The Game of Chicken

On his fifty-first rollback, Xu Kai woke up and felt sleepiness wash over him, but the advantage was that the memories of death were much easier to bear.

Following his memories from the previous run, Xu Kai sent Weird Energy out through his body. The bright red Weird Energy wavered unsteadily, as if it contained immense power.

Xu Kai watched the Weird Energy for a while, then silently began practicing. By midnight, he had returned to his state before the rollback and could control the Weird Energy at will.

Click.

The familiar sound rang out again. The moment the shadow opened the door and saw the empty bed, his scalp went numb. He tried to back out, only to find that Weird Energy had locked the door. Then the master of ceremonies looked up and jumped in fright. Xu Kai was hanging upside down from the ceiling, with Weird Energy woven into a ghostly web behind him that held him firmly in place.

"So you're the master of ceremonies who presides over the farewell ceremony. Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving. Your friend told me not to let you off if I saw you!"

"Y-you know who I am? I don't have a friend like that!"

With his identity exposed, the master of ceremonies panicked. He quickly searched his memories, but he couldn't recall meeting any teammate this pigheaded in the instance. Unable to make sense of it, he hurriedly flicked out a metal blade, coated it in Weird Energy, and slashed at the ceiling.

Unfortunately, the master of ceremonies' Weird Energy was too weak. To Xu Kai, his movements weren't fast, and Xu Kai could easily interrupt him. But Xu Kai wanted to test something, so instead of attacking at once, he twisted aside to dodge the blow and said:

"Master of ceremonies, I knew it when I was carrying the coffin. You're 'evil,' and the task you accepted has something to do with the coffin, right? That's why you're afraid of me, and not just in this instance. You're even more worried that when the next instance starts, I'll bring the coffin over again and make you receive the task! That's why you wanted to kill me!"

"Y-you know that?! Your talent is mind reading! Damn it!"

The master of ceremonies' eyes turned red. He swung his blade even more blindly, flailing at Xu Kai like a headless fly.

Xu Kai merely waved a hand, and a dense mass of Weird Energy poured out, pinning the master of ceremonies in place. He asked in disbelief:

"Using that much Weird Energy, how much pain would you have to endure? That's impossible! Even if you were born unable to feel pain when you were alive, you couldn't possibly use that much Weird Energy. Every wisp of Weird Energy is a painful memory like having all ten fingers pierced, pain that reaches your very soul! Why? I don't believe it..."

The master of ceremonies couldn't accept what he was seeing. He knew Xu Kai was a newcomer, material the Stone Statue Weird had just bought. He himself was a veteran who had managed to survive three instances. How could this happen to him...

While the master of ceremonies was still thinking, countless strands of Weird Energy turned into blades and stabbed into his body. Xu Kai gave him a death by ten thousand swords through the heart.

Pain? Compared to the memories of death, the pain of using Weird Energy was like a child throwing a tantrum. Xu Kai barely felt it.

What was more, as he used it, Xu Kai discovered that his total of 110 points of Weird Qi hadn't been depleted at all. Every time he used Weird Qi, all he did was endure the pain.

In other words, for now, his Weird Energy would only be consumed when he took damage. That was a good thing. It meant that as long as Xu Kai could endure the pain, he could fight with Weird Energy until he died.

Phew~

Having thought it through, Xu Kai turned his attention back to what was in front of him. He was cleaning up the remains of the corpse bit by bit. Once he was done, he packed them into a sealed paper bag as tall as a person. The bag belonged to the master of ceremonies, so Xu Kai supposed he was returning it to its rightful owner.

After finishing everything, Xu Kai rolled his stiff shoulders, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep in no time.

Xu Kai slept deeply, right through until daybreak.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

A rooster crowed in his ear, heralding the dawn. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked out the window.

It was lively outside, and someone even cried out:

"S-someone's dead!"

"H-how could this happen?!"

Although it was already broad daylight, the candles in front of the crematorium's Funeral Hall were still burning. The crowd was uneasy. Some people had gathered by the Funeral Hall, whispering among themselves.

Hearing the commotion, Xu Kai's expression tightened. He immediately opened his door and made sure to lock it behind him. The master of ceremonies had used the spare key to open the door before, and there was only one spare. Both keys were now in Xu Kai's possession, so the room was safe. No one would open the door and see the human-shaped plastic bag inside.

Xu Kai left the room without worry and slowly walked over. After observing for a while, he confirmed that it wasn't a player who had died.

If a player had died, the instance should have ended by now, even if there was a delay after death. Unfortunately, it hadn't. So who had died?

Xu Kai pushed through the crowd, and in the gray-white world, he finally saw the dead man clearly. It was Wang Bangzheng.

He was kneeling in front of the Funeral Hall, his mouth wide open as though he had seen something utterly terrifying. His face was twisted like a terrified wax figure, and a faint wisp of Weird Energy still clung to him.

Xu Kai thought he would never forget the scent of that Weird Energy. It was exactly the same as what he had encountered at the bend. It was the Stone Statue Weird's Weird Energy.

But it looked as though the Stone Statue Weird had failed. He should have been trying to kill a player, but somehow, Wang Bangzheng had taken the blow.

Xu Kai looked around and found a small figure in the crowd. It was the player Wang Hua.

She was eating tofu rice, the breakfast provided by the crematorium. Unfortunately, everyone around her was so frightened that they had no appetite at all. It was such a waste to have her eating it alone!

"L-let's get out of here! Wang Bangzi's death wasn't normal. I'm afraid his brother came to claim his life! Let's run!"

Those words instantly unleashed the fear that had built up among the uneasy crowd. Everyone scattered and fled, rushing out of the crematorium.

Seeing this, Wang Hua lost her appetite too. She turned and spotted Xu Kai. As if she had found a priceless treasure, she rushed over.

Xu Kai made a snap decision and bolted. He was even prepared to run to the Funeral Car and drive back to Maple Town. As long as he stayed within the instance's boundaries and there was no killing zone, Xu Kai was invincible now.

"Hey, stop! I'm a goddess, and you have to obey what I say!"

Displeased, Wang Hua used her talent on Xu Kai, and sure enough, he couldn't move. But Xu Kai didn't panic. Before, his Weird Energy had been too low to break through and disrupt the talent. Now, however, he could sense that although breaking free of Wang Hua's talent wouldn't be easy, it was possible. He stayed on guard, ready to break free and cover Wang Hua's eyes with his clothes if she suddenly went mad and tried to kill him. If she attacked him first, he could even follow the rules and legitimately fight back and kill her.

"See? This is a miracle! You ignorant people, why don't you obediently serve the goddess when you see her? You're still determined to run? Can you even get away?"

Wang Hua smiled smugly. Looking at Xu Kai, she released her talent. She wanted to see what expression this NPC would make after witnessing such great power.

But to Wang Hua's disappointment, Xu Kai's expression didn't change. He merely asked:

"Miss Wang, you know from our journey here that I only believe in science. There must be natural laws behind all these incredible phenomena. I just don't understand them yet. So tell me, why did you ask me to stop?"

After saying all that, Xu Kai seemed to tug at his collar as if he were a little hot, undoing the front of his outer garment to reveal the white shirt underneath. In truth, he was ready at any moment to cover Wang Hua's eyes and use Weird Energy to escape if the conversation went wrong. Covering her eyes didn't count as harming a player; the instance had already ruled on that before.

"Ahem, you saw it, didn't you? So many people have run off. I'm a sentimental person, and I was thinking that no matter what, I should at least take my father's ashes with me. Now that everyone's gone, how about you help me carry the coffin into the cremation workshop? If you think it's too heavy, you can just carry it on your back. I don't mind!"

"Sorry, but I do!"

With that, Xu Kai picked up his coat and was about to throw it over Wang Hua's head when a voice rang out, and he stopped.

[Instance task: Within one day, enter the cremation workshop with the player, then close the cremation workshop door]

[Task rewards: Flame Ghostly Aura Fragment, High-Altitude Ghostly Aura Fragment. Failure penalty: Erasure]

Seeing the game task, Xu Kai narrowed his eyes. The Stone Statue Weird really wanted him dead.