Chapter 10: Trash

"Gibberish! If you want to kill me, just say it."

He knew it!! 100% friendly fire!

When the electric current pierced through Li Luohan's heart, Xie De was also badly shocked. If he wasn't used to the stimulation of this electric current normally, he would absolutely be crying and howling like a ghost right now.

This unreliable guy Gibberish was still going on about how there should be more trust between people? Did it even consider if he dared to trust it?!

Good lord, it almost shocked him numb!

And more importantly, didn't this chuunibyou Gibberish know it was a trash system?

It actually managed to power itself off!! And short-circuited the earphones too!

(╯>∧<)╯ ＼ ┻━┻

++

Talk about killing a thousand enemies but losing eight hundred of your own.

Xie De couldn't stand the piercing static in his earphones for even half a minute. Taking them off and stuffing them in his pocket, he was utterly speechless at Gibberish. Resigning himself to his fate, he took out his phone and manually turned it on. A loading circle appeared on the screen, spinning endlessly. It would take at least five minutes for the phone to boot up.

But he couldn't stay here.

Li Luohan's corpse was still staring at him with wide-open eyes.

The headless ghost at the end of the corridor was desperately slamming into the cafeteria door. The glass door rattled, looking like it wouldn't hold on for much longer.

Xie De took off, striding towards another area.

Hu Wei watched him, nimbly leaned down to loot the corpse, and then quickly followed.

Outside, it seemed to be drizzling again. The sky was covered in dark clouds; it was clearly daytime, yet it felt like night.

Mechanical rumblings echoed continuously from the deserted factory. It was busy and noisy, but only the supervisors were present, pacing back and forth with their hands behind their backs, looking ferocious and malicious.

Xie De didn't have the guts to go near those ghosts. Without Gibberish around, he felt completely unsure of himself.

So he just bobbed and weaved, swiftly making his way back to the room they had stayed in last night, which he deemed a relatively safe place.

Just as they reached the corridor, Hu Wei hesitantly stopped him. "Sir, won't it be too dangerous ahead?"

Ah?

Dangerous?

Wasn't this the way back to their room? How could it be dangerous?

Although Xie De's brain was slow to process, he firmly remembered Gibberish's advice. The little girl in front of him was destined to be a big shot. She must have noticed something he hadn't.

He hurriedly asked, "What do you think is dangerous?"

Under the incandescent light, a cold gleam flashed through his dark green eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, as if carrying a hint of mockery.

He was mocking her overestimation of her own capabilities and her weakness.

Hu Wei froze, a flash of panic crossing her face.

"Sorry, Mr. 39, I shouldn't have questioned your decision."

She awkwardly tried to curry favor.

"I shouldn't use my own strength to gauge yours. These are the items and wealth from Li Luohan's body. Rhey are effective against abnormalities. I know you don't need them, Mr. 39, but maybe they could be of some use to you. Besides, these should have been yours to begin with."

Hu Wei took out an old revolver and a 30-gram gold bar she had just looted and handed them to Xie De.

This turn of events completely stunned Xie De.

Big sister, what are you talking about?

Right at that moment, Gibberish finally finished booting up. An emoticon of [powerlessly leaning against the wall (_ _ )/|] appeared on the phone screen, followed by a message notification and a vibration.

Feeling his phone vibrate, Xie De glanced over.

He saw Gibberish's message.

"Ugh, Host, it's so good to still be alive."

You have the nerve to say that.

Xie De was genuinely amused by the sheer audacity.

"Heh."

[Gibberish, recognize your own capabilities. You're going to drag me down with you at this rate.]

Having fried its own earphones, Gibberish could now only huddle in the phone and weakly send messages.

"You can't blame me for this, it's my first time too! Host, let me tell you, this dungeon system can help me upgrade and patch my missing loopholes. The price is clearing the scenario, clearing all of them and climbing to the very top! Host, I agreed to it. So, for my sake, can you become a super big shot?"

Xie De replied with a cold face, "You really are a noob who loves to dream."

There's no way around it. You're already bound to me, it's too late to regret it. (๑-`д´-๑) Let's climb to the top together!"

Gibberish shamelessly retorted.

"Heh." Xie De let out another sneer.

Hu Wei watched him timidly.

Xie De realized Hu Wei was still holding out the gun and gold bar. It didn't seem appropriate to refuse now, so he quickly took them, feeling slightly awkward. So awkward that he forgot about the danger Hu Wei had mentioned and subconsciously kept walking forward.

Gibberish was still sending messages, and Xie De looked down.

"Host, you can do this! That gun in your hand is a Smith & Wesson M500, known as the most powerful revolver in the world. It's a bit old, but it's still very good."

"So what? I don't even know how to use it."

"...How can you not know? It's already loaded! Just raise it, pull back the hammer, and pull the trigger!"

Pull the hammer? Pull the trigger?

It was inconvenient to hold his phone, so he put it away. He fiddled with the gun in his hand slightly and pulled back the hammer…

Looking up, he saw the rotting face from that morning giving him a bizarre smile.

!

The corpse had come alive! It was less than half a meter away from him!

Pull the trigger!

Xie De didn't even know he could react so fast. He pointed the revolver at the corpse and fired five consecutive shots. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the final shot completely blew its head to pieces.

After emptying the cylinder in one breath, the corpse fell back into the corner with a heavy thud.

Damn, that was intense.

The recoil of the handgun made his hand throb with pain. Xie De closed his eyes, desperately coming to terms with a stark reality: there was no safe place in this scenario!

Behind him, Hu Wei's mouth fell open slightly.

......

From an outsider's perspective, the man had been casually checking messages on his phone while absentmindedly toying with his gun, completely unfazed by the abnormality slowly creeping up on him.

Hu Wei's heart raced as she watched the man intently.

It wasn't until he pocketed his phone and looked up at the perfect moment, calmly raising his weapon like a precision machine and obliterating the threat with five shots, that she fully understood.

Hu Wei finally grasped the sheer gap between herself and Mr. 39. This was the true strength of a powerhouse.

However, Hu Wei narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting to the corner of the phone peeking out of Mr. 39's pocket. She couldn't help but wonder: why did Mr. 39 look so displeased when reading his messages?

Did someone as powerful as him also have things that troubled him?

And most importantly, how was his phone receiving messages inside a scenario? Was Mr. 39 really not a newcomer? What exactly was going on?

Mr. 39's identity was truly shrouded in mystery…

From the darkness on the other side, the sound of clapping emerged.

Clap, clap, clap…

Wei Yanchi appeared from the shadows with a gentle smile. Wearing a crisp white shirt, he seemed to radiate his own light.

"We met again."

His gaze bypassed Hu Wei and landed squarely on Xie De. Smiling obediently, he said, "Thanks to Mr. 39 for subduing it. I just finished checking the clues and realized this corpse was the key to passing this level. Did you figure that out long ago, Mr. 39?"

He's the protagonist, figure it out my ass.

Xie De actually wanted to smile back, but he couldn't force it. He silently stepped aside to light a cigarette, revealing the corpse behind him.

Wei Yanchi stepped forward to inspect the body, and Hu Wei quickly followed suit, not wanting to be outdone.

Xie De didn't want to look at the corpse at all. With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he took out his phone again to bicker with Gibberish.

"This is all your fault, Gibberish. If I wasn't busy chatting with you, would I have failed to notice that corpse? And why couldn't you warn me sooner? If you had, I would've run away!"

Gibberish, acting tough to hide its guilt, stubbornly shot back.

"What are you yelling about? You didn't die, did you? And if you ran, what would happen to Hu Wei?"

"What could I do? Run away together, obviously! You trash! You managed to shut yourself down just by shocking someone and even broke my Bluetooth earphones. You're too useless. Other systems aren't anything like you."

Gibberish gave him a virtual middle finger, both of them trading venomous insults.

"Don't call me trash. If you fail this mission, you're the trash! You're the loser!"

Hu Wei nudged Wei Yanchi with her elbow, signaling him with her eyes to look at Mr. 39.

Wei Yanchi openly looked over, only to see Mr. 39 frowning deeply. His docile silver hair cascaded down to his waist. Truly beautiful, yet dangerous. Then, the phone was put away.

The glowing screen flashed for a brief second.

With his excellent eyesight, Wei Yanchi caught the words displayed on the screen: Mission failure, trash, loser.

His expression faltered for a moment.

Trash? Loser?

Were those words directed at Mr. 39?

Who would dare scold him like that? Why doesn't Mr. 39 speak up? Why does he let this person be so arrogant?

Wei Yanchi withdrew his gaze, silently concluding that the leader of this organization was a real bastard.