Ning Su looked at Ling Xiao with curiosity. In their Infinite Game sessions, Ling Xiao rarely took such an active part in discussing the game instances.
"Right!" Qin Wu suddenly remembered. "On our first night here, Uncle Li specifically reminded us during the meeting to remain calm! Was that a warning not to let intense desires grow?"
Jia Yahua said, "Then that woman from Room 612 really might be a Desire Monster. I heard from others earlier that this isn't the first man who's 'spent himself' heavily on her. The system says Desire Monsters are formed from desire and story. Is her desire lust?"
Put that way, it made sense.
Qin Wu: "I suddenly have another layer of understanding about the 'Judgment.' Is this 'Judgment' about us identifying each Desire Monster's desire and story before eliminating them?"
Jia Yahua: "Makes sense!"
Qin Wu looked at Ling Xiao, as if only Ling Xiao's agreement would make it valid.
Ling Xiao: "That's not entirely unreasonable."
Qin Wu clenched his fist: "Yes!"
Ning Su: "..."
Ning Su said to Ling Xiao, "That day in the game lobby, when I said you liked men, it was to make Tang Xin pursue you rationally, like a fan."
All three of them looked at him, not understanding why he suddenly brought this up again. When Qin Wu mentioned it last time, didn't Ning Su look like he wanted to crawl into a hole?
Ning Su pointed at Qin Wu and said, "After hearing that, he said, 'Then isn't he in danger?'"
"……"
Both Ling Xiao and Jia Yahua looked at Qin Wu, their expressions varying.
Jia Yahua clicked his tongue: "Never expected you to have such thoughts."
As the most noticed person in the game base, Ling Xiao's aloofness was witnessed by the entire base. So many people liked him, yet no one had ever seen him spare an extra glance for anyone.
Regardless of gender.
Some behind-the-scenes at the base rumored that after merging with the Gluttony Flower, Ling Xiao had lost all human desire.
Others said it was related to his childhood experiences—he was an emotionless dungeon-grinding monster, incapable of liking anyone.
As Ling Xiao's teammate, Qin Wu ought to understand him better than they did.
Thus, Jia Yahua's gaze toward Qin Wu was quite complicated.
Ling Xiao swept a glance at Qin Wu. "Is delusional disorder caused by excessive confidence?"
Qin Wu: "……"
Ning Su, having won back a round, was thoroughly satisfied—couldn't just him be the one losing face, right? "I've never understood—how exactly is it dangerous? Care to elaborate?"
Qin Wu: "I take my leave!"
As the two walked out together, Jia Yahua was still asking Qin Wu: "Then if I share a room with you, it won't be dangerous, right?"
Qin Wu walked even faster.
Ning Su felt content; indeed, awkwardness is meant to be shared.
After the two left, their late-night snack was nearly finished. They washed up and lay down in bed.
Once the lights were off, Ning Su turned over to face Ling Xiao: "What do you think, will something happen tonight?"
Ling Xiao: "Perhaps."
At first, everyone held a relatively optimistic attitude toward eliminating ten Desire Monsters. But three days had already passed—one-tenth of the instance's time—and not a single Desire Monster had been found. Many players were growing anxious.
Now that something resembling a Desire Monster had finally appeared, many players likely wouldn't miss this opportunity.
No matter what, the system did indeed only require eliminating ten Desire Monsters—this was both a strict and clear condition, with no hint as to what would happen if a Desire Monster were mistakenly killed.
This possible Desire Monster, appearing only after three days, was a precious dungeon resource. Players wanting to strike first would certainly exist.
At eleven o'clock in the night, the darkness was thick, and all was silent.
Ning Su relied on a faint sliver of light filtering through the curtains to gaze at Ling Xiao's indistinct profile.
Lying flat on the bed, Ling Xiao’s face was hard to make out in the dimness. The outline became the focus of his gaze. From this angle, the bridge of his nose was exceptionally high, and below his tall, straight nose, his lips were thin.
Ning Su suddenly remembered the moment, before he entered this world, when Ling Xiao had bitten his lips.
Before Ning Su even realized it, his finger had already pressed against the spot where he had been bitten.
At the same time, he noticed Ling Xiao staring at him, his dark eyes piercing through the night, watching Ning Su’s finger pressed against his lips.
Ning Su stiffened instantly.
Ling Xiao watched for over ten seconds before shifting his gaze away.
As if nothing had been seen, both closed their eyes and seemed to fall asleep.
Footsteps passed by upstairs. All the lights in the tube-shaped apartment building were off, but not everyone was asleep.
When dawn broke the next day, another dead body was discovered in the tube-shaped apartment.
It was still in the room of that woman from 612.
The deceased was a male player.
As soon as Ning Su stepped out the door, he heard people in the courtyard pointing at the corpse and discussing animatedly, roughly divided into two groups.
"Looked so proper yesterday, who’d have thought he’d crawl into bed with someone in the middle of the night."
"No way, is he that weak? Died after just one go?"
"Maybe he was too nervous?"
As several men spoke, their words carried unconcealed sourness and disdain.
"Serves him right!"
"Just moved in and went looking for that bitch—how desperate can you be?"
"Men like this—let them die, every single one!"
Several middle-aged women stood on the other side, angrily cursing.
Ning Su walked over to the side where the players were.
Jia Yahua was questioning the roommate of the deceased player, "What exactly happened? How did he die?"
The dead player was named Li Ming, and his roommate was Han Liang.
Han Liang was very panicked at the moment. "I'm not sure either. After we went back yesterday, he said he wanted to go check if that woman was the Desire Monster. I thought I'd wait and see. He was still there when I fell asleep, but when I woke up and found him gone, I went looking for him… and then…"
He pointed at Li Ming’s corpse.
It was no wonder people were saying those things. Li Ming was just like the person who died last night—naked, wrapped only in a dirty bedsheet, the veins in his palms bright red, a faint smile on his lips.
Tang Xin said, "Is it even possible that Li Ming… with that woman… on the very first night?"
"What’s so impossible about that?" The woman beside her looked as though it were perfectly normal.
Ning Su glanced at her.
She was Tang Xin’s roommate, named Fei Xueying. She had long, slightly curly black hair, looked pure and pretty, and seemed barely over twenty.
"The system prompt said the Desire Monster has the ability to intensify people’s corresponding desires," Jia Yahua said.
His implication was clear.
Unless someone was asexual, everyone has such desires. Even if Li Ming didn’t initially have such thoughts, under the Desire Monster’s influence, it might have happened just like that.
This explanation was accepted by most of the players. Subconsciously, they had already identified the woman in Room 612 as the Desire Monster and assumed her desires were related to lust.
Jia Yahua added, "The Desire Monster is not to be underestimated."
The first player dying without a sound served as a warning to all the others, and those who had been impatient before now felt a chill.
Li Ming’s body was soon taken away by the crematorium vehicle Old Li had called.
People in the courtyard gradually dispersed.
Ning Su took the two children to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The cafeteria only offered steamed buns, mantou, fried dough sticks, eggs, soy milk, and porridge. For Ning Su, it was enough—in fact, he couldn’t quite bring himself to buy eggs.
The money he had when entering the instance was barely enough to fill his own stomach, but he also had two children to feed, so things were very tight.
Ning Su stood in front of the eggs for a full minute before walking away.
He bought steamed buns and porridge, giving each waiting child a bowl of porridge and a bun—same for himself.
Someone placed three eggs and a few extra buns on their table.
The cafeteria fell silent for a few seconds before suddenly growing noisy.
"Two men died in her bed in one night. How can she still have the nerve to eat in the cafeteria?"
"I can't eat with her here."
"How disgusting! Let's get out of here!"
