Because of his retreat, and the long period without more effective measures to sanction Wan Xing and Li Chu, they had vaguely discovered the problem. Wan Xing didn’t care what appeared in front of him; he simply slashed with his knife, charging straight to Qi Xiaokui’s side, grabbing her hair and pulling her up from Cheng Jiali!
“Let go of me! Bastard!” Qi Xiaokui struck back, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; her blows felt like mere tickles against the strong Wan Xing. In the end, he seized her by the neck, holding her firmly in front of him, rendering her unable to speak, her face contorted in pain.
Xin Meng furrowed his brows, seemingly wanting to rush over but had to stop himself.
“Ha! You’re afraid of hurting someone? What a joke!” Li Chu staggered over to Wan Xing’s side, mocking Xin Meng, “If you really cared about her, why don’t you let her leave this game? You’re the system, don’t tell me you can’t do it!”
Xin Meng remained silent.
“Why aren’t you speaking? Huh? Do you dare say you didn’t intentionally keep her here?” Li Chu pressed aggressively.
Xin Meng sneered, “You’ve said everything, what else is there for me to say?”
Li Chu’s expression darkened, angrily retorting, “You’re just a machine; how can you understand human emotions? You say you care, but you still refuse to let her go free. Things like you, heartless and ungrateful, shouldn’t even exist!”
After saying this, he signaled Wan Xing to loosen his grip a bit, not to choke Qi Xiaokui to death, then smiled at her, “Did you hear that? He can let you go but won’t; he’s doing it on purpose! Do you still want to help him?”
He was burning with anger; from the very beginning, things hadn’t gone smoothly, and he was furious. These people were trapped in this false place, living like walking corpses day after day—was there any meaning in that? Why not resist the system together and return to their warm homes?
And this woman, how could she still help it? How could she be “friends” with the system?
He wished he could tear the system to shreds, yet it still had friends?
What a joke!
He said viciously, as if in revenge, “If you want to be friends with it, you have to see if the demon that kidnapped you is willing!”
Qi Xiaokui was being choked, unable to speak, her face turning red from the strain, yet she still tried to widen her eyes and glare at him fiercely, spitting a mouthful of saliva onto his face!
Furious, Li Chu raised his hand to slap her!
At that moment, Xin Meng suddenly spoke up, “Do you want to know why I won’t let her go?”
Li Chu’s hand paused in mid-air for a moment, but he still struck down viciously, hitting Qi Xiaokui’s head to the side. Her face immediately swelled up like a bun, turning purple, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and she nearly fainted from the blow.
Xin Meng’s hand clenched into a fist, his eyes brewing with extreme anger.
“I know what you’re trying to do, trying to change the subject, not a chance!” Li Chu laughed maliciously. “I’m not interested in the love-hate relationship between you two; all I know is that if I kill you, we can go home!”
Xin Meng suddenly looked behind him, sneering again, “I’ll return the same words to you… not a chance!”
Before Li Chu could react, Wan Xing felt a gust of wind coming from behind, but he had no time to dodge. He was seized by the back of his neck and tossed aside like a chick, while Qi Xiaokui was pulled away, leaving him to crash heavily onto the ground.
Li Chu turned his head and encountered the same attack, but he fared worse, falling face down and being stomped hard on the back. He could even hear the sound of his ribs cracking, a sweet metallic taste filling his mouth as he spat out blood.
Xin Meng’s gaze met that of the newcomer, and he suddenly felt a wave of relief, revealing a smile.
You Yi had arrived.
In fact, it wasn’t just You Yi who came; there were about ten others following him, all GMs. Several of them were holding bound traitors, looking like they were on their side.
Among these GMs, there was even a familiar face—Dou Dou was mixed in with them. While the other GMs were stunned into silence by the scene before them, he rushed over to greet Xin Meng.
“Hey, Xin Meng, long time no see, what’s going on here?”
So he hadn’t understood the situation at all.
Xin Meng was momentarily at a loss for words. He wanted to say something to You Yi, but saw You Yi move quickly, seizing the knife from Wan Xing’s hand in the first instance. He also had another knife at his waist, likely taken from another gang.
Only after ensuring he had both knives did he signal Xin Meng to come down.
Xin Meng quickly understood his intention; he was worried that someone present might get tempted by the knives and steal them to continue disrupting the game.
However, it was no longer necessary. Xin Meng had already made up his mind to resolve this matter thoroughly, leaving no future troubles.
Dou Dou was the first to bind the heavily injured Wan Xing and Li Chu with ropes, then went to tie up Cheng Jiali, whose face was covered in blood from Qi Xiaokui’s scratches. After that, he tossed all the captured individuals together, with the GMs surrounding them in a circle, yet they all turned to look at Xin Meng with complex expressions.
Li Chu had an obsession with going home that was hard for ordinary people to match. Seeing everyone silent, including several former colleagues he had once tried to persuade but failed, he spat out the blood in his mouth, coughing as he coldly laughed and spoke first: “Just right, you’re all here. Back then, none of you believed me, saying I was daydreaming, but now it’s good; I’ve found the system! It’s him! You should believe me now, right? If we kill him, we can all leave the game. Don’t you want to go home?”
The expressions of the others were complex and hard to read. Only Dou Dou was still out of the loop, staring at Xin Meng in shock: “What? Bro, you, you are the system?!”
Xin Meng stood expressionless beside You Yi, holding his hand. The blue light in his eyes still flickered; whoever he glanced at would shudder, but everyone saw him nod.
Dou Dou muttered in disbelief, “How could it be… So, I’ve played games with the system before?”
This unexpected remark from someone out of the loop slightly loosened the tense atmosphere, causing two of Dou Dou’s close friends to roll their eyes at him.
Li Chu saw that things weren’t going as he had imagined and urged, “What’s wrong with you? The system is right in front of you; the knife that can kill him is here too! Why don’t you grab the knife and kill him!”
“Think carefully; without him, we wouldn’t have gone through so many terrifying things. We wouldn’t have to struggle between life and death, wouldn’t have nightmares every night, wouldn’t have left our loved ones behind, and wouldn’t be wasting time in this false and heartless place. We can’t even die if we wanted to! Think about it, who caused all this!”
“Have you really never felt resentment? Never hated him enough to want to kill him immediately?”
It must be said that Li Chu’s words had a significant impact. The GMs present were all former players who had experienced numerous games. Although they had survived and gained various superpowers they had never dared to dream of before, the process had been so arduous and painful that the near-death experiences wouldn’t just be forgotten. To speak from the heart, how many of them were willing to walk this path?
Perhaps most people preferred a simple, ordinary, yet happy and peaceful life.
If they hadn’t entered the game, they might have already married or found a partner, had one or two lovely children, been able to accompany their parents into old age, and watched their children grow up, until they peacefully closed their eyes amidst the reluctant cries of their loved ones.
That was the most beautiful life.
Not being trapped here, never to see the important people in reality again.
It could be said that this was also the knot buried deep in the hearts of all GMs. They had their own thoughts, grievances, and even hatred, but had never found the right target, so they could only suppress it in their hearts. But now, the target was right in front of them…
Except for the eccentric game fanatic Dou Dou, the gazes of the others towards Xin Meng had changed to varying degrees.
You Yi stepped forward, standing in front of him, his inorganic gaze sweeping over them one by one.
If Xin Meng’s cold, data-filled eyes made them shiver, You Yi’s gaze was terrifying. They recalled the fearsome skills he had just displayed, and the slight thoughts that had just emerged were once again suppressed.
“What are you afraid of? There are so many of us; how can we fear just one?” Li Chu incited. “Two fists can’t fight four hands; how could he possibly protect the system completely by himself? As long as we kill the system, he’s nothing to fear!”
Xin Meng and You Yi remained silent, while the other GMs exchanged glances, clearly showing their hesitation.
Their hearts were torn between returning to their loved ones and gaining superpowers and immortality, unsure which answer to lean towards.
Choosing to return to their loved ones meant they had to kill the system, losing the support of the game. They would lose their superpowers and immortality. No matter how resentful they were, after tasting the benefits of being strong, they didn’t know if they could return to the life of an ordinary person.
If they chose power and immortality, they would never have the chance to see their loved ones and partners again.
This choice was even harder than choosing whether to save their mother or their wife first.
The only commonality was—once chosen, there was no turning back.
In the end, the first to speak was actually Dou Dou. He was simpler, not overthinking and thus immediately falling into a dilemma. Instead, he relied on his first reaction, wanting to let Xin Meng resolve his long-standing confusion: “Bro… Xin Meng, I have a question I can’t understand. Can you tell us why we entered the game?”
As soon as this question was asked, the others temporarily set aside their entanglements and all looked at Xin Meng, waiting for his answer.
Not just Dou Dou, but all players had this question.
Why me?
Why was it me who entered the game and encountered such things?
Xin Meng fell silent for a moment, then spoke again, but instead of answering the question everyone expected, he looked directly at the bound Li Chu.
“You want to go home, right?”
“Of course!” Li Chu spat at him.
“I’ll let you go home,” Xin Meng said.
“I knew… what?” Li Chu thought he would say he couldn’t let him go, but unexpectedly heard such words, almost doubting his own ears.
The others were even more shocked, and Qi Xiaokui, who was sitting nearby resting, suddenly looked up at him.
Xin Meng ignored the various gazes directed at him and repeated his words:
“Don’t you want to go home? I’ll let you leave the game and go home.”
