A Dangerous Bargain

At the mere thought that the youth would soon be staying by his side forever, the man’s mood became exceptionally bright. He even forgot to release Zhou Yue’s “creditor” to collect the debt.

He watched the youth patiently, waiting for his answer.

The youth, however, fell into a state of worry.

He truly wanted to coax information out of the man, but he didn’t know what he had that could be used for a trade.

In this strange dungeon world, he had nothing. Even if he left the dungeon, all he possessed were worldly goods that surely wouldn’t move this person.

The youth’s ability to hide his emotions was far too poor; almost whatever he thought could be seen on his face.

“Can’t think of what to exchange with me?” The man took a step closer. He forcefully suppressed the intense, almost shivering excitement that surged when he approached the youth and asked.

Being at such close proximity made Ye Shengge feel uncomfortable.

He furrowed his brows and took a small step back, wanting to maintain a slightly safer distance.

However, his back hit a wall. Having nowhere left to retreat, he could only piteously be cornered by the man.

“I don’t have anything I can exchange with you,” Ye Shengge said helplessly, his eyelashes trembling.

If the dungeon boss treated him like any other NPC, he could have just broken the jars and risked everything. But the dungeon boss treated him specially. For some unknown reason, the man clearly had no intention of hurting him and was even unexpectedly easy to coax.

Under these circumstances, he timidly compromised with reality and chose not to proactively cause trouble.

But not causing trouble didn’t mean he would agree to things he couldn’t do. Thus, he tactfully refused to make a deal with the dungeon boss.

However, hearing this refusal, the man didn’t get angry. Instead, he said decisively, “You do.”

Ye Shengge felt somewhat helpless.

He really had nothing. Even his place to stay was handled by Mu Jinran out of pity. How could he possibly have anything left for a trade? Did the dungeon boss not know this at all?

However, what the man said next not only cleared his confusion but also made him understand the reason for that decisiveness.

“You can exchange yourself.” When saying this, the man’s tone was full of anticipation. His eyes remained fixed on Ye Shengge, his gaze suggestively hot beyond measure.

Like a hungry wolf staring greedily at a hard-won prey, yet worrying about startling the timid creature, he had to patiently lie in wait for the moment to strike and win.

To him, although the final result would be the same, he still hoped the youth would agree proactively. It would give him a greater sense of achievement.

But to Ye Shengge, this sentence was off the charts in terms of shame.

Without thinking, he shook his head vigorously in refusal.

The incident in the woods was an accident; at the time, he couldn’t react at all, which gave the other party an opportunity. But now was different. He wasn’t a “casual” person; naturally, he wouldn’t agree.

“You can know whatever you want.” The man thought the chips weren’t big enough to attract the youth, so he made a promise without blinking.

As the most special existence in this world, the man had the confidence that no matter what the youth wanted to know, he could tell him—as long as the youth gave him the corresponding reward.

This promise was indeed very attractive to Ye Shengge. He suddenly hesitated, and a rather uncharitable thought even surfaced.

Could he play along with the dungeon boss first, coax out the man’s true identity while they interacted, and then quickly submit the answer to leave the dungeon?

While uncharitable, it was certainly feasible.

“Can I really know anything?” Ye Shengge tested the waters cautiously.

The man wanted to nod, but he suddenly remembered what happened in the woods last time. He furrowed his brows beneath the mask and added a condition: “As long as you don’t ask for my name.”

Fearing the youth would think he was going back on his word, the man hurriedly said, “But if you really want to know, I will tell you in four days.”

Ye Shengge’s heart sank.

Four days from now was the final deadline for the task.

By then, he would be as dead as could be. What use would it be to know who the dungeon boss was? Perhaps the incident would even be broadcast to the audience, leading to more people mocking him.

After all, from the previous comments, he was the first player in this dungeon to have the chance to contact the boss, and he had done so more than once.

Yet he was so clumsy that he couldn’t guess the other’s identity at all, not even a general range.

“Well? Have you considered it?” The man’s tone was very calm; one couldn’t tell how anxious he was inside.

“I can agree, but you can’t do anything too excessive.” Ye Shengge struggled for a long time but was still unwilling to give up this great opportunity. However, worried that agreeing too fast would make the man suspicious, he put on an act of bargaining.

This was Ye Shengge’s best performance yet, successfully deceiving the man.

Hearing this, the man even speculated if his own attitude had been too rushed, thus scaring the youth.

He felt the youth’s request was perfectly reasonable.

He needed to give the youth some time to adjust. After all, the future was long. Once he handled the death game and got what he wanted, he could grant the youth eternal life and keep him by his side forever. At that point, wouldn’t he be able to do whatever he wanted?

So, he nodded in agreement without hesitation, completely unaware that the youth was only thinking about how to trick him into revealing more clues.

But even if he had known, he would have done so willingly, even cooperating with the youth to keep the act going.

“Then can you tell me now why you started the anonymous red packets, and how those people died?” Ye Shengge naturally applied the tactics he used to coax his brother on the dungeon boss. Sweet words flowed out as if they cost nothing, and he even threw in some flattery: “After all, you don’t look like a bad person. I just can’t figure it out.”

Everyone likes to hear nice things, let alone when they come from Ye Shengge’s mouth.

Those soft, sweet praises made the man so excited he wanted to go out and run a few laps.

But the jealous beating of someone was already embarrassing enough; he couldn’t continue to lose face in front of the youth.

“They did unforgivable things; now they need to pay their debts.” After speaking, worried about leaving a psychological shadow of a “executioner” in the youth’s heart, he quickly explained: “But their deaths weren’t my doing. Their creditors did it themselves.”

He wasn’t lying. The only thing he concealed was that when he saw that foul-souled Luck King loudly cursing Ye Shengge, he was so angry he let the Luck King’s creditor act immediately to “teach him a lesson.”

Insulting the man himself was fine, but insulting Ye Shengge was not. He had to make the guy suffer.

However, the Luck King’s creditor apparently misunderstood his meaning, interpreting “teaching a lesson” as “bloody murder.”

At the time, he actually felt it was a pity, thinking the Luck King died too easily.

“Creditor?” Ye Shengge couldn’t help but cry out.

The misdeeds committed by the Luck King and the student who jumped this morning were already common knowledge. The only person who could be called their creditor was likely that female student who had committed suicide.

But wasn’t that female student dead? How could…

[System, tell me quickly—there are no ghosts or monsters in this dungeon, right?] Ye Shengge’s voice trembled violently.

He wasn’t afraid of anything except ghosts.

The system asked in surprise: [You didn’t know?]

It was so obvious; it thought Ye Shengge had guessed long ago.

Otherwise, why would a ceiling fan fall so coincidentally? Why would someone who didn’t believe in the death game suddenly jump? Why would he be touched in his dreams while sleeping, only to wake up with marks on his body?

Even more… why would he be touched by “someone” in the dormitory?

Who would have thought this little idiot truly hadn’t suspected a thing!

[I haven’t seen any, so I thought…] Ye Shengge’s voice grew quieter.

Actually, when he was being touched in the dorm without Mu Jinran or Jiang Yan noticing, he had that suspicion.

But he had never seen a ghost or monster appear, and the woods were very safe. Finally, finding that the dungeon boss was similar to a normal person, he thought he was overthinking. But now…

“The creditor… is she a person or a ghost?” The system’s attitude already proved there was a problem with this dungeon, but Ye Shengge still harbored a sliver of hope. He stared expectantly at the dungeon boss before him, who—aside from wearing a ghoulish mask—looked like a normal person in every other way.

“Now is not the time for that.” The man didn’t answer immediately but bargained instead: “I answered one of your questions. In return, you should give me a little reward. That way, it’ll be easier for me to answer your next question. Don’t you agree?”

Before Ye Shengge could refuse with his previous excuse, the man added: “It won’t be anything too much—just a very, very light kiss.”

But the memory of that almost brutal kiss in the woods was still vivid. The “very light” in the man’s mouth held no credibility for Ye Shengge.

Furthermore, looking at the dungeon boss’s reaction, it seemed he planned to trade one kiss for one answer.

But just one kiss could take half his life. If there were many…

Ye Shengge was suddenly a bit afraid.

He would definitely be kissed to death.