Game of Deception Chapter 102: He Actually Took the Bait

Ai Shiping widened his eyes and held his breath.

The mont he opened his eyes, he saw a charred corpse reach out from the billowing smoke to grab him, letting out a terrifying laugh... In that split second, Ai Shiping didn't even scream or tremble.

His mind had gone completely blank. He didn't even process what he was looking at.

Imdiately after, his other arm was seized by another scorched corpse, and his right leg felt as though a child was hugging it tightly.

"Please don't leave."

"Don't go."

"Stay and keep us company."

Their voices overlapped.

It sounded almost like they were pleading—not fierce at all, but rather sowhat gentle.

However... he couldn't move.

With his body restrained by them, he couldn't move an inch.

It felt as if he were jamd in place. Or as if his body were refusing to obey him out of extre terror... like sleep paralysis. Even though his brain kept sending commands to move, his body refused to budge.

Ai Shiping's left leg was the only part of him that could still move. But just as he tried to raise his foot to kick them away, mimicking Ming Po, he was forced to lower it again because his right leg was too numb to support his weight alone.

Amidst the billowing thick smoke and the gradually rising temperature... the tightly restrained Ai Shiping coughed violently, his vision slowly blurring. The heat was too intense; he simply couldn't keep his eyes open. Even drawing a breath felt excruciating. Inhaling the scorching air into his lungs was like being stabbed with a knife.

Never before had he felt 'death' so clearly.

"You really are useless, Fox."

Ming Po's voice echoed faintly from the void. "But as for your mission as bait..."

"You did a pretty good job."

The next mont, the three charred corpses in front of him suddenly shattered into nothingness one after another, as if subjected to so violent interference.

In a daze, Ai Shiping felt the surrounding world suddenly dim.

His skin, previously roasted by the searing air, was suddenly t with cool, room-temperature air—it felt so cold that it brought a stinging pain. His numb limbs slowly began to regain their mobility.

Ai Shiping's vision remained blurry... the thick smoke had irritated his eyes to the point of endless tearing. He subconsciously rubbed his arms, only to find the skin burning hot, as if he had just been standing next to a roaring furnace.

"...Eh, you're still here."

Overjoyed, Ai Shiping quickly rubbed his eyes, and his vision gradually cleared.

He was still inside the room.

There hadn't been the slightest change.

It looked exactly the sa as when he first entered.

Pitch-black, neat and tidy, without any traces of use.

Only then did Ai Shiping realize... he was still in this room.

"...I thought you'd gotten lost."

Ai Shiping absentmindedly complained, "I didn't see you when I turned around..."

Just then, Ming Po snatched his phone away.

This made Ai Shiping's heart skip a beat—for a mont, he wondered if this Ming Po was also a fake.

Fortunately, Ming Po quickly handed the phone right back to him.

"How could our clever Fox fail to notice such a detail?"

Ming Po mocked him sarcastically. "Is your phone hot?"

Ai Shiping froze.

Only then did he realize the flaw he had subconsciously overlooked.

His phone wasn't hot at all.

Assuming his phone was just a normal phone, and not so magical artifact or supernatural item... then there were strict requirents for its operating environnt.

If the surrounding air was truly so scorching that he couldn't open his eyes, and the residual heat on his skin still felt burning to the touch...

Then the phone should have triggered a high-temperature warning ages ago, or even restarted or shut down entirely!

Livestreaming actually consud a lot of processing power, and a phone's heat dissipation required heat exchange with the surrounding environnt. If the ambient temperature far exceeded the phone's temperature, the accumulated heat couldn't dissipate. The processor would reach extrely high temperatures in a very short ti, far beyond human body temperature.

That was why in the African sumr, phones couldn't be used in many places directly exposed to sunlight.

But for modern people in temperate zones, holding a phone was almost an instinct. A person might not feel it at all, as if it were an extension of their hand, and naturally wouldn't find it abnormal that the phone and their hand were roughly the sa temperature.

"I've been following you the whole ti."

Before Ai Shiping could say anything more, Ming Po sneered. "I saw you sneakily turn your head."

"But I..."

"Because I guessed you would definitely look back before going through the door,"

Ming Po answered. "So I stood to your left before you even turned your head."

"...Sh-shadow step?"

"Just simple anticipation."

Ming Po looked toward the bathroom. "I hid in there right after entering and fild you from there."

Ai Shiping was confused. "But I didn't hear your footsteps at all... and I didn't see you either..."

"That's because you didn't want to hear or see ."

What do you an I didn't want to hear...

Ai Shiping wanted to retort, but he held his tongue.

Because right now, he was more concerned about sothing else.

"You said... it took the bait?"

Ai Shiping was puzzled. "But..."

...I didn't see you kill any monster?

"It definitely took the bait."

Ming Po smiled and patted Ai Shiping on the shoulder. "You've rendered a great service."

"Of course."

Although he had no idea what service he had rendered, Ai Shiping reflexively puffed out his chest, entering credit-claiming mode.

"I have one last thing to confirm,"

Ming Po said, holding out his hand. "Let see the Master Key Card you found."

"...Oh right, I still have the key card."

Ai Shiping muttered, taking the key card out of his pocket and handing it to Ming Po. "But I didn't even get to use it..."

"...Hmph, just as I thought."

Ming Po glanced down at it, let out a cold laugh, and casually tossed the key card onto the floor.

Ai Shiping was stunned. "Hey? Hey, what's wrong with you..."

He was just about to bend down and pick it up when he saw Ming Po step on the key card.

"No need to pick it up. There's nothing here."

Ming Po said, lifting his foot.

To his surprise, there was actually nothing there.

It was as if there was only air beneath Ming Po's foot.

The key card Ai Shiping had just handed to Ming Po had vanished into thin air!

"...Could it be..."

"It is exactly what you're thinking."

The corners of Ming Po's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a relaxed smile. "Just as I expected..."

"There is no 'alternate dinsion' or 'Inner World' here at all.

"From the very beginning, you and I have been in the sa space. We never separated."

This experint had been incredibly valuable.

When Ai Shiping looked back and didn't see Ming Po, it was as if Ming Po had turned invisible right in front of him.

This ti, Ming Po hadn't hidden his footsteps at all.

Yet Ai Shiping acted as if he hadn't heard them.

Ming Po had even closed the door behind him when he entered. Ai Shiping hadn't heard the sound of the door closing back then either.

He had brushed right past Ai Shiping and walked into the bathroom... and Ai Shiping acted as if he hadn't seen him at all.

It was only later that Ai Shiping acted as if he suddenly heard the door close, abruptly turning around and trying to escape—this had startled Ming Po, who quickly followed behind him.

But it was as if the door was locked; no matter how hard Ai Shiping tried, he couldn't open it.

However, Ming Po was certain he hadn't locked the door. So when Ai Shiping turned to open the window, Ming Po tried the door himself and found it opened easily.

Later, when he saw Ai Shiping suddenly freeze in mid-air and his skin start turning red at a visible rate...

Ming Po understood everything.

He slowly began to explain. "Let's start from the beginning. At first, we separated... that's because both you and I have played Silent Hill."

Because they had both played horror gas like Silent Hill and Corpse Party, they knew that in horror gas, 'separating' often ant being scattered into different dinsions.

They were terrified of this happening—and so, it actually did.

But in reality, they had been in the sa space from the very start.

They had never been separated.

It was just that Ming Po had also experienced hallucinations back then.

Because he was afraid that 'Ai Shiping would disappear after going inside' and 'Ai Shiping would enter the Inner World all alone', Ai Shiping really did disappear after walking in.

They truly separated.

From that mont on, Ming Po couldn't see Ai Shiping, and Ai Shiping couldn't see Ming Po. They brushed past each other, completely transparent to one another.

That was Ming Po's 'wish'.

Because... he 'wanted' it to be that way.

Just like how Ai Shiping 'wanted' to not hear his footsteps...