chapter 116

Luo Jia Bai stared in surprise. “That’s a lock?”

He’d always thought it was just some accessory Lu Li wore around his neck.

A rich kid with a bit of goth-rock personality-totally understandable.

He hadn’t expected it to be an actual lock.

“Twenty is still an age when you’re growing. With this thing clamped on so tight, wouldn’t it affect your height and development? And taking big bites must be a nightmare too!” Luo Jia Bai looked genuinely heartbroken. “Other players get hungry during the game day and at least eat some exchanged food. No wonder I’ve never seen you eat. Did this thing mess you up so badly you stopped wanting food?”

Gu Yu Chu asked, “Your family put it on you?”

As everyone’s attention snapped to the neck collar because of Gu Yu Chu’s question, the concern in their eyes made Lu Li take a step back.

His first instinct was to pop his collar up and hide the neck collar.

That thing-like a nightmare, like a parasite clinging to bone.

He didn’t care when strangers stared at it with disrespect or mocked him to his face.

But his friends’ concern…

For no reason, it made his heart turn cold.

He didn’t need to eat. The mechanical act of swallowing only reminded him of pain.

He didn’t have a family. He was an experimental product-researched and manufactured.

Lu Li pressed his lips together and said nothing.

In his mind, he answered their questions silently.

A body this abnormal wasn’t much different from the monsters in the Necromancer Game that made people shriek in fear and disgust.

Even his limbs were like tentacles-cut them off and they would reconnect; destroy them and they would come back again.

The researchers had once held analysis charts up outside the glass without any attempt to hide them, discussing right in front of him how many years, how many rounds, how much stimulation and damage it would take before his body could be strengthened, mutated, and upgraded.

From the start, the researchers had created him along the path of a war weapon.

Pointing at the charts, they sighed in admiration: if they could completely tame-or strip away-his thoughts, letting the Research Institute’s electronic main brain fully control his own, what a great invention it would be.

They forgot his eyesight had been enhanced too. He could see the final “finished product” image on those charts with perfect clarity.

No human shape. No human skin. Row after row of teeth. Countless eyes. Vast and swollen with tumor-like lumps all over its body.

What an ugly monster.

Was that what he would become in the end?

–

Gu Yu Chu was a businessman.

He had taken the initiative to propose a deal.

Now he was waiting for his customer’s answer.

“I…” Lu Li lowered his eyes. “You can’t unlock it. There’s a sensor chip inside.”

“I can,” Gu Yu Chu said. “Maybe not in the real world, but in the Necromancer Game there are items that can help. Zero-pressure gloves can get around the chip issue.”

In the live stream room, the audience erupted into heated discussion:

[Tipped spirit money x15000. I’ve been supporting the streamer since the first instance, so I can confirm: the neck collar was already there before the Necromancer Game. Unknown origin. But if it gets unlocked, the streamer won’t wear it anymore, right? I don’t know why it’s locked on, but from a viewing perspective, I actually like the decorative effect. Still, if it’s something the streamer doesn’t like, it should be taken off.]

[Tipped spirit money x10000. Ghost friends, did I see that wrong? When the streamer tugged his collar, he almost touched the neck collar, but then he pulled his hand back really fast. That kind of reflex… is he scared of the neck collar?]
[Spirit Money *5000 reward, Gu Yu Chu’s Live Stream Room is blowing up. He wasn’t lying to the Streamer-he really does have skills!]

Luo Jia Bai asked about the fee. “How many Points do you want?”

Gu Yu Chu said, “He said there’s a chip inside. I’ll have to get my hands on it first and see how hard it is.”

Mirella looked at Lu Li. “Do you want that?”

Lu Li’s fingers curled at his side, clutching his clothes over and over, his palm slick with sweat.

What would it be like if the Neck Collar came off?

Would the skin there still be intact?

Would that be the start of him turning into a Monster?

He had no idea how long it would take before he became like the finished product in the Researcher’s diagram, or if there was really a chance he’d turn into that thing one day.

He wanted everyone to know his past, but he didn’t dare say it.

He was afraid they wouldn’t stay long enough to hear his whole story, that they’d cut him off halfway with a look of fear at his horrific body.

Lu Li suddenly let out a breath.

So this was what fear felt like.

Everyone was afraid of Monsters.

He was afraid of their faces once they knew he was a Monster-and of them… leaving him.

He had started to fear losing people.

Lu Li tugged his collar higher and showed them a smile. “Let’s talk about it later.”

He explained, “It doesn’t really affect my life right now. And it actually looks pretty good on me…”

“In the entire Necromancer Game, two Players at different progression stages, if they don’t party up, will probably only get matched together once. Before this Instance ends, if you make up your mind, tell me.”

Gu Yu Chu glanced at Luo Jia Bai. His mouth seemed to move on its own, and he muttered so quietly almost no one could hear, “I can… give you a discount depending on how hard it is to unlock… I guess.”

But Luo Jia Bai was staring at Lu Li’s smile. After a long moment, he sighed.

Lu Li had been the one to teach him this, yet Lu Li himself had forgotten.

Any smile held for more than five seconds was fake.

Anything Lu Li forced himself to say lightly was fake too.

A sudden clatter of something heavy hitting the ground came from behind them.

They turned and saw four Players scrambling up in a mess, their bodies covered in corroded patches here and there.

“You guys just cleared it too?” Xia Le saw that they were all in one piece and gave a slightly stiff smile. “Must’ve cost you a lot of Points, huh?”

Lu Li took the initiative to chat with them. “We spent a bit.”

They really had sunk a lot of Points into Gu Yu Chu.

Mirella quietly tugged on Lu Li’s sleeve. He turned and saw that she’d drawn two similar figures on a piece of paper.

“Which one of these looks more pleasing to you?” Mirella asked. “One of them is the correct pattern.”

She had once been a Saintess and had only studied knowledge related to holiness and blessings.

But the church also stored forbidden books.

She could only sneak a look when the Former Saintess wasn’t paying attention. Too much time had passed-those sinister Runes, the ones used for curses, she couldn’t remember them very clearly anymore.

Lu Li asked, “Do you need the right one, or the wrong one?”

“The right one,” Mirella said. “I want to pull a little prank.”