After Joining the Game, She Came Out as Gay [Infinite] - Chapter 11

“…An edge?” Qi Cheng was slightly surprised.

Clearly, she could still look out at the distant scenery, yet right in front of her, she was blocked by an invisible wall of air. If she struck it with her hand, she could feel a substance similar to glass.

Qi Cheng used a nearby branch to mark the spot, then walked in a full circle around this wall of air.

If the villa area was taken as the center point, the air wall trended toward a complete enclosure, encircling this spatial scene into a perfect circle.

There were no passages connecting to other spaces, nor were there any of those imaginary enemies. This was because the only means of movement could only be realized through the God’s teleportation.

“…I didn’t expect that they really intended to let us rest and build up our strength.”

It seemed she had truly been over-cautious; she had likely caused that girl (Xia Lin) some anxiety as well…

Probably because it was currently the early stages of the game, those “incidents” she worried about were likely not yet time to make their debut.

Qi Cheng felt amused by her own oversensitivity. She rubbed her hair and took the shortest path back.

As she approached the house, she could hear a clamor coming from the livestock shed from a long way off. Qi Cheng broke into a run and rushed into the shed.

“…What… are you doing?”

Though she understood the situation roughly just by looking, Qi Cheng asked anyway.

She saw Xia Lin holding a kitchen knife in one hand and grasping a chicken by the neck with the other.

Hearing Qi Cheng  ‘s voice, she turned her head and gave her a radiant smile: “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!”

“……”

That meme was not funny at all in this context.

Especially seeing the pathetic state she was in right now.

One could tell Xia Lin had been battling this chicken for a long time. Her clothes were covered in stains, and several stray feathers were stuck in her hair; she was in a state of utter disarray.

And though “Master Chicken” had been captured, it was still struggling mightily to break free. Xia Lin was doing her absolute best just to control it without getting hurt herself.

But even though she appeared so disheveled, her aura remained undiminished.

Xia Lin’s current state did not make one feel that her image was damaged; rather, in a way, it gave her a certain sense of relatability.

Even Qi Cheng couldn’t help but think so, and surely her fans would think the same, praising and beautifying her on an even grander scale.

That stunning skin of hers is simply a cheat code… Qi Cheng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

“I thought you celebrities, in order to maintain your figures, would only pretend to eat some vegetarian food to fill your bellies.”

Though Qi Cheng  ’s tongue was sharp, she still crouched down, intending to help her.

“How rude,” Xia Lin said with a slight, bitter smile. “Since we don’t know what kind of difficult challenges await us in the next stages, I thought our meals for these three days must be nutritionally adequate. Meat dishes are definitely indispensable.”

She had seen early on that Qi Cheng intended to get by on instant noodles for these three days, which was why she wanted to take the initiative to shoulder the cooking responsibilities. It was just that she felt it unnecessary to force her thoughtfulness upon the other party.

However, although Xia Lin had absolute confidence in her cooking, the process of turning live poultry into ingredients seemed to be more difficult than she had imagined.

The desperate resistance of this chicken was truly too fierce.

—When life is threatened, the power erupted by these animals far exceeds human imagination.

Especially when she saw the bright red blood—just like a human’s—flowing from the wound she had cut, she actually felt a spontaneous sense of respect for a chicken.

Thinking that life is truly remarkable.

Even though she was the butcher holding the knife.

Perhaps it was because this wasn’t a time of famine; she wasn’t driven to use any means necessary to fill her belly (survival), which allowed her to feel the guilt of slaughtering a life and the luxury to have such feelings in her heart.

“…Give me the knife.”

Qi Cheng reached out her hand to Xia Lin.

She didn’t mean to blame Xia Lin.

Although humans consume meat every day, the mental energy consumed by eating an animal that has already been slaughtered (a fait accompli) versus personally slaughtering a living creature is different.

Therefore, she wouldn’t say anything to Xia Lin like “You want to eat chicken but can’t even kill one.”

“Don’t hold it by the neck; grab its wings.”

Xia Lin did as she was told.

“Got it.”

A flash of the blade, and the chicken’s head was separated from its body, rolling to the ground.

The speed was truly too fast!

So fast that Xia Lin didn’t even have time to say “Don’t cut my hand.”

Xia Lin stared blankly at Qi Cheng  .

The aura she emitted, and those sharp eyes, were colder than midwinter and sharper than a blade’s edge.

Xia Lin was completely captivated by her strength.

It wasn’t until a warm, viscous sensation hit her hand that it felt like a switch had been flipped, bringing Xia Lin back to her senses.

Chicken blood was spreading along the back of her hand.

Qi Cheng had also returned to her usual expression, taking the chicken’s body from Xia Lin’s hands.

“Your technique is truly sharp, just like those samurai in the movies.”

“……”

A layer of gloom quickly covered Qi Cheng  ‘s face.

Although she wasn’t releasing that terrifying killing intent from the moment of the slaughter, the moment Xia Lin’s words left her mouth, Qi Cheng  ‘s expression became as cold as it had been before.

No, it was even colder.

…I stepped on a landmine.

If the version of her just now had shown only the outer wall of a storm, then now Xia Lin had truly touched the eye of the storm.

Even though Xia Lin felt that her sincere praise shouldn’t fall into the category of being rude, and the words themselves had no intent of prying, it was clear from Qi Cheng  ‘s attitude that she had touched a part of the other person that they were unwilling to let outsiders touch.

The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat awkward.

Just as Xia Lin was flustered, not knowing how to fix it, Qi Cheng let out a soft sigh as if catching the look in her eyes.

As if forcibly turning off a switch that had been flipped by instinct, she said in a calm tone: “I’ll handle the rest, you go get cleaned up quickly.”

The gloom on Qi Cheng  ‘s face vanished along with her relaxed tone.

“Ah… okay…”

This wasn’t an order to leave.

But Xia Lin could sense that Qi Cheng had still erected an invisible high wall around herself, wanting to shut everything out.

And this “everything,” of course, included her as well.

Xia Lin wrapped her arms around herself somewhat helplessly, and as a result, got chicken blood all over her body.

…This was truly a failure.

While taking a bath, Xia Lin repeatedly thought about which part of her sentence had made the other party unhappy.

“Was I too impatient…”

Xia Lin submerged everything below her nose in the water, murmuring softly while blowing bubbles on the surface.

“As expected, should I strengthen the friendship before developing a romantic relationship…”

If she had known earlier, she shouldn’t have thought talk of romance was a bother; she should have humbly consulted the professionals in this field.

In her circle of friends, there were several who were veterans of the dating scene.

No, that wouldn’t work. The related experience cultivated by their “playing with life” style of moving from one person to another probably wouldn’t be able to pry open Qi Cheng  ‘s heart.

Furthermore, Xia Lin didn’t want to treat Qi Cheng with that kind of half-dismissive, half-disrespectful attitude of a game.

Although everyone defines their “emotional standards” differently and outsiders have no right to judge, a “romance” acted out solely to satisfy selfish desires was not what Xia Lin wanted.

“But, ‘strengthening a romantic relationship’ is also a type of satisfying selfish desire… Sigh.”

It was truly a tangled mess.

“Oh dear, I can’t keep soaking leisurely.”

Bathing was a habit of Xia Lin’s, and also an effective way to relieve fatigue. The God must have followed her wishes from the first stage to have prepared a large bathtub in this villa.

However, if she continued to enjoy her personal leisure, Qi Cheng might just use instant noodles to settle her dinner.

That girl hadn’t eaten anything in the morning. And because they had missed lunchtime due to clearing the first stage of the game, they couldn’t just “make do” for dinner no matter what.

She hurriedly got out of the tub, wiped her body down haphazardly, threw on a bathrobe, and went out.

Qi Cheng had already finished plucking the chicken and brought the ingredients to the kitchen.

As she came in, she happened to run right into Xia Lin, who had just finished her bath.

Xia Lin’s hair wasn’t dried at all; water droplets followed her hair strands down her skin, tracing her chest and disappearing into the open front of her robe.

In this state, she was indescribably charming and moving.

Qi Cheng was dazed.

After a long silence, she suddenly snapped out of it. She felt deeply ashamed that she could actually be stunned by looking at someone of the same sex.

“Dry your hair!”

To hide her embarrassment, Qi Cheng  ‘s tone became high-pitched.

The tone was filled with awkwardness.

However, that high wall that had made Xia Lin feel a sense of estrangement also vanished with that raised voice.

She let out a chuckle and asked Qi Cheng  : “What do you want to eat for dinner?”

“…Huh?”

She was going to cook for her?

Qi Cheng  ’s current blank face was too easy to read.

“As long as I’m here, I will absolutely not let you cheat with instant noodles.”

She hadn’t intended to say it. But since her attempt to strengthen their romantic relationship had just failed, she had to use this semi-trump card to boost the other’s favorability.

“…!”

She actually saw through me?

“Hurry up, what do you want to eat?”

“Uh…” Faced with such hospitality, she was instead at a loss. “An-anything is fine.”

“Can you please not say ‘anything is fine’?”

This drew a helpless sigh from the other party.

“Really, I’m most afraid of people saying ‘anything’ to me. Smiling and saying ‘anything’ or ‘you decide’ before an invitation, only for me to find out during the meal that the dishes don’t suit the other person’s taste. I’m truly tired of that kind of failure…”

“…With your boyfriend?”

Qi Cheng blurted it out without thinking.

Even though she didn’t have a boyfriend and had no such experience, this was considered a common topic of conversation.

Qi Cheng had once seen many women on forums complaining about inviting a date to dinner, only for the other person to not state their preference at all, using “anything” to make them guess their thoughts—a topic that simply gave them a hard time.

So, without thinking, she applied that topic to what Xia Lin had just said.

Xia Lin froze for a moment, then, as if discovering something new, her pupils went wide.

“Are you… starting to become interested in my affairs?”

This way of speaking would only make someone with Qi Cheng  ‘s personality feel awkward and want to retreat.

So, before she could retreat and prepare to change the subject, Xia Lin said with a smile: “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

—Regardless of how Qi Cheng viewed their current relationship, this “reassurance” definitely had to be given.

“—I should say, among the people I came into contact with in my circle while I was alive, there was no one I felt I could develop a romantic relationship with.”

She was just remembering things from when she invited friends to dinner before, Xia Lin emphasized with a sincere face.

Coupled with her appearance just out of the bath, this scene was even more soul-stirring.

Qi Cheng frowned.

Honestly, wouldn’t it have been enough to say she didn’t meet anyone she liked while she was alive? Why go in such a big circle to express this point?

“—That’s right!”

The God’s voice suddenly appeared in the air, giving both of them a start.

And Qi Cheng  , besides being startled by the God’s sudden voice, was also shaken because the way the God joined the conversation happened to sound exactly like a reply to her inner thoughts.

…The God couldn’t possibly be monitoring my inner thoughts too, could he? If so, that would be truly despicable.

“Since her debut, Xiao Lin has never had a scandal with anyone! Whether it’s a male actor she respects or one who respects her, she maintains a polite relationship that doesn’t overstep bounds; they can’t even strike up an ambiguous spark. Despite having such a beautiful face, she can’t provide the paparazzi with any best-selling material—it really is a waste of natural resources!”

This slick, oily tone of the God’s—even without seeing the guy—one could imagine the hateful, playful expression of a smirk he must have right now.

“How rude.”

Although Xia Lin still maintained her calm and elegant aura, compared to the tone she used with Qi Cheng just now, her voice was significantly deeper.

“As a God, you shouldn’t say such superficial things based on appearance, should you? Or could it be that before this, you always thought I was the kind of woman (scumbag) who played with men’s feelings and was loose just because of my status?”

“No, no, no.” The God laughed. “As for what kind of person Xiao Lin is, I naturally knew from the very beginning. Of course, not just Xiao Lin—as the managers of the God’s Domain, we hold the full files on all participants! Even the little secrets hidden deep in your hearts cannot be hidden from us. In front of us, you are like peeled eggs, hee hee hee!”

Qi Cheng  : “……”

That weird, sinister laugh again.

Thanks to this “God of Plague,” the great atmosphere had cooled down in an instant.

They didn’t want to talk to the God because they could never predict what he would say, and Xia Lin didn’t want to strengthen her relationship with Qi Cheng while being observed by him.

Although she had psychological resilience far beyond ordinary people due to being an actress, this was a matter between two people; it required some private space, and she didn’t want this guy who watched like it was a monkey show to observe their reactions.

Therefore, until dinner, the two of them remained in a state of silence.

For Xia Lin, the scene of cooking together with Qi Cheng that she had been looking forward to had been ruined by the God’s meddling.

Honestly, she hated the God so much her teeth itched.