chapter 24

“Looks like I can’t finish the cake for now.” Lu Li sighed, tossed aside his used fork, took a new one, and set it down on the table with the plate.

“I only sliced off a piece earlier. The rest is untouched. The only strawberry is for you too. Thank you for lighting the candle for me tonight.” Lu Li lay down, speaking to the wall. “If you want to throw it away, you can wait until I’m asleep.”

Bosi did not look up, nor did he touch the cake.

Lu Li turned over, unable to fall asleep.

He rubbed his arm and opened the Shop, searching over and over but couldn’t find a Pillow. So he made a wish to Bosi: “There’s only a blanket on the bed during Game Night, but no Pillow, and the Points Shop doesn’t have a Pillow either. I hope the next game update will add this Item – I really need it.”

“My arm was chopped off five or six times today. This room is pretty damp and cold. I wonder if my joints might get rheumatism because of that…”

Bosi glanced at him, questioning coldly, “Your body can recover infinitely, all your organs are new. Is it even possible for you to get sick?”

The room was quiet for a while – Lu Li had already fallen asleep.

Bosi pulled the cake plate in front of him, drew a Teleportation Array with one hand, intending to throw away the trash cluttering up the table.

The Underworld Fire atop the candlestick flickered.

Its glow faintly illuminated the young man curled up asleep in the corner. His neck was suspended in the air, clearly not sleeping well. Even in his dreams, he held his shoulders tightly – a posture of resistance and defense.

–

After a night’s sleep, Lu Li opened his eyes and found a large, soft Pillow under his head that hadn’t been there before.

He sat up quickly and saw the empty plate on the table.

Lu Li cleared his throat and asked, “Did you give me this Pillow?”

The hood of Bosi’s black robe hung low, covering half his face.

“I don’t know.”

With no third person in the room, Lu Li simply assumed it was from Bosi.

“It’s really great. My neck feels so much better!” He didn’t hesitate to praise him, his expression sincere. “Thank you. This is the first Birthday gift I’ve ever received.”

He placed the Pillow against the wall like a treasure, then opened the door and left.

“I’m off to work. See you tonight.”

Bosi watched as the door closed slowly. Then, as the surroundings twisted, he returned to the empty Palace. His tall figure sat on the Throne, just able to stretch out.

The black robe draped over the golden bricks.

His hands rested on the snake heads that bared their fangs on either side of the Throne, a biting cold seeping through his gloves.

Bosi sneered. “It’s just a low-level Pillow. Has he never seen the world?”

And the cake – it was really awful too.

–

After leaving the room, Lu Li checked the Live Stream Room data. The Audience count had already dropped back to just over ten thousand, and the Live Stream Room ranking had fallen to second place.

The Bullet Comments (live comments) were especially resentful:

[Three strikes and you’re out. I’ll watch again tonight, but if there’s still no video for the third time, I’m leaving.]

[I really don’t get it. Why does the Streamer’s Live Stream Room go dark at night? Do you know how hard it is for me to wait? Is there some ghostly scene being censored??]

[The popularity has dropped badly. Does the Streamer even know what it means to maintain Audience resources? Don’t tell me you do this every time Game Night starts! The total game time isn’t even that long, and now half the time there’s no sound or video. I’m going to complain!]

[Not ruling out a Live Stream Room malfunction. Some ghosts have already called Moderators to check what’s going on. By the way, there seem to be more Moderators lately, and they’re working longer hours. Problems that used to take seven business days to solve are now fixed on the same day. Gotta give them credit.]
[The Streamer’s ability is similar to regeneration and recovery. As far as I know, there are indeed two Evil Gods who possess this ability. Maybe it’s one of them! I’ve already got someone in mind. I’m putting this out there today-let’s wait for the blind box to open!]

[Why did the Streamer’s Points drop so much? More than thirty thousand gone! He must have spent all night researching and exchanged for a killer weapon! Let’s wait and see the show during Game Day!]

Lu Li, who had simply enjoyed a good night’s sleep, ran into Luo Jia Bai as soon as he entered the Elevator.

Luo Jia Bai rubbed his ears, “I’m getting tinnitus. My head is still buzzing.”

Lu Li asked curiously, “Where’s the noise coming from?”

“Didn’t you hear a woman wailing last night? I haven’t slept well for two nights now. You look positively radiant… The Shop doesn’t have noise-canceling earplugs, does it? How do you sleep so well?” Luo Jia Bai yawned, swaying on his feet, looking like he could fall asleep standing up.

Lu Li shook his head, “I didn’t hear anything.”

Although Bosi doesn’t sleep, his presence is very faint, and he basically makes no sound. Lu Li falls asleep quickly every night.

Luo Jia Bai described carefully, “A woman was crying and pounding on the wall, sounding really desperate, like she was begging for help. But if you listen closely, you can’t make out what she’s saying. Isn’t that weird?”

Four people entered the Elevator one after another-two men and two women.

A strong smell of blood filled the air. Luo Jia Bai shut his mouth, pinched his nose, and fanned the air, “If you’re injured, why don’t you hurry up and change your bandages?”

The Female Teammate who chose to side with Qi Mingda was called Zhu Yue. The other Female Player, Jian Yingying, had already been left on her own; her male teammate, who had been sticking with her, didn’t survive the last round and died.

Jian Yingying, sporting two dark circles under her eyes, stood in the Elevator, nervously twisting her fingers for a long time before choosing to approach Lu Li and Luo Jia Bai.

As soon as Zhu Yue entered, she leaned weakly against the Elevator wall, her face deathly pale. “I exchanged for medicine, but my whole hand is gone. The medicine can barely keep the wound from festering, just slows down my death.”

In the last round, the door separated them, and a simple regrouping was done.

Still unaware of what happened in the Other teams, Lu Li looked at the shadow Zhu Yue was trying to hide with her body and saw a bare arm, bandaged inexpertly with several layers, covered in bloodstains.

Whenever Zhu Yue moved even a little, fresh blood seeped through the bandages, making her injury look especially severe.

Jian Yingying’s body was intact, and she moved freely.

She stood next to Luo Jia Bai, but when she spoke, her eyes were on Lu Li, her voice timid, “Can I join you guys?”

Luo Jia Bai refused without a second thought, “No.”

Lu Li said, “We don’t team up.”

“I,” he pointed at himself, then at Luo Jia Bai, “and him, we’re both playing solo mode. You can choose to play solo mode too.”

Luo Jia Bai gave a look that said ‘just as I thought,’ and shrugged, “Sorry, we’re lone wolves who just chat occasionally.”

Jian Yingying’s face turned even paler, and she didn’t say anything else.

Qi Mingda glanced at Jian Yingying, a hint of malice flashing in his eyes, then stepped forward to mock Lu Li, “So you’re still alive? My Live Stream Room ranking is back to number one. I thought you’d already been played to death.”

Lu Li didn’t care about the ranking, only about one thing, “You got the system notification, right? I wasn’t cheating.”

Qi Mingda’s expression twisted. Of course, he’d seen that system notification hanging high in his Live Stream Room.

The red notification scrolled back and forth for a full ten hours, practically taunting him.

The Elevator doors opened, and a cold mechanical voice shattered the tense, gunpowder-filled atmosphere.

[Arrived at the 3rd floor]