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nChapter 224 Battle Royale: Survival of the Jedi (XIV)

nChi Xiaochi held his cup, his mind clear: “I’m not that fragile, brother.”

nLou Ying hit the nail on the head: “Are you not, or are you just used to it?”

nChi Xiaochi warms his hands with the cup: “When you get used to it, it’s gone.”

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nLou Ying stopped talking and raised her hand to flick him in the forehead.

nIt didn’t hurt too much, but Chi Xiaochi was surprised and hissed, just as he was about to say something, when Lou Ying zipped up his sleeping bag with a swift movement.

nChi Xiaochi, suddenly plunged into darkness and confused for a moment, raised her hand to scratch her sleeping bag: “Brother, what is this?”

nLou Ying said from outside, “Lock you up.”

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nChi Xiaochi would have laughed if he hadn’t known the mood was wrong.

nTo avoid another beating, Chi Xiaochi lies flat and stops talking.

nBut Lou Ying reached out and took the whole sleeping bag into her arms.

nChi Xiaochi, wrapped in a green ball, was caught off guard and leaned her head on Lou Ying’s shoulder.

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nChi Xiaochi’s mind was calmed by the warmth, so she picked a comfortable place to rest her head.

nHe offered to explain, “I was trying to solve the task as early and as quickly as possible …… I’m sorry, I didn’t think about your feelings.”

n”Well, that’s an apology, and I can accept it.” Chi Xiaochi could only faintly feel Lou Ying’s warm breath against her ear, gliding over it as if it were nothing, “And?”

nChi Xiaochi : “Well?”

nLou Ying stroked Chi Xiaochi’s brow where it had just been flicked and nudged it with his fingertips, “What’s the apology for this man going to be?”

nChi Xiaochi’s heart stirred as she listened to Lou Ying’s rational and gentle whispers.

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n”The mission is important to you, it’s important to me, it’s important to Bai Anyi. But there’s no logical relationship between that and the fact that you’re ‘treating this person as expendable’.”

nLou Ying was never very good at getting angry in the first place.

nHe tends to be extremely tolerant and understanding of people and events, and unless his boundaries are violated, he will not attack and criticise them indiscriminately, even if he personally disagrees with them.

n”Things like ‘death’ are very draining on the spirit. I’ve seen a lot of people die and I know that ‘death’ is numbing when you’ve experienced it a lot.”

nLou Ying closes her eyes with a stoic expression, thinking back to the two hosts she had taken before Chi Xiaochi.

n…… At first, they were bewildered and devastated after committing suicide when they left the world, but after experiencing death again and again, they gradually adapted and stopped taking “death” seriously, even joking with Lou Ying about how they should die more creatively this time.

nSuch a monstrous spirit should not exist in Chi Xiaochi.

nEven the mere thought of it is intolerable to Lou Ying.

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nHowever, even so, Lou Ying could not be too hard on Chi Xiaochi.

nIt seems to be a very bad habit now too.

n”I know he is a very strong man, and I do not ask him to become weak and dependent on me. But, at least, I want him to learn to be weak and afraid in this matter, for my sake as well as his own.”

nLou Ying rubbed Chi Xiaochi’s brow repeatedly through her sleeping bag and said, “All in all, this man is very important to me. Can you be nice to him.”

nChi Xiaochi shrugged a little in his arms, as if nodding.

nLou Ying sighed, shielding his head and asking him down, “Scared.”

nThe big ball in his arms lifted his head, supposedly looking at him.

nLou Ying raises her hand and traces the outline of Chi Xiaochi’s features inside with her fingertips half a centimetre from the sleeping bag.

nHe added: “Do you get scared when you’re in the water.”

nChi Xiaochi’s muffled voice came from the sleeping bag, “Just the thought of seeing you when I open my eyes is …… okay.”

nAt these words, Lou Ying’s heart completely softened.

nHe pinches the zip on the outside of the sleeping bag and gently pulls it open, with a movement as meticulous as opening a present.

nChi Xiaochi has long since removed Bai Anyi’s gold-rimmed spectacles, his dark hair moistened by a slight sweat that clings to his cheeks, and sweat parting from his forehead at the corners of his eyes, which look unusually bright in the dim light.

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nHe looked at Lou Ying with a smile on his face.

nLou Ying tried his best to look serious: “What are you laughing at?”

nChi Xiaochi : “…… I think of the old days.”

n”I used to fall out with you unilaterally and say I’d never come to your house again, but every time I’d come back to your door and beg to make up.” Chi Xiaochi couldn’t hide the novelty in his voice, “This is the first time I’ve seen you lose your temper like this. …… But I guess that’s not really anger.”

nWith that, Chi Xiaochi turned sideways and propped one hand on her cheek, “Brother, take a serious look at being angry with me, will you?”

nLou Ying takes a deep breath at this aggressive behaviour.

nHe said, “Come here. I’ll show you how angry I am.”

nChi Xiaochi really knows how to piss people off, so he brazenly pushes his way in, wrapped up in his sleeping bag, because Lou Ying knows what he’s doing and knows he’s not going to do anything about it.

nLou Ying wasn’t shy about creating a table in front of Chi Xiaochi: “I’ve written down all the things you’ve done.”

nChi Xiaochi, already prepared to be pulled out of Lou Ying’s body with a card and kissed, was stunned at the words, “…… ha?”

nLou Ying said, “Hurt yourself at any cost, and take a twenty point deduction from your quantitative assessment first.”

nChi Xiaochi : “……” He had mixed emotions as he was backfired by a move he was familiar with.

nHe humbly asked for advice, “Teacher, what if you fail the exam.”

n”Punishment.” Lou Ying said, “I haven’t thought about what the punishment will be. I will let you know when you fail the course. Now you will be given homework. If you don’t do it well, you will also be deducted points.”

n”What kind of homework?”

nLou Ying pulled the open sleeping bag a little tighter and pinned his wet hair behind his ear, “Sleep.”

nChi Xiaochi is indeed tired, and his eyelids soon fight as his spirit relaxes.

nBut he couldn’t bear to be in such a good mood, so he squinted and talked nonsense to Lou Ying: “Can’t sleep. I’ll use a hypnosis card.”

nLou Ying held him down, “Don’t get too attached to the card. Otherwise what do you want me to do.”

nChi Xiaochi deliberately asked, “What do I want you to do?”

nChi Xiaochi’s little mind is not hidden from Lou Ying.

nHe pulled out a book of fairy tales and looked down to turn the pages, a smile on his lips, “I am whatever you want me to be.”

nHowever, Lou Ying had just put Chi Xiaochi to sleep when Zhao Rou came limping in.

nHer hair was dishevelled and she looked like she had just had a nightmare.

nLou Ying quickly got up and held her back three paces away from Chi Xiaochi.

nZhao Rou’s lips were pale and without a word, as if she was afraid that someone would hear her, she grabbed Lou Ying’s sleeve and wrote in a single stroke on his sleeve: “…… Someone’s coming over …… in about half an hour… …”

nLou Ying gestures for her to ‘take it easy’ and is about to pull her out of the tent when he hears a rustling behind him.

nChi Xiaochi rose from his sleeping bag, stretched and rubbed his eyes, “We have visitors.”

nWhen Zhao Rou saw how heartless he was, he became even more anxious, but he was afraid of making too much noise and attracting attention.

nYou know, after a fight during the day, there are now countless pairs of invisible eyes watching their every move.

nZhao Rou did not dare to go into detail about what she had seen in her precognition, either for fear of having an ear to the ground or because she did not even dare to recall the horror of the dream.

n…… That’s what happened when she didn’t come to see Chi Xiaochi.

nShe woke up to the sound of a blazing fire, and when she ran out, the meadow was in flames, a charred corpse laying on the ground, muscles curled, a burning dice in her hand, and Dan Shuang, his face blackened by the fire, was using his jacket to fight the flames that had spread all the way to his feet.

n–Someone set the fire!

nThe fire, which is carried by the wind, spreads very quickly, like a ferocious serpent, and lunges endlessly towards Zhao Rou.

nThe fire, roiling the sky and the earth, scorches the face and rapidly depletes the air of oxygen, and the gas inhaled and exhaled gradually becomes hot and thin.

nBai Anyi and Chi Jiangyu are nowhere to be found.

nTheir bodies are probably strewn across whichever fire is blazing.

nWith images of hell spinning in his head, Zhao Rou’s tongue stiffened and all he could do was burst out of his teeth in a piteous and slurred plea, “Go. …… Let’s go.”

nWhatever Bai Anyi’s powers are, teleportation should be one of them.

nWith this ability, they can at least get away with it ……

nFortunately Chi Xiaochi was quick to understand her intentions, “Of course you have to go.”

nZhao Rou breathed a huge sigh of relief and was about to go and inform the other two when he heard Chi Xiaochi say behind him, “…… but it will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I’m too tired today and I want to get some rest.”

n”You don’t want to die?!” Zhao Rou was eager, and not caring if he would reveal the fact that his powers had increased, he said sharply, “Someone -”

nChi Xiaochi said, “I know, someone is coming to start a fire.”

nThe word “fire” startled Zhao Rou, who looked at Chi Xiaochi incredulously.

n”What a great piece of grass.” Chi Xiaochi said, “…… is simply too good for setting fires, isn’t it?”

nWith that, he looked up at a jaw-dropping Zhao Rou and smiled brightly, “You’ve had a hard time. Go back to sleep. You were just having a bad dream.”

nZhao Rou : “But I saw ……”

nChi Xiaochi asked indifferently, “How can you be sure that what you see with your eyes is the truth?”

n……

nTwo figures dive into the grass when the moon is dark and windy.

nOne man moved his wrist after ascertaining that the wind was currently from the south-east: “Come on, don’t delay.”

nThe other man looked at his watch and couldn’t hide his joy, “Look at the odds on both of us! They’ve even put up this much ‘bounty’ …… If I get out of here alive, I’ll make a **ing fortune!”

nThe former frowned: “Don’t be fooled, there’s one among them who can teleport, and when the fire burns up, they might run away.”

nThe latter smiled and said, “Escape? They won’t be able to escape. Look at the pop-up analysis, that man’s instantaneous teleportation ability hasn’t been used again after he used it three times today. If his ability was still usable, they could have moved further away, why would they have to walk to A8 to land on their own?”

nThe former looked at his watch; it was just 11 o’clock.

nThe latter said, “The pop-up said that many of the powers of the shifter, which are affected by the tides, can only be used a fixed number of times a day. Before midnight zero is the best time for us to do it.”

nThe former approved of this judgement: “They’ve all gone to bed?”

n”Well, they’re all asleep. Even Chi Jiangyu, the most powerful one, has gone into the tent. Probably thinks there are five of them and the other psychics don’t dare to fight them hard.”

nHe sounded smug, as if the idea had been his alone.

nNeedless to say, with the pop-up guide, they are playing the game with the full map cheat on.

nThe latter sounded certain, and the former looked at the pop-ups and found that they were also mostly encouraging, telling the two of them to work together and give the bunch of assholes a piece of their mind.

nWith a surge of boundless confidence, he evened out his breath and a strong stream of air erupted from his mouth, piercing through the grass and leaves and attacking the camp!

nThe latter was not slow in snapping his fingers and sending the ball of fire rubbed from his fingertips forward as if he were bowling –

nIn a flash, the stars were alight.

nAt this point, Zhao Rou, who had been persuaded by Chi Xiaochi to return to his tent, was unable to sleep soundly.

nThe precognition time was extended and much more restricted. She could not activate it again any time soon, so she had to toss and turn in her sleeping bag, calculating that it was almost half an hour, so she raised her feet and walked out of the tent.

nWho would have thought that what she saw was exactly what she had dreamed!

nAs usual, the fire burns, black smoke rolls, bodies are strewn about, and Dan Shuang is frantically trying to put out the flames with his clothes in hand.

nZhao Rou, who could not find Chi Xiaochi, thought they had escaped by teleportation and felt a blackout.

nWith the prospect of death on his side, Zhao Rou took on the fire and grabbed the clothes Dan Shuang was holding: “It’s no use! I still have half a bucket of water in my tent, let’s try and see if we can-”

nBefore the words are out of her mouth, the ” Dan Shuang” that she grabs is like a painting that has been splashed with water, quickly melting away and fading until it is nothing.

nZhao Rou stands frozen in place, looking around.

nNot only has ” Dan Shuang ” disappeared, but the scene around them has also changed.

n…… They were not in the meadow, but in a corner of the moor, four tents clustered together, while she stood by a burning campfire, beside which Lou Ying, who was keeping watch, was sitting.

nLou Ying said gently, “Awake?”

nZhao Rou is now really confused between dream and reality: “Where is this …… place?!”

nLou Ying said, “Look at the watch. There’s our locator.”

nZhao Rou was horrified and speechless when he took a good look.

n…… They’re actually in B3?

nZhao Rou felt like his head was going to explode: “How did this …… happen? When did we get here? What I saw was clearly ……”

n”You were right in your prediction.”

nChi Xiaochi’s voice came from behind him.

nHe was up and drinking water, his voice still laced with the dry accent of someone who had just woken up: “What you foresaw was a vision I wanted certain people to see, and a picture of what those two arsonists thought they saw.”

n”…… hallucinations?”

nName: Illusion Maker Card – Group (Advanced)

nDuration: 8 hours

nNumber of pieces: 1

nQuality: Fine

nType: Single use item

nExchange points required: 50 remorse points

nIntroduction: Don’t eat the mushrooms you buy in Yunnan markets, they are poisonous.

nThis group attack card was used early on when Chi Xiaochi entered the tent after dinner.

nOnce inside the tent, he moved the entire camp up in situ and moved it all to area B3.

nBut in the perception of all but him and Lou Ying, they are still in the meadow.

nHe anticipated his energy drain after the suicide immersion experience, so his initial intention in moving the illusion-making card was simply to confuse those watching so that he could get a good night’s sleep.

nChoosing the dry and flammable A8 meadow was Chi Xiaochi’s second insurance policy.

nIf someone does come to start a fire in the night, this illusion card will allow them to “see” everything they want.

nExtremely smooth winds, unattended tents, and a sleeping quintet.

nWhatever they want, they will get.

nBut whether that is the case or not, well, God only knows.

nThe only thing Chi Xiaochi hadn’t counted on was that Zhao Rou, who had been hit by the illusion-creation card, would be able to anticipate what would happen in the illusion, leaving her in fear for half an hour.

nLou Ying glanced at his watch in passing as he fiddled with the fire.

nTwo red dots on the map, silently extinguished in the A8.

nHe shook his head slightly.

nThose two men, immersed in a hallucinatory dream, lit a fire and burned themselves to death with their own hands under the conditions of the headwind and the blind pointing of the pop-ups.

nI’m afraid that until they die, they still have fond dreams of making a fortune when they leave.

nAfter the duo who set the fire were engulfed by the rapidly spreading wildfire upwind, the pop-up area gradually realised that something was wrong.

nAfter much discussion, Chi Xiaochi chose to cancel the use of the illusion card.

nThe pop-up section went into an unprecedented frenzy when the five-man red dot that was supposed to be in A8 was positioned in B3.

nDidn’t Chi Jiangyu and the others deserve to be burned?

nWhat powers do they really possess?

nWhat are they up to, what are their tricks?

nIn the midst of countless curses and abuse, Chi Xiaochi puts down his glass of water and raises his hands above his head.

nSomeone in the pop-up section wondered, “What’s he doing?”

n”What kind of powers are going to be performed?”

n”Planning to surrender?”

nThere are many different opinions.

nAnd Chi Xiaochi ignores anyone.

nHe spun in place at the countless pairs of peering eyes in the sky and wordlessly raised two middle fingers high in the air.

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