Chapter 75

Their current distance was a bit close.

Bai Xuechao said to Xiao 6, "Tell me about his special ability."

Then he returned an equally gentle smile to Yuan Lan.

"Alright, Mr. Yuan," Bai Xuechao said, enduring the discomfort of his dizziness, his face showing no hint of it, but his words were merciless. "Could you please maintain a nor-mal social distance from me? I don't like people being so close to me." He emphasized the word "normal."

After speaking, he suddenly recalled what Ji Chuanze had said not long ago—

"Normally, if someone gets close to you, they'll get a death glare."

...Seriously, when had he ever given anyone a death glare??

Xiao 6 frantically pulled up Yuan Lan's settings and read aloud: "Yuan Lan's special ability is called 'Puppetry.' According to the setting, he can implant puppet threads through skin contact with others, thereby controlling them, including but not limited to actions and thoughts. Whether one can break free from the control depends on the willpower of the controlled person. After Level 6 evolution, he can absorb the life force of his 'puppets' to heal himself, and he can also swap positions with the 'puppets' he controls."

If one became Yuan Lan's puppet, they would only be used until death, becoming a complete tool.

Here, after hearing Bai Xuechao's words, Yuan Lan pouted childishly.

A man over 1.8 meters tall making such an expression should normally be quite unnerving, but his looks were so exceptionally handsome that it wasn't greasy at all; instead, it made one feel a touch of cuteness.

He said in his gentle, somewhat cloying voice, "Just call me Yuan Lan... 'Mr. Yuan' makes me sound old, like calling me uncle. You look like you're in high school? University? I just graduated with my doctorate; I was also a student not long ago, so I shouldn't be much older than you, right?"

His words were sticky and soft, as if he were being coquettish.

Bai Xuechao found his words a bit unbearable. It wasn't that he found him cute, but rather that he didn't appreciate this cloying type; it always gave him goosebumps.

Xiao 6 interjected: "The settings didn't mention Yuan Lan's academic qualifications, only that his IQ is super high."

In other words, Yuan Lan's academic qualifications were entirely a detail filled in by the simulated world's System operating under the setting of his super-high IQ.

Bai Xuechao maintained his smile.

Were villains even getting positions based on their academic qualifications these days?

"And—" Yuan Lan propped his hands on both sides of the sofa chair Bai Xuechao was sitting on, lowering his head slightly to further close the distance with Bai Xuechao. His eyes flowed with a hint of interested amusement. "Isn't social distance meant to be broken?"

Bai Xuechao: "..."

You're a social terrorist.

Also, the current distance was too close.

Even if Bai Xuechao already knew that people with strong willpower could break free from control, in his current state, he was on the verge of fainting, so willpower was hard to talk about.

To avoid trouble, Bai Xuechao could only distance himself. He raised his hand and pressed it against Yuan Lan's abdomen, pushing him back, while he himself got up and retreated a few steps away from the other party.

He rose too quickly, his steps faltering as he moved, retreating several steps before finally steadying himself. The unconscious Gong Ting was behind him.

Yuan Lan retreated a step with the force of Bai Xuechao's push, his brilliant golden eyes fixed on Bai Xuechao. When Bai Xuechao stumbled, he chuckled softly, as if Bai Xuechao's reaction pleased him.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Yuan Lan asked with a smile.

Bai Xuechao held onto the backrest of the sofa with one hand, seemingly not hearing Yuan Lan's words, and asked him, "What do you want to do here?"

Yuan Lan didn't answer him, continuing, "I still don't know your name."

The two seemed to be talking past each other.

In reality, neither was allowing themselves to be drawn into the other's conversational rhythm.

Bai Xuechao knew in his heart that Yuan Lan asking his name wasn't because he genuinely didn't know his identity, but more like a confirmation.

Among the intelligence Boss Sun provided to the Apocalypse Society after betraying the organization, there was his name, a written description of his appearance, and information that he was often ill. A white-haired, red-eyed special ability user with pale skin who looked physically weak—this characteristic was very obvious. Given Yuan Lan's IQ setting, the other party must have already guessed who he was.

Bai Xuechao forcefully repeated, "What do you want to do here?"

"Alright, since you insist on me answering," Yuan Lan shrugged with a light chuckle, "Do you know? On December 31st last year, I played a game with Gong Ting."

Bai Xuechao didn't reveal whether he knew or not, as doing so would expose the sensitivity of their organization's intelligence department. Therefore, he simply asked, "And then?"

Yuan Lan spread his hands and said with a smile, "Then he lost his freedom to me!"

"So?" Bai Xuechao felt even dizzier, his body swayed slightly, and he retreated a few more steps, moving away from the unconscious Gong Ting and sitting in what was originally Ling Feng's seat on the far edge.

"Oh dear," Yuan Lan's eyes widened slightly, feigning concern, "Are you really okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"

Bai Xuechao ignored him and repeated, "So?"

Yuan Lan chuckled again. He turned his head to look at the large screen on the wall, which still displayed the rewards in the prize pool.

The rewards were sorted by time. Since only Gong Ting's items from the latest round of the game hadn't been fully redeemed, they were displayed at the very top of the screen, making them hard to miss.

Bai Xuechao naturally also noticed them as he followed Yuan Lan's gaze.

He also noticed that the value of Gong Ting's "personality" had changed. It was originally 80 million, but now there was an additional parenthesis with "10 million" written inside.

Bai Xuechao thought for a moment and roughly guessed the reason—

He had redeemed Gong Ting's special ability, and with Gong Ting losing his special ability, the value of his personality was discounted. It was like how Gong Ting's life value decreased after he lost his freedom earlier.

However, Bai Xuechao was a bit unsure about one thing.

Did the System not completely change the value of Gong Ting's personality because of the ability he evolved at Level 6 of his special ability?

Although special ability users would know how to use their special ability when they awakened, it was only a general idea, similar to broad instructions, and more detailed specifics still needed to be discovered gradually through use.

For example, Gong Ting himself didn't even know that the redemption estimation for love could yield negative numbers.

Just like now, Bai Xuechao didn't know if this was a normal display or if it was affected by his own special ability.

But Yuan Lan certainly didn't know.

Yuan Lan asked with great interest, "How did my little toy think of redeeming something like 'personality'?"

Bai Xuechao didn't answer.

"He's actually quite timid, but two things are very important to him: freedom and card shark skills," Yuan Lan looked at Bai Xuechao again, raised his hand and made a 'two' gesture, bending one of his fingers downwards. "His freedom is already with me, so did you defeat him with card shark skills and coax him into redeeming his own 'personality'?"

He was actually pretty close to the truth.

Bai Xuechao wasn't interested in telling him what happened; he just replied coldly, "If he didn't want to, no amount of coaxing from me would have worked, right? And why would he redeem 'personality'? Don't you know the reason?"

"Ha," Yuan Lan gave a short laugh, "I probably know."

He said, walking towards Bai Xuechao.

More accurately, he was walking towards Gong Ting, who was in the seat next to Bai Xuechao, because although his body was fully facing Bai Xuechao, he stopped in front of Gong Ting.

He raised his hand and grabbed Gong Ting's throat, his face still wearing a gentle smile, as if he didn't care whether he was choking a person's throat or some other object.

Yuan Lan said to Bai Xuechao, "Not only do I know the reason, I also know that he redeemed his special ability."

Bai Xuechao's calm gaze met Yuan Lan's golden eyes.

"Are you surprised?" Yuan Lan hooked his handsome lips. The light cast a halo on his white hair, and he asked with a smile, "His special ability is very interesting, isn't it?"

Bai Xuechao quietly watched Yuan Lan, his blood-red eyes like a calm, blood-colored sea, revealing no emotion.

Yuan Lan seemed displeased and said, "Can't you cooperate a little?"

"Fine," Bai Xuechao also curved his lips, imitating Yuan Lan's earlier manner, and replied cooperatively, "It is indeed very interesting."

"I knew it!" Yuan Lan broke into a brilliant smile, like a child sharing a toy with others, and chattered, "When his special ability redeems abstract concepts, the judgment comes from the System, not his cognition. Therefore, the 'freedom' he lost actually has a very broad scope, not only personal freedom, but also—"

He deliberately paused here, and when he saw Bai Xuechao merely smiling at him without any expression of anticipation, he seemed a bit disappointed.

He continued, "And the freedom to use his special ability."

Bai Xuechao had already guessed this before. Yuan Lan's words confirmed his conjecture.

After all, Yuan Lan's very first words to him mentioned "making my little toy worthless." To Yuan Lan, Gong Ting's greatest value was probably his special ability. Precisely because the "freedom" authority Yuan Lan controlled included special ability-related aspects, he was able to discover Gong Ting's lack of special ability at the first moment and immediately appear here.

Bai Xuechao could be certain that Gong Ting himself didn't know about this.

Just like after he redeemed 20% of Zhou Chenhao's personality, Zhou Chenhao still didn't know what would happen after losing that part of his personality.

Now, the only thing that still made Bai Xuechao somewhat puzzled was how Yuan Lan arrived here so quickly. It had only been a few minutes since he redeemed Gong Ting's special ability. Was Yuan Lan coincidentally in A Port? Or did Dream Game City have one of Yuan Lan's puppets, and they swapped positions?

After Yuan Lan finished speaking, he kept smiling and looking at Bai Xuechao, saying nothing more.

The two were silent together for three or four seconds.

Bai Xuechao understood. He raised his hand and gave a perfunctory applause, supporting him with an emotionless tone: "Wow, how impressive."

"Is talking to me so boring?" Yuan Lan showed a somewhat distressed expression.

This time, Bai Xuechao actually cooperated by showing a thoughtful expression, as if contemplating some world-level problem. This expression attracted Yuan Lan's attention, making Yuan Lan also become serious, staring at him unblinkingly, waiting for him to provide an answer.

"Honestly, it's not boring," Bai Xuechao said. In his beautiful, pigeon's blood ruby-like eyes, a malicious gleam flickered, "It's very—boring."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Lan's handsome face showed a struck expression. His right hand was still clutching Gong Ting's throat without moving. His left hand, clenched into a fist, dramatically thumped his own chest, and his tone of voice was like performing a poetry recitation on stage: "Saying that breaks my heart too much!"

Bai Xuechao smiled and tilted his head, simply watching him act.

"Usually, when I encounter this kind of situation, I try to make him find it interesting," Yuan Lan suddenly smiled, his eyes curving, and leaned closer to Bai Xuexhao, "For example—" Bai Xuechao's gaze suddenly sharpened. He turned his body sideways and leaned back, his flexible, slender waist arching like a bow over the right armrest of the sofa chair, his entire upper body tilting backward.

Xiao 6 then let out a belated, panicked cry: "Host!"

Bai Xuechao became even dizzier due to his head tilting back in this movement. But Yuan Lan was still in front of him, so he had no time to wait for the dizziness to subside and immediately stood up, supporting himself with the backrest.

In his blurred, darkened vision, an extremely thin object gradually became clear in front of him.

Xiao 6 "hissed."

A thin, translucent thread was horizontally suspended in the air where Bai Xuechao's head had been.

Because this thread was too thin and translucent, it was hard to see clearly. Only when light shone on it could one see its faintly white reflection.

—It was Yuan Lan's puppet thread.

Bai Xuechao was not surprised; he had long guessed that Yuan Lan's puppet threads could also be used as a means of attack.

Besides, there was another thread diagonally below this puppet thread, perfectly aligned with Bai Xuechao's path of leaning back. If Bai Xuechao had only leaned back slightly to avoid the first thread, he would have been impaled through the head by the second thread.

Yuan Lan had anticipated how Bai Xuechao would dodge and added a puppet thread to his escape route.

However, Bai Xuechao had anticipated his anticipation.

"What a pity," Yuan Lan said with a smile, his voice still as gentle and sweet, as if he wasn't the one who had suddenly launched the attack just now.

Bai Xuechao leaned sideways against the backrest of the sofa chair, in a seemingly relaxed and casual posture, his left elbow propped on the backrest, his left hand half-clenched, supporting his head. In reality, he was so dizzy that he could barely sit up by himself; his brain felt like it was swaying and rising with waves on the sea. If he didn't do this, he would surely fall down.

Even so, he managed to show a calm smile and respond to Yuan Lan: "Yes, what a pity."

As if he wasn't the one who had almost had his brain pierced just now.

Both of them were smiling, but the atmosphere was somewhat subtle.

"Isn't it interesting?" Yuan Lan said with some regret, "I originally thought you'd be very surprised."

Bai Xuechao also replied with a somewhat regretful tone: "It's not interesting. Is that all your surprises amount to?"

Yuan Lan froze, then burst into a string of joyful laughter.

His right hand, which had been clutching Gong Ting's throat, twisted.

Gong Ting's neck snapped like a slender, fragile branch with a "crack." His head lolled to the side, and a bulge appeared on the side of his neck where the broken cervical bone protruded.

"I'm truly growing to like you more and more," Yuan Lan sighed, his brilliant golden eyes twinkling with amusement. He didn't seem to care about what he had just done. His killing of Gong Ting was like casually brushing away a speck of dust, his attitude natural and unrestrained, not affecting him in the slightest.

Bai Xuechao glanced at Gong Ting expressionlessly.

Xiao 6 exclaimed in shock: "Gong Ting got his lunch money too fast!"

"What's wrong?" Yuan Lan noticed Bai Xuechao's glance at Gong Ting and also looked at Gong Ting. The lingering smile was still in his eyes. "Him? A worthless little toy; I don't need him anymore."

He then added, "I need a new one."

Bai Xuechao's premonition told him the situation was not good.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who Yuan Lan's "new little toy" candidate was.

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