What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

Li Ling's screen went dark. 

He was unconscious. 

"What a great timing." Li Ling gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a way to get out of this situation. It took him a few minutes of coding to cheat his way through the system and force his character to wake up. 

His screen was no longer dark and he was instead greeted with the face of a girl who looked at him curiously. 

"Woah!~ How did you wake up so soon?" 

Li Ling sat up straight and looked around at his surroundings as he ignored the girl's existence. 

He was in a forest, at least, that was all he could guess. There were trees, grass, and plants around, nothing else special could be spotted.. 

"Brother, shouldn't you be thanking me right now?" The girl asked as she poked his shoulder, but Li Ling was still not going to pay her any attention. 

"Where are we?" Li Ling asked, but he soon realized that Alvi wasn't here so there was no way she was gonna answer. 

The NPC that sat in front of him thought the question was aimed at her and she enthusiastically responded, "We are in the dark woods." 

"Dark woods?" 

The girl seemed to be a bit shocked as she asked, "You don't know the dark woods?" 

Li Ling shook his head as he pushed himself off the ground, "Do I need to know?" 

"Of course!" The girl also stood up as she shouted, "This is the place where Vampires were first born. Rumors say that there is still a secret society of vampires living here." 

Li Ling looked at the girl, "Bullsh*t." 

"But I'm not lying," The girl pouted. 

Alvi had already given them the information about this world and although the system might hide certain stuff, it would never lie to them. If the bot said Lord Versailles was the only vampire alive, there dare not be another breathing Vampire around. 

Li Ling rolled his eyes and walked ahead in an unknown direction, hoping that he'll be able to find the road soon. 

The girl followed after him as she asked, "Where are you running off to?"

"The town." Li Ling gave a short response. 

"Brother, you sound mad. Is there something bothering you?" 

"You." 

"..." The girl looked at him with an unimpressed look before deciding to strike up a conversation again, "You don't sound like you're from around here. Where are you from?" 

"A place far away." 

"The place has a name, doesn't it?" 

"It does." 

"What's the name?" 

"Somewhere you'll never go." 

"..." The girl frowned as she responded, "That's a really weird name."

"..." Li Ling was least interested in conversing with an in-game character and he let this be clear in the way he talked and showed his disinterest in continuing the conversation with the girl. 

"You don't talk a lot, do you?" 

"..." Li Ling wasn't even going to bother answering that question. 

"You are a bit cold to your savior." 

"Savior?" 

"Yeah, savior." The girl pointed at herself as she spoke, "I saved you from being kidnapped." 

Li Ling didn't even turn his head to look at the girl as he heard this. 

It wasn't really like he was asking for her help so why would he need to thank her? 

"I just happened to be walking by when I saw the forest robbers." 

"Forest robbers?" 

The girl bobbed her head up and down as she responded, "You were walking on a deserted road near the forest at night, what did you expect? Those people attack anything that has flesh attached to the bones. If you don't have any riches with you, they'll chop you up and sell your meat." 

Li Ling's face cringed as he heard this. 

"You are really lucky I was feeling generous. If not, you would have been hanging upside down in some butcher's shop." 

"You talk a lot." 

"..." The girl smiled even more brightly as she asked, "But it's fun hearing me speak, isn't it?" 

"No." Li Ling replied, "It's annoying."

The girl was silent for a few minutes but after that few minutes had passed, she opened her mouth and started talking again. 

"What's your name, brother." 

"None of your business." 

"Well, none of your business1. It was nice meeting you. I'm Elsie." 

"Don't care." Li Ling stopped in his tracks and looked around. 

"Is there something you want to find?" Elsie asked enthusiastically. 

Originally, Li Ling wasn't going to answer the girl but suddenly, he turned his head and looked at the girl as his mind suddenly lit up with an idea. 

"Do you know how I can get to the town?" 

"The town? Eh?" The girl tilted her head as she spoke, "It's in the opposite direction." 

"..." Li Ling suddenly felt that he should've asked earlier before walking so far out. 

The girl suddenly broke out laughing as she smacked his back and commented, "I was wondering why you were going deeper into the forest. Hahaha..." 

Li Ling didn't pay attention to the mockery as he turned on his feet and headed towards the right way that would lead him to the town. 

"Brother! Wait for me!" The girl ran after him. 

"..." 

"Since you're new around here, why don't I become your guide. I can give you a lot of information and save you from the forest robbers too." 

Li Ling was about to say no but after thinking about it for a minute or two, he decided to nod his head lightly and give a reluctant positive response, "Okay."

"Great! You can count on me!" 

"What's the price?" 

"Hehehe... You're so smart." The girl beamed, "I'm a cheap guide. Five gold pieces would do." 

Li Ling knew the girl was clearly trying to trick him and swindle off some good money but since his pocket was empty, what did he have to worry about? 

"Okay." 

The girl was enthusiastically jumping around as she walked with him and continued to speak throughout the journey. 

It was annoying but somehow Li Ling got used to it. There were times when she really gave out useful information but most of the time all she spouted was nonsense.

She thought she was easily going to trick this man and earn some gold as a reward. How was she to know that this man was so poor that he hadn't even seen what currency people around here use?

"Brother, do you want to hear some stories?" 

"No." 

"Are you sure? You might find it interesting." Elsie tried to persuade him and it seemed that Li Ling really did rethink his decision. 

"Speak." 

The girl smiled brightly in satisfaction as she heard this, "Well, what should I start with?" 

"..." Li Ling already regretted his decision to let the girl speak. 

"Have you heard about that vampire scandal from the council?" 

Li Ling looked at the girl with a complicated expression as he responded, "Why don't you enlighten me?" 

"The council is filled with weird people. It isn't even shocking but... It is a bit sad to hear." 

Since the 'council' was mentioned, Li Ling thought this was a hint so he listened to the girl attentively, trying to take in as much information as possible. 

"The council used to have a vampire as a member. I believe her name was Amy something...? Well, she was having a love affair with another council member." 

Li Ling nodded his head as he heard this. He guessed this to be the reason why the whole 'vampire protection act' came into place. There was no way those council members would do something so useless just because of one of their members. If Amy was a vampire who was dating another higher-ranked council member though, the story was going to be different. 

"Oh! I remember his name! It was Carmen!" 

Li Ling suddenly choked on empty air as he heard this, "E-excuse me?" 

The girl bobbed her head up and down as she continued, "I remember his name clearly! He was a handsome one." 

Li Ling coughed as he mentally agreed with the girl. Zhihao was surely handsome. 

"One day, there was a fight and she happened to be at the scene. Being a council member, it was her duty to stop the fight so she tried to intervene but..." The girl shook her head as she created a dramatic pause before continuing, "One of the men pulled out a knife and attacked the other. Although Amy had managed to stop most of the attacks, there was still a bit of blood involved. It was inevitable. She transformed into her vampire form right then and there." 

"And they killed her?" 

The girl looked up as she asked curiously, "How'd you know?" 

"..." 

It was a bit too simple to guess. 

"After her death, the council was in an uproar." Elsie used her hands to enact the scene and add more of a visual impact as she explained further, "Carmen was furious. He wanted to hang the people who killed her. She had done nothing wrong to them so why did she need to die a useless death? After much discussion, the council decided to put a new rule out for the people. A rule that was made to protect the vampires. The new vampire protection act." 

"Let me guess, it didn't work?"

"Killing vampires is a hobby here. How could they stop just because of a stupid act?"