"S-Sorry! Did I step on you?"
Xia Qi raised his feet in panic.
The kick he just gave was quite powerful.
"It's okay." The man said calmly, looking like he wasn't hurt at all. Worried that Xia Qi would blame himself, the man smiled gently again, "It really doesn't hurt."
Xia Qi frowned. No matter whether the man was pretending to be nothing, he felt even more embarrassed because of this thoughtfulness.
The countdown for the True Love's Kiss mission was very short, which meant that Xia Qi had no time to change people to do the task. Seeing that the people around him had already kissed, Xia Qi clenched his fists.
"Good times are always short, ma'am... Do you have something to say to me?" Seeing Xia Qi's anxious expression, the man asked.
Xia Qi felt very embarrassed that his thoughts were seen through by the man.
He actually had nothing to say to him, but there was a crazy task to do to him...
Countdown for the "True Love's Kiss" mission: 00:00:59.
The speed at which time passed seemed to be accelerated, and two minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Too late...
Looking at the countdown that gradually turned into red font, Xia Qi let out a breath and made up his mind.
He said "sorry" and quickly grabbed the man's hand.
Looking down at the man's slender, strong left hand with distinct joints, Xia Qi pursed his lips and kissed the back of the man's hand.
The system requires a "true love's kiss", but does not specify where to kiss. Xia Qi plans to take advantage of this system rule with vague boundaries and boldly try to complete the task.
I wonder if I can get away with it this way
When there was only 1 second left in the countdown, Xia Qi, who was nervously waiting for the mission announcement, suddenly heard a familiar "ding dong" sound in his ears. He clenched his fist excitedly.
True Love Value+999
Xia Qi, who was clenching his fists at this moment, was stunned.
999 points of true love!
Unexpectedly, a random stranger could actually increase his true love value by using the magic wand of true love once!
Comparing it with Cha Gonghan's 4 points of true love value, Xia Qi seemed to almost not recognize the three words "true love value".
Xia Qi looked at the man in front of him in disbelief and felt his cheeks getting hot.
Xia Qi felt a little guilty for accidentally using a man to gain true love points.
"Sorry..." Xia Qi took a step back and said to him very sincerely.
As soon as Xia Qi finished speaking, the man stepped forward, held his hand with his backhand, and said, "Ma'am, you don't have to blame yourself. Your dance is really great."
Hearing this, Xia Qi was stunned. It seemed that the man had misunderstood something
He wasn't feeling guilty about being a bad dancer, he was feeling guilty about taking advantage of others!
Seeing Xia Qi frowning and looking extremely conflicted, the man chuckled, lifted Xia Qi's hand, and gave him a kiss on the back of his hand.
Feeling that Xia Qi's hand was trembling, the man did not linger on the overly smooth back of his hand. He just touched the back of his hand lightly and then let go.
When the man let go of his hand, Xia Qi's hand still remained in mid-air.
At this moment, the skin on the back of the hand that was kissed by the man felt a slight coolness, indicating what had just happened.
This... Was he having his mission reversed by the NPC
"True Love's Kiss" mission completed!
Ding Dong! Red team's plot progress +0%
After this mission was completed, the Red Team's plot progress remained stagnant, and the total progress remained at 10%.
Xia Qi was stunned and continued to listen to the following report.
Ding Dong! Blue team's plot progress +10%
"What the hell!" People in the dance floor exclaimed.
"What's going on?! The blue team is almost halfway through!"
Now, the blue team's plot progress is 41%.
Listening to the noisy exclamations and shouts around him, Xia Qi's heart began to beat rapidly again. Could it be that the man in front of him was really...
"I have to leave." The man bowed slightly, and then his body gradually became blurred in a state visible to the naked eye.
Before Xia Qi could ask, the lights in the dance floor suddenly went dark amid the screams of the crowd.
Endless darkness enveloped the area, and a window was opened from somewhere. An extremely cold draft blew through the banquet hall, blowing away the man's elegant voice.
"Looking forward to seeing you again..."
Another gust of wind blew by, and when everyone was in panic, there was a "beep" sound, and the corridor outside the door suddenly lit up.
“There’s light!”
Several maids carrying lights entered the dance floor, and the butler said to everyone, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very sorry, it's too windy tonight."
With the lights on, Xia Qi could gradually see clearly where everyone was standing on the dance floor.
At this time, the man who had originally danced with him had completely disappeared, and the person standing opposite Xia Qi happened to be Cha Gong, who had been looking for him for a long time.
"Xia Qi, who were you dancing with just now!" Cha Gong almost stared out, but he didn't see clearly where Xia Qi was.
Xia Qi raised an eyebrow at him and asked back, "What about you? Who are you dancing with?"
Cha Gong was stunned by the question. He only remembered that he was dancing with a short man dressed as a crossdresser, but he couldn't remember who he was.
At this moment, the old man suddenly jumped out from nearby, patted Cha Gong on the shoulder, and laughed in a pinched throat: "Handsome guy, it's me! You just called me Little Sweetie, why don't you remember me now?"
Cha Gong suddenly got goose bumps all over his body and yelled at the old man: "Get lost! Don't touch me!"
The old man was like a snoring monster in a doll costume, with wrinkles so thick when he smiled that they could kill flies. Cha Gong thought of how he danced with him and kissed him at the end, and his stomach began to churn.
"You can dance with others, why can't I?" Seeing the old man deliberately disgusting Cha Gong, Xia Qi couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
Cha Gong choked up and quickly explained: "I'm not worried about you..."
At this time, a member of the Red Team suddenly rushed out, pulled Cha Gong away, and whispered: "Brother Cha, the Blue Team's plot progress has surpassed ours. They must have found the key clues and characters!"
Cha Gong paused and looked back at Xia Qi.
At this time, Xia Qi was observing the positions of everyone on the dance floor to determine their dance partners.
Feeling the gaze coming from behind, Xia Qi turned around and found that it was Cha Gong looking at him again.
Xia Qi snorted coldly and rolled his eyes at him without hesitation.
Cha Gong gave him a hurt look.
"Go and ask one by one." After Xia Qi turned around, Cha Gong's face changed and he said to his teammates vigilantly.
Although something was wrong with Xia Qi, the other members of the blue team had to be on guard as well.
"Oh, by the way, we had two people who couldn't find partners, so they ended up pairing up on their own."
The dance floor was so foggy that he hadn't noticed that two people from the red team were dancing in pairs. They told him about this just when the lights came on.
Hearing this, Cha Gong was shocked: "Wait! If the two of them form a pair, it means there will be one more person on the dance floor!"
According to the original number of people, one of them should be without a partner, so how come two of them are dancing together?!
“So, just now…” The red teammate shuddered with fear.
"That extra person even danced with a member of the blue team!" Cha Gong said gritting his teeth.
He thought one person was left alone, but he didn't expect that the remaining two people actually formed a pair.
Cha Gong said in a deep voice: "Everyone be careful tonight, don't worry if anything happens to them."
"Yes, yes." The red team member's voice trembled and he ran away.
After Xia Qi reunited with the blue team members, everyone chattered and discussed: "What's going on? Why is our plot progress increasing so fast?"
"Could it be that... our luck has finally come?"
Since everyone is a novice, no one has thought that someone has discovered the clues and completed the plot progress.
Only the old man would occasionally glance at Xia Qi.
"Ladies, the room is ready, please follow me to rest." The butler appeared again.
The blue team members lifted their skirts and followed the butler out of the banquet hall and came to the third floor of the castle. The butler assigned rooms to everyone one by one. When it was Xia Qi's turn, the butler pointed to the spiral staircase and said, "Madam, your room is on the fourth floor."
"Why does he live upstairs?" asked the yellow-haired man. He felt something was wrong along the way. The housekeeper was too polite to Xia Qi.
His team members also cast puzzled looks at Xia Qi. Xia Qi had clearly done nothing, but he enjoyed treatment better than anyone else. This made their fellow team members feel a little uncomfortable.
The butler did not directly answer the yellow-haired man's question, but gave everyone a standard smile.
The last time the housekeeper killed the fat man, he laughed like this. The yellow-haired man was frightened and quickly admitted his mistake: "I, I, I have no problem."
"Then, ladies, please go to bed early." The butler's voice gradually became colder, and at the end he specially emphasized the four words "go to bed early".
After saying that, the butler took Xia Qi to the fourth floor.
There are only two rooms on the entire fourth floor, and Xia Qi's room is the one facing south. Unlike the rooms on the third floor, the rooms on the fourth floor are particularly spacious, four times the size of each room on the third floor, and there is even a large landscape terrace outside.
"This is the room that the master specially prepared for you. I hope you will be satisfied with it." The butler said meaningfully.
grown ups
Who is this "adult"
Looking at the butler's secretive smile, Xia Qi suspected that the butler already knew something.
Unfortunately, the butler was too scary, and Xia Qi didn't dare to rashly inquire about the information without understanding the enemy's situation.
After sending the housekeeper away, Xia Qi closed the door, grabbed the wig off his head, and walked into the room.
This is a room decorated in Baroque style. Every detail in the room reflects the word "luxury". In the center of the room is a huge red velvet bed. Xia Qi lifted the quilt cover and found that there were five layers of pigeon feather mattresses under the bed. The mattress was wrapped with soft gold and black satin, and it was extremely silky to the touch.
Xia Qi opened the stained glass door of the landscape terrace again. After walking out, he found it was pitch black outside, so he turned back and prepared to take a shower.
A bathroom is separated from the room by a red curtain. Inside the bathroom is a golden bathtub. The hot water in the bathtub is pink with perfume added, and a few rose petals are floating on the water.
Looking at this pool of bath water full of girlishness, Xia Qi couldn't help but hold his forehead. This game completely destroyed his moral principles!
After picking up the rose petals and throwing them away, Xia Qi reluctantly took a hot bath, changed into a white silk pajamas, and then lay down on the overly soft dove feather mattress.
So comfortable.
It was so comfortable that he almost forgot that this was a horror game that could kill people at any time...
Before going upstairs, he looked at the yellow-haired man's room. The yellow-haired man's room was small and cramped, and the bed was particularly narrow. It looked like a maid's room. As for the others, judging from their small door frames, it was very likely that they were all maids' rooms...
However, he was enjoying the treatment of a five-star hotel on the fourth floor.
Xia Qi never thought that the benefits he received were his due. As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. The more you enjoy, the greater the price you have to pay back.
Could it be... Is it really because of that man
Unable to figure out the man's true origins for the time being, Xia Qi thought of the two people on the red side who were forced to form a dancing pair.
Logically speaking, since the two people on the red team did not fully follow the mission requirements, would they end up like the fat man
As Xia Qi thought about it, he became more and more sleepy. It seemed as if this bed had some magical power that made him feel extremely sleepy.
Then, Xia Qi had a beautiful dream. In the dream, he was standing on a hillside covered with roses. The gentle wind blew across his face, and familiar whispers echoed in his ears.
"You are so beautiful, how I wish I could have you, my rose."
The man sighed, his voice filled with deep affection and a sense of loss. Xia Qi immersed himself in his tenderness and fell into a deeper and deeper sleep.
“Chirp—”
An extremely sharp whistle sounded, and Xia Qi was instantly awakened from his dream.
He suddenly opened his eyes, sat up and looked around, only to find the room empty.
Just then, another scream was heard outside.
Based on the source of the sound, Xia Qi looked towards the door to the landscape terrace.
This door is both a door and a window. Because it was late at night, the originally colored glass looked as if it had been splashed with ink and was completely black.
At this moment, a dazzling red light flashed outside the window, illuminating the colors on the glass. Xia Qi felt that he saw something, got out of bed in confusion, and came to the glass door.
Then, another red light flashed, and Xia Qi suddenly saw a pale face appear outside the dark window. The owner of the face pressed his face against the glass, and looked at Xia Qi through the glass door.
"Who!" Xia Qi trembled all over and took a few steps back. When he came to his senses and looked at the glass door again, the pale face had disappeared.
He rushed to the glass door and looked through it toward the landscape terrace, only to find that the balcony was empty and there was nothing there.
Xia Qi came to the other side of the glass door and looked down. He found several shadows of bats quickly passing by below and finally stopped outside a window on the first floor.
The next day.
Xia Qi had just finished washing up when he heard a scream from downstairs: "Ah ah—someone's dead!"