“Dear viewers, it's not just me saying it, but this wooden sword of mine feels super textured. What's the word for it? Ah! 'Patina,' that's it, patina!"

"I'm telling you, just for this patina, I've got this in the bag! I'm covered head-to-toe in ghost-banishing and demon-catching stuff, hahahaha!"

Mingmei parked her pink scooter in front of an old apartment building. As she stood there with delivery boxes strapped to her front and back, that all-too-familiar voice drifted from the dilapidated third-floor window above.

Great!

Mingmei decided that since she couldn't get any answers about whether Mu Chen had pulled strings, maybe she should ask Lu Xiaoyao if she had, too.

Why did she have to run into her every single game?

The autumn wind rustled, swirling the fallen leaves around Mingmei's feet and lifting the long hair at her ears. The cool breeze sent a shiver down her spine.

Mingmei subconsciously turned to look at the quiet, empty street around her, scanning the area once more. In her mind, she began to mutter with Guigui.

[What's with this new escape game? It's creepy!]

[This is a horror-themed escape game, Host. Creepy is standard!]

[Bah!]

Mingmei inwardly scorned this new escape game, which had the same horror tag as the newbie village!

This instance gave her an unprecedented sense of unease.

This wasn't the newbie village!

Mingmei adjusted the delivery boxes, took a breath to prepare herself, and then stepped into the building.

The building was old, with no elevator. A thick layer of dust covered the banister, obscuring the decaying wood of bygone days.

At first, carrying the two large delivery boxes had felt incredibly heavy, but after a while, Mingmei found that they seemed to have gotten lighter.

[Seriously, I just grabbed the newbie village bento boxes casually. Then in "Thorn Emperor," I had to hide them in food containers. Last game, I was pushing bento boxes in a huge delivery box. And this time, I'm carrying two! What's next? Am I going to have to carry a refrigerator?]

Mingmei reached the second floor, paused in the hallway to catch her breath, and then complained to Guigui that she had turned a perfectly good escape game into a stamina game.

[This is because of your character, Host. You're a pizza delivery person in this game, so you have to carry an extra box.] Guigui's explanation was nothing Mingmei didn't already know. Mingmei glanced at the state of the second floor of the old apartment building.

Like the staircase banister, the second floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, indicating that no one had been here for a long time. The sound of voices drifted from upstairs. Mingmei recalled the game synopsis provided by the system and scoffed again.

"Uncle's really messing with me more and more."

Mingmei looked at the single line: [The owner of the Barry Apartments on Alice Street, due to the constant occurrence of unfortunate events, has decided to seek out excellent exorcists to resolve the evil spirits causing trouble.]

Yeah, a one-sentence synopsis.

Too lazy!

Mingmei didn't know what to say.

She was an NPC!

Didn't NPCs deserve to know the script in advance?

Her uncle really didn't treat her like family!

With that thought, Mingmei shook her head, continued carrying the two delivery boxes to the third floor, and finally stopped at the door to the left of the stairwell. Then she knocked and called out that the delivery was here.

"Ha!"

As the door opened, a yellow talisman suddenly flew toward Mingmei's face. Carrying the delivery boxes, Mingmei leaned back and used them to deflect the hand holding the talisman.

Then, Mingmei straightened up amidst the surprised gazes of the group inside. She faintly heard someone shout, "What a waist, Young Hero!"

Mingmei: ...?

What was that line?

"Huh? Not an evil spirit?"

Next, Mingmei heard a familiar voice of doubt. Her clear eyes met those of Lu Xiaoyao, who was wearing an indigo Daoist robe and a bun in this game.

Lu Xiaoyao was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

With that familiar look of confused intelligence, Lu Xiaoyao said the same thing again, "Oh! It's you... Wait, no, you're not as pretty as her."

Mingmei: ...

She could only say that she was tired of saying, "Oh, thank you!"

Salty fish lying flat.jpg

Sometimes, Mingmei really wanted to say, "Enough with the act, I'm your classmate!" She imagined the scene and thought it would be a huge blow to Lu Xiaoyao.

But she wasn't crazy. She hadn't forgotten that Lu Xiaoyao was still live-streaming the game.

Thinking this, Guigui telepathically broadcasted Lu Xiaoyao's live-stream feed to Mingmei in the background.

[Lu Xiaoyao! Lu Xiaoyao! Lu Xiaoyao! Open your eyes and see who this is!]

[Why is it that the mysterious merchants my streamer meets always come to her door, while I...? Damn!]

[Seriously, the merchant小姐姐 is so pretty, I can't imagine my streamer saying someone is prettier than her! I don't believe it!]

[Unless you post a picture.]

[+1]

[I have a friend with a terminal illness who wants to see it, you know?]

[I have a friend in a similar situation.]

[Being your friend must really suck!]

...

Mingmei looked at the comments scrolling across the screen and felt that her viewers were more curious than Lu Xiaoyao.

"Your pizza's here." Ignoring Lu Xiaoyao's nonsensical babbling in front of her, Mingmei looked directly at the other players in the room.

One, two, three, four, five, six, yep, seemed like a normal player game.

Mingmei didn't see Mu Chen's face among them, and a complex feeling rose within her.

Although she felt uncomfortable with his various approaches and didn't want to suddenly become close to him, she felt like something was missing now that he wasn't around.

"Ah, the pizza..."

One of the men, dressed in a police uniform, suddenly spoke up. Yep, a familiar face, Zhen Po, a player from the last game.

Zhen Po felt around in his pants pocket and indeed found an order form from the pizza place.

Confirming that it was his character who had ordered the food, Zhen Po stepped forward.

Lu Xiaoyao tactfully retreated to the side. Just then, Mingmei asked, "By the way, our shop recently launched a Huaxia-style bento box set. Are you interested?"

What confused Lu Xiaoyao was that, as she said this, Mingmei's gaze passed right over Zhen Po and landed on her.

Lu Xiaoyao: 0.0 Eh? Why are you looking at me?