<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lotus seeds are tasty, but they\u2019re just a snack. Qi Yang ate some and then stopped. He didn\u2019t shell the rest; holding the lotus pod, he wandered around the pond. There was no one else in the whole lotus pond\u2014just him and Nan Sheng. The man was taciturn at this hour, staying close to Qi Yang the whole time. The surroundings were quiet and peaceful. Qi Yang found a relatively open spot and sat down; he sat while Nan Sheng remained standing.
Qi Yang didn\u2019t know, but Nan Sheng knew perfectly well: this pond was full of people\u2014more precisely, full of ghosts and monsters.
A morning breeze blew, bringing waves of delicate fragrance. Qi Yang lowered his eyes to look at the red string tied around his right hand. It didn\u2019t weigh anything, and the more he looked at it the nicer it seemed\u2014wearing it all the time wouldn\u2019t hurt.
Qi Yang slightly turned his eyes. The same red string was also on Nan Sheng’s wrist; the two of them wore the same kind of red string. If one didn’t look at anything else, it could pass for a couple’s bracelet, but whether they were actually a couple was something only the two of them knew.
They stayed by the lotus pond for a while; no other players came by during that time. After they’d finished admiring the lotuses, Qi Yang stood up to head back. He walked for a bit and was about to turn a corner when two people came out from around it. The moment they looked up, they saw Qi Yang and Nan Sheng approaching\u2014especially Yi Xinming. He sized Qi Yang up and down, checked his face and body for anything odd, and relaxed. In truth, Yi Xinming knew he had been overthinking; though Qi Yang’s stamina wasn’t great, his intelligence was exceptional\u2014he wouldn’t be helpless against a mere admirer.
Compared to Qi Yang’s neat clothes, it was Nan Sheng whose clothing bore strange stains, which immediately made Yi Xinming curious about what had happened during that time.
“Hey, where did that lotus pod come from?” Kang Lian noticed the large verdant lotus pod in Qi Yang’s right hand, and could even faintly smell the delicate fragrance of lotus.
Qi Yang picked up the lotus seed pod and explained, “There’s a lotus pond over there; I just plucked this from the pond.”
“You picked it?” Yi Xinming asked instinctively.
“No.” Qi Yang shook his head. He didn’t say exactly who had picked it, but only he and Nan Sheng had been to the lotus pond, so it was obvious who it was.
“The lotus pond is pretty big, and there are lots of blossoms \u2014 very beautiful. You two should go take a look.” Seeing that the two had finished the tasks given by the stall owners and successfully obtained their items, Qi Yang suggested they stroll over to the lotus pond to enjoy the lovely scenery.
Kang Lian looked at the large lotus pod in Qi Yang’s hand and felt a little tempted.
But Qi Yang and the others definitely wouldn’t go again; if it was just her and Yi Xinming, Kang Lian didn’t think it was necessary.
Besides, after what happened this morning at the hot spring blood pool, Kang Lian wasn’t in much of a mood to sightsee\u2014she just wanted to get back to the inn quickly.
“I’m not really keen on going,” Kang Lian said, shaking her head slightly.
If Kang Lian wasn’t going, then Yi Xinming would go alone; he didn’t care for lotus seeds, so he decided not to go either.
“Then let’s go together.” Qi Yang called to the two of them.
They went back by a different route, not the one they had taken before. Qi Yang didn\u2019t check on how the other players were doing with their tasks; he learned a bit from Yi Xinming that most of the tasks were still simple, some were harder, but with a little effort they could be completed.
You have to earn the items you want with your own labor \u2014 that is the rule.
They walked slowly, stopping now and then, lingering to admire any scenery that caught their eye.
Qi Yang wasn’t one for many words; on the road, Yi Xinming often talked.
“If we had phones, we’d probably have taken a lot of pictures by now.” On a normal trip, taking photos with phones was almost inevitable, Yi Xinming sighed.
Qi Yang smiled, suddenly thinking of something: “It seems like no one here uses phones; time probably won’t be so easy to pass.”
“If you never use it, you slowly get used to it. People like us spend some time in the game and then turn back to the real world; during that time we can’t even touch the phone’s case. Honestly, it feels like being forced into an amputation.”
“Go home and hug your phone and play twenty-four hours a day and your sickness will be cured.” Qi Yang laughed.
Yi Xinming didn’t have Qi Yang’s steadiness of mind; with seven days ahead and not even the first day over, Yi Xinming stared into the distance: “We just need to get back alive.”
Qi Yang wanted to reply that staying alive was simple, but thinking of how Yi Xinming was different from him, he couldn’t promise Yi Xinming and the others that nothing would happen.
“Just be careful with everything,” Qi Yang said, his smile dimming slightly.
Nan Sheng didn’t butt into the two of them’s conversation from behind. Earlier he found Yi Xinming irritating and had thought about finding an opportunity to get rid of him, to stop this human from appearing before Qi Yang and causing Qi Yang to constantly overlook him. Now seeing how Qi Yang and Yi Xinming interacted, Yi Yang had already carved out a bit of space for Yi Xinming \u2014 the place of a friend. If one day something suddenly happened to Yi Xinming, Qi Yang would probably be upset. Qi Yang is carrying a child; during pregnancy it’s best her emotions don’t swing wildly. Nan Sheng planned that if one day Yi Xinming met with bad luck or..
Not good, something really did happen \u2014 then it’s better if Qi Yang doesn’t know. If he doesn’t know, he won’t be upset.
They wandered around the village for a while. It was still early\u2014before four o’clock\u2014so the group didn’t continue exploring and returned to the inn. The six players from that group were there as well; when the innkeeper had suggested they go look around the village earlier, they had gone out and had just come back. They were about to head out again when they ran into Qi Yang and the others.
Zhong Chong’s eyes lit up the moment he saw Qi Yang; he stared intently at Qi Yang’s face, itching to reach out and feel whether it was smooth. Qi Yang kept a cold expression\u2014since the other only looked and didn’t touch, he could pretend not to have seen.
Zhong Chong quickly sized up the four of them and noticed each of them had a small item he hadn’t seen before. He asked straight away if they had taken them from the village.
Zhong Chong’s tone was extremely arrogant, not at all polite. Yi Xinming, standing beside Qi Yang, lengthened his face and stepped in front of him to block Zhong Chong’s view.
Qi Yang didn’t respond and headed up the stairs. Zhong Chong’s blatant gaze clung to him; he walked a few steps to block Qi Yang, his eyes lingering on the patch of pale skin exposed at Qi Yang’s collar.
As if a cold crawling creature had crept across his neck, Qi Yang felt uneasy; his expression instantly darkened
“Speechless? I thought none of you couldn’t speak. We’re supposed to clear this together\u2014shouldn’t we be helping each other?” Hearing that come from Zhong Chong, a man who liked to humiliate others, was almost laughable.
Qi Yang stood on the stairs, his gaze lowered, his look at others somehow lofty. Zhong Chong was being looked down on by him, and a wicked heat leapt in his chest. Seeing that pale, alluring face made him want to do something to him. Zhong Chong grabbed Qi Yang’s hand, intending to pull him down from the stairs.
But the next moment Chong’s brow tightened in pain as a hand came to rest on his wrist. The hand didn’t seem to apply much force, yet Chong felt the bone-cracking pain instantly. He stared at Nan Sheng in shock. This man had always seemed to have a very low presence, almost easy to overlook, then suddenly appeared; the pain in his wrist rapidly escalated, and Chong’s body even trembled slightly. He jerked his hand away and stepped back two paces. When their eyes met again, Chong felt his heart drop\u2014those eyes were pitch black, utterly devoid of warmth, and when they looked at him it was as if they were staring at a corpse. Chong’s heart stopped for a moment; for an instant he even felt that if this man wanted to, he could easily kill him.
Who exactly is this person? Zhong Chong was filled with doubt \u2014 could it be that, like Qiao Ran, he had already cleared the level?
More than ten times?
Qi Yang glanced coldly at the two people at the foot of the stairs. Because Nan Sheng had his back to him, Qi Yang couldn’t see the icy, emotionless look in Nan Sheng’s eyes at that moment, but he still vaguely sensed that Nan Sheng’s aura was somewhat different. Zhong Chong’s expression suddenly showed obvious apprehension, as if the person standing before him was a terrifying presence. However, Zhong Chong quickly regained his composure. Qi Yang knew he hadn’t been mistaken \u2014 something about Nan Sheng’s behavior had frightened the other man.
Qi Yang narrowed his eyes slightly. Before going upstairs he reached out and rested his hand on Nan Sheng’s shoulder. As his hand settled, the aura around Nan Sheng’s body changed abruptly, softening and losing most of its offensiveness, and a small curve formed at the corner of Qi Yang’s mouth.
\u201cWe just came back from the neighboring village. It seems the hidden task is to fetch some small items. It\u2019ll be dark soon, so you should head over early.\u201d Qi Yang, who had been cold moments before, suddenly smiled and shared all the information they had gathered without holding anything back. Yi Xinming and Kang Lian looked at him puzzled; from what they knew of Qi Yang, he wasn\u2019t the sort to grin at someone who treated him poorly.
\u201cIs that so? Then thanks for now.\u201d Among the six, the youngest-looking but also the most mischievous-eyed, Qiao Ran, stepped forward to smooth things over. He smiled at Qi Yang in thanks.
Qi Yang met Qiao Ran\u2019s phoenix-like eyes. Those eyes curved slightly\u2014very handsome\u2014but there was little genuine gratitude in them. Qi Yang smiled and turned to leave.
They wouldn\u2019t know that the so-called information, if even one or two words were changed, would become something entirely different.
The six people turned and left the inn. When Qi Yang smiled, Nan Sheng noticed that Qi Yang didn’t really intend to help them; following him, he immediately heard the changes in Qi Yang’s words.
“Go to the village to take some small items” rather than buy them \u2014 taking and buying are different \u2014 and judging by the personalities of those six players, getting them to sit quietly and trade labor for goods was almost impossible. It was far more likely the six would simply threaten the stall owners and take the goods.
This scene was exactly what Nan Sheng had been hoping for. The ghostly staff here had been starving for a long time; a feast delivered to their door was something they could only long for.
Qi Yang went back to his room to rest. He went out for a walk in the afternoon; his ankles felt a bit sore and swollen. Before, he could walk all day without any issues, but things weren’t the same now. Qi Yang knew those physical changes were all because of the little thing growing in his belly.
Yi Xinming and the others didn’t return to their rooms; they sat in the small garden downstairs. There is a little garden outside the inn’s ground-floor lounge.
Over there, after Nan Sheng entered his own room,
he turned and walked back out through the window, his figure vanishing straight into the void.
He moved along a dim corridor for a minute or two, then a door appeared. Nan Sheng reached out and opened it; beyond the door was another game instance.
There were already ghosts waiting outside the door; when they saw Nan Sheng come out, they immediately bowed and kowtowed in greeting. Nan Sheng’s expression was cold; his features shifted quickly, and in an instant his face became another stern, resolute one.
In this instance his role was Supervisor Fu Mingnan, overseeing the players participating in the tenth game. Every ten completed games marked a milestone; ever since the time when all players had cleared simultaneously, Nan Sheng would personally come to supervise, to prevent some players from cheating.
He had the spirits report the current situation, listening while thinking about ending things as quickly as possible so he could return to Qi Yang.
To Nan Sheng, Qi Yang and the child in his womb had become the people he cared about most; everything and everyone else had to take a back seat.
Nan Sheng had suddenly vanished. After returning in the afternoon and being seen by the stairs, Qi Yang never saw him again; he was also nowhere to be seen when Qi Yang went to the dining hall for dinner. Given that someone had skipped dinner last night and then died, Qi Yang stared at the empty seat beside him. If Nan Sheng had been there, he would have sat in that spot, but now it sat vacant. Qi Yang wondered where Nan Sheng had gone, though he didn\u2019t directly ask Yi Xinming and the others whether they had seen him.
But his deskmate Yi Xinming brought it up first, saying he hadn\u2019t seen him for a while either.
“If he doesn’t come back for dinner, could it be that…” Yi Xinming paused here.
From Qi Yang’s understanding of Nan Sheng during this period, though it might not be complete, his feeling was that Nan Sheng probably wasn’t the sort of person to have an accident so easily.
That man seemed to carry many secrets; perhaps those secrets were connected to his sudden disappearance.
Qi Yang didn’t have many special feelings for Nan Sheng. So what if he’d slept with him? So what if he was the father of the child in his belly? Sleeping together was in the past; the child would be aborted sooner or later. It would be better if Nan Sheng never came back\u2014having a pair of eyes watching him every day was best avoided if possible.
It was just that after dinner when Qi Yang returned to his room and saw the lotus seed pod on the table, he remembered the man wading from the bank into the mud that afternoon. The man hadn’t cared about soiling his clothes, had walked into the middle of the lotus pond and picked the largest pod for Qi Yang. In all his years, Qi Yang had never had anyone do that for him before. Holding the pod, Qi Yang walked to the window
He’d eaten his fill at dinner, but Qi Yang still shelled the seeds and began eating them.
Not sure if it had been sitting a while, but the lotus seed didn’t taste as crisp and sweet as it did that afternoon.
Standing by the window for a while, Qi Yang’s room overlooked the inn’s front door. During that time the door remained shut, no one came in from outside, and the sky was pitch black. In this game space the sky seemed to be perpetually dark\u2014no stars, no moon.
Qi Yang drew the curtains, turned around, and tossed the peeled lotus seed pod into the trash. He went to the bathroom to shower. Fresh clothes had been laid out in the room\u2014both size and style suited him perfectly. Qi Yang wouldn’t know these weren’t just randomly chosen; they were the work of Nan Sheng. As a pregnant husband, Qi Yang’s clothes had been selected by Nan Sheng from high-quality fabrics, and they felt very comfortable to wear.
Qi Yang took a shower and changed into comfortable, soft pajamas, then sat up in bed. Although he felt a bit tired, sleep didn’t seem to be coming easily.
He was thinking about the two check-in points for tomorrow. Judging by their locations and names, they were in the same place\u2014inside a bamboo grove. The sea of bamboo was dense. Qi Yang personally liked looking at bamboo seas; he knew this one in the game world would surely be different from those in the living world. Most of the other players probably didn’t feel like appreciating it, but Qi Yang was rather looking forward to it. The ghosts and monsters in this game treated him with the same reverence as in the previous round; they were respectful when they saw him. Tasks the other players had to complete were unnecessary for Qi Yang. What he needed to do seemed to be simply to come to this game space and sightsee\u2014 or rather, to experience it.
While the other players worried every day about whether their lives would be in danger next, Qi Yang did not.
Qi Yang really wanted to know the specific reason for that, but so far there didn’t seem to be many clues.
Qi Yang couldn’t remember ever coming to a place like this. He wasn’t some veteran player, and he was even less likely to be a memory-fogged NPC ghost. He could get pregnant with another man’s child; ghosts couldn’t carry human children.
One thing Qi Yang didn’t know was that humans can become pregnant with a ghost’s child.
It was late; Qi Yang turned off the light and went to sleep. Before drifting off, he unexpectedly thought of Nan Sheng. He couldn’t shake the vague image of being woken in the morning or in the middle of the night, then stepping into the corridor to find Nan Sheng’s corpse lying there. What expression would he have? He wondered if he would shed a single tear for Nan Sheng.
Probably \u2014 after all, he’s at least the father of the child in her womb.
When he had time later, he would also send the child to meet Nan Sheng.
Far away in another game space, Fu Mingnan didn’t know that he liked him
The joyful ones were already thinking of killing his child after his death; as the overseer, Fu Mingnan stood above a vast maze, within which the players\u2014who had already cleared it nine times and were now attempting their tenth run in the game\u2014were struggling to make their way through.
In just that half hour, of the twelve players, five had fallen\u2014some had stopped breathing, others had lost consciousness; those two who lost consciousness were essentially as good as declared dead.
The other players were all desperately trying to survive; none of them had the spare strength to help them.
It was unclear how many would ultimately live \u2014 if none survived, Fu Mingnan would probably be a little disappointed. There were a few people among them he had higher hopes for. Fu Mingnan liked clever, capable people, and watching these players struggle to survive in the game space struck him as rather interesting.
Of course, this kind of interest couldn’t be called pleasure; it was far from the feeling he got from a single smile Qi Yang had given him.
While supervising the players’ progress, Fu Mingnan stepped away for a few minutes. He quickly returned to the other space and, upon coming back, went straight through the window into Qi Yang’s room.
As Fu Mingnan entered, a gust of wind lifted the curtains; the fabric slowly and silently fell back down. Fu Mingnan stood silently by Qi Yang’s bedside. The room was dark, but even without light his vision remained unhindered\u2014he could clearly see Qi Yang’s peaceful sleeping face.
If someone had once told Fu Mingnan that one day he would feel deeply for a human, and that this human would become pregnant with his child, Nan Sheng would have thought the person was talking nonsense.
He didn’t like women; human women held no interest for him. Even if his sexual preference was for men, and even if he slept with a human man\u2014could a man possibly become pregnant with his child?
Fu Mingnan didn’t believe he had any such special ability, and he trusted that human men didn’t either.
But fate is a strange thing; even someone like Fu Mingnan, who believed he controlled everything, was suddenly played by it.
Under the arrangement of fate, he met Qi Yang, and Qi Yang became pregnant with his child.
His deep, clear black eyes fixed on the beautiful, gentle face before him. Fu Mingnan slowly bent down, both hands cupping Qi Yang’s cheeks. After his gaze traced every inch of Qi Yang’s exquisite, handsome features, Fu Mingnan lowered his head and kissed those lips that silently tempted him.
Qi Yang slept soundly, unaware that someone had slipped in again during the night to secretly kiss him. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last. Before Qi Yang had come to like him, Fu Mingnan knew that sneaking into the room at night to steal kisses was..
There will only be more of it, never less.
As for whether to step up the pressure and chase him down quickly so that Qi Yang would fall for him, Nan Sheng wasn’t in a hurry. He preferred to take his time and keep the line long. Qi Yang’s personality was the kind that leaned toward indifference and coldness; you could see it clearly from how little he reached out to family and friends in his life.
After a light kiss, Fu Mingnan didn’t deepen it\u2014not because he feared Qi Yang waking, but because he still had matters to attend to. If it continued, he worried he wouldn’t be able to control himself. Fu Mingnan stopped in time, rose, and before leaving he gently rubbed Qi Yang’s lips with his fingertip.
“See you tomorrow morning!” Fu Mingnan murmured softly, then he quickly turned and the fallen curtain fluttered up once more; as it descended, Fu Mingjun’s tall figure vanished at light speed.
Back outside the maze, the labyrinth was guarded by high-strength ghosts and monsters blocking the players. The players had no weapons; to get out they had to use their wits, and they had to work as a team. Solo play was useless\u2014unless someone excelled in both intelligence and strength, thinking they’d clear it smoothly was pure wishful thinking.
It seemed the remaining players understood this as well; they stopped splitting up and instead gathered together.
But all of them gathering and all of them clearing the level?
Fu Mingnan wouldn’t allow that to happen. He lifted his hand slightly, and a ghost, obeying his command, slid down from a wall. The ghost dragged an iron chain that clinked and rattled. Some players just beyond a few walls vaguely heard the strange sound but couldn’t make out what it was. One of them mentioned it to his companions, and the group sensed the danger and started running. Unaware that the direction they fled toward was exactly where the chain-ghost was heading, they essentially ran right into it, delivering themselves straight to him.
Fu Mingnan’s mouth curved into an indifferent smile. He knew the identity of every player here; more than half of them had blood on their hands, whether intentionally or accidentally. They evaded legal punishment through power, or only received token punishments\u2014these people felt no remorse. Other people’s lives to them were no different from the feral cats and dogs by the roadside.
In this game, those people’s lives were likewise like feral cats and dogs.
Fu Ming watched as iron chains wrapped around two players’ necks. The players struggled violently, calling for help, trying to tear the chains off with their hands, but human strength could not match metal. As the chains tightened rapidly, blood poured from their mouths and noses, their faces contorted in pain, and before long the limbs that had still been struggling went limp and dropped.
The players who had just been relieved, thinking they might find the maze exit without much danger, instantly changed their expressions. Fu Mingnan watched from the sidelines\u2014so long as he was here, no one would get out alive easily.<\/p>","protected":false},"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"novel":[],"class_list":["post-2953","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/2953\/revisions\/2996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"novel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/novel?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}