Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Ning Shuo reached up and hooked an arm around Ning Wang’s neck, pulling them even closer together. “Jealous? Over a form of address?”

His voice was light and airy, his tone soft as a lover’s murmur. “That’s her codename. If you want, I can call you something even more intimate.”

Ning Wang took his time. “Such as?”

“Such as…” Ning Shuo let the last syllable drift. “Darling, if you don’t go help, Sister Yao and Shen Zhiwang probably won’t be a match for Nan-ge. Not to mention, my two little partners have gone to help Nan-ge too.”

Ning Wang kissed him hard at the corner of his mouth. “Fine. Then let’s see who wins this time.”

He took off as if there were wind beneath his feet. His lover’s flirtatious provocation had ignited a man’s bizarre competitive spirit.

Ning Shuo pulled up the Virtual Screen and was just about to tap the Backpack when his finger paused as it passed over the Live Stream Room toggle.

Ningning was so cute that Ning Shuo had completely forgotten.

He had just flirted in front of who knew how many viewers.

[It’s fine!! We don’t mind!!!]

[Please don’t treat us like outsiders!!!]

[I watched the whole thing. When did you give the Cloth Doll to Nan-ge?]

[They just!! Kissed-!!]

[Were you lying to Ning Wang?]

[Aaaaaaaah, are you two already together? When did that happen? Weren’t you still baiting him in the last Script???]

[Keep baiting him, keep baiting him, keep baiting him!!]

[Family! Today’s meal-I’m stuffed!!!]

[Other people enter a Script and run for their lives. You guys enter a Script and start off with a few lines of lovey-dovey flirting??]

Even without looking, Ning Shuo could more or less guess what the Danmu was saying. He blinked, utterly fearless, and opened the Backpack.

Showing off his relationship in front of an audience? Now that was thrilling.

A little while later, Yu Qian came out of hiding with Zero. “Done. I used an item just now. He didn’t notice us.”

Ning Shuo took the Cloth Doll out of his Backpack. “Okay. Let’s go find Nan-ge.”

No matter how smart Ning Shuo was, the “Time Limit Theory” from earlier had only taken shape after he realized Ning Wang and the others were stalling for time. Before that, even if he had figured out that Lolita had used a prediction, he could not have accurately guessed that she had learned the deadline for fulfilling the demand from the emotions left on the doll.

Otherwise, he would not have brought Yu Qian to find Ning Wang. He would have gone with Qin Genan to find Shen Zhiwang directly.

Fortunately, he was good at glossing over the important parts. He had successfully used Lolita’s prediction to explain his so-called motive for “giving the Cloth Doll to Nan-ge.”

Another day of being deeply moved by his own brilliance.

As for how Yu Qian had immediately understood Ning Shuo’s plan to slip away, that was because they really had gone to find Qin Genan just now. They had simply asked her to keep an eye on where Zhu Xiangfeng went.

When Ning Shuo said, “I gave the Cloth Doll to Nan-ge,” Yu Qian had indeed frozen for a second. Fortunately, Ning Wang’s attention was not on him, so he was able to improvise.

Ning Shuo looked at his Shielding Item. “Exchanged it from the shop? That’s a pretty high-level item.”

He had seen it used before in the Large-Scale Murder Mystery Game, Clown’s Favorite Paradise, when Zhang Zhi killed someone.

Yu Qian chuckled. “I think so too. Whenever I have extra Heat Points, I exchange them for high-level items like these that aren’t one-time use. Who knows? They might come in handy later.”

Hearing that, Ning Shuo hesitated. “Then your lockpicking skill… ?”

“That was also one of those miscellaneous skills I picked up at some point. Back then I figured it might come in handy later, and hey! Today it all came in handy!”
Ning Shuo looked at his simple, earnest expression and felt that he and Qi Yang would probably have a lot to talk about.

Oh, but Qi Yang wasn’t that much of a hoarding hamster.

Qi Yang sneezed for no apparent reason. Watching the young man on-screen imitate him by surrendering and smiling so happily at the King, he suddenly felt that, as a subject, he didn’t seem to know how to do anything. In silence, he opened the Forum in split-screen mode and started learning lockpicking skills while watching the livestream.

Zero’s real name was Zou Ling, a twenty-year-old girl.

Xie Ning had always been patient with young women. “Are you a fast runner?”

Zou Ling hesitated. “I think I’m okay. Right before I entered the System, I had just done an eight-hundred-meter test. I think my time was three minutes and two seconds.”

After several Scripts, her speed should still be decent.

Ning Shuo said gently, “Then I’ll have to trouble you. You may need to run for a while.”

They hurried in one direction, following the marks Qin Genan had left for them along the way.

Halfway there, Ning Shuo’s steps paused, and he looked back toward the third floor behind them.

There was no one there, but Ning Shuo had definitely felt several gazes just now.

He lowered his eyes, hiding the chill in them, then smiled at the other two. “Let’s keep going.”

On the rooftop, Ning Wang leaned against the railing, holding a pair of binoculars he had exchanged for.

At this distance, with obstacles in the way, he really couldn’t make out where his brother had gone.

Zhuang Yao put away the shielding item. “How did you know he was lying?”

Ning Wang’s tone was casual. “If he’d really seen through it, he might as well not have come at all and let us sit around waiting for a northwest wind until the flowers withered before we realized something was wrong.”

“Weren’t you the one who said he would look for his teammates to discuss a countermeasure?”

“That would be when he had no leads. It was also the flaw he exposed.” Ning Wang lowered the binoculars, preparing to be the oriole waiting behind the mantis. “If I hadn’t been turning over what he said on the way here and suddenly realized something was off, we’d be chasing after Nan-ge right now-that empty bait.”

Zhuang Yao thought about it and found that reasonable, only to suddenly notice something odd. “If you hadn’t realized something was off, why were you turning over what he said on the way here?”

Ning Wang blinked, preening like a peacock spreading its tail. “How did you know my brother and I are in love with each other?”

Zhuang Yao: “…”

Zhuang Yao: “Mm. Got it.”

So if this lovesick idiot hadn’t been replaying Ning Shuo’s words over and over, they might really have fallen for it and become the mantis stalking the cicada.

There was nothing wrong with the direction Ning Shuo and the others were heading in, either. It was indeed the place Ning Wang and Shen Zhiwang had said was most convenient for hiding-the outpatient hall.

It was now 11:04 p.m. Late enough that there were fewer patients than during the day.

Correspondingly, there were more nurses and doctors on duty.

Without patient NPCs to blend in with, no Player with a patient identity could guarantee that some nurse wouldn’t just happen to be from their department.

That was where Shen Zhiwang came in.

Sharp-eyed, Shen Zhiwang spotted doctors from various departments gathered together, chatting about something. He led Zhu Xiangfeng over, even putting a hat on her, and told the other doctors he was going to check on a child, asking them to look after Zhu Xiangfeng for him.

If there were no comparison with the Guardian Faction’s “completion requirements,” then once a Player from the Destruction Faction exceeded a certain boundary regarding Zhu Xiangfeng’s “non-completion requirements”-things like hitting or cursing her-who knew what might happen?

In Rao Lin’s words, a Yin-Yang Script’s restrictions on both sides had to be identical.

This was also a habit Luo Li and Shen Zhiwang had developed after playing through so many Scripts: do not go beyond the rules, and do not do anything outside the rules.