The safe house was filled with sighs, but it quickly returned to silence.
A muffled thud came from not far away.
Xia Chi looked over and saw that the sound came from one of the players in Pink Hair’s group. He had slumped to the ground with weakness.
The person sat there awkwardly, while Black-Rimmed Glasses was tugging at his collar.
The man was somewhat embarrassed and angry, and he shouted, “What are you doing? Let go of me!”
Pink Hair squatted beside him, his head gently resting on the man’s shoulder, like a furry pet waiting to be caressed. “Brother, don’t worry. The other brother’s bad luck was just a fluke. You’ll definitely be able to stay.”
The man trembled as if shocked, and the next moment, he leaped away like a shrimp and dodged to the side as if avoiding something terrifying. “You, stay away from me.”
Pink Hair stood still, his pink eyelashes trembling in the air.
The corners of his eyes were glistening with tears, as if he was about to cry at any moment.
The pear blossoms were wet with rain, which is heart-wrenching to see.
The man’s shoulders trembled. He reached out cautiously and gently wiped the tears from Pink Hair’s face.
Pink Hair naturally tilted his cheek against the man’s palm, rubbing his face back and forth like a small, vulnerable animal needing protection.
The man’s heart melted. His voice lost its previous vigilance and fear, replaced by guilt. “Don’t cry, I wasn’t scolding you.”
Pink Hair’s voice was choked with sobs. “Brother, I want to tell you a secret.”
The man was confused but he still nodded patiently. “Okay, I’m listening.”
Xia Chi also listened closely.
Pink Hair: “You’ll definitely stay. Believe me, okay? In fact, I knew from the start that the last brother wouldn’t be so lucky. I wanted to keep you as family from the beginning, but only after that brother agreed to join could you survive.”
Xia Chi: ?
‘How could he be so certain?
Could it be another lie?’
The man seemed to be under some kind of spell. Even though his time was almost up, he still asked, “Is it true? You’ve wanted to keep me from the beginning?”
Pink Hair nodded seriously. “Of course it’s true! Brother, trust me!”
The man showed a doting smile. He ruffled Pink Hair’s head and said gently, “Okay, brother trusts you.”
After saying that, the man put on his goggles, donned his down jacket, took up his trekking poles, and disappeared from sight.
[The player did not leave the safe house within the safety time limit. Entering judgment phase.]
[Judgment begins.]
[Judgment ends.]
[Congratulations, the player successfully refreshed the safe house time limit. The player may re-enter the safe house. Time is reset, safety time limit is ten hours.]
[The safe house has 0 vacancies, game continues.]
[There are 15 minutes until the next safe house time limit.]
As the system voice disappeared, the man appeared back in the safe house.
Like Black-Rimmed Glasses, he lay on the ground in a sorry state, as if he had just been through a fierce battle.
Pink Hair rushed to the man excitedly. “Brother, welcome back!”
The man took off his heavy down jacket and goggles, his expression excited. “I really came back.”
Pink Hair: “I told you you’d come back. I didn’t lie to you, did I?”
The man was both excited and confused, and he asked, “How did you know I would stay?”
Pink Hair smiled and placed a pale finger on his lips. “That’s a secret.”
Xia Chi shuddered in the corner: …
This is really creepy.
He relayed the strange situation to Bai Lixin.
Xia Chi: [Brother, how did this Pink Hair know he would stay? Did he discover some kind of pattern?]
Bai Lixin: [One possibility is that Pink Hair actually doesn’t know whether they will stay or not. He just makes the man believe he knows. There is a special type of “wiseman” in this world who will give a conclusion at a specific time.]
[For example, “buying this stock will definitely make a profit”, “investing in this thing will surely turn things around”, or “making this decision will surely bring unexpected rewards”. When people make choices based on such verbal encouragement and succeed, they naturally believe it is the wisdom of the sage. But for these wisemen, saying one thing or ten things has no impact on them.]
[The ones who pay the price are those making the choices. They will not pay any price; they only use their mouths.]
[If they are wrong, others will think they are just bragging.]
[But if they are right, they will be considered “wisemen.”]
Xia Chi: [There are indeed such people. So, Pink Hair doesn’t really know the outcome, he’s just talking?]
Bai Li Xin: [That’s not necessarily the case. Another possibility is that Pink Hair really knows the rule. Do you know what number he is in the sequence?]
Xia Chi glanced at Pink Hair in the center of the hall. The three people had already left their spot and were heading towards a player in the corner.
[I don’t know,] Xia Chi quietly followed the three’s figures, trying to see what they were up to. [I was the 17th when I arrived, but there were only five or six people in the hall, the others were hiding somewhere. Later, when it got dark and the safety limit was approaching, they started gathering in the hall one by one. I only discovered him then.]
Bai Lixin paused for two seconds: [How many people are there in total in the hall?]
Xia Chi: [16 people.]
Bai Lixin: [One person went out, one was teleported out, so there should be 18 people in the safe house. Xia Chi, go check all the rooms and find the players who are not in the hall.]
[Okay,] Xia Chi glanced at Pink Hair again. In just half a minute, Pink Hair seemed to have already become familiar with another player. [Should I just ignore Pink Hair?]
Bai Lixin: [Yes, first find the others.]
Although Xia Chi didn’t understand why Bai Lixin wanted him to find people, he set off.
The safe house was divided into two floors. Xia Chi had already checked the first floor several times when there was nothing to do, so it was unlikely anyone was hiding there. He went straight to the second floor.
The second floor was the bedroom area, with small rooms distributed on both sides of the corridor. There were a total of eight rooms, with the bathroom at the far end.
Xia Chi checked each room. The rooms were all empty, with no signs of people.
It wasn’t until he reached the fifth room and turned the door lock that he found it was locked.
He knocked on the door, and it was quiet inside, but he still heard a faint rustling sound.
There was someone inside.
Xia Chi cleared his throat. “Hello, are you a player? I’m also a player.”
The rustling sound inside suddenly grew louder, and there were also low voices talking.
Just as Xia Chi was about to say something else, he vaguely heard his own name through the door frame.
Thinking he was hearing things, Xia Chi pressed his ear to the door, wanting to listen more carefully when the door was unexpectedly yanked open from the inside.
A tall man with a straight posture stood in the doorway. The two stared at each other, feeling somewhat awkward when their eyes met.
Xia Chi blurted out, “Emil? What are you doing here?”
The handsome man with long blonde hair pursed his lips, looking somewhat speechless.
Whether it was Xia Chi’s illusion or not, he even saw Emil roll his eyes secretly.
Footsteps sounded from inside the room, and then a tall figure wrapped in a black robe appeared in Xia Chi’s view. “And me.”
Xia Chi didn’t know what to say. “…Uh, hello, Samael.”
The man in the black robe shifted his body and pointed inside the room. “And there’s more.”
Xia Chi: ?
‘More? There was another person?!’
Footsteps sounded again from inside.
Another familiar figure walked out from the room.
Xia Chi was at a loss for words. He twitched his lips and called out, “President Song.”
Song Yuantian looked somewhat embarrassed. “Yes, I’m here too.”
“Were you having a meeting in the copy?” Xia Chi subconsciously stretched his neck to look inside. “Could there be more people in there?”
Song Yuantian waved his hand. “No, it’s just the three of us.”
“Three.” Xia Chi had just nodded when he quickly realized something was wrong. “Three?! But there are already eighteen people downstairs. The safe house can only hold twenty people, doesn’t that mean there’s an extra one?”
Song Yuantian exchanged a glance with Emil, who then grabbed Xia Chi’s arm and, before Xia Chi could react, yanked him into the room.
Xia Chi: ?
‘What’s going on!’
Emil covered Xia Chi’s mouth. “Be quiet.”
Xia Chi: ???
‘What’s the situation?’
Song Yuantian pointed to Samael. “The extra person is him.”
Samael nodded. “Yes, it’s me.”
Xia Chi looked bewildered.
Samael pointed to Emil. “My life was bound to him during one of the copies breakthroughs.”
“This skill is triggered randomly. After binding, when one person is teleported to a copy, the other person will passively enter the same copy. Moreover, at certain times, the two people will be considered as one.”
Xia Chi understood. “So even though the game initially said the limit is 100 people, it didn’t count you?”
He looked at Samael. “Can it be played like this?”
Emil looked disgusted. “Who knows why the system is set up this way? I’m also speechless.”
“Samael doesn’t like crowded places, and I didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble because of the number of people. So the three of us hid in this room and will come out when the time is almost up.”
He paused slightly. “I thought it was just the three of us in this copy, but I saw Lin Jue through the window earlier. But that little dinosaur down jacket really doesn’t suit him.”
“Also, the one next to him looks like a chubby panda, hahaha.”
Xia Chi’s voice was cold, “That’s my brother.”
Emil’s laughter abruptly stopped. He coughed to cover his embarrassment, “I was just thinking that panda looks extraordinarily refined, it turned out to be God Xin.”
Xia Chi: “Heh.”
Xia Chi told Bai Lixin about the three members of the Sand Sea Guild he found in the room. Bai Lixin didn’t reply for a long time.
Almost a minute later, Xia Chi’s chat window dinged.
Bai Lixin: [….]
It was clear that his brother was really speechless.
