Chapter 119
Chapter 119
“Don’t go, handsome. My game-companion service comes with free items.”
The moment Xiao Huai walked away, the brown-haired young man moved to stop him.
But after the young man said that, Xiao Huai turned back.
“What items?” He raised a brow slightly.
Seeing that he had finally drawn a response, the young man immediately began his demonstration.
Paper effigies, a pocket watch, flowers, and all manner of peculiar objects appeared in his hands as he explained them one by one.
Xiao Huai listened with an impassive face. Then the young man took out a white piece of candy and offered it to him.
“Have one.” He smiled.
Xiao Huai raised his eyes and met his gaze.
People in China were taught from childhood not to casually eat things given to them by strangers, especially candy.
And then there was the young man’s inexplicable smile.
Anyone else would certainly have left by now.
Xiao Huai took the candy and ate it.
Even the young man had not expected him to act so decisively. Xiao Huai swallowed it without so much as asking what it was.
The young man found himself feeling awkward. “Aren’t you going to ask what that was?”
“Can you kill me here?” Xiao Huai asked in return.
The young man’s smile deepened. He fell silent and waited patiently for Xiao Huai’s reaction.
The candy melted the instant it touched his tongue, sweetness seeping into his throat. The hard candy dissolved like water, and system notifications began sounding beside his ear.
[Restoring Sanity. Current Sanity: 25.]
[Accelerated Sanity restoration in progress. Current Sanity: 29.]
Xiao Huai paused. More than that, the wounds on his body were slowly healing.
The young man caught the flash of surprise in Xiao Huai’s eyes, and smugness appeared on his face.
“This candy works inside instances too. I don’t sell it to just anyone.”
Xiao Huai said, “Is that so? Then what am I?”
The young man picked up the cue at once. “My benefactor, of course.”
“Benefactor?” That was a first for Xiao Huai.
The young man said, “So, handsome, interested in hiring a game companion?”
“What’s your name?”
“People in the trade call me Brother Qian. You can call me Xiao Qian. If you’d like to be more intimate, you can call me Brother.”
Xiao Huai: “…”
He did not even look older than Xiao Huai.
The young man had not given his real name. An alias probably had nothing to do with it, but if he did not want to say, Xiao Huai did not particularly care.
Who did not have secrets in the horror game?
That included the young man’s reason for approaching him. Xiao Huai reserved judgment.
The mere fact that he possessed candy capable of restoring Sanity suggested his identity was anything but simple.
Xiao Huai did not need a game companion to play the game, but he was interested.
Interested in this person.
“What do you charge?” he asked.
Xiao Qian raised a brow. “Five hundred Survival Coins.”
Five hundred Survival Coins was as little as any game companion could possibly charge, and the cheaper something was, the bigger the hidden trap usually became.
Did Xiao Qian have the words “I’m suspicious” written across his face?
“But during your standby time, you’ll have to eat with me, live with me, and play with me.”
After a moment of silence, Xiao Huai said, “So after all that, I’m the one keeping you company?”
As always, Xiao Huai went straight to the truth.
Xiao Qian was not embarrassed in the slightest. “Mm, you could put it that way. You’ll be covering all our expenses during that time too.”
Xiao Huai leaned his face slightly closer, light gleaming in his dark red eyes.
“Fine. I’ll pay if that’s what I’m responsible for. You’re very cheap, after all.”
Five hundred Survival Coins.
Xiao Qian’s brow twitched faintly. “Cheap. Heh. Yes, cheap.”
Xiao Huai knew Xiao Qian had approached him with an agenda, but what would happen if Xiao Huai used him in return?
A game became interesting only when experts tested each other. Even if this expert was likely to set a trap for him inside an instance, Xiao Huai would still be curious to see just how deep it went.
And if there was no trap, he would be even more curious about the man’s goal.
The standby time awarded after *Witch’s House*, added to what Xiao Huai had remaining, came to more than ten days.
He had not even treated his wounds before Xiao Qian dragged him off to play…
Xiao Qian gave him several candies and said in the imperious tone of an overbearing CEO, “Here. Since you’ve worked so hard to keep me company, these are on me. Recover a little first.”
Xiao Huai ate the candy without concern and said, “That tone doesn’t suit you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Xiao Qian stared with wide eyes, his white pupil as pure as a white fox’s.
Xiao Huai said, “You look rather innocent.”
“Innocent?” Xiao Qian sounded as though he had heard something incredible, his pitch rising slightly. “It’s been a long time since anyone called me innocent. This feels rather nice.”
A teasing smile crossed Xiao Qian’s face. “Because it makes you seem like an idiot who’s easy to fool.”
Appearances could be deceiving. Anyone who trusted him merely because he looked innocent was no different from an idiot.
Xiao Huai had no interest in the mockery beneath his words. He yawned slowly and calmly.
His gaze drifted forward, his voice careless. “Mm. So how are you planning to abduct me?”
Xiao Qian said, “…Would a trafficker tell a child how he planned to abduct him?”
Xiao Huai smiled. “So you’re admitting you’re actually a trafficker?”
Xiao Qian chuckled dryly. “You think you’re still a child?”
Xiao Huai said, “If you say I am, then I am. An idiot has about the same intelligence as a child, after all.”
Xiao Qian was speechless. He had never imagined Xiao Huai had this side to him. He certainly did not look like it.
They arrived at a hot pot restaurant. Xiao Qian ordered a great deal in hopes of eating Xiao Huai into poverty, but Xiao Huai did not care and ordered even more than he did.
Soon, the plates on their table were piled as high as a hill.
Passersby looked over and whispered, “See that? They must have just come out of a famine instance. How pitiful.”
Wearing the title “Starving Wraith,” Xiao Huai ate at a leisurely pace and ultimately consumed even more than Xiao Qian.
Later, they spent money at a hotel. Xiao Huai slept like a dead pig and did not wake no matter how hard Xiao Qian pounded on his door. In the end, Xiao Qian had to ask the NPC at the front desk for a key card before he could confirm Xiao Huai was merely asleep, not dead.
Xiao Huai lay sprawled lazily across the bed. Without opening his eyes, he said, “Morning.”
Xiao Qian looked at the stars outside and was utterly speechless. “Mm… morning.”
After that, Xiao Qian took Xiao Huai out to play, but he failed to beat him at a single attraction or game, not even rock-paper-scissors.
The amusement park in the players’ standby world offered all kinds of games, whether competitions against NPCs or against other players. Whenever Xiao Huai participated, Xiao Qian won practically no rewards.
At long last, Xiao Qian could no longer hold back. He shouted, “Hey, Xiao Huai, just what kind of person are you?”
The streetlamp cast its light across Xiao Huai’s brow and eyes. He slowly turned his head.
He looked at Xiao Qian from the corner of his eye, his gaze so pure it seemed to contain the entire night sky.
His eyes curved slightly, and his lips moved to form four syllables.
“Your benefactor.”