C42 – Deadly Lover

At nine o’clock, the lights of C City were bright and bustling. Luxury cars filled the parking lot of Honghua Club. The security guards were nodding and bowing; they were all extremely busy.

 

Zhuo Ran stopped his Porsche 911, followed by two confidants, one was Zhong Xiaoxiao, and the other was the bald Mo Gang. The three planned to deal with Lin Anqi here.

 

They arrived at private room 13 as promised; it seemed Lin Anqi had already been waiting inside for a long time.

 

“Where’s the stuff? Where’s the stuff!?”

 

Lin Anqi’s eyes bulged; he had become skinny after just a few days. The dark circles under his eyes and the stubble on his chin made him look very sloppy, as if he hadn’t slept well for a long time.

 

Zhuo Ran quietly looked at Lin Anqi’s appearance; he hadn’t died after so many days, so maybe the boss wasn’t that powerful.

 

He felt a little more at ease and signaled Mo Gang with his eyes.

 

Mo Gang walked to the door and locked the private room, but Lin Anqi didn’t notice this; he was extremely disturbed and put all his hopes on Zhuo Ran.

 

Zhuo Ran touched his pocket and took out a light pink amulet from it, which was more like a Japanese goshu than a traditional Chinese talisman. After all, the predecessor of Baoshan Temple was built by the Japanese, so some of its historical legacy was firmly rooted.

 

But for Zhuo Ran, it was good enough.

 

He waved it in front of Lin Anqi’s eyes like he was teasing a dog, “This is the thing that will let you escape for a while.”

 

“What’s it good for?!” Lin Anqi stared at the amulet dead in the face.

 

“Of course it’s to ward off ghosts. When something dirty comes close to you, it will protect you. As long as you wear it on your body and your body keeps having contact with it, it won’t fail unless you lose it or throw it far away.” Zhuo Ran’s tone was very bland; when he looked at Lin Anqi, it was like he was looking at a dead person.

 

“I don’t believe it.” Lin Anqi was still as nervous as ever.

 

Zhuo Ran lifted the inner lining of his clothes, and there was also an amulet hanging plainly inside: “I wear one myself; I wouldn’t lie to you with such a thing.”

 

Lin Anqi received the amulet tremblingly; his eyes lit up as if he really felt the gloomy coldness in his body being dispelled, and his entire body looked revitalized.

 

Just as he examined the amulet, Mo Gang came behind Lin Anqi.

 

He raised the knife in his hand and aimed it at Lin Anqi’s fragile neck under his head of yellow hair.

 

In an instant, Mo Gang raised his sword and swung, but what he heard wasn’t the sound of a human head falling to the ground, but a clanging sound that hit the metal. The force was so great that even sparks burst out between the two blades.

 

Lin Anqi was actually holding a short stick.

 

He wore a mocking smile and pressed the button. Before Mo Gang could run, he was suddenly hit by a powerful electric current, causing severe pain all over his body, like he had been struck by lightning, and then he fell straight to the ground.

 

Zhuo Ran was shocked; he took several steps back. “You’re an actor!”

 

He thought that Lin Anqi was nothing more than a cannon fodder NPC; he didn’t expect this!

 

“Zhong Xiaoxiao, stop him!”

 

However, Zhong Xiaoxiao, who was sitting on the sofa in a grand manner, didn’t move; it was as if she didn’t hear the captain’s instructions, and Lin Anqi on the other end no longer played with the amulet; instead, he snatched Mo Gang’s knife and tore the amulet with one hand.

 

No, it was body possession!

 

Zhuo Ran saw Zhong Xiaoxiao’s appearance and instantly understood.

 

Now the situation was bad; Mo Gang was electrocuted due to carelessness, and only he was left as a fighting force, while the opponent had two people.

 

Zhuo Ran immediately unlocked the door of the room, wanting to escape, but from that moment on, the room was terrifyingly cold, and the bustling sounds of passersby and singing outside disappeared.

 

He pushed open the door of the private room, only to find a dark chaos outside …

 

He was no longer in real space.

 

Zhuo Ran’s cold sweat suddenly dripped on the ground; he had seen many horror films, such as “The Grudge” and the like, in which the female ghost, Kayako Saeki, was claimed to be the most powerful ghost in the history of cinema, and one of her abilities was to tear open subspace.

 

The scene in front of him was so similar to the film.

 

“Cluck cluck… cluck cluck cluck…” Zhong Xiaoxiao suddenly issued a weird cry that didn’t resemble a human being. The woman’s hair suddenly grew longer and was thrown towards him like a whip. Zhuo Ran was only distracted for a moment when all his limbs were firmly bound.

 

Another strand of hair was tied onto the handle of the knife.

 

A cracking sound came to life; the knife was thrown towards Zhuo Ran by the strand of hair with the momentum of a speedy wind, but the union president didn’t die so easily. When the strand of hair and the knife were close to Zhuo Ran, suddenly a bright light burnt Zhong Xiaoxiao’s hair, and Zhong Xiaoxiao screamed as if she was scalded.

 

In fact, the one who was scalded was Liu Jingyun.

 

Her spirit instantly shrank back into Zhong Xiaoxiao’s body; sure enough, Zhuo Ran was hard to deal with with the amulet. However, this didn’t mean that she was at her wits’ end.

 

On the contrary, fighting with a human body was what she was best at.

 

She glanced at Luo Musheng, who had already put Mo Gang under complete control; he had exchanged the truth serum at the mall and was ready to pour it into Mo Gang’s mouth. Liu Jingyun was relieved as she took out her own weapons from the grid space.

 

Two gorgeous twin swords inlaid with rubies.

 

【Bloodthirsty Cold Blades (A): these two curved knives made using Damascus steel are said to have once been loved and collected by a vampire count; after being fed with thousands of years of evil power, it possesses the efficacy of sucking out life. Every time one is slashed by these knives, 2% of the percentage of their life value will be deducted, and even more horrifyingly, the more enemies you ki-ll, the more these two knives’ spiritual nature will grow.]

 

Liu Jingyun turned on her assassin’s bloodline; her presence seemed to have suddenly disappeared, and Zhuo Ran closed the door and leaned her back against the wall to prevent a sneak attack.

 

“Hmph, you’re the people from the Knight Flame Union, aren’t you underestimating me?” Zhuo Ran saw that there was no hope of escaping, so he could only use his real skills.

 

His still-clean cheeks suddenly twisted up, his teeth bursting out at the roots, his entire skull lengthened forwards, and his elaborate suit was torn apart by his surging figure.

 

“I smell it, the smell of the enemy…”

 

The Zhuo Ran in front of her had become a huge, grey-furred werewolf; that half-human, half-wolf body wasn’t a handsome image from a romantic movie but a real blo-odthirsty monster.

 

Liu Jingyun had seen it in the mall, but she didn’t think that someone had actually redeemed a werewolf blo-odline.

 

“What a disgusting odor.” The werewolf’s nose twitched. “Vampire? No, it’s that knife of yours, isn’t it!?”

 

He let out a disdainful laugh. “Little girl, you’re a woman, and you really want to fight me? I won’t go soft on you. It’s useless for you to cry and beg me when the time comes.”

 

The vertical pupil fiercely locked onto the top of the vertical air conditioner; he stretched out his long arm and surprisingly easily lifted the table in the private room and threw it in the direction of the enemy; the loud sound directly caused the air conditioner to split in pieces, making Liu Jingyun flip over to avoid this attack.

 

Like a wandering spirit, she skimmed over the werewolf’s armpit and mercilessly slashed at the werewolf’s ribs with her twin knives, but the werewolf’s muscle layer was too thick, and his fur was strong; she could only slice open a tiny slit, so it could be said that she had faced her natural enemy just in the nick of time.

 

“I’m just an assassin; I didn’t expect to have to fight hard against a power type in such a small place, ah…” Liu Jingyun laughed out, “But it doesn’t matter; as long as there’s a little wound, you’ll be dragged to death by me as well.”

 

Zhuo Ran’s life had already dropped by 2%, and even if she couldn’t cause any fatal damage, as long as she made fifty hits, Zhuo Ran would die just the same.

 

However, the werewolf that Zhuo Ran had turned into was just as sensitive and he wasn’t as bulky as Liu Jingyun had imagined. He reacted swiftly, bending down and grabbing Liu Jingyun’s ankles with one hand, flinging Liu Jingyun up like he was lifting a doll that he was going to slam into the wall.

 

Liu Jingyun gritted her teeth and turned around with a clicking sound. Her crossbow suddenly fired, and a poisoned arrow headed towards Zhuo Ran’s face. The werewolf had to release his grip and bat the arrow away.

 

Liu Jingyun seized the opportunity and widened the distance once again.

 

She almost broke her foot when she landed, as her calf was already covered in a layer of bruises, and with a little more force, she would have broken her leg.

 

“What did I say? A woman is a woman; either she sells her body to gather intelligence like Zhong Xiaoxiao, or she works as a logistician; for your captain to let you throw your weight around as an attacker, you really don’t have much talent to work with, do you?”

 

Zhuo Ran’s throat made a gurgling sound as if he was enjoying a hunt that had no suspense in his eyes.

 

But Liu Jingyun wasn’t affected by the trash talk as she looked towards the corner.

 

“Luo Musheng!”

 

“Fine, I’ll get it done right away.” After Luo Musheng had finished dousing the man with the truth serum, he threw a slap on Mo Gang’s face, who woke up in a languid manner.

 

As soon as he woke up, he realized that he was firmly bound; the captain had revealed his blo-odline and was tangled up with the enemy, but there was no way for him to break free and join the battle, so he could only stare viciously at Luo Musheng.

 

“How many people have come from your Tianxiang Union in total?”

 

Who would tell you! Mo Gang cursed angrily in his heart, but his mouth actually did say it.

 

“Plus me, seven people came.”

 

Mo Gang stared in disbelief.

 

“Hiss, it’s quite a lot.”

 

Zhuo Ran realized that someone in the corner was giving up information; he switched targets and moved towards Luo Musheng.

 

Liu Jingyun immediately blocked it, leaving two wounds on the werewolf’s forehead.

 

Luo Musheng didn’t panic at all; he touched his left temple, and a circle of blue light quietly lit up, and the trajectory prediction AI module opened.

 

[Jingyun, five steps in the direction of twelve o’clock.]

 

The werewolf was enraged; he violently turned around and took a few steps forward, wanting to grab the person, but as if Liu Jingyun knew his alignment in advance, she actually dodged it easily.

 

[Right front, the sofa will fly over.]

 

Zhuo Ran didn’t expect that he would be hit by this annoying woman again and again. He became even more furious; he pulled over the sofa on one side and threw it towards his enemy, but Liu Jingyun actually left that landing spot one step ahead of him, and the sofa smashed on the ground and fell apart, but it didn’t injure her in the slightest.

 

What happened?

 

Zhuo Ran was dumbfounded; could it be that this woman had precognition?

 

He furiously turned his hands into claws, sharp nails tearing the air, indiscriminately attacking in the direction where the smell drifted from.

 

【One o’clock, six steps, weak spot under the ribs】

 

Zhuo Ran clawed frantically; however, in a flash of cold light, his ribs were once again slashed by the woman with a knife. It was the third time already; even he felt his stamina draining away. It was abnormal; he was gradually weakening!

 

Zhuo Ran’s psychological defenses collapsed somewhat.

 

Was there even a woman this strong in the Knightflame Union?

 

Luo Musheng commanded in the private chat channel while holding his chin as he interrogated Mo Gang.

 

“Which seven people? Name them and their specialties.”

 

“Unh!!!” Mo Gang’s expression twisted as he fought against the effects of the Truth Serum, but he was still unable to defeat the effects and helplessly spoke, “Zhuo Ran, redeemed the werewolf blo-odline, strength enhanced, speed enhanced, positional swapping, and is the attacker in the team. Zhong Xiaoxiao, redeemed…”

 

Zhuo Ran’s eyes widened in anger; Mo Gang really did tell all of their union’s skills, ah! It was even in front of him, the captain!

 

This situation was too much! This wasn’t just a problem in the film; outside the film, there were countless viewers and rotating actors watching. In the future, no matter who met their Tianxiang Union in the future, they would be able to target Tianxiang’s weaknesses.

 

It was simply murderous and heartless!!!

 

Knight Flame, I won’t let you go!

 

Zhuo Ran was on the verge of losing his mind from anger; Liu Jingyun once again took the opportunity to give him a slash, and this slash was on the neck, causing the werewolf to suffer a not-so-slight injury.

 

Even if this kind of wound could heal in seconds, the life that was sucked out by the double blades couldn’t be returned, and Zhuo Ran, whose face was on fire and extremely humiliated, was sure that he would die at the hands of this unnamed woman.

 

Just as Liu Jingyun’s double blades were once again coming towards his fatal spot, a goose-yellow light flashed, and the werewolf was all of a sudden out of sight, replaced by a face Liu Jingyun hadn’t seen before. She didn’t hold back, and the blades pierced through the replaced person’s neck in one fell swoop.

 

“!!!” Liu Jingyun retracted her blade and watched as the corpse fell to the ground and twitched, gradually turning cold.

 

This was the first time she had ever harvested a human life.

 

“Where is Zhuo Ran? Where did he run off to?” Liu Jingyun took a deep breath and actually strangely found that she had no sinking feeling inside; perhaps it was because she had also died before and had long been numb to the ki-llings on the set, or perhaps she was naturally more concerned about her own survival.

 

In any case, this dead man wouldn’t cause her any psychological shadow, and she was grateful for that.

 

“Zhuo Ran can swap places with his teammates; no need to look for them.” Luo Musheng had already finished his interrogation. “He sold his teammate to escape; the one you ki-lled was a newcomer he had just taken into the team; he didn’t have a good ability.”

 

“I see.” Liu Jingyun shook the bloo-d off the knife; the rest of the bloo-d was absorbed by the blade itself. It was as if she could feel the mood of the knife – the satisfaction of being fed.

 

“Boss, you saw it all, right?”

 

[Union Channel]

 

[Zhuo Yu: Of course, I kept vision sharing on.]

 

[Luo Musheng: The combination skill you came up with is really good. I just practiced it, and I can also see Liu Jingyun’s perspective, so I can analyze the landing points for her.]

 

[Zhuo Yu: Xiao Liu, it’s your first time k-illing someone, are you alright?]

 

[Liu Jingyun: I didn’t want to ki-ll anyone, but because I was dealing with a werewolf, I used more force. I didn’t expect that guy to be so cunning. Don’t worry, I’m fine. If I don’t have that kind of mental ability, then I don’t deserve to be your team member anymore.]

 

[Zhuo Yu: Very good.]

 

[Luo Musheng: Zhuo Ran escaped; is it okay?]

 

[Zhuo Yu: We are unharmed, but we damaged both of them and obtained all the intelligence. It’s already a big victory. Even a weak woman in his eyes could defeat him. Knight Flame will forever implant fear into Zhuo Ran’s heart. Whether he dies or not, it doesn’t matter anymore.]

 

Luo Musheng’s appreciation for the captain went to the next level.

 

Zhuo Yu was worthy of being the most resourceful and ruthless actor he had ever seen. Zhuo Ran indeed didn’t have to die, because the shadow of Knight Flame’s union would be forever implanted in his heart. When a person had fear and lost the impulse to go forward, then their union could be said to be ruined.

 

[Zhuo Yu: Next, we just need to figure out the conditions for passing the level.]

 

[Luo Musheng: The mission of the Tianxiang Union is to ki-ll the BOSS, and as long as the BOSS dies, the film will end. We should be on the side of the ghost, right? The best option is that we shouldn’t ki-ll the BOSS.]

 

[Zhuo Yu: There’s no rush; there’s still a really big fish that’s yet to be caught; it’s coming soon.]

 

Switching off the system channel, Luo Musheng and Liu Jingyun looked at each other and decided to leave this place for the time being.

 

This place wasn’t the 13th private room at all, but a space that the two of them had torn open with the help of Jiang Xingyu’s power. From the time Zhuo Ran and the others stepped into this place, they had already reached another dimension.

 

If Mo Gang was left here like this, he would be alone in the unknown dimension until he died.

 

However, Luo Musheng’s naughtiness came up.

 

Mo Gang was also one of the main attackers of the Tianxiang Union, with the ability to master various firearms. It wasn’t easy for him to use his fists and feet. In addition, when he revealed intelligence in front of Zhuo Ran, although he knew he didn’t mean it, Zhuo Ran would still be unhappy with him. Moreover, he had the ability to possess bodies on his side, so Zhuo Ran would suspect that Mo Gang had been impersonated.

 

It was better to put him back in Tianxiang Union; it would be interesting.

 

Luo Musheng felt that he had been corrupted by Zhuo Yu.

 

He patted Mo Gang’s cheek and said wistfully, “Alright, you don’t have any more use. In half an hour, this room will be lifted, and you can get lost.”

 

He placed the knife at Mo Gang’s feet, reckoning that Mo Gang could touch it after twisting his body for a while and he could leave the place on his own.

 

Liu Jingyun snickered on the side, and the two of them stopped looking at this unlucky person and turned around to leave this haunted area.

 

The exchange of blows between the two parties ended in a crushing defeat for the Tianxiang Union.

 

The spectators who were paying attention to the two parties only then calmed down from the tense atmosphere and cheered as they drank their beer.

 

“Fuc-k, how over the top! No other channel’s films are this awesome!”

 

“Yeah, it’s been all about the BOSS group from the first day.”

 

The viewers watched the film in the bar freely, and the votes poured into the Knightflame union like running water, while those whose hands were quick to pick Tianxiang all cried out in pain and regret and said with a stiff upper lip that Tianxiang still had a chance to turn the tables.

 

Tianxiang and Knight Flame’s film was among the top recommendations, which was very eye-catching because most of the actors presented the audience with the same plot of a typical supernatural film after entering this film, and one died more horribly than the other. Only a few more famous guilds like Knight Flame remained alive.

 

The audience was dazzled and sighed at the fact that this event was truly eye-opening, while those who had ridiculed Zhuo Yu and laughed at Knightflame were all sitting on their card seats, pale and depressed.

 

The Flying Scythe Battle Team was similarly concerned about the direction of the auditions. Dong Yao chose Knightflame’s perspective, and as he watched Zhuo Ran fall, he let out a shallow sigh of relief.

 

“This Zhuo Ran, can he last ten minutes under you?”The team members curiously asked the captain, after all, the captain’s force value was there for all to see.

 

“Almost. He is just pure physical strength. He hasn’t been trained, and his attack methods are messy.” Dong Yao laughed at himself: “But my curse has not been resolved yet. I might lose unlucky.”

 

The teammates laughed out loud without sparing his feelings.

 

Speaking of which, the captain was truly miserable; he was clearly much stronger than those people, but he lost face because of the unlucky curse, but saving up another wave of flame points would lift it, so everyone wasn’t worried about it.

 

Only another person chatted about a different topic.

 

“Captain, is Zhuo Yu really trustworthy?” Flying Scythe’s vice president, the long-haired man, leaned crookedly against the backrest. “You don’t want to be cheated and count the money for others.”

 

“Zhuo Yu isn’t what you guys think. He’s just smart, but by no means is he a bad person.”

 

The vice president revealed a toothy expression, “Huh, there’s a day when you can say something like that, huh?”

 

The others also had a look of amusement on their faces, as if they had discovered some big secret.

 

“You seem like a little girl fascinated by a bad man right now.” The vice president pushed Dong Yao away in disgust. “You wouldn’t have fallen for someone like that, right?”

 

Dong Yao was stunned, then slowly shook his head, “No, he doesn’t like my type.”

 

The vice president slapped his forehead; ok, there was no hope.

 

Fortunately, the captain was sober enough to know that he wouldn’t look at him; Zhuo Yu’s kind of strange fetishes could really only be satisfied in films; ordinary people couldn’t get it on with Zhuo Yu.

 

“I always feel that all the bosses in his films are off.” Dong Yao’s weird intuition bubbled up, “You guys, would anyone be able to play the BOSS?”

 

“Huh? No way, aren’t the actors all survivalist characters?”

 

“That’s right, what kind of actor can become the BOSS? Wouldn’t that make them GMs?”

 

“What does GM mean?”

 

“Game Administrator.”

 

Dong Yao jerked straight up: Administrator?

 

Didn’t the system say that those who won the tournament would have the chance to meet the chief judge? Was there a possibility that the administrator was an existence similar to a game master who could manipulate characters other than NPCs and film actors?

 

Dong Yao recalled that he had gathered information on Lakeside Strange Tales and also learned from the forums that Zhuo Yu was fond of the Boss Asha in it, and coupled with Long Ran from Secrets of the Underland Beach, if Long Ran’s combination was successful, he would have also turned into a Boss.

 

Dong Yao dropped his line of sight to the screen, and inside, Zhuo Yu had already started chatting with the BOSS with a smile on his face.

 

This Deadly Lover’s BOSS was even more out of place!

 

It seemed like he was pursuing Zhuo Yu.

 

Although he really had a crush on Zhuo Yu, Dong Yao had no thoughts of pursuing Zhuo Yu because he knew he would fail. He now only felt as if he had unearthed some secret, and a wave of old fatherly worry came over him.

 

Being looked at by someone on the film set wasn’t a good thing …

 

He believed that Zhuo Yu could leave this hellish place, but in this situation, he was afraid the film set wouldn’t let Zhuo Yu leave easily.

 

As Dong Yao pondered, he suddenly felt a breeze at his side, an oppressive force brought about by his sixth sense passing by; he subconsciously looked back and found that it was a tall man passing by their Flying Scythe’s table.

 

The man was too far away to see his face, and he could only tell that he was wearing a strange silver-grey outfit that looked like a suit or a priesthood robe, giving him a mysterious and ascetic aura.

 

Dong Yao somewhat resented the other party at first glance but couldn’t figure out why.

 

The man had stopped on the far side of the room; next to him was a woman wearing a witch’s hat, and the two were talking in low tones.

 

Dong Yao stopped looking at the two passersby, but the odd feeling in his heart lingered.

 

“Why are you dazed? Zhuo Ran is starting to mess up!”

 

The Vice President pulled his concentration back; the Zhuo Ran in the screen had already fled to the Baoshan Temple and requested the Venerable Master to come out.

 

---

TN:

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