The two guys who were bickering to no end savored the noodles like cavemen who hadn't eaten for a full month.
Huang Peng smiled as he slurped down his own noodles, feeling happy to see Qi Wei still eats his cooking happily like he always did in the past.
The bowls of the two cavemen were close to being finished, and Qi Wei savored the two eggs without even realizing it. He was too used to eating the extra egg on Huang Peng's plate because Huang Peng disliked eggs. He only realized he had eaten two eggs in two gulps when Lai Yuan asked, "You like eggs that much?"
"Huh? Ah, yes," Qi Wei answered. "Why?"
Lai Yuan stared at his own eggs and then back at Qi Wei's eyes. "Do you want mine?"
For the first time, Qi Wei understood that Lai Yuan meant well, but he felt a bit disgusted eating food from somebody else's plate that wasn't his boyfriend's. "No, no. It's okay. I'm stuffed already."
Being the youngest, after everyone ate, Xiao Yi tidied up all the bowls and put them on the vanity right in front of the mirror to remind them not to stare into the mirror, as it was now half blocked by the bowls.
"Let's talk business," Qi Wei stated. "Huang Peng and I are total newbies. I would be grateful if the two of you could share some practical ways we can do to stay alive until the end."
All eyes turned to Lai Yuan as he seemed to be the most capable in this game. The one being stared at chuckled softly. "Why are you guys staring at me? All I can say is that you should practice a lot, as for each realm, the level of hardship will always increase. Be careful, as you can do something as stupid as not wearing socks to sleep and get killed. Make sure you know the triggers of death on the first night."
"How about the clues? I can't understand what they mean at all," Qi Wei confessed. "And why are you telling us not to look at the mirror too? Is there any danger in looking at the mirror? Would looking at the mirror triggers death?"
Lai Yuan sighed. "Clearly, the tuxedo man from before was saying that if you look at your reflection for way too long, you can lead yourself to danger. All that we don't know is what danger he was talking about. There's more than one way you can die in this type of situation. You should be more attentive to what the NPCs are saying. They never say things out of context. Let's take the meals for example; they clearly informed us that we can prepare them ourselves. This implies that, first, all the ingredients in the kitchen are safe to eat. Second, the kitchen is a safe place to roam around."
Qi Wei and Huang Peng both nodded, realizing that what Lai Yuan had said indeed broadened their insight into the whole ordeal.
The night soon deepened as the guest house grew quieter with each passing second. The four of them were discussing about what they would do tomorrow and decided that they would go outside to meet the townsfolk and assess the situation.
Lai Yuan had explained that the way to finish the realm is by finding a ticket that would tell them where and when they could wait for some type of transportation to return to the real world.
"There's also a cheat to buy a ticket instead of—"
"Stupid information. Don't share with newbies how to get a fast pass to death," Lai Yuan quickly scolded Xiao Yi for wanting to share the information, his eyes piercing through her skull in anger, making the little girl gulp her saliva and look down to avoid his gaze.
Seeing the situation, Qi Wei felt bad for Xiao Yi and couldn't help but grow curious about what she wanted to say earlier. "No, no. It's okay. Please do share any information you know, even if it seems stupid. I can just choose not to do the stupid thing in the future," Qi Wei stated.
Lai Yuan let out a scowl of annoyance. "No way. You don't need to know such a thing. Someone like you," Lai Yuan paused to take a long stare at Qi Wei's face, "would totally do the something stupid and get themselves killed in no time."
Qi Wei rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you know me."
Huang Peng, who had been silently absorbing all the information without saying much, finally opened his mouth. "Qi Wei, he must be doing this for your own good. You don't need to know everything. Let's not fight anymore, okay?"
As always, weak to Huang Peng's pleas, Qi Wei just sighed and flopped onto his bed. "Alright, alright. It's already late. I want to sleep," Qi Wei said.
No one answered, but Qi Wei could hear the rustling sound of Huang Peng and Xiao Yi getting into their own beds.
"Lai Yuan," Qi Wei called out with his eyes closed on his own bed.
"Lai Yuan gege," Lai Yuan corrected him, once again sparking anger in Qi Wei, but he tried not to start another bickering session with him.
"Turn off the light," Qi Wei demanded.
Xiao Yi, who was sleeping on the top bunk bed above Huang Peng, was a bit surprised to hear someone ordering Lai Yuan around.
She had known Lai Yuan for more than a year now, mainly because her brother was close with Lai Yuan. Lai Yuan was naturally a good person; he helped people out when he could and when they deserved it, but he was also a scary person in Xiao Yi's eyes.
There was one time when Xiao Yi went into the realm with him and her brother. The setting was in a hospital during the year of 1918 when the Spanish flu emerged.
During that realm, there was an eight-year-old kid who came into the realm as a quarry. In the realm, the kid finally realized his will to live. The requirement for getting the ticket out was to reduce the participant number to only three.
Only the four of them were left, and at first, Lai Yuan did not want to kill the little kid. Lai Yuan, her brother, and herself just went through the day peacefully, waiting for the circumstances itself to eliminate the little kid. But the kid dared to sneak into their bedroom one night and tried to kill Xiao Yi.
Raged by anger, Lai Yuan swiftly took away the knife from the little kid's hand and stabbed it into his own heart.
Xiao Yi was crying and screaming out of fear at the sight. Her brother, enraged but also surprised by what Lai Yuan did, just hugged her until she calmed down.
Ever since that day, Xiao Yi did not dare to anger Lai Yuan.
Now, a friend he had just met a few hours ago is ordering him around like this. Wouldn't Lai Yuan's anger be triggered? Xiao Yi absolutely did not want to see any blood spilled in her bedroom again, so she sat up from her sleeping position in panic.
But before she could move any further or say anything, the light clicked off.
"Alright, Your Highness."
A gentle reply, tinged with teasing, came out of Lai Yuan's mouth, leaving Xiao Yi sitting on her bed with her mouth gaping open, dumbfounded.