When Fu Songcheng’s feet touched solid ground again, he heard the system notification.
[Players ‘Fu Songcheng’ and ‘Yu Huaiting’ have successfully cleared the B-rank confrontation instance.]
The mechanical voice announced in its routine manner. In midair, a virtual screen unfolded before the two.
[Instance Completion Rating: A-rank.]
[Distributing clear rewards.]
[Congratulations to players ‘Fu Songcheng’ and ‘Yu Huaiting’. Points obtained: 5,000.]
“Only five thousand?”
Yu Huaiting flexed his wrist, his flamboyant white hair swaying in the air with the motion. “Stingy as always.”
Fu Songcheng ignored his complaints.
“Netting five thousand points in half a day, and the difficulty wasn’t even high. That’s pretty good.”
Fu Songcheng’s voice carried an imperceptible hoarseness and fatigue.
Because this round had ended so quickly, when the two returned to the rest area, the system time showed that less than six hours had passed since they’d entered the instance.
[Distributing additional item rewards.]
The mechanical voice sounded again. Then, two exquisite blind boxes dropped into the void before each of them.
Yu Huaiting raised an eyebrow and reached out to open his.
A faint glimmer flashed, and a slender, sharp silver needle gleaming with an eerie silver light appeared in his palm.
[Special Item Obtained: Swallow-a-Thousand-Needles of Falsehood.]
“Those who speak lies must swallow a thousand needles.”
[Usage Instructions: Designate a target and use this item. For the next two hours, the designated target must answer all your questions and may only speak the truth. If a lie is detected, the designated target will be forced to swallow a thousand physical steel needles, causing irreversible internal organ piercing damage.]
[Holder: Yu Huaiting.]
“Swallow a thousand needles? That’s a downright sinister punishment.”
Yu Huaiting looked at the slender silver needle in his hand, a wicked smile curling at the corner of his mouth. “Fu Songcheng, want me to test it on you first? I’m really curious about you.”
“You can try. We can die together.”
Fu Songcheng gave Yu Huaiting a faint glance with his narrow eyes and opened his own blind box.
The light dispersed, and a short-handled axe with an antique design and a dark red blood groove along its edge floated before him.
[Special Item Obtained: Axe-Chisel of True Heart.]
“Must you use an axe to chisel it open bit by bit before your true heart can be seen?”
[Usage Instructions: Designate a target and drive this axe into their body (in a non-lethal location). For the next twenty-four hours, the target will completely lose the ability to speak lies. Any attempt to lie will trigger a secondary tearing of the axe within the body.]
[Holder: Fu Songcheng.]
Fu Songcheng’s defined fingers gripped the axe handle, casually weighing it in his hand.
He turned his head to look at Yu Huaiting, who was still fiddling with the silver needle. “Twenty-four hours without lying should be enough for you to confess every stupid thing you’ve done from childhood to now.”
“Such a vengeful heart, Brother Fu~”
The smile on Yu Huaiting’s face deepened, eager to try. “How about we test them on each other at the same time?”
Fearing that if he said another word, this lunatic might actually use the item on him, Fu Songcheng snorted coldly and put his newly obtained item into the system space.
At this hour, the system hall wasn’t very crowded.
Fu Songcheng raised his wrist to check his watch—they’d departed at noon rest-area time, and it was now nine at night.
An afternoon of instance-running, though not high in difficulty, had still drained his mental energy. Fu Songcheng wanted to go back and rest.
“Settlement’s done. I’m heading back to my room.”
He turned and started toward the rest area.
“Wait a bit.”
An arm—well-proportioned yet full of power—suddenly barred across Fu Songcheng’s chest, precisely blocking his way.
Fu Songcheng stopped, frowning slightly. His gaze fell on the arm blocking him, then followed it up to Yu Huaiting. “Move your hand.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
Yu Huaiting not only didn’t move his hand—he stepped forward and planted himself directly in front of Fu Songcheng.
Unlike Fu Songcheng’s exhaustion, Yu Huaiting was still in an extremely excited state.
“What do you want?”
Fu Songcheng looked at him in confusion.
Yu Huaiting was taken aback. He irritably scratched his messy white hair. “I don’t know what I want either.”
He genuinely didn’t know.
But right now, he just didn’t want this person to leave his sight—didn’t want to be separated from Fu Songcheng. Even their bickering, neither giving way to the other—he liked this state.
Yu Huaiting didn’t know what this feeling was either, but if he liked it, he had to have it.
“If you don’t know what you want to do, go register at a psychiatric ward and get your head checked.”
Fu Songcheng said coldly, turning sideways to go around him.
“Don’t!”
Yu Huaiting stuck to him again like taffy, grabbing Fu Songcheng’s sleeve. “Clearing a B-rank instance this fast—we’ve got to celebrate, right?”
“I remember you’re number one on the Power Ranking? You call this little bit of results worth celebrating?”
Fu Songcheng lowered his eyes, looking at the hand gripping his sleeve, and softened his tone. “Go back and rest, alright?”
“Let’s go for a drink! Just one!”
Yu Huaiting ignored the low pressure radiating off Fu Songcheng.
He suddenly bent down, bringing that aggressively handsome face right up to Fu Songcheng’s, deliberately drawing out his voice, his tone even carrying a hint of goosebump-inducing coquetry.
“Brother Fu~”
“Brother Songcheng~”
“Look, I’m begging you like this—just keep me company! Drinking alone is so boring. Could you bear to let me face all those ravenous players in the tavern by myself?”
A white-haired young man over 1.85 meters tall, who could cleave his way through instances seven in and seven out with a greatsword, was now acting like a giant Samoyed trying to wag his tail and beg.
Fu Songcheng’s temples throbbed from his drawn-out “Brother Fu.”
“…Let go.”
He was somewhat helpless.
“You agree?” Yu Huaiting’s eyes lit up.
“I just can’t bear to let the tavern’s players face the ravenous you.”
Fu Songcheng shook off his hand, straightened his rumpled cuff, and waved helplessly. “You lead the way.”
“No problem!” Yu Huaiting immediately beamed and fell in beside him.
The system tavern.
The two found a relatively secluded, quiet booth and sat down.
The service robot glided over and projected the virtual menu onto the table.
Fu Songcheng’s slender fingers tapped casually twice on the screen and said flatly to the robot, “Low-alcohol fruit wine. Put it on his tab.”
Yu Huaiting leaned over to glance at Fu Songcheng’s order screen and couldn’t help smacking his lips. “You’re ordering this sickly-sweet fruit juice—who are you trying to fool?”
“You.”
Fu Songcheng leaned back against the sofa, legs crossed, utterly candid. “Since when do you get a say in what I drink?”
Yu Huaiting snorted sulkily and turned to swipe rapidly through the menu.
He deliberately picked the highest-proof, most expensive hard liquors, ordering several bottles in one go.
Before long, the drinks were delivered.
Before Fu Songcheng sat a glass of clear, light-colored fruit wine giving off a faint peach aroma.
Before Yu Huaiting was a spread of colorful, frosty bottles of hard liquor.
Yu Huaiting poured himself a full glass of amber-colored spirits, tipped his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he downed the high-proof alcohol—enough to instantly floor an ordinary person—in a few gulps.
“Ahh!”
Yu Huaiting slammed the glass heavily onto the table and let out a long breath of alcohol-laced air.
He looked at Fu Songcheng opposite him, who was lifting his cup and taking small sips of the fruit wine, and couldn’t help pursing his lips.
Fu Songcheng drank very slowly.
He kept his head lowered. From Yu Huaiting’s angle, he could only see his thick eyelashes and straight nose bridge.
The dim light fell on Fu Songcheng’s profile, softening the standoffish coldness about him. Yu Huaiting didn’t know if it was the alcohol or something else—he felt something burning in his chest.
Something was about to burst out.
Leave a Reply