After Joining the Game, She Came Out as Gay [Infinite] - Chapter 10

“……Qi Cheng , I’m sorry. I seem to have caused you some trouble.” Xia Lin spoke with sincere apology, like a child who had done something wrong.

Qi Cheng  took a deep breath, concealing the shyness brought on by the lingering aftereffects of the kiss. Forcing herself to act as if nothing was wrong, she stammered, “Uh, well… the game rules are set that way, you don’t need to… mind it.”

That’s right, the bastard was the God; Xia Lin was simply following the rules and taking decisive action.

—Qi Cheng  told herself this.

Furthermore, as things stood, she had no right to be angry with Xia Lin at all—no matter what Xia Lin did to her—none.

“……”

Xia Lin gazed at her quietly, then said:

“Hey, Qi Cheng .”

“Hm…?”

“Regarding kissing you, there is no apology.”

“……!”

Ever since Qi Cheng  arrived in the Great Living Room (public area), although Xia Lin hadn’t shown it to anyone, her attention had actually been on Qi Cheng  the entire time.

So, naturally, she had also observed that Qi Cheng  still had no intention of inviting her to form a team.

…Though she wasn’t sure why Qi Cheng  had suddenly changed her mind.

Xia Lin hoped that Qi Cheng  had chosen her for who she was, rather than choosing her out of sympathy after watching the live broadcast of the lower world.

But, it didn’t really matter. At least the other party had accepted her because of it.

Although she also quite hated God, for this one point, she had to thank him.

However, considering Qi Cheng ’s will, she felt a bit sorry.

Thus, she expressed her apologies to her. But with the exception of that kiss.

If it were just for show for the others, she wouldn’t have used her tongue.

“Because of me, it seems you were forced to decide very hastily. As a result, the information you can grasp has become very scarce… You originally intended to gather more information on everyone before inviting a teammate to clear the stage, right? I felt I should apologize to you for this.”

“……It doesn’t matter. Conversely, they can’t gather much information on us either. Besides, our rapid clearing of the stage can actually create many conflicts for them. Those ‘moderates’ who originally planned to ‘gather more info before acting’ have probably had their plans disrupted by us and are now forced to rush their selection of teammates.”

Qi Cheng  smiled and continued: “And teammates chosen in haste generally won’t have high chemistry; instead, it’s easier for conflicts to arise. Just like this button—one flick—”

She gestured.

“—and it snaps.”

“……I see.”

“Of course, you weren’t a hasty decision of mine, don’t overthink it!” Qi Cheng  hurried to explain.

Xia Lin gazed at her, her smile very warm.

Watching Xia Lin’s sincere smile, Qi Cheng  was completely stunned.

She had finally managed to suppress her sense of shame, but because of that smile, it surged up once again.

Qi Cheng  turned her head away, completely unsure of what expression to use to face this person.

As expected of a world-renowned entertainer, she really appeals to both men and women alike. But this smile… Qi Cheng  couldn’t and didn’t deserve to enjoy it.

She deliberately avoided looking at Xia Lin, changing the subject to hide her embarrassment: “……Since we have to live in this space for three days, let’s investigate this place for now.”

“Mhm, okay. ……Then shall we split up? You investigate the house, and I’ll investigate the outside?”

After they followed the rules, made their 【Vow】, and kissed, God transported the two of them to another space.

Inside a small villa.

It had two floors in total, and they were currently in the living room on the first floor.

God said that the second round of the game would begin in 72 hours. So during this “preparation time,” the two of them had to live in this villa for three days.

“……No,” Qi Cheng  said. “You stay by my side and move with me.”

Although nothing dangerous should appear here, just in case any “accidental events” occurred, it would be better to have her follow along to handle it.

Given those Gods with their foul tastes, it wasn’t impossible.

Xia Lin smiled: “Okay.”

Qi Cheng  avoided the other’s gaze and took the lead in investigating the first floor.

The layout of the first floor was the same as a small villa in the human world, with a living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. It was equipped with various furniture and daily necessities, all in sets of two.

However, while there were various cooking utensils, no ingredients were found in the refrigerator.

Looking at the empty fridge, Qi Cheng  sighed.

They were currently living humans; eating was a necessity. Just now, she had tried using her inner voice to ask God for food, but things didn’t appear as they had in the first round of the game.

…Did God want them to live on air? Or rather, to maintain their livelihood, would they have to resort to cannibalism?

“Qi Cheng , I found two boxes of instant noodles in the cupboard… looking at the date… they’re recent.”

Qi Cheng  walked to Xia Lin’s side, squatting down to look at the two boxes of Master Kong Braised Beef Noodles in the cupboard, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Qi Cheng : “At least we don’t have to worry about starving.”

Anyone can cook a bowl of instant noodles.

Xia Lin: “……”

Refusing to give up, she found flour and rice in the adjacent cupboard, but when she told Qi Cheng , the other party only gave a faint “Oh” in response.

Judging by her tone, it seemed she had chosen the simple and crude “cuisine” of instant noodles to fill her stomach.

They then went to the second floor.

The second floor only had a bathroom and a bedroom.

Although the bedroom was luxuriously decorated, there was only one large bed. It was large enough for two people to roll around on… It was probably configured this way on purpose to fit the “lovers” setting.

Qi Cheng  sighed helplessly, scratched her hair, and muttered: “Whatever, the sofa can sleep someone anyway.”

She pulled open the drawer of the nightstand, only to find it filled with aphrodisiacs, the packaging featuring restricted R-rated images.

The wardrobe Xia Lin opened was also full of erotic lingerie and various adult toys; it seemed they were all female-oriented to match the two of them.

Qi Cheng : “……”

Xia Lin: “……”

The drawer was slammed shut by Qi Cheng .

Qi Cheng : “Let’s go, to the garden.”

Xia Lin kindly reminded her: “Don’t we need to check the bathroom…”

Because Xia Lin noticed that Qi Cheng  was investigating very meticulously, especially regarding whether there were any safety hazards in the room.

It made Xia Lin wonder if she had majored in fire safety engineering in her previous life.

In response, Qi Cheng  roared: “NO NEED!!!”

…She likely guessed that God wouldn’t have prepared anything good for them in the bathroom either.

It seemed God’s foul taste was something Qi Cheng  found quite repulsive.

Or rather, she was not good at dealing with these kinds of things.

“Pfft.”

Xia Lin thought she was truly cute, suppressing the urge to hug her from behind and pat her head, and followed her downstairs to the outside.

The garden was very large.

Rather than a garden, it was more like a ranch.

Aside from the landscaped areas planted with flowers and plants, most areas were planted with vegetables and fruits, and there was a supporting automatic cultivation system that allowed the fruit to ripen without manual operation.

Not far from the villa, there were several other buildings. Qi Cheng  and the other confirmed they were livestock sheds, containing cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens, also with an automatic feeding system for delivery.

Qi Cheng : “……Is he making us play Harvest Moon?”

Xia Lin took a warm egg from the chicken coop and said, “It looks like these are our ingredients for these three days.”

“Correct~”

The hollow voice of God suddenly came from the sky above.

“Feel lucky, you two.”

Probably because his true body was still at the venue of the first round of the Love Game, he only connected his voice to this side.

“Because you two are the first pair of lovers to clear the Love Game, you get this kind of luxury treatment!”

Xia Lin asked: “Then the winners after us…?”

God: “Ho ho ho, I didn’t expect Xiao Lin to care so much about others? How truly kind~!”

…Care… about them?

No, Xia Lin did not hold such feelings.

If it were a situation where they had spent a long time together and had developed feelings or bonds, perhaps a sense of concern would arise. But having only been together for a single day now, it was impossible to produce such feelings.

At the very least, she knew that under the condition of being competitors, she did not have the luxury to care for her opponents.

She just wanted to use the different rewards or punishments for the latter two groups based on their completion times as a reference, serving as auxiliary information for future stages.

However, although God praised her verbally, he actually knew Xia Lin’s motives. At best, he was just using clever sarcasm to quietly dig at her.

And this point was not hard for Qi Cheng  and Xia Lin to hear from God’s mocking tone.

“It doesn’t affect the game balance anyway, so it’s fine to tell you~☆”

“The second pair of lovers to clear the Love Game will have much worse treatment than you~ The two of them can only live in a small studio! The bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom are all integrated together. In your lower world terms, it’s a ‘shoebox’ apartment. The food is only frozen meals—it’ll fill the stomach, but nutrition isn’t guaranteed~ But compared to the third pair of lovers to clear, it’s already much better.”

“As for the third pair of lovers to clear the game, because they are the last to clear, they must accept the bottom-tier punishment. They can only spend these three days in a small, enclosed space. Never mind the basic configuration a home should have, the food that can satisfy hunger is much worse!”

Although his physical form couldn’t be seen, one could tell from his annoying voice that God must have a gloating expression right now.

“I remember you lower world people have a saying called ‘eating chaff and husks,’ right? Their food really is as the literal meaning suggests—eating chaff and husks! It sounds miserable, like being in hell, right? That’s why I kept emphasizing that the earlier you clear the Love Game, the more advantageous it is! Regarding this, Xiao Lin and Little Orange did very well! Spend these three days resting well and enjoy your world for two!”

“Meat, vegetables, fruit… all these ingredients are here, you can use them freely! However, as you have likely noticed, if you want to eat meat, you have to slaughter the animals and cut the meat yourselves! Although they are very docile and won’t resist much, I wonder if you, who aren’t butchers, can actually bring yourselves to lay a hand on these living animals~ Hee hee hee!”

…Sure enough, God is God; it is impossible for him to truly hold a heart of benevolence toward humans.

In this situation, frozen food would be much better than these live animals. But luckily there was plenty of instant noodles; as long as she could fill her stomach, Qi Cheng  wasn’t picky.

“Hey, God!” Qi Cheng  shouted toward the sky, “What is the content of the second stage? ……Hey!”

She was ignored.

Qi Cheng  clicked her tongue, rubbed her hair, and said to Xia Lin: “Since he refuses to inform us of the next stage’s content in advance, there’s no way to discuss a strategy beforehand. Since we can’t do anything anyway during these three days, let’s just rest properly. You must be very tired, right? Go take a hot bath and relax; I’ll go patrol the outside.”

After Xia Lin had watched the live broadcast of her own death, she would definitely feel uncomfortable; Qi Cheng  could at least look out for her in that regard. Since the safety within the villa area had been confirmed, there was no problem leaving her inside alone.

“Should I go with you?” Xia Lin asked.

“Are you worried?”

Qi Cheng  smiled.

Xia Lin was about to say something, but Qi Cheng  said: “Rest assured, since the remaining people won’t be transported here, this place is safe. And I’ve checked inside and outside the house; there won’t be a problem even if you’re alone. Although these Gods are extremely despicable, before the formal game starts, they absolutely will not allow an accident to happen to a contestant. You can be quite sure of that.”

“No, I’m not worried about that…”

“I’ll go confirm the outside myself; there shouldn’t be any problems, so there’s no need for you to come along. Go rest.”

“……Sigh.” Xia Lin gave a very helpless sigh.

…Forget it, since the other party had said so, what else could she say? It would just be making a fool of herself.

After seeing Qi Cheng  leave, Xia Lin returned to the house feeling very exhausted.

Meanwhile, Qi Cheng  walked about 500 meters along the forest path.

She moved forward cautiously while observing her surroundings.

Looking toward the villa from here, although she could only barely make out its outline with the naked eye, it would be different if one were equipped with high-powered binoculars.

Their activities in the villa would be monitored with complete clarity.

The words she used to comfort Xia Lin were not a lie. Before the game officially begins, as long as they are competing as contestants, the Gods—acting as the operators—will absolutely not allow any accident to force a contestant into a premature exit.

But that was only guaranteed under the premise that “they are truly resting.”

What if there’s a “Hidden Stage”?

What if they are already in the second stage of the game right now?

Qi Cheng  did not trust God.

She trusted no one.

To ensure that it was absolutely safe right now, she had to see it with her own eyes.

She took another five steps forward.

Suddenly, she bumped into something.

“……Oh?”