Chapter 31: Su Tanxia
“Senior, be careful; it might be a trap!” Zhen Yu quickly said.
The pressure of death weighed heavily on everyone’s mind after Silver Trojan added the new rule. Many players had no qualm doing despicable things like laying a trap.
Sun Yuan had thought of it the moment he started sprinting; what if it was a trap?
But he quickly abandoned that train of thought because he was confident in his own abilities. If the caller needed help, he would act based on the situation. And if it was a trap…
That’s also fine. It was an excellent opportunity to clean up these types of players before the games get even more dangerous down the line. He could benefit from them anyway.
Flattening the soil beneath his feet, Sun Yuan rushed toward the voice.
A guy was faced down on the ground and furiously clawing with both hands as he tried to escape.
A female student in a white one-piece dress was seated on his back; she repeatedly stabbed him in the back with a fruit knife.
Puchi! Puchi!
Blood splattered with every stab.
“S-Save me!” the guy shouted.
She looked up at Sun Yuan while grabbing the guy’s hair with her left hand. She pulled his head back towards her and stabbed his neck with the fruit knife in the other hand.
“…”
Sun Yuan’s heart palpitated at the violent scene.
Even though he had just killed someone, it was a clean hit to the head and not gruesome torture like this.
He noted that her hands didn’t tremble as she stabbed and killed.
The cry for help faded with his neck stabbed, and blood gushed out from the wound like a broken faucet.
It wasn’t long before he became a corpse.
“S-she’s Su Tanxia!” Zhen Yu exclaimed at the sight of the female student in white.
“You know her?” Sun Yuan asked.
The young woman had a tall stature that matched Sun Yuan’s height of about 180cm. This was with a pair of white laced sandals on her feet; she would be taller than Sun Yuan with a pair of high heels.
She wore a black cat hairpin on her head as her long hair cascaded down her shoulders. Paired with her bloodied white dress, she portrayed a convincing Sadako.
She was very beautiful.
Zhen Yu and Shen Jingran were equally beautiful with their own merits, and every man would proclaim that they were top-notch beauties.
But this woman was a step above them with a cold and arrogant air to her.
Despite killing a man moments prior, Su Tanxia’s calmness made it seem as though she was cutting fruits for desserts; not the slightest hint of emotion betrayed her.
Fear? Nervousness?
None of them exists.
“Although she ranked first in our university for her face and figure, she is an introvert. She’s rarely spotted outside class besides the occasional visit to the library.” Zhen Yu gossiped. “Her beauty brought her endless trouble, which led her to live off-campus for the second half of her freshman year.”
As a girl and a female streamer to boot, Zhen Yu was naturally attracted to juicy gossip like these and had inquired about them.
Sun Yuan was enlightened. It was impossible for the lecherous wolves in his dorm to not sneak a peek if she frequented the campus ground.
“She must have had a powerful familial background. I remembered how someone once posted her photos on the campus forum but were promptly deleted.” Zhen Yu added.
“What do the two of you want?”
Su Tanxia lifted the hem of her white dress with her left hand to clean her bloodied fruit knife.
Her actions revealed her milky white legs.
“You don’t plan on explaining your actions?”
Sun Yuan felt that this woman was as cold as an ice mountain.
She doesn’t have facial paralysis, does she?
How was she so indifferent after killing someone?
“Is there a point in doing so?” Su Tanxia asked in return. “Your baseball bat is still wet with blood.”
Sun Yuan raised his brows; she was very observant.
“My senior killed, but he did so out of justice!” Zhen Yu defended.
“Let’s just go.”
Sun Yuan felt that it was pointless to continue the conversation.
He had understood what happened with a single glance.
The guy who shouted for help must have attacked her, but she retaliated and killed him instead. He didn’t expect her to be as fierce as she was.
Sun Yuan was right on the money.
The dead man was called Li Mo, and he was classmates with Su Tanxia. He had been pursuing her but was rejected countless times.
This time, he thickened his skin as he shamelessly followed Su Tanxia into the tower of god. He followed, intending to gain her favor by protecting her but to no avail.
As the end of the first game approached, Li Mo, who hadn’t found a single mushroom, felt death creeping toward him. He suffered a mental breakdown from the stress and fear and wanted to force himself upon Su Tanxia.
He could still obtain her body even if he couldn’t obtain her heart.
However, he never expected the dainty-looking Su Tanxia in white to have practiced martial arts and had even concealed a fruit knife.
Li Mo ended up dying under Su Tanxia’s knife.
“Stop,” Su Tanxia said.
“What?” Sun Yuan’s mouth twitched. “You want to silence the witness?”
“I’ll buy three honeydew mushrooms, so name your price!”
Su Tanxia evaluated Sun Yuan and ignored Zhen Yu.
“I’m not selling!” Sun Yuan rejected.
So what if you are beautiful?
It’s not as if you are my girlfriend; why should I do as you say?
Su Tanxia scowled with displeasure.
“I’ll advise against doing anything rash, senior Su. You aren’t senior Sun’s opponent even if you’ve practiced martial arts.” Zhen Yu hid her mouth with her hands when she was done speaking as she shifted towards Sun Yuan and muttered, “Why is she so sure that you’ve excess mushrooms?”
“She could tell from our conditions. Players without sufficient honeydew mushrooms would be tired from searching through the night, but we looked as though we had a good night’s sleep.” Sun Yuan reasoned.
“OH!” Zhen Yu slapped her forehead with annoyance.
How did I fail to notice these details?
I am too stupid!
Wait, should I lean towards a cute and silly character instead?
My petite body would complement the role of a junior high school student!
This type of girl seems to be rising in popularity recently.
Zhen Yu was elated; she felt as if a door had just opened up for her.
“I’ve 1,700 points,” Su Tanxia said, “and I’ll give them all.”
“Senior previously sold each mushroom for 1,000 points!”
Zhen Yu had once heard of Su Tanxia’s cold and arrogant personality and aura that allowed no one near her. But she ended up having to beg senior to sell her some mushrooms as the game was coming to an end.
“Fine, I’ll owe you 1,300 points!” Su Tanxia looked toward Sun Yuan, “I’ll also owe you a favor.”
“What’s the use of this favor?” Zhen Yu’s lips curled in disapproval.
“If we were outside the tower, I could get my father to give you lots of money. He can even arrange a cushy job for you, be it in a state-owned enterprise or as a civil servant.” Su Tanxia eloquently said. “But these materialistic gains lost their worth the moment the world was gamified. Instead, my favor will allow you to have me kill someone, retreat when we are competing against each other, as well as the right to take away one of my equipment in the future…”
“Tsk, who doesn’t know how to boast?” Zhen Yu gave a disdainful look. “Why don’t I let you be the king of the world once I clear this game?”
Su Tanxia ignored Zhen Yu as she stared intently at Sun Yuan, “Your mushrooms should have been found by that fragrant pig, right?”
“It’s only because I might not catch a pig in time and that I don’t want to kill wantonly that I’m willing to owe you a favor. This is also your only chance to have me owe you a favor!” Su Tanxia looked up at the sky. “I’ll never make such mistakes once I’ve adapted to the game. It’ll be the law of the jungle then.”
“How arrogant can you get? What happens if you die soon after?” Zhen Yu asked a difficult question. “Won’t senior be losing out then? You have to give something substantial if you want the mushrooms.”
Su Tanxia lowered her head and used her white dress to clean the blood off the fruit knife, revealing her thigh.
Her action frightened Zhen Yu, who grabbed onto Sun Yuan’s sleeves.
Su Tanxia’s wordless actions seemed as though she was sharpening her weapon before a fight.
“You’re tempting me to propose sexual gratifications so that you’ll have a reason to kill me, right?”
Her words interested Sun Yuan; he felt that she was a principled person.
“That’s right!” Su Tanxia bluntly said, “Aren’t you moved by my beautiful face and long legs?”
“Fine, I’ll sell you three honeydew mushrooms for 3,000 points and a favor!” Sun Yuan agreed to the deal.
He did not spend much effort to obtain the mushrooms and would have earned 1,700 points even if Su Tanxia died early.
Since she should have gotten 1,000 points from the novice games, wouldn’t that mean she earned 700 points by killing the spore monsters?
She was incredible!
Su Tanxia brought up her game panel, keyed in 1,700 points into the trade menu, and tapped confirm.
She looked at the pig leashed by Zhen Yu with pursed lips after obtaining the three honeydew mushrooms.
“Isn’t senior incredible to have deciphered the key to this stage?”
Zhen Yu planted both hands on her hips as she pushed her chest forward.
“I would have thought of it too if I had been fortunate enough to come across this breed of pig,” Su Tanxia replied indifferently.
Her nonchalant attitude impressed Sun Yuan.
“I’ll return what I owe as soon as I can.”
Su Tanxia left when she was done speaking.
“She actually didn’t ask to team up with us?”
Zhen Yu was surprised yet filled with admiration. Su Tanxia’s arrogant character was something she would never possess throughout her life.
“Let’s go,” Sun Yuan said.
He wanted to find Zhuo Wen as soon as possible.
“Senior, was your DNA triggered when Su Tanxia lifted her dress to wipe her fruit knife?” Zhen Yu teased, “Because mine was.”
“Not interested.” Sun Yuan shook his head.
“Tsk!”
Zhen Yu didn’t believe him.
Dingdong!
[You have received a system notification, please check it as soon as possible.]
The two of them quickly brought up their game panel.
[Players who have collected three honeydew mushrooms are to follow the map and proceed to the teleportation array and enter the second floor.]
Sun Yuan frowned at the message.
“Things are going to get chaotic soon!” Zhen Yu said as she massaged her forehead.
Before, players with three mushrooms could hide and wait out the timer until the game ended. But now, they had to enter the teleportation array to proceed to the second floor.
Those without sufficient mushrooms would definitely camp near the array to rob others.
“Quick, we need to get to the array!”
Sun Yuan tightened his grip on the Wave spear and thought he might need to go on a killing spree this time.
~~~
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