Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 10

Kofi Link

Lin Qiao saw the gun in the doctor player’s hand and wanted him to throw it over. Before he could speak, the car window was shattered from the outside. Yan Ting’s deep voice, laced with anger, commanded, “Duck.” Lin Qiao obediently lowered his head. In the second that followed, a bullet grazed his ear and exploded behind his head. Before Lin Qiao could react, he heard the roar of the shadow behind him.

It sounded like some kind of rumbling whistle, yet also like the roar of a humanoid creature. Unlike the guttural sounds of zombies, this roar resonated from the chest, deep and muffled. Lin Qiao immediately rolled over and grabbed the player’s gun, firing several shots towards the back.

The human-shaped graffiti dispersed but quickly reformed, moving much slower now. However, it was enraged by Lin Qiao’s resistance and, ignoring Yan Ting’s gunfire, lunged directly at Lin Qiao. The doctor player realized something was wrong, opened the door, and ran out without even attempting to pull Lin Qiao along. In fact, he closed the door so quickly that Lin Qiao couldn’t get out and was grabbed by the hair, pushed down onto the seat.

Guns were effective against the shadows but only slowed their reformation. There must be something else that could deal with them—light! Lin Qiao always carried a flashlight. He felt for it and shone it backward. However, Yan Ting scolded, “Don’t shine it!” It was too late; Lin Qiao’s flashlight illuminated the entire cabin.

As Yan Ting spoke from outside, he had already opened the door and lunged in. He grabbed the shadow and pulled it out of the car. Lin Qiao then noticed that the human-shaped graffiti, once illuminated by the light, reformed more quickly and turned even darker. He quickly turned off the flashlight and got out of the car to help.

The shadow, empowered by the light, had grown stronger. Even after being grabbed by Yan Ting, it wrapped around him, barely slowed by the bullets. “Don’t come closer,” Yan Ting’s light-colored eyes seemed unnatural in the dark, his voice cold and deadly. Perhaps fearing to scare Lin Qiao, he added, “Stay there and don’t move.”

He was waiting for the shadow to envelop him, a matter of two sentences, maybe three or four seconds. Yan Ting then raised his gun and shot himself. The human-shaped graffiti didn’t expect this human to be so ruthless, firing five or six shots without blinking. It realized it had encountered a tough opponent. The shadow fled in disarray, having been mostly dispersed.

Yan Ting had shot his left side, but the shadow had lost its lower half. It was unclear how exactly the rogue graffiti had wrapped around Yan Ting.

“Yan Ting!” Lin Qiao shouted, rushing over to support him. Yan Ting was bleeding. His clothes and flesh had been corroded by the human-shaped graffiti. Because he had shot himself, the bullets, though hitting the shadow, had not lost their force. Some had penetrated Yan Ting’s body, likely damaging his internal organs.

Tsck. Lin Qiao didn’t notice the system’s response. He was thinking that if he hadn’t turned on the flashlight, if it hadn’t been to save him, Yan Ting wouldn’t have been so severely injured.

Thud, thud. Lin Qiao’s tears kept falling. He cried as he administered first aid to Yan Ting, tearing his own shirt to bandage the wounds. “I’m sorry,” he trembled, apologizing over and over again. “I’m sorry…”

In the darkness, Yan Ting’s breathing was steady. He was observing Lin Qiao. Seeing how hard the other was crying, he explained, “I’m fine.”

Lin Qiao continued to cry, with a sense of release in his sobs. Because of Lin Qiao’s crying, Yan Ting deliberately stayed in the car a bit longer, but that was all. Soon he went out to command the others, trying to drive back the shadows and break through the encirclement.

Yan Ting was a good leader—calm and ruthless enough not to linger for anyone. He would abandon passengers who were beyond saving and wouldn’t bother with those who didn’t follow orders. The passengers, like Lin Qiao, made the same mistake of trying to use headlights to drive back the shadows. When Yan Ting explained that light would strengthen the shadows, the passengers didn’t believe him. Light gave humans a sense of security, and they were unwilling to give up their only source of brightness.

But soon the players discovered that Yan Ting was right. The bodyguard player broke down, shouting, “Damn it! Turn off the lights! Turn them off right now, or I’ll kill whoever turns them on again!”

The female lover tore her skirt and tied it around her waist, saying, “Don’t conflict with the NPCs now.” The female internet celebrity’s arm had already been corroded in one spot, and she was protecting the crying flight attendant player. The brown-haired male player stayed back at the plane and didn’t follow. The doctor player had hidden somewhere unknown. The engineer player had already broken down. After struggling free from the shadow that had enveloped him, he became dazed and confused.

Lin Qiao fired from inside the car. He didn’t dare to go out and risk breaking his character, so he could only help in this way. His bullets were limited, and just as his magazine ran empty, the window of a nearby car suddenly lowered. The blonde boy was sitting inside, tossing a box of bullets to Lin Qiao with an ambiguous comment: “Big brother is so amazing.”

The boy’s mother was guarding him nearby and also smiled at Lin Qiao. The system didn’t alert Lin Qiao that breaking his character had been detected by the game, so he became a bit bolder, hiding behind the car and firing shots. Because of his good position, Lin Qiao could see the entire situation. Some passengers, realizing the shadows were too strong here, deliberately guided them towards Yan Ting and his group.

Lin Qiao stood up and aimed, firing a few shots that shattered the other car’s headlights. The scene plunged into darkness, and the passengers’ curses were endless. At that moment, Yan Ting took advantage of the night to spit out a mouthful of blood. Lin Qiao immediately rushed over to support him. Yan Ting said, “Go to the car.”

Lin Qiao took him to the car, and Yan Ting suddenly asked, “Can you drive?” Lin Qiao was taken aback, but Yan Ting directly said, “Go to the driver’s seat and drive. Honk three times before you leave, and I’ll direct you.”

Lin Qiao pursed his lips and obediently went to drive. Yan Ting’s Adam’s apple moved up and down, and his voice became hoarse: “I know there are other ways out.”

For a moment, Lin Qiao’s mind raced with thoughts, but he urgently honked the car and drove away. Unable to resist, he asked the system, “Is something wrong with Yan Ting? Did he discover I’m not an NPC?”

The system replied: [Yes.]

“Then have I been detected by the game?”

[No.]

Lin Qiao was full of questions, like a curious child: “Then…”

[Focus on driving.]

Lin Qiao had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and follow Yan Ting’s directions towards the airport. The men in black suits, receiving the signal, quickly got into their cars and followed closely behind. They lifted the pilot and drove away with the vehicle loaded with supplies. The players, seeing this, hurriedly followed. Bodyguard Zhong Minglang pulled out the players hiding under the car and threw them onto the vehicle. The female lover, along with the other female players, squeezed into the supply-loaded car. The deranged engineer player, on the other hand, crawled into another passenger’s car. The passengers, seeing that Yan Ting and his group were leaving, became frantic. They fought over the vehicles, attacking each other, and some even prevented others from leaving just because they couldn’t leave themselves. Although the shadows had been driven back and everyone had time to get into the cars, only a few actually made it out.

Lin Qiao gripped the steering wheel, but he felt a familiar wriggling sensation beneath him.

A black humanoid figure emerged from the seat, slowly slipping its hand into Lin Qiao’s clothes and savoring his shivers.

However, the shadow soon froze in place because the timid human didn’t dodge the licking. Instead, he freed his left index finger and began drawing circles on the shadow’s arm.