Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Xiao Huai looked up and met Lu Yuanshi’s gaze.
“What is it,” he said quietly.
His tone made it a statement rather than a question.
He had little strength left to spar with Lu Yuanshi.
Every other player kept more than twenty meters away. Only Lu Yuanshi had begun following behind him at some unknown point.
“Let me see.”
Lu Yuanshi looked at the wound. It was still bleeding, though less severely than before.
“There’s nothing to see.” Xiao Huai tried to hide his hand behind his back. He disliked people staring at his wounds.
“Let me bandage it. Didn’t you help me before?” Lu Yuanshi’s lips curved upward.
The smile looked thoroughly false.
Though Xiao Huai did not know what he was plotting, he still extended his hand. “After you’re done, can you stop following me?”
Anyone who followed him would be treated as an outsider by the others.
Lu Yuanshi did not answer. He lowered his head, and sunlight softened upon his cheeks, caressing his features like gauze.
His hair fell over his eyes. Xiao Huai would have had to look up to read his expression.
He did not. He lowered his gaze and pretended to think about something else.
A bandage appeared in Lu Yuanshi’s hand. When his cool fingertips touched the wound, Xiao Huai frowned slightly.
As though afraid it would hurt, Lu Yuanshi actually…
Blew gently across it.
Xiao Huai’s pupils contracted.
He was not a child.
His fingertips trembled involuntarily.
Lu Yuanshi tightened his hold, teasing warmth in his magnetic voice. “Does it hurt that badly?”
Xiao Huai glared at him. “It tickles.”
He tried to withdraw his hand. “Hurry up. Stop blowing on it. I’m not a child.”
“But your ears turn red when I blow.”
“They do not…” Before Xiao Huai could finish, the bandage wound around his injury, mingling numbness with a faint sting.
“Hiss…”
The pulse of blood became startlingly vivid.
Was Lu Yuanshi trying to distract him?
He did not need it.
Xiao Huai tried to pull away, but Lu Yuanshi caught his wrist and pressed the palm against his cheek.
Xiao Huai’s pupils widened. As he looked over, Lu Yuanshi expressionlessly brought the wrist to his lips.
And placed a light kiss upon it.
Like a flash of fire.
Lu Yuanshi raised his eyes, their black depths like a tunnel into infinite space.
A fine current seemed to race across the scar on Xiao Huai’s left wrist.
The touch was brief and vanished at once.
Yet Xiao Huai’s mind abruptly went blank.
An old radio seemed to buzz inside his head.
Only after a moment did Lu Yuanshi release his hand and laugh.
“Did I frighten you? Weren’t you the one who told me to do it last night? That was my first attempt. How effective was it?”
He began circling Xiao Huai like a child.
Last night, Xiao Huai had said, “Instead of waiting for me to seduce you, why don’t you seduce me?”
Xiao Huai pulled back his hand and gripped his wrist tightly.
“Not very.”
He turned and walked forward without looking back.
His heart palpitated for no apparent reason.
Everything Lu Yuanshi had done replayed in his mind, the sensation lingering on his wrist.
His left wrist felt scorched, all the blood in his body rushing toward it. He had never known the scarred skin there was so sensitive.
Perhaps his ears had not been red at first.
But now… they definitely were.
Inexplicably angry, Xiao Huai quickened his pace. The players behind him hurried to keep up.
They looked confused.
What had happened? Why had he suddenly accelerated?
That man had merely bandaged his injury.
Clearly, one should never curry favor with an NPC, no matter how handsome he was.
Now the NPC was walking so quickly that they had to rush after him.
They looked toward the culprit, Lu Yuanshi.
Someone sighed. “Has that guy lost his mind? Why is he standing there grinning? Tell him to hurry up.”
“Hey, buddy, move! Any slower and the guide will leave you behind.”
Lu Yuanshi watched Xiao Huai’s back and softly answered, “Mm.”
The result had been surprisingly good.
* * *
The blazing sun beat down. Xiao Huai stood calmly beneath it, his thick lashes gilded pale gold as he looked toward the sky.
Almost every player was too exhausted to speak. They could barely sweat, their bodies nearly drained of water.
Xiao Huai’s lips were also pale and cracked, but when sunlight touched his face…
None of it seemed important.
“Um… A-Zhuolang, can we really reach Aledi Village? There isn’t even a cactus nearby. If we keep going, everyone will die here.”
Xiao Huai looked at the speaker. “Yes. Everyone will die.”
They all stopped and stared at him in shock.
This NPC truly wanted them all dead.
He really was an evil boss.
But what Xiao Huai said next confused them.
“So if you want to live, learn to be smarter. For example, do you remember yesterday’s crows?”
They exchanged looks, and more gazes settled on Sun Xingye.
Xiao Huai had not given them a direct hint, but those capable of understanding did.
The NPC was telling them Rule Three was false. They could eat crow flesh and drink crow blood.
If so, crossing the desert might not be difficult after all.
The players’ eyes lit up, their spirits instantly reviving.
Cheng Shan immediately became their savior, and several people surrounded him.
“Sir, can your supernatural ability catch crows? Could we ask you to…”
The crowd chattered around him.
About ten minutes remained until the time the crows had appeared the previous day.
If their inference was correct, the flock would return in ten minutes.
Judging by the position of sunset, it was approximately six o’clock.
Sun Xingye said nothing, watching them with a grim face.
Cheng Shan looked reluctant but ultimately agreed.
Elsewhere, Xiao Huai quietly approached the freckled young man.
The young man startled when he saw Xiao Huai, then immediately lowered his eyes. Fear, gratitude, and helplessness mingled there.
When Xiao Huai stopped before him, he clenched his fists and stammered.
“H-hello! My name is Lu Zhi.”
After speaking, he squeezed his eyes shut, his face inexplicably red.
Xiao Huai’s voice reached him. “Why are you so nervous? I don’t eat people.”