Chapter 164
Chapter 164
It pierced his heart.
His heart had been pierced.
For ten long seconds, the world fell utterly silent.
Everything slowed.
Lu Qian’s pupils shook violently, and the hand Xiao Huai held trembled.
The dagger fell with a crisp clang.
Edwin froze, one hand rising involuntarily.
But a sentence Xiao Huai had once spoken echoed through his mind.
*If I ever betray you, my lord, I would rather have my heart pierced and greet my funeral.*
Madman.
Only Xiao Huai remained vivid within that deathly silence, wearing a broken… faint smile.
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The instant his heart stopped
Marked the arrival of death.
During those ten seconds, a System window appeared.
[Player Lu Qian has killed Player Xiao Huai and successfully transformed into a vampire. He will automatically leave the Corpse Cage in three seconds.]
Sometimes, miracles truly descended.
The instant his heartbeat stopped, Xiao Huai clutched Lu Qian’s hand with all his strength.
At that moment, Lu Qian felt something cool fall into his palm.
Like magic.
Three seconds passed quickly. Before he disappeared, all he saw was Xiao Huai’s body falling backward.
Xiao Huai’s eyes were half closed, fatigue shadowing them, yet a faint light still gleamed within.
…
Lu Qian left.
He returned to his empty room.
It was already three minutes past midnight on the fifth day.
He had escaped the Corpse Cage. For a time, no expression showed on his face.
Too many complicated emotions had piled together, finally blending into calm.
But when he opened his palm and saw a gold coin lying there,
His composure shattered.
System alerts rang repeatedly in his ears.
[Congratulations to vampire player Lu Qian for stealing a gold coin from human player Xiao Huai. You have earned an opportunity to leave the instance. Would you like to leave the game instance immediately?]
Lu Qian’s hand trembled without end, his eyes threaded with blood.
Just as he resolutely prepared to select No,
A tiny hand came to rest on his.
Little Magician?
When had he returned to Lu Qian’s side?
Naturally, Lu Qian did not know that Little Magician had transferred the coin into his palm.
Little Magician was Lu Qian’s item, while the gold coin that had been stolen belonged to Xiao Huai.
Xiao Huai had calculated every part of it.
Little Magician’s eyes suddenly glowed. Like a projector, he cast an image before them.
It was a recording Xiao Huai had left on his way to the Corpse Cage.
Xiao Huai strolled forward with his usual laziness. Though he had already sustained several wounds, he paid them no attention and even chatted with Little Magician.
“Hey, you can record video, can’t you? Like a phone.”
Little Magician nodded.
Xiao Huai said, “Good. After Lu Qian gets out, show him this video. I’m going to settle accounts with him later.”
Xiao Huai looked into the distance, yet his gaze seemed to cross time and space and settle upon Lu Qian in the present.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Xiao Qian, you’d better keep your word. Don’t forget what you said: if you lost, I could do whatever I wanted with you.”
Lu Qian had made that boast before Xiao Huai entered the fourth-floor instance.
Xiao Huai had taken it seriously, and he knew Lu Qian would not break his word easily.
“By the time you see this recording, I’ll probably have died once. Many people believe death is the end and means failure. But I’ll tell you this: death isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. So you…”
His tone remained calm as he stopped walking. “Don’t waste all my effort. Leave immediately.”
Xiao Huai toyed with the wooden box Lu Qian had given him. “As for this coin, consider it your thanks to me. Remember, you owe me. I don’t owe you.”
“One last thing. Don’t become some creature that’s neither human nor ghost. I’m looking for Lu Qian, not some random stranger.”
And certainly not his secondary persona.
He laughed, his eyes utterly devoid of fear toward death.
The recording ended abruptly there.
Little Magician looked up at Lu Qian.
He had never seen that expression on his master’s face before.
Lu Qian bit his lower lip, his eyes frighteningly red.
After a long time, a low, hoarse sound emerged from his throat like a sigh.
“I haven’t seen anyone this foolish in a long time.” He brushed a knuckle beneath his nose and looked out the window. “A hundred times more foolish than my brother.”
Xiao Huai never did anything without confidence in the outcome.
Breaking a dead end often required leaping outside the original rules.
He had left this recording for Lu Qian.
But the most important part was what he had said.
*I’m going to settle accounts with him later.*
He would come out.
And properly settle this debt with Lu Qian.
All these years, Lu Qian had only ever saved others. No one had ever saved him.
No one could keep courting danger forever without eventually paying the price.
Lu Qian had thought he would finally plunge over the cliff this time and fall forever.
But at the last instant, Xiao Huai had reached out a hand.
Lu Qian patted Little Magician on the back. “What do you think? Should we trust him?”
Of course Little Magician understood. His instinct was to prevent any harm from coming to his master. But now, he could not help recalling the image of Xiao Huai.
“I trust him,” Little Magician answered.
Lu Qian’s lashes trembled. “It seems he’s going to fleece me properly this time.”
If Xiao Huai emerged,
Lu Qian would refuse him nothing.
* * *
Xiao Huai crashed heavily into the pool of blood. Even Edwin thought he was dead.
As Edwin approached him, Xiao Huai’s fingers suddenly twitched.
He was not a reanimated corpse.
Nor was this a false death.
The ring had taken effect.
Hemera’s Ring.
[Hemera’s Ring]
Item Description: Special defensive item capable of blocking one fatal attack.
It was the reward for completing the Hidden Mission in *Diamond Magnate*.
And now, it was perfectly suited to escaping this predicament.
Xiao Huai had deliberately adjusted when the ring’s effect would activate.
His heart had to stop. Only after the System judged him dead would Lu Qian truly leave the game.
Hemera’s Ring took effect, repairing his heart at astonishing speed.
It had been a fatal injury.
The ring was stealing a life back from Death.
Like doctors in an operating room resuscitating a patient in cardiac arrest.
And in the end, Xiao Huai woke.
He dragged in desperate breaths, his mouth full of blood. Being reborn did not feel exhilarating.
On the contrary, not one part of Xiao Huai’s body was free of pain.
His abdomen hurt most of all.
Hemera’s Ring had repaired only the fatal wound. It had done nothing for the rest.
Edwin could not help laughing. He snapped his fingers, and all the monsters frozen earlier began moving again.
Coldness filled his eyes. “Very well. You betrayed me to my face and stole my person away. You truly haven’t considered the consequences at all.”
Every blessing-based supernatural ability Xiao Huai possessed was on cooldown.
How could a human body withstand a mass attack from these monsters?
It was not that Xiao Huai had failed to consider the consequences.
That was why he had kept the Faction Conversion Serum for himself.
But in the end, he was still gambling.
Gambling that what he had seen in the west wing that day was not an illusion.
That the scent he had smelled
Belonged to… him?
Lu Yuanshi, who exactly are you?
Xiao Huai sat half upright on the ground, the serum hidden in his sleeve. The moment he applied a little force, it would take effect.
He calmly watched countless vampire monsters pounce at him.
The monsters opened bloody maws, their foul breath already upon him.
“Welcome your funeral, Xiao Huai.”
Edwin turned away without expression. He knew the vampire monsters would tear Xiao Huai to pieces in the next second.
Five seconds at most.
Thump. Thump.
Every heartbeat marked the passage of time.
Five, four, three, two…
He heard it.
Lu Yuanshi’s laughter.