Chapter 90 - Mastermo Wants To Get This Over And Done With

There was a reason this was a Hard-ranked level, but although Li Ling knew this, he would naturally not speak out. 

"Just don't look around," Zhihao continued, "If you really feel like looking around, look at my face, okay?"

Li Ling closed his eyes again and turned his face away. 

"Eh?"

Why did he turn away? 

Did Zhihao say something wrong? 

Li Ling didn't respond to the question because he felt a bit wronged. 

This man was always flirting with him without being aware of it. 

Why did he always make him suffer like this?! He was so flustered that he didn't know how to respond. Wouldn't he come off as too enthusiastic if he answered with a 'yes'? And there was no way he could lie and say 'no' so he simply looked away, feeling as if he were wronged. 

Zhihao was worried if he had said something wrong, but before he could ask Li Ling what was wrong, another sound came. 

This time, he could not understand what the sound was, or at least he couldn't recognize it instantly as he did with the truck and the screaming. 

Zhihao looked at the screen and prepared his heart to take the hit. 

The sound came closer to them, it was the sound of footsteps which stopped right behind Zhihao, the owner of the footsteps seemed to lean down and Zhihao closed his eyes, not wanting to know who it was. 

Zhihao felt shivers run down his spine as he felt the illusion of the person's breath brushing against his shoulder. 

"A-Zhi is cruel." 

Zhihao's eyes instantly flew open and he almost turned his head back to look at the person, but he stopped at the right time when he saw Li Ling still sitting beside him. 

This might have been the hardest try not to look back challenge that Zhihao had participated in. 

It was the sound of Li Ling, but since Li Ling was sitting right beside him, Zhihao was sure that the one standing behind him wasn't the same person. 

But the voice...

It sounded a bit too realistic. 

Zhihao looked at the real Li Ling and then back at the screen in front. 

He really had underestimated this level, but he still could not understand why this was ranked as a Hard level. 

Sure it was hard to resist the instinct and temptation to look back, but it wasn't that difficult. It was still something possible. In comparison to the other I-ranked levels Zhihao had played, this level seemed to be a bit easier, and yet it was ranked as a harder level. 

Maybe there was something more to it that Zhihao was yet to experience. 

Now that he thought back to it, the challenge indeed seemed to turn more and more difficult. 

With every next new sound, he was more and more tempted to turn around. 

"A-Zhi doesn't want to look at me?" Li Ling's voice asked, but this time Zhihao was not fooled however, this did not mean that he was not tempted. 

He would be lying if he said that he didn't want to turn around and look at the person with the same voice as Li Ling. 

Zhihao side-glanced at the Gamemaster who still had an unfazed expression. 

One sheep. 

Two sheep.

Three sheep. 

Four sheep.

Five sheep. 

Zhihao started counting sheep again and it worked like a charm. 

The sound faded away and he was safe for the next few seconds. 

"Don't look back no matter what." It was the Gamemaster that spoke this time and Zhihao instantly looked over at the man who had his eyes fixed on the screen in front. 

"...I'll try my best not to," Zhihao replied and he saw the other breaking out into a small smile. This made Zhihao frown, "Are you laughing at me?"

"With that 'I'll try my best' you'll never be able to beat this level."

"Huh?" Zhihao felt like he was given a big hint, but he couldn't understand what the hint meant. 

The few seconds of safehood was soon over before the confusion could be cleared. 

"Big brother! Where am I? What is this?" 

Zhihao felt another shiver run down his spine as he heard the voice of his little brother. 

This was Huang Zhen. There was no doubt about it. There was no way Zhihao would be unable to recognize the voice of his own brother.

At this moment, another voice rang in his head, it was the gamemaster's warning: Don't look back no matter what. 

A series of alerts rang up in Zhihao's mind. Was T.I.A.D. collecting private information on them? If not, how could it know what Zhihao's little brother sounded like? 

This game was certainly infringing on their personal lives and this made Zhihao feel goosebumps rise all over his body. This was scarier than any other sound he heard. He started feeling like he had got into something that was not just a game but something far deeper that might just get him in danger. 

"Big brother, can't you hear me?" Huang Zhen yelled out but Zhihao didn't respond to the voice. 

"Big bro, help me." Zhihao heard his brother suddenly start crying, it was shocking and he almost turned around once again. 

His brother wasn't a crybaby and there weren't many times when he had seen him cry, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember even one time when he had seen his brother cry out. Huang Zhen was a nice boy, Zhihao wouldn't say if he was lucky or not to have such a brother, but he would, without hesitation say that he loved his brother. 

To hear his sweet baby brother cry, he wanted to instantly turn around and smack the boy's head. It made Zhihao angry just thinking about his brother wasting his tears over something. 

Zhihao clenched his fist and started counting once again. 

One sheep.

Two sheep.

Three sheep. 

Four sheep.

Five-

"What the hell are you doing?" 

Zhihao stopped counting. 

This time there were no few seconds of safety and he couldn't recover from it. 

"Just shut up."

"You're telling me to shut up now?"

"Why do you have to argue about it with me?"

"And why should I not?! I have the right to question you."

"Excuse me?!" 

Zhihao recognized the voices but he had no idea what they were talking about. When Zhihao heard this conversation, his emotions couldn't be summed up in a single word. 

T.I.A.D. was collecting information on that, this much was as clear as a crystal now. 

Zhihao loved this game, but he didn't enjoy his privacy being invaded like this. 

The voice belonged to his parents who seemed to be fighting with each other, but it really came as a shock to Zhihao since his parents would never fight with each other. 

The old couple loved each other a bit too much to fight about something petty. 

Now this game had started getting under his skin. 

Not only did they dare to take out personal information but they also decided to use it like this?

"Alvi, What the hell?!" Zhihao yelled out, "This is illegal!"

[Excuse me?]

[What do you mean illegal?]

"You are stealing personal information without permission." 

[I think you aren't understanding something.]

[This is completely legal]

Zhihao felt his anger boil as he heard this. At this moment, he had forgotten that the gamemaster was sitting beside him. If he had any questions, shouldn't the best man to answer them be the Gamemaster? If he was angry, shouldn't he show it towards the maker, sitting beside him? 

But no.

Zhihao was mad at Alvi. 

[Did you not sign a permission letter while installing the game?]

"What permission letter are you talking about?"

[You signed the terms and conditions, didn't you?]

[It was mentioned there that we will need to collect personal information and you gave us the permission.]

'What...?" Zhihao was left speechless. 

Who in the hell reads that thirty pages long nonsense? 

He signed it thinking it wasn't anything important but he was tricked like this? 

The feeling didn't leave a good taste in his stomach. 

The Gamemaster decided that it was best to speak up, "Only you can hear them."

Zhihao looked at the man and felt his anger going down like magic, "Huh?"

"The sounds you can hear are different from what I hear so don't worry." 

Zhihao suddenly had a higher understanding of things, but it was still unsettling. 

Zhihao thought about it a bit more and felt like banging his head against a wall. 

So the Gamemaster was trying to say that there was no personal information leak because only Zhihao could hear it? but this also meant that it wasn't the game that was responsible for the information leak, it was Zhihao.

He was live streaming! 

Millions of people were watching his parents fight and his brother crying!

He had to hand it out to the makers. They were as tricky as always. 

The fighting between his parents stopped and in its place came the low sounds of a growl.

Great! 

Now there was possibly a wolf behind him!

Zhihao once again tried to struggle out of the seat, but it really was hopeless. 

"Alvi, how long do we have to take this?"

[Are you tired already?]

[Just turn around if you are]

"..."

[The sound you'll be hearing will have levels and right now you are still near the beginning level so if I was to calculate how long you'll be here.]

[I'll have to say for a long long time.]

Zhihao used to think that he would be too happy to control himself when he met the Gamemaster again. He thought he would get flustered over every little thing and wouldn't be able to play as well as he was capable of. 

Now that he was in the situation which he had imagined, just because of the subtle change in the situation, the mood was completely ruined and Zhihao was no longer happy. 

He was angry. So angry that he wanted to get this level over and done with. 

He felt tricked!

The growl got closer and closer but unlike always when the sound would come closer to Zhihao, this time it moved towards Li Ling and this made Zhihao's body go still. 

This was still just a sound, right? 

There wasn't a real danger, right?

He peeked over at Li Ling who had his eyes closed and his lips mumbling something incoherent. 

"I'm here." Zhihao didn't know why he said something but his mouth seemed to react on his own, "Just look at me." 

Li Ling opened his right eye and peeked at the man who was trying to help him. 

"Let's not think about the sounds." Zhihao tried his best to muster up a smile, "Let's talk about something ridiculous."

"Something ridiculous?" 

"Yeah, it would help distract our mind." Zhihao beamed and Li Ling seemed to be interested. 

"You start." Li Ling responded. 

Zhihao looked back in front at the screen and thought about it for a while. He was never a person who knew how to speak useless stuff. That was Wang GuiYing's line of expertise. 

"Then... Um... Let's continue the conversation from before."

"Which conversation?" 

Zhihao unconsciously looked down as he answered, "The giving permission to kiss one."

Li Ling was silent for a minute and then he broke out laughing. 

This man would one day be the death of him. 

"It made you laugh? I guess it really is ridiculous." Zhihao commented with a dejected tone laced along with his voice that was hard to detect but this was Li Ling, he knew every expression and feeling that Mastermo went through. 

"It's not ridiculous." Li Ling responded and this made Zhihao look up to his face, "You really didn't ask for my permission."