Chapter 193: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (12)
When the pixelated Su Mingxiu looked at her from the wire-mesh octagonal cage, the masked VIPs on both sides of the steps also looked at her at the same time. This silent gaze oppressed the air, making the danger roar in Rong Rong’s ears.
Even Wei Shang’s hand that had been around her waist suddenly tightened, almost forcing most of her weight onto herself.
Their masks bumped together, creating a slight sound. Then, Wei Shang’s heroic voice came from close by, with a very clear warning, “What, do you know her?”
If it had been a completely unfamiliar passerby, Rong Rong would probably have been able to close her eyes and not look at the tragedy, comforting herself that it was all fake, just a game setting—
But once the person facing those vicious dogs became a friend with whom she had exchanged names, she could no longer remain silent.
In her mind, a red alarm was constantly reminding her that if she didn’t want to lose her precious life in this realistic holographic game experience, then the best solution was to try her best to suppress the abnormality from before, and pretend that nothing had happened.
Even her system, which she never summoned and never appeared, rarely dropped a sentence in her mind, “If the player wants to leave this game, they cannot maintain an intimate relationship with anyone. In addition to the five girlfriends in the background settings, the player cannot fall for anyone else in the game, or it will automatically be considered that the game has continued.”
This long sentence was like a blow to the head. It pushed all the words that Rong Rong wanted to say to disrupt this deathmatch back into her throat, to the point that she opened her lips and found that she couldn’t say a single word.
She even shook her head in confusion.
Wei Shang thought about how every time she had invited this person to her territory before, the other person would cleverly find an excuse to avoid it. At that time, she thought that this person was trying to remain mysterious in front of her, so she didn’t want to explore everything about her. Wei Shang, who was immersed in this game of hide-and-seek, was looking forward to the joy of discovering a new secret about the other person every time they met.
For this reason, she had even restrained her urge to investigate the other person.
If she read the strategy guide so quickly, wouldn’t that be boring?
But today was different. Before entering this arena, she had given Rong Rong so much time to think.
Until she was in front of this door, she had countless opportunities to refuse… but this woman hadn’t left.
So she wouldn’t give the other person a chance to escape again.
Even though she knew that Rong Rong’s actions were like an attempt to quibble, Wei Shang looked down at the octagonal cage and then looked back. Through the two small holes in her mask, she saw the bright red mark of the Queen of Hearts on Rong Rong’s mask, spreading out on the white background, giving a person a feeling that the white had been dyed with a sinister color.
So what if she knew her?
She thought. Now that Rong Rong had entered her world, everyone else had lost their qualification.
…Especially, those who were about to die.
The sharp lines of Wei Shang’s arm that had no extra fat had long determined that every inch of muscle under her skin was hiding power. This also meant that when she wanted to do something to Rong Rong, with her soft body, there was no way for her to resist. She was almost half-pulled and half-carried to the highest seat.
It was the best view in the audience, like the couple’s seats at the back of the movie theater.
After the sudden voice had briefly alerted the wealthy people, they saw that she had been brought to the top as if she had lost all her strength, and even more speculation arose in their hearts—
Guesses such as “The person next to the fighting ring boss found a mistress, and the boss, after finding out, was enraged and designed today’s show to beat the couple” spread through the crowd.
Even the guest who had actually ordered this program thought it was very interesting. Adding another layer of cruelty to this terrifying and exciting scene was like giving two cold corpses an identity and a story. Romeo and Juliet, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Since ancient times, the reason why these couples who had been torn apart and had suffered a terrible fate could be remembered was because of this unattainable love.
This octagonal cage, now, not only carried their vile viewing pleasure and vented their instinctive bestiality that they had to hide in all kinds of places, but now, it also contained a melodramatic story, making the viewing experience better than ever before.
And the protagonist of the story, Rong Rong, was still a bit dazed and confused.
All of her thoughts were being affected by the system’s sudden reminder. She knew that if she wanted to get rid of everything related to this terrible game, she had to… had to keep her distance from everyone.
Lock her heart and love away.
The mask blocked all of her lost and confused expressions. The person in the octagonal cage, wearing tattered clothes that were almost impossible to tell what the original material had been, looked toward the audience. She just so happened to make eye contact with Rong Rong.
From such a distance, and with these identical masks, she was able to easily lock onto Rong Rong’s location in the darkness, making the person who was sitting next to Wei Shang stiffen.
Su Mingxiu would die.
Among the chaotic thoughts that were bubbling in Rong Rong’s mind like bubbles, a small bubble like this briefly floated up, and she captured it in an instant.
Yes.
She would die.
[System], she suddenly asked in her mind, “The bug that I exchanged with you last time, was the character and the data that were exchanged completely erased?”
[Yes.]
The system had a hunch that the bug she had seen was probably not just that one. Otherwise, Rong Rong wouldn’t have brought it up in such an unrelated situation.
But the data that had been extracted earlier was very unstable. The system couldn’t use it to track more, so it could only condescend to take the initiative to ask, “Have you seen a bug again? As usual, we will reward you with generous compensation this time.”
But Rong Rong rarely didn’t ask what the reward was.
Her gaze was always fixed on that blurry color block. She suddenly felt that it was so unfortunate for Su Mingxiu to have met her…
The first time they met, she had been exchanged as a bug. Now, she was facing danger because of her. Either she would die in the mouths of the beasts in that octagonal cage, or she would be exchanged again.
Even if Su Mingxiu seemed to have an endless amount of life.
Another bubble popped up in her heart with a “gurgle.”
“How do you know which second she’ll reach the end?”
“Woof!”
The bull terriers that were mostly locked in the cage, with a few that had come to Wei Shang’s side, seemed to sense the change in the aura of the person in the cage and started to become a bit restless.
If Wei Shang’s left hand wasn’t holding the leash so tightly, she had no doubt that the dogs would run over there immediately.
Although she wasn’t particularly familiar with this kind of emotional change, she remembered it very well—even though the last two times the dogs had shown this kind of state, the people who had made them so restless had been dead for a long time.
She casually rubbed their heads, and looked toward the person in the cage thoughtfully.
But soon, Wei Shang looked away again. She didn’t even pay attention to who this person was, what her relationship was with Rong Rong. She didn’t even care when this one-sided slaughter would begin.
When her clothes were pulled, Rong Rong hadn’t reacted yet. When she realized that the actions of the person beside her were full of teasing and sensuality, she suddenly widened her eyes.
…This was a public place!
The front was full of spectators!
She instinctively raised her hand, wanting to stop the other person’s movements. Her peripheral vision even subconsciously tried to click on the skill activation page, planning that if she really couldn’t resist it, she would just numb herself and activate the skill while burying her head in the sand.
[The conditions are not met. The skill cannot be activated.]
After the same voice rang out in her mind three times, Rong Rong was completely pulled into Wei Shang’s arms. Even the mask on her face was a bit crooked. Her back was covered in sweat. She didn’t know why the skill that she had been able to use with Yu Wu and Po Er was failing at this crucial moment.
What was the reason?
Could it be that it could only be used in a one-on-one, closed environment?
Yes, the system had said that this skill was only simulating traces. In reality, the two characters who were participating in the story were both in a state of unconsciousness. Their minds would have an extra dream-like memory that represented everything. Because everything was fake, the simulated traces on the body… would also gradually disappear within half an hour.
But now—
If she couldn’t use the skill, Rong Rong felt that she was done for. Accepting the perverted skill of this game to replace her was already her bottom line as a single dog. Now, skipping over the steps of having a crush, confessing, and confirming their relationship, and then giving her a crowded bus ride, she refused.
Her values were also about to collapse.
“Don’t do this,” she knew that the more flustered she was, the more likely it was to make Wei Shang, who had been ignited by the atmosphere of the arena, even more interested.
So her actions of refusing weren’t too big, but they contained all of her strength. “I don’t like it here.”
“But I like it,” Wei Shang pried apart her fingers one by one, and leaned in, completely enveloping her in her own aura and shadow, “Little thing, since you willingly stepped into the hunter’s trap, then don’t try to struggle. It will only make your end more tragic.”
She paused for a rare moment, her chin resting on Rong Rong’s head, making her look at the vicious dogs who were about to have their chains released, who had been hungry for several days, and were about to pounce on their only “food”:
“Or do you want to be in there more than you want to be by my side?”
Rong Rong’s resistance paused for a moment.
Was she going to be a subservient audience member in this audience, completely transformed by this holographic game into someone who adapted to everything, and live out her life by barely surviving?
Or was she going to enter that octagonal cage and become a tragic fate who would die without a whole corpse, and even be declared dead in reality?
She thought that the identity of [player] was too ironic for her.
At least in this game, she wasn’t the one playing the game. She had never enjoyed even a bit of the happiness of playing a game. All along, the game had been playing her.
At the moment that Rong Rong, who was in the last row of the audience, suddenly stood up, Su Mingxiu, who was in the octagonal cage, was as if she didn’t smell the bloody stench that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much it was cleaned, and was walking toward one of the vicious dogs.
One of them barked at her, and the chain that was attached to its collar rattled loudly.
But she raised her foot that wasn’t wearing shoes, which was covered in blood and dust, and stepped hard on the vicious dog. Then, she suddenly bent down and unfastened the dog’s chain—
“Clang, clang.”
The sound attracted all the spectators.
“One-sided slaughter is too boring, everyone,” the person, who was holding the iron chain and stepping on a vicious dog, suddenly transmitted her voice to the whole arena. She looked ordinary, but at this moment, it seemed like she was radiating a unique light from her soul, “Do you want to see something more exciting?”
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