Chapter 168: 7.6

XuanLake 'woke' up after few hours. He looked confused as he stared dumbly at Yunyu, "What happened?"

"Brother Xuan! You finally wake up!" Yunyu put on a grieving face and hugged XuanLake's arm shamelessly, "I am really worried that you might leave me alone in this meadow and respawn back to your residence!"

"… what happened?" XuanLake asked again.

"Ah! You got swallowed by that monster. Then, another player came via the teleportation statue and helped to kill that monster! I'm so glad that you are safe, at least!" Yunyu's tongue glibbed skilfully. He tried to make himself believable, but XuanLake was amused by this terrible lie. 

'He thinks that he is so good at lying. But I can pinpoint how terrible he is, from his eyes dodging mine and him trying to stir away from the detail.'

"Really? I should thank that player then. Did he give you his game id? I will contact him now," XuanLake asked, trying to pit Yunyu to his own lies. 

"A—Ah… that…" Yunyu stuttered, "U—Um… he said he doesn't want to show his id. M—Maybe he is just shy…"

"Is that real?" XuanLake smirked. He raised his eyebrows and leaned a bit closer to Yunyu, "I wonder how could he teleport to that statue. Because Faran Meadow has been restricted for teleporting since it is too dangerous. Unless that person is at least level 80+."

"A—Ah… that… I don't know either, hehe…" Yunyu gulped nervously, "I'm just a low-level player after all. All I did there was crying, calling your name, Brother Xuan, I'm sorry." 

He tried to distance himself from XuanLake instinctively. Maybe because he was afraid that he would get caught. 

'He is still trying to lie even after I've exposed him like this. But it is indeed fun,' XuanLake thought, 'Only an idiot would fall for his lie. But this… makes him a bit cuter. Just a bit, though.'

[Pupa: Ding! Fatemeter increases to -17%.]

[Thank god! He is eating my lie! XuanLake is always suspicious. It is quite scary…]

[But, I am an expert liar after all! Just look at Saint Michael and Ling Kai, who ate my lies easily in the previous worlds! And both of them are smart guys!]

"Okay, I believe in you. I have an automatic recovery ability. So I'm all good now. Let's go," XuanLake stood from the ground as if nothing happened to him previously. He was in full health once more. 

[Ah, my healing ability must be superb! Look at him, he was dying before. and with my healing water, I restore him back to 100% HP!]

[Pupa: Or maybe… his HP is 100% since the beginning?]

[Eeehh, that is impossible! Don't you see how he took so many attacks from me? And his breath was really faint before!]

[Pupa:…]

XuanLake and Yunyu paced through the vast meadow heading to Faran City. It was boring for Yunyu because he could do nothing but walk. However, for XuanLake, it was not boring at all. 

Because Cutiepie69 attracted a lot of high-level enemies, and none of them were below level 60. XuanLake found that he depleted his energy fast because of this. He could enter the debug mode and 'cheat' his own way for unlimited mana. But he still didn't know whether Cutiepie69 was an ally or foe. 

He didn't want to expose his trump card. Thus, he acted tired while continued fighting the high-level monsters. 

"Getsuga Tenshou!" XuanLake screamed as he slashed the horse beast in half. 

[Man… I'm bored.]

[Pupa: You can help him.]

[But I am supposed to be a weak player! What will I do if he knew that I'm actually powerful? I bet his Fatemeter will decrease even more!]

[Pupa:…]

Pupa was contemplating whether it should tell its stupid host or not. But at this point, it was more interesting to sit on the side and watch the world burn because of Yunyu's stupidity. They always have the restart option, after all.

When the sun was setting, they decided to rest, and XuanLake took out a tent from his storage space. He also took out some ramen from his storage and ate together in front of the bonfire with Yunyu.

"Thank you for escorting me, Brother Xuan. You are truly a good person!" Yunyu praised. XuanLake stared at him and replied with a low hum.

"Brother Xuan, about Tower of God, when will you clear it?" Yunyu asked excitedly. XuanLake gazed deeply and smirked again.

"Why would you ask that? Do you think I can clear it? I'm just a mid-tier player," XuanLake said.

"A—Ah, I just think that you are powerful! You can defeat many high-level monsters alone!" Yunyu tried to shift the topic, "I think you should be able to clear the tower. I… I've never entered that tower after all. I believe you can be the one who saves us out of this world…"

XuanLake didn't answer, but he kept on staring at Yunyu, whose eyes dodged his. Then, he leaned closer towards Yunyu and asked, "What about you? Do you enjoy this world? Which one you like better, this virtual world or real life."

"Me? Of course, I prefer the real world!" Yunyu replied confidently. Since there was no information about Cutiepie69's real life, Yunyu used his own life as a reference, "Uhm… I am an aspiring actor in real life. I am also a big fan of this one film emperor. Someday, I want to meet him in real life and maybe… know him better."

"I see," XuanLake lost his interest instantly. Cutiepie69 preferred real life rather than this virtual life. Granted, the virtual world was just a game world that he would get bored with eventually. 

But real life was also dull. It was even more boring than this virtual game. 

Because everything was too easy for him. It made XuanLake bored, bored to death. 

"How about you, Brother Xuan? Which one do you prefer? Real life or this virtual world?" Yunyu wanted to know more about XuanLake. Maybe he would find closure of what made XuanLake decided to trap everyone in this virtual world instead of escaping. 

XuanLake glanced at Yunyu and grinned, "I'm bored of both. Neither real life nor virtual life interests me, but I do find a bit of fun game in this world."

"Fun game? Is it like… a minigame here?" Yunyu started thinking, "I never heard of a minigame in this world."

XuanLake watched Yunyu's expression. Xuan was smart in real life, and he could perceive lies through people's faces and gestures. But here, he could see that Cutiepie69 was genuinely curious, as if he really had no idea about this mind game they were playing together. 

'He came to me and tried to trick me with his obvious lies. But he is indeed a strong player, probably at the same level as me, or just slightly below.'

'Why would he act dumb like this? What is his true intention?'

'Who is this Cutiepie69?'

Many questions flashed in XuanLake's head. He started brewing many possibilities. One of those was that maybe Cutiepie69 was indeed a scheming master. He acted dumb and exposed his lies to divert XuanLake's attention.

XuanLake finally found something worth giving his attention into;

'Truly fascinating. Such an interesting thing to play.'

[Pupa: Ding! Fatemeter increases to -15%.] 

Meanwhile, the spicy chicken Yunyu was busy drinking the broth of the cup ramen;

[Ah, this cup ramen is delicious!]