Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 43
The puppy ate quickly, clearly very hungry, and would occasionally let out an “ao-wu” sound when excited. “Brother, it’s delicious,” the puppy looked up at Lin Qiao with a smile, his mouth full, and sometimes when he ate too hastily, rice grains would stick to the corners of his mouth, which he would take off and eat: “Mom said not to waste food.”
After finishing eating, the puppy took the initiative to help clean up, being well-behaved and sensible.
However, after a while, he spoke up with a hint of grievance: “Brother, does your dog not like me?”
The Doberman had cornered this seemingly ill-intentioned individual at the door, adopting an aggressive stance.
Tolerating this person to eat was already the Doberman’s limit; it would never allow the other to get any closer to Lin Qiao.
In the real world, if a dog treated a guest this way, it would surely be reprimanded by its owner. But this was the dungeon world, where pets were paramount.
Lin Qiao was preparing to give the puppy player some money to find a place to stay and complete the dungeon.
He always felt that the puppy player was not that simple. Even if the other was truly a newcomer, Lin Qiao, as an illegal immigrant, could not afford to indiscriminately show sympathy.
The puppy player shook his head: “Thank you, brother, I’ve already troubled you enough.”
“According to the dungeon’s requirements, I must participate in the Best Streamer Competition. However…”
The puppy player, with red eyes, hugged Lin Qiao: “That’s great, I’m in the Woof Woof Religion just like you, brother.”
Lin Qiao felt the world go dark as he collided with the other’s pectoral muscles, his entire body enveloped in a masculine aura.
Struggling, he couldn’t push the other away and could only feel the hard abs. Hmm, the last time he had such a good feel was with Yanti…
Wait, this 1.9-meter height, this robust physique, this formidable strength—do high school students in Z-country take hormones now?
“Now that I’m not so scared anymore, if brother needs my help, just send me a message.”
“You’re so small, brother, soft and fragrant. Are you a girl, brother? Your waist isn’t even as long as my two palms.”
“Let me go!” Lin Qiao pounded the other with his hands, “clang clang clang,” his hands turning red, while the puppy player across still spoke foolishly: “Brother, it doesn’t hurt at all when you hit.”
After clinging to Lin Qiao to exchange social media accounts in the dungeon, the puppy player was warned twice by the Doberman before waving goodbye and leaving.
As he turned away, he twirled his finger thoughtfully, then suddenly revealed a smile that was completely different from his previous “innocent and cute” demeanor, one that was quite unrestrained and dissolute: “Ha, a wary little thing.”
Near the trash bin of the street breakfast shop, Izutsuro opened his eyes and gasped for breath, still feeling the lingering pain of being burned and corroded.
When he was enveloped by the unknown black shadow, Izutsuro had thought he was done for, but unexpectedly, he ended up in the dungeon.
“Hahahahaha!” Izutsuro laughed heartily, as if no one else was around.
Only after hearing the game system’s rule prompt did he calm down. The NPCs passing by pointed and whispered about Izutsuro, but he paid no attention.
Instead, he scanned the crowd, trying to spot Lin Qiao. However, this time the game did not place all players together. Izutsuro muttered to himself nervously, “It’s okay, I’ll find him eventually. He’s here, he can’t get away…”
Izutsuro hadn’t expected that his prey this time was also a player, but he found it interesting. Lin Qiao was indeed the most special target, one that he couldn’t let go of.
With a loud clang, Izutsuro turned around abruptly to see a black cat walking out of the breakfast shop, followed by a dejected little orange cat.
The little orange cat had a stainless steel basin on its head, and every few steps it took, it would fall to the ground with a clang, meowing pitifully.
The black cat glanced at Izutsuro, then left with an air of indifference. The little orange cat squatted at the entrance, miserably licking its fur.
Izutsuro suddenly felt an itch in his hands. An uncontrollable urge to torment welled up inside him, driving him to approach the orange cat and reach out.
“What are you doing?” The breakfast shop owner, who was chopping filling, came out with a knife. His massive frame stood there, and Izutsuro immediately changed his expression. “Sorry, sorry, I just thought it was cute.”
The breakfast shop owner scolded him discontentedly, “Get lost!” Izutsuro left with his head down, blending into the crowd of NPCs on the street.
After registering for the “Best Streamer Competition,” Lin Qiao received a set of live-streaming equipment and began learning how to use it.
The black cat, which had run out to play, sauntered back over.
Seeing that Lin Qiao was ignoring it, the cat walked over again and swept Lin Qiao’s chin with its tail.
It raised its paw as if seeking praise and placed it on Lin Qiao’s hand.
Only then did Lin Qiao look up and start to pet the cat, asking, “Where have you been playing? Are you hungry?”
The black cat responded with a series of meows, came closer to Lin Qiao to sniff, and then its fur stood on end.
Lin Qiao was somewhat at a loss and said, “I haven’t, I didn’t hold any other cats.”
The black cat was still displeased. It stared at Lin Qiao for a while, then suddenly leaped up and struck the Doberman’s head.
“Don’t hit it, it’s not its fault,” Lin Qiao said as he went over to hold the black cat, thinking that the little black cat was quite domineering and unreasonable.
The Doberman let out a low growl, a warning in its tone. After meowing, the black cat continued to rub against Lin Qiao. The cat and the dog seemed to have communicated something, but Lin Qiao couldn’t understand.
Five hours after the dungeon began, night fell. Some players successfully registered for the “Best Streamer Competition” in the cities where they were located and were assigned live-streaming tools and accommodations.
They brought the pets allocated by the church to their accommodations only to find that the so-called accommodations were actually live-streaming studios.
One room and one hall, plus a bathroom and kitchen, with the doors of the neighboring apartments tightly closed.
One male player, reluctant to spend points to exchange for currency, took out the raw meat for his pet dog and cooked a meal.
After eating, he had no intention of feeding the dog and immediately sat in front of the live-streaming equipment to fiddle with it.
It wasn’t until his pet Shiba Inu brought a food bowl to his feet that the player finally realized and got up to add food, muttering, “What a hassle.”
Another female player had a Bichon Frise as her pet dog, a small and very cute creature. Since she also liked dogs in real life, she took meticulous care of the dog and soon received a notification on her phone: “Protection value increased by 5.”
Two players from the same city, both followers of the Meow Meow Religion, were assigned to adjacent live-streaming studios with their cats. One of them had already received 30 protection points, while the other had not received any yet.
“What’s the use of protection points? Aren’t we supposed to collect the affection points from the live-stream viewers and the emotional points from the pets?” one asked.
“Protection points might be a form of emotional points too. In any case, it can’t hurt,” the other replied.
“Why isn’t my cat giving me protection points? I’ve been quite nice to it. It’s strange! I’ve been pampering it for nothing,” the first player lamented.
“Don’t be upset. It’s just a cat. It doesn’t understand much. Later, you can give it some more delicious food, and maybe it will give you the protection points,” the second player consoled.
After entering their respective rooms, the player who had received 30 protection points noticed that the value on their phone was silently decreasing.
The other player, upon turning on the light, felt that their room was very cold, and the cat in their arms had its fur standing on end and began to meow loudly in the room.
The meowing annoyed the player, who couldn’t help but kick the cat: “Why are you meowing so much! Can’t you be quiet?”
Not all players were able to successfully register for the “Best Streamer Competition” and receive pets.
Some unlucky ones met their end while exploring the world. Some players, while looking for the church, saw joss paper by the roadside and couldn’t help but curse and spit on it.
Others, relying on their points and thinking the dungeon world was safe, started to entertain bad thoughts. They followed a graceful female NPC into an alley and never came out.
Some players were stopped by a strange old lady asking for directions several times.
By the time they realized something was wrong, they had already been led a few meters away by the strange old lady and saw their own body lying on the ground, out of breath.
Even players who were very cautious still ended up on the ghost bus, or encountered sudden elevator problems, and so on. At 8 p.m. that night, when the “Best Streamer Competition” began, the system announced the remaining number of players: [Meow Meow Religion players remaining: 93.] [Woof Woof Religion players remaining: 94.] [Host identity confirmed: Player.]
Lin Qiao took a deep breath.
Thirteen players had died in just a few hours after entering the dungeon, without even reaching the main task of the dungeon.
Lin Qiao did not hastily start broadcasting. Instead, after opening the page, he went to other people’s live-streaming rooms.
The hosts here were indeed not only players but also NPCs from the dungeon world. Some of them were fanatical believers who would curse the evil spirits even if there was no one in their live-streaming room.
Upon seeing the name [Brother Qiao] appear, one such believer host immediately perked up: “Ah, it’s a broadcaster! I thought so! Which fool of a viewer would dare come to my place? Just you wait, I’ll curse you to death!”
“[Brother Qiao], what kind of believer are you? I am a Meow Meow Religion believer. The reason I am here is because *****”
The other’s voice was directly muted, and soon the screen went black and they were disconnected.
It was then that Lin Qiao realized that hosts entering other hosts’ rooms were prompted and could not speak.
Lin Qiao pursed his lips and went to another live-streaming room.
This host had a pale face, and the background was also their own home.
There were more than a dozen people in his live-streaming room.
He stammered as he introduced his live-streaming content, not even noticing Lin Qiao, who was also a host: “I, I’ll perform for you all, the suona, yes, the suona.”
With that, he started to play, and Lin Qiao frowned when he realized it was a funeral tune. The dozen or so viewers in the live-streaming room were quite polite and sent a few comments.
[Zixiao Ji]: “Not bad at all. You’ve got some skills. How many years have you been playing?”
[Xuxu Daolai]: “The host said he’s been doing this for over ten years and that all the funerals in the village come to him.”
[Qingfeng Langyue, Silent and Harmless]: “Sounds just like what I heard back in the day. How about playing ‘The Grand Funeral’? And what about ‘A Single Flower’? Can you do ‘The Young Widow Visiting the Grave’?”
The pale-faced host stammered, “I can, I can. This… this viewer, just wait a moment. I’ll play for you right away. Let’s take it one at a time.”
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