Chapter 168
Chapter 168
Xiao Huai looked at them. “My lords, have you come to see me off?”
The Mad Hatter, who had once eaten one of his fingers.
Qi Sha, who had tried to deceive and toy with him during the game.
Ling Chen, who had shot him twice and nearly left him without an intact corpse.
These three had gathered to see him off?
Anyone else would probably have been too frightened to move.
It certainly felt as though they had ulterior motives.
Xiao Huai remained perfectly open. He studied them casually for a while, then the faintest curve touched his lips.
“You have something else to say besides goodbye, don’t you?”
The three gods looked at one another and smiled.
As expected, Xiao Huai could always read people’s emotions with precision, even when those people were gods.
Qi Sha stepped forward, her skirts swaying lightly.
She told Ling Chen, “I’m in a hurry to get back to tormenting people. If you’re giving him something, hurry up.”
Ling Chen glanced at her. “Weren’t you the one who suggested it?”
She put on an impatient air, but Qi Sha had been the first to suggest giving Xiao Huai a farewell gift.
The Mad Hatter simply removed his top hat and pulled a small white rabbit from inside.
This rabbit was nothing like the horrifying sea hare they had seen in the game.
It wore a tiny suit and even a bow tie, making it look like a little gentleman.
The white rabbit hopped all the way to Xiao Huai’s side, bounced once, and pressed the refresh button with a pink paw.
Warm orange light suddenly washed over the vending machine.
Xiao Huai looked at the machine again.
When he saw a Death-Exemption Medallion appear in the center of the sales screen, his eyes widened slightly.
The Mad Hatter said, “A farewell gift. Players seem to want this thing very badly.”
Ling Chen and Qi Sha stopped making faces of mutual disgust.
Their gazes returned to Xiao Huai.
“Until we meet again,” they said in unison.
Xiao Huai replied, “Until we meet again.”
The Mad Hatter raised an eyebrow at them. “You really dare say that to us? Plenty of people would rather never see us again in their lives.”
Xiao Huai looked back at them, his eyes like a lake whose depths could never be seen.
Calm, yet carrying a soul-stirring allure.
“You aren’t frightening. Perhaps we could even become friends.”
That single brief sentence silenced all three gods for a moment.
Xiao Huai did not ask why they had helped him, but those words carried far more weight than a thank-you.
His points were just enough to purchase one Death-Exemption Medallion. By the time he emptied his balance, the three gods had vanished.
Just before they left, he thought he heard Ling Chen say,
“Clear the fifth floor. Maybe I’ll treat you to something at the gods’ banquet.”
Once Xiao Huai completed the purchase, the System’s announcement that the game had ended echoed throughout the space.
The entire space suddenly flooded with light.
[Received 7,000 ranking points. Current rank: 15,346.]
[This livestream received 23,400 Survival Coins in tips. Game settlement awarded 6,000 Survival Coins. Current balance: 76,570 Survival Coins.]
The System continued announcing one settlement result after another, but Xiao Huai had already opened another interface.
The moment he saw Edwin’s name there, a sly smile flashed in his eyes.
It had worked.
Xiao Huai had signed a Soul Contract with Edwin. The original contents of the contract meant little.
But the newly added penalty clause marked the soul.
That mark created a soul bond between them.
Once such a bond existed, Xiao Huai’s supernatural ability automatically classified the other party as a soul companion.
Whether Edwin agreed or not, he had already fallen into the trap.
A soul companion might be free to decide whether to aid Xiao Huai. But after Edwin had been tricked by him once,
The slightest sign of Xiao Huai the next time would certainly draw Edwin to him.
Edwin might very well attack Xiao Huai when he arrived.
But if Xiao Huai hid carefully and shifted the hostility of some major threat onto Edwin,
Would that not give him a ready-made scapegoat with immense combat power?
Meanwhile, Edwin, still inside the vampire instance, had already received the System notification.
Gods ordinarily possessed muted emotions and desires. They were not easily stirred, least of all a high-ranking god like Edwin.
Yet when he saw the notification, his brow furrowed and inexplicable anger flared within him.
Why had he suddenly let Xiao Huai escape?
By all logic, Xiao Huai should never have been able to slip from his grasp.
He had forgotten Lu Yuanshi, along with certain important memories connected to him.
For example, he no longer remembered that Lu Yuanshi had ultimately transformed Xiao Huai and released him.
Edwin was now both confused and furious. What was this nonsense about becoming soul companions? Companions? How could a mere mortal be worthy?
If he ever met Xiao Huai again, he would never spare that little liar.
* * *
In the fourth-floor game lobby, the instant Xiao Huai emerged from the game exit, a crushing bear hug attacked him from behind.
He drove an elbow back almost entirely on reflex.
“Ow!”
Lu Qian’s pained cry sounded beside his ear. Xiao Huai turned slightly and saw him clutching his stomach, tears welling in his eyes because Xiao Huai had struck too hard.
“Why are you here?” Xiao Huai, the guilty party, demanded first.
The instant Lu Qian heard him speak, he dropped the act. That blow had been nothing to someone as tough as him.
“I was waiting for you, of course. Didn’t you say you’d settle accounts with me later?”
Time flowed completely differently in the horror games and the standby world. Sometimes, a few minutes in a horror world could mean an entire day had passed outside.
That was also why large numbers of players rarely emerged through a game exit at the same time. Waiting for a friend wasted far too much time.
Players received little enough standby time to begin with. Spending it waiting here was practically slow suicide.
“How long did you wait?” Xiao Huai asked.
Lu Qian rubbed his chin. After thinking, he answered as though it were nothing important.
“Half a month? Around that long.”
Half a month…
Xiao Huai was speechless. Many people had only a week of standby time, yet Lu Qian had spent an extravagant half month waiting for him.
Lu Qian saw the question in Xiao Huai’s eyes.
“Don’t worry. I have plenty of standby time. About three years.”
Within the game, the only measure of time that mattered was how much one had left. It was a matter of life and death.
No one aged here. If a person could keep clearing games, keep earning standby time, and never stumble inside an instance, could that not be considered a kind of immortality?
Some players with long reserves of standby time even called themselves gods.
Was that not what a god was? Ageless, deathless, and indestructible.
Yet players who declared themselves gods generally met gruesome ends, such as being killed by an NPC in an inhumanly cruel fashion.
Xiao Huai had guessed Lu Qian possessed a great deal of standby time, but he had never imagined it would be this much.
The Foxslayer organization was one of the more popular and reputable groups in the game-companion industry.
One game generally awarded about a week of standby time.
As though remembering something, Lu Qian’s lips curved into a smile.
“I have many aliases, but you’re the only one who knows my real name.” He slowly leaned closer to Xiao Huai. “Want to come to my place for a while?”
Xiao Huai raised an eyebrow. That suited him perfectly.