The rooftop was thirty meters above the ground, higher than the city walls.
The night wind, coupled with the continuous wails, made people feel extremely cold both physically and psychologically.
Yuuki tightened his rag-like clothes.
A bottle of cold water and a few chocolate bars finally brought some sensation back to his body, followed by a noticeable increase in pain.
Five scrapes, one bite mark, a torn forearm muscle, and several shards of broken glass embedded in his back.
Fortunately, he hadn’t lost too much blood.
He assessed his physical condition, then grimaced.
Hiss.
“Does it hurt a lot?” Mai peeked out from behind him, holding tweezers she had gotten from Ryan.
“A little, but considering a beautiful woman is bandaging me, this much pain is within my tolerance.” Yuuki smiled and continued to look down at the map.
This thing was found by Ryan in the Garden’s carpentry workshop and he conveniently carried it with him.
During their collective discussion, when everyone integrated the useful items they had found, Yuuki immediately asked for it.
The blueprint was too tattered, and the annotations were different from modern ones, so no one could understand it.
Considering Yuuki had explored the entire ancient castle and was slightly more familiar with the terrain, it was given to him.
“Do you believe I’ll stab the glass back into you?” The girl narrowed her eyes, becoming dangerous.
“If Miss Mai treats her savior like that, then I can only lament my poor judgment.”
“Hmph, always bringing this up, do you want me to repay you that badly?” Mai snorted, throwing the glass shards aside.
“Of course, I never do things for free. I’m always waiting for your repayment. Don’t look at me with that expression, I know you sell your art, not your body. I’ll tell you when I’ve thought of something.”
“You…”
Mai’s breathing grew heavy.
Yuuki was indeed not well-behaved, but unlike those frivolous people she had met, she couldn’t bring herself to dislike him.
This was certainly related to him saving her life, but it wasn’t the whole reason.
That blood-stained back was firmly etched in her mind; the young man, holding a knife with one hand, fought desperately in the crimson corridor, never abandoning her no matter how difficult it became.
Just now he looked like an expert, as skilled as a murderer, but now he was very normal, even a little amusing, and even she felt herself relax.
A strange game, a strange person.
Mai was well-traveled, but she had never seen a person with so many facets.
Perhaps only Hayasaka was similar.
As she thought, her slender fingers gently touched the man’s back.
“Mm—”
“Don’t make strange noises!”
The hand wiping alcohol suddenly pressed harder, making Yuuki suck in a cold breath in pain.
He calmed down and made a brief summary.
This game had a high difficulty, but also high rewards.
After a few hours, he had already acquired an Evolved (Level 2) item and a transcendent skill.
A very normal setting.
If I didn’t strive for rewards and instead clung to the powerful like the fat guy, I’d probably still be an Ordinary Person; or like Mai, who just ran frantically the whole way, she also gained nothing.
“Lie still. Your body is quite good; an Ordinary Person with these injuries would have to lie down for days.” Mai didn’t know what Yuuki was thinking, she just thought he was quite sturdy.
“I’m used to it. Speaking of, Senpai…”
Yuuki didn’t finish his sentence as her index finger pressed against his lips.
“No reason, it just feels more natural to say.” Yuuki didn’t explain.
“I always feel like you know me.” Mai carefully scrutinized Yuuki, confirming she had never seen him before.
Not only do I know you, I know a lot about you.
“Miss Mai, actually, I’m your ardent fan. I’ve secretly collected a lot of information. Meeting in the Reincarnation Game is also a kind of fate.”
“Then that’s a stalker!”
“Hmm, but my stalking is righteous. Don’t you feel a desire to understand me?”
Mai actually did.
From the first moment she saw him, she felt he was mysterious.
Of course, she wouldn’t say it out loud, gently lifting her chin.
“No interest, but are you really my fan? Is that why you protected me?”
“No, I was just talking nonsense.”
The girl, who had been a little proud just a moment ago, suddenly gritted her teeth, finding this person’s mouth truly annoying.
She couldn’t even get the upper hand.
But before she could retort, a head poked out from the corner.
Ai, having recovered, had wandered around and returned, just in time to see her sulking.
“Oh, did I come back at the wrong time?” The blonde girl was completely unlike her previous cold self, half-covering her mouth, looking very surprised, and with a strange verbal tic: “But I’m so lucky to stumble upon something so interesting today~”
“Hayasaka, please don’t look like you’ve just seen classroom gossip!”
“Isn’t it? Right, right, this should count as celebrity gossip. Don’t worry, I’ve seen a lot of things in the entertainment industry, I won’t make a fuss.”
“May I ask where you saw it?”
“In magazines, of course. People my age love reading gossip magazines, you know.”
…
You weren’t so cheerful when you were wielding an axe and chopping people.
Mai was defeated.
She thought to herself, am I joining some dream acting training camp?
Why does everyone have so many faces?
“Ahem, it’s just the three of us here, can we be a little more serious?” Yuuki also wasn’t used to the ‘hot girl’ persona, so he simply suggested.
“OK~” Ai didn’t object.
She ran her hand over her head as if putting on an invisible hat, and in the blink of an eye, the playful and fiery smile on her face disappeared.
Her whole demeanor became rigid, and her serious gaze was a little intimidating.
“Mai, you haven’t taken first aid classes, have you?”
“Huh??”
“The bandage is tied too poorly; it’ll come undone with just a little force. Yuuki is a very important combatant, you should be more careful.”
Mai didn’t immediately react.
Just now she was a hot JK, and now she’s a professional instructor.
Seeing her undo the bandage she had painstakingly secured, she grew a little anxious.
“Wait a minute, I’ll just tie it more carefully.”
“Without sufficient knowledge, reality won’t shift according to human will.”
“You, you’re telling me what to do?”
“Yes, at least in this matter. No, in many matters in this game, I can teach you.”
…
Mai was speechless again.
She pressed the other person’s hand, her face full of seriousness: “You’re tired too, let me handle this small matter.”
“As I said before, Yuuki is an important combatant, so he needs a professional to handle it. Besides, I’m as grateful to him as you are, and I’m willing to do it.”
“Let me do it.”
“I’ll do it. Being childish is useless.”
“Who said I was childish?”
Yuuki sat cross-legged, looking down at the map, letting the two women pull him back and forth.
Far from interrupting, he was clearly enjoying it.
To encounter these two in the Newbie phase, his luck was very good.
They were familiar, beautiful, and useful.
He thought the noise was also good, at least he couldn’t hear the annoying wails anymore.
How to put it, he felt like he was still among the living.
Having truly gone through a life-and-death test, the relationship between the three had deepened, at least emotionally, there was a different kind of feedback.
The final bandage was tied by Ai, as standard as a textbook, perfectly covering every inch of the wound.
“Thanks, hmm, it’s even better than when I tie it myself.” Yuuki got up, stretched his shoulders, and felt his stamina recover quite a bit.
“I did my best. We should move on to the next step, right?” Ai glanced at the other end of the rooftop.
The wealthy man, the housewife, and the office lady were huddled together, still at a loss like headless flies.
“I tested them just now. These three are useless and haven’t gained anything. They’ve only survived until now thanks to Thomas’s protection.”
“Entrusting your fate to others is also a way of life. How is that Thomas?”
“He’s very lustful, but also more than just lustful. Overall, he’s a smart person.” Ai gave a cold smile.
During her probing, she keenly noticed that while he outwardly seemed very interested in her, his eyes were full of caution.
As expected, Yuuki didn’t treat this Old Player as a mere minion.
A misjudgment would lead to a terrible death.
“No need to test him anymore. These two Old Players will still be the main characters.”
“You have an idea?” Ai’s eyes shifted to the blueprint.
It was very old and full of wormholes.
“Yes, it confirmed a thought.” Yuuki didn’t explain, he just lightly touched a spot on the map with his finger, then turned to look at Ryan and Thomas who had returned, “I can’t be completely sure, and there’s no time to verify it further. I have to take a gamble.”
Not far away, the expressions of the two Old Players were not very good, looking preoccupied.
Their collective discussion yielded no results, and they had just checked around again.
There was nowhere to hide or escape on this rooftop.
That would be fine, at most they’d endure two nights of wind on the rooftop, but what was more deadly was that the Red Moon wasn’t falling.
In the short time they had observed, they found that the zombies had become stronger.
Faster, more frenzied, the broken doorways like broken faucets, endlessly pouring out a tide of corpses.
The Garden was now packed, transforming the beautiful flowers into swaying human heads.
The ancient castle was like an isolated island.
If this continued, when the ‘tsunami’ swept over, the players wouldn’t even have a speck of flesh left.
The Old Players’ expressions cast a shadow over everyone’s hearts.
Mai looked at the blueprint in Yuuki’s hand.
She naturally couldn’t understand it, but she felt the man’s confidence, which was as precious as a treasure in this long night.
She pursed her lips and replied in a somewhat irrational voice:
“Alright, I’ll gamble with you.”