A Survival Game Where You Have to Fall in Love with a Madman - Chapter 12

This was the very first time a player had ever dared to refuse him.

The old butler’s body trembled as his mouth split wide open, his limbs twisting at a grotesque angle. His robes rapidly melted into a cluster of crimson eyeballs, and one of his eyes popped completely out of its socket, dangling solely by a few straining blood vessels.

“Then I will just take your limbs as the betrothal gift!” his voice hissed, raspy and terrifying, causing the entire room to shudder.

Without moving so much as a single step, You Yan raised his hand and hurled the heavy candlestick straight into the old man’s face. The dangling eyeball burst instantly, spraying blood-red fluid everywhere.

The old butler shrieked in agony. The entire room was stunned into absolute silence by the sudden turn of events.

The livestream chat flooded the screen like a tidal wave:

[ID: Let Death Be the Final Chapter gifted You Yan a Small Star! Kudos, you have gained 1 Point!] [ID: Xuan Qingqing] Holy crap, this move was absolutely brilliant! I am definitely following him! [ID: Red Umbrella gifted You Yan a ‘Flatbread’! Kudos, you have gained 5 Points!] [System Announcement: Congratulations to player You Yan for acquiring a massive amount of Influence Points.]

The hand He Yanqing was using to twirl his short knife stopped. He let out a sharp whistle. “As expected of my little NPC.”

“I don’t make trades without a return,” You Yan said methodically, pulling out a tissue to wipe the blood from his hand before tossing it casually to the floor. “I’ve given you the betrothal gift. Consider your eye my compensation.”

Guo Xuemei and Chang Zhou were too shocked to speak. Utilizing objects found natively inside an instance as a betrothal gift, he was the first person to ever pull off such a stunt.

The old butler arched his spine, clutching his bleeding eye. The candlestick rolled across the floor. He realized that the instance rules indeed never explicitly stated that players couldn’t use items from within the mansion as betrothal gifts. Furthermore, a player who successfully handed over a gift was legally considered a ‘guest,’ and he was forbidden from harming guests.

Damn it. This player actually managed to find a loophole in the rules.

Left with no choice but to swallow his rage, the butler cowered. He Yanqing casually kicked another candlestick toward him. “Take it, idiot.”

Old Butler’s Inner Thought: I’m just doing my job, why do I have to get insulted like this…

Seeing the loophole work, Jiu Chenjing stepped up and handed a plate from the table to the old butler. Following their lead, Liu Xin scanned the room frantically, looking for any small object he could give, but he quickly realized there was nothing left on the tables.

His eyes eventually locked onto the chair You Yan had just been sitting on. It was the only chair in the entire room. He reasoned that the rules hadn’t specified the physical dimensions of a betrothal gift either.

Before You Yan could open his mouth to stop him, Liu Xin had already marched forward and shoved the heavy chair directly in front of the old butler. “Here. My betrothal gift.”

Staring at the bizarre offering placed before him, the old butler felt his vision go dark. The instance rules dictated that he had to unconditionally accept whatever betrothal gift a player offered.

Resigned, he set the candlesticks onto the seat, bent over, and hoisted the heavy chair into his arms. His rows of blackened, pitted teeth rattled violently as he spoke in a raspy, jarring voice:

“Guests, please wait here. The wedding ceremony is about to begin.” With those words, he turned and fled the room with his pile of gifts as if escaping a nightmare.

The livestream chat erupted once more:

[ID: Lemon Sliced Fish] Even that counts as a betrothal gift? Then what about the players who honestly handed over rare items in this instance before? What a joke! [ID: Cha Tae-kyung Is My Wife] Look at Guo Xuemei and Chang Zhou’s faces, they look pitch black. Did they forget to wash their faces this morning? [ID: Stop Stealing My Username] I’ve disliked those two for the longest time. This seriously vents some major frustration. [ID: The NPC’s Scalpel] Brothers up top, how did you change your usernames so fast? [ID: Li Yin Meets Qing] The big boss’s expression looks a bit terrible though? Is it because the only chair was taken away as a gift?

Guo Xuemei gnashed her teeth, forcing herself to ignore the stream comments. She shot a glare filled with pure venom at You Yan. If he had just shared the trick earlier, they wouldn’t have thrown away their rare items as betrothal gifts.

I need to find a way to get rid of him, she thought. Slipping her hand behind her back, a small slip of paper materialized in her palm.

This was a rule-based targeting skill. Using it on a player would turn them into a designated target for the anomalies in the instance. It was an exceptionally rare item, incredibly difficult to obtain anywhere within the Main God Game.

Just as Guo Xuemei prepared to cast it, she remembered the activation condition: she had to speak the player’s actual name. And she still didn’t know his name. She recalled He Yanqing calling him ‘Mr. NPC,’ ‘My Little Theorist,’ and… ‘Little Crow’?

What kind of ridiculous nicknames were those?

Then she remembered that the System had assessed his capability rating as a flat 0. That meant she should have sufficient authority to look up his player profile directly.

Focusing her gaze on the blue bar across You Yan’s wrist, a translucent status screen materialized before her eyes.

[Your capability assessment rating is too low. Unable to view this player’s information.]

How is this possible?

Even if her rating wasn’t exceptionally high, it was still a solid 25. Why couldn’t she view the profile of someone whose rating was supposedly a 0?

Before she could delve deeper into her confusion, He Yanqing’s gaze swept coldly over her. In that single instant, she felt entirely naked, as if every dark thought crossing her mind was completely laid bare before his eyes. Terrified, Guo Xuemei snapped her eyes away, clutched the item tightly, and lowered her head, trying her absolute best to minimize her presence.

A sudden itch tingly across You Yan’s palm. Looking down, he noticed a mark had formed on the hand he had used to throw the candlestick. The Mark of the Ghost Marriage. He tilted his head, his gaze colliding directly with He Yanqing’s.

He Yanqing was twirling his short knife, and a matching mark had manifested on his palm as well, since he too had offered a candlestick as a gift.

You Yan had a bad feeling about this. He saw He Yanqing open his mouth, and he just knew the man wasn’t about to say anything productive.

“My little theorist, look. We have matching couple’s marks,” He Yanqing chirped, sliding over seamlessly and wrapping an arm around You Yan’s waist.

You Yan: “…” I knew it.

“Get lost. Stop acting shameless.” You Yan slapped his hand away, walked over to a dark red cabinet, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against it.

The only chair was gone, leaving him nowhere to sit. He cast a detached, icy glare at the bespectacled man standing by the sacrificial altar.

The System never stated that team-killing is prohibited, did it?

Liu Xin felt a sudden, piercing chill cut straight down his spine. His hands instinctively came up to rub at the goosebumps breaking out across his arms.

“I love your temper, Little Crow.” He Yanqing lightly tapped his own temple, the look in his eyes radiating a volatile mix of madness and excitement. “If I remember correctly, I believe I’ve said that once before.”

Looking at his manic state, Liu Xin hesitated for a long moment before speaking up. “Gaffer He, we don’t have detailed data on this instance. The mark on your hand…”

“I know. Isn’t it beautiful?” He Yanqing displayed his hand like a prized trophy, exposing the eerie Mark of the Ghost Marriage to everyone’s view.

Liu Xin was entirely left speechless. In the history of the game, He Yanqing was likely the only player capable of treating a curse so flippantly. Actually, no there was another one. He looked over at the man leaning against the cabinet. He actually looks like he’s in the mood to take a nap?!!

Liu Xin practically wanted to fall to his knees before the two of them. Aren’t you guys supposed to be panicking? Shouldn’t a normal player’s immediate reaction be to figure out how to purge the curse mark? Can you please show a shred of respect to the anomalies of this instance?!

The livestream chat flashed continuously:

Why are the two of them so incredibly calm? It doesn’t even feel like they’re playing a survival game; it looks like they’re on a date. I wish I had that kind of mindset. I couldn’t even fake that level of chill. Is that really where your attention is? Did you guys miss the waist wrap just now?! AHHHH! I admit it, I used to be too proud. Now I just want to watch this stream in full high-definition.

Jiu Chenjing, who had remained quiet the entire time, traced the edges of his pocket watch, his deep eyes tracking the rotation of the hands.

He Yanqing played with his short knife, its blade gleaming with a faint, eerie blue hue under the green moonlight. “Boss Jiu, care to explain why the hands on your pocket watch are spinning backward?”

“A temporal fold.” Suddenly, the string of Jiu Chenjing’s jade prayer beads snapped. As the green jade spheres struck the floor, they slipped straight through the solid blue bricks and vanished entirely. “The rate of time flow in this instance is corrupted. We might already be—”

A shrill, agonizing blast of suona music tore through the air. Simultaneously, thick, viscous droplets of blood began to ooze from every door and window.

Guo Xuemei reacted instantly, her long whip snapping outward to wrap around a ceiling beam, hoisting both herself and Chang Zhou clean off the ground. Just a second prior, she had activated her targeting item, having written a single phrase on the slip of paper: Mr. NPC.

With a light tap of their feet, Jiu Chenjing and Liu Xin propelled themselves up onto the beams as well.

You Yan considered his official capability rating of 0. Attempting to leap straight onto a high ceiling beam under his own power seemed a bit too unrealistic. He surveyed his immediate surroundings, noting a window frame on the left wall that could serve as a stepping ledge.

Just as he braced to move toward it, someone else beat him to the punch. His body was suddenly scooped into the air. By the time he recovered his bearings, He Yanqing was holding him securely in a single-armed embrace, perched safely in a corner of the rafters.

Almost at that exact microsecond, the floorboards they had been standing on a moment ago collapsed entirely with a resounding crash, revealing a bottomless pit of churning blood filled with countless pale, skeletal arms clawing frantically at the air.