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

Zhihao had never wanted to kill someone more than he wanted to kill this bot!

Which type of madman created her?! He was ready to chop them into bits. 

The Gamemaster sneezed and this caught Zhihao's interest who was almost scared to death after having heard the electronic sneezing sound. 

This was why people warned you not to get an electronic voice modifier, cause you might just end up sounding like a beast if you sneezed. 

"God bless you," Zhihao spoke politely. 

The Gamemaster was still shivering slightly and this made Zhihao worry. He felt bad for the man, but he also felt like the man kinda deserved it since he was the one who created this. He should also be getting a taste out of his own creation. 

[No, seriously!]

[Look back!]

[It's Devilmagiclover!]

Zhihao wasn't so easily fooled, but he had to agree that this did pique his curiosity. 

"I see, you have learned how to lie," Zhihao called the bot out. 

[You idiot!]

[It's him!]

"Mastermo! Save me! " 

Zhihao felt his muscles tense up when he heard that voice. 

It was Li Ling's and he was almost tricked to think that it really was Li Ling. Even the way the man called him was the same. 

Zhihao was suddenly torn between two different choices. One was believing that the voice was real and turning around while the other choice was to ignore it and take it as just the game trying to trick him. 

Zhihao stared at the screen in front that still glistened the orders: 

<Don't look back>

Zhihao wanted to turn around but he bit his tongue as he stopped himself from giving in to the temptation. 

"Mastermo! Turn around! The game is tricking you!" 

Zhihao didn't know what to do anymore. 

He felt like he was being stupid. 

Of course, that was Li Ling. How could the system be able to copy Li Ling's voice like that? It had to be that man. It just had to be. 

But if he believed that it was Li Ling and turned his head, what if he was still tricked? 

What if it really was the system. 

He didn't know what to do but at this moment, he once again remembered what the Gamemaster had told him. 

This was a Hard-ranked level so of course, he would be this confused and paranoid. 

He took in a deep breath and as he let it go, he made a decision. 

He was going to ignore the voice. 

That was the right decision to make. 

If he ignored the voice and it turned out to be the real Li Ling, he was sure that the man would not be blaming him but if it was faux and he turned around, he would have been blamed for being so easily fooled. Of course, even then, it wouldn't have been Li Ling who would blame him but it would be his own self. 

He would hate himself if he did something like that so he made a decision not to turn around. 

He turned towards to look at the Gamemaster and the man wasn't doing anything, but then again, he probably could not hear this. 

Was the game tricking him? 

It certainly was but what was the trick? 

Was it Li Ling's voice being fake or was it Zhihao just thinking that it's fake. 

"Mastermo, turn around! You can only complete the mission by turning around!" 

Zhihao blinked and his muscles turned stiff as he heard this. Slowly, his lips curved up and he felt like he wanted to laugh at himself while crying as well. 

What the hell was he thinking till now? 

Of course, that wasn't Li Ling. 

Li Ling would not call him Mastermo. 

Ever since Zhihao had given the man permission to use the name 'A-Zhi' for him, the man hadn't called him anything else. 

He felt stupid for realizing it only now and laced along with that feeling was another feeling called anger. 

He was angry at himself for not being able to keep a calm mind. 

He took a deep breath in and yelled out, "You can't trick me like that." 

After he had spoken out, he heard nothing else for the next few minutes and it seemed like the sound was going to change again. 

Zhihao chuckled at the silence. 

He had a guess but it was so wild that if it came true, he would accept it himself that he was really lucky. 

With the guess in his mind, he was able to calm himself down a bit more but he was still not completely calm. 

How could he be at ease if he was constantly at an alert to catch what the next sound was going to be? 

Without further delay, the next sound also came and it was the sound that he could not decipher. 

A minute passed and he still could not understand what the sound was.

He was confused to hear it. 

He felt that it sounded like a clock and yet it didn't. 

It was a ticking sound that kept on repeating in a particular sequence. 

Zhihao thought about it more and more and wanted to look back just to see where the sound was coming from but he fought against that urge. 

The ticking sounded exactly like those old clocks and yet it didn't. He had no idea how he was able to decipher between the sound of the clock and this ticking but if he was asked this question, he would reply by saying that he just knew it because of the difference in the pitch of the sound. 

The old clocks sounded a bit deeper while this ticking sounded a bit more higher and shrill. 

He thought long and hard about what the sound was but when the speed of the ticking changed, he finally realized what it was. 

The ticking started getting faster and faster along with Zhihao's poor heart that was unable to be at ease. 

He knew this was all just a virtual illusion but that didn't stop his heart from being scared. It was a natural response to the sound. 

when the ticking got so fast that it could no longer rise in speed, he heard two loud beeps and he immediately closed his eyes, his hands clenching up in fists and he ducked his head as a response. 

He thought the sound was going to stop there but after the two last ticks, he heard a loud, ear-piercing blast and his back could feel the heat. 

There was a bomb blast behind him and if this was real, he was sure that this would have been his last day on this earth. 

Thankfully it wasn't real but he could still feel as if it had been real. His ear went numb and couldn't hear anything for a second, his body tensed up so much for so long that it started hurting. He felt his back burn with the heat from the blast and all of this was just an illusion. 

He was amazed by how well made this game was. To make the players feel that everything was so real wasn't easy at all. Not only did it need great imagination and strategy but it also needed something called talent in coding and not just normal coding. It probably needed god-level skills in coding. How many errors might have popped up while making all this? He would never know the answer to that question and he was too afraid to know the answer. 

The gamemaster was certainly amazing but if there was someone more amazing than him, it would be the coders and developers of this game since no man could build up this game all alone. 

When the sound of the blast subsided, Zhihao's heart couldn't stop beating loudly and it was as if the sound of his heartbeat had replaced the sound of the ticking bomb. 

[You're still alive after that?]

Zhihao could almost imagine the smirk this girl would probably have on her face as she asked this question that wasn't meant for answering but was meant for taunting him. 

Zhihao contemplated if he should fight with this bot or not and in the end, he felt like he'd just be stupid for fighting with a bot but that did not mean he should just let it go like this. He had to say something. He had to show that wasn't a person that was easy to bully. 

"If I wasn't alive, I wouldn't have been at the top," Zhihao answered back and even the Gamemaster could hear this. 

Zhihao looked over at the man who was laughing after having heard Zhihao's answer. 

"Why are you laughing?" Zhihao questioned with a frown. 

[Who said you are at the top?]

Alvi asked and it made Zhihao's eyes go wide in shock. 

Had his position been overtaken by a player?

If so, was it that talented newbie called Lingyi?

There was no way he could have been overthrown so soon...