Free Web Novel————————
Inside the game.
Liu Jiayi and Mu Shicheng met at the entrance to the game.
Both of them had just experienced the death of someone who carried special meaning for them—Liu Huai. Because of that, the atmosphere between them felt stagnant and stiff. Both of their faces carried a numbness that had yet to fade.
But the current situation did not allow them to remain silent for long.
In the end, Mu Shicheng spoke first, somewhat stiffly.
“I received a text from Bai Liu. Did you get one too?”
The blind Liu Jiayi tried her best to suppress the urge to roll her eyes and merely pointed silently at her own eyes.
Mu Shicheng coughed awkwardly.
“I forgot you can’t see. You really don’t act like a blind person at all in the game...”
“Then how did Bai Liu notify you that something was going to happen to him and tell you to enter the game?”
“He didn’t notify me that something was going to happen. He only told me to enter the game tonight.”
Liu Jiayi’s tone was very flat.
“But tonight, a group of people suddenly came to seize me. They made too much noise while moving around. My hearing is very good, so I heard them. When I realized something was wrong, I immediately retreated into the game.”
“As expected, the group of people who tried to seize me tonight is connected to Bai Liu.” freēwebnovel.com
“What happened to him?”
Mu Shicheng read aloud the message Bai Liu had sent him. frёeωebɳovel.com
After listening, Liu Jiayi frowned and fell into thought.
“The Hunter and the Rose...”
She paused.
“If it’s that title, I might have some clues. I may know who that person is.”
“What clues?”
Mu Shicheng could not react for a moment.
He could not keep up with Liu Jiayi’s train of thought at all. How could she deduce who had captured Bai Liu from one text message?
He frowned deeply and looked at Liu Jiayi.
“You know this ‘Hunter’ who took Bai Liu?”
“I can’t be certain it’s that person, but when I was participating in training with the Kings’ Crown team, Queen of Hearts gave me a transcendent-level item called [Magic Space].”
Liu Jiayi raised her head, looking toward Mu Shicheng with her misty eyes.
“Transcendent items are usually produced only in Level 3 games after all monster pages are collected. They are extremely difficult to obtain.”
“Among the monster-page rewards from Level 3 games that have already been cleared and researched on the market, there is no [Magic Space].”
“That means the Level 3 game that produces [Magic Space] has most likely not been developed yet.”
“Of course, there is another possibility.”
Liu Jiayi paused.
“An extremely difficult and rare possibility.”
Mu Shicheng’s expression stiffened as he followed Liu Jiayi’s reasoning.
“There’s one other possibility... someone cleared a certain Level 3 game and collected all the monster pages alone, and did it while the TV was turned off. That’s why we can’t find any information related to that Level 3 game.”
“Because when the TV is off, no clearance video enters the database. Otherwise, a video of a Level 3 game clearance would definitely appear in the VIP library.”
“But if that’s the case...”
Mu Shicheng could not help feeling a chill run down his spine. Irritated, he ruffled his hair twice.
“Fuck. Whether it was a single-player or multiplayer Level 3 game, this person’s individual combat ability is terrifying.”
“Clearing a Level 3 game alone while also collecting all the monster pages...”
“Is this the person who captured Bai Liu? How do you know?”
“I can’t be absolutely certain he’s the one who captured Bai Liu, but I think there is a high probability that they are related.”
Liu Jiayi “looked” at Mu Shicheng, her tone dark and uncertain.
“Queen of Hearts said she obtained that item from an old player with a very strange skill identity.”
“That player’s skill identity is called [The Withered Rose Hunter].”
“Tsk.”
Mu Shicheng’s brow furrowed so tightly it looked as if it could crush a fly.
“That matches the information Bai Liu sent me.”
“But even if this ‘Withered whatever’ Hunter player is amazing in the game, as long as Bai Liu finds a chance to avoid his surveillance and enter the game, that Hunter can’t hurt him in the Game Lobby.”
“Besides, why does Bai Liu always manage to provoke such powerful people?”
“Bad luck, I suppose.”
Liu Jiayi evaluated this indifferently.
“Bai Liu’s luck value of 0 is truly well deserved. I thought meeting me in his second game was already unlucky enough. I didn’t expect him to have even unluckier moments.”
Then Liu Jiayi calmly added, “Also, unfortunately, I’m going to disappoint you. I don’t think Bai Liu has any way to enter the game.”
Mu Shicheng immediately asked, “What do you mean? Why can’t he enter the game?”
“As long as there are no ‘onlookers’ around, we players can enter the game at any time. I don’t believe some ‘Hunter’ could trap Bai Liu in reality.”
A system panel popped up in front of Liu Jiayi.
She showed the panel to Mu Shicheng.
[Item Name: Magic Space]
[Item Description: Can control a space designated by the user, allowing people the user wants to enter to enter, and people the user wants to leave to leave. We regret to inform you that this item has dropped and been picked up by player Bai Liu. You are temporarily unable to use this item.]
“Generally speaking, when there are no ‘onlookers’—ordinary people who have not entered the game—present, we players can enter the game at any time.”
“But aside from that, there is another way to control a player so they cannot enter the game.”
Liu Jiayi looked at Mu Shicheng.
“That is by using an item in reality.”
“If Queen of Hearts obtained the transcendent item [Magic Space] from that [Withered Rose Hunter], then it proves that this Hunter has cleared that Level 3 game.”
“In other words—”
Liu Jiayi’s tone was steady.
“As long as that Level 3 game refreshes once, and the Hunter clears it once, he will have another [Magic Space].”
“He was even wealthy enough to transfer a [Magic Space] he obtained to the Kings’ Crown guild. This proves that this old player has a large number of high-level items, not just a few.”
“It is very likely that Bai Liu has been trapped by him using an item.”
Mu Shicheng clearly thought of this as well, and his face darkened.
“But aside from those core items that fulfill desires, aren’t items generally not allowed to be used casually in reality?”
Liu Jiayi closed the panel and replied coldly:
“What if this person’s core desire is related to Bai Liu?”
“It can’t be that coincidental...”
Mu Shicheng’s tone weakened under Liu Jiayi’s emotionless expression.
He gnashed his teeth and cursed under his breath.
“Bai Liu, you unlucky bastard!”
“You and I both know what Bai Liu’s luck value is, so when thinking about anything related to him, you’d better consider the worst-case scenario.”
Liu Jiayi spoke to Mu Shicheng while rummaging through her item warehouse.
“We’ve been in the game for this long, and Bai Liu still hasn’t come to meet us.”
“He said he would enter the game tonight, and that person rarely goes back on his word.”
“Looking at it this way, the worst-case scenario I mentioned has probably already happened.”
“Let’s go.”
Liu Jiayi found a pair of dark snow goggles that were somewhat too large for her and put them on. Half her face was covered by the exaggeratedly styled goggles.
Then Liu Jiayi turned to look at Mu Shicheng.
“Let’s go save that unlucky bastard who’s always getting dragged into trouble.”
[System Notification: Player Liu Jiayi has equipped the item (Blizzard Goggles). Allows clear vision in extreme weather conditions such as blizzards. Becomes ineffective once damaged.]
“But we don’t know the Hunter’s real identity, we don’t know where he is, and we don’t know how to find him or the captured Bai Liu.”
Mu Shicheng frowned as he asked.
“I don’t know either.”
Liu Jiayi pushed up the oversized goggles on her face.
“But among the players who have dealt with the Kings’ Crown guild, I know one person who will definitely investigate his real-world information.”
Mu Shicheng and Liu Jiayi looked at each other and understood at once.
“Wang Shun!”
“I am still a high-level player of Kings’ Crown, after all, so I can still call him out.”
“But the troublesome part isn’t how to find Wang Shun.”
Liu Jiayi took a deep breath.
“If Queen of Hearts finds out that I looked for Wang Shun to gather information for Bai Liu’s sake, that will be troublesome.”
“Bai Liu’s current identity is the leader of another guild. Doing this counts as betraying my guild...”
“That woman won’t make things easy for me.”
Mu Shicheng sneered and asked in return, “Has she ever made things easy for you?”
Liu Jiayi was silent for a while.
Then she suddenly exhaled.
“She has.”
“She exploited me, but at least her exploitation allowed me to live safely until now.”
“Being exploited isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
The sneer on Mu Shicheng’s face turned even more ironic.
“Oh, you thought it was easy, so you exploited Liu—”
At that point, Liu Jiayi glanced at him.
Mu Shicheng stopped speaking.
The expression on Liu Jiayi’s face carried a shocking indifference.
It was as if she had been tortured by despair until not a single spark of life remained, as if she no longer possessed any will to survive at all.
Mu Shicheng ground his teeth and suppressed the urge to keep stabbing Liu Jiayi with his words.
Instead, he changed the subject.
“Since you still think being exploited is good, why are you betraying Queen of Hearts to save Bai Liu, star seed of the Kings’ Crown guild, Little Witch?”
By the end of the sentence, Mu Shicheng’s tone still carried a hint of irony.
“Because I no longer have a reason to be exploited.”
Liu Jiayi lowered her head.
“The excuse for my exploitation has died, and his soul chose Bai Liu.”
“I rarely agree with my Ge’s choices, because he was truly stupid.”
“The choices he made were always cowardly and foolish.”
“Choosing to become friends with a dangerous element like you.”
“Choosing to oppose the Kings’ Crown guild.”
“Choosing...”
“To try to protect a meimei like me.”
“I never agreed with his choices, because they clearly led toward destruction.”
“But this time, I want to try...”
“My Ge’s choice.”
Mu Shicheng also fell silent for a moment.
He turned his head away somewhat awkwardly and handed Liu Jiayi a tissue.
“Here.”
Liu Jiayi expressionlessly pushed Mu Shicheng’s hand away.
“I’m not crying. Save it for yourself, you useless little thief.”
“Who are you calling useless?!”
Mu Shicheng exploded in anger.
“If you were useful, I wouldn’t have to take out the visualization item I kept at the bottom of the trunk and stored with ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ someone else.”
Liu Jiayi muttered with a pained and gloomy air.
“I originally planned to use it in the League, but a fool like you with only 74 intelligence points is completely useless. I’ll have to do it myself...”
“What’s wrong with 74 intelligence points?!”
Mu Shicheng roared.
“Is your intelligence value... very high?!”
Liu Jiayi gave Mu Shicheng a faint, disdainful glance as he suddenly fell silent.
“Heh. Don’t forget why I was paired with Zhang Kui.”
[The highest-intelligence pair in history—Little Witch and Puppet Master]
[The perfect combination of 91 and 93]
[The new player with the highest intelligence value makes his debut! Can he become the new generation League strategist?]
...
Mu Shicheng finally remembered.
Before her skills had been fully exposed, Liu Jiayi had made her name by playing games with her intelligence.
“Why are you standing there dazed?”
Liu Jiayi turned calmly to look at Mu Shicheng.
“Let’s go. I’ll find a way to get Bai Liu out.”
“You don’t need to be too afraid.”
“Who’s afraid?! Don’t just slander me because you’re young...”
