chapter 144
Game Instance Hall.
Lu Li and the others stood in a corner.
He swept his gaze around and could clearly feel there were fewer people in the hall this time than in the previous few rounds.
Every Player had an Evil Spirit Bracelet on their wrist. The Instance hadn’t officially started yet, but they were already clustering up of their own accord, whispering in small groups. They looked like they’d been through quite a few Instances already.
In the Game Instance Hall, before the Guide even appeared, Players were already arguing.
Lu Li closed his eyes, shifted all his focus to his hearing, and tuned in on one direction’s conversation.
“The Initial Screening headcount dropped, difficulty’s going up, and newbies won’t be thrown in at random anymore. It’s all veterans. This Instance isn’t going to be lower than A Grade. I don’t recommend going in. There’s a good chance we die in the Initial Screening.”
“The Guide isn’t here yet. We can still use Points to redeem an Item to reselect the Instance. It’s just a bit pricey. But if we pick again, the new Instance will definitely be one grade lower. We’re better suited to B Grade and C Grade. Those are easier.”
“Back out. Let’s all back out together. If a new Instance opens on the same day, we can still enter the same one again.”
“What are you spacing out for? Who are you staring at?”
Lu Li didn’t move, but he could clearly feel several lines of sight land on him, and then he heard his own name.
“He’s the one the Feng Family wants, right? Lu Li… That hair color really stands out…”
“Are you insane? You still dare set your sights on him? You’ll die before you ever earn that many Points! Do you have any idea? He’s gone through three Bug Instances in a row. Ten to one this Instance is messed up too. There’s something wrong with him. Whoever ends up in an Instance with him is cursed…”
The voices gradually faded into the distance.
A circle of empty space opened up around Lu Li.
When he opened his eyes, the Players who had been speaking had already disappeared.
So after entering the Game Instance Hall, you could still redeem an Item to exit.
Lu Li flipped through his Wristband’s interface and found the Item that allowed Players to withdraw from the Instance.
He also accidentally discovered that the Shop had new stock.
The Shop had a brand-new category-“Home Goods.”
The category had popped up out of nowhere. When he opened the page, the products inside were just as strange.
Pillows made up the majority: all kinds of shapes stacked with bizarre patterns.
Lu Li flipped through two pages; they were all a dizzying mess of pillows.
He looked them over and decided not one of them looked better than the pillow Bosi had given him.
Simple, clean, and very soft.
Bosi had definitely given him the best pillow in the entire Underworld.
“The Shop actually gets new arrivals.” Luo Jia Bai was in the middle of redeeming food. He also noticed the new category, clicked into it, scrolled through a few pages, and pulled a disgusted face.
“Forty randomly cobbled-together pillows, plus nineteen bedsheets, pillowcases, and mattresses designed with their feet, then one ‘luxury bed’ priced so insanely it treats people like idiots, and it’s limited to one. That’s exactly sixty products.”
Luo Jia Bai seemed to faintly decode the Necromancer Game Shop’s operating framework. “So if they make sixty Items with different Appearances, they get to open a new category?”
–
Necromancer Game Development Department.
“All right, all right, hurry up, stop nitpicking the details! Put everything online!”
The Wolf Manager was drenched in cold sweat. He had just finished the last operation before going live. He hit Enter, stared tensely at the interface until the new tab popped up, then finally slumped back into his chair in relief.
“Done. We finally scraped together sixty products so it can run properly! Good work, everyone!”
The Evil Spirit employees all let out the breath they’d been holding, their nerves finally unclenching.
“We finally made it before the DDL to get all these products done! My god! I didn’t grind this hard on my thesis when I was alive! I haven’t visited the Live Stream Room of the human Streamer I just got into for over ten days now! Uuugh, he even opened a Personal Homepage. This photo’s nice, I’m saving it and cropping everyone else out for my wallpaper.”
“Staring up at the screen for 3D modeling this long, my spine feels off. I should take my bones apart, polish them, and reinstall.”
“Jokes aside, do you think anyone will actually buy the ugly crap we made? We could’ve done way more Items for ‘Home Goods,’ but every new shape needs a new model. Slapping the simplest pillowcase Appearance on everything saved us the most time. The schedule was way too tight. Which of our previous categories didn’t take six or seven months to build? If this batch doesn’t sell and the revenue looks pathetic, then…”
“It’s fine. I’ve got insider intel. This new category development? It came straight from the higher-than-highest-ups. The most important thing is that bed we spent the most effort on.”
“It’s basically custom-made, you know?”
Luo Jia Bai’s screen was still on the last page of the [Home Goods] tab. He gave a sharp critique: “None of these items has a convincing reason to buy them, especially this bed. It’s insanely expensive, and the sample image is blurry as hell. There’s only a price tag-one million Points, hahaha. Are they joking? Aren’t there free beds in [Game Night]? With free beds right there, who’s going to blow that many Points on…”
Luo Jia Bai’s mocking voice cut off mid-sentence and turned into surprise. “Huh? Why is it gone?”
Lu Li glanced at the page that was refreshing in real time.
The bed really had sold out.
Its little icon dimmed to gray.
The category had just gone live. Whose hands were that fast to snipe the bed already?
Mirella speculated, “Maybe one of the Players at the top of the Heavenly Ranking. I’ve heard they have a ton of Points. They might care more about their living conditions.”
“That’s a million Points…for a bed…” Luo Jia Bai was full of resentment. He tore open the candy wrapper in his hand and popped it into his mouth, words muffled as he said, “Can’t one of those Players drowning in Points bring me along?”
He’d ridden Lu Li’s coattails to earn quite a bit. After settlement, his account balance had ballooned, enough now to exchange for some snacks to satisfy his cravings. He shared one candy with Mirella, then offered another to Lu Li.
Seeing Lu Li’s movements were a bit stiff, Luo Jia Bai asked, “This is candy. Have you ever had it before?”
He never forgot Lu Li saying he was an Experimental Subject. When talking to him, Luo Jia Bai was always afraid of accidentally touching on something painful. Not getting an answer right away, he hurried to help peel the wrapper for him. “Like this. The paper on the outside isn’t edible. Something sweet will put you in a better mood.”
Lu Li stared hesitantly at the candy in his palm.
It was a gift from a friend.
But he had no appetite. Just bringing the candy close enough to smell its scent made his stomach churn.
This was also Mirella’s first time trying candy from the Shop. After finishing it, she showered Luo Jia Bai with praise.
Looking at the smiles lifting the corners of their mouths, Lu Li put the candy into his own mouth.
He silently prayed.
Last time, when he’d been with Bosi, he’d swallowed an entire starfish. This candy was much smaller than a starfish-he should be able to handle it too, right?
Out of the corner of his eye, Luo Jia Bai had been watching Lu Li’s reaction the whole time. He asked eagerly, “Is it good?”
His tongue was flooded with cloying sweetness. The foreign presence that didn’t belong in his mouth slid down his throat, quickly triggering a strong, all-too-familiar wave of nausea. Lu Li’s hand clenched into a fist.
Sweat broke out across his back. He hid his fingers, white from how hard he was squeezing, behind him, his face betraying not a hint of discomfort.
The candy, steadily melting, was pinned under his tongue.
He smiled at Luo Jia Bai. “It’s good.”
Mirella had opened the Shop and was trying to find the same candy Luo Jia Bai had bought. After searching for a long while without success, she patted his shoulder and asked him to take a look.
Luo Jia Bai turned to look at her screen.
While both of their gazes were focused on that one spot-
Lu Li took a step back.
He brought a hand to his mouth in one swift motion, quietly spat out the half-melted candy, redeemed a sheet of paper, wrapped it up quickly, and hid it in his pocket.
The whole process took less than a second-so fast that even the Audience in the Live Stream Room didn’t catch what had happened.
The Bullet Comments were full of confusion:
[Sent Spirit Money*10000 as a tip. What’s wrong with the Streamer? He doesn’t look too well. Is he sick? What did he just do-did any sharp-eyed Ghost Friend in the Live Stream Room see? Ugh, that expression…why does my heart ache so much. Does he not like candy? It’s okay if he doesn’t-he can just say no to things he doesn’t like.]
[Sent Spirit Money*2000 as a tip. Question: why is the Streamer more special than the Players on the Heavenly Ranking? Isn’t every Player only allowed to rest for up to 24 hours? It looks like he and his two teammates were off the grid for around three days. That’s more than enough time to clear an ordinary D Grade Instance.]
[Sent Spirit Money*15000 as a tip. I’ve waited three days to see the Streamer’s face again. If I’d gone any longer without fresh Streamer content, I’d have withered away. Huh, I thought it was my imagination when I saw the photo before, but does anyone else think the Neck Collar on his neck looks different? This new one is so cool.]
[Sent Spirit Money*6000 as a tip. This lobby looks kind of familiar. I just came over from another Live Stream Room. I was feeling bad about the Streamer and Gu Yu Chu getting separated, but now it seems like this was fated all along.]