Chapter 281 - You Liar!

[Congratulations player Jiangshi on beating the gamemaster!!!] 

The system announced happily and there was even some confetti being thrown on top of them along with the system's voice. 

[All good things must come to an end and although ends are not enjoyable, they are still special. We wish you had a great journey with us and we also hope to see you again someday in the future.] 

[The final level has now officially been cleared and we would like to once again congratulate player Jiangshi for winning the game!~] 

[Your one million dollar cash prize is going to be transferred to your bank account that has been linked with T.I.A.D.] 

[We would like to thank you for playing till now.] 

[And with that said, this is going to be our last farewell.]

[Goodbye and please take good care of your health!] 

[Your future is filled with unlimited possibilities and there is nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals and dreams.] 

[You have proved your talent and dedication and now it is time for me to take my leave] 

Zhihao couldn't help but have an odd foreboding feeling in his stomach as he heard the system saying such things with a tone that sounded just a bit melancholic, completely different from the system's usual, emotionless voice. 

With the system's next declaration, Zhihao was sure that the foreboding feeling he had was right. 

[System initiating: Self-destruct.] 

[Timer set to ten minutes.] 

[9:59] 

[9:58] 

[9:57] 

"What the hell is happening...?!" Zhihao's eyebrows creased together as he questioned out and Li Ling sighed as he heard the system, almost making it look as if the man had already expected such an announcement. 

Zhihao's eyes turned towards Li Ling as he waited for the man to say something but Li Ling looked away and didn't even dare meet Zhihao's eyes. 

A golden medal suddenly appeared around Tang An's neck and the boy looked down at the medal in confusion as he waited for a minute before asking, "Why are we still here?" 

Li Ling pursed his lips but said nothing as he heard this question and all color seemed to have been drained from Zhihao's face as the man heard Huang Zhen.

Once a player is eliminated, he or she gets thrown out of the game and if a player wins, he or she once again gets thrown out of the game. 

There was no expectation to this rule and even if the throwing out process was delayed because of some system lagging problems, it would not take more than a minute for the player to be thrown out, however, the three waited for a minute but were still stuck inside the game and this was certainly not something normal. 

Zhihao glared at Li Ling and he didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry at this moment as he questioned, "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" 

Li Ling sighed as he nodded his head without much hesitation and truthfully answered Zhihao, "I knew it... It was a safety measure taken in order to erase all data about players. With the death of the gamemaster, the game also destroys itself." 

Zhihao couldn't help but be both shocked and confused as he heard this, "B-But... You're alive...!" 

"..." 

"Didn't you say that the mission had been changed?! You said that the mission was no longer to kill you!" Zhihao spoke up in disbelief as he looked at the man and continued questioning, "You said that the mission was to beat the gamemaster! To beat the gamemaster, not to kill him and that's exactly what we did! So why the hell is this happening?!" 

Li Ling sighed as he stepped closer to Zhihao and hugged the man with not much strength, and it made Zhihao feel as if Li Ling had given up somehow. For the first time in his life, Zhihao saw the strong and amazing gamemaster become a weak person that had chosen to give up. 

"I knew it was useless to try," Li Ling muttered under his breath but since he was so close to Zhihao, the man could clearly hear his voice. 

Zhihao gulped as he patiently waited for Li Ling to confess. 

"The gamemaster's life and the system are connected to one another," Li Ling spoke softly as he finally explained the last secret that he had been hiding, "If you kill the gamemaster, the system self-destructs itself. If you complete the final level... The gamemaster..." 

Li Ling suddenly got all choked up with his words and didn't dare continue the sentence. 

"Self-destructs..." It was Huang Zhen who had completed the man's sentence for him. 

Zhihao's eyes went wide open in shock as he heard this and his muscles immediately tensed up as he realized why Li Ling was suddenly hugging him out of the blue. 

The more Zhihao thought about it, the more he realized that the man in front of him had always known that there was no way out of this alive for him and this was the reason why he had been so clingy to Zhihao in this final level... This was the reason why he had been constantly saying cheesy stuff out of the blue... He had tried to secretly warn Zhihao but Zhihao felt as if he had been too dumb. 

He had been too dumb and he noticed nothing! 

He thought it was normal for Li Ling to suddenly be so unmotivated to win! 

He thought it was normal for the gamemaster to want to just give up, but he was wrong! 

None of that was normal! It was because Li Ling was the one who created the system and since he was the one who created the system, he was naturally also the one who would know it the best. 

The man had already always known that he and the system shared a life. There was no way he would be able to live with the system dead. 

"You lied to me... Again..." Zhihao breathed out in disbelief as he gently pushed Li Ling away, "You lied, Gege..." 

Tears seemed to be welling up from Li Ling's eyes as he heard the man and he nodded as he accepted it, "I did." 

Zhihao's feelings seemed to be all over the place as he heard this and he really didn't know what he wanted to do at the moment so he simply stayed quiet as he looked at Li Ling.

A few minutes passed and Li Ling suddenly started coughing up blood as if he had been seriously injured and when Zhihao saw the blood, his entire body was unable to move as, in his head, it finally sunk in that the system was ready to kill its maker by all means possible. 

Li Ling tried his best to hold back but he still ended up coughing out a mouthful of blood and when he looked down, he noticed that his skin was suddenly turning white. 

Zhihao saw his lover dying in front of his eyes and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. 

The feeling of powerlessness really made him feel shocked and pathetic. 

"You liar!" Zhihao shouted as he held back his tears and reached out to hug Li Ling, "Why do you always hide everything from me?! Am I not trustworthy enough?! Do you think I won't understand you?! Do you think I won't be able to help you?!" 

Li Ling was a bit surprised by Zhihao's actions as the man held him close in a tight hug. 

Tears were flowing down nonstop from Li Ling's eyes but the man couldn't help but have a small smile on his face as he felt Zhihao's warmth. 

"I'm really sorry," Li Ling apologized as he tried to sniffle back his tears, "I'm so sorry for lying to you..." 

When Zhihao heard the man apologizing as he cried, the tears that he was trying hard to hold back also couldn't help but come down. 

"I'm so sorry for letting you see me like this," Li Ling continued to cry as he nuzzled his head on Zhihao's chest.

"Stop being sorry," Zhihao responded as he cried along with the man. 

"Oh, my dear lord! You two are so goddamn dramatic!" Huang Zhen cried out as the boy finally made his ignored presence known, "Are you two trying to shoot a soap opera here?! It's just a game! He is dying inside a game! A game!" 

Zhihao and Li Ling couldn't help but laugh in between their sobbing as they heard this boy, however, they refused to let go of each other. 

"Brother Zhi, just so you know, you look really uncool right now!" Huang Zhen frowned as he added, folding his arms and looking to be completely unimpressed by the two over-sentimental fools. 

"You brat, stop ruining the moment," Zhihao scolded the boy with a small chuckle and the boy rolled his eyes in response. 

Although they were still inside a game, both Zhihao and Li Ling were well aware that the effects of this death weren't going to just remain inside the game. 

However, since Huang Zhen was young, the boy naturally didn't know this.