Make the Game More Interesting

This time, Wang Ao listened to Lu Ce's crazed words beside his ear, yet he did not care at all. It was as if he could not hear them. With a mad smile, he looked at the red mask before him and the blade in Lu Ce's hand.

This was his illness, and it was also where his sin lay.

"A hundred times?"

"Yes, a hundred times."

The two laughed loudly as they stared at each other, repeating it once more. Their eyes were filled with their own desires.

Lu Ce had not expected that, even at a time like this, someone would be so eager to offer him Pain Points.

As for Wang Ao, he had already immersed himself in the height of his spiritual pleasure.

He craved blood, torture, and pain. And he did not care whether the one being tortured was someone else or himself.

He could no longer remember when he had arrived here, but he still remembered why.

Slaughter, torture, indiscriminate violence—he had long since become a demon in human form.

But because of his mental illness, he had not been executed. Instead, he had been locked up here for "treatment."

Yet here, he had suffered torment far more horrifying than death, day after day, year after year.

But he enjoyed it!

He had adapted to everything here, adapted to his own existence.

And he had encountered people several times before. They had come here seeking some so-called "information" from him, only to submit to his manipulation and torture.

And so, he sank deeper into the abyss of torturing himself and torturing others, enjoying it all.

Before this, he had always seized upon his victims' weaknesses, forcing and threatening them, savoring their fear and helplessness.

This time... was a little different.

He had encountered someone just as severely ill as himself, someone who had thrown his mind into chaos moments ago.

But it did not matter. Once the game began, once that bloody sensation returned to him, he would no longer feel any fear.

On the contrary, would it not be even more interesting to watch someone so unusual collapse before him, to watch Lu Ce suffer and struggle?

Everyone who came looking for him wanted something. And anyone who wanted something had a weakness...

Smack!

Lu Ce raised his right hand and slammed it hard against the ground, spreading his fingers wide and exposing the gaps between them.

He held the iron shard in his other hand, remaining still for a long while as if pondering something.

Then he flipped his left hand, turned the iron shard around, and offered it to Wang Ao across from him.

"What? Scared?" Wang Ao rolled his neck, his face wearing a knowing smile. It seemed mocking, yet also like a declaration of victory.

Then he sat up leisurely, licked the wound on his hand, and said,

"I don't know what your goal is, but I can guarantee this."

"No matter how strong you are, if you refuse me, you won't achieve your goal."

"My goal is to spend a little more time with you." The red Gluttony Mask still wore that unserious expression (~￣▽￣)~.

It was as if seriousness and tension could never appear on that mask.

"Here." Lu Ce spoke.

"What?" Wang Ao's brow rose slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself. You do it." Lu Ce smiled at him amicably and even tilted the blade in his hand, signaling that it was fine.

"I trust you. You're skilled. A hundred times."

Wang Ao's lips twitched. Then the corners of his mouth curled upward wildly, before he finally burst into laughter.

"Good, good, good. No problem."

He took the blade, leaned forward slightly, moved close to Lu Ce's ear, and said with a smile,

"You really do have a strong mind."

"I like prey like you the most."

"I hope you're ready!"

Then he backed away slightly and stared intently at Lu Ce's mask, watching for the slightest change in expression. After that, he raised his hand high.

With all his strength, he viciously drove the blade into the back of Lu Ce's hand!

Shing!

The sharp sound of metal slicing through flesh rang out. Wang Ao had not followed the game he had described at all—this strike had not gone for the gap between Lu Ce's fingers!

The rusty iron shard plunged all the way in. Blood flowed from the wound, and its warmth soaked Wang Ao's palm. He could feel it—the temperature of blood.

He licked his lips, looked at Lu Ce's face, and waited for his expression to change.

But in the end, he was disappointed. The expression on Lu Ce's mask did not change at all. His body did not tremble. Wang Ao saw none of the emotions that should have appeared on the other side.

Even now, even at the moment Lu Ce's hand had been pierced through, his hand had not pulled away. There was no expected muscle spasm.

His hand was still completely relaxed!

What did that mean?

It meant Lu Ce had completely defied biological instinct, suppressed his own neural reflexes, and simply did not care!

The smile on Wang Ao's face gradually stiffened. At that moment, Lu Ce slowly spoke as well.

"1."

Lu Ce's voice was so calm, like a whisper in the darkness, trying to drag him into the abyss.

Chosen of Suffering, Pain Points +2!

"What, are you going to count?"

"Or is the blade stuck?"

As he spoke, that powerful hand seized Wang Ao's wrist and slowly pulled Wang Ao's hand—and the iron shard along with it—out!

"Why don't we make the game a little more interesting?"

Lu Ce did not need a response. While Wang Ao was still stunned, his vision suddenly went dark.

Lu Ce's other hand covered his face, blocking his eyes.

"Ever played this?"

"Come on, keep going!"

In the darkness, Wang Ao's body trembled slightly. He let out a strange, hoarse laugh, as though something had caught in his throat.

A complicated emotion seemed to grip his heart with a massive hand, throwing Wang Ao's already unstable mind into complete chaos.

And where Wang Ao could not see, unbeknownst to him, Lu Ce slowly closed his eyes as well.

:This... is getting a little too explicit, isn't it.

:I don't understand it, but for some reason, I feel really tense.

:I think this seems to be some kind of competition between the two of them.

:A competition of the mind. Whoever loses will basically suffer a collapse of the twisted way of thinking built up over time. In psychology, I think that's called the Over-limit Effect.

:The masked boss didn't fall into his rhythm. Instead, he's using his own method to break him!

"Alright," Lu Ce said slowly and gently. "Like that. There are ninety-nine more."

"Continue!"

In the darkness, it was as though an order had been issued and the switch to the game had been pressed.