0732's words made Jiang Nuo stroke his chin thoughtfully, a sly smile playing on his lips.
[Can only one item be redeemed with 200 points?]
[A pair.]
No, I want fifty!
[...]
07:32 I almost thought I misheard.
Jiang Nuo slowly entered the room, which was steamy and hot, making it difficult to breathe, as if she had stepped into a steamer.
He looked around and continued.
[You don't want the mission to fail, do you? That bastard 024 is part of your crippled dark system; if it fails in the end, it'll be such a disgrace to you.]
[...]0732 felt the data was a bit disordered.
[50 shielding bracelets have been redeemed for the task participants. The bracelet usage rules have been issued simultaneously. Points -200.]
It sounded like he was gritting his teeth.
"It's so hot... Aren't you all uncomfortable?!" Liu Wei's tone became irritable, and he paced anxiously.
Liu Wei was sweating profusely, staring wide-eyed at Jiang Nuo and the others' reactions, only to see them searching for things in the room, which made him even more anxious.
Entering a six-star dungeon as an intermediate player, Liu Wei proceeded with extreme caution, every step fraught with uncertainty. If only he had more items...
Then we won't have to grovel before these so-called advanced players anymore.
Liu Wei licked his dry lips and rushed inside to search for things, when he was suddenly drawn to the flame pattern on the wall.
He leaned forward to look, his brows furrowed tightly, as if... a person were burning on fire, his expression contorted in agony.
"Ah!"
The players in the room heard a loud bang as Liu Wei was struck by a powerful burst of flames and sent flying, crashing into the wall. His face instantly turned bright red.
Liu Wei frantically searched for repair tools in his wristband and backpack, his vision blurring.
But the flame clearly didn't want to give him time to repair it, and it emerged from the wall again. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a monster engulfed in flames.
"Incantation unleashed, the Extreme Cold Ice Land."
Yue Zhou swiftly chanted an incantation, and the eerie face behind the veil became even more sinister.
The frigid mist countered the flames, temporarily immobilizing the monster, but it couldn't completely force it back into the wall.
"I'll help you!" Xu Yin threw out a prop, a hula hoop-like iron ring that landed on the monster's fiery body.
"Hmm..."
The monster let out a low growl, and its flames suddenly subsided, leaving all its exposed skin wrinkled and bleeding from the burning.
It opened its cloudy, murky eyes and scanned everyone in the room.
The wary Yue Zhou and Xu Yin, Liu Wei painfully recovering his body, and the couple who are giving up without any intention of making a move.
Upon seeing Si Yan, the monster suddenly became agitated, its hoarse voice, honed to the extreme, filled with despair.
"Young... Master?"
Young Master?!
Yue Zhou and Xu Yin turned to look at Si Yan simultaneously, their eyes filled with deep shock.
How could a player be called "Young Master" by a ghost...?
Si Yan's surprise and confusion deepened as she looked at the person who was supposed to be a member of the association in this state, and her thoughts became somewhat complicated.
"Who are you?" Si Yan asked, about to open a drawer in the bedroom, when she suddenly turned around.
"Who I am."
The monster repeated blankly, then suddenly shook its head, "No... who are you?"
It seemed to have thought of something, and it went berserk again, yelling, "Fake! It's all fake! I'll kill you!"
The monster's flames reignited, and Xu Yin's props could no longer restrain it. It charged arrogantly and murderously toward Si Yan.
Jiang Nuo, carrying the Ghost-Collecting Pot, didn't give the cheating system any time and suddenly faced the direction from which the monster was charging.
Her heterochromatic red and black eyes exuded a chilling aura, and her languid demeanor suddenly transformed into a ruthless and eccentric one.
"Be... careful." Xu Yin froze on the spot, swallowing back her well-intentioned reminder, her eyes filled with deep shock.
Jiang Nuo grabbed the monster's burning throat with his bare hands, quickly pinning it against the wall. His left hand, hanging by his side, transformed into a demonic form, and he punched the monster in the heart.
The surrounding flames did not harm Jiang Nuo in any way; the firelight illuminated his handsome, unruly face.
Just when everyone thought Jiang Nuo would crush the monster to death, the situation suddenly changed.
Jiang Nuo swiftly and unexpectedly captured the monster into the Ghost-Collecting Pot.
The flames vanished instantly.
There was a moment of stunned silence.
Xu Yin twitched her lips and stared blankly at the ceiling.
She swore she had just heard a crackling sound from the system's electrical current, probably because she was... angry.
Jiang Nuo raised the Ghost Pot, and just to be safe, instead of putting it in the bracelet backpack, she put it directly into the space linked by 0732, which was both safe and secure.
He brushed the dust off his hands and saw Si Yan standing by the bedside drawer, head bowed in silence.
" Si Yan, what's wrong?"
Jiang Nuo approached, and as soon as she stood still, Si Yan hugged her tightly, making her shoulders ache a little from the force of the hug.
" Nuonuo... photo."
"What photos?" Jiang Nuo asked him gently, then glanced at Liu Wei who was looking over. The latter was startled and quickly continued searching the room.
Si Yan Yanjun's face was tense, his pale lips were pursed, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the photo were clearly visible. He showed the photo to Jiang Nuo, his tone blank and helpless.
There are five people in the photo; the faces of the other three are blurry, but the face of the person in the very center is clear.
"Mom and Dad."
Hearing Si Yan's soft murmur, Jiang Nuo looked up at him in surprise, a strange emotion rising in her heart.
Si Yan's parents...
Si Yan stared blankly at the photograph, her breathing heavy.
What??? How come Si Yan's parents are also in the dungeon?
"Damn it, I was just getting into the thrill of God Nuo slaying the demon... how could this happen?"
[Sobbing, I feel so sorry for Si Yan! He revealed on a previous show that his parents passed away early, I never imagined he'd be in a real-life situation...]
Are all members of the association destined for this fate? Or are the association's higher-ups aware of it themselves?
[ Si Yan is the young master of the Dao Xuan Association; if he didn't even know that, how could there be any other high-ranking members?]
Si Yan looked at Jiang Nuo with a sorrowful expression and a confused look in her eyes, " Nuonuo, is this fake?"
Like a trapped beast desperately seeking answers.
Jiang Nuo held his hand, unsure how to respond. Through a hug, she placed the bracelet on Jiang Nuo Si Yan's wrist and gently comforted him.
Si Yan rested his chin on Jiang Nuo's side; only his lover's embrace could keep him somewhat calm, though the suffocating pain in his heart was overwhelming.
"If it's true... why would they lie to me?"
Everyone says that his parents were killed by Si Yong.
Yue Zhou suddenly knocked on the door. "Open the door, it's time to go."
She stood by the door, elegant, her hands placed in front of her abdomen. The layers of batwing sleeves and long skirt were all pure black, and a hazy veil faced directly into the room.
Jiang Nuo carried Si Yan out the door with one arm around her, her palm gently stroking the throbbing pain in Si Yan's eyes. Her voice was gentle and soft, "I'll investigate thoroughly, trust me."
Si Yan nodded, suppressing the pent-up pain, and stayed silently in his arms. To outsiders, it was just her being affectionate.
After finally calming the Little Lucky Star down, Jiang Nuo looked at the photo again, her gaze lingering on another woman among the five for a few seconds. She felt a sense of familiarity, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Liu Wei glanced at him many times, unable to forget the ghost's cry of "Young Master."
Before entering the next door, Jiang Nuo glanced at the note: the owner of room 406 Lu Jia.