God stood up and slowly clapped.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"
"Who would have thought the lambs once waiting for slaughter would now band together to challenge the god who ruled their fate?"
"And not only that-you ants actually want to slay a god!"
"Haha! Hahaha!"
His expression suddenly turned frenzied, his eyes bloodshot.
"I won't accept my fate! I'm God! How could mortals possibly defeat me!"
His face contorted, sprouting wolf fur.
In an instant, he had returned to his original werewolf form.
"What a shame, Lin Jie. Fox failed to trick you out of your ring and kill you outside."
"But it's not too late to kill you now!"
The moment he finished speaking, he lunged forward, so fast that only a gray afterimage was visible.
"What?"
Lin Jie tried to dodge, only to discover to his astonishment that he was pinned to his chair, unable to move.
Had I lost the bet?
He closed his eyes, waiting for the claws to strike him.
Yet a long while passed, and the expected pain never came.
Lin Jie opened his eyes again and found the werewolf's claws halted just one centimeter from his eyeballs.
Just a little closer, and the werewolf would have gouged Lin Jie's eyes out.
But for some reason, the werewolf looked pained, unable to move another step.
He stood frozen in place, his expression full of resentment and helplessness.
He gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath.
At that moment, Lin Jie noticed that the claw extended before him also wore a ring.
The angle of the werewolf's outstretched hand made it easy for Lin Jie to remove his ring.
Now Lin Jie understood.
Someone had to carry out the execution.
He raised his hand and grasped the werewolf's ring between two fingers.
The werewolf's eyes widened in terror, a muffled threat emerging from his throat. "Don't you dare!"
Lin Jie ignored him, pulling with his arm and stripping off the ring in an instant.
"Aaaaah!!!"
With a scream, the werewolf's body suddenly burst apart!
The werewolf's abdomen exploded, splitting his body in two.
Warm blood sprayed out, splashing Lin Jie's cheeks.
Because of the werewolf's enormous size, this explosion scattered chunks of his body all over the room.
Some among the group could not withstand the sight of such carnage and screamed.
The werewolf swayed twice, then collapsed to the floor.
He landed right at Lin Jie's feet.
Lin Jie calmly raised his arm and wiped the blood from his face, expressionless.
Then he kicked the werewolf's corpse away in disgust.
And just like that, the entire execution was over.
"It's... over...?"
"Is he dead?"
"Did we win?"
Everyone exchanged uncertain looks, then burst into cheers.
"Yeah! We won!"
"We can come back to life!"
"Lin Jie is awesome! The good guys are awesome!"
Lin Jie slowly leaned back against his chair, watching everyone with a smile.
It was finally over.
...Was it?
"Your performance was truly brilliant!"
A shrill, high-pitched voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone looked around uncertainly.
A fox-faced figure suddenly appeared in the room!
At the same time, the door opened, and a large group of people dressed in black poured in.
They came in all shapes and sizes, but all wore black masks.
The fox-faced figure stood at their head and spoke:
"Hello, everyone! My name is Fox!"
"I'm the Administrator of this game!"
"These people are my subordinates."
Everyone stared at him warily. "Who are you, then? What do you want?"
Fox grinned. "Don't be so nervous. You're all the winners of this game. I'm here to hand out your victory rewards."
Everyone was puzzled. "What victory rewards?"
Fox smiled. "If you choose to give up returning to the real world, you can join us and work for us!"
"Generous pay and plenty of benefits!"
Fox then turned to Lin Jie. "Especially you, Lin Jie."
"From what we've observed, you're a once-in-a-century genius. Join us. Join our Administrator faction."
"If you choose to join us, we can turn your ring gold immediately!"
The black-clad underlings beside him gaped in surprise at the offer:
"Upgrade his ring straight to gold rank?"
"Damn, Lin Jie is definitely going to accept."
"Too bad I don't have that kind of luck."
Yet Lin Jie shook his head outright. "I refuse."
The underlings all stared at Lin Jie in shock.
"What is he saying?"
"He gave up a gold ring?"
"I couldn't get a gold ring even if I worked half my life, and he just turned it down?"
Yet Lin Jie remained unmoved.
For one thing, Lin Jie had no idea what this gold ring even was.
Even if it was something good, he didn't want it.
He only wanted to come back to life, return to the real world, collect the money he had scattered on the ground, and finish his unfinished plan.
Then he would live a carefree life without having to worry about food or drink.
Fox shook his head regretfully. "What a pity."
He turned to the other players. "What about you? Unlike Lin Jie, you aren't eligible for a ring upgrade."
"But as long as you put in some effort, you can still earn decent pay and benefits."
"Besides, there's no illness or pain here. You won't grow tired or hungry, and you can live forever."
"What do you think? It's much better than suffering in the mortal world!"
Everyone looked at one another and shook their heads.
"Sorry. Thank you for your kind offer, but we'd still like to go back."
Fox looked regretful. "All right. Since you've all made up your minds to leave, I can hardly keep you."
With a sweep of his hand, a portal suddenly appeared in the center of the room.
The portal was circular, pitch-black in the middle, with eerie green smoke rising around it.
"Just walk through this door, and you'll leave this Realm of the Dead and return to the mortal world you know."
"See yourselves out."
Everyone stood up and approached the doorway uncertainly.
Zhou Lan led the way, a little afraid. "Hey, Fox, you're not lying to us, are you?"
Fox looked impatient. "If I wanted to kill you, I could do it with a twitch of my finger. Why bother with all this? Relax. You're all winners of the game, protected by the rules. I won't harm you, and I can't."
So Zhou Lan mustered his courage and leaped into the portal.
The portal swallowed his figure, gave a hum, and soon fell still again.
"Hurry up. Get inside." Fox grinned as he urged everyone on.
Lin Jie stood before the doorway, about to step inside, but stopped.
He kept feeling that something was strange.
Lin Jie stood before the doorway, not moving for a long time.
He turned his head and looked at Fox.
"Wait. I have something to ask you."