Chapter 85
The tall man was standing at the foot of the bed. Sunlight streaming into the room from the window coated his extremely handsome features with a layer of brilliant gold, and his pair of light grey eyes took on the shade of pale molten amber.
He glanced down at Mo Yi with his half-lidded eyes. His light-coloured eyelashes seemed to be covered with a sprinkle of gold powder.
The usual calm and restrained composure of Mo Yi, who was sitting on the bed, seemed to have cracked a little. He stared dumbfounded at the man who shouldn’t have been able to materialise out in reality, and his words faltered.
“You, you…”
The Mist’s expression didn’t change. He took a few steps closer, knees almost touching the shallow folds of the soft fabric sheets on the bed.
He said without missing a beat, “Are you going to take a bath?”
Mo Yi, “……” ???
Although he would take a shower every time he came out of an instance, but being asked straight to the face like this… made the sentence sound so wrong!
Mo Yi took a deep breath to compose himself, and then said, “You…why are you…”
To think that someone as astute as him would have the day when he was tongue-tied and unable to find the right words to express his current emotions and situation.
The corners of the Mist’s eyes lift and his stern facial features softened slightly. He replied, “Do you still remember what happened when the first instance ended?”
Some broken and scattered images flashed across Mo Yi’s mind instantly. He recalled being enveloped by a layer mist, recalled seeing the man’s tall figure through the darkness, recalled the sensation of his cold neck and the thick smell of blood overflowing between his lips and teeth.
He had an urge to facepalm—so it was because of this.
Mo Yi’s long-standing conjecture was finally verified, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be happy.
Before the end of the first instance, he ingested the blood of the Mist, and as a result the Mist was able to materialise in the real world and deleted the message Jiang Yuanrou sent to him. And in the instance that just ended, he was force-fed blood just before he went into a hypovolemic shock, and now the Mist could turn into his human form and appear in front of his bed.
Seeing that Mo Yi had understood even the unspoken portion of his explanation, the Mist could not help but raise the corners of his lips.
“Now my strength in the real world is still very weak. I can only maintain my current form for a few hours a day before falling into a deep sleep.”
Mo Yi took a large breath, feeling that his already aching head was starting to ache even more.
He raised his eyes and glanced at the Mist who was standing at the head of his bed. Mo Yi rubbed his neck which was sore from being raised for too long, then shifted further into the bed and motioned for the Mist who had been standing all the time, to sit down. He asked hesitantly next.
“Does this mean…you are bound to me now?”
The Mist lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. The soft mattress sank with his movements, and the wrinkles on the sheets spread.
He nodded.
Mo Yi instinctively raised his hand to rub his swollen temples, then continued to ask.
“Was the binding by default?”
The Mist looked at him with light-grey eyes half-hidden by the sunlight-sprinkled golden eyelashes. Although there was no expression on his face, the answer was very crisp.
“Yes.”
He paused, then continued, “From the moment you tasted my blood, a part of myself was naturally bound to you.”
What happened in the first instance surfaced in his mind vividly again. At that time, there were serious injuries on his calf and several other locations on his body. If it were not for his high pain tolerance, he might have already passed out by then.
Since that school was not a real building like the other two instances but the materialisation of Zhao Qiulan’s resentment, the building fell apart after he’d completed the side mission. The mist that surged around him thereafter didn’t kill him, but instead. gave Mo Yi his blood.
Mo Yi recalled that vague memory of his almost abnormally manic state at that time, and slowly frowned—
But was that to help him or to trap him?
A chill flooded the space between his brows. Mo Yi was stunned by the sudden coldness and lifted his gaze.
The Mist calmly drew his finger back from Mo Yi’s forehead, and said, “Don’t frown.”
Mo Yi curbed the faint look of astonishment on his face, and forced the doubts in his heart back down into the bottom of his heart.
Some questions, even if he were to ask them now, cannot be answered.
Moreover, judging from the current situation, he’d probably have to stay with this non-human being for quite some time, so it wouldn’t be wise to be so confrontational now and sour their relationship.
—Besides, the Mist has yet to do him any harm, and can even be said to have saved him many times.
Although it was still impossible to tell whether the other party is a friend or foe for now, he was not ungrateful enough to forget that the other party had saved his life many times.
Mo Yi sighed inwardly, then rolled over and got out of bed.
He casually took his mobile phone and unlocked it.
But except for the information sent by Shen Lei and Wang Zezhi asking him to report his safety when he came back, there were no other notifications or news.
There was still no news from Jiang Yuanrou and Jiang Yuanbai.
Mo Yi held the phone tightly with his fingers. Although there was no visible emotional change on his pale, bloodless face, his eyes had gotten so dark that they couldn’t be illuminated or warmed by the morning sun.
He put the phone back down, and picked up the snow-white paper that was left after every instance.
On the white and delicate paper, there were several lines in black text: “Congratulations on your successful escape. Thank you for your participation. We wish you a happy life.”
Mo Yi flipped to the back and read.
“The next game will begin in 15 days. Players, please use the time to get ready.”
At the bottom of, there was another line of small words: “Congratulations for completing the side mission. You can receive side mission rewards when you enter the game next time. I wish you a happy game.”
Other than the longer rest period this time, nothing else has changed.
Mo Yi put the piece of paper back down. His eyes fell on the ground and he couldn’t stifle his surprise.
Beside where he’d found the teddy bear previously, there was now a small dusty box. There were no patterns on the box, making it look seemingly inconspicuous.
Mo Yi had seen this kind of box before—it was from the novice gift pack in his backpack.
He bent to pick up the box, and his slender fingertips deftly opened the packaging, revealing the contents inside.
A small card fell out of the lid.
Mo Yi picked up the card and read the words on it carefully.
“Dear senior member club members:
In this box are your store purchases before the last instance. Please check the contents carefully. We hope you had a joyful time shopping.”
Mo Yi’s eyes lit up, his pale cheeks flushing with a hint of colour. He quickly scanned the list from top to bottom—these were indeed props he bought before the start of the last instance.
He put the list aside and looked at the bottom of the box, where he found several smaller packages and a tiny glass ball.
Mo Yi pulled out the glass ball, gently rubbing its smooth and cold surface with his fingertips, and lifted it to take a closer look.
The transparent glass bead seemed to be filled with ever-changing light spots, which flowed slowly in the sphere along with the movement of his fingertips, looking ethereal under the light.
Almost instantly afterwards, the small glass ball softened between his fingertips, as though its surface had been melted by his body temperature. It seeped into his skin, disappearing without a trace, and shocked Mo Yi.
He subconsciously rubbed his empty fingertips together. Before he could come to terms with what just? happened, a short message suddenly appeared in his mind.
—It was a short message, its contents similar to the manuals that came with the props in the other smaller boxes.
These props can be crushed when needed.
Although there is no limit to their number of uses, the cooldown was terribly long, and you couldn’t use another prop within the next 24 hours. Furthermore, it will put the player in a debuff state which cannot be overwritten, and the type of debuff as well as duration of debuff were random.
Mo Yi lowered his fingers, which had turned somewhat cool, and his heart felt a little heavy momentarily.
He knew that it wasn’t possible for this game to give players any advantages. Even this manual that came with this glass bead was one of the privileges of B-level members, and wouldn’t be given to non-members even if they were to exchange for the prop with points.
Without these fundamental details of the prop—just the side effects alone may be enough to kill the player in an instance.
Infuriated, Mo Yi stuffed the list of props back into the box and tossed it onto his bedside table.
He straightened up, rolling his shoulders. A familiar soreness and exhaustion hit him, and the half-dry cold shirt stuck uncomfortably against his skin.
Mo Yi pulled several changes of clothes from his closet, and was about to enter the bathroom when he suddenly halted and turned to glance at the bed.
The Mist was seated there, with the morning sun streaming in from the window behind him. His quiet face and straight back were blurred in the bright golden light, and he remained staring straight at Mo Yi with his light grey eyes.
It seemed…a little cute?
A trace of guilt twinged Mo Yi’s heart. He felt like a bad host who treated his guests poorly.
Mo Yi gave him a small smile.
“I’ll take a shower first. You can just do whatever you want, in the refrigerator there’s—”
Mo Yi trailed off.
He remembered that there was nothing in his refrigerator.
And the Mist was obviously not a human. Who knew what it used as sustenance?
Mo Yi hesitated for a few seconds. However, the desire to take a bath surpassed everything else, so he took his mobile phone and unlocked it, and handed it to the other party.
“Why don’t you play Snakes for a while?”
The Mist, “……”
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