What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?! - Chapter 264

Li Ling was now in a whole lot better mood so even the annoying system didn’t manage to annoy him this time as he looked at Zhihao with starry eyes that seemed to be filled with love.

Zhihao sighed as he wondered if Li Ling could really understand what their current situation was.

They were thrown in a battle trap…

This meant that they were competing against each other.

The small argument they just had was settled but now they would have to resort to force because of the system.

[Welcome to the battle arena!]

The system was enthusiastic as it announced and the walls from their right and their left side went down into the ground, opening up a bigger space for them that was still covered with walls from all the sides.

Zhihao sighed as he took a few steps back and put some distance in between himself and Li Ling.

Zhihao looked to be calm on the outside but only he knew that he was hiding his worries at this moment.

The ground continued to shake for a few minutes and when it finally stopped, Zhihao sighed in relief as he thought that it was over, however, he eventually regretted it soon enough as he saw cracks forming on the ground.

“W-what’s happening?” It was Li Ling who gulped anxiously as he questioned.

“This… Is not going to be good,” Zhihao muttered as he warned beforehand but there was nothing he could do as in the very next moment, the crack grew bigger and the floor sunk down into the hot magma that could be seen below them.

Li Ling and Zhihao both were shocked as they looked down to see that the ground beneath them was the only one still left standing.

“Don’t move!” Zhihao shouted as he realized what the battle was going to be.

“A seesaw…?” Li Ling muttered in confusion as he also noticed the weird moving structure that they were standing on.

“If one of us moves, the other one falls,” Zhihao informed seriously as he looked at the man.

“Oh…” Li Ling gulped as he immediately understood their situation.

The ground around them had already gone down and there was only a single boulder left in the middle, balanced on which was a stone platform. Zhihao and Li Ling just so happened to be standing on either side of this balanced platform.

If one of them were to move from his place then the balance would be destroyed and they would fall down.

“How do we get out of this?” Li Ling questioned as he looked over at Zhihao.

“Aren’t you the gamemaster? You tell me!” Zhihao retorted almost immediately making Li Ling fall speechless.

“…”

Zhihao sighed as he added, “There is an easy way for a player to survive but I don’t think that method would be fit for us.”

“Eh? What is it?” Li Ling immediately questioned as he waited for the man to answer him.

“One of us goes down.”

Li Ling tilted his head in confusion and blinked as he heard this method, “What… Do you mean?”

“One of us either jumps down by our own choice or gets pushed down,” Zhihao spoke as he explained, “Since this is a battle, it would be over as long as one of the players is dead.”

“Ah… Is that so…?” Li Ling muttered as he cautiously looked down and got lost in his thoughts as he wondered if it would be painful to jump down into that magma.

“Don’t even think about it,” Zhihao’s eyes narrowed down on the man as he spoke up and warned before Li Ling could even try something, “We’re looking for a different way out.”

Li Ling chuckled dryly as he heard Zhihao already guessing what Li Ling was thinking about.

“You’re the gamemaster so I hope to see you putting up a fight,” Zhihao added strictly and it almost looked as if he was glaring at the man.

Li Ling pursed his lips into a thin line as he waited for Zhihao to continue.

“No matter who the player is, don’t you dare lose on purpose,” It almost sounded as if he was scolding the man, “If you lose then it would have to be because you lacked the ability to win. I don’t care if you lied to me or not but right now the Li Ling I know and the gamemaster I admired are the same person and I don’t want that person to ever lose in front of me. Something I would hate more than watching you lose would be watching you give up before even trying.”

Li Ling gulped as he nodded his head in understanding, “I’ll… Keep that in mind.”

“Good,” Zhihao smiled slightly as he heard this response, “Now let’s think of another way.”

“How about we go up?” Li Ling asked as he pointed towards the open ceiling.

“No,” Zhihao didn’t even need to think about it before he answered firmly, “That’s another trap.”

“A trap?” Li Ling muttered with a frown as he waited for Zhihao to explain.

“Most players would think that the open ceiling is the best method to solve any trap but they would be wrong since these walls are the ones that are protecting you at this moment.”

“Eh?” Li Ling tilted his head in confusion as he honestly admitted, “I don’t understand it.”

“Let me put it in a simple manner,” Zhihao spoke as he looked up, “At first you would feel that you’d be safe if you are up there but you would soon realize that you were wrong in thinking that. It should be at any minute now… The system would release a virus up there. A virus that would try to eat you up alive and escaping from that virus would be hard since you won’t even be able to see it.”

Li Ling’s eyes widened as he heard this, “A virus that you can’t see?”

Zhihao nodded his head as he confirmed it, “That’s right. A virus that you would never see coming. Your chance of survival would be much lower than your current chance of survival from this trap.”

“So that… Is another big trap that is disguised as a safe spot?” Li Ling gulped as he questioned.

Zhihao nodded his head as he confirmed it, “Exactly.”

“Then what about the other players?” Li Ling asked anxiously as he pointed it out, “They don’t know this, do they?”

Zhihao sighed as he heard this question, “It would be better if you worried about yourself. They would figure it out on their own and if they don’t… Well, you can just say that it was their fault, to begin with. I’m not obliged to warn them about every little thing.”

“…” Li Ling was speechless as he heard this cold-hearted straightforward reply that really didn’t match Zhihao who was known to be a player who would always help everyone else.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Zhihao spoke as he saw Li Ling looking at him with a shocked expression plastered on his face, “I was always like this. I just pretended to be a bit nice because you were around but I feel like since we are finally being more honest with each other, it’s only natural that I also say what I truly mean.”

Li Ling was silent for a minute before he suddenly broke out laughing, “Bwahaha…”

Zhihao couldn’t help but smile slightly as he heard the man laughing so openly like that.

“A-Zhi, you’re really being full of surprises.”

“Do you not like it?”

“No,” Li Ling answered firmly and Zhihao immediately frowned as his eyebrows creased together.

“…”

“I absolutely love it!” Li Ling exclaimed suddenly as he saw the dejected expression on Zhihao’s face.

Zhihao’s lips curled up in a smile as he heard this.

“For some reason, ruthless cold behaviour really suits you,” Li Ling added happily without any worries although he was still standing on a platform that was right above a hot magma pool.

One wrong step and both of them could end up losing this game and their lives along with it but this didn’t stop them from enjoying their time as they laughed together.

“Since you like it, make sure to take responsibility for your words,” Zhihao chuckled as he spoke and Li Ling stopped laughing as he looked at the mischievous look in Zhihao’s eyes.

“A-Zhi, you should also take responsibility for your words!” Li Ling exclaimed and for some reason, there was a light blush on his cheeks indicating that he was indeed a little embarrassed.

Zhihao chuckled as he nodded his head, “I’m ready to take responsibility for a fully grown man and you think I would be afraid of taking responsibility for some words?”

Li Ling chuckled as he nodded his head and spoke, “Yes, I do think that Mastermo is exactly like that.”

“…”

“Now stop playing around and let’s think of a way out of this,” Li Ling spoke up as he got back to the main topic.

Zhihao nodded as he heard this and added with a small chuckle, “Let’s have this responsibility talk later and focus on that angry liquid fire down there.”