Chapter 91

Chapter 91

"..." Bai Fuling blinked, swiping his fingers across the screen a few times, but the character remained motionless—he was firmly held by the NPC.

"Don't be nervous, don't be afraid, I'll protect you." Zhong Xiaye's voice was still low and clear, his muttering unclear on who exactly he was trying to soothe.

He grabbed Bai Fuling's wrist, pulled him close, and then stepped forward. "Let's go. We're heading back to the small private room."

Zhong Xiaye led Bai Fuling out of the broken-down restroom, retracing their steps down the empty hallway.

As a player, it was routine to wander around, poking and prodding at everything while heading to a destination.

Now, being led by the NPC felt like a cat on a leash—awkward no matter what.

Hearing noises from the corridor below, Bai Fuling wanted to lean over the second-floor railing to check out the hall—he swiped to move, but the NPC held him tight, stopping him from bouncing around like a gummy candy, only able to stretch his arm out awkwardly.

Zhong Xiaye stopped and turned his head. "What's up? Where are you going?"

"I want to take a look—and do we have to walk like this?" Bai Fuling opened his status panel, spotting the blue [Slow Debuff] icon, and finally couldn't help typing his complaint into the chat box.

It's not a three-legged race, so why do we have to stick so close???

"Is something wrong?" Zhong Xiaye's tone was polite, his expression dead serious, but his actions didn't change one bit. "Sorry, Little Bai—but for your safety, I have to do this."

Safety concerns? What safety issues? Bai Fuling didn't really get it.

He had run into a weird NPC earlier, one who was rambling on in the bathroom, but the player had dodged and escaped just fine.

Come on, a door-blocking attempt to trap a player? Wishful thinking.

Bai Fuling had already written that character off as a minor mob—but clearly, the Rainbow Rich Heir in front of him didn't see it that way.

In a way, Bai Fuling felt Zhong Xiaye's current state was even more on edge... Had some trait been triggered?

Bai Fuling tried to break free again, but no luck.

It's not like leading a clueless kid across the street—why hold on so tight and walk so slow?

Bai Fuling sighed, glanced up at the slow debuff icon on his character profile, and couldn't help pouting.

One of the most hated debuffs for players was slow speed!

Because movement speed really messed with the gaming experience; hot-tempered players would almost smash their phones or keyboards when hit with a slow debuff.

That's why many games have run-walk toggles, speed boosts, light-foot skills, and teleport points.

Bai Fuling first thought about opening the settings menu to find the [Unstuck] button, using the system to break free and get back his freedom.

But the rainbow glow coming off the NPC was just too bright! Especially when they were this close, the dazzling light almost covered the [Unstuck] button in the bottom right corner.

Bai Fuling squinted, tapping a few times from memory, but maybe the rainbow glow was so overpowering it lagged the system—no response.

What the heck, Bai Fuling grumbled internally. He always felt this game's [Unstuck] feature wasn't that great.

At least with story NPCs, it often didn't work right.

But that was understandable... after all, the button was meant to fix bugs, not let players exploit them. Players just got used to using it creatively.

Seeing he couldn't break free by force, Bai Fuling switched tactics: walking together with the NPC was fine, no complaints, but they needed a faster way back.

Actually, what the player minded wasn't walking together—it was walking so slow!!

"Alright," Bai Fuling said, opening his backpack to pull out his ride—his wheelchair—with his other hand.

He planned: the player would sit in the wheelchair, the NPC would grab the armrest, and they'd speed back to the small private room.

But when he saw the old wheelchair in his vehicle backpack, he suddenly remembered: oh yeah, before he left in the sports car, the Rainbow Rich Heir had said he'd give him a better wheelchair later! And then nothing came of it.

Come to think of it, when the player had swiped the wheelchair into his backpack from a blind spot, the NPC hadn't seemed convinced by his excuse. This could be a chance to keep milking him... It was a fine tradition he'd inherited from Luo Qingyue. Sometimes just scamming NPCs paid off!

Bai Fuling: "My wheelchair!" he yelled.

"Huh?" Zhong Xiaye tilted his head.

"The one I left behind earlier—you said you'd get me a new one..."

Zhong Xiaye stood still for two seconds. "You need it? You want it?" He thought for a moment and said, "Oh, that's actually a great idea—I can push you, take you to and from school."

No. The player wanted to say his intention wasn't to be pushed by the NPC, and he didn't need anyone to push him, because only he could drift around smoothly on his own.

But hearing the guy in front of him mention sending a wheelchair, the player didn't argue further, just nodded. After all, when the time came, he'd zoom off on the wheelchair and no one could catch up.

Zhong Xiaye smiled. "I'll pick it out and prepare it carefully."

Bai Fuling: "No need to pick, just buy the best one you can."

He originally wanted to say buy the most expensive one, preferably 24k gold with diamonds and gems, but that felt too direct—better to drag it out a bit!

Either way, the Rainbow Rich Heir wouldn't come up with an ordinary wheelchair. When a whale spent, it was always top-notch.

Zhong Xiaye nodded, his perfect prince-like face holding a flawless curve. He didn't say much more, but his mood seemed much better.

The player saw the smiley face icon pop up above the pixel NPC's head, a little surprised, then thought: I guess spending money makes him happy!

So the secret to romancing a rich second-generation heir was to let him spend money? It couldn't be that the rainbow NPC was happy about pushing the player in a wheelchair.

Thoughts swirling in his mind, the player didn't pull out a bike to try a faster return. He continued following Zhong Xiaye as before.

The two returned to the small private room and closed the main door.

Only then did Zhong Xiaye release the hand he'd been gripping all the way. Bai Fuling's wrist had almost a ring of deep pinch marks.

The moment he was freed, the player practically bounced away, happily hopping in place a few times before running to the terrace—from there, he could look down at the audience and stage on the first floor.

Downstairs, the music gradually faded. The auction was about to begin.

Bai Fuling curiously panned his view.

Zhong Xiaye approached, placing a hand on Bai Fuling's shoulder and gently turning him inward.

The big screen lit up, and the host took the stage.

After a touching charity speech, the auction officially began.

It's starting! The player glanced at his money amount and started getting excited.

The first item up was a pair of ceramic ornaments. The player wasn't interested. He wasn't a home decor enthusiast and had no interest in designing his own house.

For Bai Fuling, practicality came first! If this game had a forced sleep mechanic, he'd definitely put the bed by the door—or on the street. Just to squeeze in sleep at the last second.

Although the player had no interest in the ornaments, he still listened curiously, ready to see what the price would be.

If the price was right, buying them as luxury weapons wouldn’t be a bad idea—one hit and they’d ring out nicely; a good sound means a good headshot…

“Next up, a pair of Master Jingren’s ‘Fortune at Hand’ jade vase ornaments!—Starting bid at 300,000, with increments of 100,000 per bid.”

Bai Fuling: “...”

His earlier thoughts were completely swept away.

So the player’s ten thousand was just chump change! It couldn’t even cover the first item’s spare change!

Logically, in a player’s first auction scene, shouldn’t there be some cheaper items to give the player a sense of participation?

Bai Fuling made his character sit down.

He was way too poor. When would the player ever get on his feet? When would he get rich?

…He’d have to kick off his farming operation as soon as he got back; he still had to study the get-rich guide.

Zhong Xiaye stood next to Bai Fuling, but his attention wasn’t on the host or the display screen.

His gaze occasionally brushed over Bai Fuling, then dropped below, like a security camera scanning.

Bai Fuling only noticed this after watching the auction for a while, realized he couldn’t afford squat, and turned to explore the small private room.

The player skillfully rifled through every cabinet in the small room, even lifting the carpet. Throughout, Zhong Xiaye’s gaze precisely followed him, like some kind of auto-targeting script.

Bai Fuling moved left, Zhong Xiaye looked left. Bai Fuling moved right, Zhong Xiaye looked right.

“…”

Although the game didn’t visualize the gaze as a beam of light, the pixel character’s face slowly turning was clear enough to show he was staring.

Bai Fuling paused, weirdly wanting to quip: Look again, look again, and I’ll drink you up.jpg

To further test the NPC’s auto-lock gaze mode, he sped up, darting left and right repeatedly, even leaving a blur!

Zhong Xiaye: “…”

This time, he didn’t follow with his gaze. Instead, a black line appeared over his head: “What are you doing? If you wanna work out, there’s a treadmill right there… And why are you working out here?”

“Oh, nothing—I’m just, just warming up a bit, getting the air flowing in the room.” Bai Fuling didn’t mention he was testing the NPC.

At that moment, Bai Fuling saw the familiar black line over Rainbow Rich Heir’s head and heard his exasperated grumbling, and felt a sudden wave of warmth.

The NPC’s state earlier had been too strange; this reaction was way more normal! Bai Fuling cheerfully chucked the carpet aside.

Actually, the player hadn’t meant to throw it—the [Put Down] and [Discard] buttons were too close together, and he often misclicked.

The character’s discard animation was a uniform model, and since Zhong Xiaye happened to be standing nearby, the item in the player’s hand arced through the air—the woven carpet sailed through the air and landed with a “slap” right on Zhong Xiaye’s head.

Zhong Xiaye: “…”

Bai Fuling hadn’t expected such a coincidence. Between options A (apologize) and B (pretend not to notice), he chose option C—

“Hey, wait, hold up!” Bai Fuling stepped forward two steps, playing along seriously, “Let me raise your veil.”

Right, since this scene had appeared, it must have its purpose. Why not try more contact and see if it boosted affection?

Zhong Xiaye: Who uses a rug as a veil?!!

Even though the carpets in these SVIP rooms were cleaned daily and spotless, they still weren’t meant to be veils!

Still, Zhong Xiaye grabbed a corner of the carpet, not in a hurry to lift it.

Oh well, if the Antelope Youth wanted to play like this, let him. Consider it compensation.

Wei Lin’s matter was indeed trouble he’d brought on himself, and he had to take responsibility.

Zhong Xiaye thought quietly, and when Wei Lin came to mind, the anxiety deep inside him still lingered. The knightly spirit he’d long believed in, like vines climbing along the blood vessels of his heart, had in a way become a new shackle.

He forced himself to plan for the future, to calm his mind.

Even if Wei Lin had said he’d target Little Bai, it didn’t matter—he would definitely protect him, as long as he kept a constant eye on him… Right, speaking of which, hadn’t Little Bai mentioned a wheelchair?

A wheelchair, what a great idea.

As long as he held it, the direction of the person in the seat would be under his control, with no risk of getting hurt.

Because he would, of course, steer and protect—as long as the Antelope Youth sat in it first. Yes, he needed to get him into a wheelchair.

Zhong Xiaye was in the darkness under the carpet, hearing his own heart thumping. He thought, waiting for Bai Fuling to come and lift the woven carpet.

But suddenly, noise erupted in the background.

It seemed to be some commotion from the first floor.

Zhong Xiaye felt a gust of wind brush past him. He yanked the carpet off.

In his view was the back of the Black-haired Youth, who, with one hand on the edge railing, leaped nimbly from the second-floor private room’s viewing platform!

Zhong Xiaye: “?!”

How could he jump from here—it was several meters high!

Startled, he rushed forward instinctively, but couldn’t even catch the last bit of his clothes.

…Just a few seconds, he’d only looked away for a few seconds from Little Bai!!!

The Antelope Youth landed, light as a cat, like a small flower blooming on the ground.

Zhong Xiaye looked ahead—in front of the auction stage, a row of people were scuffling, with blood splattering starkly. Everyone was screaming and retreating, while security guards tried to push against the crowd.

Faster than anyone was the Black-haired Youth, who slipped through like a fish, reaching the two fighting figures!

Earlier, when the background noise suddenly surged and chaos broke out below, Bai Fuling had noticed.

The player was, of course, excited.

The boring auction he couldn’t afford had finally gained some thrilling plot!

His previously raised cat’s mutation value allowed him to easily jump from the second-floor platform without losing health. He used his subway-surfing speed to dodge the crowd and dash to the scene of the incident.

The host on stage looked stunned. Behind him was the just-displayed masterpiece of the late master Hú Dǎo, *Butterfly Dream*.

The massive canvas was covered in butterflies built up from paint, looking from afar like two twisted eyes, but up close revealing individual butterflies. The painting felt abstract and chaotic.

The first row was in turmoil.

"Ahhh, Lin Shanze! Are you out of your mind?!"

"Butter... butterfly..."

Bai Fuling had no time to admire the painting. He grabbed the easel and smacked the frenzied figure, who was stabbing and brawling above with a knife, with a solid blow from the board.

The player was incredibly lucky—this strike triggered a chance stun effect! The NPC named Lin Shanze collapsed limply to the ground.

Only then did Bai Fuling notice who the unfortunate soul was that had been stabbed several times on the floor—a pixel character emitting a faint white glow, which was still quite conspicuous in this area.

Wei Lin gasped for breath, bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds and wracked with pain. Catching sight of the player descending like a god, he froze for a brief moment.

"Hmm." Bai Fuling sized up Wei Lin, whose pixels were now a chaotic mess from the stabbing, and cracked a dark joke: "Now you're finally in color. Congratulations."

Wei Lin: "..."

Veins bulged on his forehead—both from the pain and from this inexplicable, almost mocking remark, mixed with some hidden emotions akin to the suspension bridge effect—

But for someone as arrogant as him, the flash of anger at being seen in such a vulnerable state outweighed any gratitude. At least for now, he suppressed all other feelings, glaring back with pure hatred.

"Xiao Bai!"

A voice called out from behind. Bai Fuling was yanked backward and then embraced.

Zhong Xiaye held the black-haired youth tightly; his heart still pounding from the sprint. He pressed the young man's head against his chest, lifting his eyes to meet Wei Lin's unwavering gaze.