Chapter 202.2
Chapter 202.2
As soon as the elevator opened, Bai Lixin and Xia Chi were taken back by the blast of heat even though they had expected [Punk Paradise] to be filled with players.
Punk Paradise was not very big, and they saw a sea of people packed inside even before they stepped in. They exchanged their points for admission and walked in under the pressure.
Perhaps the ticket collector was overwhelmed by the amount of money he collected today, as the NPC at the entrance was much friendlier than usual, even smiling at Bai Lixin and Xia Chi.
Xia Chi clung tightly to Bai Lixin, afraid of losing him in the chaotic crowd.
There was a restless crowd all around, s it was noisy and chaotic.
“Fuck, don’t push me! My shoe just got crushed!”
“There are no tokens here! Don’t push me!”
“Please, I just came here to play games. Go look elsewhere. I checked it for you.”
“It doesn’t count unless we check it ourselves. Who knows if you saw it inside the claw machine and are deliberately hiding it from us?”
“Exactly! You’ve been hogging the machine for so long. It’s time for you to move to another spot.”
“No, I won’t move. I finally got my turn after waiting for so long. Look around, every machine is taken!”
Xia Chi: “…”
It was terrifying to see the purchasing power of these competitive players.
Every machine was occupied, even the reception desk for lucky draws, which was usually less crowded, was also filled with people.
Suddenly, Xia Chi had an idea and pulled Bai Lixin towards the counter.
The NPCs inside the game lobby wore masks, and the NPC at the counter was arrogantly looking at the players coming and going, thrilled with the amount of points they were contributing, as if he could fly to the sky any moment.
“Hey, 454, business is really good today. You’ve made more money in a day than in the past six months.”
“Ah, 455, I can be happy every day if things stay like this for the next 90 days as long as the token is not found.”
“Did we make a lot of commission today?”
“We did! We finally made up for the deficit caused by those brats who came here to buy goods a few years ago. Our Punk Paradise has been struggling for over a year because of them.”
“Ah, those were tough times. I hope we never have to go through that again. I was so poor back then.”
“Hey, 455, do you recognize the player coming towards us?”
“Huh? Oh, wow. I definitely know him. 454, do you smell poverty too?”
A masked NPC looked at Xia Chi and Bai Lixin with suspicion and cried in his heart.
Don’t come any closer!
Get the hell out of here!
Five seconds later, Xia Chi swiped and handed over 50,000 points to the NPC without even noticing his trembling soul: “Brother, here are 50,000 points.”
NPC: “…”
Who the hell is your brother?! Do you have something for your brother to drink for the next year?
With a bucket of game coins in his hands, Xia Chi went straight to the lottery counter without going anywhere else.
After observing the surrounding NPCs, Bai Lixin said to Xia Chi, “You play here for a while, I’ll go inside and take a look.”
Xia Chi was totally focused on the big roulette wheel and just nodded absentmindedly, “Okay, brother. Be careful.”
After bidding farewell to Xia Chi, Bai Lixin maneuvered through the crowded players. He looked a bit too elegant among the players whose faces were almost distorted due to the crowd.
However, his elegance was unappreciated, as everyone’s attention was focused on the yet-to-be-released token.
Bai Lixin’s journey was difficult, as the previously less than one-minute walk now took him five minutes to reach the entertainment area inside.
There were also many people in the entertainment area, and the crowd was surging like a tide.
The continuous tide seemed to fill every inch of the air, leaving no hiding place for it to ebb and flow.
Bai Lixin walked down the middle of the path, scanning through each booth one by one.
“What the hell are you doing?! Get lost!”
Suddenly, a loud roar drowned out all the sounds, and a fierce path was cleared.
The voices in the hall abruptly stopped, and the players curiously craned their necks to see that two male players were arguing at a booth.
One of them was very tall and muscular, while the other was much thinner.
The thinner one said, “It was my turn. I didn’t steal it.”
Another man widened his eyes and clenched his fist: “Say it again, and see if I don’t hit you?”
The skinny man sneered, “Ha, are you trying to scare me? Players are protected by the system here. You try to touch me and see what happens. Go ahead, hit me. I’m not afraid of you.”
He provocatively slapped his own face and taunted, “Come on, hit me here. If you dare hit me, I’ll make you regret it.”
The brawny man’s face turned red with rage. His clenched fist looked as big as the skinny man’s face, the veins on his fist stood out and his muscles knotted like an angry bear.
Ignoring the skinny man’s look of fear, the brawny man delivered a fierce punch to the skinny man’s face.
As the skinny man screamed in agony, chaos suddenly erupted on the scene.
It wasn’t until the skinny man was about to be beaten to death that the man was stopped by the late NPCs, and they forcefully dragged him to a small black room that appeared out of nowhere.
Watching the skinny man crawl back to continue playing the game, the brawny man shouted, “Do you know why he insisted on playing? The token is at that booth!”
In an instant, all the players rushed toward the booth.
The crowd was thick and dense, brushing past Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin deftly dodged one crazy player after another. When he reached the corner of the wall, a large hand with white gloves suddenly grabbed his arm.
Bai Lixin looked along the cuffs of the man’s dark suit, and saw a masked NPC with a fox face.
Bai Lixin saw the fox eyes hanging on the mask, and the mouth was pursed as if laughing cunningly.
The NPC supported Bai Lixin before withdrawing his hand, standing respectfully before him: “Esteemed guest, the crowds are surging. Please be cautious of your safety and footing, to avoid any risk of being trampled upon.”
Bai Lixin scrutinized the NPC emitting electric currents in front of him, his eyes shining brightly: “I will pay attention. I am grateful for your reminder.”
Ahem.” The fox-faced NPC cleared his throat softly. “Hello, player. Can I ask you for a favor?”
Bai Lixin hooked the corner of his lips: “Sure.”
“You are so kind. I just lost my cufflink. Could you help me find it?” The fox-faced NPC extended his hand and showed Bai Lixin his loose white shirt cuff.
Bai Lixin looked up at the NPC’s eyes and asked, “Do you remember where you last saw it?”
“Yes, I do. I was organizing goods in the warehouse and I realized it was gone halfway through,” replied the fox-faced NPC.
Bai Lixin tilted his head and rested his chin on his hand: “Could it have been lost while you were organizing the goods?”
“Um, it is highly possible. You are very clever. Can you help me find it? I will guide you there,” said the fox-faced NPC.
“Sure, I will,” said Bai Lixin.
Amidst the throngs of people, a player and an NPC walked slowly behind the black curtain.
——————–
In the cramped and dimly-lit room, the fox-faced NPC suddenly lifted Bai Lixin and placed him on his lap.
His knitted gloves glided easily over the youth’s wide him, slowly kneading Bai Lixin’s taut waistline.
Bai Lixin’s body convulsed for a moment, and he quickly placed his hand on the fox-faced NPC’s shoulder, propping himself up. “Stop, it tickles.”
The man’s hand paused for a moment, then the other hand gently pulled up on the hem of his clothes.
“Your recovery is truly exceptional. Last night, you were covered in bruises, but now you’re as smooth and flawless as white jade.”
His voice had transformed from an electric buzz to a low, magnetic tone.
Suddenly, a cold draft hit Bai Lixin’s skin, causing him to shiver. “You…you’re getting bolder and bolder.”
The man chuckled, “Haven’t you heard of the phrase ‘bold as brass’?”
Bai Lixin cast a sidelong glance at him, “You really have no shame. Did you organize this event?”
The man greedily licked his lips, his gaze fixated on Bai Lixin’s skin, before finally reluctantly pulling down his clothes.
After straightening Bai Lixin’s clothing, the man withdrew his hands and instead placed them on the youth’s waist. “That’s right, are you surprised? Baby, it’s quite amazing that we both appeared here at the same time. It’s like they say, ‘when the husband sings, wife follows’.”
Bai Lixin rolled his eyes, “Please, I saw you follow me to the fifth floor.”
“The scale of this event is really grand. What are you aiming at?”
The man lifted the young man’s waist and moved him forward until he couldn’t move forward anymore. He then pressed the cold mask against the young man’s neck and, like a large dog, nuzzled him and said coquettishly, “Of course, it’s to provide props and experience for my baby. I can certainly be counted on to open the backstage.”
The young man tilted his head back and twisted his slender fingers into the man’s thick, short hair, rubbing it. “But how did the system agree to this? And it even gave you the chance to leave the 999th floor.”
“With enough temptation, the system is more than willing to take the bait.” The man chuckled lightly. “Props aren’t generated at random, you should know about mining, right? These props are like minerals, and they require digging to be obtained.”
“It just so happens that the number of prop cards I’ve been saving up is enough to make the system drool.”
“You have heard of ‘Little Overlord’ after coming out of the copy, right?”
“Can we talk about this here?” Bai Lixin asked. “Is there something wrong with him?”
“Don’t worry, the system is currently being bombarded by players and doesn’t have the energy to monitor us. Plus, I’ve set up a screen around us,” the man explained. “He is a product of the system, and you can think of him as the system’s child. The system wants to give him props and good things so it created this foolish voting activity.”
“Of course, I have to give the system a hard time.”
Bai Lixin paused and asked, “He’s a product of the system? So he’s not a real person? The system can even create life now? How did he come about?”
“I’m not sure about that. I’ll investigate further. I’m warning you to be careful around him,” the man cautioned.
Bai Lixin smiled and nodded seriously. “Understood, I’ll be careful.”
“By the way, there’s one thing I want to ask you,” Bai Lixin said, “Do you have a black box in your memory?”
The man responded, “A black box?”
“Yes,” Bai Lixin then described the characteristics of the black box that Song Yuan Tian had shown him.
The man stopped playing his big dog act and straightened himself. His fox-faced mask now aimed at Bai Lixin. “From your description, that black box should contain dark energy. Uncontrolled dark energy can easily go berserk, making it very dangerous.”
“I don’t have any memory of it for now, so I’m not sure if that dangerous thing was left behind by me. When you get that thing, don’t act recklessly. Let me take a look first.”
“Okay, I understand,” Bai Lixin replied.
“So, you’re going to the Doomsday Copy in five days?” the man asked.
“Ah, do you have any suggestions, great 999th-level player?” Bai Lixin asked.
“I’ve heard of that copy, but I’ve never been inside. My only advice is to enjoy the game.”
“I never doubt your ability to pass through a copy, especially since you managed to easily conquer the time cage copy. I can see that you have an adventurous and challenging spirit. On the one hand, you may not listen to my advice, and on the other hand, since the appearance rate of that copy is too low, I haven’t seen it, so I can’t give you blind warnings. Moreover, since so much time has passed, there must have been other changes inside. In any case, bring more lifesaving items, prioritize protecting yourself, and enjoy the game.”
Bai Lixin felt the man’s hair between his fingertips. “Okay.”
“As for the token, we’ll talk about it when you get out. Since I’ve extended the game time to 90 days, it proves that the token isn’t easy to find.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, Bai Lixin received a private message from Xia Chi.
Xia Chi: [Brother! I found an token!]
Bai Lixin blinked innocently at the man, who gritted his teeth and said, “Except for Xia Chi!”
Bai Lixin: “……”
In this game, it was ultimately the case that the more they talked, the more they lost.
Bai Lixin: “Be honest, can’t you be like Tang Yue and improve my luck value?”
Man: “Actually, I never told you, your husband’s luck value is also extremely poor.”
Bai Lixin: “……”
Well done, the whole army was already wiped out.