Chapter 97
Chapter 97
“A Party-Wipe Player?” Bai Jiang’s expression darkened. When Cheng Miao looked at him, he forced himself to explain. “They’re an extreme kind of player who takes pleasure in setting up other players to die. The veteran who used to guide me… ran into one of them during an instance and never made it out.”
Tong Qian patted Bai Jiang’s shoulder comfortingly. When Cheng Miao first saw him again, she had wanted to ask why he was no longer with the veteran he had mentioned. Thinking it might be private, she had decided not to pry.
She had never imagined someone like that was the reason.
Qiudong sprang nimbly onto the table and stole a fried yellow croaker. Cheng Miao stroked the fur along his back so naturally that Brother Parrot’s crest stood straight up.
It had not seen Cheng Miao for half a month. How had she become this fearless already?
Cheng Miao: Thanks for asking. My hand is shaking too.
Qiudong could not be bothered to argue with her and concentrated on eating his fish.
Once Cheng Miao had gotten her fill of petting him, she turned back and asked, “Doesn’t a player like that disrupt the balance?”
Brother Parrot was pecking at a green bean. It nudged the bean with one tiny foot and replied helplessly, “Of course they do. The player has already been punished. We sealed all of their Items and buffs this time.”
Qiudong’s ears twitched. “As long as the player clears the instance,” he said coldly, “even the Game cannot directly intervene and erase them from existence.”
Cheng Miao sighed. A lunatic like that was the most terrifying thing one could encounter inside an instance. Hopefully she never met one. If she did, she would have no choice but to kill them first.
Tong Qian tapped her glass lightly. “Enough of that. Miaomiao’s team enters an instance tomorrow. Let’s wish them a safe return.”
Brother Parrot swallowed a bean in surprise. “You’re entering an instance? I picked the perfect time to visit! The Cockroach Brothers have their quarterly evaluation today, and they said they’d come see you tomorrow.”
Cheng Miao’s mouth twitched. After accepting friend requests from Ah Zhang and Ah Lang, she had discovered that Ah Lang was very polite and never bothered her without reason.
Ah Zhang, on the other hand… picked eight hundred fights with her every day.
Bai Jiang raised his glass too. “May everything go smoothly for you!”
Everyone drained their drinks. Brother Parrot pecked at the wine in its glass.
Qiudong flicked his tail in boredom, though for some reason irritation gnawed at him. He lowered his head, lapped at the red wine, and let his dark gaze fall.
After a good night’s sleep, the four teammates ate their fill and collected their entry passes from the Front Desk.
“Follow me.” Qiudong did not let the pretty greeter escort Cheng Miao’s team. Instead, he personally led them toward the other side of the Hotel lobby.
They followed him into a room containing a cream-colored sofa. Qiudong jumped onto the table. “Sit down.”
Qi Jiajia marveled at how sophisticated it was. No spinning until they were dizzy, and no walking forever just to enter an instance. She promptly sat down first.
Cheng Miao sat on the sofa. Her first thought was how soft and comfortable it felt. She took one last look into Qiudong’s mysterious, haughty eyes and thought she saw a trace of concern there.
Before she could look more closely, Qiudong vanished. An apartment building now stood before her.
Its crumbling walls were a sinister gray. A sign by the entrance bore the Chinese characters for “Apartment 444.”
On closer inspection, Cheng Miao saw that the roof radical from the character for “apartment” had fallen off, leaving only a faint mark behind.
She looked up at the building. It was not tall, perhaps six or seven stories. The instance had yet to begin, so not a single window was lit. The place looked like a building for the dead.
Lin Zhu rubbed his arms, pulled coats from the Space Backpack, and handed them around. “This place gives me a bad feeling.”
Cheng Miao accepted a light but warm knit cardigan and put it on. She did not answer, instead studying the players in this instance.
There were a lot of players this time. Cheng Miao was about to count them when Qin Musong murmured, “Seventeen.”
Qi Jiajia slipped into her hooded trench coat, looking especially polished. “And we know someone.”
The other woman saw them as well. A smile appeared on her round, freckled face, and she trotted over. “Sister Miaomiao, I didn’t expect to run into you again.”
Cheng Miao greeted her with a smile, then happened to notice the necklace hanging at her chest.
Unless Cheng Miao remembered wrong, Chen Yu had given it to Freckles before dying in the Tan Tao’s School Life instance.
Freckles had clearly grown a great deal. Her gaze was resolute now, making her seem like a completely different person from the timid girl they had first met.
“Brother Qin, I never thanked you for carrying me out at the end of that instance.”
Perhaps remembering Chen Yu’s death, a flicker of grief crossed Freckles’ face at the mention of their last instance, but she quickly concealed it.
She bowed solemnly to Qin Musong. He waved it off and asked how she had been.
“I’ve cleared four more instances since then. I’ll be able to advance to a Guesthouse soon.” Smiling, Freckles greeted Qi Jiajia and Lin Zhu as well.
Cheng Miao turned to examine the others. This batch of players was an interesting collection.
The most striking was a man who stood slightly apart from the crowd. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and an expensive suit.
His features were refined yet sharp, and his hair had been combed meticulously back. From the cuff links at his wrists to the corner of a handkerchief peeking out of his breast pocket, every detail emphasized his charm.
He was lowering his head to light a cigarette. The spark at his fingertips lent him the air of a cultured scoundrel.
The liveliest person in the crowd was a plain-looking man who nevertheless radiated trustworthiness. Cheng Miao heard him introduce himself as Su Yang, a high-level Dormitory player.
The person constantly talking back to Su Yang was a short, beautiful young man with slightly messy hair. Every time Su Yang spoke, the pretty youth contradicted him as though they had nursed a grudge for years.
Su Yang gave him a tolerant smile. “Have we met before?”
The young man smiled intoxicatingly. “My name is Gu Jian.”
Su Yang thought for a moment, decided they had never met, and good-naturedly asked, “Then why do you have a problem with me, Mr. Gu?”
Gu Jian shrugged and pointed at Su Yang’s face. “Your ugliness offended me.”
Su Yang: …
Su Yang was not particularly handsome, but he was hardly ugly. His face flushed red, then white. Looking at Gu Jian’s artfully disheveled beauty, he managed a strained smile and said nothing.
A friendly-looking young man named Yang Ke tried to mediate between them. Unfortunately, Gu Jian had suddenly lost interest in speaking. Yang Ke said ten sentences without receiving a single reply, and the atmosphere froze.
The sinister building had the newcomers on edge, while the veterans were baffled by a team that had begun feuding before the instance even started. Everyone bickered and shouted, scattered as loose sand.
Cheng Miao rubbed between her brows. She wanted everyone to cooperate. These missions required teamwork, and if people were already at one another’s throats, how could they accomplish anything?
But the damage was done. She did not imagine she could raise one arm and miraculously unite them all, so she could only wait for the mission announcement.
“Miss, everyone on your team is good-looking, and none of you look ready to chop me apart at a moment’s notice. Mind if I stand with you?”
Gu Jian had sidled over at some point. He pulled such a shameless face that it ruined his otherwise beautiful features.
Cheng Miao shrugged indifferently and was about to answer when the notification sounded.