Chapter 98 – DEATH Games Studio

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Xiao Lan woke up to an antique bed curtain and an unfamiliar ceiling, the bed beneath her was wooden with carvings, the quilt was made of brocade, the texture on it was delicate and embroidered, and it was not made by machine.

 

The mind was also blank, where was he? What was he doing before?

 

Xiao Lan almost thought he had crossed over.

 

It may not be long before a maid rushes over next to him and says, “Oh young master you're finally awake, you've been in a coma for many days, Madam and Master have been worried sick ……”

 

“Are you awake, sir?” Luo's voice came from beside him, bringing Xiao Lan's thoughts back from his wild speculations.

 

Xiao Lan can only see him in black, as if he has changed back into his three-piece suit and is waiting for Xiao Lan's answer.

 

Xiao Lan's blank mind suddenly flashed with fragments of hot springs, red plums, lights, figures walking towards him in the dense mist ……
and – Xue Zhuo .

 

Xue Zhuo was really good, he seemed to have had too much to drink and in the end he wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but he vaguely remembered looking at Luo at the time before he lost consciousness and thinking that he was a very good looking man, the kind that looked good any way.

 

Xiao Lan's heart tightened, he ……
wasn't doing anything strange to Luo, was he?

 

“Sir?” Luo asked again.

 

“Hmm? Oh ……
I'm awake.” Xiao Lan now came back to her senses, rolled over and got up from the bed, lifting the curtain with her hands.

 

By the bedside Luo has his usual elegant smile on his face and looks as if he's perfectly normal.

 

“I didn't do anything last night when I was drunk, did I?” Xiao Lan asked uncertainly.

 

“Well ……” Luo pondered for a moment, his face seeming a little serious.

 

Only a moment later did he adjust his expression, regain his smile and say, “No, breakfast is ready for you.”

 

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Xiao Lan: “……”

 

But you don't look like you don't have one at all with that expression!!!

 

Xiao Lan couldn't help but stare at Luo's face, trying to see something in his expression.

 

But is the thickness of a non-human's face impenetrable to a mere human eye? Luo's face was as calm as it had been every day before.

 

But the more he did, the more Xiao Lan wondered to himself, had he really done something?

 

Or is it the kind of thing that Luo feels better not to mention or forget?

 

There was no explanation on Luo's part, and he just enjoyed being remembered by his husband every day with a little hidden bad intentions and slight pleasure.

 

With such doubts, Xiao Lan spent the next few days at the spa.

 

I think it's better not to drink just because you're a good drinker in the future, look at this.
……
And it's not good for your health to drink while you're in the spa, you can't do that again, Xiao Lan reflected.

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After returning to the players' quarters Xiao Lan returned to his daily training routine and gradually put the doubts in his head behind him.

 

Time to get into the game once again.

 

—

 

After the familiar darkness fades away.

 

What Xiao Lan sees is an unoccupied reception desk with an edgy, sharply curved shape, behind which is the design-inspired font “DEATH Game Studio” in silvery-white metal on a black backdrop, with a distinctive logo on the side.

 

Apparently this is the front desk of a games studio.

 

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Looking at the name and the game content of Advent World, it's very likely that it's a studio that makes horror games.

 

With clocks on the walls, a water cooler and snack cabinet, sofas and seating around for visitors to relax on, and a TV with a large screen, everything looked normal, but there just wasn't a soul in sight.

 

Shortly afterwards, the players appeared one after another, nine in total, and this time there was surprisingly not a single female player among them.

 

Everyone gathered in the lobby in unison and by the time no more new players appeared, there were still no NPCs out in the game to greet the players.

 

The players stayed where they appeared, watching each other and their surroundings, and none of them rushed out to introduce themselves or ask for a team.

 

This is probably the biggest difference between intermediate and beginner players.

 

They no longer have a superstitious belief in the principle that there is strength in numbers, that more people sometimes means a threat is around, and the expectation of the same players has changed from helping each other to just not holding each other back or taking their own shots.

 

Xiao Lan looks around and it doesn't look like the interior of an office building, but rather like it's in a suite.

 

The view from the window is false and silent, and although it is dark, you can tell it is within a villa area by the light of the street lamps.

 

This may have been a small studio in its early stages of establishment, formed in the owner's own villa.

 

As a rule the door will not open.

 

And in this game, even the windows are not accessible, there is an invisible wall in the air that stops the player, as if the game is confined to this one area of the studio.

 

The area beyond this hall is blocked by glass doors with card-swiping machines next to them, which apparently require a card to be swiped to get through, but the players are not about to break the scene until the main game thread is clear.

 

Thus, for the moment, their activities are confined to this hall.

 

“Looks like we'll just have to wait here for the game to begin.” A man's voice rang out, a slightly low voice, every bite clear and sharp, yet with a languid and condescending tone, a voice that one could easily remember.

 

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The players turned their heads to see that the speaker was a man with a small smile on his lips.

 

His features are striking, his narrow eyes a little careless, his single earring and his hair cut like a star.
He is wearing a very flamboyant white suit, which looks extraordinary in terms of workmanship and texture, with a coat of the same colour draped over his shoulders, and he moves with the utmost panache.

 

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As he spoke he nonchalantly stroked the white long-haired cat in his arms with an air of relaxation, and the cat matched this with an expression of great enjoyment and even a happy little purr.

 

This man is like a white peacock with an open screen and is exuding his charms all the time.

 

Unfortunately, this time the audience present were all male creatures.

 

They looked at the guy in white and a phrase came to mind –

 

You're a slut.

 

Xiao Lan looked at the man who spoke and sensed in him a familiarity, like the one he had felt when he had met Wang Ke or Qi Ning at Madame Bella's estate, when they had been able to navigate the lowly field with ease.

 

It is highly likely that this is a senior player.

 

Seemingly sensing Xiao Lan's eyes, the cat-addicted man looked up and met his gaze directly, and the man looked at Xiao Lan and said, “Hello, I'm Cheng Wenyi.”

 

There was no self-effacement in that tone of voice that one might normally use when introducing oneself, as if it was a matter of course that others should know him.

 

Xiao Lan nodded at him, “Hello, I'm Xiao Lan.”

 

As the two opened their mouths, other players took the initiative to introduce themselves.

 

Anyway, the game hasn't officially started yet, so it's not that bad a time.

 

Several players introduced themselves afterwards.

 

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“I, I ……
call, call Hua Bei .” A shy looking man said, he seemed to have social phobia and just that one sentence had made him blush.

 

“Spend ……
good name ……,” said one player.

 

What a name to evoke sinful thoughts in one's heart.

 

“Do you have a brother called Borrower?” Xiao Lan couldn't resist asking.

 

“No, it's not.” Hua Bei scratched his head with a red face, “It's shell, shell, shell for shell.”

 

As Hua Bei spoke more, Xiao Lan realised that he was a bit of a stammerer.
He was introverted and shy, and he looked like a gentle, harmless herbivore.

 

But for someone like that to have made it to the intermediate level, he must not be as harmless as he seems.

 

When the crowd had briefly introduced themselves, only one man remained sitting motionless in the corner.

 

He looked fifteen or sixteen, wearing a black jumper with a hood, a number of leather or metallic ornaments, several earrings in his ears and a lip ring on his mouth, and deep dark circles under his eyes, looking like a punk teenager.

 

The teenager had been engrossed in the game console he was holding.

 

The console looked ancient and the screen was still a green pixelated one.
The sound of the game dripping was distinctly noticeable after the crowd had quieted down.

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Next to him, a fat, otaku-like player wearing a T-shirt with a beautiful girl's head printed on it, with the name Hu Zhai, showed an envious look: “First generation game boy eh, so envious ……”

 

Yet the teenager did not lift his head to take up the crowd.

 

At this point Cheng Wenyi spoke up, “Mu Yang, say hello to everyone.”

 

The punk teenager who was addicted to the game finally gave his eyes to the players of the same game:” Mu Yang .”

 

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After a dull introduction, Mu Yang ducks his head back into his ancient morning game, the unruly soul of a punk kid who doesn't care to be around stupid adults.

 

Cheng Wenyi smiled, “Sorry, Mu Yang, that's how he is, he loves games.”

 

Hu Zhai couldn't help but ask: “Won't you stop him? It's dangerous to carry a mobile phone or something like that.
……”

 

Cheng Wenyi: “So he downgraded his console from switch to game boy, with this pixelated screen, it's not easy for ghosts to come out even if they want to.”

 

At these words, Hu Zhai looked enlightened, as if he had heard the most important words in the world.

 

Game geeks are really creative and daring in moments like this.

 

After the players were introduced and nothing was seen to change in the game, for a while they scattered again and went off to pass the time in their own hairy ways.

 

Cheng Wen, however, is approaching in the direction of Xiao Lan.

 

The white cat in his arms seemed to be very interested in Xiao Lan, as it whined and purred twice in Xiao Lan's direction, looking like it wanted to be petted, and jumped out of Cheng Wenyi's Cheng Wenyi's arms and jumped out.

 

The cat takes two steps, but stops when it is about to approach Xiao Lan.

 

He looked at Luo as if he had seen some dangerous beast, and his white hair all over his body exploded, instantly jumping back to Cheng Wenyi's side, not daring to go near Xiao Lan again.

 

” Xue Li?” Cheng Wenyi was a little surprised by the change in his cat.

 

The white cat, named Xue Li, simply lies at his feet and does not advance.

 

“Sorry, seems to have scared your cat?” Xiao Lan said.

 

“It's alright, Xue Li has always been rather timid and petulant.” Cheng Wenyi took his attention away from the cat and turned to Xiao Lan, “I wasn't introduced before, I'm from Reincarnation.”

 

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Why is it reincarnation again? Xiao Lan wondered.

 

“What, Mr.
Xiao has been in contact with the Reincarnation people before?” Cheng Wenyi asked when he saw the look on Xiao Lan's face.

 

“Well, it's a girl called Di Yifugui.” Xiao Lan didn't hold back.
After all, there were several other people at the same game who knew he had met Di Yifugui, and the enthusiasm with which Di Yifugui told the story of Brother Xiao was probably like that of a storyteller under a flyover, going back and forth about him for three hundred rounds.

 

“Little FuGui.” Cheng Wenyi smiled, “I know of her, she and another girl have organised a 'Brother Xiao Support Group' in Reincarnation and have pulled quite a few members into it, it's been going particularly well lately.”

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“That Brother Xiao, that wouldn't be you, would it?”

 

Xiao Lan: “……”

 

I never thought it would be this!

 

A myriad of shameful memories swirled through his mind like a lightning rod, was it too late to deny it? Or should he have said 'I'm not, I'm not, you're mistaken' when he first met Di Yifugui?

 

However, it seems that this situation is now too late.

 

Shame is like the wind, it is always with me.

 

At this point Mu Yang's voice came through, accompanied by the game's sound effects: “Old ……
himself doesn't even have a back-up club yet, so he minds this very much.”

 

Cheng Wenyi: “……”

 

He took a deep breath and kept his slightly reserved smile, ” Mu Yang, you add an essay to your homework this time.”

 

Mu Yang's console in her hand instantly stopped smelling good: “……
I hate essays!”

 

Cheng Wenyi glanced at him lightly: “Two.”

 

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Mu Yang's head drops: “I was wrong ……”

 

The unruly soul of the punk teenager is crushed in the face of the tyrant's homework.

 

Cheng Wenyi's gaze turned back to Xiao Lan, ” Mr.
Xiao, if you know Di Yifugui, would you like to consider joining Reincarnation? We have very good benefits here at Reincarnation.”

 

Xiao Lan points to a wilting Mu Yang: “Does it also include child labour?”

 

Cheng Wenyi: “……”

 

This is no way to talk about this day!

 

Xiao Lan: “Just kidding, I'm just more used to being with my teammates, it's easier to sharpen myself that way, not to mention I have no attachment to reality.”

 

Hearing Xiao Lan's reply, Cheng Wenyi did not continue his persuasion, nor did his face look annoyed, as if he had only been talking in the first place, he gave a meaningful smile, “Then I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr.
Xiao can do.”

 

Just then, the clock on the wall reached 0:44.

 

The previously peaceful atmosphere was suddenly shattered.

 

The television, which had been acting as a backdrop next to me, lit up with a softly ringing bell.
There was no picture visible on the screen, just a snowflake.

 

A voice came out of the screen, “Welcome ……
all new employees, please follow the guide to take your fingerprints and facial information at the front desk and receive your work badge ……”

 

The voice was cold, seemingly far away, and carried a gloomy and sombre smell.