The teenager didn’t hesitate and put down the chainsaw.
After all, someone like the young boy could be easily killed
with just one hand, whether there was a chainsaw or not.
Ruan Qing glanced at the discarded chainsaw, released what
was in his hand, and took something out from his shoulder bag. He calmly spoke,
“Thank you, big brother. My name is Ye Qing. What’s your name?”
This question seemed to perplex the teenager. He once again
ran his hand through his hair uncertainly and replied, “Xu... Ze?”
“Xu Ze?” Ruan Qing looked up at the teenager with a cautious
and somewhat intimate tone, softly asking, “Can I call you Brother Ze?”
The boy’s voice seemed to have not yet experienced puberty,
sounding clean and soft. Although he was speaking normally, it gave off a kind
of coquettish charm that was difficult to resist.
It was hard to refuse his request.
Xu Ze looked at his newfound younger brother, his eyes filled
with cleanliness and purity, carrying genuine happiness and closeness. It was
as if the fear and dread from earlier had been nothing but an illusion.
The boy seemed like a fool.
Although he had just been threatened with a chainsaw, he let
his guard down because he resembled his own brother, and even started
approaching him cautiously.
It was like a little rabbit befriending a wicked wolf, weak
and naïve, foolishly unaware of its own safety.
However... having a foolish little brother didn’t seem bad?
And it seemed that if his eyes were gouged out, they would
lose their luster.
Xu Ze revealed a brilliant smile. “Sure.”
After saying that, Xu Ze immediately reached out and poked
the boy’s teardrop mole. “Can you cry now?”
Ruan Qing felt a bit of pain from the poke, and tears welled
up, but he managed to hold them back.
He looked at Xu Ze with a pitiful expression. “I’m a little
thirsty... I can’t... cry.”
Xu Ze furrowed his brows impatiently and unhappily spoke,
“Didn’t they say that as your older brother, I should be able to see you cry?”
Xu Ze’s tone sounded somewhat dangerous, as if he was
reconsidering this “brotherly” relationship. It seemed as though if he didn’t
get what he wanted, he would immediately retract his previous statements.
Ruan Qing wasn’t flustered. He spoke softly with a look of
grievance, “But... I just ran for a long time, I’m tired, and I cried for a
long time too. It feels like my body lacks water... When the body is
dehydrated, tears won’t come out.”
The young boy’s voice became smaller and more plaintive, almost
on the verge of tears. However, it seemed that due to his dry eyes, tears
didn’t flow down.
In the end, the boy tugged at the corner of Xu Ze’s clothes
and pleaded, filled with uncertainty and a hint of submissiveness, “I’m sorry,
Brother Ze, please don’t be angry... Is that okay?”
Seeing that Xu Ze didn’t speak, the boy seemed somewhat
scared, his voice trembling and sounding as if he was about to cry, “Ah Qing
will be obedient and listen to you, please don’t abandon me...”
After the boy finished speaking, he forcefully rubbed his
eyes, applying quite a bit of pressure, as if he wanted to force himself to
cry.
At this moment, the boy looked extremely pitiful, wearing a
helpless and vulnerable expression, afraid that Xu Ze would reject him.
However, even though he rubbed his eyes until they turned
red, as if they were dripping with blood, no tears flowed out.
It was evident that the boy wasn’t lying; he truly couldn’t
cry because of dehydration.
The boy was obedient and well-behaved, trying his best to rub
his eyes when asked to cry. He was so well-behaved that it made people want to
hold him in their arms and comfort him, ensuring he wouldn’t experience any
distress.
However, Xu Ze only felt that this younger brother of his was
truly troublesome.
Where could he get water for him at this late hour? The
convenience store nearby wasn’t close to where he lived.
Ruan Qing seemed to sense Xu Ze’s dilemma and cautiously
ventured, setting aside his hand from rubbing his eyes, “Brother Ze, can I...
go to the nearby convenience store and buy a bottle of water to drink?”
In this neighborhood, there was a 24-hour convenience store.
This time, Xu Ze didn’t refuse and simply turned around,
saying, “Let’s go.”
Ruan Qing obediently followed Xu Ze and walked in the
direction of the convenience store.
The convenience store wasn’t far, and they quickly arrived.
However, Xu Ze slowed down his pace when they were about
fifty meters away from the store.
Ruan Qing, on the other hand, didn’t stop and was prepared to
walk towards the convenience store.
However, Xu Ze grabbed the strap of Ruan Qing’s messenger bag
from behind, just like grabbing a kitten by the scruff of its neck, and pulled
him back.
“I’ll go buy it for you. Stay here and don’t move,” Xu Ze
said, handing the chainsaw to the boy before turning around to head towards the
convenience store.
But as soon as he turned around, he heard a cry of pain from
behind, followed by the sound of a heavy metallic object hitting the ground.
When Xu Ze turned back, he saw the boy being thrown to the
ground by the weight of the chainsaw, and even the hand holding the chainsaw
was reddened from the pressure.
The boy struggled pitifully to free his hand from under the
chainsaw’s weight, but the pain made it impossible for him to pull it out.
Xu Ze: “...” His younger brother was really weak.
Clumsy and weak.
Although his chainsaw was specially made and much heavier
than a regular one, it shouldn’t have caused him to be thrown to the ground
like that.
Xu Ze picked up the chainsaw, not allowing the boy to hold
it, and planted it firmly in the ground before turning and walking towards the
nearby convenience store.
In the instant Xu Ze turned around, tears uncontrollably
streamed down Ruan Qing’s face.
The chainsaw was much heavier than he had anticipated,
weighing around thirty to forty kilograms. The instant it pressed on his hand,
the pain and stimulation almost made him unable to hold back his tears.
Fortunately, Xu Ze walked away quickly.
Ruan Qing wiped away his tears, rubbed his reddened hand that
had been pressed, and forcefully suppressed his tears while discreetly glancing
around.
Xu Ze had the temperament of a child. His affection would
never last, let alone the fact that his mission was to kill him.
The ending for staying by his side was only one, to walk
towards death after the other got bored with playing.
And this time limit of getting bored, perhaps it wouldn’t
exceed five days. After all, his mission deadline should only have five days
left.
But the time to buy water was too short, at most not more
than five minutes, definitely not enough for him to escape.
Moreover, Xu Ze’s speed was too fast. Even if he got a
five-minute head start, he would still be caught.
To prevent Xu Ze from chasing, unless...
After discreetly looking around, Ruan Qing’s gaze finally
fell on the dark forest not far away to the left.
The convenience store’s location was quite special,
considered to be in the middle of the community, and it’s also close to the
right side of the park square.
In the center-right position of the park square was an
artificial lake, surrounded by carefully planted trees and flowers.
Ruan Qing’s current position was on the road between the
forest and the artificial lake. There were not many lights here, only the dim
illumination from the convenience store.
But he was currently about fifty meters away from this
location, and the store’s light was not enough to illuminate this area.
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, took a deep breath, and after a
few seconds, he looked up.
“Ah!!!”
“There’s a snake!!!”
A terrified scream from the young boy broke the silence of
the night and attracted everyone’s attention.
The boy looked fearfully at the dark forest, then in a panic,
as if completely scared, he ran away towards a place far from the forest,
clearly terrified of the snake.
However, behind the boy was the artificial lake.
And it seemed that because it was too dark and he was too
scared, he didn’t notice that behind him was the lake. He directly fell into
the water, as if he had been startled, and sank after struggling a couple of
times, leaving only the disturbed ripples on the water’s surface.
Xu Ze was grabbing a bottle of mineral water on the shelf.
Upon hearing the scream, he rushed over as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t
catch the boy in time.
He hesitated for a moment as he looked at the rippling lake,
but eventually took off his coat and jumped into the water.
He attempted to rescue his newly recognized younger brother,
who, despite being clumsy and foolish, had eyes more beautiful than all the
gems he had collected.
The convenience store owner, not deaf by any means, also
heard the scream, but he was not as fast as Xu Ze. By the time he arrived
panting, there was no sign of anyone on the lake’s surface.
After calling out twice and receiving no response, he trembled
as he took out his phone and dialed the emergency number.
Just as he finished making the call, there was finally some
movement on the deep, pitch-black lake.
Xu Ze, looking somewhat disheveled, managed to climb ashore
alone.
The faint light of the night was insufficient to illuminate
the bottom of the lake, making it extremely difficult to find a person down
there. He had been searching for over ten minutes, and if a fragile human being
couldn’t swim, they wouldn’t be able to survive in the lake.
His younger brother, so weak, must have perished.
“Are you okay?” the convenience store owner hurriedly walked
up. “Don’t worry, I’ve already called the police.”
Xu Ze felt somewhat sad, as if he had lost his most beloved
toy. He completely ignored the convenience store owner and walked dejectedly
into the shadows, dragging his chainsaw toward the darkness.
***
Meanwhile, Ruan Qing had already crawled out from the other
side of the lake and was lying on the grass, panting to regain his breath.
Indeed, he had overestimated his physical abilities a bit.
This body of his seemed as if it would cost him his life even
to swim for ten minutes. At this point, Ruan Qing had completely lost any trace
of strength.
If a hunter were to appear now, he would undoubtedly be doomed.
Fortunately, the lake water perfectly masked his breathing
and heartbeat, and Xu Ze hadn’t noticed him.
The viewers in the livestream room were filled with anxiety
when they saw the boy fall into the water. If it weren’t for the fact that the
livestream would have darkened the moment the target was dead, they might have
truly believed that the boy had drowned and perished.
Fortunately, the young boy managed to climb up.
The young boy was completely soaked, his thin T-shirt
sticking to his skin. His slender figure was clearly visible, and even the
scenery in front of his chest could be vaguely seen.
At this moment, the young boy on the screen was lying on the
ground, panting softly. His low and gentle voice was incredibly enticing. His
face had a hint of blush and moisture, and his wet hair seemed to have grown a
bit, clinging to his delicate face, appearing both innocent and provocative,
with a touch of dazzling allure, like a fairy stepping out of a painting.
It was as if a water ghost had crawled ashore at night,
intending to seduce people with a beautiful face and voice, making them his
scapegoat.
The barrage, originally filled with concern and comfort,
instantly changed.
[Sorry, I know I should be concerned about my wife at this
moment, but my little brother is not obeying me.]
[Who can resist this?! My wife is lying there so
defenselessly! Where is the shame?! Where is the morality?! Where is the
address?!]
[Wuwuwu, I want to be intimate with Qingqing, to have my way
with him.]
This corner was relatively hidden, and it took a while for
Ruan Qing to regain his strength after resting.
He slowly sat up, wringing the water from his clothes and
pants until they were barely dripping. Then he took out his phone from the
diagonal shoulder bag.
The phone was completely soaked in water, and Ruan Qing
didn’t have any hope, but surprisingly, the phone turned on and could still be
used.
Perhaps sensing Ruan Qing’s doubts, the system spoke in a
cold voice, [During the game, players’ phones will not be damaged.]
Ruan Qing lightly responded with an “Oh” and opened the task
interface of the instance.
[Main Task: Survive for seven days or find the owner of the
horror livestream room.]
[Side Task 1: Harm others with malicious comments online,
completed.]
[Side Task 2: Work hard to earn money and pay the rent,
incomplete.]
After Ruan Qing finished reading, he clicked on his personal
account balance.
