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

Why the hell would Zhihao want to know how many rabbits the man cooked? 

Why would he want to know how the ghost's wife beat him with a toilet brush? 

And someone actually cuts off your head because they didn't have eyes so they mistook you for a pig?!

It was all useless information, but it was really juicy information. Although Zhihao wasn't too keen to hear it, every time a ghost spoke up, Zhihao's ears would raise up on their own. 

Alvi was judging him so hard while Zhihao was judging the ghosts. 

A few more minutes of walking and the crowd had tripled in size. Such a huge crowd heading somewhere together was bound to be as noisy as ever and Zhihao had listened to everything they had said. Sometimes he would even end up laughing at what these ghosts were saying. 

Such stupid creatures.... Zhihao was mentally thanking God for not giving him the character of a ghost. Taki was relatively easy to role-play. If Zhihao were to be given the character of a ghost, he would really have hit the OOC alert in the first ten seconds of the game. 

They had almost reached the festival and the banging of the drums and bells were as loud as ever. Zhihao was interested to know who was playing the instruments but he was following Kazan who suddenly decided to part ways with the group. 

The ghosts were more than happy to see the demon leaving them alone but Zhihao frowned as he saw this. 

The festival was right in front of them, just a few more steps, so why was this demon going towards the right side? What was there?

Zhihao did not move or follow anyone. He was contemplating on what he should do next and just then, he felt a hand tapping his shoulder from behind. 

Zhihao yelped out in shock as he turned around abruptly, coming face to face with the girl named Hasumi. 

"You're awake?" Zhihao breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the face of the woman. 

"I'm awake...." Hasumi opened her eyes and looked around. She saw deformed humans with some missing their heads and others missing their limbs, it need not be said how big of a shock it was. She directly fainted once again. 

Zhihao caught her falling body and sighed, "She really is useless."

[Shut up!]

"Huh?" Zhihao could not understand why this bot named Alvi liked this girl so much. Was he mistaken? Was this Hasumi really an important character?

Zhihao caught her and dumped her over to Alvi, "Since you like her so much, you take care of her."

[...]

Alvi caught the falling girl and seemed to be taken a bit back. What kind of man was he? He really dumped over a girl to her who was stuck in a ten-year-old's body? Was he that heartless? 

If Zhihao were to hear the inner monologue of the bot, he would have laughed his heart out. Why should he feel pity for some computer codes?

[Who are you going to follow?]

"Who do you think I should follow?"

[You should go to the ghost festival as fast as possible and-]

[Alert: The gambling bar was used.]

"Damn..."

Alvi didn't get to complete her sentence and the action of the gambling bar was already seen. 

"Taki!" It was the voice of a man, Zhihao had never heard or met before. 

[This is caused by the gambling bar]

Zhihao looked at the face of the man who had suddenly appeared and he was thoroughly shocked to the core. 

The reason for the shock was self-explanatory. 

The man had a really handsome appearance, clear skin like jade with phoenix eyes and perfect fluffy hair that appeared to be the softest thing on this planet. Zhihao was stunned to see the handsome face that was identical to his. For a minute, he felt like he was looking into a mirror. 

It was him! He was looking at himself!

Zhihao immediately shifted his eyes towards the bot who seemed not to be fazed by the appearance of this sudden intruder. 

[You want to know why he looks like Taki?]

Zhihao nodded his head vigorously. 

The man with Zhihao's face saw him and happily stepped forward towards him with a huge smile plastered on his face, "I knew I couldn't get you wrong."

[This is Demon Doji1, Taki's one and only rival]

Zhihao looked at the smile on the man's face. Didn't he seem to look a bit too welcoming to be a rival? Alvi seemed to have sensed the question in the player's mind. 

[They are brothers with the same father but different mothers.]

[Taki was born to two pure-blooded Demons and is the original pure-blood royal, in line for the throne.]

[Doji was born to a pure-blooded demon father and a low-ranked demon mother]

[The two do not share any animosity against each other. They are simply rivals and share a healthy competitive relationship.]

[At least this is what the original Taki thinks. I'm not authorized yet to tell you if the thoughts are shared by this demon in front of you too.]

At first glance, Doji didn't seem to hold any hatred towards him and on the contrary, he looked to be quite delighted to have suddenly met up with Taki. 

Zhihao was almost fooled into thinking that this demon was really just a side character that would help him but how could that be the case?

By this time, Zhihao had already realized something. Alvi had previously told them the use of the gambling bar for the positive betters. They could either let the players borrow their weapons or buy new weapons and send them over for aid. Zhihao had placed a bet on himself so he was well aware of this limitation. Even though Alvi had told them all about the gambling bar for the positive betters, the bot had left out the information about the negative betters and she never said that the same rules apply for the latter so why would Zhihao assume it to be so?

They had received four gambling bar use notifications till now and none of the times were the betters positive, it was because Zhihao wasn't in need of any weapons. The effect of the four gambling bar uses wasn't limited to the exchange of weapons and this was why Zhihao was sure that the negative bar had a lot more features to use than the positive gambling bar. 

If the arrival of this 'rival' was caused by the use of the negative gambling bar, the man was surely no good news. 

Zhihao didn't let his thoughts effect the smile on his face. He was well versed in acting and so he received the man happily just like how the real Taki would have. 

"What a coincidence! Are you running late again? Oh! Is that the vessel? It's a woman? Where did you find her? Did you knock her out?" The demon asked a bit too many questions, Zhihao didn't like to be bombarded with questions like this but it seemed that the man was so talkative that he wasn't even looking for the answers, he continued without giving any space for Zhihao to speak up, "The vessel looks strong enough. Good job, brother!" 

Doji patted his back and appreciated him but Zhihao was not impressed. If it were the real Taki, he would not have seen through that smile but Zhihao saw right through it. That was the fakest smile he had ever seen in his life. 

Thankfully, Zhihao knew how to match the demon's fakeness. He could also be considered a pro at it. 

Zhihao smiled, "Did you ever doubt me?"

"Of course not." The demon chuckled, "You are late like usual. I almost thought you wouldn't be coming."

It was only for a second but Zhihao caught a glimpse of the look that flashed through the demon's eyes. 

"I was worried so I went to check on you. I was on my way back because I couldn't find you." The demon frowned a bit, even the frown was fake. 

[He is not lying.]

[He went to block the tunnel but we were already out of it]

"..."

Suddenly the bot had turned out more helpful than ever, he didn't know why the sudden change had taken place but Zhihao wasn't complaining. 

"So nice of you to worry about me." Zhihao smiled as he stepped forward and patted the demon's shoulder. 

"I have found you, it's all good now." The demon nodded and Zhihao could sense the hidden meaning behind those words, "Let's go back together?"

Zhihao didn't want to, but he was supposed to act like Taki and the real Taki would not have suspected this brother of his, he would have blindly followed this demon and so Zhihao wasn't left with an option.

Zhihao nodded his head happily as if he was really glad to have met up with this brother of his, "Let's do that!"

"By the way, who is this?" Doji asked as he stared at the small Alvi who was glaring at the demon. 

When Zhihao saw the girl glaring at Doji, he was a bit surprised. By this time, Zhihao had thought that he was the one whom the bot hated the most, but it seems that he was wrong. She really hated someone else more than him, but then again, Zhihao looked at the face that was identical to his, could it be that the reason this bot hated this character was because it looked exactly like him? It couldn't be that, right? Right?

"This is-" Before Zhihao could answer the demon, Doji cut him off mid-sentence.

"A ghost to help you carry the vessel?"

Zhihao smiled wider as he heard this, he was happy to see Alvi's hostile expression, this was certainly an insult to the pride of the bot, "That's right."

"That's so like you, Taki." Doji laughed, an empty laugh with no emotions. So fake.

Zhihao smiled, "Let's go"

"Hmm." Doji nodded, still unaware of the difference between his original brother and this imposter named Zhihao. 

The two shared the fake friendly words and walked ahead as they followed after the precession. 

Zhihao stared towards the right side where Demon Kazan had gone off too. What was he planning?

It really seemed like the more he played this level, the more antagonists he met up with. Was one villain not good enough?

The demon Doji was acting really delighted to have met with his half-brother, but throughout the way, he didn't utter a word and Zhihao was naturally not interested to strike up a conversation. He was still not sure how the two siblings communicated with each other so it was better for him to limit the use of his mouth. 

Zhihao slowed down his speed as he let the demon walk a bit ahead of him. Doji didn't seem to notice this small action. Who knew what he was thinking. At this moment, if Taki went missing, the demon would still not notice.

When the distance between the two was established, Zhihao whispered to Alvi, "Is he planning to kill Taki?"

[No way he could, even if he tried.]

[The strength between a half-blood and pure-blood cannot even be compared.]

[If he were to ever get into a physical fight with Taki, he would be killed within a millisecond]

"That strong?" Zhihao seemed to be lost in thoughts as he heard this. 

[Yes, that strong.]

[Who do you think you are playing? Taki is one of the most powerful demons, Doji could never compare.]

"Then I have another question."

[What is it?]

"You said that Taki and Kazen fought, didn't you."

[It's Kazan! And yes.]

"If Taki is that powerful, how come he didn't end up killing Kazan?"

[You are finally catching the hints.] Alvi nodded proudly. 

[You have guessed right, Taki didn't want to kill Kazan.]