Ch 191
Sure enough, as Ge Xiu said, in the following days, the boss in this dungeon never appeared again.
The past three days the players were living like in a dream.
They had never experienced such a life in the instance before, there was no ghosts, no bloodshed, no screams, no abrupt death, only the endless rubble and the hazy sky that seemed to never brighten, giving them a weird feeling of realism… Was this place really still inside an instance?
The peaceful days always passed as quickly as running water, and before they knew it, the time arrived.
Everyone stood in the center of the ruins and looked around, feeling extremely complicated.
In less than ten minutes, this instance would come to an end.
It had to be said that the experience in this dungeon really refreshed their worldviews——it felt like everything has ended before it even started.
And they knew very well why.
Either from the shadows or from the light, directly or secretly, everyone’s eyes couldn’t help but sweep towards the young man standing in the distance. He was leaning against a half-fallen wall, resting with closed eyes. He didn’t talk to anyone, but still attracted everyone’s gazes.
The strangeness of this instance stemmed from this handsome young man.
But they didn’t know and couldn’t imagine — what was his identity and how he had done it.
But whatever the answer, one thing was self-evident.
They couldn’t afford to mess with this man.
At this moment, Ge Xiu, who hadn’t said a word until now, opened his eyes without warning, straightened up, turned around and walked towards the crowd.
Those who were watching him secretly felt their heart skip a beat.
They hurriedly looked away, listening anxiously to the other’s regular footsteps approaching little by little.
Ge Xiu looked around casually, and asked:
“Which one of you has a lighter?”
Everyone was slightly taken aback. One of the players, as if awakened from a dream, took out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and hurriedly handed them over.
Ge Xiu shook his head and only took the lighter:
“This is enough.”
After speaking, he put one hand in his pocket and walked slowly towards the ancestral hall still standing in the ruins not far away.
The players looked at each other and saw the same doubts in each other’s eyes.
Seeing the slender figure of the young man going away, everyone hastened to follow.
Ge Xiu walked into the half-covered door of the ancestral hall, looked up at the neatly placed black coffins, then bent down and picked up a piece of human skin puppet that had been torn into shreds.
After three days, the originally moist and soft skin texture had become as dry as paper, emitting a dry rubbing sound with a touch.
Ge Xiu lit the lighter.
Light blue flames rose up in the darkness, reflecting in the depths of his dark eyes, like spots of light jumping in the abyss.
The flames reached the edge of the puppet and the bright flame began to spread to the torn puppet. The pale edges were burned into a pitch black color by the flames and the foul-smelling smoke rose from the point of fire, instantly filling the entire space.
Ge Xiu raised his hand.
The flame fluttered and fell towards the dark coffin.
Ge Xiu’s eyes narrowed slightly, the falling wisp of fire was reflected in his long and narrow eyes, as he whispered to the air:
“Let it burn.”
The next second, a dry wind blew from behind him.
The billowing wind rolled up the loose edges of the young man’s shirt, lifted half of his black hair, brushed over his waist and neck and blew into the dark ancestral hall.
The fire was fuelled several feet high in an instant by the gust of wind, the blazing flames swallowed the pitch-black coffin, spread along the wall and climbed up to the wooden beams and columns.
Ge Xiu slowly retreated to the outside of the ancestral hall, narrowing his eyes in satisfaction, admiring the flames quickly eating away at the huge building in front of him.
The crackling sound of burning wood spread in the wind and the old wooden structure in front of them fell into a sea of flames in an instant.
Although the players were still some distance away from the main building of the ancestral hall, they could still clearly sense the oncoming heat wave, forcing them to take a few steps back subconsciously. As they retreated to a safe area, they stared at the the only still-standing building in the ruins being burned by the flames, the strong wind carried the flames towards the sky, dyeing half of the entire sky red.
The building barely held up at first.
In the blazing and dazzling fire, it stood quietly as if unaffected, unscathed, and calm as before.
But as time went by, amidst the raging flames, the all-purifying flames penetrating everything gradually occupied the high ground, from the coffins, to the old wooden platforms covered with dust, to the wooden beams inside the ancestral hall, finally, the main building of the ancestral hall seemed to be unable to hold on anymore. Its walls and pillars began to deform and twist under the high temperature, burnt marks were showing on the above.
The thick stench from the burning corpses mixed into thick black smoke, it was billowing towards the sky, mixing with the dark clouds overhead.
An ear-piercing scream rose in the wind.
The sharp howl was like glass being scratched with fingernails, resounding through the space in an instant, the vicious hatred contained in it could almost make everyone’s scalp numb. Players were forced to cover their ears with hands, but the hair-raising pervasive hissing and howling still drilled into their ears abruptly, making their brain feel dull pain.
The sky above showed traces of flames.
Like an ignited paper, a hollow empty black spot was slowly revealed, the hole slowly expanded, swallowing the sky.
Rest of the ruins on the ground were slightly distorted at the same time, the whole world seemed to have been engulfed in a sea of flames, collapsing rapidly.
The players stared at the scene in front of them dumbfoundedly, a sense of unreality hit their hearts and they could hardly believe their eyes.
This…
What was going on?
Some players had vague guesses in their hearts, but they didn’t dare to think deeply.
Could it be that… this instance had been destroyed?
How could it be……?
Finally, the remaining survival time in this instance came to an end.
This time, intermittent electric fluctuations could be clearly heard in the mechanical female voice, like a snowflake screen with a bad signal:
“Congratulations, you survived for three days in this instance and won!”
The next second, the eyes gradually blurred, the burning distorted world was swallowed by darkness, like a dark room with lights being turned off, the only thing left in front of their eyes was boundless darkness.
When Ge Xiu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the blue sky and the clouds floating quietly in the clear sky.
A strange sense of weightlessness came.
Feeling an irresistible pulling force, Ge Xiu stood unsteadily, feeling like the world was revolving in his eyes.
In the shaky sight, he saw the distant block under his feet, the busy flowing streets and the small, ant-like pedestrian heads below. Such terrifying height could make any normal person feel dizzy and scared.
Ge Xiu was pulled to lean forward.
His eyes widened slightly and he subconsciously stretched his hands to his side, trying to find a stable support point, but there was only the empty air within reach.
There was only half of the solid ground under his feet, he couldn’t stabilize his figure, so Ge Xiu could only fall forward unavoidably——
He had already seen the distant ground approaching, when he suddenly felt a cold palm supporting his side.
A strong force came from behind and pulled him back abruptly.
Ge Xiu stumbled back a few steps, his back hit a solid chest, and then he stabilized his steps.
He breathed out slowly, collected himself, and raised his eyes to look at the place where he stood just now.
It was the top of a construction building, with no fences around the edges, surrounded by unfinished elements left by construction workers, where only the whistling wind blowing past the entire top floor could be heard.
Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly.
The fact game send him there had self-evident implications.
——Go to hell.
It seems that burning that instance in the last world had a big impact on the game.
While thinking wildly, Ge Xiu turned his head to look behind him.
A man with a pale and gloomy face stood behind him, holding his waist firmly with one hand, staring at him with downcast eyes. Those dark and cold eyes were fixedly staring at Ge Xiu, his whole body was like silent as cold like a marble statue.
“Can you come out?” Ge Xiu stood up from his arms and asked in surprise.
The man’s hand rested on the young man’s flexible waist for a moment, and then he retracted it without a trace: “I can now.”
Ge Xiu tilted his head thoughtfully and continued to ask: “Could it be that this game’s restraint on you will also weaken as it weakens?”
The man nodded slightly.
Ge Xiu patted the dust that didn’t exist off his body, and asked again:
“By the way, I haven’t asked yet, what’s your name?”
The man replied without hesitation: “I don’t remember.”
Ge Xiu was startled: “Don’t remember?”
“Yes.”
“Then what do you remember?”
The man lowered his eyes, looked at Ge Xiu’s face deeply, and said seriously:
“Before I met you, my memory was blank and I acted under the control of games, until the moment I saw you. That’s when I regained self-awareness and began to break away from the original program and shackles little by little.”
Ge Xiu was a little uncomfortable being watched by him and subconsciously looked away.
The man continued: “But, although I don’t remember anything, there is one thing I’m sure of.”
“What?” Ge Xiu asked.
The man’s dark and deep eyebrows were slightly soft: “I know you.”
“…”
Ge Xiu took a deep breath, turned his head, and raised his hand to rub his slightly hot ears, muttering: “… You really know how to sweet talk.”
He narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him and said coldly, “I don’t like your tricks, let’s talk about it when you remember my name.”
The man was stunned for a moment, and then chuckled softly:
“… …Okay.”
.
Cheng Xiao received a call from Ge Xiu.
Before the other party entered the dungeon, he stuffed his other spare mobile phone into the other party’s backpack so that he could contact him after leaving the dungeon.
He instantly cheered up: “Oh my God, you came out so fast! How was it? Did you find the last instance’s…”
“I’ll be at your house soon, I have something to talk about.” Ge Xiu interrupted his words.
The young man opposite seemed to hesitate for two seconds, and then asked, “Mind if I bring someone?”
“Who?” Cheng Xiao was also taken aback.
“… Forget it, I’m already here, you open the door.”
He heard knocking and Cheng Xiao quickly ran to open the door. As soon as he opened the door, he saw two people standing outside.
On the front was Ge Xiu and standing behind him was a tall, handsome man with a gloomy face. His complexion was pale and bloodless, alike to a nobleman living deep in an ancient castle. His eyes were dark and gloomy and he brought with him the powerful aura that seemed to permeate from the bones, giving others a kind of faint sense of oppression that rejected everyone away, making people instinctively aware of danger and fear.
Cheng Xiao was taken aback: “You are…”
That man with a strong aura out his hand first, the sickly paleness also showing on his slender fingertips, as he politely introduced himself:
“Hello, I’m his boyfriend, nice to meet you.”
Ge Xiu: “…”
Cheng Xiao : “…????”
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Cheng Xiao was dumbfounded.
What the other party said was very simple, obviously they were all simple words, but when he heart them combined he couldn’t react for a long while until they let go of their hands:
“…wait, what?”
Ge Xiu: “…”
He took a deep breath and smiled: “Don’t pay attention to him.”
The man frowned slightly: “Why? Obviously you also…”
Before he finished speaking, he was elbowed in abdomen: “Ouch!”
Ge Xiu withdrew his arm without changing his face, curve of his lips deepened a bit: “—Some people just like to joke.”
Cheng Xiao: “…”
He stared blankly at the two people in front of him, his gaze moved between them.
Not knowing why… He always felt that there was an atmosphere between these two people that made others unable to interfere.
Like a natural familiarity that would still be revealed inadvertently even if it wasn’t explicitly expressed.
There was always a smile on the young man’s face.
A looming, careless smile hung on his lips, making him seem peaceful and friendly to everyone, he rarely expressed any overly sharp views and opinions, but no one can see through the faint smile and see clearly his thoughts and intentions.
The depths of those dark eyes were always cold, as if they are separated from the whole world by a layer of diaphragm, alienated and indifferent to everything.
Coupled with his appearance, the astonishing face was extremely striking, just like how beautiful colorful animals were often poisonous. Even if they haven’t noticed it, people would always subconsciously stay away from danger, instinctively keeping a distance when talking or touching, as if some primitive nature was quietly whispering in their mind.
Before today, Cheng Xiao was actually not that sensitive about this aspect, at most it was just an vague feeling.
Although the young man in front of him still had a smile on his face and a calm expression on his face, he was inexplicably more energetic. The suspiciously intimace attitude was not expressed in his words, instead seeping from the details, making people suddenly realize how different his attitude was when facing other people.
After being elbowed hard, the tall man obediently stopped talking.
His eyelashes drooped, his eyes were slightly darkened, there was an inexplicable sense of gentle indulgence in the black deep eyes.
The two stood together unexpectedly harmoniously.
Cheng Xiao couldn’t hold back, and asked, “You… have known each other for a long time?”
Ge Xiu shrugged: “Pretty much.”
“Is he also a player from this game?”
Ge Xiu paused for two seconds: “…You could say that “
Cheng Xiao widened his eyes slightly, and said with emotion: “Then you two met in the game, what a coincidence!”
The man smiled slightly: “It’s probably fate.”
Ge Xiu: “…”
He turned his head and glanced at the man standing behind him with a complicated face, who was clearly speaking nonsense without a script, he took a deep breath and decisively ended the current unnutritious topic: “By the way, he has no place to live, could he stay here for a while?”
Cheng Xiao nodded blankly: “Yes, it’s possible…”
“But there’s only one guest room,” he scratched his head with some embarrassment: “I don’t know…”
Don’t know if this gentleman would mind sleeping on the sofa instead.
However, before Cheng Xiao could finish speaking, the man took over the conversation naturally: “It’s okay, I can share a room with him.”
His eyes were dark and his smile was gentle and shallow, speaking as if he thought it was reasonable: “After all, we’re the guests, there’s no need to embarrass the host.”
Cheng Xiao was taken aback and subconsciously looked at Ge Xiu.
“…” Ge Xiu pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “All right.”
Cheng Xiao was shocked in his heart.
Although the two were not very familiar, he subconsciously felt that Ge Xiu was not the kind of person who could casually let other people share the same room with him.
He actually agreed so easily…
For some reason, Cheng Xiao actually felt that the man’s self-introduction at the beginning seemed quite authentic.
He stepped aside and let the two walk in.
When the man passed by Cheng Xiao’s side, a familiar chilling breath passed by.
Cheng Xiao’s nose itched slightly and he sneezed.
He rubbed his slightly red nose, looked up at the straight back of the man who had passed by and inexplicably recalled the touch when he shook hands with him just now.
——Were normal human’s hands so cold?
This fleeting question flashed through Cheng Xiao’s mind, so fast that he could hardly catch it.
He shook his head, brushed that thought out of his mind, and reached out to close the open door.
Cheng Xiao poured a glass of water for the two of them and then sat on the sofa.
He took a sip of the warm water in his glass and asked, “How was it? Has the last instance went well?”
Ge Xiu nodded casually: “It was alright.”
Cheng Xiao was a little nervous: “Had many people died?”
Ge Xiu Xiu pondered and after a moment of thought replied: “One.”
Cheng Xiao was stunned: “Only one?”
Although he didn’t enter the game many times, but for only one player to die, even he knew that this kind of situation was unusual.
Ge Xiu thought for a while: “But… To be precise, it should be two?”
If the instance’s boss was also counted.
“Two is not too much.” Cheng Xiao breathed a sigh of relief: “It seems that the difficulty of your last instance wasn’t very difficult, at least this game still has a little bit of conscience. After all, you were only given an hour of preparation time after the last instance. …”
Ge Xiu listened with a smile on his face and nodded without saying a word.
At this moment, Cheng Xiao suddenly thought of something: “By the way, speaking of it, when will you start the next game?”
Ge Xiu lowered his head and looked at the watch on his wrist.
Unexpectedly, the time on the electronic dial seemed to be disturbed by electromagnetic interference, flashing non-stop, as if something went wrong.
Cheng Xiao leaned over and frowned: “…what’s going on?”
The foreheads of the two were very close, as if they were about to touch each other.
He was puzzled: “I’ve never seen such a situation before…”
Halfway through the sentence, Cheng Xiao felt a chill climb up the back of his neck, an unsettling feeling like being targeted by a predator climbed up from his back. The sense of danger trained in the instance immediately took effect. He raised his head abruptly, just in time to meet the man’s dark eyes with unfathomable emotions.
Those eyes were pitch black and there was no obvious emotional fluctuation, but just a look made people’s heart skip a beat.
Cheng Xiao stepped back subconsciously, putting distance between him and Ge Xiu.
The man casually withdrew his gaze and looked down at the water glass again.
Cheng Xiao shrank his neck, this chilling feeling was like a cold, slippery cold-blooded animal winding around the back of his neck, even though it had disappeared quickly, but the residual touch still made him feel tremble in his heart.
At this time, Ge Xiu raised his head: “It settled.”
Cheng Xiao subconsciously leaned forward, a bit stiffly, and then stopped abruptly, maintaining that half-hunched posture and asked,
“What’s the matter?”
Ge Xiu was unaware of the undercurrents in the living room.
He raised his wrist to show Cheng Xiao: “The number on it had fixed and the next copy will start in 22 hours.”
At the very last, the watch on his wrist no longer acted crazy as if disturbed by something, but finally settled on a number: 22:43
Cheng Xiao frowned.
Although the interval this time had indeed increased compared to the last time, it was still too short.
Generally speaking, seven days between the second and third dungeon was a relatively normal time span, but he had only one day before re-entering the instances, which was simply a tactic of exhausting enemy…
He looked up at Ge Xiu hesitantly.
The young man in front of him had a calm face, not at all frightened by the very short time left his watch, almost no different from the last time he saw his watch had only one hour left.
Ge Xiu stretched his body, yawned, and said lazily:
“In this case, I still have some time to rest—— I’ll take a shower and then go to sleep.”
Cheng Xiao was a little confused: “Wait, wait, with less than a day left, why don’t you make any preparations?”
Ge Xiu stopped and turned to look at him:
“What preparations do we need?”
Cheng Xiao shook the phone in his hand: “I didn’t have time to tell you before, because you entered the instance so shortly, but there is a forum for players of this game, where we usually exchange experience, exchange props or form a team, wait a minute I can pull you in…”
“No need.” Ge Xiu interrupted him.
“Why?” Cheng Xiao was taken aback.
Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes: “Is there a high probability that an instance will appear repeatedly?”
Cheng Xiao hesitated: “It is in theory, but…the possibility is not high…”
“That’s right.” Ge Xiu turned around, walked towards the bathroom without stopping, and said slowly: “Anyway, nothing will change after joining the forum, so why waste time?”
With a bang, the bathroom door closed.
The slender figure of the young man was also blocked behind him.
Only Cheng Xiao and that man were left in the room, the atmosphere became stagnant in an instant.
Cheng Xiao suddenly felt a little restless.
As if pacing beside a sleeping beast, the uneasiness that seemed to rise from the depths of his soul made him feel like there was a thorn in his back.
But the other party obviously didn’t think so.
The tall man sat relaxedly on the sofa, his slender legs crossed on top of each other, his expression was indifferent and calm, his eyelashes were slightly downcast, but his eyes were completely glued to the closed door.
Soon, the sound of dripping water came from the bathroom.
The man raised his eyelids and his dark eyes casually glanced at Cheng Xiao who was sitting beside him.
Although he didn’t say a word, Cheng Xiao couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle.
He hurriedly stood up, stammered an excuse and fled back to his room without looking back.
The door closed behind him.
The man’s substantial sight and that cold and powerful aura were blocked by the door.
Cheng Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and his body relaxed slowly.
He slowly recovered.
No, this was obviously his home!
Why was he the one acting like a thief!
Cheng Xiao scratched his hair in frustration, sat down on the edge of the bed, turned on his phone casually and entered the player’s forum out of boredom.
A very conspicuous post floated on the front page.
It seems that it had just been published, but a tall building of comments was built in a short time, with a bright red HOT written beside it, which looks very conspicuous.
That title was particularly shocking:
“Do you believe that players can counter-kill the instance boss?”
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The author has something to say:
In any case, I believe it
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