What to Sign

Zhu Yan nodded earnestly. “I understand. Thank you.”

Li Laidi hadn’t lied. Everyone Has Their Own Fate had dutifully provided the warning.

“Everyone Has Their Own Fate offers a warm reminder: Player, please don’t get any funny ideas.”

“The woman in front of you has pointed you toward a way out, but please don’t attempt it, lest you be dragged into the abyss of the instance.”

Zhu Yan actually wanted to say that he was already in the abyss. Trying something like this hardly mattered.

Besides, the one about to enter the abyss was Jin Rongxu. What did that have to do with him, Zhu Zeyu?

The thought of making Jin Rongxu sign something nearly made Zhu Yan laugh.

He just needed to come up with a reason and be careful during the process so he wouldn’t give himself away in front of Jin Rongxu.

He dispersed into white mist and quickly slipped out through the crack beneath the door, leaving behind a wisp to silently observe Li Laidi’s condition.

…

Elsewhere.

There was no point in delaying any longer.

For now, he had to press his fingerprint down as quickly as possible, then find a way to trick Jin Rongxu into signing that wedding contract.

Zhu Zeyu pressed his bleeding finger onto the yellow paper and watched as the strange patterns slowly spread.

He didn’t feel anything special. Instead, he was faintly looking forward to it.

“Everyone Has Their Own Fate offers a warm reminder!”

The sudden explosion of the warning tone startled him.

Strangely, unlike before, the irritating voice didn’t continue right away.

Several seconds passed before it finally spoke again.

“…Everyone Has Their Own Fate notification error. After rigorous verification, due to special circumstances, the contract the player just signed is unable to select the player.”

Holy shit. It could even tell him that?

Zhu Zeyu lowered his head and looked at the contract before him.

Heh-heh. Unable to select him, huh?

On the surface, he shuddered and stared nervously at the contract paper.

“Captain, there shouldn’t be a problem now, right?”

“I’m not going to die, am I?”

Jin Rongxu had grown thoroughly impatient.

He couldn’t be bothered to respond to Zhu Zeyu and turned directly toward Li Daochang, gripping the knife firmly in his hand.

“You just said that I don’t have to sign this contract, right?”

Li Daochang grinned eerily.

“Of course. Isn’t that so?”

It had come here only to deal with Zhu Zeyu, who had provoked it.

As for the rest…

Li Daochang’s murky eyes swept across the several players in the room, as well as the Walking Corpse sprawled limply on the floor like a useless wreck.

The creature that had gone to its house—something that looked no different from a supernatural being, though a faint player-like scent could be detected upon closer inspection—had said that this captain was some kind of puppet under its control.

Looking at things now, there were indeed some clues.

The expressions of all the other players were vivid and distinct, especially Pot Lid and Zhu Zeyu. They carried the unmistakable vitality of the living, and the scent of their blood made the stale, moldy air seem sweet.

But Jin Rongxu’s expression appeared rather monotonous. He had only a few expressions, like an emotionless wooden figure.

Li Daochang’s smile widened.

Regardless, the remaining contracts had all been signed. The lives and money of these players already belonged to it.

As for Jin Rongxu, it could return to its house and plot there.

Li Daochang withdrew its gaze, turned around, and headed for the main entrance.

Holy shit.

Zhu Zeyu panicked.

How could this thing arrive so quickly and leave just as quickly?

That wouldn’t do. The marriage contract still hadn’t been signed!

What did it mean by going back?

Did Zhu Yan’s true body have to sign the contract personally?

Zhu Zeyu immediately called out, “Wait!”

He had gotten too deeply into character. His voice still carried a trace of timid fear.

The players in the room all turned to look at him, while Pot Lid began shrieking again.

“What are you trying to do now?! Haven’t you caused enough trouble already? Shut up!”

He genuinely looked terrified of Li Daochang and had nearly wriggled beneath the table.

The corner of Zhu Zeyu’s mouth twitched.

What a joke. Jin Rongxu, was this really the soldier you had painstakingly chosen?

“How am I supposed to shut up?”

Zhu Zeyu’s voice was still trembling, but his words were righteous and impassioned.

He edged toward Jin Rongxu, ignoring the other man’s disgusted look and the body language that clearly said, Don’t come near me. Pretending to be timid, he grabbed Jin Rongxu by the sleeve.

“Captain, you need to get to the bottom of this.”

Zhu Zeyu lowered his voice, making a reasonable argument.

“Look, I’m not saying I suspect anything without reason. That broadcast emphasized strength right from the beginning. Wasn’t its target obviously you?”

Zhu Zeyu’s Acting ability had remained active the entire time. He was playing the Zhu Zeyu from the official profile card, a player whose level was only three.

Acting could deceive the Walking Corpse, but it couldn’t fool Li Daochang.

However, the disguise provided by the Demon Cloak could.

It seemed Li Daochang hadn’t grown suspicious yet.

Zhu Zeyu continued to deceive it. There was no problem.

“Look around. Other than you, is there anyone else here with comparable strength?”

Zhu Zeyu spoke quietly to Jin Rongxu.

“Captain, you never went to Li Daochang’s house, yet Li Daochang came looking for you out of nowhere.”

“I feel that the reason isn’t entirely because of the things I said, either.”

Zhu Yan knew the level of Jin Rongxu’s mind-reading ability very well.

He also had a rough estimate of Li Daochang’s level.

Under normal circumstances, Jin Rongxu shouldn’t have been able to read Li Daochang’s thoughts—unless the ‘Mother’ inside Li Daochang’s body was putting on a complete act to deceive him.

Jin Rongxu turned his head and looked at Zhu Zeyu with undisguised disgust.

This person was far too annoying. He could sense that Zhu Zeyu didn’t truly respect him from the bottom of his heart, and he didn’t like that.

But he had to admit that what Zhu Zeyu had said made sense.

Moreover, he couldn’t read anything from the thoughts of the Li Daochang in front of him.

He could only rely on a pitiful scrap of intuition, guessing as he went!

For a moment, Jin Rongxu’s expression softened slightly.

“Captain, why don’t you ask…?”

Zhu Zeyu immediately pressed his advantage.

“Or, Captain, I have an idea. From what I understand, you believe that the endings seen by the Seer never go wrong.”

Jin Rongxu trusted the Seer very much.

So the scene she had witnessed could also serve as an excellent tool for persuasion.

“I was thinking that this special, alternative contract Li Daochang mentioned might be an excellent tool for advancing the instance.”

“Ask him. If you sign it, maybe it won’t just resolve the problems in this instance—it could also draw out the [Hunter]…”

Zhu Zeyu’s voice grew quieter, filled with unmistakable fear.

“Look, it still hasn’t shown itself…”

As he spoke, Zhu Zeyu observed Jin Rongxu’s expression.

The man’s face was too stiff, making it difficult to read any subtle details from it.

Fortunately, Jin Rongxu soon responded with his actions.

He looked toward Li Daochang in the distance and asked, “Old man, what do you want me to sign?”