Chapter 170

Chapter 170

The sound of a video game greeted them when they opened the door to Apartment 305.

“You’re back, bro?” Lu Zhi poked his head out of the bedroom, a game controller in his hands.

When he saw Xiao Huai, his pupils contracted slightly.

“A-Zhuo… Xiao Huai? Is that you?” His excitement sent the controller tumbling from his hands, and he bounded into the living room.

Lu Qian reached out and stopped Lu Zhi. “You brat, you’ve never been this excited to see me.”

“That’s because you’re my brother!”

It was not only because Lu Qian was his brother, but because Lu Qian returned safe and sound every time.

A smile touched Lu Qian’s lips.

With a little brother behind him who trusted him with all his heart, how could he ever throw his life away in a game?

“All right. Go play by yourself for a while. Your brother needs to settle an account with your friend.”

“What account?”

Lu Qian looked at Xiao Huai and folded his arms. “Mm… it’s a rather complicated one.”

Lu Qian had approached Xiao Huai under the guise of a game companion, only for Xiao Huai to save him in the end.

“Fine, fine. You two talk. I’ll see what food we have at home.”

Watching him head for the kitchen, Lu Qian shook his head helplessly. “I’ve never seen him this enthusiastic before.”

Xiao Huai said, “You’re happy now.”

The quieter a life was, the happier it could be. Was that not true?

Peace like this was especially rare within the horror game.

Lu Zhi had entered a third-floor instance alone because he wanted to grow up and stop being a burden to his brother.

Lu Qian kept moving forward. No matter how badly he was wounded, he always crawled back to his feet.

Because he wanted to protect his brother.

Losing either one would be a tragedy for them both.

Lu Qian led Xiao Huai into a storage room. Objects lay heaped everywhere, while a globe and star-shaped decorations hung from the ceiling.

Magazines and comic books were strewn across the floor.

“Do you know how I was able to see you?” Lu Qian’s gaze landed on an eyeball in the corner.

“That’s my supernatural ability.” Lu Yuanshi pointed to the eyeball. “Scrying Eye.”

As he spoke, the eyeball floated into the air, transformed into a beam of white light, and cast an image like a projection across the wall.

When Xiao Huai saw the image, he froze.

Countless small squares covered the wall, each one displaying a player’s livestream.

Players had no authority to watch other players’ game broadcasts. Only gods possessed that privilege.

“Because of this, I can obtain a great deal of intelligence. And because of the other presence inside me, certain gods are willing to sponsor me and grant me blessings.”

The more monstrous his multiple personas appeared, the more those gods adored them.

“I can create items. The price is that I’m fated to die young.” He looked at his hands, sorrow gathering between his brows. “But I don’t regret it. At least becoming stronger lets me protect him better.”

He had founded the Foxslayer organization, yet refused to let his brother join. Even the organization’s players did not know Lu Zhi existed.

Lu Qian rarely appeared in public. But if the day came when he was gone, he would make every force at his disposal protect his brother in his place.

“That day, I came home and found him missing. I never imagined the idiot had gone to enter the horror game by himself. I could only watch him. I couldn’t charge into the game and bring him home, and no matter how frantic I became, there was nothing I could do. For one moment, I even wished a benevolent god truly existed and would protect him. Then… I saw you. You saved him and even deceived everyone.”

His ears suddenly reddened. He scratched his head and finally said, “Well, I think very highly of you. Would you consider joining our organization?”
People said everyone in Foxslayer had killed, but no one ever asked what kind of people they had killed.

Sun Xingye had shifty features and looked like a hardened killer, yet when the side mission appeared, he acted without stopping to think.

He looked furtive and cautious and knew how to survive in the narrowest cracks because that was how he had lived since childhood.

The one time he acted bravely, he was sent into the horror game.

He thought it was punishment and lived in even greater misery from then on. But later, he met Lu Qian.

He discovered there might be some meaning to his life after all.

Foxslayer was made up of people like him.

Every one of them carried an unspeakable wound.

Xiao Huai stared into Lu Qian’s eyes for a while. His lips parted, and he answered without emotion,

“No.”

Lu Qian’s heart lurched. He had thought he and Xiao Huai were already friends.

But what Xiao Huai said next left him stunned once more.

“Even if I never join an organization, I’ll still help if something happens to Lu Zhi. He’s a good person, after all. Here. This is for you.”

Xiao Huai casually tossed him something, as though the object meant nothing at all.

Yet when Lu Qian saw that Xiao Huai had given him the Death-Exemption Medallion coveted by every player, he remained frozen for a long time.

Xiao Huai sprawled lazily as he flipped through a comic book from the floor. “Oh, right. There’s something I wanted to discuss. Would you be interested in watching me inside an instance from time to time?”

Lu Qian returned to himself. “What do you mean?”

Xiao Huai rose and extended one hand. “Become my partner. For real this time.”

Lu Qian’s pupils widened faintly. He smiled openly and shook the Death-Exemption Medallion in his hand. “Even if you hadn’t given me this, I would still agree.”

Hearing that, Xiao Huai let out a deliberately aggrieved cry. “If I’d known, I would have kept it.”

But the smile in his eyes showed that he had never intended to keep it for himself.

Xiao Huai said, “All right, it’s a gift, so of course it’s yours. Just remember to treat me to a meal.”

“I’ve already got food ready. Come whenever you want from now on.” The tension left Lu Qian’s brow.

After all, he had already given Xiao Huai the key to his world.

Once their soul bond was formed, strange, warm golden light enveloped them both, and invisible threads took shape.

This was the Bond of True Friends, and also a bond between souls.

Lu Zhi’s voice came from the doorway. “Bro! Are you done talking? We only have instant noodles. How about noodles with watermelon?”

Lu Qian burst out laughing. What kind of little brother served instant noodles to a guest?

“Come on. I’ll take you both out for a proper meal.”

“Mm.”

* * *

After resting for several days, Xiao Huai went alone to the fifth-floor game instance. Lu Qian had repeatedly asked to accompany him, since an extra person would mean someone watching his back.

But Xiao Huai knew that traveling with him would very likely place Lu Qian in mortal danger.

Had Lu Qian not nearly died in the last instance?

No matter how much Lu Qian wanted to join him, Xiao Huai still refused.

Xiao Huai told him,

*Lu Zhi wants to grow too. Why don’t you take him into a game and see how far he’s come?*

Those involved often failed to see what was obvious to an outsider. Without Xiao Huai’s reminder, Lu Qian would never have realized how badly his brother wanted to prove himself.

When Lu Qian told Lu Zhi he hoped Lu Zhi would protect him properly in the game, Lu Zhi’s eyes lit up.

He thumped his chest and declared, “Bro, I’ll protect you this time. Just don’t steal my chance to shine.”