CH 29

When he saw Luo again, Xiao Lan’s worries about his opponent’s safety were finally put aside; after all, Luo looked in a much better state now than the single dark shadow he had been when they first met. It seems that after two passes and the absorption of other parts of himself, Luo’s power has been restored to a good extent.

Xiao Lan asked, “Did you have a good time looking for materials in the last few days?”

Luo recalls the last few days: “A little bit of trouble, but it’s all sorted out.”

Xiao Lan : “How’s your memory?”

Luo gave a regretful look, “There doesn’t seem to be much progress on that front, so I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to you.”

Xiao Lan reassured, “Maybe we’ll get a chance later, but it’s great that you’re okay. You’ve helped me a lot these last few times, but unfortunately I can’t do anything to help you.”

In both games, Luo helped Xiao Lan a lot, both in finding clues and in getting him out of danger, and Xiao Lan felt that all he was doing was carrying him around.

Luo shook his head and looked solemnly at Xiao Lan: “Please don’t say that, you are the only person in the world who can help me.”

Xiao Lan wondered, “Hmm?”

Luo: “The envelope that sealed me had been sitting in the supermarket at the end for a long time. Countless players passed by me and even flipped through the envelope, but no one could see the words I had left on the cover. I’ve made many attempts to have someone notice me, but all have failed. As time passes, I am becoming weaker and weaker.”

“Only you, at the first moment of obtaining the envelope, looked to my handwriting.”

Luo could hardly describe the joy he felt at that moment, a joy more intense than that of a traveller in the desert who encounters water, a joy like feeling the bonds of the world again after a century of solitude. If he had a heart, his heart would be beating out of his chest.

He said with a faint smile, “You are still the first person in this world who can see my original body. Without you, I would probably have lost even my consciousness before long and turned into a senseless monster.”

The …… pathetic monster that can only cower in a corner, incapable of thinking, unable to coalesce into a solid body, and only attacks everyone who comes near it on instinct.

Xiao Lan thought to himself, “I’m so good, I’m the Chosen One in a middle-grade production, and I’m going to end up with the responsibility of saving the world.

And what is Luo? A little fairy to select the Chosen One?

Xiao Lan looked at Luo with his gentle and courteous smile, thought about the way he wielded his fairy staff and deleted the horrible brainstorm from his mind.

Xiao Lan shook his head, shook the water out of it and held out his hand to Luo, “Hello for the first time as a humanoid.”

Luo also extended his hand and shook Xiao Lan’s, “Hello, sir.”

The moment she made contact with the hand, Xiao Lan was slightly surprised, as it was cold, without any body heat coming through, and odd to the touch, soft but not human skin.

Luo looked at his hands, and he too felt the difference between himself and Xiao Lan. If he were to accidentally come into skin-to-skin contact with a player in the game, I’m afraid he could easily be discovered as a non-human and cause trouble.

That’s not good.

Black shadows emerge from Luo’s fingertips, gradually enveloping his hand and transforming it, as Xiao Lan watches, into a pair of black gloves that envelop Luo’s long, well-boned fingers just so.

So far, the only part of his body that showed skin was his face, which looked like the most old-fashioned of gentlemen. But the light smile on his lips seemed to suggest otherwise.

Luo raised his hand and brushed his eyes, disguising the overly conspicuous pale gold eyes as black.

“Does that make me look closer to human? Sir.”

Xiao Lan surveyed Luo, who now looked like an overly good looking human, not too different from normal except for his temperament and appearance.

The two of them then continued on their way. It was a long corridor, and there was no telling what kind of a large family it was that could spend so much money on decorating the corridor alone.

At last, another closed door appeared ahead of them, and this time there was no invisible force in the way, Xiao Lan reached out and pushed it open.

Behind the door is an opulent hall, the carpets on the floor are of an even more exquisite nature than the corridors, making it almost unbearable to set foot. The snow-white walls are decorated with golden patterns and lines, and countless figures in relief. The vaulted ceiling is very high and the frescoes on it are so exquisite that one feels in a trance that one has entered some kind of temple where artistic treasures are placed.

There are no electric lights, but the numerous ornate candelabras and the huge crystal lamp hanging in the centre provide ample illumination and brighten the room.

In the hall, there were already several people waiting, and when they heard the movement of the door opening, they turned their heads to look over.

Among them, Xiao Lan saw the familiar brown curly hair – it was Wang Taidi.

Wang Taidi also spotted Xiao Lan and winked at him in greeting, ” Xiao Lan, we really have a connection.”

Xiao Lan also gave him a slight nod.

Seeing Luo next to Xiao Lan, Wang Taidi wondered, “Who is this? Is this your friend?”

“This is ……” Xiao Lan was at a loss for words to introduce Luo, the little friend he got on his phone bill?

Luo’s gaze crossed over the painting on the wall signed Fernando and smiled politely at Wang Taidi, “Hi, my name is Fei Luo and I’m kind of Xiao Lan’s teammate in this game.”

He behaved like a real player.

Xiao Lan also nodded, “We’re temporarily teamed up in this game.”

Wang Taidi smiled, “Fei Luo ah, hello hello, I’m here with my brother, we’re also in a group.”

Beside Wang Taidi stands Wang Ke, with his usual cool expression, nodding to Xiao Lan and Luo and leaning against the wall without speaking. He seems to be accompanying his brother on the mission, protecting him as he always does, even if his abilities are suppressed when he enters a low-level playground.

But is …… an illusion? Why does Wang Ke look shorter today than before?

Not far from the Wang family brothers.

By the tall window, a man looked particularly conspicuous. He is tall and lean, wearing a long black trench coat and a wide-brimmed bowler hat, beneath which is a medieval doctor’s beak mask that covers his entire face, revealing his hair to be snow-like white.

The man looked like an epidemic doctor who had travelled back in time from the Middle Ages.

He is now leaning idly against the window, a black leather case at his feet. He is looking out over the courtyard, seemingly uninterested in the people around him or the new Xiao Lan. The way he is dressed and the gorgeous, retro setting make it a little difficult to tell whether he is a player or an NPC.

At this point Wang Taidi crept over and whispered to Xiao Lan, “That guy’s name is Qi Ning and he’s a well known guy in high level player circles.”

Xiao Lan surprised: “Senior player?”

What’s he doing here? This is a junior venue, does he have someone to protect like Wang Ke?

“He’s a …… how to say it, both dangerous and not dangerous at the same time, I guess.” Wang Taidi organized his language, “He was originally a doctor by profession in reality, but privately he was a …… sort of bounty hunter, targeting those fugitives and criminals who weren’t caught, executing prisoners was his hobby.”

“After entering the game, he also particularly likes to find those who were once wanted criminals, even if you go into a copy, he will use props to find them up. But he’s still pretty safe for normal players, and as long as you don’t mess with him, he won’t lay a hand on other players.”

“No one knows what he looks like, some say he’s an old man, others guess he’s actually very young just albino, I think the latter kind is more likely.”

Wang Taidi glanced gently at Qi Ning: “He came in this time, I guess there might be another wanted criminal that he noticed.”

He looked at Xiao Lan again, “You didn’t do anything before you came in, did you?”

Xiao Lan shakes his head, I don’t think debt counts ……

Wang Taidi sighed in relief, “That’s good, just don’t mess with him, his skills are plague related and my brother says he’s tough.”

At the mention of her brother, Wang Taidi’s gossip spirit flared up again: “Do you think my brother looks shorter than before?”

Xiao Lan nods hesitantly, he has a bad feeling about this.

Wang Taidi : “Actually, my brother’s height is all changed according to his shoes, his net height is only -”

“–Eh, eh, eh, eh, brother what are you doing with the back of my neck, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts ……”

To Wang Taidi’s screams, Wang Ke carried him with a frosty face and walked so fast that his footsteps were almost in shadow, probably to prevent his silly brother from revealing the colour of his underpants.

Life is not easy, sighs Wang Ke.

After the two brothers had gone to the other end of the hall, a few doors opened one after another, and in total four more men and one woman came in.

One of the males was born tall and had a few menacing eyes.

Xiao Lan noticed that after he entered, Qi Ning, who seemed to have his full attention on the window, looked back once and then turned away as if he didn’t care, while the tall man remained oblivious the whole time.

This person may be Qi Ning’s target.

“Ooooooooooo …… I’m so scared ……,” a soft female voice rang out.

She was the only woman in the game, and she was crouching softly on the floor, crying. The three men next to her were surrounded by her, comforting her uncontrollably, but unfortunately it seemed to have no effect at all; she was still crying so hard that the three men were helpless.

To be honest, this copy doesn’t look like a newcomer’s game either, after all, a newcomer’s game is limited to one veteran player at most, and here there are two, and they’re still senior ones. Most of those who have survived a few games have a bit of tolerance, otherwise they would have been out of the game, even if Wang Taidi was a rookie.

For those who cry so much at the beginning, unless they are born with a koi life and can pass even while lying down, they will not survive a single game.

The game hasn’t started yet anyway, so Xiao Lan watches quietly as she performs.

The woman cried for a while, saw that the number of males surrounding her did not increase, and raised her head to look ahead.

Directly opposite her was Qi Ning, the mysterious-looking figure with the look of someone who couldn’t get excited about anything. Farther away was a droopy little curly-haired man and a dark-faced, scary-looking youth.

She turns to the other side, where Xiao Lan and Luo are standing together, one handsome, white and fresh, the other elegant and ascetic, like two different styles of haute cuisine.

Comparing the three bowls of noodles around her, the woman’s eyes welled up with tears again, and this time she changed her method of crying at the sight of me, looking every now and then towards the two men with eyes that looked like they contained hooks and could look straight into the heart.

Unfortunately, the two batsmen were not impressed.

She secretly gritted her teeth and got up and walked over towards where the two were, “Can I join you guys on that …… one? I’m so scared ……”

When she reached two steps away from Xiao Lan, she slipped and seemed about to fall, raising one hand inadvertently to a position where it could be pulled by Xiao Lan.

Unfortunately, there was no one to pull her back and she simply fell to the ground.

Xiao Lan looked down at her, “What can you do?”

The woman froze, “Huh?”

“Me, I can fight.” Xiao Lan points to himself and then to Luo, “He, can analyse.”

Then sincerely asked the woman before her, “And you?”

The woman mumbled, trying to maintain her image as a simple, soft little white flower, “But …… but I’m really scared ……”

Xiao Lan nodded, “I’m scared too, so you find someone to team up with who isn’t.”

Woman: “……”

She looks expectantly at Luo, who is smiling gently next to her, her eyes slightly red, with tears in the corners, looking miserable.

The smile on Luo’s face faded and he said with a blank expression, “I’m super scared and I like to hide behind people when I’m in danger.”

The soft expression on the woman’s face was on the verge of collapse: “……”

She got up indignantly, and stamped on the floor, unfortunately not leaving a mark on such a high-class carpet. The woman returned to her original position and continued her crying spree as the three men gathered around her for another round of consolation, like fish in a pond around specially spilled bait.

The woman gave one last reluctant glance over her shoulder, expecting a turn of events. Unfortunately, the two men’s heads were together, seemingly whispering something, not giving her any attention at all.

Shit, two dead faggots!!!

Just then, a closed door on the inner side of the hall opened.

From inside stepped a woman in a housekeeper’s uniform, a woman who looked old, with deep drooping lines on her face and a serious looking face, her hair all brushed up in a bun at the top of her head.

She gave a salute to all present, lifted her chin and said in a haughty tone, “Welcome to Madame Bella’s estate, you are all guests who have received an invitation, when Madame will choose her future husband among you.”

She scanned the crowd, “What a lucky bunch of guests.”

Suddenly her eyes caught a glimpse of the weeping woman from before, and her mouth curled into an impish smile, looking at the woman with a look of malicious scrutiny, but saying nothing.

“Please follow me, gentlemen.” The housekeeper turned around and led the way towards the front.

The players immediately reacted to the fact that this was the start of the game.

The crowd then all followed her lead.

Only the woman whose face she had paid special attention to showed a bit of concern, what did she mean by that look? And why was there a female player pulled into this game when Mrs Bella chose her husband, was she …… meat and potatoes?

The players were not able to meet Mrs Bella in the first place.

The butler led them into a huge cloakroom, which even boasted several smaller rooms, each of which was no less magnificent than the hall, and each was accompanied by a uniformed maid at the door waiting to serve the guests.

But aren’t the maids’ looks …… a bit too casual?

Xiao Lan looked at the maids in front of him, who were tall, extra short, fat and about to block the door, thin and invisible when the wind blew, and fell into deep thought.

Still Luo’s painting.

What kind of a woman is Mrs Bella?

The butler spoke again, still in a condescending tone, “Please change into your gowns here, the maids will attend to you, and after you have changed into your gowns I will lead you to the dinner room.”

Having said that, the butler went straight out of the cloakroom without waiting for a reply from the players, with an attitude that was not at all like receiving a guest who was important to the host.

Before the players could react to the butler’s words, the maids were already swooping towards them with green eyes.

Wang Taidi jumps up and down as they chase him; Wang Ke coolly swats away the maids who come after him; Qi Ning is surrounded by an ominous purple mist that separates him from the maids.

There was even a fight between some of the maids for a place next to Xiao Lan and Luo.

The other few were surrounded by coldness and looked particularly lonely. They looked at the few people under siege and wondered whether they should pity them or themselves.

The winner of the battle for Xiao Lan was a maid as tall as a door panel and about as wide as a door panel, her mouth painted with bright red lipstick and her hair having become dishevelled in the fight.

She walked towards Xiao Lan with a big smile on her face and a mouthful of messy teeth: “Come on, guest!”

Xiao Lan : “……”

Crikey this is not unfolding right!

The tall, stout maid stepped forward and kindly offered him her hand: “Don’t be shy, let me serve you. Do not pity me, it is an honour for us maids to serve our guests.”

What tiger words are these!

Don’t you have any points whether I’m shy or not!

I don’t want to fucking pity you at all!!!

Xiao Lan took a step back, dodging her massive claws, his back against the dressing room door in shock as he began to seriously consider the feasibility of attacking an NPC right at the beginning of the copy.

The maid was about to come up again when a black gloved hand reached out from the side and squeezed her wrist, a hand that looked slender and civilised but which the maid could not break free from for a moment.

She turned her head to see Luo’s elegant, gentle smile, “Just leave it to me, my husband is not used to being served in close quarters.”

The author has something to say.

Wang Taidi : Wow~ I’m so happy that my brother and I can finally make our debut! We should come up with a group name!

Blu: For example?

Wang Taidi : Wang Erdog! …… that, brother you calm down, first put down the knife QAQ