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

Zhihao stopped and looked at Alvi. She was the only person who actually knew where they were supposed to go, but here she was, still not wanting to share the information they needed. 

[I ain't telling you anything.]

"..."

This much was expected. It would have been more shocking if she actually did help them. 

"Where are we supposed to go if you don't tell us?"

[You are supposed to go to the festival. Everyone is waiting for Taki..]

Zhihao, "I know that, I'm asking you where the festival- Oh..."

He finally understood what the bot had wanted to tell him. His brain was really not working at the moment and it could only be blamed on the information he received about the relationship between the two demons. It was really a shock to him who had never thought the story between the two would be that complex. 

The festival. They needed to go to the festival and where was the festival? The sound of the drums and bells were still there so was it really a question of where the festival was?

They only needed to follow the sound and they'd be able to find the festival. How could Zhihao have not thought this?

He sighed as he listened more closely to the sound that he had been ignoring. 

By this time, Li Ling and Alvi had stopped laughing at him as they lost interest in making fun of Mastermo. The group moved towards the direction of the sound which was not coming from in front of them anymore. 

Zhihao suddenly realized that he wasn't walking on the tracks anymore. The tracks had stopped in the middle after they had left the tunnel. Zhihao looked back at the tunnel that was behind him and seemed to be lost in some thought. Li Ling walked ahead with Alvi and looked back at Zhihao who was still staring at the tunnel entry. 

"What are you looking at?" Li Ling asked as he followed Zhihao's line of sight. 

"Just..." Zhihao didn't know what he was looking at but he was lost in his own thoughts. 

If the tunnel was the gateway to this world then it should also be the gateway to the human world but why didn't he see any demons or ghosts trying to go into the human world?

It should certainly be tempting for them, should it not?

Even if humans weren't interested in coming to this world, the beings here should be interested in going back so what was stopping them?

Zhihao was sure there was more to this than that what meets the eye. 

The original Taki was supposed to be in charge of the ghost festival tonight and with what Demon Kazan had said, it was clear that Taki was supposed to bring a human from the mortal world, but why was it specifically he who was assigned this mission?

Why couldn't it be someone else?

Why can't Kazan be the one who would do it? 

These questions bugged Zhihao. He wanted to know more, but his biggest fear was him completing the mission without ever knowing what the secret mission was or without uncovering every truth there was to this level. He wanted to learn it like the back of his hand and he felt like if he did, he most certainly won't be disappointed. 

Zhihao had already completed missions in levels without triggering the secret missions and without uncovering the whole truth, it was a disappointment for him and if he could, he'd want to go back and redo it a bit more perfectly. 

"Let's go." Zhihao turned around and came face-to-face with Li Ling who was right behind him, waiting for him to wake up from whatever thoughts he was lost in. 

Li Ling didn't take a step back but Zhihao did it instinctively when he realized that he was too close to the other. 

Li Ling smiled, "Let's go."

Zhihao nodded and the three conscious people and the unconscious Hasumi made their way towards the festival. 

The further they walked, the more lost they were.

The festival was hard to find. When they were inside the tunnel, the sound of the drums and bells sounded like they were coming closer and closer. Even when they had stopped moving inside the tunnel, the sound of the festival did not stop yet now that they were outside the tunnel, the more nearer they went to the sound, the further away they got from it. 

They were being tricked and Zhihao didn't know what he was supposed to do with it. 

He stopped as he thought about what he should do next. They had already been walking for more than ten minutes now. This was getting them nowhere. 

At this moment, Zhihao seriously felt like he should've followed Kazan or at least put a tracker on him so that he could track the demon and follow him in secret. 

"Should we continue?" Li Ling questioned as he sighed. 

"We should stop for now." Zhihao sighed as he didn't dare move another step. 

It was clear that they were being tricked but they couldn't do anything about it. 

Zhihao looked at Alvi. This evil bot was the only one who could help them at the moment. 

Alvi smiled as the two players looked at her with eyes filled with hope. She was their only hope and the bot seemed to understand this fact really well. 

[I'm sorry but I can't help you this time]

[I am not allowed to interfere with the actions of the gambling bar]

"The gambling bar?" Zhihao was confused. The last time they got an alert of the gambling bar, it was the arrival of Kazan and that demon had left after the verbal war with Zhihao. After that, they had received no notification about the gambling bar.

It wasn't possible for the alert to have been neglected by them. Zhihao thought about the possibility of the bot freezing up and not giving them an alert, but when he looked at Alvi again, this possibility was thrown out of his head. This bot was as energetic as ever so there was really no way she had frozen up for a mere notification time which basically only took one second. 

Zhihao decided to ask, "Alvi, is this the cause of the gambling bar?"

[Affirmative]

"Then is it the same gambling bar notification we got when we saw Kazan?"

[What do you wanna know?]

"Huh?"

Li Ling shook his head and rephrased the question asked by Zhihao, "Is Kazan the cause of this?"

[You are right.]

[Kazan is behind this.]

Zhihao, "What is he doing?"

[You want to know?]

"Yeah." Zhihao nodded 

[Are you sure you want to know?]

Zhihao suddenly had flashbacks of the last time Alvi had questioned him like this and his own enthusiastic reply. He hadn't liked the answer the last time so naturally, he couldn't be as confident at answering with a yes. 

[Are you hesitating?]

"..."

Zhihao really didn't like this playful bot. 

[Let me tell you nonetheless.]

[Demon Kazan wants his lover back and if he can't have his lover back, he'll make sure that Taki doesn't have any other way but to accept him]

"What?!" Zhihao had never thought the demon to actually be such a Yandere. He didn't know if he should smile or cry. 

This was something. 

Li Ling had an undecipherable expression as he heard this but thankfully, Zhihao wasn't looking at him so naturally, no one else was able to see it. 

He was really not happy with this demon called Kazan. Even though the demon was dating the original Taki, the Taki right now was Mastermo and Li Ling really didn't like the fact that the demon was trying to covet Zhihao. Who in the hell gave him the right to?!

Li Ling took a deep breath in and calmly asked, "Alvi, Where are we?"

[Finally asking the right questions]

Alvi seemed to nod in approval, she was happy to answer this question. 

[We are in an illusion.]

Zhihao, "What type of illusion?"

[Kazan's illusion.]

[Your ears are being tricked]

[Do not trust them]

Wasn't Alvi the reason why Zihao started following the sound?

Zhihao, "How does Kazan plan to make Taki accept him?"

[The annual ghost festival]

[If Taki fails to bring a vessel to the festival... It is better not to tell you what would happen to him.]

Alvi had successfully managed to scare them. Zhihao felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard this. He was Taki right now so whatever happened to Taki would actually happen to him. He was a bit scared to know the consequences and it was better if he didn't and so he dare not ask about it. 

It was their mission so he would need to get out of this illusion and find the festival, if he didn't, he could say goodbye to completing the mission. 

Zhihao thought about what he could do and suddenly, like a truck, it hit him. 

With the opening of the new stage, there was a special feature that had been unlocked and he was waiting to try it out. 

The accumulated skill set was ready to be used. 

Zhihao had the best skillset needed at this moment, this skill he got from the first game he played along with Li Ling as a team, and the two players were one of the only owners of this skill. 

Illusion master.

Zhihao, "Alvi, I want to use a skill"

[So?]

[What do you want me to do?]

"..."

Zhihao, "Give me a guide. How am I supposed to use this skill?"

Alvi sighed as if she were exhausted. Bots can be exhausted??

[Yell the skill name followed with the command 'ACTIVATE']

Zhihao was enthusiastic as he did exactly as he was told, "Illusion master activate!"

"..."

Nothing happened. 

[Hahahaha]

[You actually did it]

[Lol]

"..."

He had been tricked once again. 

Zhihao took a deep breath in and closed his eyes as he swallowed back the string of curses he was ready to shower Alvi with. 

He really didn't like this bot!

[Okay, I'm done joking.]

[You can activate skills by using the menu on the right corner]

Zhihao was a bit annoyed and angered by this bot but he was willing to believe her once again and thankfully, this time he wasn't fooled. There was indeed a new feature available on the menu bar. This new feature was called 'skill bar'. It had listed down all the skills that Zhihao had, and under every skill was a button called activate. 

[Let me warn you]

[One skill can only be activated for one minute]

[After the minute is over, the skill will automatically be deactivated]

[Only two skills can be activated at the same time. If a player tries to activate more than two at once, all the skills will be automatically deactivated.]

[And I have a feeling, I'm not being heard.]

Li Ling, "Your feeling is right. A-Zhi is not listening anymore"

[...]

Zhihao activated the Illusion master skill and immediately the direction of the sound changed. 

"Damn..."

They were walking in the opposite direction. The festival was far behind them and they were walking to who knows where. 

Zhihao turned around and came face to face with the demon named Kazan. 

Now that Zhihao had heard about the relationship between the two, he was a bit more confident to talk with this demon. 

He was still afraid but the reason for his fear was really different than the last time. 

Previously, Zhihao had been scared of being killed by this demon, but now, he was afraid of this demon abducting him. 

When he heard the crazed tales of this demon and looked at the crazed look in his eyes, Zhihao was sure this demon was what people called a 'Yandere', and Zhihao wasn't a fan of such people. 

Zhihao smirked as he met the demon's eyes.