Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 20
Lin Qiao recalled a post-apocalyptic movie he had once seen. In it, humans had premonitions before the disaster struck, prompting the elites to build an “ark” to preserve humanity. However, not everyone could be saved; only those who passed genetic screening or were wealthy had the privilege to survive. Lin Qiao didn’t know if Yan Ting had superior genes, but he was definitely wealthy. Coincidentally, there was also a rich man in the movie, who was far from young and handsome like Yan Ting, but he too had brought a lover and bodyguards.
At this thought, Lin Qiao’s expression faltered. The wealthy man in the movie hadn’t bought tickets to the shelter for his lover and bodyguards. So… Lin Qiao tapped the card in his hand with his finger. Had Yan Ting bought tickets for his lover and bodyguards? If he had, why were the bodyguard and lover players unaware? Was it the game deliberately hiding this clue? If he hadn’t, what did it mean for Yan Ting to give him, the male lover, the card?
Lin Qiao put the small card with the chip in his pocket and carefully reviewed Yan Ting’s actions since entering the scenario. From the hijacking to now, Yan Ting hadn’t mentioned the shelter. All players believed that “plane escape, mission duration fourteen days” meant that players had to use the plane to escape and survive for fourteen days on it. If there was a shelter, these clues would take on a different meaning: escaping from the plane to the shelter within fourteen days.
The increasingly harsh survival conditions made Lin Qiao suspect that the latter was the correct way to pass through. The black graffiti, which were hard to detect and powerful in attack, the mutated food and fuel, and the fact that players could be infected after being attacked by the shadows—how were players supposed to play with all these challenges? Moreover, Lin Qiao remembered that the bodyguard player, Zhong Minglang, had once said that killing Yan Ting would have dire consequences.
Did that mean if players initially interpreted “plane escape” as escaping from Yan Ting’s hijacking, or if they killed Yan Ting in an attempt to seize control of the plane, they would never know about the shelter? They would ultimately die in repeated landings, unable to defeat the shadows, with bullets exhausted, and lacking food and fuel. Was this really a low-star scenario? How difficult would a high-star scenario be?
Lin Qiao thought this and directly asked the question. The system coldly provided the answer, its voice indifferent: [The difficulty mode of the scenario is divided into Easy, Hard, and Hell.] [Each mode is further divided into levels one to five. This scenario is a three-star difficulty in Easy mode.] [In Easy mode, levels one to three are for beginners.] The system’s voice seemed to hesitate for a moment, then continued: [The scenario “Plane Escape” has a very low survival rate for unknown reasons.]
“Unknown reasons? So you want me to choose someone to find this unknown reason and help the game find bugs?”
[No.]
The system unexpectedly added after three seconds: [Choose someone you like.]
“Hmm.” Lin Qiao wanted to ask why, but his intuition told him that the system wouldn’t answer even if he asked.
Lin Qiao continued to think about the scenario. At first, Yan Ting didn’t rush the passengers off the plane to avoid delaying the takeoff time. The first landing did let all passengers leave, but by then, the passengers had already discovered the solar anomaly and naturally refused to go. Yan Ting didn’t stop the passengers from getting back on the plane. Perhaps it was out of pity…
Lin Qiao quickly dismissed this idea. Yan Ting wouldn’t abandon his plan out of pity. So it was intentional. He deliberately didn’t drive everyone away and let the passengers stay on the plane. Thinking this way, Lin Qiao dug up all the details from his daily observations. Yan Ting had never used lethal force against the brown-haired man’s provocations. He had admitted that his injury last time was intentional. He was very sure that someone would reveal the message about the solar anomaly. Plus, there was the camera on his collar, and Yan Ting’s indifference to Lin Qiao’s unusual behavior as a male lover… The more Lin Qiao thought about it, the more interesting it became.
Yan Ting, this NPC, was controlling the pace of the entire scenario. If Lin Qiao’s guess was correct, Yan Ting would be more severely injured this time, and when the female internet celebrity thought of the computer, she would know about the shelter.
“I always felt something was off with Yan Ting. Is he, like me, an illegal immigrant? Or is he an NPC who has awakened self-awareness?”
[Neither.]
Lin Qiao bit his nails in frustration, huffing discontentedly. If he wasn’t this and wasn’t that, what on earth was Yan Ting?
[Stop biting.]
Lin Qiao paused, obediently taking his fingers out of his mouth, though he still looked puffed up with anger.
The graffiti hidden in Lin Qiao’s shadow slowly emerged. Taking advantage of the dark cabin and the fact that the remaining four people were nervously staring out the window, it boldly climbed up. From Lin Qiao’s calf to his waist, then to his chest, it sucked on the fingertips that Lin Qiao had once placed in his mouth.
Lin Qiao remained still, narrowing his eyes slightly. “System, it’s not afraid of light, but it has a physical form that can be hit. Could its weakness be high temperature? Or fire?”
The system [Hmm] ed, and Lin Qiao’s lips curled up as he reached out and pinched the contour of the black graffiti’s cheek.
The shadow seemed very excited by the response. Naturally daring to make indecent moves on Lin Qiao, it became even more presumptuous. It followed Lin Qiao’s arm inside the pink sweater,贴着肌肤肆意妄为。
Just then, one of the four remaining people whispered, “They’re coming.”
Lin Qiao looked outside and indeed saw the black graffiti approaching under the moonlight. The remaining four decided to go out and fight. It was hard to maneuver inside the plane, and breaking the glass or damaging the interior would cause trouble.
“Let’s go,” the four called out to Lin Qiao, only to find that the hijacker’s delicate male lover had a flushed face and weakly smiled at them, saying, “I’ll follow right away. I need to prepare something.”
One of the people staying behind was dissatisfied and wanted to say something, but the others stopped him. They could only say, “Even that blonde boy has to go with his mom to gather supplies. You can’t even compare to a kid.”
“Anyway, remember this: if we four die, you won’t survive either.”
Lin Qiao nodded with moist eyes, his body trembling slightly.
As the others went ahead, Lin Qiao grabbed the shadow on his chest and pointed a gun at it, “Don’t cling to me, or I’ll shoot myself, just like Yan Ting did. But I really hate pain.”
The shadow wasn’t afraid of being hit, but it might not want Lin Qiao to get hurt, so it became docile.
Lin Qiao found some medical alcohol and some bloody, tattered clothes, and also took out a mop from the plane. Unfortunately, the mop handle was plastic, not wood.
With no time to lose, Lin Qiao went down with these items. The four people outside had already started fighting the shadows. The people who went out to gather supplies did attract quite a few graffiti, and the sound of gunfire could be heard from another street. But there were still many shadows here, and four people were just not enough.
As the shadows were about to engulf one of them, the person being engulfed let out a scream. Lin Qiao immediately lit the clothes in his hand on fire.
Someone cursed, “What are you doing? Just…” Before they could finish, the aggressive shadows all lunged at Lin Qiao.
Just as the others thought Lin Qiao was selflessly sacrificing himself and about to die, they were left speechless by what they saw.
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