Chapter 28
Chapter 28
[Eternal Night Street]
Endless night shrouded the district. Neon lights flickered through the darkness, casting dazzling, dreamlike colors across the streets. Towering buildings lined both sides of the road, their walls mounted with enormous screens that displayed flashing cyberpunk advertisements and promotions for various organizations.
Pedestrians in all manner of clothing streamed along the sidewalks, including a fair number of Westerners. Arcades and electronic entertainment centers stood everywhere, their decor lavish and futuristic.
Some people sat smoking in dark corners, empty bottles scattered across the ground around them.
They laughed and drank, caring nothing for the future and living only for the moment.
The two men led Xiao Huai to an underground club.
The word FALCON had been painted over the entrance in colorful fluorescent letters. Before they even entered, Xiao Huai could hear coins dropping and the celebratory sounds of games being cleared.
“Next level! Congratulations! Congratulations!” An excited chick’s voice repeated the announcement.
Soft feminine laughter drifted from behind the door.
The broad-faced man knocked first, then spoke into a microphone beside the entrance. “Boss, we’ve brought him.”
Static crackled through a speaker. A moment later, the door clicked open.
The broad-faced man looked at Xiao Huai. “You can go in.”
Xiao Huai descended the stairs. Dense smoke and flashing lights filled the main hall, while music from the arcade machines blared loudly enough to make his ears ache. Every wall was covered in graffiti.
A pool table stood at the center of the hall. A yellow chick bounced up and down on its surface, chanting “Next level” without pause.
A young woman wore an ordinary black hoodie, its loose cut casual and unrestrictive. The hood concealed most of her hair, leaving only a single pink lock exposed.
She was blowing a bubble with her gum. Several young people stood nearby, playing pool with her.
“Boss, he’s here.”
The young woman lazily raised her eyes to the broad-faced man, then slowly shifted her gaze to the right.
She put away her cue and walked toward Xiao Huai, chewing her gum.
Her voice was cold. “You came alone? Aren’t you afraid we’ll rob you?”
Though she stood barely five feet tall, she possessed an authority far greater than her height suggested.
Xiao Huai chuckled. “If people could rob and kill as they pleased in the standby world, I doubt I would have made it out of the game lobby.”
The young woman arched a noncommittal brow, both hands tucked into her pockets.
“Tian Xia, leader of Falcon. What’s your name?”
“Xiao Huai.”
“How did Hui Yulian die?” Tian Xia stared intently at Xiao Huai, as though trying to see straight through him.
Unfortunately for her, she could not begin to guess what he was thinking.
When Xiao Huai remained silent, Tian Xia transferred five thousand Survival Coins directly to him without batting an eye.
“That should be enough. So how did she die?”
Xiao Huai smiled faintly and murmured, “Hu Jiang.”
That was the only name he gave her.
Tian Xia’s pupils contracted. Her brow furrowed slightly, and her hand clenched involuntarily into a fist.
For a long time, she said nothing.
The two underlings who had brought Xiao Huai mistakenly assumed their boss was angry. One of them immediately tried to curry favor. “Boss, did this brat…”
Tian Xia rolled her eyes at them, deeply concerned by the intelligence of her organization’s members.
“Your part is over. You can leave.” She waved a hand. The two men bowed respectfully and departed.
Tian Xia handed Xiao Huai a cue. “Want to play?”
He regarded her calmly, his eyes like an unfathomably deep lake.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
Tian Xia shook her head, returned to the pool table, and selected a new cue.
“Life and death are determined by fate. I’ve witnessed far too much of both not to understand that by now… I simply never expected Hu Jiang to be the one who did it.”
As Xiao Huai approached, the young people surrounding Tian Xia stepped aside.
She bent slightly over the table and struck the cue ball with a firm hand. Rather than watch how many balls she pocketed, she raised her head and looked at Xiao Huai with a complicated expression.
“Are you a newcomer?” she asked quietly.
Xiao Huai did not answer immediately. He lined up the cue with the white ball and struck it in one smooth motion. The ball ricocheted repeatedly around the table.
The three remaining balls traced perfect arcs into the pockets.
Perhaps Xiao Huai looked too dazzling while he played, because Tian Xia never took her eyes off him.
At last, his voice reached her. “More or less. What about you?”
Tian Xia collected herself and opened her system interface. A conspicuous line of text appeared upon it.
[Player Who Has Cleared an Eighth-Floor Instance]
Yet not a trace of pride showed in Tian Xia’s eyes. Instead, they held an inexplicable sorrow.
She murmured, “From the moment most people enter the game, only two paths lie before them: suicide or madness.”
She lowered her head, then looked past Xiao Huai toward the basement graffiti. It depicted numerous falcons and several ridiculous memes.
As though sensing something, the yellow chick hopped into Tian Xia’s arms. She lowered her eyes, brow tightly furrowed, and spoke slowly with a note of nostalgia.
“Our organization originally had only five players. We existed to help newcomers survive this game without facing quite so much hardship.
“We provided free information and took newcomers through instances with us. Later, the organization expanded, and more and more people joined.
“But because of that… everything became increasingly impossible to control.
“It was as though the system had imposed a punishment. Gods began extending offers to our members, and most of our players became their believers. They stopped helping newcomers inside games. Instead, they deceived and harmed them. Some even did it for the livestream…
“They killed their own comrades.”
Xiao Huai listened in silence. Tian Xia sighed. “Perhaps the horror game cannot tolerate a bleeding-heart organization like ours. No, more precisely, the horror game wants to see humans slaughter one another. They’re all gone now. I’m the only founding member of Falcon left, and I can’t control this many people.
“Maybe it won’t be long before our entire organization becomes a pack of believers who endlessly prey on newcomers, just like them.”
“Who do you mean by them?” Xiao Huai asked softly.
Tian Xia opened a promotional poster for another organization. At its center stood a group of laughing clowns.
“JOKER. You probably haven’t heard of this organization. It was once one of the most powerful groups in the Huaxia region. Later, all its members vanished together. When they returned, it had become a gathering place for evil gods’ believers.”