Chapter 82

A tense atmosphere hung in the air, as if a bloody battle was about to erupt at any moment.

The magician looked down, staring at the sharp blade, his breathing so low it was almost inaudible.

A moment later, he stretched out two fingers, pinched the unsharpened back of the blade, and carefully moved the light blade away from under his neck.

The magician spread his hands innocently at Xie Xubai: "Don't scare me like that, sir. Now that you've verified that we can find another way to improve Pei Yuheng's character and complete our common mission, why would I go looking for trouble and make enemies for myself? The most terrifying thing is when innocent and harmless NPCs turn evil. Everyone knows not to mess with them."

"But it's obvious you don't consider yourself an ordinary person." Xie Xubai looked at him calmly. "Isn't your ultimate goal to do something provocative to attract attention and increase the popularity of your live stream?"

The magician's smile faded slightly.

He never expected that Xie Xubai would expose his inner plans, and once again at that.

After the light blade was moved, it remained hovering beside the magician without moving any further.

It emanates a faint golden halo, and the coldness dissipates where it is illuminated, becoming as warm and gentle as the spring sunshine.

But the magician knew that if he dared to harbor any ill intentions towards Pei Yuheng, this warm light could be sharp enough to take his life in an instant.

The magician snapped out of his reverie, sniffed dismissively, and said righteously, "Don't be so materialistic! Every viewer is precious and needs to be cherished. Since my fans came to my livestream with such high expectations, how could I possibly let them be disappointed by some bland and boring storyline?"

Xie Xubai glanced at him briefly: "I can see that you really care a lot about your image."

The magician sensed a hidden meaning in his words and asked with a smile, "What do you mean?"

"Even though your real body isn't here, and the live stream camera isn't here either, you still constantly regulate your words and actions, saying things that are considerate of your fans and make them happy." Xie Xubai looked at the magician, whose body was gradually tensing up, with indifference. "Do you have some kind of leverage that your fans have over you?"

Upon hearing this, the last trace of a smile vanished from the magician's lips.

The air was deathly still, signifying that the magician had no way to refute it.

As Xie Xubai said, the "he" who stayed here is a lifelike stand-in.

At first, the other party took charge of the overall situation, ordering Pei Yuheng to do a thorough cleaning, and the magician was still worried and stayed there to watch for a long time.

Seeing that the task he had set up was progressing step by step without any major problems, he simply used his skill to escape, leaving behind a controllable shell similar to a puppet to monitor the scene.

I went out to find my teammates who were lost in various places, and to survey the terrain of the dungeon and search for clues to clear the dungeon.

Just then, he found two teammates and kept saying sweet words to comfort the wealthy fan who was terrified by the monster and was crying his eyes out.

He rescued several random players and earned a large amount of points as a reward.

Those who frequently watch magicians' live streams will know that magicians' ability to escape unscathed and multitask is basic skill.

As the fifth strongest fighter, his abilities go far beyond what's mentioned above. On the one hand, he's very generous; aside from the playing card earring, he never hides his skills. Fans familiar with him can even recite his skills by heart.

This unique approach garnered the magician a large audience and immense popularity. At the time, many people were skeptical, saying he was willing to do anything for clicks and that he would eventually be targeted and his career would collapse.

But no.

Even though many players have the Magician's skill list and want to frame him or use him as a stepping stone on their road to fame, none of them can truly defeat him.

Until Xie Xubai appeared.

The magician gave Xie Xubai a cryptic look, as if he were getting to know him all over again. Gone was his usual bright, business-like smile. He asked in a lukewarm tone, "When did you find out?"

Xie Xubai's tone remained unchanged: "Last night, around one or two in the morning?"

He noticed it from the first meeting: the magician's gaze would occasionally fall unintentionally on the upper left corner.

Based on his observations of players like Yan Yue, there was a virtual personal panel for each player, which only they could see.

It seems the magician was observing the viewers' reactions in the live stream by checking the increase in his personal score.

This person really cares about the audience's opinion, so much so that he forgot to make the puppet maintain the same timidity and cowardice as the real person.

The magician's heart sank, almost as fast as when his real body left.

In other words, Xie Xubai had already noticed something amiss almost at the same time he left.

The magician, whose tricks were easily seen through time and time again, felt a chill run down his spine for the first time, constantly wondering if he would be stripped naked at any moment.

He tried to put on an indifferent smile again, calmly facing Xie Xubai's composed scrutiny, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't manage a smile.

Since the matter of the substitute had already been exposed, the magician simply spoke frankly: "...Who exactly are you? Whether it's the first clear ranking or the combat power ranking, I don't say I know them all by heart, but I've at least dealt with them. There's no one like you."

"Your steps are heavy, your breathing is uneven, and you seem to have received almost no physical enhancement. But your mental strength is very high, and your personal skills are related to mental suggestion. Are you specializing in mental arts? Sigh, I can't figure it out. I have no idea who you are."

The magician asked suspiciously, "Could it be that you are the legendary ghost player? You work alone, don't stream, don't join guilds, and refuse to be on the leaderboards."

Xie Xubai remained noncommittal.

"Goodness." The Magician took it as a yes and gave a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart. "You're even more outrageous than those at their peak. You're the modern-day ascetic."

He used a prop to clean his dirty shoes, stepped off the sofa, and casually put his arm around Xie Xubai's shoulder: "To be honest, for a moment just now I was wondering if you were the special NPC Xie Xubai in disguise."

"Or perhaps, you are another special NPC like Xie Xubai who has awakened self-awareness and has some kind of kinship with Pei Yuheng."

Noticing Xie Xubai's indifferent glance, the magician grinned: "Now it seems, how could that be? You are much more capable than that so-called Xie Xubai! Everyone says that he didn't make a move before because he was pretending to be weak, but I can see that he doesn't have the strength to subdue the Ghost King at all. He even had to compromise and pretend to be an ordinary passerby when he first faced Yan Yue."

The magician patted Xie Xubai's shoulder hard: "Someone like you is a real boss. I mean, the aura, the aura of confidence and self-importance!"

Xie Xubai subtly dodged his hand, and feeling that he had almost dispelled the man's suicidal thoughts, he revealed the purpose of his casual conversation with him: "Is your true form near Pei Yuheng?"

The magician paused, then instantly flashed away, warily keeping a distance of eight feet from Xie Xubai, fearing that another blade of light would be held to his neck.

Such a highly accurate, talking, and laughing lifelike avatar puppet cannot be used without limit. Its skill cooldown time is extremely long, and damaging even one of them would be extremely painful for him.

“If I suspected you would do something, I would have gone with Pei Yuheng when he left.” Xie Xubai smiled slightly. “The fact that I’m standing here now is enough to show how much I trust you.”

The magician had the illusion that the big bad wolf was deceiving the little white rabbit.

However, seeing Xie Xubai, who was usually so serious, smile gently at him, he couldn't help but feel a subtle ripple in his heart, like a feather tickling his soul.

"If you want to grab attention, gain traffic and popularity, or put on a grand performance, I can cooperate with you. I think you have seen my abilities. With me as your performance assistant, you won't be disappointed."

Xie Xubai pushed up his glasses: "On the condition that you take good care of Pei Yuheng, the target of my mission, and don't let anyone hurt him, not even a single hair on his head."

"In the real world, you'd definitely be a ruthless swindler running a company," the magician muttered. "Alright, where are you headed now?"

If Xie Xubai hadn't had other things to do, given how much he cared about Pei Yuheng, he wouldn't have had the chance to act as a bodyguard.

"That's none of your concern," Xie Xubai said calmly. "If you're curious about me or don't trust me, feel free to follow me. But if I catch you even once—"

The magician's expression changed slightly, and his body tensed slightly: "What do you want?"

No one can be completely without fear when faced with a threat, and he was no exception.

Xie Xubai glanced at the magician's body, which seemed to scream "want to run," and raised his eyelids: "I'll tell your fans that the real you is a coward who's afraid of everything."

"..." It took the magician a while to react, staring at him in bewilderment, "???"

The Infinite Game was filled with deceit and bloodshed; he had heard all sorts of cruel words about skinning people alive and eating their flesh and blood, but he had never heard such a childish and naive threat.

But it was this childish threat that made the magician's heart skip a beat, his sphincter tighten, and he asked repeatedly, "No, how did I act like a coward? What kind of nonsense are you spouting to fool me? Are you kidding me? Pei Yu, stop right there and explain yourself! Hey—you're not streaming, are you??"

Xie Xubai had already gone downstairs.

He didn't completely trust the magician, but Pei Yuheng was protected by the magician's spiritual power, and the rules would also ensure Pei Yuheng's safety. That was why he felt at ease letting Pei Yuheng go home alone.

As for now, he does need to confirm something important; he can't stay by Pei Yuheng's side forever.

Today the weather is bright and sunny, the sky is a clear, deep blue, and there isn't a cloud in sight. Stepping from the dimly lit bar into the bright sunshine, it's hard not to feel a sense of surreal disorientation.

Xie Xubai raised his eyelids and looked at the world of towering buildings before him.

The wide asphalt concrete road is bustling with traffic, the lush green belt stretches straight along the street, and commuters hurry by, holding the latest large-screen mobile phones. Various modern and simple signs and buildings can be seen everywhere.

If Xie Xubai hadn't been certain that he had traveled back twenty years, looking at everything before him, he would have thought he was still on the original timeline.

Last night, Xie Xubai had some suspicions because of the bar's modern decor, and now that it has been confirmed, he is even more confused.

Is this world inherently illusory, or has human civilization and technology stagnated without people's awareness?

Both theories are chilling to the bone and send shivers down one's spine.

Xie Xubai frowned, unable to understand. After returning to the past, he had too many questions to answer.

Originally, it was thought that the gold-rimmed glasses had brought him to this period and helped Pei Yuheng by accident, but now that it has been added to the investigation of the past, it seems to be intentional.

"Thank you for helping me." He rubbed his glasses and smiled as he expressed his gratitude.

The gold-rimmed glasses remained slow to react, as lazy as a hibernating tortoise. Only when Xie Xubai called it would it, no matter how lazy it was, scurry back.

Xie Xubai smiled and turned to a certain direction in the city.

He and Ms. Xie Yuchun were locals, but for a long period of time, Ms. Xie Yuchun, seemingly out of necessity, took him to work in another province. She only brought him back when he was on his deathbed.

He was not yet born at this time, but his mother was still alive.