Chapter 76

“Oh? What are your standards for choosing a little toy?” Bai Xuechao asked, pretending to be interested, his tone relaxed.

His current state was getting worse and worse, making it difficult to fight Yuan Lan, so he tried to drag out the time with small talk. As long as he could hold out until Ji Chuanze returned, things would get much better.

“No standards,” Yuan Lan said, curving his lips. He took a step forward with his black leather-shoed foot, closing in on Bai Xuechao. “It depends on my mood.”

His gaze was firmly locked on Bai Xuechao, his golden eyes reflecting Bai Xuechao’s smiling face.

“For example, I like you very much right now,” he said.

Especially at a time like this, he couldn’t show any weakness.

Bai Xuechao knew very well that if he showed even a hint of weakness or retreat at this moment, Yuan Lan would attack directly again, just as he had before.

Yuan Lan’s previous attack was a form of probing; the other party had already noticed his poor physical condition. It was just that the first attempt didn’t succeed, so he was looking for another opportunity to land a decisive blow. Or perhaps, the other party was doing it on purpose, enjoying seeing him constantly vigilant and defensive, savoring the feeling of toying with his prey.

Either way, Yuan Lan wouldn’t give up easily.

“I like myself too,” Bai Xuechao said.

In his mind, he quickly asked Xiao 6, “Can you see where Ji Chuanze is right now? Tell me.”

Yuan Lan slightly raised his hand, and translucent threads moved and coiled between his half-palm, half-finger gloves, like nimble and obedient snakes.

He murmured in a low voice, “If I use my special ability to turn you into my little toy, can you still be as eloquent as you are now? If you become too stupid, I’ll be very troubled. Shall we gamble? It would be good if you could just get rid of your special ability… No, it would be more interesting if you broke free yourself, wouldn’t it?”

At the same time, Xiao 6 used the System’s authority to check Ji Chuanze’s activity log, answering quickly, “He’s at a milk tea shop 3.6 kilometers from Dream Game City! The staff member is currently sealing the milk tea he bought!”

3.6 kilometers??

Ji Chuanze ran that far just for a milk tea?

At the other party’s speed, he should be back in about three minutes. Even if he was delayed by something, it shouldn’t exceed four minutes. He just needed to hold on for these few minutes.

“Right, this works too!” Yuan Lan finally stopped muttering to himself. With a flick of his hand, the threads on his hand dissipated. He bent down, leaning in towards Bai Xuechao with a cheerful and excited smile, and invited him quite enthusiastically, “Join the Apocalypse Society! I’ll give you much better treatment than you have now.”

Good heavens, he was poaching from a Dark Organization.

At this moment, Xiao 6 suddenly cried out in a panic, “Host, this is bad! The protagonist group is on their way back!”

Bai Xuechao: “?? “

What was this situation now?

If the protagonist group returned, Bai Guzi would likely edit what happened between him and Yuan Lan into the comic.

Bai Xuechao immediately reviewed their conversation to see if there were any parts that exposed his identity. Only Yuan Lan’s previous remark, “I’ll give you much better treatment than you have now,” somewhat revealed that he had joined a special ability organization, but “now” could also be interpreted as his current life, so it wasn’t a big problem.

The bigger problem now was that the protagonist group, at level 4, was about to encounter a level 9 villain. What was the difference between this and encountering a big boss right after leaving the newbie village? Even with that special ability energy crystal, they wouldn’t be able to defeat him.

Yuan Lan waited a few seconds without getting a response from Bai Xuechao and urged him with a gentle smile, “Have you made up your mind?”

Bai Xuechao said, “Then I’ll have to disappoint you. I don’t plan to join the Apocalypse Society.”

“Is that so?” Yuan Lan sighed, his tone somewhat ambiguous. “That’s truly a pity.”

Before his words faded, a translucent thread suddenly shot out from the void, reflecting a faint white shimmer under the light of the chandelier, flying straight towards Bai Xuechao.

Bai Xuechao sat calmly in his original spot, his dense, snow-white eyelashes fluttering gently like a feather fan.

The world abruptly stopped at this instant.

Bai Xuechao used the first special ability he obtained—

Time Stop.

At his current level, he could stop time in a large area for a maximum of 6 seconds.

Within the stopped time, only he retained the ability to move and think. All other people and objects would be static.

This meant that after he released his special ability, Yuan Lan wouldn’t know that time had been stopped by him.

Bai Xuechao glanced at the current position of Yuan Lan’s puppet threads, forcibly gathered some strength in his body, and prepared to dodge immediately after releasing his special ability.

In fact, if he could, he would have preferred to directly cut Yuan Lan’s throat.

But he still needed to hide his villain identity from the protagonist group, so he couldn’t use any special abilities other than “Water,” “Fire,” and “Dream Game City.” If Yuan Lan’s neck suddenly started gushing blood after he released his special ability, then he would be exposed. He dared to use “Time Stop” because he believed Bai Guzi wouldn’t edit this stopped time into the comic.

As long as he didn’t make any movements during this time, causing the footage to be unable to seamlessly connect, he wouldn’t expose that he had other special abilities.

After 6 seconds, the special ability was deactivated.

Bai Xuechao leaned back to dodge the threads, and at the same time, water spread across the floor tiles beneath his feet, and a water wall suddenly erected between him and Yuan Lan.

From both sides of the water wall, a stream of water sprayed out. The outer stream was a high-pressure water with extreme impact, aiming directly for Yuan Lan’s forehead, which was within inches. At this speed and force, if it hit, it would definitely penetrate Yuan Lan’s skull. The inner stream of water was much gentler, smoothly pushing the sofa chair Bai Xuechao was sitting on away from Yuan Lan.

Dense threads appeared in the void, instantly weaving into an impenetrable cloth, blocking Yuan Lan’s front and deflecting the high-pressure water.

The battle had begun.

Yuan Lan laughed wildly like a neurotic madman, raising his hand and waving it, sending countless threads flying towards Bai Xuechao.

Bai Xuechao used the water wall to block them.

But perhaps due to the level suppression, those tough threads effortlessly pierced through the water wall and continued towards him!

Facing this situation, Bai Xuechao remained calm and immediately mobilized the water flow to push the sofa chair he was sitting on away.

If he couldn’t block it, couldn’t he at least dodge it?

Yuan Lan’s puppet threads grazed past his shoulder with a narrow miss.

“What’s wrong?” Yuan Lan’s voice was as soft as a fallen angel’s feather, and he asked gently, “Can’t you get up?”

Before Bai Xuechao could say anything, he continued, “Isn’t joining the Apocalypse Society good? I have a very powerful doctor here. If you’re willing to join, I’ll have her treat you well. Whatever illness it is, she can cure it. But you can’t fall in love with her, you know, I’ll get angry because you’re mine.”

Bai Xuechao: “…”

Okay, he knew that the Apocalypse Society’s doctor should be female because generally, they wouldn’t worry about a male falling in love with another male.

He was truly dedicated to being able to subconsciously analyze information at a time like this.

Xiao 6 excitedly performed a set of military boxing in code, emitting a silent roar: Families, who understands?! I’m shipping it!

Bai Xuechao wasn’t tempted by Yuan Lan’s proposal at all.

He was very clear about his own physical condition.

His weak and sickly constitution was partly congenital, and partly a side effect of the Devourment special ability, meaning his best physical state was still weak. And this congenital deficiency accounted for a larger proportion. In other words, even if one day he lost his special ability and no longer had the side effect of physical weakness, his body wouldn’t get better.

If a person born with a deformity and no legs were to seek treatment from a healing special ability user, no matter how powerful that special ability user was, they would not be able to grow new legs for the other party.

Because even the strongest healing special ability user cannot create something from nothing.

This was why he had agreed to bind with the System in the first place, because the System could provide him with a healthy body.

Bai Xuechao said, “What you said is very good, but I won’t join.”

“Alright, then I’ll just have to be a bit more forceful.” Yuan Lan pulled the puppet threads with his fingertips and said with a smile, “I’ll try to be gentle with you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep