Chapter 87: So, Gul'dan, What Is the Price?

Before Fang Yue could speak, Yuan Jie slapped his shoulder and said with deep feeling.

"Good! It's decided—I'll let you two go to Zhengyi Mall to have fun, I won't go and be a third wheel. Don't any of you come back before ten o'clock, I'm locking the door from outside! Even with a key you won't get in!"

Fang Yue's mouth twitched; seeing Yuan Jie turn around and really head back, he immediately felt a headache coming on.

But going back like this didn't seem too bad either.

Fang Yue sneaked a peek at the parchment.

【Yuan Jie misunderstood what I meant, but she still went home.】

【Neither Bai Xiaoya nor I had any intention of dating, yet we got locked out by Yuan Jie.】

【1 hour later, the three of us were killed at our front door, a whole family together and neat—what a cause for celebration!】

Holy shit!

Direct hit to my weak spot!

Fang Yue nearly wanted to tear up the parchment—go ahead and spit out some ivory!

But this is bizarre… go to the pedestrian street, Yuan Jie and Bai Xiaoya die.

Go to Zhengyi Mall, Yuan Jie and Bai Xiaoya die.

All three stay together at the front door, all three die together.

Wait!

Fang Yue suddenly looked up, fixing Bai Xiaoya with an intense stare.

Something's off! The first time I died 5 hours later; the second and third times, Yuan Jie and Bai Xiaoya died acting together. Yuan Jie's background is clean—the only one who could be the problem is Bai Xiaoya!

Bai Xiaoya's face wore a blank, confused expression.

"Is there… something dirty on my face?"

"Uh, no."

"Oh, then let's head back, Yuan Jie's walked pretty far already."

Going back means the script has all three of us dying together at the front door, a neat professional team wiped out in one wave.

Fang Yue immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum.

Bai Xiaoya was startled for a moment, then her expression calmed down.

"You're a good person."

Fang Yue:?!?!

You're the one who's off!

Apparently seeing Fang Yue's stunned expression, Bai Xiaoya tilted her cute little head.

"You're nice, but we're not a match."

Holy shit!

Fang Yue's face darkened.

"I need you to come with me somewhere."

"Sorry, I don't like domineering CEOs."

"…Big sis, I'm serious, it's not a date, just come with me to one place, will you?"

"I'm really sorry, but my dad taught me that with people I don't like, I must firmly refuse to the end. There's no possibility for us."

Ahhhh!

What kind of weird state has this girl slipped into!

Fang Yue irritably scratched his scalp and blurted urgently: "Ten thousand yuan! Two hours of your time!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Fang Yue regretted it and couldn't help slapping himself—my communication skills!

Bai Xiaoya fixed Fang Yue with an icy, trash-scanning look of contempt.

"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person… even my dad can misjudge people. You can move out tomorrow, my house isn't suited for you. I'll settle the deposit and money tonight."

"No! Xiaoya, let me explain…"

Fang Yue scrambled to explain; he'd expected Bai Xiaoya to react explosively with an "I'm not listening, I'm not listening!" or simply turn and walk away.

But she didn't—she just stood there calmly, keeping a certain distance from Fang Yue, watching him coldly.

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"It's like this… uh…" Fang Yue's mind spun, and he came up with a clumsy excuse.

"Lately I've been wanting to learn photography—filming videos with a phone…"

Ignoring Bai Xiaoya's increasingly dangerous gaze, Fang Yue hurriedly pressed on: "I want to film a two-hour video of a girl sitting on a street bench reading or looking at her phone. I think you'd be perfect for it, so could you help me out?"

The excuse was clumsy, and a bit weird.

But after thinking it over, Bai Xiaoya asked: "Just sit there for two hours?"

"Yes!"

"Sure, but it'll have to be tomorrow."

"No! Tonight, right now—inspiration strikes when it strikes, you know!"

"I don't get it." Bai Xiaoya shook her head, but after a moment's hesitation said: "I'll do my best to cooperate, you don't need to pay me."

Saying so, Bai Xiaoya walked over to a nearby bench, sat down, and took out her phone to scroll through short videos.

Fang Yue set his mind at ease and secretly pulled out the parchment to look.

"I persuaded Bai Xiaoya to sit quietly on the bench for 2 hours, and I stayed by her side."

"1 hour later, Bai Xiaoya and I were both killed."

Fang Yue: …

Silently, Fang Yue nonchalantly took a few steps back.

【I persuaded Bai Xiaoya to sit quietly on the bench for 2 hours, and I chose to leave, returning to the residential complex to regroup with Yuan Jie.】

【1 hour later, Bai Xiaoya was killed.】

【Yuan Jie and I survived.】

【I felt relieved, but also very restless.】

【My heart was asking me one question — the next unavoidable crisis, if it comes straight at me, what should I do?】

Footsteps, stopped.

Fang Yue shifted his line of thinking.

【I persuaded Bai Xiaoya to sit quietly on the bench for 2 hours, while I went to hire a security group to protect Bai Xiaoya.】

【1 hour later, Bai Xiaoya and the security squad were dead.】

【24 hours later, I, whose identity as the security squad's employer had been traced, was dead.】

Fang Yue: …

Under the shade of the trees, a look of struggle appeared on Fang Yue's face.

The answer was clear.

The real-world crisis was aimed at Bai Xiaoya; everyone else was just collateral damage.

As long as Bai Xiaoya died, everything would be fine.

But would it really be fine?

Fang Yue clenched his fist, then loosened it again.

In the game, he had seen the bizarre reap the lives of villagers and players like cutting grass.

But this was reality — in reality, you only had one life.

Someone he wasn't exactly close to, but did know, dying right before his eyes — could he really accept that?

The answer was: he could.

Fang Yue felt he might be a little cold-blooded, but without power, what could he use to save Bai Xiaoya? He'd just be delivering himself as a free kill.

Fang Yue retreated even faster, soon returning to the residential complex. He didn't take the elevator, but climbed the stairs, and from high up on the stairwell, looked down.

The long street, under the dim streetlights, only Bai Xiaoya sat alone on the bench, silently looking at her phone. Her expression showed no rise or fall at all — not happy, not sad — like… a dead person.

Had she always been like this since childhood? Did she have friends? Was her life a happy one? What was her childhood like?

Question after question surfaced in his mind, then quickly sank.

Because Fang Yue knew that, along with Bai Xiaoya's death, all these questions would lose their meaning. Life was just that fragile.

Fang Yue took out the parchment again. He hoped the parchment could bring a turning point to this situation, but the words on it were…

【I fled like a deserter, not even daring to look Bai Xiaoya in the eye.】

Shut up!

【But am I really willing to accept this? If I had a chance to gain power, I would definitely make a different choice! Who doesn't want to be a hero?!】

Easy to say? This is reality! My life only comes once too! Whose life is worth more than whose?!

【Therefore, I chose to make a major decision — I will enter a contract with the great parchment! To obtain supreme power!】

Wait!

Fang Yue snapped back to himself, his eyes fixed dead on the words that had just appeared on the parchment.

"You want to enter a contract with me? Let me gain power? What do you mean?"

Words appeared on the parchment.

【I resolved to follow the parchment's suggestion — using blood as the pen, my name as the covenant — leaving my mark on the parchment.】

【I got my wish and obtained extraordinary power, saving Bai Xiaoya, and the price paid was nothing more than the trivial lifespan of a game character.】

Paying the lifespan of a game character to obtain the parchment's power?

Does it mean the game I'm currently playing, "Blue Sea"? As long as I pay 【Yese Liming】's lifespan, I can obtain extraordinary power in reality? There's actually such a cheap good deal in this world!

Fang Yue's face lit up with joy. The game was just a tool to make money — if through the game I could gain power in reality, would I still care about the game's lifespan?

Wait! If just the game character's lifespan can grant power, doesn't that mean the game character's lifespan isn't simple, or rather, this game isn't simple!

【I only have three seconds to consider. Time flows by like running water. Am I about to miss the only chance to become a supreme being?】

On the parchment, words appeared again, then a countdown began.

【3!】

【2!】

No no no! I'm willing, isn't that enough?!

The question is, using blood as the pen? My name as the covenant? What does that mean? I don't understand.

【I bit my finger, and with the blood flowing from the wound, wrote my name on the parchment, completing the contract.】

The moment Fang Yue's anxious thoughts had just sprung up, the parchment had already answered, and a declaration-like sentence appeared.

【Fair Contract: I, Fang Yue, am willing to risk my life to protect the parchment's safety; in return, the parchment will also help Fang Yue through danger! Both parties swear as witness.】

The words appeared in the gold of legendary-tier gold — quite flashy.

Below the words were two signatures.

One was the parchment's own scrawled signature — it really was just called "Parchment." The other signature was still blank, waiting for Fang Yue to put pen to paper.

How is this just like a labor contract?

(End of this chapter)