Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 48
The intruder broke through the window, roughly grabbing the black cat, which without hesitation, lashed out with its claws. The naked teenager’s face was now streaked with blood. His expression darkened as he opened his mouth, revealing a forked tongue, and was about to swallow the black cat whole.
“No!” As Lin Qiao’s cry rang out, the Doberman lunged forward. The naked teenager had no choice but to release the black cat to fend off the attack. In the moment of its fall, the black cat nimbly flipped, landing and immediately springing back into action. The coordinated assault of the cat and dog was fierce, not aimless but skillful. They worked in perfect harmony, consciously leading the battle away from Lin Qiao to avoid harming him.
The naked teenager was forced to reveal his snake-like tail to fight the cat and dog on equal terms. The furniture in the room was in disarray, and the glass windows were shattered by the commotion. The snake-like teenager dodged an attack with a twist, clutching his arm, which was bleeding profusely from a bite, and sneered, “Do you know what a diversion is? You little beasts.”
The black cat hissed a warning and sprinted back towards where Lin Qiao was. There, Lin Qiao was entwined by a massive white snake, whose girth was comparable to Lin Qiao’s waist. The white snake had unnaturally red eyes. It coiled up from Lin Qiao’s legs, through his thighs, and up his body, its head looping around Lin Qiao’s neck before pressing its chin against the top of Lin Qiao’s head. The snake did not restrict Lin Qiao’s hands, but Lin Qiao was struggling to breathe, his face turning an unhealthy shade of red from the constriction. He gasped for air, tears streaming silently down his face, and his body trembled.
A dark shadow rose from beneath Lin Qiao’s feet. Instead of rushing to help immediately, it first placed a finger in Lin Qiao’s mouth, feeling his soft tongue. The black cat let out an angry hiss, and the phone’s notification “ding-dong” sounded: “Protection value has reached 50,000…”
The naked teenager, seeing the terrifying dark shadow, finally showed a flicker of interest. Lin Qiao licked the dark shadow’s finger. Although this entity had become his tool, its nature had not been tamed. Lin Qiao’s eyes grew deep and dark, saliva mixing and dripping from the corners of his mouth. Only after the shadow had its fill did it speak: “It was wrong of me to lock you up…”
“But you bound me. I’m yours. If I die, you die too.”
The terrifying dark shadow was not threatened by these words but instead pinched Lin Qiao’s face harshly as punishment. It then melted into a shadow, wrapping around Lin Qiao’s body. It enveloped the white giant snake, and the air immediately filled with the smell of flesh corroding, carrying a thick, eerie aroma. The naked teenager’s body also showed signs of corrosion, with snake scales forming at the corners of his eyes.
Lin Qiao felt the pressure release from his body as the twisted snake form disappeared, leaving only red, swollen marks on his neck. His neck throbbed with pain, and swallowing became extremely difficult. The black cat approached Lin Qiao to check on him, and together with the Doberman, they guarded Lin Qiao on either side. The dark shadow had grown incredibly tall, its figure stretching to an unimaginable length.
He was about to strike the naked teenager, who showed no sign of fear, his eyes reflecting a madness for battle: “An S-class item? No, a non-class item?”
Lin Qiao did not directly retract the dark shadow this time. Instead, he hugged the shadow’s leg, patting it reassuringly: “Don’t kill him. We might not be able to beat him.”
The shadow instantly returned to normal, wrapping around Lin Qiao in human size. Lin Qiao’s voice turned hoarse. He shifted uncomfortably and then asked the naked teenager, “You are Yatagarasu, right? You came to kill me?”
“You should be able to tell now that you can’t kill me.”
“In this situation, if we keep fighting, we’ll both be injured, and others will take notice.”
“So you need to apologize to my cat and dog. We’ll call it even, and then you leave.”
The naked teenager, whose identity had been revealed, twitched the corners of his mouth, showing no intention of apologizing: “I came to propose a collaboration. Clearly, it was your pets that started it.”
Lin Qiao was both annoyed and amused: “You’ve been following me for days. Who knows if you’re friend or foe. If you want to propose a collaboration, you should at least come through the front door.”
Yatagarasu ran his hand through his hair. He seemed to lack a sense of shame and clearly didn’t understand social norms: “Sorry, can we collaborate now?”
Breaking into someone’s home, starting a fight, and nearly strangling them to death—was this really the attitude for proposing a collaboration?
Lin Qiao’s face turned cold, but Yatagarasu thought that an apology was enough: “Your dark shadow came from the ‘Airplane Escape’ dungeon, right? Or is it a ghost NPC mutation?”
“What’s your relationship with the Deceiver? Why does your dark shadow keep licking you? Was it helping you live-stream last time in your live-stream room?”
“When I saw it rubbing your thighs and butt, the affection values went up a lot.”
Lin Qiao’s expression shifted from cold to embarrassed, from embarrassed to shy, and then from shy to exasperated. He snapped, “Just shut up.”
Lin Qiao was soon picked up by the terrifying dark shadow. Its hands, not staying still, slipped through Lin Qiao’s clothes. The clothes, already torn by the snake, couldn’t hold together, and now everything was exposed.
Lin Qiao pressed the shadow’s hand: “Stop for now.”
Although the dark shadow was Lin Qiao’s tool, it wasn’t obedient. It seemed to have a strong sense of autonomy, or perhaps it had low intelligence and acted only on instinct. Lin Qiao had initially bound it because the system prompted that it was a non-class item. Binding it was free, so why not?
Lin Qiao didn’t know about other items, but he really didn’t understand how to use a non-class item. The dark shadow didn’t stop. Instead, it pinched Lin Qiao’s chin, trying to kiss him. The black cat pounced to stop it.
The shadow grabbed the black cat and set it aside, persistently trying to kiss Lin Qiao until Lin Qiao frowned and said, “Stop! I have something to deal with. Can you go back for now?”
The dark shadow tilted its head and finally kissed Lin Qiao’s forehead before nodding. After Lin Qiao sent the shadow back, he had time to deal with Yatagarasu.
The naked teenager across from him watched the whole thing without blinking, his gaze open and unashamed. Lin Qiao soothed the cursing black cat and asked, “How do you know where my item came from? Players forget what happened after leaving the dungeon. Do you remember?”
Yatagarasu sat cross-legged on the sofa, his hands covering his lower body: “You know Deceiver.”
Lin Qiao didn’t speak. He went to the room, found some clothes, put them on, and threw a set to Yatagarasu. Lin Qiao turned his back: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yatagarasu put the clothes on: “The name Deceiver is known among players. He’s best at pretending to be all sorts of people or NPCs and then manipulating them.”
“Deceiver somehow found out that there was a mutated item in the ‘Airplane Escape’ dungeon called the ‘Terrifying Shadow,’ so he managed to get in there. He didn’t expect that the item would be with you.”
“So you must have experienced the same dungeon as him. Does he know the shadow is with you?”
“If he does, you’re in trouble. He’ll definitely try to get close to you and screw you over.”
Lin Qiao didn’t speak, but from what Yatagarasu said, that Deceiver could disguise himself as all sorts of people, which made Lin Qiao think of Nelson. Nelson was a blonde little boy in the first dungeon and a high school student who liked to flirt in the second dungeon. The two images were completely different, which indeed matched the setting of the Deceiver.
Lin Qiao deliberately said, “You came to propose a collaboration, but how do I know you’re not the Deceiver?”
Yatagarasu seemed greatly insulted. He put on his pants and complained, “Do you not have any extra underwear? You didn’t give me any.”
After speaking, he still put on the pants, but he uncomfortably moved his thigh. “Tight, it’s tight there.”
Lin Qiao: “……”
Yatagarasu then explained, “I’m not the Deceiver. The abilities I’ve gained, he can’t fake. I have two. If you don’t believe me, I can show you.”
Lin Qiao didn’t react for a moment. “Show what?”
Yatagarasu was very straightforward: “Two **.”
Lin Qiao: “……No wonder it’s tight. Thanks, but I don’t want to see.”
Yatagarasu didn’t force the issue. He asked, “What ability did you gain in the game? Charm?”
Lin Qiao uncomfortably turned his head away and lied, “Yeah.”
“No wonder,” Yatagarasu went to the window where he had come in and rummaged around, bringing in a calico kitten.
He rubbed his nose and said to Lin Qiao, “Touch me.”
Lin Qiao looked up, and Yatagarasu brought Lin Qiao close and placed him on his face. “See?”
Lin Qiao was puzzled, and Yatagarasu said, “Look at my cat and your pets. Normally, players’ pets are like me. They don’t react when their owner is touched or kissed, and they don’t do anything when attacked by other humans.”
“Your pets are different. Your dog’s eyes look like they want to bite me to death, and the cat’s fur is all puffed up.”
“This situation can only mean that either your ability is charm, or there’s something wrong with you.”
Lin Qiao was relieved that he had admitted to the non-existent “charm” skill just now. Experienced players, even if they lost their memories of the dungeon, still had their experience and intuition.
Lin Qiao lowered his eyes and said, “You’ve asked me so many questions. I also want to ask you something.”
“What is a non-class item? How do you use it after binding?”
Lin Qiao took his hand off the other’s face. Yatagarasu was a bit dazed. He looked at Lin Qiao’s fingers again and explained, “Non-class items need to be nurtured and can be upgraded.”
“For example, my snake is also a non-class item. After binding with me, it will gradually merge with me and become a part of my body.”
“But at the same time, I will also be affected. I will become more like a snake, in personality or appearance, or in habits.”
“But the effects of different non-class items are different. The binding player and the item need to be adjusted.”
Lin Qiao thought, which means he must adjust with the terrifying shadow and slowly explore the way to use it.
When Lin Qiao was thinking, he would daydream. His eyes lowered, and his eyelashes unconsciously trembled.
Yatagarasu was a person who did whatever he thought of. He reached out and touched Lin Qiao’s eyelashes.
Lin Qiao was startled and shrank back.
Yatagarasu said, “Collaborate with me. I have a high combat value.”
“I didn’t fight your pets properly just now. Your shadow is quite weak. It must have been a long time since it last fed.”
“There are seven players who don’t live-stream and hunt players from other factions. Several of them have their eyes on you.”
“I recently noticed one when I was watching you. He seems to be called Izutsuro.”
Upon hearing this name, Lin Qiao’s brows furrowed. Izutsuro would stalk his targets in reality, leaving animal corpses, and then infiltrate. But in the dungeon, he only did it once, which didn’t fit his modus operandi. Was it Yatagarasu who drove him away?
Lin Qiao asked, “Where is he now?”
Yatagarasu frowned: “We had a fight, and he ran away. He’s in the same faction as me, and I’m not interested.”
“Collaborate with me. I like watching your live-streams. The two collaborators I originally found are already dead.”
“Although I don’t know why you have two types of pets, you should be considered part of both factions. Killing you would give me your points from either faction.”
“With you as bait, I will definitely get first place. You are useful to me, and I won’t kill you.”
Lin Qiao nodded: “Okay.”
Yatagarasu didn’t give Lin Qiao a cold, snake-like feeling. Instead, he had a kind of wildness, unrestrained and almost bluntly animalistic. He had a superior appearance but was unaware of it. After Lin Qiao agreed, he went to the kitchen to find something to eat, treating the place as if it were his own home.
The black cat and the Doberman were still very vigilant towards Yatagarasu. The phone’s notifications kept rising: “Protection value has reached 70,000. Mutation begins…” Lin Qiao was cleaning the room and didn’t hear what the phone was notifying, but the Doberman and the black cat stopped.
They were no longer hostile towards Yatagarasu, but more anxious towards Lin Qiao. It was also on this day that Lin Qiao received two invitations for a live-stream. One was a voice request from Nelson, and the other was from the fifth-ranked player, Dao Zhang.
Nelson called Lin Qiao’s phone: “Brother, live-stream with me.”
“Brother, how about living with me? Many players don’t live-stream and just hunt other players. I’m worried about brother.”
“Does brother hate me so much that he often ignores me?”
“After the last live-stream, brother never answered my calls. I secretly went to see brother once, and I’m glad brother is okay.”
“What was that black shadow next to brother last time? He was so scary. Is brother’s protection value still enough?”
“Let me take care of brother, so brother doesn’t have to work so hard on such dangerous games.”
Yatagarasu had very sensitive hearing and directly said: “You can agree to this fool. He currently has the highest affection value, and live-streaming with him will be beneficial.”
Nelson’s voice paused and suddenly became a bit deeper: “Who is with you?”
Lin Qiao explained: “Um, a friend.”
Nelson laughed: “Brother doesn’t want to live with me, is he planning to live with him?”
Lin Qiao explained: “No, he broke into my house and wanted to collaborate with me…”
“Breaking into brother’s house can lead to a collaboration with him, right?” Nelson’s voice was still full of energy, but a hint of sourness could be detected.
Lin Qiao, aware that the other party might be the Deceiver, still said, “It’s quite dangerous here. Aren’t you a new player? Coming here will only make your situation more perilous.”
Nelson was persistent: “So brother is rejecting me because he thinks I’m a new player and can’t protect him?”
“If I were an experienced player, would brother live with me, sleep in my arms, cook for me, and let me touch his face?”
Lin Qiao couldn’t comprehend the connection between these things. He took a deep breath and said, “Nelson, I think you’ve misunderstood. The biggest issue between us is… you deceived me.”
“You’re not a new player,” right? “I know this truth, so I’m wary of you. Isn’t that natural?”
“I don’t know what your intentions are, including the fact that I know the truth, which you might have anticipated.”
“If you really wanted to maintain your new player image in front of me, you wouldn’t be so conspicuous.”
Nelson was silent for a long time before he spoke: “Open the door, I’m right outside.”
Lin Qiao looked towards the door, and Yatagarasu frowned: “That fool wouldn’t be lurking outside the door, would he? I didn’t notice him; he must be an experienced player.”
Nelson continued on the phone: “Brother, I came in through the front door. Brother wouldn’t let me lose to that snake who climbed in through the window, would he?”
Lin Qiao hung up the phone and walked to the door to open it. Nelson was indeed outside, wearing a long trench coat and standing on the steps with his hands in his pockets. Upon seeing Lin Qiao, he revealed his usual sunny smile and spoke in a somewhat pitiful tone: “I’m sorry, bro.”
“I really didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s freezing outside; I’ve been standing in the cold for a long time, and I’m starving.”
“I have ulterior motives towards you. I want to… be with you.”
Lin Qiao didn’t expect such an explosive statement as soon as he opened the door. He didn’t quite understand, but he could see the desire in Nelson’s eyes. Lin Qiao was bewildered—could one develop feelings in such a short time?
Seemingly reading Lin Qiao’s thoughts, Nelson said embarrassedly, “Bro, having an impulse means liking someone.”
There were still marks on Lin Qiao’s neck that hadn’t faded. He was wearing a scarf and looked rather exhausted. His voice hurt when he spoke, but he still said, “Come in first.”
Nelson walked in. He was tall, and the first thing he did after entering the room was to look at Yatagarasu. Yatagarasu raised an eyebrow. They were from opposing factions, but they couldn’t fight at the moment. After all, the top five could pass the dungeon, and the first and second places didn’t need to fight to the death.
The two of them deliberately squeezed Lin Qiao in the middle. Feeling uncomfortable, Lin Qiao shifted his body, trying to leave and find another spot. Nelson touched Lin Qiao’s neck with his finger: “Does it hurt? Don’t collaborate with him; he hurt you.”
Yatagarasu complained, “Hey! I’m not in a good condition either. Look at my bites all over my body, and my hand almost got torn off, okay?”
Nelson whispered in Lin Qiao’s ear: “Don’t ignore me. I know players scheme against each other. It’s hard to gain someone’s trust without involving interests.”
“Brother, sleep with me once.” Nelson’s ears turned red: “I really am doing this for the first time in the dungeon.”
“But I know some players do this. Brother won’t suffer any losses. Everything will be forgotten afterward, and it won’t affect you at all.”
“Five people can survive the dungeon. I can ensure your survival. Anyway, you don’t believe I like you. Just think of it as me wanting you.”
This reason was really powerful. It sounded like unrequited love. Even if they would forget each other after leaving the dungeon, they still wanted to taste a moment of pleasure.
Even to ensure the survival of the person they liked, they deliberately made themselves seem so despicable.
Nelson, like a puppy, buried himself in Lin Qiao’s body, breathing: “Brother, desire doesn’t lie. You can feel it; I’m not deceiving you.”
Alright, even physiological reactions were used. Nelson truly lived up to being the Deceiver.
But he could deceive others, not Lin Qiao. Lin Qiao remembered the content of the dungeon; he wouldn’t forget like the other players.
He really didn’t understand why these two wanted to collaborate with him. Yatagarasu‘s reason had some plausibility, but it needed to be guarded against.
Nelson’s reason was really… Lin Qiao didn’t know how to react. It was more than just being cautious.
Lin Qiao lowered his head, lightly licked his lips, and then looked up: “Sleeping with you can guarantee I’m in the top five?”
Nelson nodded: “Brother, you agree?”
Lin Qiao was genuinely curious. Would the Deceiver sacrifice themselves for the sake of the deception?
Lin Qiao’s phone vibrated again. The phone, which had been deliberately silenced, didn’t attract anyone’s attention. If Lin Qiao checked it, he would find: “Protection value has reached 100,000. The degree of mutation has deepened. Please consume the protection value as soon as possible.”
Lin Qiao’s black cat and Doberman seemed to sense something. They seemed to understand what Lin Qiao was saying. The black cat slowly walked to Lin Qiao’s knee and lay down, showing its soft belly, which had a scar.
The Doberman, on the other hand, was vigilantly staring at Nelson. Nelson suddenly spoke: “You agreed, right? Anyway, brother has already done a borderline live-stream for the sake of passing the dungeon.”
“Almost got taken by evil spirits, showing such an expression in front of the evil spirits, so many evil spirits saw brother wearing cat ears and being rubbed on the butt… it’s not like I’m the only one, what’s so special about me compared to the evil spirits?”
It sounded like jealousy, but the words were insulting.
Lin Qiao’s hand, which was petting the black cat, paused. In reality, he wasn’t that angry.
If it were a player who really wanted to sell themselves to reach the top five, hearing this would definitely make them very upset, feeling humiliated, and thus reject Nelson’s proposal just now.
But Lin Qiao had never wanted to agree to this deal in the first place. Moreover, knowing Nelson’s true identity, he deduced that Nelson said such things to make the “person he liked” back off.
In other words, the Deceiver didn’t want to sell themselves for the sake of the deception.
Lin Qiao remembered being thought of as a charming-type player by Yatagarasu, so he threw himself into Nelson’s arms: “I’m an idiot. I’ve survived this long because of my charm skill. It was the little snake who told me you’re an experienced player.”
“Can you really keep me in the top five? I’m also doing this kind of thing in the dungeon for the first time.”
“Then stay here tonight.” Lin Qiao awkwardly responded to Nelson, rubbing his tip of the nose: “Okay?”
Nelson’s fingers unconsciously tightened, hugging Lin Qiao’s waist: “Then I’ll go bring my pet over first.”
Nelson left gracefully, with a smile on his face, but his back seemed to hint at a retreat.
Yatagarasu, holding his little calico cat, walked over: “If this makes the collaboration more solid, you should know, I’m stronger than him. I have two.”
This one didn’t understand, this one was serious.
Lin Qiao: “……No need.”
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