Chapter 62

Chapter 62

“That’s it? We should be safe tonight, right? The biggest boss in the Instance is gone-there shouldn’t be anything left that can kill us, right?”

Silence.

The Hall was utterly silent.

After a long while, Guan Doujin finally popped up to liven the mood.

He ran into the Hall, dragged out two tables that were still in one piece, and picked out a few benches.

“Get over here! What are you all standing around for? We’ll be out of here tomorrow. Meeting is fate, surviving is a blessing-tonight we celebrate properly. Nobody stops drinking until they’re wasted!”

With him breaking the ice, everyone finally came back to themselves.

“What do you mean?!” a newbie blurted.

“We survived? Just like that? Tomorrow we can leave this hellhole?!”

“No way-seriously?!”

After the panic came a huge wave of disbelief. With all that crackling chaos outside, before they’d even understood what was happening, the big boss had died?

They were safe? That seventy percent… included them?

“Of course!” Guan Doujin chuckled. “That little girl just now was the Paper-Cut Goddess. This Instance is called Sigh of the Paper-Cut Goddess, isn’t it? She wiped out whatever was stirring up trouble in West Window Town. So naturally, the Instance is safe now.”

As he spoke, he called inward and summoned the Waiter.

“Kid, hurry up and set us up with two tables of good food, and prepare a few jars of decent wine. I’m going to splurge tonight.”

The Waiter acted as though he hadn’t seen any of what happened earlier. Smiling, he answered, took the silver note Guan Doujin handed him, and went to the back to pass the message along.

When he came back again, Guan Doujin tugged him to the table and poured each of them a bowl of wine.

“Come on! Bottoms up!”

The Waiter laughed along and tipped the bowl back, swallowing it in one go.

Guan Doujin immediately gave him a thumbs-up. “Great tolerance.”

“You’re too kind, big brother.” A rosy flush spread across the teenager’s face, and he looked a little embarrassed.

Night fell outside. A few candles were lit in the Hall.

The kitchen had already served the dishes. The two tables sat together, talking loudly and excitedly.

Maybe they really had relaxed-several newbies started chatting about their lives outside the game, about the fear they’d lived with these past days, and about the good days they’d have once they got out.

Chu Yue and Shen Yubi sat off to the side, quiet.

Shen Yubi didn’t like alcohol. He took one sip and didn’t drink any more.

“Whether it’s texture or flavor, it’s nowhere near that bottle in your house,” Shen Yubi said.

Chu Yue’s expression contorted at the comment. It took him a while to force the irritation back down.

Keeping his face blank, he lifted his bowl and took a drink. “I think it’s pretty good.”

“Did you drink yourself stupid?” Shen Yubi lifted his eyes. “That bottle of wine…”

Chu Yue said, “It’s not like I ever got to taste what that bottle was like.”

Shen Yubi: “…”

Catching what he meant, Shen Yubi snorted with laughter.

“Fine. It’s just one bottle. I’ll pay you back later.”

“Yeah? You’d better actually have it.”

Shen Yubi propped his chin on one hand while the other tapped the tabletop. “Of course I do. I even have bottles older than yours.”

Jiang Jiu ran a tavern. She’d been at the Nightmare Trading Center for so long that her shop had plenty of aged liquor.

It just didn’t include the kind of foreign spirits Chu Yue kept at home.

But…

If he really wanted to buy it, he should be able to.

By candlelight, Shen Yubi’s already handsome features took on a hazy softness. Chu Yue glanced once, then lowered his eyes.

Who knew whether he was telling the truth.

After three rounds of drinking, they’d finished their boasting and their food.

Almost everyone was sprawled lopsidedly against the tables.

Guan Doujin was clearly drunk. His face was bright red; he clutched a wine bowl in one hand and held the Waiter’s hand with the other, mumbling on and on about who knew what.

“Kid, kid, let me tell you. I used to be incredible.”

“I really was-super incredible.”

“Everybody said I was incredible.”

The Waiter was getting a little foggy listening to him repeat himself, but he still humored him.

“Big brother must be incredible. Big brother’s so rich-you must be talented and great at business.”

Guan Doujin nodded hard. “Right, right. I’m just that incredible.”

Still holding onto the Waiter, he raised his bowl and tried to pour it into the boy’s mouth. “Come on, drink. Drink. Keep drinking.”

The Waiter couldn’t withstand his enthusiasm and was forced to swallow bowl after bowl.

Before he could refuse the next one, he felt Guan Doujin’s grip tighten. Then his wrist went cold as something was slipped onto it.

The thing carried an icy chill at first, then instantly turned into a scorching burn.

“What is this?!”

His mind snapped clear. He shoved away the bowl being offered, yanked his arm back, and looked down.

A gold bracelet.

There were no patterns on it, yet under candlelight the bracelet gave off a faint sheen.

“What is this?”

“Big brother, what did you put on me?”

Guan Doujin, who’d looked completely out of it a moment ago, suddenly laughed.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of drunkenness left on his face. The flush had drained from his cheeks, and his misty eyes held a thin, cold edge.

“What do you think it is?”

“It’s already on your wrist. Don’t tell me you still can’t guess.”

“You set me up!” The Waiter’s face sank.

“You’re right. If we didn’t do it this way, how else could we get it onto you? Now then-what should I call you? Going by what the Paper-Cut Goddess said, she always seemed to call you-evil god.”

The boy shot up from his stool, his eyes turning wicked as he swept his gaze across the group. “When did you figure it out?”

“Today? Or was it last night?” Guan Doujin said lazily. “Drank too much. Hard to remember.”

Last night, the Paper-Cut Goddess had said she could feel the evil god watching her. As the Inn’s staff member closest to her, the Waiter was naturally the one most suspicious.

At first, they hadn’t suspected him at all.

But when he appeared so suddenly later, it only confirmed the guess further.

Even so, it had still been a gamble-a gamble that the subtle look he’d given last night really had been meant for the paper puppet.