chapter 139

Lu Li figured he had to be dreaming.

Because he could feel wind brushing past his cheek.

But where he was now was a Laboratory you couldn’t escape from even if you grew wings.

Once this place was locked, there wasn’t even a crack you could squeeze through, let alone a breeze.

The light in the dream was incredibly dim. He couldn’t control his body, either-his head was bowed, and all he could do was watch “himself” use his finger and bright red blood to write a character on the floor.

Red blood?

It didn’t feel like it was his. Whose blood was it then?

“It’s hard to write.”

He’d only gotten two strokes in before “he” stopped, clearly ready to give up.

Another hand reached out from the darkness, wrapped around his, and helped complete the character.

He heard a voice come out of “his” own throat. “Li.”

“What does this character mean?”

Another voice drifted in from the darkness, blurry and indistinct. “When the time comes for you to use this character…”

“It means the sky is about to brighten.”

–

“Lu Li?”

Someone was calling his name.

“We’re at the station. We have to get off.”

Lu Li jolted awake. The first thing he saw was that Luo Jia Bai’s body in his field of view was crooked-and then he realized he’d been leaning against Bosi’s shoulder.

He immediately straightened up.

He noticed Bosi’s robe was all wrinkled from his nap and hurriedly smoothed it out, guilty. “Sorry, I suddenly got sleepy. My head isn’t that heavy, right? Does your shoulder hurt?”

Bosi calmly flipped through the documents in his hands. “It doesn’t. I can’t feel it.”

“I was working just now and didn’t notice you’d fallen asleep.”

–

Underworld.

The Horned Evil God caught a subordinate slacking off right before clocking out today.

On the screen was none other than Lu Li’s Live Stream Room, whose Bug Instance-clear record was currently ranked number one.

When the Horned Evil God appeared in front of him, the subordinate’s movement to minimize the window was agonizingly slow and weak.

The subordinate trembled. “Boss, I–I clicked it by accident. I was going to open the reports, but I hit the Live Stream Room by mistake.”

The Horned Evil God asked, “You watch his stream?”

The subordinate let out a dry laugh. “I watch occasionally.”

The Horned Evil God pointed at the avatar frame in the lower-left corner of the Live Stream Room. “Level 5 fan badge?”

The subordinate wiped away sweat. “I just spent a little Spirit Money.”

“This streamer’s style is pretty fun,” he hurried to explain, stacking excuses. “His current clear rate is still one hundred percent, and all of them are Bug Instances. If you throw Spirit Money at him, it’s guaranteed profit with a multiplier. It’s safer than the Underworld Bank and more lucrative than the Underworld Stock Market! Boss, I never watch during work, I only watch after hours!”

The Horned Evil God waved a hand. “Lend me the account.”

He’d already noticed this streamer.

A couple of days ago, he’d even used his own account to enter this streamer’s Live Stream Room. But the special effects that came bundled with an Evil God account automatically blasted across the public chat, scaring him into an immediate exit.

Fortunately, he’d been fast enough. When he later browsed the Forum, he didn’t see any posts discussing it, and only then did he relax.

Today, he happened to have a normal-user account on hand, one that would let him safely enter this Live Stream Room.

The main screen was pitch-black the moment he entered.

Only the dizzying stream of Bullet Comments was still flashing rapidly upward:

[Three streamers missing for over 24 hours, are you kidding me! For a game that’s supposed to be streamed from start to finish, how is this not a major incident? Is there seriously no ghost in charge who’s going to deal with this?]

[What is going on! Moderator, get out here and take your beating! Before this, only one streamer’s room would bug out and I put up with it. At least when he chatted with Luo Jia Bai at night I could still sneak a peek. Now Luo Jia Bai and Mirella are both black screens, where am I supposed to get my fix! I don’t even want to watch other streamers! I can’t focus at work anymore!]
[Spirit Money * 5000. What on earth are they doing? Is there anything so secret they can’t just livestream it for everyone to see?]

[Spirit Money * 10000. Fellow Ghosts, you don’t get it! A few coworkers and I technically violated regulations to sponsor Paopao’s Reincarnation. We were already prepared to get chewed out, but Carlo not only didn’t fly into a rage, he even checked our accounts and cash flow, and the Spirit Money we spent on Paopao was actually transferred to our salary cards as a bonus today! It just came in!]

[So jealous of the one upstairs. I’ll gladly have Carlo as my boss from now on.]

[Same, same, I want that too.]

[Spirit Money * 15000. Good news! The Streamer’s Personal Homepage has updated! There’s a new photo. Hehe, turns out he went out to have fun with friends. Where is this? The sunset is so beautiful. I really want to bump into the Streamer by chance. Wait, no! This is the Necromancer Game! How can they leave the game?]

[Already liked, commented, and grabbed a front-row spot. Seeing more and more friends standing beside the Streamer is really comforting.]

[An illusion, I’m guessing it’s an illusion. Maybe they haven’t actually left the Necromancer Game.]

[Spirit Money * 10000. The Streamer has posted two photos so far. Fellow Ghosts, has anyone noticed the shooting style is completely different between the two? The new one, you can tell the photographer’s hands are super steady; it doesn’t feel like the same person took them.]

[Both photos have issues! The Streamer is always blocked by a huge patch of black shadow. I’m so! Damn! Mad! I want to see the Streamer’s face!]

The Horned Evil God waited for a long time and still didn’t see the Streamer’s face.

A very familiar name suddenly popped up on the screen:

[Evil God Fenny has purchased a 30-day Black Diamond Member status in this Live Stream Room, becoming a First-Level Guardian of this Live Stream Room, currently ranked No. 1. This gift notification will be looped across all Live Stream Rooms for 10 minutes. The popularity of this Live Stream Room continues to rise!]

[What’s this special effect? I’m a new ghost, just started playing the Necromancer Game, can someone explain?]

[It’s a high-level interactive gift effect. It’s similar in nature to tipping. After an Advanced Evil Spirit with special abilities chooses to become a Guardian of a Streamer, during their Black Diamond Member period there’s a tiny chance of triggering the Evil Spirit’s corresponding ability. First-Level Guardian is the lowest tier, the trigger probability is so low it’s almost zero. I’ve seen in a few Heavenly Ranking Players’ Live Stream Rooms that the big-spending Evil Spirits will open higher-level Guardians to increase the trigger chance of their abilities. If they can help the Streamer turn danger into safety at a critical moment, the Evil Spirit’s Spirit Money will be doubled at settlement.]

[I also picked this up from hanging around Heavenly Ranking Players’ Live Stream Rooms. Fenny has only ever opened a Guardian Gift in Mirella’s Live Stream Room before. This is the first time he’s spent Spirit Money in anyone else’s room.]

[What did the Streamer do this time to make Fenny spend so lavishly?]

[User01 has purchased a 31-day Black Diamond Member status in this Live Stream Room, becoming a First-Level Guardian of this Live Stream Room, currently ranked No. 1.]

[Huh? Who’s this now! How dare they press Fenny down! Fenny actually isn’t reacting? Just one extra day, enough to knock Fenny out of first place-this is a blatant declaration of war!]

[Could it be another Evil God’s account? No, that can’t be right. When an Evil God’s account enters or exits, there’s a dedicated special effect. This user looks pretty plain.]

He found the latest photo on Lu Li’s Personal Homepage.

The Horned Evil God’s two eyeballs, which had been split up and moving separately, both focused on the young man’s face, then slowly slid over to the thick bank of roiling Black Mist on the young man’s right.

Then, on the human face’s right half, his eyelid suddenly began to twitch violently.