Under the warm light, a dinner with a lingering fragrance had just ended.
The sky outside gradually darkened. Once dusk left, it was light moonlight that fell into their eyes.
The few friends gathered in this house to enjoy sumptuous dishes, to drink and eat, and to gossip. No matter what frame it was, this was undoubtedly the longing life that he once imagined.
Now this type of life seemed to be reflected in reality. It gradually made the joy in Chi Ting's eyes grow stronger.
Sure enough, this should be the good feeling after developing human friendships.
His covetous gaze passed over everyone's bodies little by little. Gong Jing, Xiang Xianwan…
He was about to look at Li Tao when this person wailed unbearably, "Brother Chi, can you control yourself a bit? If you go on like this, I will really become blind!!!"
How ecstatic was he before to meet the bigshot, and how bitter was he now?
It was to the point where he didn't know where to start when Xiang Xianwan asked him why he wore sunglasses at night.
The personal skill that Li Tao awakened was called the 'Friendliness Assessment.' This clearly captured the good or evil shown to him by other people, including NPCs.
It was precisely due to this skill that he was attracted by Chi Ting's radiant kindness in the beginning and decided to draw him as an ally.
However, it was also after meeting Chi Ting that Li Tao knew his always useful alarm system could be so deceiving.
At the end of this dinner, he just needed to glance at Chi Ting for his eyes to become dazzled. If this person continued to exude kindness like this, he suspected that he might not be able to persist in passing the instance.
Chi Ting smiled. "I am already very restrained."
Li Tao hurriedly blocked the bright light over there and felt blind for a while.
If he previously thought that Chi Ting had that type of interest in Xiang Xianwan, he now started to wonder in a trance if this person was interested in everyone.
How did this man manage to be so loving to everyone?!
"Stop playing for now." After the meal, Gong Jing kept looking down and fiddling with his phone. In sharp contrast to the warm and harmonious atmosphere coming from Chi Ting's body, he had a particularly solemn look. "At present, there are seven people in the group who are still replying. The three who didn't respond are probably already…"
The moment these words came out, silence fell.
The others certainly knew what he was talking about.
Just now, Li Tao had sorted out the clues he obtained so far and posted them in the player group.
Not every unlimited flow game was suitable for being kind to others, but it wasn't difficult to see from Chi Ting's rescue of Xiang Xianwan from the brink of assimilation that it wasn't a bad thing for more people to advance and retreat together in this instance.
In any case, the reminder had already been given. As for whether they believed it or not, that was the other person's business.
But no matter whether they were willing to accept the kindness or not, the players who saw the messages at least gave replies in the group to a greater or later extent. For those who still hadn't emerged by the time the meal finished, there was a high probability that they had been…
In fact, there was no need for Gong Jing to remind him. Li Tao had also observed it.
In addition to the four of them here, the ones who replied were Li Hou on the 11th floor, Xian Lang on the 17th floor, and You Qian on the 18th floor.
As for the others, putting aside the possibility that they hadn't seen the group chat for some specific reasons, they had probably been completely integrated into the life of Love Apartment. Just like Chang Hefeng, they became an NPC.
Their mobile phones might be somewhere in their houses at this moment, vibrating again and again with newly received messages. Even if they passed by it, they would never be able to feel the presence of the phones.
Everything related to players had been completely erased from the world of assimilated NPCs, just like their original memories.
It wasn't known if the night wind had leaned in, but the people who were warm all over after dinner felt a chill go over their bodies. There was instantly a layer of chill.
This was likely to be what they would look like if they didn't get out of here soon.
In order to cover up his apprehension, he lowered the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.
Chi Ting noticed his movements and suddenly asked, "You didn't seem to be wearing sunglasses when you came over. Where did you get them?"
He had been wearing it all night. Did Chi Ting only notice it now?"
For a while, he didn't know where to start complaining. After a long time, he replied, "Of course, I took it out of my storage space."
Xiang Xianwan was curious. "What is a storage space?"
"You are entering the instance for the first time. You will know after you clear the level. It is the dimensional space used by players to store items." Li Tao knew that Xiang Xianwan was a complete newcomer and patiently answered. Then as soon as he looked up and saw Chi Ting's slightly surprised gaze, he finally couldn't help asking, "Brother Ch, don't you have one yourself?"
He raised his head slightly and nodded at the red stone hanging on Chi Ting's chest.
In fact, he had wanted to ask about it a long time ago. Then after saving Xiang Xianwan, he had been in a hurry to increase the favorability. Then he moved here and sent information to other players. He had been busy until now.
Taking advantage of this time, he wanted to use this opportunity to change the topic in this oppressive atmosphere. "Speaking of which, what is the string of beads that you took out from your storage space before? Is this an exclusive item after your ability awakened? The beads look pretty. Can you let me have a look?"
"You like my beads as well?"
Chi Ting was indeed a bit surprised that there were also storage spaces in this unlimited world. He just couldn't understand the terms 'ability awakening' and 'exclusive item.'
Still, he was very happy that Li Tao would be interested in his handicrafts. He immediately pinched the strange stone on his chest. Then he took out the beads and handed them over.
Seeing Li Tao look it over carefully, Chi Ting's expression was vaguely expectant. "How about it? The craftsmanship isn't bad, right?"
Li Tao nodded repeatedly. "Uhuh, it is beautiful."
Exclusive props were often born from personal skills, but not every personal skill was accompanied by an exclusive item that complemented it. Many people like Li Tao might not be able to have their own exclusive items until they died in an instance. Even more people couldn't awaken their personal skills.
It was because of this extreme scarcity that this was the first time he observed an exclusive item so closely. The other two suddenly surrounded him curiously.
At first glance, this beaded style looked like a Buddhist item. If it was placed in the hands of a high-level monk, there would be no sense of contradiction. The difference from ordinary beads was that the material used wasn't a common material of the Buddhist beads.
It was a very beautiful white color. It didn't look bleak or cold. Naturally, it wasn't a type of wood that exuded the aura of a sentient being, nor was it jade…
Li Tao touched and studied it lightly, but he still couldn't identify it. "Brother Chi, can your beads grow infinitely? What type of material are they made from?"
Chi Ting had just gone back to the kitchen to get a glass of hot water. He replied casually, "Oh, it is made of bones. I polished it with my own hands. It is beautiful, right?"
Li Tao's stroking action slightly paused, and he looked up stiffly. "Huh?"
Soon, he squeezed out a sentence. "…What bones?"
Chi Ting blinked with interest. "You guess."
Li Tao laughed twice before asking humorously, "It can't be human bones, right?"
Chi Ting laughed silently but didn't answer.
The long silence caused the expression on Li Tao's face to finally crack little by little.
F*k, what did he mean by not denying it?
Chi Ting didn't even deny it??!
Just as Li Tao's hands shook and he was about to throw out the beads in his hand, Chi Ting seemed to finally catch the distinct panic from the three of them. He slowly poured the hot water into his mouth and swallowed it calmly before saying, "Don't worry. I'm just teasing you. How can it be human bones, right?"
He didn't know it. It was obviously a denial, but seeing Chi Ting suddenly glance meaningfully at the beads in his hands, the strange feeling in Li Tao's heart became more and more intense.
His back was slightly tense as he stiffly returned the beads. "It's okay. You don't have to be so scary, Brother Chi."
Chi Ting held the beads and gently stroked them twice. His mouth curved up slightly before the beads were returned to that strange stone again.
He didn't continue the topic. "By the way, I seem to have seen you throw two things before. It was quite flashy."
"You mean the flash bombs?" Li Tao was confused when saying this. "It is a basic item in the points mall. Haven't you seen it?"
Chi Ting asked, "Points mall?"
"..." For a while, Li Tao couldn't tell if the person in front of him really didn't know or if he was pretending to be stupid to tease him. Then seeing that Xiang Xianwan, a real newcomer, also looked curiously, he still explained it very patiently, "It is all basic common sense that you will know after clearing an instance. The points mall is…"
[Hahaha, I feel that this player is treating the newcomer as some type of bigshot.]
[I don't blame him, I don't blame him. If I met someone with an exclusive item in the instance, I definitely wouldn't think he was a newcomer.]
[By the way, Chi Ting's beads won't really be made of human bones, right?]
[What are you thinking? Even in the unlimited world, no one, no matter how perverted, would make human bones as decorations and carry them around. In addition, didn't he polish them himself?"
[What time is it in the dungeon? Will this newcomer introduce Yue Ren to them? I can't wait.]
[I really want to tell him that it isn't a good idea to introduce them…]
[Today's explosive points are coming one after another. I can't wait to watch it soon. This newcomer's live stream room is really exciting!]
The barrage in the live stream room scrolled quickly.
The moment the news came out that a newcomer had obtained an exclusive companion item, the number of online people continued to soar.
In the instance, Teacher Li's small class for newcomers officially opened. It lasted until late at night.
It wasn't known if it was due to the presence of other people or if the sense of security brought by Chi Ting was really enough, but the three of them felt that even the movement of the NPCs wandering at night seemed much quieter than when they were in their 'home.'
It wasn't until the sound of the elevator outside was heard that the originally harmonious classroom atmosphere was broken.
Feeling the nervousness of the others, Chi Ting stopped and glanced at the time. Then he stood up from the sofa. "It should be that Yue Ren is back. Wait a minute, I'll take him to get acquainted with you."
Xiang Xianwan still had some shadows from today's experience. She asked hesitantly, "…It is already so late. Why don't we meet him tomorrow?"
Chi Ting shook his head. "He is a corporate drone. If he isn't on vacation, he can only come home at 10 o'clock at night. I tried it last time, and it isn't easy to see him during the day. My advice is that it is best to increase the favorability tonight. You should know that it is unknown how much time we have left."
The other three: "…Ah."
Chi Ting tidied up his clothes a bit and walked to the door. By the time he pushed open the door and walked out, the doors of the elevator had just opened.
The tall figure walked out of the elevator and paused slightly. Then he saw that Chi Ting had already shown a friendly smile to him. "Did you just get off work? It is hard work. You came back so late today."
The naturalness of the words was like an old friend who had known the other person for a long time.
Yue Ren's gaze swept over this flawless smile bit by bit. Then when he stepped forward, he happened to catch sight of the three heads that poked out through the crack in the door.
He lowered his eyes slightly and also smiled slightly. "Mr Chi's home is quite lively."
Chi Ting didn't deny it. It turned sideways in time and made room. "It is all friends. Do you want to come in and sit down?"
The shadow under Yue Ren's feet stretched out and became slender in the light. It was vaguely eager to head toward the house. In Chi Ting's eyes, it was obvious that he wanted to enter the house.
However, this person's gaze shifted slowly before he took it back calmly. "In any case, I just took my annual leave. I will be at home in the next few days. Let's make an appointment alone when there is a chance."
His gaze fell on Chi Ting's, and his tone was elongated. "I'm afraid, you know."
The moment the words faded away in the surroundings, Chi Ting was silent for a rare moment in front of this seemingly polite man.
It turned out that this was the legendary determined to maintain his character setting, right?
Seeing that Yue Ren was about to leave after nodding politely to the three people in the house, Chi Ting finally spoke again. "Are you hungry? Come in and eat a late-night meal. Don't office workers like to have a late-night meal after returning home? I see that this is written in many stories."
Yue Ren's steps stopped. Then after a moment of thinking, he changed his mind. "Okay."
Half an hour later.
Yue Ren finished this late-night meal with a satisfied expression. Then he sat down on the sofa in a very relaxed and comfortable posture.
When Chi Ting came out of the kitchen after watching the dishes, what he saw was the three people squatting in the corner not far away.
Among them, Li Tao was the most exaggerated. He hid very far away from Yue Ren. His entire body was almost curled up behind the curtain. He was eager to wrap himself in place and disappear.
Chi Ting: "?"
He walked over and tore open a slit in the curtain. He asked strangely, "Aren't you guys going to have a talk?"
Li Tao was forced to poke out half his head. The moment he raised his head, he met the gaze cast by the smiling Yue Ren from the rear. His whole body was shocked, and he immediately wrapped himself back in the curtain. "You don't understand… I can't go, I really can't go over… We must stay away from this man. We will die. Believe me, we will really die."
Li Tao's Friendliness Assessment wasn't just aimed at players but also had the same effect on NPCs.
The Yue Ren in front of him was in stark contrast to Chi Ting.
If Chi Ting's kindness was clear and frank like a blazing sun, this Yue Ren in Li Tao's eyes was like an endless abyss where the bottom couldn't be reached. One glance was enough to completely engulf him in the darkness of the bottomless abyss.
It was a dark, evil feeling. No matter how hard he struggled, there was no escape.
His name was Yue Ren. The moon still had light, but there was only darkness left in this man's world.
Chi Ting didn't understand it. He could only mobilize the allies in front of him like he encouraged his team members before. "It's okay. You will die if you can't increase his favorability and go downstairs. Since you will die anyway, it is better to do more meaningful things when you are alive."
Li Tao: "..."
Oh, he felt encouraged.
After all the struggles, everyone still gathered around the table in a 'harmonious atmosphere.'
Yue Ren's gaze without any warmth swept over the group. There was still a faint smile on his face. "Do you want everyone to get to know each other together?"
The smile on Xiang Xianwan's face was already tense. Now it almost stiffened. "I-Is it okay?"
"Since you are Mr Chi's friend, of course it is possible." Yue Ren glanced at Chi Ting out of the corner of his eyes. Just by looking at his demeanor, he was very kind and friendly. "I just want to relax after working overtime for so long. Since everyone is interested, why don't we play a game together in order to better enhance the relationship?"
The light ending sound fell heavily in the night. Like a needle, it gently pierced everyone's heart and instantly created a numb feeling.
Li Tao saw that the endless darkness around the man almost engulfed the entire surrounding space in an instant.