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

Zhihao had already guessed what the sound of the drums and bells was about. Alvi had told them that this. Taki was a demon who was tasked to lead the ghost festival tonight. They could already hear the sound coming from the so-called festival. Zhihao didn't know what a ghost festival was about, but he was looking forward to finding more about it. 

He also understood why his character wasn't affected by the cold. He was a demon, the cold meant nothing to him.

Li Ling was given the character of this demon's victim just like Hasumi. By this time, Mastermo was sure that he was not supposed to do much at the moment. Even without him doing anything, he was still completing his mission all thanks to this foolish girl named Hasumi. 

He was supposed to trick these two into following him to the other world and participate in the ghost festival. 

Zhihao didn't like this arrangement. He didn't care about what happened to Hasumi but Li Ling was his partner and although the man knew that Mastermo was a demon tasked to kill them, he was willingly walking with him. Zhihao didn't want to kill Li Ling nor did he want to trick the man, even if the man was willing to be tricked. 

Alvi had already told them that the characters they got might be against each other. One may need to kill the other and it just so happened that the first level they got on stage two was such a situation. 

The real Taki would have killed the two people in cold blood, but Zhihao didn't want to. He'd rather spend some more time on this level, searching for loopholes he could exploit. 

Wasn't that what this level was about?

Zhihao had already guessed the complexity of this mission. Even if they completed the mission, they would not successfully pass the level if one of them was dead. This was part of the old rules. If all the team members weren't alive by the end of the level, they wouldn't pass the level. Since Alvi hadn't informed them about the nullification of this rule, it meant it was still in work and if one of them was dead, they would not be able to clear the level.

Zhihao prayed for the negative betters to not be able to use the gambling bar anymore, but it seemed that God was really indifferent to him today or maybe even against him. 

[Alert: Someone used the gambling bar]

"Damn..."

Hasumi looked back at him, "Did you say something?"

Zhihao shook his head, "Nothing. Let's keep moving."

Zhihao walked past Hasumi and walked side by side with the little girl named Alvi, "Say, what is waiting for us at the end of this tunnel?"

Zhihao was not as afraid of the OOC function as he had initially been. This was because he was given the character of a demon named Taki who was cold and liked to play around. If the character liked to play around, it indirectly meant Zhihao could do whatever the hell he wanted. 

After being given the character of an introverted boy, Li Ling was the real victim of the OOC. 

Li Ling and introverted really didn't fit in one sentence. 

The lights started going out. One by one. The lights that were behind them were the first ones to go off and then the lights in front of them started blowing up one by one. 

[This is caused by the gambling bar]

There really were people who loved to be a nuisance to others. Not even one of the positive betters had made a move, but the negative betters were really trying all means. It was still less than what Zhihao had originally expected it to be. So far, they had only gotten two notifications telling them about the use of the gambling bar. 

If more players had used that feature, it was probably at the beginning of the game itself, when Zhihao didn't get the notification. Maybe the gambling bar was the reason Zhihao was stuck as a demon. They weren't, but Zhihao wanted to blame it on the negative betters so who could stop him?

With the lights gone, they were walking in complete darkness and the only thing they could hear was the rustling of the rats, the sound of the festival from far, and the sound of someone running and panting. 

Zhihao pursed his lips as he stood on the spot. Li Ling would naturally not run, nor would Alvi so the only one who was suspected to be the owner of the voice was Hasumi. That foolish girl had run away as soon as the lights went out. 

This was normal to do. One should always run away in such a situation, but running in complete darkness was bound to bring up some uninvited trouble. 

Hasumi reacted on instinct. When the lights started going out one by one, she looked in front and made a run for it. She only needed to reach the end of this tunnel and she'd be able to get out of this weird place. 

Unfortunately for her, running in complete darkness was really not the brightest idea she had. 

The girl was wearing office attire and it seemed that she had a pair of black heels included in that attire. She really thought she was talented with running in heels, but she was soon proven wrong. 

Even if one was extremely talented in running in heels and could be considered an expert, they were still advised not to because one can keep her balance but what about the heel that had to hold up her weight? It would break without a doubt, especially if she were to run on railway tracks. 

Railway tracks were rough and uneven, impossible to run in heels at night. 

Her heel broke and it seemed that she hadn't gone far before Zhihao heard the commotion of her falling down, screaming in pain and sobbing. 

Zhihao sighed as he slowly made his way forward. He was not worried about anything. He was the demon so what did he have to be afraid of?

Li Ling had a phone in his pocket and at such a time, the flashlight feature on it came in handy. The real Itsuki seemed to not have a particular addiction to this gadget as the battery was still completely full. It was all for the good. 

Li Ling lit the cell phone torch and followed after Zhihao with Alvi by his side. It seemed that Alvi was a bot and this was supposed to come in handy at such moments but it was truly shocking that as soon as the light went out, Alvi had no interest in moving an inch, she was thoroughly afraid of the rats that were rustling around in the tunnel.

Zhihao walked ahead and Li Ling was the only one who was slowly walking behind with a torch in hand, hence it was self-explanatory who Alvi had chosen to cling onto. 

Li Ling wasn't annoyed by the bots clingy behavior, in fact, he treated her like he would treat his sister, Li Ying. There were really a lot of similarities between the two girls, more than the physical appearance one that Zhihao had noticed. If Zhihao got to know Li Ying better, he'd be sure to see the similarities and would even come to speculate that Li Ying was the model behind this bot. 

Hasumi hadn't run far away therefore it didn't take them too much time to catch up to her. After a minute of calmly walking and Zhihao was already in front of the girl who was sitting on the ground with nonstop tears running down her face. 

When Zhihao looked at the sight, he truly felt like the saying "One looks ugly when crying" wasn't completely wrong and made to make one stop crying, it certainly had some truth behind it. 

Hasumi was going home from work and had makeup on that she hadn't got the chance to wash off. Now that she was a crying mess, her tears turned black because of her mascara and her eyes started to sting even more with the makeup getting in her eyes. 

One look and Zhihao would say that even if ghosts popped up here they'd be more afraid of this girl than the girl would be of them. 

Zhihao was a gentleman in appearance so of course, he won't say anything out loud to the girl. He would search his pocket for a napkin or something to give her so that she can wipe her tears away. If it was the body of the real Zhihao, in the real world, he would always carry a handkerchief with him but this was the body of the demon Taki. If a demon started carrying napkins, what would the world have become?

He came up with nothing and by the time he was done flipping through his pockets, Li Ling and Alvi had arrived as well. 

Luckily, Li Ling had a handkerchief in his pocket. Itsuki seemed to be a good guy who carried almost anything they'd need. First, it was a talisman, then it was a cell phone, and now even a handkerchief. If there was a real virtual storage dimension1 to store stuff it was probably in Itsuki's pocket. 

Hasumi took the handkerchief that was given to her but did not stand up. She wiped her face, but more tears stained it. No matter how much she wiped it, it was still a waste. 

Zhihao looked down at her legs and sighed again. She was bleeding, maybe even sprained her ankle as Zhihao could see the broken heel on her side. 

Hasumi, "I'm sorry for running so suddenly. I was afraid."

"No worries. You should be careful next time." Zhihao was kind enough to give her a hand and tried to help her up but she refused to stand up. 

"Let us wait a while," Hasumi responded as she held onto her bleeding knee. 

Zhihao didn't know why, but he felt like Hasumi wasn't being like her normal self. It was odd for Zhihao to say this since he hardly knew the girl, but even with the limited information he got to collect on the girl, he was still sure that there was something wrong with her. 

Was she really the Hasumi they came here with?

Zhihao decided to test it, "The end of the tunnel isn't far. Let's continue walking."

Hasumi looked at the end, which was now a bit visible. It really wasn't that far ahead. 

"The end?" She looked crazy as if she were exhausted. 

Zhihao, "Are you okay?"

"The end... The end is near..." Hasumi had lost it. Her tears had stopped as she looked at the end of the tunnel with an intoxicated crazy look. She was lost in thought as if she had inhaled too much helium and was lacking oxygen, close to passing out. 

Something was up and Zhihao didn't know what. 

[She is being affected]

"Affected by what?" Zhihao couldn't help but ask. It was risky, but Hasumi was too out of it at the moment to realize anything out of place and so Zhihao avoided OOC by luck. 

[She is being affected by the gate]

[The closer she gets to the other world, the more tired she feels.]

Zhihao couldn't understand it. 

Li Ling, "What happens if she enters that world?"

[She passes out and her body becomes a vessel] 

Zhihao felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard Alvi responding to the question with a creepy tone. He felt like the real person who should be given the character of a demon should have been Alvi. This bot would have certainly nailed it. She would have been the best of the best demons. 

Zhihao, "What do you mean she becomes a vessel?"

[Didn't I already tell you?]