chapter 11
Lu Li did not look back.
Luo Jia Bai spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear, “This knife was traded with an Evil Spirit. It has one more life-saving ability than the Items in the Shop-it can block one critical attack for you. But I can’t give you the knife directly. Let’s put on a show: I’ll pretend I can’t beat you, and you snatch the knife from me.”
Luo Jia Bai gripped the handle tightly, emphasizing,
“I’m not helping you. Acting is also to draw a clear line between us. One person against four Players-whether you win or lose, you can only rely on yourself. You have outstanding abilities. If you die because of Player infighting and provocation, it would be a real shame.”
“Thank you,” Lu Li blinked, “but I don’t need it.”
Luo Jia Bai’s tone was stiff, “I’m not helping you, so you don’t need to thank me. Actually, your Points are probably more than I imagined, enough to exchange for better Items from the Shop. I was being sentimental…”
“Your Item is good, but it could be used in a more suitable place.” Lu Li glanced sideways. “If you want the Note so badly, just give it to them.”
He raised his voice and called out, “Nuo Nuo.”
“Are you going to answer the question?” Nuo Nuo looked down at Lu Li, her eyes full of admiration and affection.
“Pretty guest, if you answer incorrectly, I won’t let the sand bury you. Instead, I’ll put a skirt on you and place you high up on the first shelf of my display case. Do you like red, green, or yellow?”
“I’m not here to answer questions. And, I don’t wear skirts.”
Lu Li politely declined, pointing to the half Arm lying on the sand, “This is your Castle. Can you let your toy help me with something?”
Nuo Nuo asked in confusion, “My toy?”
“I thought you had some kind of skill.” Qi Mingda’s tense heart instantly relaxed. “That half Arm was killed by me. It doesn’t even have a brain! And you treat it like a treasure?”
Qi Mingda laughed recklessly, pointing at Nuo Nuo above, “D Grade Instances only have a single Boss. She has only one goal-to kill us! And you foolishly hope for her protection!”
Suddenly, a shadow fell over everyone.
Nuo Nuo’s earlier confusion seemed to be just because she couldn’t see clearly. Now, she pressed her entire face into the ceiling.
A huge Eyeball stuck to the Players’ heads.
After turning once, it locked onto the Arm.
The Arm froze like a person, with a gaping hole through it, and slowly “stood” up.
Qiao Ren was shocked, “It-it came back to life!”
“It really is my toy, but it’s so imperfect, I can’t put it on the Fifth Floor.” Nuo Nuo giggled, “It’s so naughty, running everywhere. Since that’s the case, go help the guest.”
“If you don’t help well, you’ll be punished.”
The half Arm stood alone on the sand, trembling under Nuo Nuo’s breath.
It ran nimbly across the sand, quickly arriving in front of Lu Li.
Lu Li handed over the Note, speaking gently,
“Please help me deliver this Note to the one laughing the loudest on the other side.”
The Arm raised two fingers to pinch the Note, holding it high like a treasure.
The remaining three fingers acted as legs, scrambling toward Qi Mingda.
Qiao Ren’s mouth dropped open, wide enough to swallow two eggs, “Brother Qi! It’s coming for you! Be careful! Wasn’t this thing dead just now?!”
“What’s all the shouting for! Scared out of your wits over nothing!” Qi Mingda’s smile vanished, but he hid his panic well, pretending to be calm as he exchanged for Bullets, loaded them into his gun, and aimed at the approaching Arm.
“If I killed it once, I can kill it again.”
“Bang-!”
After the gunshot, another bullet hole appeared on the Arm, but its speed didn’t slow at all-in fact, it sped up.
Sweat broke out on Qi Mingda’s forehead. He hurriedly reloaded, firing several more shots at the Arm.
“Bang, bang-!”
Half of the Arm was shot off, but the remaining part still charged forward without hesitation.
Qiao Ren shouted anxiously, “Try burning it with fire!”
Qi Mingda quickly exchanged for a bucket of oil and poured it all over the Arm.
He then exchanged for a Lighter.
Nuo Nuo’s breath was too strong; every time a flame appeared, it was blown out. He tried several times before finally getting it lit.
Qi Mingda shielded the flame, and after much effort, managed to ignite the oil.
The fire instantly blazed up.
The Arm tightly protected Lu Li’s Note in its palm, braving the burning flames as it rushed toward Qi Mingda.
Its magma-like skin wrapped tightly around Qi Mingda’s hand.
“Get off! Get off! Don’t touch me!”
Qi Mingda went mad trying to shake it off, but the grip only tightened.
His left hand blistered from the burns, and his fingers were forcibly pried open.
The intact Note.
Was handed over to him.
As soon as the Note was delivered, the burning Arm instantly lost all strength and collapsed into the sand.
The quicksand piled up, completely burying the nearly charred Arm, leaving no trace behind.
“Ah-! Lu Li! Bad luck! This is really bad luck!” Qi Mingda’s skin was scorched and blistered, his molars nearly cracking from how hard he clenched his jaw. He glared viciously at Lu Li. “I swear I’ll kill you!”
Why?
Clearly just a skinny kid who looked as weak as a chick, yet he kept making Qi Mingda suffer again and again!
The oil hadn’t finished burning, and the flames grew higher and higher.
The blazing fire outlined Lu Li’s figure in a way that was breathtaking.
Qi Mingda could only see that the young man remained as calm as ever, and even after hearing his curses, Lu Li’s lips curled into a slight smile, his voice sounding almost demonic.
“The Note you wanted, I’ve given it to you. Go ahead and open it.”
Lu Li’s Wristband flashed a red light.
Luo Jia Bai was still holding his knife, bewildered by the sudden turn of events, and was momentarily dazzled by the red light from Lu Li’s Wristband. “Lu Li, your Wristband has a new notification.”
He couldn’t help but swallow. “An Audience member just tipped ten thousand in your Live Stream Room.”
Lu Li’s level wasn’t high enough, so he couldn’t see the Bullet Comments or gift effects in the Live Stream Room:
[Awesome! Calm under pressure! Smart, gentle, and handsome! I love it! I’m recommending this Live Stream Room to all my best Ghost friends!]
[Qi Mingda is still running his mouth, hilarious. He tricked so many newbies in the D Grade Instance, but now he’s finally going to crash!]
[Seven thousand Audience members doing the work of seventy thousand? This Live Stream Room is great.]
[A big spender Evil Spirit Audience just entered the Live Stream Room. I saw his Noble Entrance Effect earlier. You only get that effect after spending over fifty thousand Spirit Money in Necromancer Game. Damn, he just tipped the Streamer ten thousand!]
[I declare, as long as the Streamer can get out of this D Grade Instance, I’ll use all my Spirit Money to support him.]
Lu Li raised his Wristband.
Although he couldn’t see the Bullet Comments, he saw the Live Stream Room info update:
[Audience count: 7998]
[Instance Live Stream Room overall ranking: 1st place]
[Points: 15000]
“Why is it on fire!”
Nuo Nuo suddenly screamed; she looked terrified of the flames. “It can’t keep burning, it’ll ruin Nuo Nuo’s Castle! We need to cover it up quickly!”
The next second, a huge handful of sand fell from the sky to extinguish the flames.
Everyone’s Sand Level Line suddenly rose by a large margin.
The Player buried deepest looked terrified; the sand had reached his chest, his body couldn’t move, and even moving his hand was extremely difficult, let alone attacking Lu Li.
Lu Li looked at the four Players now within arm’s reach and asked softly, “Do you think it’s faster to kill me, or to be buried by the sand?”
He pointed at Qi Mingda. “All the Notes are with him now. Why not ask him if he’ll really give you the Privilege, or if he’s just waiting for you to die first?”
Qi Mingda was applying Medicine to his burns when he suddenly realized the Players he’d sent to kill Lu Li had all turned toward him, staring him down. “What do you want?”