Chapter 29.2 Some people, once lost, are gone forever
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“What are you looking at?” a voice came from behind Lin Zhaohe.
“Just enjoying the show,” Lin Zhaohe said, “What is Jiang Guan up to…” After he finished speaking, he realized whose voice it was. He turned around and his forehead brushed against Zhuang Lao’s lips. He felt a warm and soft sensation, which momentarily bewildered Lin Zhaohe. Unknowingly, he thought, “Even the coldest straight man has a warm heart.”
“Lost in thought, huh?” Zhuang Lao tapped Lin Zhaohe’s forehead with his finger. “Yellow Banana Girl.”
Lin Zhaohe snapped back to reality in an instant, regretting his attire to the point of wanting to die. “Boss, why are you here?”
“Well, Xiao Lin, trying out cosplay, huh?” Yun Yuzi appeared behind Zhuang Lao and also caught sight of the sight that Lin Zhaohe least wanted to be seen.
Lin Zhaohe simply ignored her and said, “Boss, what brings you here?”
“Isn’t this the final destination of the second level?” Zhuang Lao said. “We obtained a password and wanted to come and take a look.”
“Boss Zhuang, you’re here?” Jiang Guan heard their conversation outside the door and invited them, “Come in and talk.”
Zhuang Lao pushed open the door and led a few people inside.
“Do you have any clues about her?” Jiang Guan asked. She was the friend who was invited to participate in the game.
The space of this game was so vast that finding her was an incredibly difficult task.
“She made it through the first level but got separated from the group in the second level,” Yun Yuzi shared the clues she had found. “Since then, no one has seen her.”
Jiang Guan’s expression turned cold. Her demeanor was completely different from before, no longer gentle and intellectual. “Find her. If you can’t find her, none of you will be able to leave.”
“Who says?” Someone couldn’t sit still as soon as Jiang Guan spoke. Whether it was due to the additional information provided by Zhuang Lao and the others or not, the person with the surname Lu protested, “We’ve worked so hard to get here. Why can’t we leave?”
“Why?” Jiang Guan asked coldly. “I want to see who can take it away from me.”
Someone tried to persuade, “There are other passwords… Let’s all calm down for now.”
“Um…” Lin Zhaohe spoke softly, “I… I found your sister.”
Jiang Guan’s eyes lit up, and she immediately rushed in front of Lin Zhaohe. She asked, “Where is she?” It seemed that she didn’t notice anything strange about Lin Zhaohe’s attire, which eased Lin Zhaohe’s mind a bit.
“She…” Lin Zhaohe appeared hesitant.
Jiang Guan looked at his expression and immediately had a sense of foreboding.
As expected, Lin Zhaohe whispered, “I saw her in the morgue.”
He had seen a photo of Jiang Guan’s sister and firmly remembered the youthful face. The Level One objective of entering the game was to find Jiang Guan’s sister, so whenever Lin Zhaohe encountered someone, he would first observe their face.
Unfortunately, when he found the body in the morgue, he saw the face that everyone was searching for.
Jiang Guan’s sister was already dead.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Guan erupted in anger. She grabbed a gun and shot Mr. Lu, who was standing next to her, directly in the leg. Caught off guard by Jiang Guan’s sudden attack, Mr. Lu screamed in agony and fell to the ground, clutching his leg.
The others were terrified by Jiang Guan’s actions and dared not utter a word, but Zhuang Lao remained composed, his expression casual. “Stay calm.”
“Stay calm?!” Jiang Guan’s eyes turned red, and her expression became wild and deranged. “She’s dead! How am I supposed to stay calm? It’s all because of you, Lu Pingping, inviting her to play this game! I want you to accompany her in death—”
Lu Pingping shrieked and crawled backward, but Jiang Guan’s bodyguards immediately restrained him.
“Isn’t this just a game?” Zhuang Lao spoke, his tone nonchalant. “Since it’s a game, there must be a resurrection mechanism, right?”
His words left everyone present in a daze.
Lin Zhaohe looked at Zhou Ze, an experienced player, and asked, “Hey, is that possible?”
“Well… it’s possible,” Zhou Ze was quite startled by Jiang Guan’s display and was momentarily stunned when Zhuang Lao asked him. But he quickly regained his composure and said, “Yes, resurrection is possible at the Boundary!” Although this feature was rarely used by anyone and had almost been forgotten over time.
In the Boundary, when one died, they would automatically resurrect at a checkpoint. The more deaths one had, the longer the required resurrection time. However, in reality, there were no checkpoints, so resurrection didn’t occur. But Zhou Ze distinctly remembered that in multiplayer games, there was an item that could revive teammates. However, the conditions for its appearance were extremely demanding, and if one was lucky enough to find it, they would use it, but if not, they wouldn’t actively search for it.
For players who didn’t often play this game, they might not encounter it even after dozens of rounds.
“The Scale of Anubis!” Zhou Ze exclaimed. “As long as we find the victim’s heart and place it on the scales… the deceased will revive!”
Jiang Guan’s face lit up with excitement. “Lin Zhaohe! Where did you see her corpse?”
“In the morgue,” Lin Zhaohe replied. “It’s quite far from here.”
“Let’s go there,” Jiang Guan said.
“It’s not appropriate for so many people to go together,” Lin Zhaohe hesitated. “Aside from the flashlight issue, what if we encounter monsters later? Where will we hide?”
“You’re right,” Jiang Guan shifted her gaze. “These people are all useless. Boss Zhuang, could you please accompany me there?” She then gave instructions, “You, keep an eye on them and don’t let them touch the safe. The three of you, go outside and search for items, room by room. Don’t miss any.”
The four bodyguards nodded in agreement.
After Jiang Guan finished speaking, she cast a gloomy gaze at Lu Pingping. “You better pray that Nannan is fine.”
Lu Pingping was in so much pain that he had already passed out, lying on the ground, barely breathing. He couldn’t hear Jiang Guan’s words at all.
It was a struggle to find the exit, only to realize they had to leave again. The children couldn’t handle it anymore, but fortunately, Jiang Guan didn’t give them a hard time. She simply asked them to wait there.
“You wait here too,” Lin Zhaohe beckoned to Zhou Ze.
“Are you all going outside?” Zhou Ze stuttered. “But… didn’t we already…” He originally wanted to say they had already found the password but saw Lin Zhaohe gesturing for silence, so he kept quiet.
“This is work,” Lin Zhaohe said. “It’s also life.”
Zhou Ze thought to himself, “Do all adults have it this tough?”
Guided by his memory, Lin Zhaohe led the group towards the morgue. When they were about halfway there, the overhead lights suddenly turned on, and the entire second floor space transformed into a striking red color.
This relieved Lin Zhaohe. He didn’t want another unexpected transformation due to the flashlight later on. There were quite a few people around this time, and transforming would undoubtedly lead to social death.
“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Lao noticed Lin Zhaohe hesitating and asked.
“It’s nothing,” Lin Zhaohe said. “With so many of us going over, what if the alarm goes off later? There won’t even be a cabinet to hide in.”
“It’s fine,” Jiang Guan said lightly. “Just find a few cabinets where you can hide. Don’t worry about us.”
Lin Zhaohe nodded in response.
Walking towards the morgue, Lin Zhaohe prayed silently that the alarm wouldn’t go off. But as luck would have it, just as they were about to reach the morgue, the alarm suddenly blared.
“There are several cabinets over there!” Lin Zhaohe shouted. “Let’s hurry over!” He had only taken a couple of steps when he felt his body being lifted. Lin Zhaohe turned around and saw that it was Zhuang Lao carrying him.
“We’ll go together and leave one cabinet for them,” Zhuang Lao whispered.
Lin Zhaohe thought it made sense and didn’t argue. When they reached the cabinets, Zhuang Lao released his hold from behind and both of them squeezed into the same cabinet.
The game’s tension heightened due to Zhuang Lao’s actions. Lin Zhaohe spoke softly, “B-Boss?”
Zhuang Lao’s voice came from above, and his chin lightly rested on Lin Zhaohe’s head, causing a subtle tickling sensation. “Am I squeezing you?”
“N-not r-really…” Lin Zhaohe stammered. He rarely had such intimate contact with others. Zhuang Lao’s chest pressed against his back, separated only by their thin clothes. He could almost feel Zhuang Lao’s heartbeat pulsating through his skin.
The red light outside seemed to transform into a shade of pink, filling the air with an ambiguous atmosphere.
Blushing, Lin Zhaohe lowered his head and whispered, “Boss…”
“Shh,” Zhuang Lao’s finger pressed against Lin Zhaohe’s lips. “Don’t speak.”
Lin Zhaohe obediently fell silent, curling up in Zhuang Lao’s embrace like a child. It seemed that every time he had contact with Zhuang Lao, he felt a sense of security. As long as the boss was by his side, he feared nothing.
There were a total of three cabinets here, including the one occupied by Lin Zhaohe and Zhuang Lao, leaving two more. Even if each cabinet could accommodate two people, Jiang Guan’s bodyguard would still have no place to hide. What should they do? Lin Zhaohe thought they shouldn’t have all moved together like this. It was practically offering themselves as targets.
Clearly understanding what Lin Zhaohe was thinking, Zhuang Lao lowered his head, his lips near Lin Zhaohe’s ear, and whispered softly, “Don’t worry about them.”
Lin Zhaohe swallowed nervously and nodded obediently.
Moments later, accompanied by the piercing alarm, the previously heard rustling footsteps echoed from outside. This time, there was light, and through the cracks in the cabinet, Lin Zhaohe could barely make out the appearance of the approaching figure.
It was a gigantic monster, seemingly stitched together from numerous human bodies. Its towering form almost reached the ceiling, covered in countless faces and body parts. Its multiple legs allowed it to move swiftly, and it quickly arrived at the location where Lin Zhaohe was hiding.
As expected, Jiang Guan’s security guards failed to find a hiding spot. Two of them—Jiang Guan didn’t even make room for them—stood silently in place, awaiting the arrival of death. However, there was no sign of fear on their faces as death approached. They stood motionless, like emotionless puppets.
The following scene was one Lin Zhaohe didn’t want to witness anymore. He averted his gaze and ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪꜱᴛᴜʀʙɪɴɢ ꜱᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴄʜᴇᴡᴇᴅ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴏᴜᴛꜱɪᴅᴇ. The sound made him uncomfortable, and he involuntarily swallowed.
In the next moment, his ears were covered by a pair of warm hands, blocking out all the unpleasant noises behind the back of those hands.
Lin Zhaohe’s body trembled slightly.
Zhuang Lao must have thought he was still uncomfortable, so he murmured something softly, but Lin Zhaohe’s attention was focused on his hands and he couldn’t make out the words.
When the hands were removed, and the monster had moved away, Zhuang Lao opened the cabinet door and released Lin Zhaohe from his embrace. He bent down, helping Lin Zhaohe straighten his clothes.
Yun Yuzi, standing nearby, had a mischievous glint in her eyes. She joked, “Lin Zhaohe, in just a moment, your legs went weak?”
Lin Zhaohe stammered, trying to say, “How can you tarnish my innocence by falsely accusing me of having weak legs…”
“That’s enough,” Zhuang Lao interrupted them. “Lead the way.”
Lin Zhaohe acknowledged with a sound of understanding and turned around to continue towards the morgue. As he walked forward, he felt the slippery ground beneath his feet and glanced down, noticing a large pool of blood, presumably from the two bodyguards. However, their bodies were nowhere to be seen, and their fate could be easily imagined. But even so, Lin Zhaohe didn’t detect a hint of emotion on Jiang Guan’s face. She seemed unaffected by the deaths of her bodyguards, only revealing a slight smile when Zhuang Lao instructed Lin Zhaohe to lead the way.
“I appreciate your assistance,” Jiang Guan said. “If possible, please hurry.”
Lin Zhaohe muttered under his breath, “Truly hidden depths.”
Jiang Guan smiled and looked at him. “Speaking of hidden depths… I’ve actually seen the Fruit Magical Team too.”
Lin Zhaohe: “?” Just stop talking—
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