Free Web NovelInside the game, Liu Jiayi’s skills finally came off cooldown.
Her abilities had a very unusual trait: unlike most players, the usability of Liu Jiayi’s skills was not directly tied to how depleted her stamina bar was.
For most players, once their stamina bar hit zero, the use of personal skills became severely restricted. Take Mu Shicheng’s skill, [The Thief’s Trained Capuchin Monkey], for example. If his stamina was exhausted and he had no recovery potions available, he could only continue using the skill with whatever stamina naturally regenerated over time.
But aside from her burst skill, [Poison Fountain], Liu Jiayi’s [Poison] belonged to the [Mage-type] category. It only required the cooldown period to end before it could be used again.
So the moment the cooldown expired, Liu Jiayi produced another eight bottles of poison.
Unable to move herself, she handed the poison over to Bai Liu before collapsing onto the ground to recover her strength.
Bai Liu took the poison and moved through the area, checking whether any Refugees inside the [Magic Space] were still alive. Whenever he found one barely clinging to life, he casually splashed a bit of poison over it to finish it off.
After confirming there were no survivors left, Bai Liu dismissed the [Magic Space] and immediately began gathering roses again.
In the distance, another tide of Refugees and writhing tentacles was already surging toward them.
After quickly calculating the combined rewards on both his and Liu Jiayi’s system panels and confirming they had already exceeded eighty kilograms, Bai Liu decisively hoisted Liu Jiayi onto his back and sprinted toward the tent.
Liu Jiayi hung limply against his back, utterly devoid of the will to live. Her arms dangled uselessly at her sides as she was jostled by his running. In a hoarse, eerily calm voice, she muttered:
“...I just realized something. You took the [Magic Space] item from me, and I thought you’d lost it. But if you brought it into this game and had it the entire time...”
“Then why didn’t you use it from the beginning? We could’ve just hidden inside a small enclosed area and waited for my cooldowns. We wouldn’t have had to fight this hard...”
Liu Jiayi struggled weakly to lift herself higher on his back. Expressionless, she raised her trembling hands and wrapped them around Bai Liu’s neck in a mock chokehold.
“The [Magic Space] item has a time limit when used at maximum range.”
Her voice turned ghostly.
“...Bai Liu... don’t tell me you deliberately made me hold out against those monsters for an entire hour just so you could maximize the area of [Magic Space], wipe out the greatest number of monsters at once, and collect the maximum number of roses...”
Bai Liu: “.”
Liu Jiayi was so furious she nearly coughed up blood.
“Bai Liu, you ** and ** exploited me again! You **, go to **! Could you stop being so ** stingy for once?!”
[System Warm Tip: If children use excessively vulgar language, the small television will automatically censor it~]
The Refugees behind them pursued relentlessly.
The instant a tentacle coiled around Bai Liu’s ankle, he rolled forward without hesitation, tumbling straight into the tent at the center of the flower field before sharply zipping it shut behind him.
The writhing tentacles slammed heavily against the tent fabric.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even the zipper began inching upward little by little, as though the Refugees outside were trying to force their way in with their tentacles and drag the two exhausted players back out.
Calmly, Bai Liu pulled out the rotating Rubik’s cube.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has used item (Magic Space). Current space in use: (Player is currently inside a tent. Spatial area is small, resulting in extended duration.) Restriction effect: (All living beings other than the player himself and Liu Jiayi are prohibited from entering.)]
[System Notification: Due to the player previously overextending the maximum range of item (Magic Space), the usable duration has been reduced. Estimated remaining usage time within the tent space: approximately 3 hours.]
The Rubik’s cube in Bai Liu’s hand rotated several times before shrinking considerably.
The scattered blocks shifted and rearranged themselves, ultimately forming a rectangular structure perfectly matching the dimensions of the tent.
Liu Jiayi, who had just finished cursing Bai Liu moments earlier, suddenly felt a flicker of embarrassment.
Her eyes fell onto the much smaller cube in Bai Liu’s hand.
She had assumed Bai Liu chose direct confrontation purely to maximize profits in a single wave. She hadn’t expected he was actually conserving the item’s duration to ensure both of them could safely remain inside [Magic Space] until sunrise.
Bai Liu had already calculated the usage time in advance.
Maybe... she really had misunderstood him.
Maybe the insults she’d thrown at him had been a little excessive.
Liu Jiayi was not the sentimental type. She looked directly at Bai Liu and apologized plainly.
“Sorry. I went overboard with the cursing earlier. I didn’t realize you were saving the item to guarantee our safety.”
Bai Liu gave her a strange look.
“No. I saved it specifically so you could tank the maximum number of monsters at once.”
Liu Jiayi: “...”
Bai Liu explained with complete seriousness:
“I reserved the item’s remaining duration because if we failed to gather enough roses in a single round, I could use it to remove the negative effects caused by your depleted stamina bar. Then you could continue overusing your skills and exhausting your body while I trapped even more monsters inside, helping me earn additional roses.”
He paused thoughtfully.
“Although we already have eighty kilograms, an item that aligns this well with the game’s mechanics is obviously the more the better...”
Liu Jiayi: “...”
Bai Liu lowered his gaze in contemplation. Then, with unmistakable regret, he sighed as he looked at the exhausted Liu Jiayi.
“But you don’t seem capable of continuing. Maybe because you’re still a child, the side effects after completely exhausting your stamina are too severe. It really is a pity...”
Liu Jiayi suddenly smiled.
It was an extremely sweet smile, complete with two small dimples.
She tilted her head innocently and held up two bottles of magic medicine toward Bai Liu.
“Bai Liu-gege, if you keep talking, I’m really going to get angry.”
Seeing the black mist of [Poison] already curling around his neck, Bai Liu wisely changed the subject immediately.
“Little Friend Liu Jiayi, you worked very hard tonight. May I ask whether you’d like to sleep now?”
Liu Jiayi: “...”
Damn it.
She really wanted to curse him again.
There was a reason Bai Liu had brought Liu Jiayi into the tent to rest.
If sunrise still hadn’t arrived in three hours and the tentacle monsters remained outside, they would have no choice but to continue a prolonged war of attrition.
Within two to three hours, Liu Jiayi’s cooldowns would allow her to produce a considerable amount of poison again, and the rest period would restore part of her stamina. Combined, it would barely be enough to help them survive until dawn.
Inside the tent was only a single bed.
It was narrow, greasy, filthy, and barely wide enough for half a person. The length was just enough for an adult to lie down on. A stained, mottled knitted blanket hung over its edge.
Bai Liu placed Liu Jiayi onto the bed.
Then he spread the knitted blanket across the floor as a makeshift mat and curled up on it to sleep.
The right side of his face was still splattered with blood from the tentacles. He was too exhausted to even wipe it away before falling asleep.
In a state where mental value could not be recovered, Bai Liu had taken on both cleanup duty and the responsibility of protecting Liu Jiayi, the primary damage dealer. The omnipresent tentacles and Refugees continuously polluted him, causing his mental value to fall further and further.
At the same time, his persistently low mental value greatly amplified his physical exhaustion.
It felt like pulling brutal overtime while severely sleep-deprived and being forbidden from making even a single mistake.
The fatigue became unbearable.
[System Warning: Player Bai Liu’s mental value has fallen to 61. Immediate recovery is recommended!]
The black cracks spreading across his face sank inward slightly.
It almost looked as though the skin itself was beginning to peel away from his face.
A rustling noise suddenly woke Bai Liu from deep sleep.
He glanced toward Liu Jiayi, who remained curled up on the small bed, sleeping peacefully. Then he checked the remaining duration on [Magic Space].
There was still roughly one hour left.
Meaning he had slept for around two hours.
Outside, the Refugees seemed to have dispersed as daylight gradually brightened the world.
The sound that woke him had not come from outside the tent.
It came from inside.
Bai Liu slowly lowered his gaze toward the underside of Liu Jiayi’s bed.
Rustle... rustle...
The sound of something crawling slowly beneath the bed became increasingly distinct.
Liu Jiayi seemed close to waking as well. She frowned slightly and turned over.
Bai Liu quietly removed his jacket and covered her ears with it.
Her expression relaxed again as she drifted back into deep sleep. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Half-kneeling beside the bed, Bai Liu gripped his whip and tilted his head to peer underneath.
When he activated [Magic Space], he had clearly specified that no living beings besides himself and Liu Jiayi could enter the tent.
So anything capable of existing inside this space without being rejected was either—
Not alive.
Or something powerful enough ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) to bypass the restrictions of an [Extraordinary]-grade item like [Magic Space].
[Extraordinary]-class items were drops from Monster Books in Level 3 games.
By that logic, encountering a high-level monster capable of breaking through an [Extraordinary] item within a Level 3 game was hardly impossible.
Bai Liu raised his whip defensively before his chest and carefully examined the darkness beneath the bed.
The filthy space underneath was cluttered with miscellaneous junk: half a broken pencil, several crumpled used tissues, a torn sack...
...and a beautifully crafted right-hand model of unknown purpose.
There were no visible signs of any living creature beneath the bed.
It was dark, foul-smelling, and looked exactly like the underside of a worker’s bed that had gone uncleaned for years.
As though the rustling sound Bai Liu heard earlier had merely been a hallucination.
After all, his mental value had already fallen low enough for hallucinations to begin occurring.
But Bai Liu still did not look away.
More precisely—
His gaze remained fixed upon the exquisitely shaped right-hand model.
He recognized that perfect right hand immediately.
A hand sculpted with near-golden proportions.
A hand he had once held tightly in his own—
Before willingly letting go.
It was Xie Ta’s right hand.
