markings, besides the three makeup rooms that matched the hostage video’s setting, there were also three connected broadcast rooms responsible for the floor’s main control. The broadcast room had Punishers controlling the studio. Additionally, the makeup rooms holding hostages would certainly have guards.

Having reached this point, You Mingxu realized—Yin Chen probably didn’t have many people left backstage. That’s why the corridors were almost unguarded. After all, over a dozen people were already deployed in the studio’s passages and main hall. The Punishers weren’t gods; after several major confrontations, their personnel were depleted. What Yin Chen had now must be their final force.

This made You Mingxu’s task easier.

Always bold, she pressed her ear against Makeup Room 3’s door, listening for a while—complete silence. Craftily, her hand light as air, she pushed the door open half a foot, then darted back to the storage room.

She silently counted down, waiting about 20 seconds. No one emerged. Her heart settled, understanding the situation, she returned and slowly opened the door.

Inside was dark and empty.

Not here.

The situation could change in an instant; every discovery counted. She immediately messaged Ding Xiongwei: “Room 3 cleared.”

On the other end, Ding Xiongwei, anxiously awaiting intelligence while mobilizing stronger police forces, saw the message and his eyes lit up. But when he saw the Punishers’ newly announced “cross-choice” results on the screen, his heart blocked, and he wanted to curse.

She was mad.

She had been mad all along, he thought. She’d walked into a dead end. When smart people enter dead ends without realizing it, they become more frightening than ordinary people. The crucial point was that she had once been a good and upright person, so now she wanted to drag more people into what she believed was paradise but was a dead end. Like a child, naive yet determined.

She was such a professional psychologist, yet couldn’t heal herself. Though knowing her childhood experiences had planted the seeds of evil, nurturing a pathological mindset, she mistook it for truth.

Meanwhile, You Mingxu left Room 3.

Due to the layout, Makeup Rooms 1 and 2 were still some distance away, requiring passage in front of the broadcast room. You Mingxu leaned against the wall, seeing from afar that the broadcast room door was open. She dared not rush past—that would be suicide. Yin Feng had made it clear: if Yin Chen saw her, he would kill her. She agreed. Unlike his mentor who single-mindedly sought some truth, Yin Chen was far more violent. If he discovered she was disrupting this ultimate punishment plan, he’d probably want to skin her alive.

You Mingxu had a strategy, and Ding Xiongwei’s team wasn’t helpless either.

She returned to the previous bathroom, and climbed into the ventilation duct, restoring everything to its original state.

Following the duct in another direction, there was a passage that might lead to Makeup Room 2. She’d assess the situation when she got there.

After crawling for another five or six minutes, You Mingxu was covered in grime, her face barely recognizable. Following her mental map, she knew she’d reached the location. Looking down through the vent, she saw a small empty office, about five or six square meters, with its door closed, but faint voices could be heard from next door.

You Mingxu’s heart slowly tensed as she dropped from the vent. After some thought, she first locked the small office door from inside, then looked up.

The room was small, but there was a ventilation window in the wall connecting to the next room.

You Mingxu leaped up the wall like a gecko, wedging herself in the corner, then slowly moved her face forward, exposing barely half an eye.

Seeing the situation in the adjacent room, You Mingxu’s heart settled like a thousand-pound weight being steadily put down, then filled with joy.

It was a room of about twenty square meters, with a row of mirrors on the wall and brilliant golden lighting. Two Punishers stood at the door, guns ready, showing constant vigilance. One was speaking quietly to the other.

In the room, against the wall, crouched about ten people. Among them were several staff members You Mingxu had seen in the studio earlier, including the young assistant director. Everyone hung their heads, hands bound behind their backs with zip ties, feet also bound. They looked like a group of silent frogs. One young staff member was still crying quietly, trying to suppress their sobs.