Chapter 64
Chapter 64
The final day. The Diamond Factory.
Every player was driven there in a private car. The factory had been transformed beyond recognition since their first visit.
The grand diamond showcase was being held here. Magnificent chandeliers hung throughout the factory hall, illuminating the entire venue.
Everything was white, a world of pure white.
Piano music accompanied the arriving guests. Media reporters from around the world entered the Diamond Factory one after another with cameras and equipment.
Each car carried only one player. Old Mo was the first to arrive.
When he stepped out and saw every guest dressed in white, he froze and scratched his head.
“What’s going on? Nobody said everyone had to wear white.”
It looked like a funeral.
The Count had selected the players’ formalwear, and every one of them wore black.
Tang Weiqi, Aunt Wang, and Uncle Li arrived in succession.
The guests looked them up and down, but not as though they were seeing human beings, much less diamond designers.
Diamond designers ordinarily enjoyed high social standing, yet the guests showed no respect. Their faces were full of amusement.
A photographer called to the players. “Look this way!”
After the picture was taken, Old Mo leaned over to see it and flew into a rage.
“Hey! What kind of picture is this? Why is it black and white?”
A black-and-white photograph on a day like this felt horribly inauspicious.
Tang Weiqi hurriedly restrained Old Mo before his temper caused trouble.
“Perhaps they don’t have color photography here.”
Old Mo frowned. “Impossible. Everyone else’s pictures are in color. Only the players get black and white. He did it on purpose.”
The last two cars entered the venue.
When Lu Yuanshi stepped out, every guest’s eyes widened slightly.
Sunlight traced delicate shadows beneath his lashes. When he raised his eyes, his cold beauty seemed to reduce every backward glance to dust. Sacred and dazzling.
Warm sunlight gilded his hair. The black suit made his figure nearly flawless: broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs, elegant yet filled with masculine strength.
A vivid rose rested in his left buttonhole. He raised a hand to check its position.
As he lowered his gaze, even the lines from his wrist to his fingertips were impeccable, impossible to look away from.
Old Mo whistled. “Damn. I knew Lu Yuanshi was handsome, but has he been hiding it all this time? He’s putting out enough pheromones to kill someone today.”
Uncle Li nodded approvingly. “Agreed. The young man looks so handsome today, I almost thought he’d come to blow the place up.”
Tang Weiqi regarded Lu Yuanshi with a complicated expression.
Perhaps it had never been an illusion. Lu Yuanshi truly was striking, but some ability altered the impression he gave others.
Tang Weiqi had heard on the player forums of supernatural abilities that could do such things. The power sounded almost useless, yet Lu Yuanshi did not feel simple at all.
The final day of the instance was judgment day for every player.
Death or survival.
Then the last car door opened, and a man stepped out.
The guests were struck speechless all over again.
Xiao Huai, dressed in a pure white suit, opened the door with elegant ease.
At that moment, the breeze, the snow, all of nature seemed to favor him, rendering him purity itself.
He tilted his head back slightly. Light reflected from the snow into his dark red eyes, like a firefly wandering into one’s vision at midnight.
Everything about him seemed designed to draw out the desires buried deepest in the human heart.
Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi needed only to stand there to form the most beautiful work of art.
In truth, the other players stared for a long time. Even Lu Yuanshi watched Xiao Huai for several moments.
Since the game began, none of them had ever seen Xiao Huai wear white.
They had never known it suited him so perfectly.
He looked clean and pure beyond measure, more brilliant than any diamond.
“Why is Xiao Huai wearing a white suit?” Old Mo muttered.
A woman laughed softly behind him.
Victoria wore a white-and-gold evening gown. Smiling, she said, “Naturally, I prepared it, so he would match me, and to celebrate his…” Eternal stay in this world.
But when Victoria looked toward Xiao Huai, she seemed to see an invisible boundary drawn around his and Lu Yuanshi’s feet.
Those two belonged to one world. Everyone else belonged to another.
When their eyes met, the entire world watched them.
This was supposed to be a diamond showcase, yet it felt more like a showcase for the two of them.
Victoria sighed without meaning to and swirled her champagne. “How did I never notice that Lu Yuanshi’s skin was such exceptional quality?”
Tang Weiqi glanced at her.
Even an NPC had failed to notice? Then his guess was right. Lu Yuanshi really possessed a supernatural ability that could alter perception.
Xiao Huai’s gaze settled on the rose in Lu Yuanshi’s buttonhole, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
“Lu Yuanshi,” he said lazily, “I’m about to repay what I owe you.”
Lu Yuanshi watched him calmly. “What surprise have you prepared for me?”
“Wait and see.” Xiao Huai patted his shoulder and walked past him.
The moment Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi arrived, photographers from several media outlets began calling to them.
“Look this way, please! Could the two of you pose for a picture together?”
Before their arrival, each player had been photographed alone.
But the photographers had never seen players like Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi.
Standing together, they seemed to spark countless exquisite reactions.
A single blade was ordinary. But place another against it, let them clash and balance each other, and the flashing steel became as dazzling as the stars.
Xiao Huai was about to ignore the photographers when a hand tugged at the hem of his jacket.
He looked back. Amid the tangled noise, Lu Yuanshi’s voice pierced through everything else until it was the only sound that reached him.
“Can’t we take one together?” Lu Yuanshi smiled, gentle and calm.
When their eyes met, Xiao Huai instinctively tried to look away. Then he saw Lu Yuanshi silently mouth the words:
*Are you scared?*
Xiao Huai’s pupils widened. His lashes trembled, and his body seemed to move beyond his control, taking one step closer.
“No.” He came to Lu Yuanshi’s side and looked at the camera. “Then let’s take one.”
“Mm.”
Xiao Huai kept a measured distance between them. Just as the photographer prepared to press the shutter, an arm slipped around his waist and tugged gently.
Xiao Huai’s pupils widened. Lu Yuanshi filled the edge of his vision.
The sunlight was perfect. Lu Yuanshi’s eyes curved, and he smiled softly.