Chapter 73
Chapter 73
He had guessed correctly.
Xiao Huai looked toward the game exit. The words *Witch’s House* were written above it.
The middle-aged man’s head drooped. His anger finally dissolved into helpless anguish, a silent roar of pain.
Xiao Huai tilted his head. “Would you like to play a game?”
At the sound of Xiao Huai’s voice, the man gave him a weary glance.
The hair falling over the young man’s forehead had grown a little long. When he tilted his head, the strands swept across his eyes.
His expression was impossible to read.
“Do I look like I’m in the mood to play games with you?” the man snorted.
Xiao Huai’s gaze passed through the crowd and settled on the nebula of *Witch’s House*.
An instance did not permit multiple teams of players to begin simultaneously.
Only after one group left would the instance unlock again and begin the next round.
Furthermore, once a player cleared an instance, that game became locked on their system interface.
They could never enter the same instance again.
“What if I told you I could send you back into the instance?” Xiao Huai suddenly turned his head. The corner of his mouth lifted with a hint of youthful abandon.
The middle-aged man froze. “What do you mean? That’s impossible.”
Xiao Huai rubbed his chin. “Is it? I don’t think so.”
A Soul Contract could be used even in the standby world.
According to the description of soul companions, a soul relationship could be established with another player.
Until now, Xiao Huai had only done this with NPCs. This would be his first time trying it with a player.
He said, “If I can return you to that world, do you think your game can continue?”
As long as someone was his soul companion, they could enter any instance.
Xiao Huai bent slightly forward. His hair partly veiled his brows, and his lashes trembled, making the emotions in his eyes even harder to discern.
The middle-aged man fell silent for a long time. His hands trembled faintly, and the yearning in his eyes was almost spilling out.
Xiao Huai was like a beam of light suddenly piercing his vision and peeling away the darkness.
“Do you want a clue…?” the man finally asked.
Xiao Huai shook his head languidly, his pale lips parting.
“No.”
A Soul Contract appeared in his hand. The middle-aged man was utterly shocked. “H-how did you get a Soul Contract?”
Careless indifference rested in Xiao Huai’s eyes. “My supernatural ability.”
Only three words, yet they raised enormous waves in the middle-aged man’s heart.
Xiao Huai had already signed his name on the contract. “Since you know this is a Soul Contract, you also know I can’t deceive you.”
[If either party violates this contract, they will receive punishment from the highest-level system.]
“Establish a soul relationship? Is this selling my soul?” The middle-aged man’s expression darkened.
Selling one’s soul was something that generally occurred only between gods and players.
Players formed contracts with those gods.
Those… treacherous gods.
But this contract was different.
It called them companions.
Soul companions.
And it imposed no other mandatory demands, because companions were equals.
Xiao Huai smiled. “Selling your soul? That’s an interesting way to put it. True madness is being willing to surrender your soul for something.”
He raised his eyes toward the statues in the game lobby. Each looked incomparably solemn and beautiful.
But what dangers were concealed behind that beauty?
Xiao Huai said, “Someone once told me there are only two paths in a horror game: Suicide or madness. I’ve made my choice. Will you make the same one?”
For an instant, the man seemed to glimpse a hellish abyss within Xiao Huai’s eyes.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest, and his blood boiled.
It was more than an abyss.
It was one man’s madness, a display of fireworks beyond compare.
The middle-aged man remembered the agony of losing his lover and all the despair he had suffered, again and again, in the horror game.
He no longer wanted to live. He wanted to give up, to die, to end it all.
But now, someone was telling him he could live.
In a place where everyone was wicked, only those mad enough could claw out a sliver of hope.
“Why me…?” The middle-aged man’s voice trembled.
Xiao Huai did not answer at once. This was only their first meeting.
Why explain any of this to a man he had only just met?
His gaze returned to the nebula, yet it seemed to pass through it and settle upon something else.
“Because you want to live.”
He turned and extended a hand to the man. “I’m only pulling you back to your feet.”
Otherwise, why would you linger here for so long and refuse to leave?
There was no complicated emotion in the young man’s voice. Its cool, clear tone was like a winter breeze sweeping across the earth, exposing the true feelings hidden within the heart.
All surrounding sound seemed to vanish in an instant. Those words, “Because you want to live,” stunned the man once more.
His lashes trembled softly.
That’s right… I want to live.
He wanted to keep living with the memory of his lover. Her life had been exchanged for his.
He should not waste away like this and render her sacrifice meaningless.
He wanted to go back. Back to that instance.
To say the farewell he had never managed to complete.
The middle-aged man raised a trembling right hand and grasped the hand extended toward him.
“I accept.” He signed his name on the Soul Contract.
Zhong Jiangyuan.
The moment the Soul Contract was signed, an invisible bond formed, and a mysterious power seemed to tug at his soul.
But the power brought no pain. Instead, it felt faintly warm.
Xiao Huai adjusted something on his system interface and murmured, “So that’s how it works.”
His interface had been updated.
Sections for soul friends and soul companions had appeared.
[Soul Friend: Hanako.]
[Survival Status: Alive. Current Location: Ivy Girls’ School.]
In the soul companions section, Joseph and Carr were listed as dormant, and their location had changed to the soul-companion space.
Zhong Jiangyuan’s survival status was more interesting.
[Player: Zhong Jiangyuan. Survival Status: Alive. Current Location: Third-Floor Game Lobby.]
[Note: This player is currently on standby and may be summoned. Summoning is prohibited while the player is inside an instance.]
“How much standby time do you have left?” Xiao Huai asked.
“One day,” the man replied. He had lost his drive to survive when the death of his lover destroyed his will to clear instances.
Xiao Huai said, “Zhong Jiangyuan, live for yourself. After you come out, you’ll return as my soul companion. Our game has only just begun. When the time comes, say a proper goodbye.”
Zhong Jiangyuan’s pupils widened slightly.
Xiao Huai had seen through him.
With that, Xiao Huai headed toward the *Witch’s House* instance. Zhong Jiangyuan recovered and called after him.
“Wait.”
Xiao Huai glanced back from the corner of his eye. “What is it? Is there something else?”
“Didn’t you come here for clues or information about the game…?”
Xiao Huai smiled. “If you have any and they’re free, I’d be happy to see them. Whether you can say them aloud is another matter.”
Clues could be traded, but most information could not be spoken and would be automatically censored by the system.
Unfortunately, Zhong Jiangyuan had no clues for *Witch’s House*. All he could say was:
“Eat your fill before you go in…”
Despair hid in his eyes, as though he were recalling something unbearably painful.
The sentence was not censored. Understanding, Xiao Huai waved. “Got it. Thank you.”
Just before his next step carried him into the nebula, he spoke softly to Zhong Jiangyuan.
His voice was quiet but reached the man’s ears clearly.
“Zhong Jiangyuan, my name is Xiao Huai.”
Zhong Jiangyuan’s eyes flew wide. Xiao Huai…
That name.
He had heard it before!
Xiao Huai was one of only two players who had cleared *Diamond Magnate*.
Zhong Jiangyuan did not know what kind of figure he had encountered today.
Yet somehow, he sensed that the man’s future would shine with unsurpassed brilliance.