Chapter 139 - Li Ling Is Lying?

[Wait...] 

[Wait a damn minute!] 

[Didn't you say you'll go higher?!] 

[What the hell?!] 

Zhihao shrugged his shoulder as he responded, "Thanks for helping me." 

[Eh?] 

[Huh?] 

[What do you mean?!] 

[Mastermo!!} 

Zhihao chuckled and didn't respond to the foolish negative better who was trying to play around with Zhihao. 

There was a reason why he came to the negative gambling bar and the reason was simply to pass time. 

[Mission: Save the Vampire has been completed!] 

Zhihao smiled proudly as he saw the notification and it was only now that he was patiently going to give an answer to the people who couldn't understand what had happened. 

"My mission was to keep the vampire safe. Hitting OOC didn't directly throw me out of this level. The outside town looked as usual, which meant the level was still going on as usual and nothing else was happening except for the initiation of the self-destruct feature." 

[Eh?] 

Zhihao was thinking about explaining further, but he didn't say anything further as he realized that it was pointless to tell this person who couldn't understand what he was talking about.

It was a bit confusing if one were not to experience it firsthand. 

The level started with a mission: Save the vampire. 

It was a G-ranked mission and so Zhihao was suspicious since the beginning as he wondered why the mission given wasn't clear enough. 

The mission never told him for how long he was supposed to keep the vampire safe nor did it say anything about what the vampire was supposed to be protected from so normally considering, the mission could only mean one thing. 

If the time frame wasn't clarified, then it would automatically be a default time frame which could last the entire time till the level ended. He was supposed to save the vampire until the end of the game and he just so happened to alert OOC and shortened the time period of the game to ten minutes. 

He calculated the time that he had spent running and talking to Elsie and it was approximately around four minutes. 

He just needed to wait another six minutes and the level would be over. If he managed to protect Li Ling till then, they would be able to clear the mission. 

However, there was a problem. Elsie was still after him and Li Ling, so there was no way she would let everything end so nicely. 

He couldn't fight against her, that much was crystal clear, but he couldn't keep running away either. 

He needed to hide but with how Elsie could control everything in this level, there was no way he would be able to hide. 

He forced himself to think and suddenly, he remembered something. 

The negative gambling bar. 

It wasn't a feature that was supposed to be used by the players who were playing inside the level. It was supposed to be for the players who weren't playing but were watching instead. 

Since they were all watching, they could be said to be in a virtual room that had a big screen, and displayed on the screen were the players they had placed a negative bet on. This was just an example, but it was somewhat like that. Since Zhihao had placed a negative bet on himself, he would also be transported to this 'watching' room and if he was in there, what would happen to the Mastermo that was supposed to be on the screen? 

There was going to be a glitch in such a case and the Mastermo inside the game would start lagging due to it. 

If he was suddenly going to lag, his presence wouldn't be felt by Elsie and he'd be safe inside the 'watching room'. 

This was something Zhihao had noticed before, but he wasn't too sure about it. The first time he entered the negative gambling bar, his in-game character was frozen and would sometimes disappear for a second and then be visible again in the next second. 

When Zhihao thought about everything that he had done, he suddenly felt as if Li Ling had calculated all of this ahead of him. 

If Li Ling hadn't gone into sleep mode, Zhihao wouldn't have activated the moon goddess spellbook. If the moon goddess spellbook wasn't used, this whole plan would have been utterly useless because Zhihao was the only one who would lag and would become invisible to Elsie, whereas, Li Ling would still be in danger. 

Since Zhihao would be lagging, his possessions would also be lagging along with him and since Li Ling was captured inside the moon goddess spellbook, he would also be safe. 

Zhihao didn't want to be suspicious of Li Ling but all signs pointed towards him. If he had calculated all of this, he could've asked Zhihao to put him inside the moon goddess spellbook, but if he were to do that, Zhihao might start questioning him about why he knew how the negative gambling bar worked when he had never placed a negative bet. 

By going into sleep mode, he was basically forcing Zhihao to use the moon goddess spellbook and at the same time, he was being proclaimed innocent since he hadn't said anything. 

Zhihao also found it weird that Li Ling knew everything about Elsie. He had promised that he won't ask Li Ling any questions, but how could he not be curious? 

Li Ling was certainly hiding something from him and Zhihao didn't like this fact. 

[Congratulations to Mastermo and Devilmagiclover on successfully clearing the G-ranked level 2353: Save the vampire!]

[T-points gained: +8100]

[T-points doubled! +8100] 

[Total T-points gained: +16,200]

Zhihao was a bit shocked to hear the reward and whatever topic he was thinking about previously was thrown out of his head as he suddenly felt a sense of joy rise inside his heart. 

He had almost forgotten to count how many T-points the higher levels gave out as a reward and since it was his first time playing a G-ranked level, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by that number. 

[Player health status refilled] 

Zhihao threw the moon goddess spellbook up in the air and deactivated it as he held out his hand in order to catch the man that fell down from it. 

Li Ling was already awake by the time he fell into Zhihao's arms and he only smiled cheekily as he looked at the man. 

Zhihao looked back at him and pursed his lips, not feeling impressed at all. 

If Li Ling had already calculated everything, he should have been more honest instead of simply passing out and asking Zhihao to handle everything. 

"Sorry! I really had to go to the washroom!" Li Ling apologized and Zhihao couldn't help but sigh. 

This man was clearly lying again and this time, it wasn't hard for Zhihao to see through it. 

"But A-Zhi did an amazing job," Li Ling patted his head as he spoke, "You're so intelligent!" 

Zhihao put the man down and responded, "Not as much as you." 

"Eh?"

[Skills gained: +spirit mage]

[Rewards gained: +Wedding ring]

"..." Zhihao didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this notification. 

He really won a wedding ring in this level? 

What the hell was he supposed to do with a wedding ring?!

Li Ling broke out laughing as he guessed what went around Zhihao's mind, "Who knows? It might come in handy later." 

"Handy?' Zhihao took a whole minute to realize what Li Ling was trying to say and when he did, he couldn't help but feel wronged. This man was flirting with him so openly and yet, he refused to say 'yes' to Zhihao! 

By saying it would come in handy, wasn't he indirectly implying that Zhihao would need to propose to Li Ling with it?! 

[I'm sorry to say this, but you have lost your bet. -1 T-point!]

"Will you date me then?" Zhihao asked and Li Ling was shocked to hear this question again. 

He thought Zhihao was done asking him. 

"Ask again.... Later," Li Ling didn't know why, but there were almost tears welling up in his eyes. 

"Then you'll have to say 'yes' later."

"Huh?" 

"If I ask again later, you have to say yes. Promise me you'll say yes one day...?" 

Li Ling took a whole minute to respond and even after a minute, he still couldn't say anything so he simply nodded. 

Zhihao's lips curled upwards as he leaned in and pecked Li Ling's lips, "Since you have promised to say yes, I have reserved you now. No taking it back!" 

Li Ling also smiled as he responded, "Don't worry, I won't." 

"Then since you're my future boyfriend, can I kiss you again?" 

Li Ling had never thought Zhihao would be the type to say something like this but he wasn't complaining though. 

Li Ling leaned in and kissed Zhihao's lips, but Zhihao frowned as he spoke, "I didn't mean an in-game kiss." 

"Eh?"

[Logging out of G-ranked level 2353: Save the vampire]

"I can kiss my future boyfriend in the real world, can't I?" 

[Preparing for transmigration in..]

Li Ling's cheeks turned the color of cherry peppers and the blood rushed all the way up to his ears as he dare not give a reply. 

[3]

If Zhihao were to kiss him in the real world, Li Ling was sure that he wouldn't be able to control himself. 

[2]

He might just give in easier than he planned to. 

[1]