Chapter 87 - Mastermo Has To Do One Last Thing

Akuma was powerful, but no matter how powerful he was, what was the use of the physical power if his body won't attack this man in front?

Zhihao was about to win a fight that could not even be labeled as one. At most, it should be labeled as Zhihao bullying the demon god. 

Zhihao wanted to laugh as he thought this. 

Akuma stood up and walked towards Zhihao only to be met with another punch on his face.

This punch almost threw him off his feet while Zhihao was completely unaffected. 

What was Zhihao feeling when he punched the man for the third time? 

Nothing. 

He felt like this Akuma deserved it. The demon god had just ripped apart his father's head so how could he feel anything for this Akuma?

When Akuma turned his head, he was punched once again, and this time it was followed with a knee kick to the stomach. 

Zhihao wasn't a bad fighter and on the contrary, he was a great fighter. 

There would always be people who'd say that gamers were only good at fighting inside games, but to them all, Zhihao would beg to differ. He was good at fighting in-game and outside it. 

Akuma hunched over and at that moment another knee kick connected with his face, springing it back up like a football. 

Zhihao smiled at him coldly as he kicked him square in the stomach and this time, Zhihao wasn't planning on playing around. 

At this exact moment, Li Ling and Alvi arrived back on the scene with Hasumi along with them. 

Hasumi had her head bowed down as she tried her best to not glance up at the faces of the hideous ghosts or demons. 

She was unaware of the fact that Taki was the only demon left behind, if we were to not count the demon god, if we counted him too, it would make two. The rest of the demons had already died not even leaving behind dust and among those demons, maybe the worst death was claimed by the demon king. 

This time, the kick made Akuma take a step back, and right behind him was the fire pit in which he fell over backward. 

Zhihao looked at the body helplessly falling in the fire pit and the smile on his face was no longer there. He didn't enjoy killing NPCs, but this didn't mean he had feelings for them. 

If he didn't need to kill an NPC, he would try to save the NPC instead of killing it. If he were in need to kill an NPC, he would do it without remorse. 

Li Ling felt like he had reached here a little late. 

The fight was already over in front of his eyes and he couldn't help but be a bit disappointed yet a bit happy as well. He glanced at Zhihao who turned towards him and started walking with an unreadable expression. 

Li Ling felt like the man had already noticed the two people who had gone missing, and now he was in trouble like a child whose mother had lost him in a market because the child ran away after a butterfly. 

Zhihao glanced at Alvi. 

Great. 

Perfect alibi. 

He was going to make this innocent bot a butterfly. 

He knew he was going to raise suspicion and get scolded for running away without saying anything to Zhihao, but at that time, he felt like what he was doing would make Zhihao happy and forget about the running away part. 

He knew that this level would not be easy to solve without Hasumi. 

He never would've guessed that Zhihao would be able to beat Akuma. 

It was shocking, but it was a pleasant kind of a shock where he was proud that the man had achieved such a feat. 

Zhihao should have felt really happy after having beaten Akuma, but at this moment, all he could feel was anger as he saw Li Ling. 

He walked towards him with heavy footsteps and a face so stern that it seemed like he was coming over to punch the man. 

Li Ling decided to be faster than Zhihao's fist as he opened his mouth to blame Alvi, "It was her fault!"

Alvi glanced at him in shock. 

"I told her it was a bad idea, but she was too interested in Hasumi." Li Ling lied through a face that seemed to tell the truth, he was a great liar, "I think the bot likes-"

Li Ling stopped speaking as he realized what was happening, "Eh?"

The expected punch never came, but in its place came a hug. 

Li Ling was taken back. Was this the new way people would express their anger through? Hugging? 

Why was he unaware of this method to relieve anger? 

He wanted to try it. If he were too angry at Zhihao, he would use this method to show his anger. 

He would be getting a free hug out of it. 

Maybe he should make Zhihao angry from time to time.

Zhihao hugged the man tightly, not daring to let go. He had been worried sick. If it weren't for him worrying about the safety of this man, he would've defeated Akuma sooner, but it wasn't like he was blaming Li Ling for his own stupidity. 

Li Ling had his eyes wide open and his hands paused in midair as he could not comprehend what he did to receive such a treat. 

Hasumi who was watching the two had a slightly flushed face as she saw this. She finally understood why she always felt like there was something wrong with these two. 

So it was like this?

She should've realized it as soon as she saw them on the train.

Zhihao was glad that Li Ling was safe. He was happy that this player hadn't just abandoned him and ran away. 

Zhihao was always like this. Unless he hated the person, he would never show his anger through physical fights or scolding. He felt like it was a waste to let a small feeling overdrive you and make you regret the decisions you made when driven by anger. 

If he could hug it out and solve a problem, why would he want to use his fist or his sharp tongue? 

As somebody once said, words cut deeper than swords so why would he hurt someone he liked just because he was angry at them?

"You made me worry," Zhihao mumbled, but because of his close proximity, Li Ling could clearly hear it and just as he did, his ears turned bright red. 

Li Ling had woken up from the shock and his hands, which were paused in midair came down to rest on Zhihao's back. 

"Ah... I'm sorry." Li Ling apologized and the two did not say anything any further. Just hugging it out like little kids who were not allowed to fight. 

[Congratulations on completing the secret mission! +50 T-points]

They heard the notification and stopped hugging each other. 

Now that Li Ling looked back at it, he really should've trusted Mastermo more. 

He should have believed in this man's capabilities instead of trying to spoon-feed him. 

He really did something useless by going out of his way to save Hasumi. 

He thought Zhihao would not be able to beat the demon god so he decided to complete the second secret mission instead. 

Yes, there was a secret mission much simpler than this one, and it would have been triggered much sooner if Zhihao had chosen to follow the suspicious Kazan instead of following the ghost procession with Doji. 

If he had done that, he wouldn't have to waste so much time, but now, it was all said and done. Mastermo would never come to realize how easy it was to win if he had just made a different decision. 

The secret second mission was to get Hasumi back home. 

It was kinda ironic considering the fact that their main mission was to get her to come here and participate in the festival while their secret mission was to get her back home. 

Li Ling could very well have run straight to the tunnel after having found Hasumi, but that would not have worked since Taki was the one who could travel freely through the two worlds. This was the reason why he had returned here with Hasumi, he was planning to run away with Zhihao, but that plan had failed now. 

Zhihao was able to complete the first secret mission so it was enough for them to get out of here. 

[Would you like to transmigrate or would you like to stay and complete the second secret mission?]

"Huh?" Zhihao was confused as he heard this, "The what?"

[The second secret mission: Send Hasumi back home.]

Zhihao looked at the girl whose existence he hadn't realized till now. 

He thought this girl was already dead. She was alive? 

Li Ling suddenly felt like he should speak up before Zhihao starts asking questions, "I got the second secret mission from Alvi so I went to look for Hasumi."

Zhihao frowned as he heard this. 

"You went to search for her?" Zhihao didn't like the fact that he had been dead worried here for this man who had run off to find this stupid girl. 

Thank god he didn't know that Hasumi had made a decision to run away and leave them behind knowing full well that they would die, if he knew that, he wouldn't have agreed to send her back home. He wasn't as forgiving as Li Ling so the moment he found that out, he would've killed this girl. 

Li Ling looked back at Zhihao and smiled, "Let's just get her home. It won't be too difficult and we would get a lot of extra T-points."

At this moment, Hasumi decided to intervene in their weird conversation, "W-what are you guys talking about? What mission? T-points?"

Oh... 

Damn... 

They had gotten too carried away and forgot that they were still in front of an NPC. 

They waited for the OOC alert to sound out, but nothing happened. 

It was because Hasumi wasn't clear about certain things, there was still a chance they would be able to stop her from realizing that they were not the real deals. 

Li Ling was the first to respond to her, "We were playing a game."

Zhihao looked at the man in shock. 

[Are you insane?]

"T-points are the currency of trading in this world. Since you are new here, you don't know."

Hasumi was silent for a minute as her brain processed all this, and then she nodded in understanding, "The currency? That makes sense. What were you guys playing?"

Li Ling didn't take long to answer this question, "We were playing a betting game on who will be able to beat the big monster, and who would be able to get you home faster."

Hasumi looked at the face of the two players who looked back at her innocently as if they had spoken the truth and there was no way they were lying. 

[You...]

[I don't know if I should be impressed or if I should be scared of you.]

Hasumi nodded and the two players came to the joined conclusion that they were going to send this girl back home. 

The way back took just as much time as it took for them to come here, but once they had reached the tunnel, Zhihao looked back for one last time. 

He felt like he had missed something. 

He wanted to unravel all the secrets of this level, but he felt like he had only managed to scrape off the tip of the iceberg. 

When they passed through the tunnel, they were back at the station, but this time, it wasn't an unnamed station. 

Hasumi saw a man standing in front and she ran over to him, asking him where they were. 

The man replied "Hina"