The sound of the door closing echoed from outside, and Emil immediately stopped speaking.
He quickly tidied up his appearance, regaining his weak and pitiful demeanor before stepping out of the stall.
The corridor outside the restroom was empty, and the nearby stall doors were tightly shut, as if someone was inside.
Emil glanced at the door, then quickly left.
‘That person just arrived—they shouldn’t have heard my curses, right?’
After Emil exited the restroom, the stall door slowly creaked open.
A tall man wrapped in a cloak stepped out, his golden eyes gleaming from beneath his hood.
‘This guy… could it be that he wanted to get caught?’
‘Hmph, this boring copy is getting interesting.’
‘What was his name again?’
‘Ah, right… Emil?’
Over the next few hours, they remained blessed by the Goddess of Luck—the Lord Of Terror never randomly appeared near them.
Samael quietly observed.
Compared to the other newcomers’ relaxed attitudes and relief, Emil, who appeared timid, was growing more and more restless.
It wasn’t the restlessness of fear, but of impatience.
As the first day drew to a close and dawn of the second day approached, the Lord Of Terror once again appeared near Samael’s team.
This time, they were hiding in the beams of a room, watching the towering Lord walk below them multiple times.
Samael secretly observed Emil.
He was curled up, arms trembling, but his eyes were filled with excitement.
Samael: “…”
‘Heh, so all this time, this guy wasn’t trembling from fear but from excitement.’
As the Lord passed beneath them once more, Samael saw Emil “accidentally” fall down.
The Lord Of Terror let out a sharp laugh. “Hehehe, we meet again, little scaredy-cat.”
The other newcomers subconsciously looked at Samael.
Samael looked down from above, and when he saw the blonde young man’s barely suppressed his smile and the excitement brimming in his eyes, he chose to stand by and do nothing.
Without Samael’s interference, the Lord Of Terror successfully took Emil away this time.
With a player captured, the capture phase ended early.
“Emil’s been caught.”
“It’s him again. Honestly, it’s better he was caught sooner than later. At least he won’t drag us down anymore.”
“True, but I wonder if he’s going to be okay?”
“The Vice President already saved him once, and now he’s been caught again. It’s his own mistake. Whatever happens, he’ll have to bear the responsibility himself.”
“Let this be a lesson, next time, we must follow the Vice President’s orders carefully and make sure we hide well. No more mistakes.”
“Vice President,” Glasses glanced at Samael nervously, “Don’t worry, I’ll follow your instructions carefully and won’t cause any trouble like Emil did.”
Samael didn’t even spare him a glance and proceeded to the next hiding spot.
Glasses bit his lip in frustration but quietly followed along.
The next ten hours were filled with more hiding.
The game’s difficulty kept increasing.
People needed rest.
The previous day and night had already drained most of their energy, and exhaustion and fatigue plunged the players into an unprecedented state of anxiety.
Even if they wanted to rest, they could only take advantage of the two-hour safe periods to sleep.
But in fact, they had to spend those two hours searching for a safe spot, and no one could be sure if the spot they found was truly secure.
They wanted to sleep, yet they didn’t dare to.
They thought the hardest part of this copy was avoiding the Lord Of Terror.
But now, halfway through the game, the players realized that the hardest part was how to fight against their increasingly tired bodies.
Looking at the increasingly weary newbies, Samael led them back to the previous cloakroom. “Hide in here and get some sleep. I’ll come back to wake you up in six hours.”
“What about you?” Glasses looked at Samael. “Aren’t you staying with us?”
Samael: “I’m going to find Emil.”
Glasses became agitated, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t save anyone who got captured? You’ve already saved Emil once, but he didn’t make any effort. Why are you so focused on him? Are you going to give up on the five of us just to save this straggler?”
Samael frowned slightly. “This place is safe.”
Glasses: “What if something dangerous happens? You can’t leave! We can’t fight against the Lord Of Terror. President Song asked you to protect us, and this is how you do it?”
Samael pursed his lips together, his already limited patience completely worn out. “I’m only bringing you along out of respect for Song Yuantian. Even he wouldn’t dare speak to me like this. Since you’re so capable, you can continue on your own from here.”
With that, Samael turned and left without a trace of hesitation.
The others glared Glasses resentfully
Knowing he had said the wrong thing, Glasses was about to chase after him to apologize.
But at that moment, another round of the hide-and-seek game began…
The terrifying voice of the Lord Of Terror echoed through the castle.
Samael skillfully avoided the routes where the Lord Of Terror might appear, weaving through the maze-like castle.
The game of hide-and-seek lasted no longer than half an hour, which meant Samael had at most thirty minutes to find Emil.
Starting from the third floor, he finally found Emil in the prison on the basement level.
When he found Emil, the other party was completely bound, suspended in mid-air in a dramatically exaggerated position.
The walls were lined with shackles, and Emil’s body was covered with bruises.
His once clean and tidy clothes were torn in strips from whipping, revealing streaks of red marks on his fair and delicate skin.
Emil’s hair hung down due to gravity, his long locks covering his handsome, drooping face.
His hands were tied behind his back, and his body was trembling uncontrollably as if no longer under his own control. Broken, muffled sounds escaped from his mouth, as though he was crying.
Samael effortlessly unlocked the cell door.
As he approached, the blond young man remained motionless, still trembling in place.
It wasn’t until Samael stood directly in front of him, using his cold, slender fingers to grip the young man’s chin, forcing him to lift his head from beneath his hair, that Emil reacted.
A flushed face appeared before Samael.
“Heh,” a sneer came from beneath Samael’s hood, “Pervert.”
Emil clearly hadn’t expected Samael to be the one who came. His expression froze in shock, and he blurted out, “Why is it you?”
Samael looked down at the suspended young man, his cold fingertips slowly tracing down Emil’s damp forehead. “Who were you expecting? The Lord Of Terror? He’s busy playing hide-and-seek right now and doesn’t have time to attend to you.”
Emil was embarrassed and he tried to compose his expression. “I-I don’t understand what you’re saying. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t save me if I got caught?”
The handsome blond young man forced a pitiful smile. “But it’s really great that you came. I was almost beaten to death by the Lord Of Terror. Please hurry and get me down.”
“Save you?” Samael’s cold fingertips brushed over the young man’s straight nose, trailing downwards. He circled around the chin, tracing the lines of the neck, eventually reaching the nape.
When his fingertips pressed slightly against the red wounds on the young man’s fair skin, Emil’s expression suddenly changed, and a strained moan escaped his lips.
The next second, the young man bit his lip and forced the sound back down. He suppressed his voice and asked, “What are you doing? That hurts.”
Crisscrossing red marks adorned the white skin, like delicate red roses blooming in pure white snow.
With the young man’s movement, the red roses swayed and quivered in the snow, vividly alluring.
Samael’s golden pupils darkened to a deep shade of gold, and his breathing grew slightly heavier.
He silently walked to the wall and picked up a leather whip. With a slight flick of his wrist, the black whip struck the young man’s back. The red roses instantly trembled in the wind, and an uncontrollable, broken sound spilled from the blonde young man’s lips.
Something stirred restlessly in Samael’s chest.
He tightened his grip on the handle, and increased his strength.
The strained sound grew high-pitched and melodious, like the song of a nightingale deep in the forest.
The nightingale named Emil, sang its sweet melody, and after a final, piercing note, his body shuddered and then went limp, drained of all strength.
Something dripped onto the dirty, dilapidated floor, and the air filled with the scent of heather.
Samael took a deep breath and casually tossed the whip to the ground at his feet.
He untied the restraints on Emil’s body and wrapped him in his cloak.
The handsome blond young man was drenched in sweat, as though he had just fought a fierce battle, gasping for fresh air, his eyes as blue as the sky after a rainstorm.
Samael looked at the blonde young man. “Emil, you really are a pervert, a masochist.”
The beautiful blue eyes stared at Samael’s sharp, angular jawline. His tone shifted from cautious and timid to unrestrained, “We’re the same. You’re not exactly normal either.”
In the upper right corner of the system display, it showed that a player had been caught, and the Lord Of Terror would soon return with his prize.
This was not a place to linger.
Samael wrapped Emil in his cloak and carried him away.
As they passed through the corridor, the Lord Of Terror was returning from the opposite direction.
Samael calmly hid to the side, waiting for the Lord to pass before moving forward.
However, it seemed Emil had other plans.
He struggled free from Samael’s arms, opened his mouth, and yelled outside, “Lord Of Terror! Come quickly, someone’s stealing your prize!”
Samael frowned slightly. With one hand, he pinned Emil against the wall, and with the other, he covered his mouth.
The Lord Of Terror stopped in his tracks at the sound.
Emil raised an eyebrow, silently provoking Samael.
Seeing Emil’s expression, Samael suddenly chuckled.
He lowered Emil’s hand slightly, pressed down on his wounds, and tightened his grip, causing Emil’s face to twist in pain.
Bending down, Samael whispered in Emil’s ear, “Isn’t it ultimate pain that you’re after?”
“Why go out of your way to find the Lord Of Terror?”
“I’m the best choice to give you the extreme pain you crave.”
