Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Lu Yuanshi leaned forward slightly, and Xiao Huai’s eyes flickered.
Whenever Lu Yuanshi drew near, Xiao Huai could sense his presence.
His scent, his breathing, his voice.
Backlit, Lu Yuanshi seemed to smile without making a sound. The faint disturbance in the air made Xiao Huai instinctively shift one step to the side.
Suddenly, one hand caught Xiao Huai by the wrist while the other wrapped around his waist and pulled him into an embrace. Xiao Huai’s eyes flew wide.
Lu Yuanshi’s breath spilled over his ear, his voice lowered to a murmur.
“My prey isn’t allowed to run.”
Xiao Huai had intended to shove Lu Yuanshi away immediately, but after sensing the many gazes upon them, he remained in the man’s arms.
The players stared dumbfounded as Lu Yuanshi “harassed” Xiao Huai right in front of them.
They had been about to ask why the NPC was there. Now, one after another, they averted their eyes, coughed quietly, and pretended they had seen nothing.
Lu Zhi had no idea where to look.
He wanted to steal a few more glances at Xiao Huai, but he was afraid of meeting Lu Yuanshi’s eyes.
Sun Xingye was speechless. Lu Yuanshi did not look like a rookie, yet a single NPC had apparently bewitched him out of his senses.
Ji Yelin watched for a moment longer without saying anything, then became the first to leave.
Once everyone was gone, Xiao Huai forcefully pushed Lu Yuanshi away.
“Lu Yuanshi, there should be a limit to your jokes.”
Xiao Huai did not avoid his gaze. Instead, he looked at him calmly, brows faintly furrowed, and seemed to sigh under his breath.
Xiao Huai said, “I don’t need anyone’s protection, and I’m no one’s prey. I won’t run, and I certainly won’t die easily.”
He started walking outside. Then, as if something had occurred to him, his lips curved.
“I’m a gambler, and I enjoy stealing things. Rather than hunting me, you should watch yourself more carefully. Be careful the gambler doesn’t steal that from you after all.”
He tilted his head and lightly tapped a finger through the air. Across the space between them, the gesture landed over Lu Yuanshi’s heart.
He had always remembered.
He remembered Lu Yuanshi saying, “A gambler can’t steal it.”
Xiao Huai clearly knew nothing about such matters, but right now, he simply wanted to say it.
Hunter and prey, thief and victim.
The active and the passive.
Given the choice, he preferred to take the initiative.
His life needed no interference from anyone else. Letting nature take its course was his law.
Lu Yuanshi watched Xiao Huai leave, an exceedingly faint smile on his face.
* * *
By noon, the players had searched every corner of Aledi Village. Some places were so sinister that even groups of two or three did not dare enter.
After a busy morning, everyone was exhausted and hungry.
Several players at the inn came out to call everyone back for lunch so they could sort through the clues they had gathered.
In the inn’s dining hall, only eighteen people, including Xiao Huai, sat before the table where food was replenished each day.
Xiaoxue and Li Yao were in terrible condition and remained in their room to rest.
It was a rather large round table.
“I’m starving. I really am starving.” One person ignored whether his hands were clean, grabbed a large flatbread, and stuffed it straight into his mouth.
Once he began eating, the others stopped standing on ceremony and dug in as well.
After all, nothing had happened when they ate the food the day before.
If the game wanted them to hunt for treasure, surely it would not poison them through the food first.
Xiao Huai sat at the table without touching his chopsticks.
That faint scent still lingered around the table.
Yet food personally prepared by Lu Yuanshi did not carry it.
If there was nothing wrong with the ingredients, then where did the problem lie?
The Chinese had a habit of discussing important matters over a meal.
Cheng Shan said, “Everyone has been busy all morning. Did anyone find anything unusual?”
Several people had eaten so quickly that they nearly choked. Only after gulping down water did they answer.
“Yes! I found gold this morning.”
“Me too. I found a gold ingot. It’s definitely genuine, and the weight is right.”
Cheng Shan was surprised. “Gold? Where did you find it?”
They answered at the same time: buried in the sand.
“You can dig gold out of the sand? That’s…”
incredible.
If gold covered the ground, the people here should all have been fabulously wealthy. Yet there was not a single person in the village now.
Ji Yelin held her chopsticks in her left hand, picked up a piece of steak, and ate slowly.
“Is that so strange? Isn’t it normal to find gold in a desert?”
Lu Zhi said, “That’s hard to say. Gold isn’t common in deserts to begin with, and finding it after digging at random in a village is even stranger.”
Sun Xingye moved directly to the next subject. “I found hair.”
At those words, everyone thought there was something wrong with him.
Did not everyone have hair?
How strange could it possibly be?
“You’ll understand when you see it yourselves. It was terrifying. I didn’t dare look for long.”
Sun Xingye could see the disdain in their eyes.
Once he said that, the others’ expressions became uneasy.
Could it really be… some kind of bizarre hair?
Cheng Shan said, “Should we go look after we finish eating?”
“Let’s look now. If it’s really that frightening, I’m afraid I’ll throw up everything I eat,” someone suggested.
The others nodded. Sun Xingye grinned slyly. “What are you afraid of? We have A-Zhuolang. He’ll protect us, won’t he?”
Xiao Huai sat at the far end of the table and was inexplicably singled out by Sun Xingye. He raised his eyes and glanced at him.
Everyone else instinctively looked toward Xiao Huai.
His thin lips parted. “Sure. Does this count as an invitation from all of you?”
There was an indescribably wicked quality to the smile on his face.
Sun Xingye swallowed. “If we invite you, will you come?”
“Of course,” Xiao Huai answered without hesitation.
Sun Xingye was testing Xiao Huai, trying to uncover the NPC’s hidden rules.
He did not know why Xiao Huai had agreed to accompany them. As an NPC, he had no reason to act alongside the players.
Even so, Xiao Huai’s answer inexplicably reassured him.
“Great! With A-Zhuolang there…”
Lu Zhi had just leaped up excitedly when he met Lu Yuanshi’s eyes. He immediately wilted, sat back down, and fell silent.
The group followed Sun Xingye to a dilapidated house near the inn.
When they pushed open the door, a foul, musty odor rushed into their noses.
Beneath it was another smell: gunpowder and gasoline.
Xiao Huai frowned. Pinching his nose, Sun Xingye pointed at a wooden door about thirty feet away.
“It’s in there.”
He did not want to see it again himself, so he merely pointed.
Xiao Huai spared him no glance. Before anyone could react, he pushed the door open.
Once everyone saw what lay before them, they froze in helpless shock.
It really was hair, but the sight was utterly revolting.
Hair covered the walls and floor, as though it had grown straight out of the ground.
The room was a mass of darkness, and the greasy, rancid smell unique to unwashed hair struck them full in the face.