After Joining the Game, She Came Out as Gay [Infinite] - Chapter 22

The games designed by God are full of malice; this is something that any participant who truly understands the essence of a survival game would find easy to comprehend.

Specifically, for participants who have already reached the second stage, it is even easier to understand the pervasive malice embedded within the rules.

But that is merely the surface.

Or rather, because the malice is so overt, it draws people’s attention, making it easy for them to overlook another fact hidden behind it.

That is: fairness.

The game still possesses fairness; it occupies half the space alongside the malice.

The Taiji has its two poles. The fighting fish has its Yin and Yang. A coin has two sides. Human nature has both good and evil.

Whatever the thing may be, it has its opposite. Furthermore, the ratio is an absolute 1:1 relationship—it will not lean, and it will not lose balance.

Survival games are no different. The rules of the game are no different. Even God is no different.

In truth, God is like humanity, possessing both good and evil sides, positive and negative values.

God and Demon, positive and negative, are essentially one. They simply manifest in different states under different conditions.

The games designed by God are the same.

God cannot design a “certain death” game; He cannot completely seal the “exit” of the “labyrinth.” Even the Fourth Yuga of Avici Hell is like this.

But God can confuse humans, leading them to take the wrong steps and walk toward a dead end.

Those rules are, in fact, a form of deceptive behavior.

Of course, what God does is always guidance, not interference.

As for how to choose, humans must make the decision for themselves.

Qi Cheng  stood at the entrance to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

The searchlight on her helmet illuminated the darkness of the rugged road ahead; the light also cast her face into half-brightness and half-shadow.

The unknown dungeon, an unexplored domain, exuded a terrifying aura.

Qi Cheng ’s eyes were piercing, and the aura she radiated was far more fearsome than this murky dungeon.

Her expression no longer held any warmth; it was as sharp as a poisoned blade.

This was the original state of the human named Qi Cheng .

Perhaps in her current state, she could no longer be treated as a “human.”

She was like a lonely and dangerous lone wolf; any prey that approached her would be ruthlessly torn to shreds.

The reason humans are distinct from animals is that humans possess rationality. Even for the sake of survival and self-preservation, they can judge right from wrong and will not engage in senseless slaughter—killing for the sake of killing, or adjudicating through death.

The existence of Xia Lin could be said to be the “switch” that allowed Qi Cheng  to maintain her rationality.

Precisely because she was by her side, Qi Cheng  could exist as a “person.”

But now, Qi Cheng ’s rationality had disconnected.

The bloodthirsty instinct for slaughter within her body had awakened.

Various monsters prowled the dungeon, but Qi Cheng  believed she could handle them entirely with her own abilities.

This was by no means arrogance. Not at all.

Qi Cheng  understood the rules of the Divine Realm.

The “positive values” in the game were deliberately hidden by God.

But if one were inclined, it wasn’t hard to deduce them.

For example, the rules said that if the first person to attack the Department Head was a participant, that participant would eventually die (GAME OVER).

Conversely, instead of sacrificing a partner, wouldn’t it be better to find another way?

—But that is very difficult.

Because it is difficult, people often choose the simple options.

Yet, often, the difficult option is the true key to passing the game.

Therefore, she could imagine that the parameters of these monsters were bound to be within a range that participants could handle.

The so-called miners not daring to go deep, and the so-called weakness of the adventurers, were all illusions created by God to confuse the participants. It was meant to induce people to choose the “easy” option.

Because humans are greedy and selfish, they will not use their own lives to experiment.

Of course, “attainable values” did not mean there was no danger.

That was why Qi Cheng  did not want Xia Lin to explore this unknown territory with her.

Qi Cheng  wanted to complete the exploration first, finding a route that was both highly productive and absolutely safe, before she dared to bring Xia Lin along for mining.

She didn’t think bringing Xia Lin was a burden.

She simply didn’t want Xia Lin to suffer any harm.

She didn’t want her to be hurt ever again.

In her mind, Xia Lin’s gentle and sunny smiling face overlapped with the “her” in her memories.

This time, Qi Cheng  swore she would protect her!

—Absolutely!

The monsters caught the scent of prey and began to gather.

Prowling the forward section of the fourth floor were wolf-like monsters. However, they were larger than wolves and had two pairs of goat horns on their heads.

They liked to bite the throats of adventurers, hurl them high into the sky, and then impale the prey with their sharp horns.

Qi Cheng ’s graceful figure wove through the pack of magic wolves like a dancing, noble elf.

Her movements were agile and light, yet swift as a bolt of lightning.

The pickaxes she wielded in both hands danced with her, silver light fluttering, precisely severing the heads of one magic wolf after another.

Qi Cheng  enjoyed the sensation of the heads separating and the metallic scent of blood on her hands, feverishly licking the corner of her lips.

Underfoot, she moved forward without a moment’s pause.

A mere pack of magic wolves, in front of Qi Cheng  showing her true strength, was like a flock of lambs waiting for slaughter—unable to block her path, and even less able to prevent their own killing.

This kind of pure slaughter—she hadn’t enjoyed it in a long time.

In the reflection of the pool of blood, a faint smile surfaced at the corner of Qi Cheng ’s mouth.

Encounter, sever, pass through. Encounter, sever, pass through. Encounter, sever, pass through.

… …

Repeating this three-second process over and over, Qi Cheng  soon arrived at the middle section of the fourth floor.

“Squelch!” From the three o’clock direction, a Crypt Worm suddenly burst from the ground, launching a saliva attack at Qi Cheng .

With a tap of her toe, Qi Cheng  leaped back using a technique called “Swallow Return.”

The instant her body reacted, Qi Cheng  cast a quick glance at that pool of saliva.

“Poisonous… is it?”

Qi Cheng  acted decisively, hurling the pickaxe in her left hand toward the Crypt Worm in a spinning motion. She then quickly took out an antidote and held it in her hand, prepared for any emergency.

The pickaxe whirled along the stone pillar, flying toward the back of the Crypt Worm.

As if it had sensed it long ago, the Crypt Worm wriggled its body and dodged the attack.

The corners of Qi Cheng ‘s lips curled upward.

She knew that strike would never hit the Crypt Worm. It was originally intended as a feint.

A monster like a Crypt Worm was not like a magic wolf; it didn’t lay its weaknesses plainly before your eyes.

With this kind of creature, if you didn’t hit its weak point, it wouldn’t die even if cut into two—just like an earthworm.

But out of survival instinct, when their lives were threatened, monsters would subconsciously guard their weak points.

Especially since Qi Cheng ‘s killing intent was so intense.

And this was the ultimate goal of Qi Cheng ‘s induced attack.

When she first started killing the magic wolves, Qi Cheng  had noticed that monsters possessed this habit.

Her dynamic vision had always been extraordinary. Even though the Crypt Worm disguised itself very carefully, it was still captured by Qi Cheng .

“The seven-inch mark… interesting. Did your mother cross-breed with a snake to produce you?”

Qi Cheng  let out a provocative sneer, and the pickaxe in her right hand struck out with full force.

To achieve a one-hit kill, Qi Cheng  even intentionally used herself as bait to let the Crypt Worm approach her.

The right hand felt the texture of cutting through tofu; as green pus sprayed continuously, the Crypt Worm crashed to the ground.

Drenched in the green liquid, Qi Cheng ‘s body immediately showed signs of a slight abnormal status.

Poisoned.

Qi Cheng  used her thumb to quickly snap off the slender part connecting the elliptical bottle body and the nozzle of the antidote, splashing the cool medicine over herself.

The poisoned state was quickly lifted.

The medicine didn’t need to be drunk; it just needed to be splashed on the body—this setting was the same as before.

If she really had to drink it, Qi Cheng  wouldn’t be able to stomach it.

God was so malicious; who knew what strange flavor this medicine would be designed with? Wasabi would be considered good; it might be designed to taste like dog feces just to make you nauseous enough to vomit.

9:00 PM

Ending their day’s mining work, the miners dragged their weary bodies toward the town’s midnight cafeteria.

Xia Lin ran rapidly, not even hesitating to use the magic [Haste] three times, quickly catching up to the miners who worked on the first floor.

“Have you seen Qi Cheng ?” Xia Lin grabbed a beastman by the shoulder, her expression anxious.

Xia Lin didn’t know how she had endured this day.

While patiently and cautiously inquiring about the NPCs’ areas of expertise, she was constantly praying in her heart that Qi Cheng  wouldn’t act recklessly and that nothing would happen to her.

If it could be said that Qi Cheng  had exhausted a massive amount of physical strength today, then Xia Lin had exhausted a massive amount of mental energy.

Physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion couldn’t even be compared.

The fatigue generated by the latter was several times that of the former.

But even under such mental overwork, Xia Lin had brilliantly gathered the information they wanted.

A lizardman on the second floor named Pepero was proficient in herbalism.

Although current favorability wasn’t enough to confirm if he possessed information regarding the Mimicry Potion, at least Xia Lin had found a breakthrough point.

According to Xia Lin’s experience, just one more day of “grinding” would max out Pepero’s favorability.

This was Xia Lin. Compared to previous participants—the ones with the best results—they only increased favorability by 20% in a day.

Xia Lin took only one day to find Pepero among thousands of miners and increased his favorability by 50%.

She and Qi Cheng  truly were a “power couple.”

But Xia Lin was in no mood for joy right now.

She only wanted to confirm Qi Cheng ‘s safety as soon as possible.

The beastman was startled and took a moment to react. “Ah… Qi Cheng ? I think I saw her heading back to the dormitory.”

“Thanks!”

Before the words had even faded, Xia Lin had already sprinted a hundred meters away.

As Qi Cheng  and Xia Lin’s performance continued to improve, their living conditions had also significantly upgraded.

Hallelujah Mining Co., Ltd. had four types of employee dormitories: A, B, C, and D.

Type D: Large communal bunkrooms, no showers, only two public toilets for the entire floor.

Type C: Bunk beds, one public bathhouse and two public toilets for the entire floor.

Type B: Four-person rooms, each with an independent bathroom and a shower.

Type A: Two-person rooms, each with an independent bathroom, a bathtub, and an integrated shower/bath.

They were currently living in a Type A dormitory.

Pushing the door open, the room light was on, giving Xia Lin a slight sigh of relief.

The shower in the bathroom was running.

Xia Lin pulled open the bathroom door, and her eyes couldn’t help but moisten.

The showerhead was buzzing, and Qi Cheng  was lying in the overflowing bathtub, having already fallen into an exhausted sleep.

The water had long since been stained a deep crimson by the blood on her body.

Xia Lin’s heart skipped a beat, thinking it was Qi Cheng ‘s blood; she anxiously moved Qi Cheng ‘s body, searching for wounds.

She wasn’t injured—Xia Lin only let out a sigh of relief after confirming even there.

The old Qi Cheng  would never have fallen into such a deep sleep like this.

But now, even with Xia Lin moving her like this, she didn’t wake up.

—Just how exhausted must she be?

Looking at her, Xia Lin’s heart felt as though it were shattering.

This blood must have been the blood of the monsters she encountered.

Though she hadn’t been by her side, Xia Lin could imagine the tragedy of her battle.

Xia Lin tilted her head back, forcing back the tears.

She picked up a towel and carefully wiped Qi Cheng ‘s body.

Qi Cheng  lay stark naked before her, but Xia Lin didn’t have a single thought of that nature in her mind.

She desired her, but she would never desecrate her at a time like this.

Washing her hair, cleansing her body. Noticing that Qi Cheng ‘s hands weren’t just calloused but were covered in blisters, Xia Lin immediately brought over an HP potion and carefully applied it to her hands.

While HP potions couldn’t relieve fatigue, just like in VR MMORPGs, they could not only restore health but also heal all external injuries.

This morning, Xia Lin had tested it with a drop of potion; the calluses on her hands had quickly disappeared.

But Xia Lin’s sorrowful mood could not be smoothed away as easily as the calluses.

She had always been the best at controlling her emotions, but now she actually couldn’t restrain herself.

Wiping Qi Cheng ‘s hair and body dry, Xia Lin endured the aching pain in her heart and carried Qi Cheng  to the bed.