After hearing the question, Yu Li raised an eyebrow and popped a piece of orange into her mouth, lazily replying, “Neither. I’m just an ordinary person.”
“Ordinary person?” Mu Chengsi frowned, clearly doubtful. “An ordinary person can be an NPC in an instance?”
“Didn’t you already sense that I don’t have the film set system?” Yu Li said as if it were obvious. “Maybe the instance pulled the wrong person?”
Mu Chengsi didn’t know how to refute that. She really hadn’t sensed a system on Yu Li. Although she couldn’t rule out the possibility that it was deliberately hidden, even if Yu Li had one—why would she be made into an NPC, and not a player like the rest of them?
Her gaze shifted toward Bo Jingmo as she asked Yu Li, “So you two… when did you get together? Which instance did it start from?”
“Around his newbie instance, I think.” Yu Li didn’t mention the part where Bo Jingmo didn’t recognize her—that was between them as a couple, no need to tell outsiders.
Mu Chengsi: “The horror villa?”
At the mention of that long-forgotten instance, Yu Li raised her eyebrows slightly. “Yeah.”
Mu Chengsi fell silent. That early, huh.
They had seen that horror villa instance, but none of them paid it much mind. At the time, Bo Jingmo had both an episode and amnesia. They’d figured he probably got tricked by an NPC because of that.
They never imagined… that Bo Jingmo had already fallen for Yu Li back then.
She let out a long breath and gripped her teacup tightly. “So… since you already know I’m from deva, what do you want to do now?”
Yu Li finished the last piece of orange in her hand and brushed off the leftover bits. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about next.”
Taking the wet wipe Bo Jingmo handed her, she smiled brightly at Mu Chengsi. “Mu Chengsi, want to team up with me?”
“Team up??” Mu Chengsi was startled, thinking Yu Li must be insane. “You know I’m from deva, and you’re asking me to team up with you??”
“Is that really so strange?” The girl tilted her head, voice sounding completely innocent. “I didn’t say you had to leave deva. You can keep working for them.”
Mu Chengsi immediately caught on and scowled hard. “Are you crazy? You want me to be a spy inside deva?”
“Not a spy. I never said you had to betray deva.”
Yu Li lounged lazily on the sofa, placing her hand into Bo Jingmo’s palm. “I just need you to tell me what deva’s planning.”
Isn’t that still betrayal?
After a moment of silence, Mu Chengsi slowly spoke. “Why would I agree to this? What do I get out of it? And aren’t you afraid I’ll tell deva everything about you?”
Yu Li raised her eyebrows. “It’s fine if you don’t agree.”
She suddenly tilted her head, leaning on Bo Jingmo’s shoulder, and looked up with a cheerful smile.
“Darling, if I wanted to kill someone, would you help me cover it up?”
The man smiled as he smoothed her hair. “Sure, I’ve got you covered.”
His tone didn’t sound like he was joking. He even pulled out his phone and started looking down at it.
I’m right here! Could you not plan a murder so loudly in front of me?!
Seeing the stiff look on Mu Chengsi’s face, Yu Li burst into laughter and pressed Bo Jingmo’s hand. “Alright, stop teasing her.”
“If you work with me, of course I’ll give you benefits.”
Rubbing her chin, Yu Li thought aloud. “Camera time? Points? Or how about speeding up your plot progress?”
Mu Chengsi frowned and opened her mouth to say she didn’t need any of that help—
But then she saw Yu Li’s eyes curve. “Of course, I also know you don’t need those things.”
She suddenly said a name: “If I remember right, there was someone in the last instance… Yi Xian?”
Hearing that name, Mu Chengsi froze. “Why are you… bringing her up?”
Yu Li’s eyes curved into a smile. “You wanted to protect her at the start, didn’t you?”
Mu Chengsi’s eyes faltered. She lowered her head and stayed silent.
After a long moment, she let out a slightly bitter laugh. “What’s the point now? She’s already dead. And besides, death is common in instances…”
“Common? That’s just an excuse for being too weak.”
Yu Li lightly cut her off. “So that’s the benefit I’m offering you.”
“If there’s someone deva can’t protect… I can.”
Now Mu Chengsi was truly stunned. “You? Protect?”
“Yep. As long as you name who you want to protect, I can guarantee they’ll make it out of the instance alive.”
Yu Li leaned back into the sofa and lazily raised a single finger.
“But—I’ll only help you once.”
Those words were way too arrogant. Mu Chengsi really wanted to laugh at her for being so full of herself.
But looking at that calm, unshakable smile on the woman’s face, her eyes gradually lost focus. For some reason, a strange idea crept into her heart.
Yu Li didn’t seem like she was joking.
She really might have the ability to guarantee someone’s survival in an instance.
That would be like holding a literal get-out-of-death-free card—one you could even assign to someone. More useful than any skill.
Mu Chengsi couldn’t say a word. She lowered her head and gripped her teacup tightly. The once-warm tea had gone completely cold—undrinkable.
Yu Li wasn’t wrong. The real cause of death was always lack of strength.
Deva had always believed in surviving by any means necessary. But when your power was strong enough, who would need cheap tricks anymore?
Seeing the way she was silently thinking, Yu Li refilled her cup.
“I won’t make it hard for you. My request is simple. Isn’t deva always investigating Bo Jingmo? I just want to know what their goal is.”
Mu Chengsi stared at the tea pushed toward her, eyes dark.
After a moment, she suddenly spoke in a low voice. “I don’t actually know much about what deva wants to do.”
“When I first joined, deva wasn’t even focused on Bo Jingmo. It wasn’t until his first newbie instance that they officially started investigating.”
“After that instance ended and they couldn’t get a replay, they started using forms to track his whereabouts.”
Yu Li raised her eyebrows. “Forms?”
“Yeah.” Mu Chengsi pulled her phone from her pocket and handed Yu Li a half-filled form. “By constantly matching teammates, as long as we run into Bo Jingmo even once, we can use items to force a link with him. That way, we can encounter him in every instance.”
Yu Li took the phone, her eyes quickly scanning the contents. Hearing Mu Chengsi explain, she couldn’t help letting out a low laugh. “Wow… really went all out.”
She handed the phone to Bo Jingmo and asked Mu Chengsi, “So your focus is just tracking Bo Jingmo in the instances?”
At that, Mu Chengsi’s expression suddenly turned a little odd.
“No… some people are secretly investigating in the real world too. But to avoid drawing attention, they just told me to keep an eye on him and report back occasionally.”
She paused midway, then lifted her gaze and looked at Yu Li with a strange, unreadable expression.
“Actually, deva’s really interested in Bo Jingmo’s love life. If they find out you’re his girlfriend, you’ll probably be listed as a key target for observation—then you’ll be under constant surveillance.”