Chapter 1: Midnight Villa

You Xi, with a height of 183cm, had a fair complexion and long legs.

Of course, that was only the first impression when others saw You Xi. In reality, he didn’t have a deceitful mouth. He had never even fallen in love. There were many men and women who chased the wild bees and butterflies, but You Xi was very dedicated. [1] He only loved games.

After being selected for the escape game, some were panicked and some were dazed and desperate. But when You Xi heard that it was a game, he appeared relaxed and comfortable. His expression was almost expectant, and his mouth was smiling.

The system mistakenly thought that he was a boss.

Big bosses must be treated like bosses. System administrators don’t dare treat bosses badly. The world conquering tasks were waiting for bosses to take the lead, and their bonuses were all dependent on the bosses.

As soon as You Xi entered the game, he was granted a luxurious gift package by an administrator.

It was a treatment that ordinary newcomers don’t get.

“Dear, please complete the newbie task of this escape game. Although it’s simple for you, it’s necessary. I am sorry to waste some of your time.” Administrators rarely show such humble moments. “To preserve the game balance, please do not engage in any harassment or disrupt the normal elimination mechanism of our game. Please pretend to be oblivious and do not spoil it. In order to compensate you and prove our sincerity to you, please click to receive the gift package.”

You Xi had experienced many battles and knew all kinds of game interfaces very well. With just a glance, he was like a veteran player in an escape game, neatly accepting the goods.

His light-hearted appearance really fooled the system administrator.

“Dear, do you have any other needs?” The administrator asked.

“I have a habit of drinking afternoon tea.” You Xi said. “Every day at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”

Although he really wanted to complain that he was being so spoiled even in the escape game, the system administrator didn’t dare to provoke the boss. Afternoon tea wasn’t actually too much. The last boss asked to take a bath with red wine every day and rinse his mouth with shark fin soup. After ten people helping him with food, clothing, housing, and transportation refused to serve him, he directly cracked the code of the mission hall. With a wave of his hand, he forced hundreds of bugs into the escape game, almost crashing it, and the bugs haven’t been cleaned up yet.

“Of course, dear.” The administrator smiled. “The afternoon tea you want will be delivered on time.”

The administrator didn’t dare ask the boss if he had any other needs. He pressed the keyboard and sent the boss to the novice world.

In the blink of an eye, You Xi found himself in a villa. The game told him that he must stay in the villa for an entire week to pass the level.

In the lobby of the villa, over a dozen people were gathered. There were men, women, and children, all sitting or standing.

You Xi walked into the group of people and listened to their conversation. Only then did he figure out–

This HoLo game was linked to the real world. [2] If you die in the game, you die in reality. There were many ghosts and traps in the game. If you’re not careful, you’ll die.

You Xi was scared.

He didn’t expect this broken game to be so cruel.

He was born with a smile on his lips, and even when he was scared to death, people around him thought he was smiling.

“Hey, pretty boy. What’s so funny about this!” [3] A middle-aged man was suddenly dragged into an escape game. He was full of pent up anger with nowhere to release it. When he saw You Xi in a good mood, he felt particularly upset.

Relying on his physical strength, he wanted to pick up the soft persimmon, but before he could speak, he was pulled back by an old man next to him. [4]

“Young man, don’t be impulsive.” The grey-haired old man said. “This young man seems to be confident. Maybe there’s a way to complete the mission.

All those who came to this ‘Midnight Villa’ were novices who hadn’t participated in games more than three times. Although the old man was very high in years, he was excellent at judging the situation and would always follow the strongest person in the team. Although he was old, he was well-informed and clear-minded. He hadn’t become cannon fodder. He survived.

Everyone turned their gazes to You Xi. A younger girl had peeked at You Xi from time to time, and now she looked at You Xi in admiration and endless worship.

You Xi: “……”

Who am I, where am I, what am I going to do… I don’t know anything, ah. Look at what I’m doing.

You Xi sat on the sofa and looked at his watch. It was 3 o’clock.

“I just came for afternoon tea.” You Xi said. “Don’t look at me, I really don’t know anything.”

Before he could finish his words, a pale woman dressed as a maid walked out pushing a dining cart. The cart was stopped in front of You Xi, and she lifted the cloth covering the cart. Three delicate layers of dishes were spotted with delicious snacks, in full view of everyone. Next, You Xi enjoyed the delicious food and drank a cup of Ceylon tea.

When a child saw it, he couldn’t help but want to sell meng, but when he was approaching the food, he was scared by the maid who suddenly stuck out her long tongue and exposed the third eye on her forehead. [5]

The child cried loudly, and didn’t dare to approach half a step closer to You Xi. Other people who had moved also realized in an instant – this handsome guy with excellent looks was a powerful character. Even a game npc couldn’t easily provoke him and was being ordered around.

The middle-aged man who had yelled at You Xi in the beginning silently wiped awayhis cold sweat.

He hoped that the big boss wouldn’t hold a grudge, and that adults wouldn’t remember the villains. [6]

After ten minutes, afternoon tea time was over.

“Ceylon tea. I like Uva tea.” [7] You Xi commented. “Be careful next time. Don’t use Dilmah.” [8]

The maid nodded, retracted her half-meter long tongue, closed the third eye on the center of her forehead, and walked away respectfully like an ordinary waitress.

During that afternoon tea time, You Xi combined the previous clues to figure out his situation. He probably got some privileges by bluffing in front of the system administrator.

He needs to hide the fact that he’s a five-fighting-power scum pretending to be a boss. Otherwise, the system administrator who reacted to him will retaliate against him severely. In such a trashy game where people eat others without spitting out their bones, he would definitely die miserably.

After summing that up, You Xi stood up and left the hall.

The crowd behind him had long thought of him as a boss, and spontaneously followed You Xi.

You Xi: “……” He just wanted to take a nap. Why follow him like little chickens? He’s not an old hen!

But since the feet were attached to others, he couldn’t control them.

You Xi ignored those people and walked to the first room on the second floor.

Written on the door was the word ‘Sunday.’

……What Sunday?

You Xi had played some horror games and was particularly concerned about such clues. To be honest, he was quite worried about triggering a bad flag, so he glanced cautiously at the labels on the other rooms.

From Sunday to Monday, Tuesday… Everything including Saturday was available.

There were 7 rooms in total.

Corresponding to the rooms, there were 14 people total.

You Xi immediately understood that this stingy villa had double rooms.

You Xi’s family had always been well off. He hadn’t lived in a university dorm for even a day, so naturally he didn’t want to share a room with others. However, it was better to not be too independent.

You Xi glanced around the people behind him, and pointed to the strongest and most powerful man in the crowd. It happened to be the middle-aged man who was aggressive toward him in the beginning.

“You.” You Xi said. “Come into this room with me.”

Being called out by the big boss to enter the same room was supposed to bring peace of mind and stable profit, but the middle-aged man instead felt imminent disaster.

Among so many people, only he had offended the boss. Living in the room with the boss was so different…

The middle-aged man couldn’t help but step back. His expression of resistance was indescribable. It was as if the world beyond the door was a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s cave. [9]

You Xi was a little sorry. He just wanted to find a strong teammate.

“Does anyone want to share a room with me?” You Xi said. “Tell me now. No elderly, women, or children.”

— Because I’m unable to protect them.

Everyone secretly took a step back as soon as he said this. This ‘Sunday’ room sounds dangerous. How far would they go to leave.

“No one wants to?” You Xi, who was always popular, was met with such a cold reception for the first time, but everything was fine inside his heart. He felt that two people would be too crowded, since he wouldn’t be able to check what was in the privilege package he received.

“That’s okay. None of you want to live with me.” You Xi rushed through the door. “You can allocate the remaining rooms amongst yourselves.”

Outside the door, the remaining 13 people were chatting endlessly, but none of that had anything to do with You Xi.

He took a close look at the room and found that–

There were no beds in the room, only two coffins!

……Is it too late for him to check out now?

You Xi was terrified, but he didn’t dare to show it. The system administrator was almost omnipotent, and he could be detected anywhere. After closing the door, You Xi showed a sorrowful expression. Didn’t he tell the administrator that he was an embroidered pillow? [10]

He still wanted to muddle along.

Moreover, based on You Xi’s years of gaming experience, this kind of thing that obviously said ‘I’m weird’ usually didn’t set a death flag. Instead, things that looked seamless often carried many holes. [11]

Trying to psych himself up in his head, You Xi walked towards the coffin.

On the other side, the system administrator was paying close attention to You Xi. But he was monitoring him mainly because he was afraid that the big boss would do something hard for him to clean up.

After seeing You Xi force open the door to the ‘Sunday’ room and unkindly persuade the middle-aged man who had offended him to share the room with him, sweat was oozing down the system administrator.

He carefully recorded in the ‘Boss Observation Report:’ The S-Level player No. 004 is good at playing with people’s hearts. It is a level 2 dangerous element. If you encounter it, you must be careful to avoid it and not provoke it.

In the surveillance video, You Xi strolled in the dimly lit room, as if the coffin, paper money for the dead, and paper mirrors were all the same as normal furnishings.

The dignity of the game was being trampled, but the big bosses were all like this.

However, unlike in the system administrator’s imagination, You Xi was wandering around the room because he was totally confused.

Nothing seemed to work properly there.

Not even a toothbrush in this stingy villa. Bad review!

...To be continued... ...

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