Chapter 88 - Mastermo Is Surprised To See His Crush

Hasumi was shocked as she heard the man, "Hina?" She uttered in disbelief.

Zhihao saw the exchange between the two and couldn't help but feel like there was something he didn't know about. Why was it shocking that they were here?

Li Ling saw through Zhihao's confusion and moved closer to the man, he leaned in and whispered, "The train was from Shin-Hamamatsu. Hina is near the base of Mount Fuji."

"What does that mean?"

"But it can't be Hina." Hasumi was sure that there was something wrong with the location so she came back to Zhihao's side and spoke to them.

Zhihao looked at the girl and asked, "Why can't you believe it?"

Hasumi looked at the man and was ready to argue why it was impossible, but when she saw his face, she gulped down her words and sighed. With everything that had happened today, it really should not have come as a surprise that they were in Hina, which was in a completely different direction than the train from Shin-Hamamatsu which she had originally taken.

"Thank you guys," She bowed her head slightly and showed her gratitude for their help.

She had not even blinked to sacrifice these people for her own safety yet they had still saved her and brought her back here.

She was really happy to have met such nice people. At one point in time, she had thought that she was as good as dead, that she would not be able to see her parents again, that she would not be able to meet her colleagues and have a drink every other Saturday, complaining about how work was really hard. She really thought that she would never be able to come back home so she lost her appetite to eat the apple and threw it away as she laid down on the hard, uncomfortable bed, falling asleep and dreaming about the time when she used to do all those things. At that moment, all of a sudden, she felt like her daily boring life was much better than the excessive adventure she was experiencing.

"No need to mention it." Li Ling beamed, "it would have been a pity if such a pretty girl ended up living as a ghost in the demon realm."

Zhihao side-eyed the man and his facial expressions were indecipherable, however, to those who looked closely, they would be able to see that this man was chugging down vinegar.

Hasumi smiled as she heard this and glanced at Zhihao but only for a second, "Don't lie to me. I look like a monster right now."

"What type of monster looks so pretty?" Li Ling asked with an innocent smile.

Zhihao unconsciously took a sidestep closer to Li Ling and glared at Hasumi which didn't go unnoticed by the girl.

Hasumi gulped as she saw Zhihao glaring at her, she felt like she had to react immediately or she would be hated for no reason, "Monsters are monsters. How are they pretty?"

Zhihao looked at Li Ling waiting for the man to respond, but before he could do so, Alvi spoke up.

"Do you think he is handsome?" Alvi asked as she pointed at Zhihao.

"Him?" Hasumi glanced at Zhihao and analyzed his face for a while, she smiled, her eyes turning into two tiny crescents, "He is the most handsome man I've met."

Li Ling, whose face was all full of smiles suddenly fell and it was now his turn to drink vinegar.

Hasumi felt like she was in an awkward spot. No matter what she did, she would be hated by one or the other.

"He's a monster," Alvi spoke and this made Hasumi's eyes go wide.

"W-what?!"

Zhihao felt a bit offended as he heard this. He was currently role-playing Taki who was a demon. You could call demons, monsters, but he felt like it was an offensive title.

Li Ling chuckled as he heard this. He looked at Mastermo and his heart felt a little warm, "See, this is the living proof that monsters are not ugly."

Zhihao looked back at Li Ling and felt his anger subside.

"He really is the most handsome man alive." Li Ling chuckled, but he was being honest.

In his heart, he always felt like Mastermo was not only talented but also exceptionally handsome. It was a shame that he didn't show his face in public much cause if he did, he would've secured his position at the top ten for the next twenty years.

[Taki is assigned to remove her memory of today.]

[Erase her memory and your mission here is completed.]

Zhihao unconsciously nodded as he heard this. He flipped through the list of powers belonging to Taki and he saw a spell that would help him complete this task. The power was literally titled "Memory erasing spell". How could he have difficulty in finding something so obvious?

Zhihao shook his head as he cursed the person who had named all these items. They really should have put in more effort rather than just name a thing according to its feature.

Zhihao activated the spell and Hasumi who still had her eyes wide open in shock suddenly fainted as her eyeballs rolled upwards.

[Congratulations to Mastermo and Devilmagiclover on successfully clearing the I-ranked level 1356: Unknown location]

"Well... That was fun." Zhihao commented as he saw the girl falling on the ground with no one to catch her.

Li Ling looked at Zhihao and smiled, "Did Mr. Handsome have a fun time?"

Zhihao chuckled as he heard the way he was being addressed, "I sure did."

"I'm glad." Li Ling responded instinctively and he instantly regretted letting those instincts take control.

"Why are you glad?" Zhihao hadn't completely realized what was wrong, but he still felt like the comment was unexpected so he asked.

[Two secret level missions cleared]

"It's nothing," Li Ling tried his best to brush it off, it seemed that as days went by, he was getting more and more clumsy, "I'm just glad that you had fun playing with me."

Zhihao didn't think any deeper into it and just nodded as a response.

[T-points gained: +950]

[Player health status refilled]

Li Ling suddenly felt his mischievous bones tingling, "But there is one thing we need to talk about."

Zhihao looked at him, "What?"

Li Ling smirked, "I never remember giving you permission to kiss me."

Zhihao went silent as he heard this, his mind taking time to process what the man had said and just as it did, his ears flushed red.

[Skills gained: +Frost master]

[Rewards gained: +Demon detecting talisman]

[Surprise Gift: +200 T-points]

[Congratulations! You just won your bet! +2000 T-points]

[Logging out of I-ranked level 1356: Unknown location]

[Preparing for transmigration in..]

[3]

[2]

[1]

The screen turned black for a second and then it turned bright white, this made Zhihao close his eyes as he felt the blinding light.

[Welcome to H-ranked level 453: Don't look back]

"Huh?" Zhihao could not comprehend it.

Didn't they just complete a level?

They should have been taken back to the main lobby.

Why were they here?

And where exactly was 'here'?

[Congrats!]

"What are you talking about?" Zhihao asked as he heard the enthusiastic voice of Alvi, "Is this a bug or something?"

[There is nothing wrong with the system.]

"Then why are we here?"

[Because you asked to be here.]

"What?" Zhihao tried to move around, but found that his hands were bound from both sides. He was strapped to the chair he was sitting on, "What the hell?!"

[Don't panic.]

[Didn't you tell me that you wanted to play with Bu Hui?]

Zhihao went silent as he heard this, he was too scared to even turn his head now.

A series of what the hell's ran through his head.

What was this crazy bot talking about?

[You have been transported to the same level as Bu Hui]

[I didn't have enough time to tell you]

Wait.

What?

"Where is Li Ling?" Zhihao asked on instinct.

"I'm here." He heard a familiar voice and immediately looked over towards his left side where he saw a familiar-looking face staring back at him, "Damn it," Li Ling tried to break free from the straps but it was hopeless.

There was no way he didn't recall this level.

It was one of the levels he hated the most.

When Zhihao saw that Li Ling was beside him, relief washed over him, but before he could even let out a sigh, his breath got stuck in his throat as he suddenly thought about something.

If Li Ling was on his left side in the same situation as him, then on his right side was...

Zhihao instantly snapped his head and looked over towards his right side.

Another familiar face.

His heart stopped as he diverted his eyes and looked in front. His body froze up, he could feel his muscles tighten up.

Oh shit...

He wasn't prepared for this.

[I have good news.]

"What?" Zhihao asked with a blank expression.

[You don't have a character in this level]

[There is no OOC here]

If the Gamemaster wasn't here, Zhihao would've jumped up and celebrated this news, but right now, his mind couldn't be bothered with anything like that.

Be calm.

Be calm.

Be. Freaking. Calm.

He took a deep breath in and tried to take back control over his racing heartbeat.

[This is your first H-ranked level]

[All the best]

As if the pre-existent shock wasn't enough, Alvi just had to speak up and remind him that he was dealing with an H-rank mission here.

Zhihao gulped as he thought up of a question he should ask to seem normal, "Why didn't we get the betting time?"

[It's because of the Gamemaster]

[All levels which are being played by him can't be used to place bets]

Zhihao found this pretty reasonable. If players were able to place bets on the Gamemaster, it would no longer be a fair betting system. Everyone would just place a positive bet and they would get their T-points doubled. Who in the hell would dare place a negative bet on the Gamemaster and purposely throw away their T-points? 

What followed was silence and in this awkward silence, Zhihao peeked at the Gamemaster who was looking back at him and their eyes met, Zhihao's normal reaction would have been to look away, but when his eyes met the eyes of the Gamemaster, he was so stunned that he didn't even bother looking away. 

"Nice to see you again." It was the Gamemaster who spoke up first with a smile that was hardly noticeable yet it didn't go completely hidden. 

Zhihao was dumbfounded as he heard the man volunteering to interact with him. It took all the courage and awareness he had, just to react back to the words, "Y-yeah! It's really nice to see you again."

Zhihao suddenly felt like there was something wrong with this Gamemaster. Was he always this friendly?

The last time they had met, this man would hardly speak more than ten words per hour. From that time onwards, Zhihao had created a perception of the man, that this man wasn't very good with words and was probably a Tsundere. Cold with short words on the outside, but super warm and soft on the inside. 

The Gamemaster looked back in front and spoke, "I saw your Gameplay."

"Eh?" Mastermo was shocked. He had not even dreamt of the Gamemaster knowing him much less watching his live stream. 

"You were good." The Gamemaster commented and Zhihao felt a warm emotion spread throughout his heart. 

He was uncontrollably happy, nervous, and embarrassed at the same time. 

The Gamemaster turned and looked at him again, but this time he didn't have a smile on his face, "But there is one thing I would like to say."

Mastermo straightened his back and listened attentively to whatever the man had to say.