Damn it, I told myself not to use unbranded products.
What kind of thing did this fan summon?
Xing Yun gave an awkward smile and said to the Boss, who now possessed a different soul, “If you have nothing else to do, I will be leaving first.” After saying that, she immediately ran away.
Who knows what might happen if she stays in front of this guy? She should hide and observe the situation for a bit.
She instinctively wanted to get as far away from the Boss as possible, so she ran directly to the end of the map: the racing arena.
However, this soul-swapped Boss was much more intelligent than the previous one, and she easily caught up with Xing Yun. “Where did you think you could hide? You ridiculous little bug.”
If the previous Boss had been going easy on them, this current one was full of malice.
Xing Yun could not help but wonder if the person she had summoned was in the middle of using the bathroom, as they were so incredibly irritable.
Seeing that there was no way to escape, Xing Yun simply stopped moving. “Then I will stop hiding.”
Once she stopped, the Boss lingered and asked, “What other items do you have?”
Uh… she actually had no more aces up her sleeve.
She tried to bluff by raising the fan again. “Let us make a deal. I will send you back, and you help me leave the dungeon.”
The Boss lowered her eyes with a cold face. “You cannot do that. But I can teleport you back to the racing arena. Do you think that as a spectator this time, you could still be as lucky as you were before?”
Upon hearing this, Xing Yun immediately thought of the severed limbs and the sea of blood in the arena, and she felt a chill from head to toe.
The Boss looked at her. “Let me think. When the time comes, I will slice you open right at the stomach.”
Xing Yun straightened her body, gripped the fan handle tightly, and said nothing.
She had not expected that the Boss before her would know what had happened in this dungeon. Perhaps she really could do it.
But if she could truly kill her, would she be wasting so much breath?
Xing Yun decided to provoke the Boss.
Xing Yun pointed her finger at the ground. “Look at your feet.”
Taking advantage of the moment the Boss lowered her head, she used the Boss’s head as a vaulting horse and leaped over her.
Boss: …
On the other side, in the game lobby, Ge Chuan’s mental state had improved significantly due to the lobby’s passive healing effect.
Yu Yan was focusing intently on the people around them. As the number of returning people became slower and fewer, her heart grew cold.
Xing Yun was missing, and even people she had been familiar with had disappeared.
Would she… ever come back?
Yi Ban was kneeling on the ground, supporting herself with both hands, but her arms could not stop shaking, and blood was flowing from her eyes and ears. Liu Cui was panicked as she watched her, not only because their lives were bound together, but also because of a sliver of concern for a friend.
Liu Cui tried to comfort her, but her words were too hollow, so she simply leaned over and hugged her. Liu Cui patted her back repeatedly. “It is okay, you will be fine.”
Liu Cui did not know what Yi Ban had gone through, nor had she ever imagined that summoning Lucifer would cause such severe mental trauma. She could only pin her hopes on the lobby’s healing ability to restore her.
She would protect Yi Ban well.
However, Yi Ban opened her crimson eyes, pushed her away, narrowed her eyes, and tilted her head slightly. “Stay away from me! Are you trying to kill me? I saw it, you are holding a knife.” She did not want Liu Cui to come close.
Liu Cui felt pained. She spread her hands in front of Yi Ban, her pupils trembling slightly. “What are you talking about? I did not do that.”
Her lips moved, but she realized that her desire to convince Yi Ban was not very strong. Compared to making Yi Ban trust her, she cared more about the wounds on Yi Ban; this was more important than anything else.
Yi Ban curled up again, covering her head with her hands. Having briefly become fodder for a dungeon Boss, her condition was not optimistic.
Liu Cui was at a complete loss. Whenever she tried to touch Yi Ban, she could see those eyes, sharp like a wild wolf’s, staring at her as if she were some dangerous natural predator.
Yet, they had experienced so much together. Liu Cui did not know whether she felt more sorrow or disappointment.
This only proved that in her subconscious, Yi Ban did not trust her.
Liu Cui handed her a tissue. “Wipe the blood off your face…”
Yi Ban did not take it and continued to watch her defensively.
Liu Cui pursed her lips. “I am wary of you, but I have never thought of harming you. Only you, I have never wanted you to die.” She stretched her hand forward. “Wipe it off.”
Yi Ban’s eyelashes trembled, and in the end, she reached out.
Liu Cui sat beside Yi Ban, and for a while, they were silent.
They were quiet, but over at Xing Yun’s side, things were still lively.
She looked at the Boss provocatively.
The current Xing Yun was even more certain that the Boss was also subject to certain restrictions and could not do anything to her.
She confidently took out the fan and fanned the Boss again and again, but no matter how much force she used, nothing seemed to change.
“You really have thick skin. What are you made of?” Xing Yun marveled.
Just as she was hesitating whether to continue, a few more lines appeared on the instruction manual: Disposable item, pay attention to the timing of use.
“Screw you.” Xing Yun threw the fan directly, hitting the Boss in the head, instantly causing blood to flow from the Boss’s temple.
Xing Yun thought for a moment and made a face at her. The fact that the Boss still was not striking back proved that she could not strike at all.
Suddenly, the Boss said sinisterly, “This is not my real body, so I do not care. Whatever you do, it makes no difference to me. I can return, but you, you poor wretch, can only wait here until you die.”
Xing Yun’s heart sank. She did not know if what the Boss said was true or false, but the fact that she could not leave had become a hard truth.
Boss: “If you sell your soul to me, I can help you leave.”
Xing Yun frowned and mused, “Selling your soul seems like something a demon would do…”
The world already had an Infinite Game, so souls probably existed too; she did not want to sell herself just like that.
Boss: “Then you can just wait here until you die.”
“Then you must also agree to my requirements.”
The Boss looked displeased. “You dare to negotiate with me?”
Xing Yun: “Why would I not? We are talking about cooperation now, so of course, everyone must state their needs.”
Boss: …
Her mouth twitched. “Then I have changed my mind. I do not just want your soul; I want your body, too.”
Xing Yun looked confused. “Why do you not just say you want my life?”
The Boss shook her head. “That is different.” She walked over like a python measuring its prey, gesturing over Xing Yun’s head. The distance between the two was small, and Xing Yun could even feel her breath. Unlike her expressionless face, the Boss’s breath was scorching, and her fingers were burning hot.
Xing Yun retreated, and the Boss followed closely.
The surrounding temperature rose sharply. Xing Yun held her breath, her eyes guarded. “Explain yourself more clearly.”
The Boss’s tone was tempting: “Your life is worthless. What I want is your thoughts, your faith. The physical body can be destroyed, but thoughts can endure forever.”
This sentence did not have many words, but it left Xing Yun confused.
“My thoughts, my faith?”
Seeing Xing Yun’s puzzled expression, the Boss explained again: “I want you to revere me like a god.”
A god? Xing Yun was stunned. Can faith be forced?
For a moment, she began to doubt reality.
She remembered that people like Yi Ban seemed to be the ones who believed in so-called gods.
Could faith be something very important here?
Xing Yun: “Why do you not help me leave first? After all, for no reason at all, how could I…”
Before she could finish, the Boss covered her mouth. The Boss’s expression became conflicted. “Ah… I know what you mean. A god must bestow grace, but without faith, many things are very difficult to achieve.” The Boss looked thoughtful and disgusted. “A husband and wife for a day…”
Xing Yun: ?
No, that is not what she thinks it means, right?
Boss: “Let us be husband and wife.”
Xing Yun: “Are you sick?”
Xing Yun choked on her own saliva. Looking at the undisguised disgust in this person’s eyes, she was speechless.
“Propose, kiss, sleep together.” The Boss said coldly. “Shall we get married?”
Xing Yun: ???
The racing arena had returned to its original dilapidated state, with dust drifting in the air. In this completely unromantic place, the Boss spoke completely unromantic words: “I have proposed, now it is time to kiss.”
Before she could react, she was pressed to the ground by the Boss. The Boss did not look like she wanted to kiss her at all; it looked more like she wanted to crack her skull open.
Xing Yun saw the Boss’s eyes suddenly turn blue, revealing a hint of eeriness.
Damn, it really looked like she was going to bite her head off. It would be too ugly to die like that.
Xing Yun raised a hand to call a time-out. “Are you sure that after this series of things is done, you will send me back?”
Boss said impatiently: “Yes.”
“I do not believe you.”
Boss looked at Xing Yun: …
However, the Boss did not argue. She directly cut her palm and drew a figure on the ground. “Once the debt of gratitude is fulfilled, I will send you away immediately.”
Xing Yun’s eyes lit up. “You know where I am going?”
The Boss nodded, looking at her as if to say why do you have so much nonsense to say?
She was completely too lazy to speak.
Xing Yun knew when to quit. “We should find a bed, it is better to do it on a bed.”
The Boss nodded and gagged with disgust.
Xing Yun: …
She took advantage of the moment the Boss was not paying attention to pick up the fan on the ground. Since this fan had hurt the Boss, after asking a few questions, a plan began to brew in her mind.
She struck the Boss hard and accurately with the fan, interspersed with kicks and punches. It was literally bleeding with every blow, enough to reshape the Boss’s bones. Xing Yun guaranteed that even her own mother would not be able to recognize her.
When both of Xing Yun’s hands were injured, she stopped, clutching her bleeding hands, panting and out of breath. Just as she expected, the Boss did not do anything to her and could only take the beating passively. Although she did not know why, Xing Yun knew she had bet correctly.
Looking at the Boss, who had been beaten until she was nearly limp, Xing Yun spat, then took out the bubble machine and blew bubbles at the Boss.
However, Xing Yun’s luck had not been great lately; it took a long time to refresh a “Life +1,” so it took a lot of effort to restore the Boss.
She looked at the Boss expectantly, walking around her as if looking at a pet. She stuffed the bubble gun into her arms and kicked the Boss to test how well her body had recovered.
Is it not just a debt of gratitude? Is beating someone half to death and then saving them not also a debt of gratitude? A huge one, at that. After all, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.
Since she was going back anyway, would her having a debt of gratitude from the Boss not be the same thing?
Xing Yun: “I have done you a favor, have I not?”
The Boss glared at her, her eyes seemingly about to spray blue flames.
But Xing Yun did not care at all, because the magic circle the Boss had drawn was activating. After a dizzying spin, she returned to the game lobby.
Outside the windows of the game lobby, it was still thundering. There were not many people left in the lobby; most were those who were severely injured and had not been healed yet. Others, afraid of danger, had already hidden back in their rooms.
Yu Yan’s eyes lit up when she saw Xing Yun, and then she smiled. “Oh my, you did not die after all?”
Xing Yun looked at Yu Yan and noticed she did not have any wounds.
Xing Yun could not help but wonder, could it be that she had been waiting for her to come back on purpose?
She patted Yu Yan’s shoulder, her eyes full of emotion as she looked at her.
Xing Yun: “Yeah, I almost died.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Xing Yun broke the silence first: “But now I am safe, am I not?” It seemed she was not the only one who hoped for a return; there were others who were anxious just like her.
Yu Yan sighed, turned to leave, and said softly, “That is good. Otherwise, I would not be able to pay back the favor I owe you, and I would not be able to sleep well in the future.”
Hearing her words, Xing Yun felt her heart soften. Although she was in an Infinite Game, she seemed to have caught the taste of friendship.
In a pure white space, a lamp flickered weakly before being brutally slapped to the ground by a pair of hands. The lampshade shattered, but the flame continued to dance incessantly.
Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, love, hate, desire.
How long had it been since it trembled? The lamp representing love had lit up.
The woman leaned over, holding the flame in the palm of her hand, irritated and wanting to pinch it out, but everything she did was in vain.
She did not know when she had sealed away all her emotions. Now that there was a fluctuation in her emotions, she did not know if it was good or bad.
In any case… she did not like this emotion.
And she liked Xing Yun, who had transmitted her separated soul back and then summoned her over, even less.
“Xing Yun…” she muttered to herself, “Since you have come, die here. I will pick the best cemetery for you.”
Usually, on the day after all games end, everyone gathers in the game lobby to review. God chooses some highlight clips to distribute performance points; of course, those who performed too poorly are punished by God.
It is said that players favored by God have been summoned away by God to receive blessings.
Before the review began, there was whispering: “Have you heard? The strongest one went through a living hell.”
“The strongest is not the most terrifying, is she? I think Tong Huiran’s dungeon was scarier; it turned people into long worms and slime-oozing plants. I feel nauseous just thinking about it. If someone afraid of bugs went to that dungeon, would it not be a disaster?”
“If you ask me, killing bugs is less psychologically taxing than killing people. If I go to this dungeon, I can finally let go of my psychological pressure. Still, the dilapidated hotel Yu Yan was in was scary. Only eleven people survived.”
“Damn, so you mean there was some unlucky person who was not assigned to the same dungeon as their teammates, 1vN? And someone like that can still come back?”
“I heard they were teleported back when the time was up; they did not even know how they cleared the level.”
“I asked around. This must be a kill-dungeon. I heard a lot of people died. It should be that if a certain number die, you get teleported back.”
An old man: “No way, sister… your information is too outdated. I heard it was because a newcomer sacrificed themselves, and it turned out that the newcomer had good luck and survived. Someone saw the big boss Yu Yan waiting for her until the middle of the night. They were hugging each other and crying, it was just like a melodrama.”
“There is a story like that?”
A newcomer nearby said tremblingly: “The newcomer you are talking about, I think I know… the one who was teleported to the pure white space with me. I think she is quite extraordinary. She is basically a pervert.”
The old man laughed: “Then your luck is not bad. I heard she is also a beautiful beauty.”
The newcomer shrank his neck. Even if she is a beauty, she must be a femme fatale.
An old man snorted disdainfully: “Sacrifice? Do you think you are in an Infinite Game or a fairy tale world? Are any of you here good people? Everyone, have you forgotten how you all got here?”
As soon as the old man finished speaking, everyone fell silent.
The Nine-Tailed Fox appeared at this time. Representing the system, it understood everyone’s performance in the dungeon: [Then, let us all enjoy some highlight moments together.]