The loving couple probably didn't expect Qi Xu to ask so bluntly, causing their movement of pulling a knife from their bag to slow down by a beat.
Qi Xu quickly and casually picked up a rock from the roadside and dashed toward them.
Instantly, the loving couple's expressions turned gloomy and stiff.
The man reacted swiftly, rapidly drawing the knife. To dodge the rock Qi Xu threw, he dove to the side. The rock grazed his shoulder and smashed into the ground, shattering into three or four pieces.
However, as he was very carefully protecting the child in his arms, Qi Xu noticed that the spirit child had arrived and was crouching by the road, watching the scene unfold.
The woman reacted even faster, swinging her bag backhand. The metal zipper scraped against Qi Xu's cheek, causing a sharp sting.
But Qi Xu didn't dodge. Using his momentum, he slammed into the man's lower back, hearing the other grunt and double over. Just as he was about to raise his foot to kick him, a sudden chill hit the back of his neck—it was the woman lunging forward with the knife, the blade barely half an inch from his skin.
Qi Xu abruptly ducked, driving his elbow viciously into the woman's abdomen. She cried out in pain and stumbled back. The moment the knife slipped from her grasp, the man had already scrambled up from the ground, clutching a broken brick and smashing it toward him.
Qi Xu tilted his head to dodge. The edge of the brick flew past, grazing his ear. Taking advantage of the motion, he grabbed the man's wrist and threw him to the ground with a shoulder throw. It had been a long time since he felt so weak...
If it weren't for his trained combat skills, he would have been beaten to a pulp by this couple's combined assault long ago.
Amidst the dull thud of the impact, the woman lunged forward, trying to bite Qi Xu's arm. Qi Xu stepped sideways to evade, raising his foot to step on her knife-wielding wrist. He heard the faint sound of bones grinding.
The man struggled on the ground, trying to get up. Qi Xu fluidly bent down, picked up the knife, and pressed it backhanded against the man's throat, panting as he said, "Try moving. I dare you."
The smell of blood drifted in the wind, left from the broken brick that had cut his ear earlier. The two people on the ground were deathly pale, no longer displaying their previously affectionate demeanor.
Enduring the pain in his shoulder and elbow, Qi Xu used their shirt jackets to tie up their hands and feet. The two- or three-year-old child beside them was crying loudly.
Qi Xu shot a glaring look over, and the child instantly stopped crying.
Mainly, he didn't want to attract other players. His current condition couldn't support another battle.
If it weren't for the fact that he felt it was wrong to break a promise, Qi Xu would have wanted to just take the knife and kill this family of three right then and there; they had already drawn the attention of people with ulterior motives.
If he dragged this out any longer, someone else might swoop in and steal the fruits of his labor.
"Kid, come here."
The evil spirit child floated over leisurely, looking down at its feet.
"Apologize to him, and I won't kill you."
The family of three uniformly glared at the spirit child with resentful eyes, and the child finally lost all hope.
It gave a very sad, wide-mouthed smile. Then, the family of three pixelated like a mosaic, slowly dissipating into the beautiful, quiet garden.
Qi Xu instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, he had remembered his promise to this child. "Killing" wasn't killing in the literal sense, but rather helping the child overcome its inner demons.
Good grief, it was one trap after another.
The spirit child turned to Qi Xu and said, "Thank you, and goodbye. I will teleport you out of the instance. Congratulations on successfully clearing the level."
"Don't do that, my friend."
The spirit child paused, tilting its head in confusion. "Your instance quest is complete. It's not my job to distribute the rewards."
"I know. What I mean is, do you want to come back with me? You don't seem like an instance-specific NPC, right?"
Qi Xu could strongly feel its sorrow. This shouldn't be the case; monster NPCs weren't supposed to have memories of their past.
The spirit child's eyes widened in surprise.
"You've already cleared the instance. Why do you want to take me with you?"
"I don't want you to be trapped in this instance forever. Come out, make some new friends, and experience a fun and interesting new human... new ghost life."
The one principle Qi Xu had consistently implemented throughout this round of the game was, "Unite all forces that can be united."
He already had human connections and monster connections, so it was only normal to add some ghost connections.
The spirit child thought seriously and finally nodded. "Once I save up enough energy to successfully detach from the instance, I'll go find you."
"Then don't teleport me away just yet. Earning money, I'm good at that. Your inner knot is untied now, right? Let's just set up a stall! 50 game coins for a chance to fight the evil spirit. I'll go solicit customers for you!"
The spirit child was dumbfounded for who knew how many times today...
"Can we really play it like that?"
"Is there any rule that says it's not allowed?"
Qi Xu began to scam... no, enlighten the little kid.
"Actually, you don't have that mental block anymore, right? So what's the difference between killing the evil spirit once and a hundred times? Might as well take the opportunity to earn more money for the future, don't you think?"
The spirit child nodded.
Rather than being trapped in this instance forever, repeatedly recalling sad past memories, it was better to follow this human player out and see the outside world.
"Do you know the Phantom Monster?"
"Yes."
"It's my monster too. It's coming out with me after this instance is over. Don't worry, I have a lot of monster friends."
"Then... okay?"
"It has to be okay! Come on, follow me."
Qi Xu took the spirit child and first returned to the Phantom Monster's location.
"Boss, you haven't left? We already received the broadcast notification that you can leave!"
The Phantom Monster was just feeling proud. As expected of the boss, with such a brilliant mind, becoming the first out of 10,000 players to clear the game!
"I want to take Lingling with me too, but I need to earn some more game coins, so I might as well leave a bit later."
The Phantom Monster clapped with the tattered rags on its body. "As expected of you."
Qi Xu changed back into the NPC outfit set, once again transforming into Ophelia Lyann van der Berg Moonshadow Gilded Rabbit Princess.
He also dressed Lingling up a bit. The already pale-faced child, who looked quite pitiful and endearing to begin with, now looked even more pitiful.
"I want to wear a dress too."
"Ah, are you a little boy or a little girl?"
Qi Xu really hadn't paid attention before, mainly because she had a buzz cut and was wearing tattered clothes.
"I'm a girl. It wasn't until elementary school that I found out I was a girl. They wanted a boy, so they always raised me as one."
Qi Xu suddenly understood why Lingling's parents had given up so swiftly after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
They were weirdos to begin with.
Qi Xu shook his head with a sigh. The most urgent task right now was to earn game coins!
After going to the monster shop to buy a megaphone, he started soliciting customers.
"Attention Region 88! Entrusted by the invincible Black Whirlwind at the top of the leaderboard: 88 game coins, guaranteed to get you through the instance!"
...........
