Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Xiao Huai opened the door and saw a blood-covered crowd gathered in the corridor.
They looked nothing like they had that afternoon, as though they had survived a deadly crisis. Some had red eyes, whether from fear or helpless despair.
Terror and fury filled their gazes.
The woman leading them held a triangular fork against a man’s neck. He knelt, blood around his lips and tears covering his face, his neck trapped against the blades like a captured beast.
He kept crying, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t control myself!”
“What happened?” Xiao Huai’s calm voice reached them.
They froze when they saw him.
The woman snorted. “This is your fault. You dragged us into this damned special instance!”
Xiao Huai did not argue. She was right.
A young man stepped beside him and calmly explained.
They had joined Qi Sha’s game. During it, this man’s vampire identity was exposed, and he bit the woman’s companion to death.
The man shook his head. “I didn’t choose to be a vampire! What could I do about being selected? I don’t know why her blood smelled so sweet. I couldn’t stop myself from biting… then I lost control. I’m sorry!”
“Will sorry bring the dead back? If apologies solved everything, why would we need police?!” The woman pressed down hard.
One more centimeter would pierce his shoulder.
Vampires healed quickly. If the fork entered his shoulder, the flesh might grow around it and prolong his agony.
It was also a special item with a burning effect. Xiao Huai could smell roasting meat.
She had not acted because everyone hesitated.
Vampires were hardly united and might slaughter each other, since fewer survivors meant better rewards.
The human faction was somewhat closer, all trapped together, but the pressure on them was immense.
Neither faction was favorable.
With humans currently numerous, joining forces to kill vampires should improve their survival odds.
But the followers had said killing another player automatically moved the killer into the vampire faction.
That restriction ensured vampires could never go extinct and both factions would always exist.
It also raised the question of who would execute a vampire.
Whoever did so would become one.
“I’ll kill you!” the woman roared. She no longer cared about becoming a vampire or facing infighting. She wanted revenge.
Xiao Huai laughed coldly.
The sound clashed with the noisy scene.
The woman stopped and looked up. “What are you laughing at?”
His smile vanished. “Nothing. Only your naivety.”
“What?!” She nearly exploded, but Xiao Huai pointed into the distance.
Everyone followed his finger and froze at the head peeking out there.
Realizing it had been seen, the head withdrew.
It belonged to Follower No. 2, floating without a body.
“Do you think vampires are that easy to kill?” Xiao Huai asked coldly.
Their heads could separate from their bodies.
“Besides, the followers said from the beginning that humans and vampires weren’t equal. Do you know where the inequality lies?”
He crouched beside the man and pointed just short of the blood on his lips.
“The disparity in strength. If the human faction unites against the vampires, both sides will suffer, but the final loser will be–”
He paused, giving everyone time to think.
“The human faction will be annihilated. If everyone becomes a vampire, how can the vampires complete their task? They’ll remain here forever, and every player will ultimately lose.”
Vampires had to steal human gold. With no humans, how could they steal it?
He stood and glanced at the woman. “Kill him if you wish. I’m only reminding you: being divided into factions doesn’t mean we stopped being human.”
What separated casual killers from monsters?
Xiao Huai knew people would soon kill for points and survival. He could neither control nor be bothered to stop them. Humanity was worthless in the horror game.
He only hoped it would happen more slowly.
Perhaps if every path without murder failed, he too would act.
Everything was unknown.
If he acted, would complete ruin await him?
Would he cross that invisible boundary forever?
Xiao Huai left. He had woken for food, not to waste time here.
But his words left those in the corridor thinking deeply.
The System Shop sold food, but once inside an instance Xiao Huai disliked being robbed by it.
There was no need to spend Survival Coins when free food existed.
He followed the signs toward the restaurant.
Elsewhere, three people already sat at the finest table there.
A crystal orb before them replayed what had happened around Xiao Huai like surveillance footage.
Ling Chen lounged with one arm over his chair and the other at his chin, relaxed yet unforgettable in his wildness.
One brow raised, he watched Xiao Huai through the crystal.
“He has one coin. Will you give him the other three?”
With them, Xiao Huai could leave.
Qi Sha laughed. “Give them to him? Why? He hasn’t met my aesthetic standard.”
A fork danced in the Mad Hatter’s hand over the heart on his cake. “If he begged me, I might give him one.”
Qi Sha looked at Ling Chen. “And you?”
“Me? Hee-hee. I like him.”
“What? Are you insane?” Qi Sha already disliked him and now found him even madder.
“You don’t understand. He has a scent I adore. I’d slice him apart and refine his corpse into fragrant oil to preserve forever.”
Qi Sha: “…”
The Mad Hatter slowed his fork and smiled toward the entrance. “The little rabbit is hungry.”