Chapter Thirteen: The Reincarnator Filled with Hope
Liu Meng
Sitting beside Liu Mengchao, Qi Xiaoxiao no longer had the heroic air she displayed earlier; instead, her face was pale and her forehead drenched in cold sweat.
“Are you alright…” Liu Mengchao looked at Qi Xiaoxiao beside him and suddenly felt at a loss for what to do.
“I’m alright. Don’t look at me now,” Qi Xiaoxiao said as she leaned her head on Liu Mengchao’s shoulder. “Let me borrow your shoulder for a while.”
“Should I not call you ‘big sister’ anymore?”
Liu Mengchao smiled softly, speaking gently to Qi Xiaoxiao by his side.
“You can call me that later. For now, listen carefully to my deductions and remember them well.”
No sooner had Qi Xiaoxiao finished speaking than Liu Mengchao felt his shoulder soaked by her sweat.
He recalled Saeko Busujima’s words: the frail, sickly Chinese girl. And the information he had seen about the Reincarnator, Qi Xiaoxiao.
Name: Qi Xiaoxiao.
Gender: Female.
Occupation: Bodyguard.
Potential: 0/10.
Her potential was zero. Qi Xiaoxiao must be hiding something from him.
“I am hiding something from you.” Before Liu Mengchao could voice his question, Qi Xiaoxiao spoke first. “But don’t try to use psychology to analyze my state of mind.”
“How could I not? You know, no one has ever managed to hide anything from me in person.”
“Because what I’m about to say is the truth. Liu Mengchao, do you remember what I told you at the beginning about the number of Reincarnators?”
“Yes. There are seven Reincarnators, but only six story characters. If we’re to form teams of two, one Reincarnator must be eliminated first.”
Bai Ya’s voice from earlier still echoed in his ears.
“Main God World detection: Game participant Chen Mo has died! Remaining players: five.”
“So Chen Mo is already dead.” Liu Mengchao shook his head, his tone laced with sarcasm.
“No, the real trouble is only just beginning.” Qi Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, as if the effort of speaking had already exhausted her. “The way Chen Mo died is too suspicious. An explosion without cause, happening by coincidence when he happened to be the last one in the group.”
“So who are the suspects?”
“You and Xu Zhengdong.” As she spoke, Qi Xiaoxiao closed her eyes, as if hoping it would help her recover her strength more quickly. “The explosion must have been caused by someone mixing chemicals in the science classroom.”
“It was red phosphorus, potassium permanganate, potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal powder.” Liu Mengchao looked at Xu Zhengdong, who was standing at the bus door, constantly peering at Koichi Shido in the distance, and couldn’t help but smile.
“So it really wasn’t you, then.” Hearing Liu Mengchao’s words, Qi Xiaoxiao laughed with relief. “You always like to hide and smirk whenever you see someone else make a fool of themselves.”
“Of course not, I’m not that kind of person.” Liu Mengchao had barely finished speaking when he started laughing himself.
“This isn’t the time for laughter. Even though your situation is ideal right now, remember, we’ve all been deceived by the Main God. From the moment we met the story characters until now, I haven’t heard any team assignment notification from the Main God.”
“So what?”
“It means we haven’t yet met the story characters recognized by the Main God. In other words, maybe, unlike I first guessed, there aren’t only six—there are seven!”
“Seven?”
“And that teacher running this way, Koichi Shido. Just wait and see, I think the other Reincarnators have already noticed the problem.”
No sooner had Qi Xiaoxiao finished speaking than Rei Miyamoto stood up inside the bus.
“We can’t let him on! You’ll regret it!”
Rei’s orange hair swung wildly behind her with her agitated movement, and the spear she’d fashioned from a mop was gripped tightly in her hands.
“How can we abandon a comrade at a time like this!” As a teacher, Xu Zhengdong was especially skilled in these seemingly righteous platitudes.
“You’ll regret it!” Rei glared at Xu Zhengdong angrily, then turned pleading eyes toward Liu Mengchao. She knew he was the only one in the group whose word truly mattered. That was Rei Miyamoto’s reality; as for Takashi Komuro, she had, consciously or unconsciously, already begun to overlook him.
“See? Mr. Xu can’t sit still any longer,” Qi Xiaoxiao said, sounding like a child whose schemes had just succeeded. “He’s desperate to get Mr. Shido on the bus, or everything he did before will have been for nothing.”
Liu Mengchao nodded but said nothing. He looked at his own hands, as if Xu Zhengdong were a puppet dancing at his fingertips, all his secrets and plans laid bare.
“You must be feeling conflicted now, Xu Zhengdong.”
Liu Mengchao looked at Xu Zhengdong’s back and smiled, shaking his head. He really didn’t have the heart to shatter Xu Zhengdong’s hopes.
Through the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, Xu Zhengdong watched Koichi Shido running toward the bus, his regret surging like a rising tide, slowly flooding his heart.
Damn it!
If only he’d thought more carefully about the story, he should have noticed the Main God’s hints! The Main God had exploited the new Reincarnators’ nerves, providing misleading information.
Seven Reincarnators, paired with story characters—but when he and his group met Saeko Busujima and the others, there was no notification of team assignments.
He’d actually believed there were only six story characters and that one Reincarnator had to be eliminated first.
Idiot, how could he have fallen for the Main God’s trap so easily! If he hadn’t eliminated that special forces soldier, he would probably have already formed an alliance with him, greatly increasing his chances of surviving this world.
Thinking this, Xu Zhengdong removed his glasses, using the excuse of wiping them to calm himself.
The current situation was that Liu Mengchao, the experienced Reincarnator, and Qi Xiaoxiao were growing ever closer, while the three rookie idiots huddled together.
Thus, his only hope of survival was to rely on the story characters.
The moment Koichi Shido boarded the bus would be when the Main God initiated the team assignments!
With this in mind, Xu Zhengdong secretly used the reflection in his gold-rimmed glasses to observe the positions of everyone inside the bus.
The two rookie Reincarnators, along with the useless Makoto Ito, sat in a corner of the bus. Liu Mengchao and Qi Xiaoxiao had seats at the front right, by the window. Of the story characters, the most formidable in combat, Saeko Busujima, was two rows behind them.
She was the one! A high school girl who could fight her way through zombies again and again—if he could team up with her, he could breeze through this horror movie.
“Finally can’t hold back and want to make your move, Xu Zhengdong?”
Under Liu Mengchao’s gaze, Xu Zhengdong gave Rei Miyamoto a reassuring smile, then slowly crept toward Saeko Busujima.
“Miss Busujima,” Xu Zhengdong said to Saeko with a kindly smile, “May I sit here?”
Before Saeko could answer, the bus door swung open.
Click…
With a bang, as soon as Koichi Shido stepped onto the bus, Xu Zhengdong hurried to sit beside Saeko Busujima.
“Hurry up, Main God, start the team assignments! I must survive!”
Even without turning around, Liu Mengchao could hear Xu Zhengdong’s heavy, nervous breathing.
Prize pool: 153,000.
“Look forward to it, Reincarnator,” Liu Mengchao laughed.
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Let me recommend an uncle I know from the group, who spends at least three hours writing every chapter of his historical novel, “The Butterfly of Great Liao.” Although the updates are slow, the writing is earnest…
But that’s not the main point…
The main point is…
A new chapter will be released at midnight. By the way, I finally figured out how the update urging votes work… Turns out, the votes are for the next day’s updates… If the word count isn’t reached, the recommendation votes are returned to you…
Thanks to “If You Take It Seriously, You Lose,” “Cannon Fodder for Spitfire,” “alisn,” “Xuan Yuan the Killer,” “Shallow Summer * Dust,” “Grey Sky,” “True Eternal Submarine,” “Porcelain and Glass,” “Peaceful Rivers and Mountains,” and “Illusory Colors” for the generous rewards!