Chapter 29
Chapter 29
“JOKER’s members are far more terrifying. No one wants to encounter them inside an instance. They say that once, for the sake of putting on a show, JOKER killed every other player on the very first day. The curses of dozens of murdered players still couldn’t make them die inside the game. They had won the favor of too many gods. Not even the rules could kill them.”
When Tian Xia finished speaking, she removed the balls from the pockets one by one and arranged them on the pool table.
“JOKER is connected to Loki, isn’t it?”
The instant Xiao Huai spoke, Tian Xia’s pupils contracted. Fear flashed through her eyes, and she immediately pressed an index finger to her lips, shushing him.
“Don’t say that name carelessly!” Tian Xia said urgently. “He’s one of the foremost evil gods: the God of Mischief… But how do you know his name?”
Weren’t you supposed to be nothing more than a newcomer?
Xiao Huai gave her a brief account of what had happened inside the Ivy Girls’ School instance, omitting certain details about obtaining Hanako’s Blessing.
Tian Xia reacted strongly. She could hardly believe Loki had appeared in a first-floor instance, much less that Xiao Huai had provoked him so many times beneath his very nose and survived.
“You…” Tian Xia retreated several steps and scrutinized Xiao Huai. “You’re alive only because it was a first-floor instance. That god usually plays NPCs in instances above the fifth floor. Survival rates in the games he arranges are almost never higher than ten percent. Encountering him is practically the same as encountering death itself.”
The instant Xiao Huai had seen the poster, he thought of Loki’s clown costume. “I forgot to mention that Hu Jiang was his believer.”
“What did you say?” Tian Xia demanded in disbelief. “How could that…”
But then she understood. A faint, self-mocking smile touched her lips.
She suddenly covered her face with both hands and rasped in anguish, “Humans can never clear the eighteenth floor.”
Tian Xia’s expression grew increasingly tormented. After so long inside the game, her mind had been contaminated again and again. She felt she could no longer endure it…
“What about them?”
“What?”
When Xiao Huai abruptly spoke, Tian Xia raised her head in confusion.
“The evil gods’ believers. If not even the game rules can kill them, perhaps they have a chance to leave this place and return to reality. The person most likely to make it back should be JOKER’s leader.”
Tian Xia slowly shook her head. “No. You’re wrong. There is a hidden rule in the gods’ horror game. It’s called humanity.
“When someone has lost every shred of humanity, can they still be called human? The game treats them as monsters and keeps them in this world. They become part of the game. They become NPCs.
“As for JOKER’s leader, some say he died long ago. Others claim he was never human to begin with, or that the god took control of him long ago.”
“So as far as anyone knows, no one has cleared the eighteenth floor?” Xiao Huai suddenly laughed softly.
Tian Xia shook her head, then nodded. “One person reached an eighteenth-floor instance. But he had no organization and no friends. He was alone from beginning to end, so no one knows how his story ended. Whether he lived or died, he’s nothing more than a legend.”
“What was his name?”
“I don’t know. No one in the horror game knows his name.”
The answer did not surprise Xiao Huai. He smiled faintly. “Then remember mine. When I clear the eighteenth floor, I hope you’ll still remember me.”
Tian Xia froze. “What?”
Xiao Huai narrowed his eyes, smiled, and shook his head. “You said most people face only two choices. It seems I chose the first once before, so this time, I’d like to choose the second.”
Suicide or madness.
He waved his left wrist, the scars glaring against his pale skin.
“And one more thing. The enemy in the horror game was never the gods. From beginning to end, it has been human nature.”
The gods had given humans the right to choose. That was the test of their humanity.
Would they sell their souls or continue living in pain?
Xiao Huai yawned, set the cue back on the pool table, and slowly walked toward the exit.
He raised one hand slightly, as if still speaking to Tian Xia.
“As long as you’re alive, you’ll eventually see hope.”
Tian Xia watched Xiao Huai’s retreating figure for a long time before murmuring, “As long as I’m alive, I’ll eventually see hope?”
When had he realized that she had already lost the will to live?
The little yellow chick raised its head and nuzzled Tian Xia’s hand.
She stroked its head.
Perhaps she and Xiao Huai were the same kind of person.
Tian Xia opened the interface displaying her standby time. Only a few hours remained.
She sighed softly and lowered her hood, revealing long pink hair.
“Then I suppose I’ll stay alive and see. What if he really can clear the game?”
She wanted to know whether a human could truly leave this hell alive.
* * *
Over the next few days, Xiao Huai investigated extensively and learned much more about this world.
Eternal Night Street was the largest gathering place for players. Numerous organizations and associations operated there. Most sold game intelligence, while some charged fees to escort people through games.
Organizations like Falcon now appeared to have developed into the second type.
But because situations like the one Tian Xia described kept occurring, many people were reluctant to trust those groups.
Suspicion and doubt existed both inside games and throughout the standby world.
In addition, Xiao Huai finally learned what the [Leaderboard Points] mentioned by the system actually were.
It resembled playing games at an arcade as a child: the better someone played, the higher they climbed on the leaderboard.
The gods’ horror game worked the same way.
The system interface displayed the top one hundred rankings. Players could choose whether to hide their names.
Of course, the leaderboard was not truly intended for players. In practice, it resembled an investment ranking.
And it existed specifically for the gods.
The gods examined the rankings, invested in players, bestowed blessings upon them, and received dividends when games were settled.
Every player on the leaderboard existed to make the gods’ entertainment more interesting.
Xiao Huai checked his own position. With one thousand points, he ranked somewhere above thirty thousand. There was no point hiding anything.
Among the top ten, every player except the one ranked ninth had concealed their name.
After all, having one’s identity exposed among other players was rarely a good thing.
Xiao Huai spotted a familiar name on the game leaderboard.
Tian Xia.
She ranked ninety-eighth.
So she was one of the top one hundred players.
Even a player ranked in the top hundred had nearly suffered a mental collapse. It was difficult to imagine the depths of despair endured by most people in this game.
He gazed out at the view beyond his hotel. In the sunlight, buildings scattered across the landscape shone brilliantly. Everything looked peaceful, but it was only an illusion.
Never forget what kind of people the players participating in the game were at their core.
And what purpose did the game itself truly serve?