Chapter 234 A Different Game

Chapter 234: A Different Game

"I want to kill this man named Yue Zhengqing."

At that moment, the entire reception room fell into a deathly silence. Even Su Bai opened his eyes, gazing at the eerie scene unfolding on the nearby sofa.

Though Xiao Xiaodie had kept her head lowered throughout, Su Bai still remembered the female player's initial appearance—a young woman with a sweet face and an equally sweet voice, often wearing a blissful smile when seated beside Yue Zhengqing. Her gentle demeanor was typical of players who chose healing abilities.

But now, that gentle healer was "affectionately" clinging to Yue Zhengqing's arm, pressing close to her boyfriend, while uttering words that sent shivers down everyone's spines.

"I want to kill this man named Yue Zhengqing." As if concerned someone hadn't heard clearly, *Xiao Xiaodie* repeated her words in that sweet voice once more. Her voice seemed to possess a strange power, its echo lingering in everyone's ears long after she finished speaking.

"X-Xiao... Xiao Xiaodie, what are you saying? Ha ha ha, you've scared everyone." Yue Zhengqing instinctively tried to pull away from *Xiao Xiaodie's* grasp, but despite his forehead glistening with sweat, he couldn't free himself from her hold.

"The atmosphere is a bit tense right now, Xiao Xiaodie. You're just trying to lighten things up, right?" Yue Zhengqing reached out and touched Xiao Xiaodie, who was still leaning against him with her head down, striving to keep his tone gentle. "Xiao Xiaodie, I'm a bit thirsty. Could you fetch me a glass of water?"

Even if Yue Zhengqing was unwilling to believe it, he knew something was profoundly wrong with Xiao Xiaodie. Why would the usually gentle and kind Xiao Xiaodie suddenly utter such words? How could the typically frail Xiao Xiaodie possess such immense strength?

But *Xiao Xiaodie* seemed to ignore Yue Zhengqing completely, maintaining her vice-like grip on his arm, rendering him immobile.

"Xiao Xiaodie, let go of me!" Yue Zhengqing, noticing everyone in the reception room staring at him, grew increasingly furious, his face flushing red with anger as he raised his voice. "Xiao Xiaodie, I knew you couldn't handle what I said earlier, but don't forget this is the Nightmare Game! You need me to survive and leave this place! If you don't let go now, even if you're still my girlfriend, I won't hesitate to act against you."

Su Bai vaguely recalled Yue Zhengqing mentioning during his self-introduction that his ability was related to "extreme heat." Even if he wasn't a fire ability user like Feng Ling, it should be more than enough to deal with an ordinary human.

However... Su Bai looked at *Xiao Xiaodie*, who was clinging tightly to Yue Zhengqing. Despite his poor physical condition and the side effects disrupting the once-stable power within him, Su Bai's years of survival instincts in the Nightmare Game made him sense something amiss.

"Miss Xiao, although we don't know what's happening, some things must be clarified between couples to find resolution," Sang Sang said, glancing at Yue Zhengqing, whose face and neck were flushed red. Beyond mere anger, this strange redness seemed like a precursor to him using his ability. "Even if you can't clarify things, you can simply cut ties and go your separate ways. Just remember the game rules!"

Perhaps as a precaution, Sang Sang had already placed her hands on the armrests of the sofa, as if poised to stand up and intervene should Yue Zhengqing make a move.

Chen Xi and Yao Qing, sitting opposite Yue Zhengqing, though lacking combat abilities, were also watching him warily. It seemed everyone instinctively believed Yue Zhengqing was more likely to cause trouble than *Xiao Xiaodie*.

"Game rules?"

*Xiao Xiaodie's* voice suddenly turned strange, like a radio struggling to find a clear signal.

"That's *your* game."

"My game is different from yours."

As *Xiao Xiaodie's* distorted voice faded, her head, which had been lowered, suddenly snapped to the left as if broken. The hair that had been hiding her face was flung aside, revealing *Xiao Xiaodie's* face, covered in red blood threads, and those eerie eyes with only whites and blood threads visible.

Almost the moment *Xiao Xiaodie's* neck twisted, the blood threads began spreading along her exposed arms, which were tightly gripping Yue Zhengqing's arm.

"Ahhh!" Yue Zhengqing turned his head and was terrified by *Xiao Xiaodie's* appearance. His previously flushed face instantly turned pale with fear. He desperately tried to pull his arm free from *Xiao Xiaodie's* grasp but let out an even more agonizing scream. "Ahhhhh—!"

The blood threads on *Xiao Xiaodie* weren't merely decorative; countless fine, dense blood threads extended from her fingertips, digging deep into Yue Zhengqing's arm.

No one knew how deep those blood threads had penetrated—perhaps just into the flesh, or maybe they had already begun corroding Yue Zhengqing's bones.

Aside from tormenting Yue Zhengqing, *Xiao Xiaodie's* terrifying appearance didn't lead to further action. Instead, she seemed to be studying with interest the other players in the reception room with those eerie eyes.

In the reception room, apart from Yue Zhengqing's continuous screams due to the blood threads, all players, including Su Bai, refrained from acting rashly, silently preparing for battle as best they could.

Although Yue Zhengqing, who called himself a "Veteran," was screaming particularly painfully, this was, after all, the Nightmare Game, where eerie entities were commonplace. For true Veterans like Su Bai, *Xiao Xiaodie's* appearance was even pleasing to the eye compared to other eerie entities, hardly enough to panic everyone.

But they couldn't remain passive any longer.

Though Su Bai remained curled on the sofa, he struggled to keep his eyes open and stay alert, even alerting several entities within the "Evil Ghost Puzzle." Even if Su Bai was currently immobile, A Xi, Xiao Huo, Qing Lan, and other resting puzzle pieces wouldn't let Su Bai be endangered.

Sang Sang, who had been on alert, stood up from the sofa, her left hand behind her back as if preparing something.

Feng Ling, standing behind the sofa, had already begun flexing her knuckles.

Everyone was waiting for *Xiao Xiaodie's* next move.

"Miss Xiao," Sang Sang dared to stand up at this moment, surely having a trump card. "What do you intend to do?"

"I'm not her." *Xiao Xiaodie* used one hand to adjust her head, her eerie pupils scanning the room. "I merely made a deal with this body. She gave it to me, and I help her kill this human."

As *Xiao Xiaodie* spoke, her other blood-thread-covered hand gripped Yue Zhengqing's neck. The blood threads embedded in his arm withdrew, dripping blood amid his agonized screams, and burrowed into Yue Zhengqing's neck.

This time, Yue Zhengqing could no longer make a sound; only the bulging veins on his neck and face conveyed his agony.

"However, I don't really need to keep the agreement."

The next second, *Xiao Xiaodie* unexpectedly released her grip, causing Yue Zhengqing to slump down weakly onto the sofa. The blood threads that had burrowed into his neck remained, long blood threads still connected to *Xiao Xiaodie's* fingers. The two resembled a collapsed human puppet and a distantly controlled eerie puppeteer.

"Human, if you want to survive, why not join my game?" The eerie entity possessing *Xiao Xiaodie* moved her fingers, tugging the blood threads and forcing the collapsed Yue Zhengqing to sit upright.

The next moment, Yue Zhengqing's parasite-infested neck was forcibly jerked toward *Xiao Xiaodie*. The eerie entity with terrifying eyes stroked Yue Zhengqing's neck, bulging with veins, with her other blood-thread-covered hand, then leaned close to his ear, using *Xiao Xiaodie's* voice to whisper intimately—

"As long as you kill one human in this reception room, you can live."

*Xiao Xiaodie's* voice was loud enough for everyone in the reception room to hear clearly.