After Joining the Game, She Came Out as Gay [Infinite] - Chapter 4

After returning to her room, Qi Cheng had been waiting.

She was waiting to see who would be the first to knock on her door.

About forty minutes later—enough time for everyone to finish their meal—there was finally a knock at her door.

—Just as Qi Cheng expected, the person who came was Xia Lifang.

“Qi Cheng , are you alright? I brought some chamomile tea; drinking it should make you feel a bit better.”

Xia Lifang had a look of deep concern on her face. It seemed that even among the upper-level leadership, she belonged to the more approachable type.

However, Qi Cheng could see the hypocrisy hidden behind that “approachable” mask.

For a woman like Xia Lifang, seeing through her intentions was far too easy.

On the surface, Qi Cheng returned a smile without any flaws and expressed her sincere gratitude.

She lay “weakly” on the bed. Xia Lifang considerately sat by the bedside and brought the teacup close to her.

“…Won’t you have some?”

Seeing that Qi Cheng made no move to take it, Xia Lifang asked.

Qi Cheng looked a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I have a ‘cat’s tongue’; I’m more sensitive to heat than most people.”

“I see.”

Xia Lifang didn’t say much else but placed the teacup on the nightstand.

“If you really feel unwell, you can ask God for some medicine. We tested it just now; as long as it’s a harmless type of specific medicine, God will provide it.”

“…Thank you so very much.”

Qi Cheng ‘s eyes welled up slightly, showing a look of extreme gratitude.

While anyone with a decent upbringing would show gratitude when receiving help, the emotion contained in Qi Cheng ‘s expression at this moment was perhaps a bit too exaggerated.

However, Xia Lifang did not see it as an act. To her, it meant that there must be some hidden, painful history in this student’s life.

Xia Lifang’s eyes brightened.

It seemed this trip hadn’t been in vain.

Using clever words to guide people into speaking their true feelings had always been her forte. She had the confidence to achieve an effect similar to a truth serum.

In less than three minutes, under her “guidance,” the student named Qi Cheng spontaneously began to pour her heart out.

“It’s actually a bit embarrassing to say…” Qi Cheng said bashfully. “In all my years growing up, this is the first time someone has cared for me like this…”

Xia Lifang feigned surprise. “Why? Do your parents not treat you well?”

“I… I don’t have parents.” Qi Cheng looked sorrowful. “When I was eight, my older sister—the only one who was good to me—died in a car accident… so I’ve been alone, always alone.”

“Then how did you get by all these years? Who paid for your schooling?”

“Someone provided for my studies,” Qi Cheng answered cleverly. “But… it was only out of a certain obligation; there was no element of family affection in it.” Her expression grew even more desolate.

“Then at school… don’t you have any friends?”

“I don’t know if they really count as friends… because I always feel like they actually look down on me.”

“…”

From the moment Xia Lifang first saw Qi Cheng , she felt that Qi Cheng and Xia Lin were two extremes.

If Xia Lin radiated an aura of elegant and noble light, then Qi Cheng could only be described as “permeated with a dark air of poverty.”

One light, one dark.

But given her circumstances, it couldn’t be helped that she unconsciously gave off this aura.

In today’s social climate, people were naturally snobbish. It was inevitable that she would face such prejudice from her classmates at school.

Those who approached her were probably just looking to find a sense of superiority from her, Xia Lifang thought.

However, Qi Cheng felt different from Kuang Liao.

With Qi Cheng , it felt at most like the sense of loss from an unsatisfactory life; it hadn’t escalated to the level of extreme self-loathing seen in Kuang Liao.

It was truly quite incredible that a girl like Qi Cheng didn’t feel any self-inferiority.

Perhaps this is a subconscious act of self-protection, Xia Lifang mused.

“Actually…” Qi Cheng said, “The moment I saw the game rules, I wanted to give up voluntarily.”

Xia Lifang was startled, forgetting to maintain her mask, and looked at her in shock.

Qi Cheng : “To be honest, for someone like me, even if I were resurrected, it would just be a repeat of painful days… so, it might be better to just die like this.”

“You…”

Xia Lifang could feel that she was telling the truth.

Because, fundamentally, it was the truth.

Qi Cheng said, “So after seeing the rule ‘only one person needs to be eliminated,’ I actually felt a sense of relief. So, Ms. Xia, you should just eliminate me.”

After Xia Lifang left, Qi Cheng picked up the chamomile tea—which was now at a perfect temperature and had remained untouched—and poured it down the toilet in the bathroom.

The trash can next to the toilet was piled high with various fast-food junk food containers; a few boxes had even fallen out.

“Little Qi Cheng really isn’t honest… it looks like a question-and-answer session, but you didn’t actually answer her questions directly even once~!”

God suddenly appeared behind Qi Cheng , though it didn’t startle her.

Qi Cheng sighed. “Is that line about ‘not spying on your privacy’ just a load of crap?”

God swayed back and forth, laughing. “How rude. If you hadn’t requested digestive medicine and laxatives, I wouldn’t have bothered looking at you. Shouldn’t you thank me~? If I had appeared during your conversation, it would have ruined the atmosphere~”

“…Hmph.”

Qi Cheng unceremoniously snatched the medicine from God’s bear paw and swallowed it directly.

“Using ‘overeating’ to fake being sick… you really have a way of doing things.”

And she had specifically asked for junk food that would make her stomach uncomfortable, and explicitly instructed that no drinks be provided. Clearly, she wanted to quickly induce indigestion to make her complexion look terrible.

To actually be able to fool that Xia Lifang, this group is indeed very interesting! God chuckled inwardly.

“How long will it take for the medicine you gave to work?”

“These are treasures found only in the Divine Realm; all medicines take effect immediately~”

…Indeed, her stomach was already gurgling.

“By the way, God, give me some sleeping pills.”

“…What do you want sleeping pills for?”

It was the first time she had seen this buffoon look so serious.

“After eating so much junk food in one go, even if the stomach is cleared, there’s still a psychological shadow; it will affect my sleep.”

“No can do. If you really can’t sleep, I can provide a special service and knock you unconscious~ Either way, sleeping pills are a no.”

…Please, she didn’t want to die a second time in this Divine Realm.

“Why are sleeping pills not allowed?”

“There were people in the past who used sleeping pills to do bad things~ Acts of forcing an opponent into a ‘game over’ through excessive behavior are prohibited~ So, no.”

“…Then, how about aphrodisiacs?”

“Oh my~ You want to have a romp with someone~? That is permitted, hee hee hee!” God looked at her lecherously. “Do you want some?”

“You’d better just get me some toilet paper first.”

God blinked. “Toilet paper?”

“I need to take a crap.”

After three trips, she finally cleared everything out.

Qi Cheng sat back on the bed and sighed.

The “hidden rules” of this game were even more numerous than she had imagined.

By the same token, the methods available by exploiting loopholes were also exceptionally high.

…How troublesome. Why did it have to be this complicated even after coming here? She might as well have just died.

The reason that shrewd old fox Xia Lifang hadn’t picked up on any flaws was because every word Qi Cheng said to her was true.

—Even though Xia Lifang asked about “A,” and Qi Cheng answered with “B.”

Because it was authentic, and the transition between question and answer was seamless, the other party couldn’t find a fault.

Qi Cheng knew the reason Xia Lifang had come to find her.

Just as Xia Lifang said, conquering this game required intelligence, physical strength, mental fortitude, and the ability to take action.

The three sharp questions she had asked God must have made Xia Lifang feel that her intelligence had utility value.

Just as Xia Lifang wanted to observe everyone to gather intelligence, Qi Cheng was also observing them.

But since this group wasn’t all mindless like Ni Qian, she had to avoid appearing too conspicuous as much as possible.

So she took the lead in expressing her desire to “withdraw,” thereby observing the reactions of the others.

After learning about her life’s hardships, although Xia Lifang could understand her lack of desire for resurrection, she still told Qi Cheng to think it over carefully.

Exactly as Qi Cheng expected.

And Xia Lifang would certainly have passed on the news of her “not wanting to be resurrected” to the others by now.

“Wait and hope.”

Although her current mood couldn’t exactly be described as hopeful, Qi Cheng was very fond of that quote from The Count of Monte Cristo.

Wait.

Wait.

Those restless individuals would surely take the bait.

She didn’t have to wait long.

There was a knock at the door.

The next “observer” had arrived.

This was also what Qi Cheng had hoped for.

She opened the door.

When she saw the person who had come, she froze.

The person who came was Xia Lin.

And she had originally thought the second guest would be Nie Siya.