Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Xie Yin Xue's divine act of "painting skin" for Chu Li last night was the talk of the town by morning.

Xie Yin Xue was quite pleased, even if it made him feel worse physically.

But he had long grown accustomed to such discomfort. He might not be an actual immortal, but the ability to paint skin and bones wasn’t something an ordinary person could master. If there's a price for saving others, wouldn't there be a cost for possessing such power?

Yes, there is.

And the price is even heavier than the weight of his fragile body, suffocating and burdensome.

In the real world, Xie Yin Xue constantly worried about his demise. But within the "Lock of Longevity" game, he would be unharmed as long as he avoided conditions leading to death.

How could he not adore this place?

Nearly everyone believed he was the Ferryman NPC, pretending to be a game participant, weak and frail. This must be just for fun, as other NPCs in different game copies had done the same.

Despite his frailty, Xie Yin Xue wore a smile. Instead of directly picking the tomatoes he had mentioned to chef A Jiu the day before, he circled the entire garden, meticulously observing every plant and leaf, as if appreciating a garden in full bloom.

Finally, he paused in front of the tomatoes, examining one closely between his fingers. Then he softly laughed, saying with interest, "All the vegetables in the garden have ripened today..."

At first, his comment seemed like a casual remark, easily overlooked. But its significance was not immediately grasped.

It wasn't until lunchtime, when the servants brought the dishes, that Lv Shuo, staring at the dish Chef Shi made with tender cucumber and sweet sugar called "Green Dragon in Snow," exclaimed to Xiao Si Yu, "All the vegetables have ripened?!"

At the Qin Mansion's guest house, everyone had been on a vegetarian diet, and any meat dishes they saw were shaped like humans—certainly not appetizing.

Startled by Lv Shuo's sudden exclamation, Xiao Si Yu nearly jumped from his chair and said, clutching his chest, "You scared me. What vegetables are you talking about? The ones in the garden or the ones on this table?"

Today's lunch menu remained consistent: three dishes and a soup - seaweed egg-drop soup, "Green Dragon in Snow", stir-fried bean sprouts, and sautéed Buddha's hand squash.

At last night's feast, the "Green Dragon in Snow" dish was made with underripe, bitter cucumbers. So, when Chef Shi declared he'd serve this dish again the next day, everyone's faces turned sour.

Today, Chef Shi indeed made the dish, but he changed the key ingredient - this time, the cucumber in the sugar was ripe.

This cucumber had matured perfectly, rich in moisture and with a crisp texture. Even without sugar, it was delicious, surpassing all the other dishes in taste.

In fact, aside from a few dishes at the feast being unpalatable, the rest of the meals were quite good. Their breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all vegetarian, yet still flavorful. The unsatisfactory taste of some dishes at the feast was due to poor ingredient choices, not the chef's skill.

However, this is where the problem lies.

The ingredients for all their meals came from the garden. They had inspected it yesterday and noticed many vegetables were either underripe or overripe, even beginning to rot. But today, every single ingredient in the garden was perfect—neither too young nor too old, simply impeccable.

"Xie Yin Xue was right..." Lv Shuo murmured, "He had Liu Bu Hua pick the underripe cucumber yesterday. If we had all just chosen unripe ingredients and then identified the dishes made from them, we could have all survived."

Xiao Si Yu, with his silvery-gray hair in the game, seemed like a brainless, spoiled rich kid at first glance. However, he was smart and cautious. Hearing Lv Shuo's comment, he immediately understood and said, "Because of the bad ingredients."

"Exactly!" Lv Shuo said, his excitement growing, "During last night's feast, if we had chosen dishes based on our rotten ingredients, even if we ended up with a meat dish, we could have rejected it, blaming the poor ingredients. After all, serving unappetizing dishes is the ultimate sin at a grand feast!"

In the Qin Mansion's guest house, they were all esteemed guests of Lord Qin. He had made it clear that they should be satisfied with the chef's dishes; otherwise, it would be the chef's fault.

So, how could these "honored guests" enjoy their meal if the dishes tasted bad?

Both Lv Shuo and Xiao Si Yu were deeply regretful. Even though they had survived the previous night, they couldn't help but think that perhaps Chu Li and Xia Duo would not have been harmed if they had realized this earlier.

No, that's not right either.

The rule about withdrawing dishes was only announced by the steward in the evening. No one knew about it during the day. Even Xie Yin Xue probably wasn't entirely sure, but had a rough guess. That's why he chose rice and had Liu Bu Hua experiment with the underripe cucumber.

The rotten and underripe ingredients in the garden yesterday were like a "grace period" the game provided. Whether they could seize this opportunity depended on their abilities. However, today, understanding the cause and effect was useless because...

All the ingredients in the garden were now perfect. The "grace period" had ended.

After selecting ingredients in the morning, Xie Yin Xue was assisted back to his room by Liu Bu Hua, where he lay down.

After resting for about an hour, Xie Yin Xue slowly recovered, managing to sit by the table, awaiting the meal.

With a worried expression, Liu Bu Hua asked, "Godfather, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. As long as I don't break the rules here, I won't die," Xie Yin Xue responded, taking a sip of water to soothe his throat. He gently reassured Liu Bu Hua, "You don't need to worry about me."

Liu Bu Hua nodded and said, "By the way, Godfather, I've gathered some information about the Ferryman NPC."

Xie Yin Xue asked, "What did you find?"

Liu Bu Hua gave a thumbs up: "He's involved in similar business dealings as you, but his identity remains secretive. He needs game participants to find him. So, don't worry, he can't compete with you."

Liu Bu Hua believed that the Ferryman NPC's existence was tailor-made to help Xie Yin Xue smoothly conduct his life-extending business. After all, with the game's backing, why would Xie Yin Xue need to convince his clients of his abilities?

Now, Xie Yin Xue just had to sit and exude an aura of mystique, and there would surely be game participants willing to endure temporary pain in exchange for a chance at a longer life.

Xie Yin Xue placed a fist to his lips, suppressing a couple of soft coughs. He signaled Liu Bu Hua to be more discreet and less arrogant—even if that was how he felt.

Regrettably, up to this moment, they hadn't secured a single deal.

Thinking of this, Liu Bu Hua couldn't resist asking Xie Yin Xue, "Godfather, why did you caution them back in the garden?"

Had Xie Yin Xue not spoken, perhaps Lv Shuo and the others wouldn't have discerned the trick with the ingredients. Xie Yin Xue's move seemed like pushing potential business away.

"It doesn't matter. To inform them now or not makes little difference," Xie Yin Xue remarked, playing with the pear blossom silver bracelet on his wrist. "Both Lv Shuo and Xiao Si Yu are clever. Even if I hadn't spoken, they might have figured it out. And besides..."

Xie Yin Xue paused without finishing his sentence, a hint of amusement crossing his face—

This morning, when they were selecting ingredients in the garden, Chen Yun, Yan Zhi, and Wei Qiu Yu had a disagreement. Early in the game, Wei Dao had asked if there were any newbies besides Lv Shuo, Xiao Si Yu, and Gao Qiao.

Even though subsequent actions suggested that the women from that dormitory were indeed newbies, they hadn't admitted to it then.

To Xie Yin Xue, their behavior was rather astute. There's always a chance veterans might exploit newcomers. After entering the game, they kept a low profile, not causing disturbances or asking unnecessary questions, shadowing the group to find opportunities.

Alas, the very things that exposed them as novices, besides their lack of equipment upon entering the game, were their intense fears of death and desires to live.

There are generally three ways to enter the game: being on the verge of death; voluntarily getting pulled in by someone else; or entering on someone else's behalf. The latter two reasons are usually for the sake of longevity or wealth.

Lv Shuo and Xiao Si Yu were newbies, having entered the game as they faced imminent death. In their eyes, and those of Chen Yun's dormitory, Xie Yin Xue only saw a fear of death and a yearning for life.

But in the eyes of veterans like Qiu Yu Xing and Xia Duo Yi, Xie Yin Xue saw something more... a longing for immortality.

The last person standing in the game attains eternal life.

In other words, there can't be real allies in this game. Everyone is each other's competitor and enemy. If it weren't for the "Lock of Longevity" offering a chance to exit the game for good in its later stages, Xie Yin Xue suspected players would be at each other's throats, rather than maintaining the current facade of harmony.

Yet, this temporary peace couldn't change the fact that they remained competitors.

Hence, Xie Yin Xue was somewhat perplexed: In theory, veterans like Wei Dao, who entered the game seeking immortality, should wish for the maximum demise of newcomers, especially potential threats like Lv Shuo and Chen Yun.

Yet, Wei Dao and Qiu Yu Xing informed all the newbies about the life-saving trick of trading with the Ferryman NPC, paying a price to survive. Why?

Author's Note:

Mr. Xie: I'm powerful, you're not.

npc：？