Chapter 206 – Encountering The Holy Grail!
“Ahh~ This cotton candy is huge, shall we share it?” (Gu Yueyan stretched out her hand that was holding the cotton candy)
—— “I like eating cotton candy too, so I also bought one for myself, you can finish yours slowly.” (Ren Suo was holding an even larger cotton candy)
“These octopus b.a.l.l.s are too hot, do you not want one?” (Gu Yueyan stretched out her hand that was holding an octopus ball with a toothpick)
—— “You can have the one you’re holding, I’ll help you with the remaining ones in the box.” (Ren Suo took the box away from Gu Yueyan)
“Eh? There’s a photo booth here, let’s take a photo!” (Gu Yueyan pulled Ren Suo into the photo booth)
— “You can take one yourself.” (Ren Suo coldly refused)
Ren Suo followed Gu Yueyan around for the entire afternoon and watched her hop from mall to mall and attraction to attraction. However, he somehow felt that she was acting weirdly—for example, she kept offering food to him to eat.
Did she finally develop a conscience?
“If you keep doing that, I can’t play and enjoy myself!” Gu Yueyan exclaimed.
After Ren Suo rejected Gu Yueyan’s offer again, she could no longer hold her displeasure in. She said, “Why can’t you play along with me? You already agreed to help me today!”
Ren Suo looked at the snack in Gu Yueyan’s hand and asked, “Do you really wish to share food with me?”
“Yeah,” Gu Yueyan replied as she took out the donut from the bag with her right hand and handed it over. At the same time, her left hand was already firmly holding her mobile phone and activating the video recording mode. She said, “Have a bite.”
Ren Suo questioned, “You feel that you would be happy if you treat me?”
“Yes, yes,” Gu Yueyan replied. She was almost ready to tiptoe and stuff the donut into Ren Suo’s darned mouth.
Ren Suo refused. He said righteously, “How about this, just send me the money through Alipay, don’t waste it. My Alipay ID is 13…”
Gu Yueyan was furious. Her face went (#`皿′) as she exclaimed, “Are you eating it or not?!”
“My mother told me never to eat any food strangers offer,” said Ren Suo, shaking his head.
Gu Yueyan said, “Gosh, how old are you that you are still listening to your mother!”
Ren Suo replied seriously, “A man remains a teenager at heart even until his death.”
Despite seeing Gu Yueyan who looked so angry as if she wanted to jump up and down, Ren Suo remained as calm as ever.
Although he did not know what Gu Yueyan was planning, her actions at that point in time were obviously atypical.
However, no matter what she intended to do, it would be alright if Ren Suo kept his stance—not getting too close to her while not being too far away.
Moreover, based on what they had agreed on, Ren Suo only promised to help Gu Yueyan Awaken that day. It would not be his problem even if nothing happened throughout the day and Gu Yueyan did not Awaken.
It was all worth it for him to be able to retrieve her 1-star key after spending an entire day with her shopping and hanging out. After all, he was only lacking a 1-star key to be able to open the 3-star treasure chest.
As for the ‘complete treatment’ he mentioned, the first step was naturally to hypnotize her to sleep by using [Allure of Sweet Dreams]. Then, he would touch her for a few minutes with [Ability: Heal] while taking the chance to retrieve the key… From any perspective, it was an extremely safe and complete treatment, and Ren Suo was confident that his plans would not be exposed!
Very soon, it was 6 p.m. Although the sky was still bright, it would turn dark in an hour. As Ren Suo accompanied Gu Yueyan for a ride on a Ferris wheel, he looked at the sky and said, “Let’s head back to Lianjiang City after our dinner later.”
“No! I still want to play!” Gu Yueyan replied angrily. She wanted to s.h.i.+ft to sit beside Ren Suo to take his picture, but the moment she moved, Ren Suo also followed suit and changed his position. There was absolutely no opportunity for her to carry out her plan.
She was already thinking about the feasibility of forcing her way through—but the only problem was that she would end up exposing her true intentions. If that happened and Ren Suo told on her to Dong Chengling first, all of her efforts would have been wasted.
Ren Suo took out his mobile phone and did a search, then said, “There is nothing fun to do in Xiang City though, apart from shopping malls…”
“There are still entertainment facilities like the karaoke box!” Gu Yueyan said.
“Well, if you don’t mind singing alone, I don’t mind sitting at the side and watching you sing either,” Ren Suo said.
Gu Yueyan froze momentarily and her face turned red. She turned to look outside the Ferris wheel carriage, and her eyes suddenly lit up, “I want to go there!”
Ren Suo looked in the direction she was looking and saw what seemed to be a large lake a few kilometers away. However, it seemed to be located in a slightly remote area, in what appeared to be a forest park.
Ren Suo scratched his chin and questioned, “You want to play with water? Did you bring a swimsuit?”
“What do you mean by ‘play with water’! You will know when we get there!” replied Gu Yueyan, gritting her teeth.
20 minutes later, Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan arrived at the payment booth on the sh.o.r.e beside the lake. An uncle was sitting inside the booth and said when he saw them, “You guys are here very late. We are closing in 15 minutes, so you can only rent it for 15 minutes, and you must come back by then.”
Gu Yueyan hurriedly handed the money over and replied, “No problem, 15 minutes is sufficient.”
Ren Suo looked at the small, open boat by the sh.o.r.e and asked, “Do you like boating so much…?”
“Yes, I like it very much!” Gu Yueyan replied.
The uncle handed two life jackets to them, then said in a mischievous tone, “If you like boating, then you can’t miss Island Lake. Many young couples like to come here to row—someone even proposed on the lake a few days ago. The lake is definitely a good choice and would be of great help to your marriage!”
The uncle had a.s.sumed that the pair in front of him was a couple. However, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw two ‘thought-provoking’ expressions on the guy and the girl’s faces—
Ren Suo: How is that any of my business?
Gu Yueyan: I’m here for the exact opposite—to destroy this guy’s marriage.
After a while, Ren Suo and Gu Yueyan were in the boat and on the lake. Ren Suo actually had little interest in boating, but it would be problematic if Gu Yueyan suddenly Awakened while still boating on the lake, so he accompanied her. Since they had already made an agreement, he would see through it to the end, but even if Gu Yueyan was going to die, she had to give him her key before she did!
“Eh?”
Ren Suo saw Gu Yueyan taking selfies with her mobile phone but did not care. As a girl, it was natural for her to like taking selfies and then post them on social media with beauty filters.
On the other hand, Ren Suo was the kind who could not share his selfies even if the images were edited using beauty filters. His mother would even chide him for ‘blocking the view’, so he never took any interest in taking photos.
(This is a bad angle… This angle is almost right… This angle is perfect, NICE!)
Ren Suo watched as Gu Yueyan leaned over the boat. He suddenly asked, “Is your phone waterproof?”
“What?” replied Gu Yue, momentarily stunned. Her center of gravity finally fell outside the boat as she leaned too far out, and she was thrown off balance. She fell towards the lake.
Ren Suo, who had already expected that to happen, naturally stretched his hand out to stop her fall. However, Gu Yueyan seemed to care more about her mobile phone and tried her best to swing her right hand around to throw her phone back into the boat!
Plop!
Her mobile phone landed on the boat, but Gu Yueyan also fell into the lake.
“Ahhh.”
Ren Suo sat on the boat gloating over Gu Yueyan’s misfortune as he waited for her to emerge from the water.
He naturally did not have any interest in jumping into the water to save her, since she was already wearing a life jacket. Moreover, the lake was so calm at that point in time that there were not even any ripples on the water surface. She would definitely float upwards and emerge from the water after a short while.
Ren Suo felt that the purpose of the current ‘transaction’ which Gu Yueyan initiated was not because she wanted to complete her Awakening. Instead, it seemed that she was plotting other schemes in her mind. Upon seeing Gu Yueyan get her own just deserts, Ren Suo was naturally very happy.
However, after 10 seconds, Ren Suo narrowed his eyes.
After 15 seconds, Ren Suo took out his wallet and mobile phone and placed them in the small boat, then quickly took off his shoes and socks.
After 20 seconds, Ren Suo took off his hat and changed his backup abilities in his heart. He swapped [Hat of Cultivation and Practice] in the props slot with [The Jade Pendant of the G.o.ddess of River Luo]!
“If you were trying to make me drenched too, you win!”
Ren Suo leaped heavily into the lake and swam in the water like a fish.
He could easily keep his eyes open, and his breathing was extremely smooth and steady, completely like he was breathing on land!
For once, [Jade Pendant of the G.o.ddess of Luo] had achieved its intended effect!
Where was Gu Yueyan?
Ren Suo looked around but did not see any trace of Gu Yueyan, so he dived deeper into the lake. However, he had his doubts—it was quite unlikely for Gu Yueyan to sink all the way to the bottom of the lake by herself while wearing a life jacket; otherwise, it would not be called a life jacket, but a sinking stone.
Did she dive deeper by her own will?
However, at that juncture, Ren Suo felt his breathing currents starting to accelerate suddenly. The amount of light in the lake rapidly decreased, and the water currents around him felt completely different—it felt sunken, depressed, suffocating, watchful…
The sounds of the water currents by his ears were becoming more piercing and pervasive.
s.h.i.+vers emerging from the depths of his soul radiated throughout his body!
Ren Suo opened his eyes wider, and he saw Gu Yueyan right below him!
She seemed to be unconsciously diving downwards, but her hands and legs were moving as if she was walking and not swimming. With every step, she was ‘walking’ downwards into the depths of the darkness below, in a bid to touch the only thing whose faint glowing outline could be seen, at the bottom of the lake—
It was something that resembled a trophy.
At that very moment, Ren Suo remembered everything.
That was Island Lake.
In the first checkpoint, he had learned from the Xuan Nation Pract.i.tioners that they came in from the portal at Island Lake.
Ren Suo knew that the game would eventually occur in reality, but he had thought that the seven checkpoints would definitely not appear on Earth at present, as he had not uploaded his game score yet.
However, the scene before him seemed to tell him otherwise—
—He was wrong.
Ren Suo swiftly grabbed Gu Yueyan’s leg and pulled her upwards!
Feeling Ren Suo’s tug, Gu Yueyan seemed to regain her consciousness. Bubbles emerged continuously from her mouth as she held tightly onto Ren Suo with her hands. It was a typical reaction of someone who was drowning!
Fortunately, Ren Suo did not need to hold his breath underwater; otherwise, with Gu Yueyan holding tightly onto him, he would not have been able to swim back to the surface to catch his breath and instead sink lifelessly to the bottom. He hurriedly exerted all his strength to pull Gu Yueyan towards the surface.
However, at that juncture, the pressure of the water in the lake suddenly grew and felt extremely heavy. Even while wearing a life jacket, Ren Suo felt as if a heavy lead block was tied to his legs! At the same time, the light s.h.i.+ning into the water from the surface turned extremely dim, as if it had turned dark outside!
There was definitely something going on here!
Ren Suo looked down to take a glance and noticed that the outline of the Holy Grail was still very clear. A sudden thought arose in Ren Suo’s mind: If he touched it, he would be able to fulfill all of his desires, break free of all restraints, and experience true freedom. He would not need to make any effort to achieve success…
Undeniably, the promotion by the Holy Grail perfectly echoed Ren Suo’s mindset. Just as he was about to be enticed and deluded, the drowning Gu Yueyan tightened her grip around his throat, strangling him. Ren Suo instantly sobered up.
Upon regaining his consciousness, Ren Suo naturally continued swimming upwards. He knew that the Holy Grail was a trap. If he gave in to his innermost desires and touched the Holy Grail, he would surely die in such a miserable way that not even his pulp would be left behind!
However, at that juncture, the lake water became thicker, as if it were viscous ink trapping Ren Suo within! He could barely move upwards!
The Holy Grail, or rather, the Holy Grail of the first checkpoint, did not intend to let them escape just yet!
[Clothes]!
Ren Suo tried using [Clothes] to create a path for him, but he realized that his breathing current was moving extremely slowly there. It was as if it was being suppressed!
Was it because of the breathing currents of Pract.i.tioners that the Holy Grail was activated there?
Ren Suo quickly equipped himself with [Unlimited Energy] and struggled to swim upwards with all his might. Yet, the surface of the lake seemed to be extremely far away.
He was not as concerned about himself than for Gu Yueyan who was beside him. Although she was conscious, her grip on Ren Suo was becoming weaker with each pa.s.sing second—she was almost out of breath!
He was definitely not interested in bringing a giant, bloated corpse back with him!
Ren Suo turned Gu Yueyan’s face towards him and looked straight into her eyes. At that juncture, Gu Yueyan’s gaze was getting blurry and her consciousness was falling. If he wasted any more time, even [Heart-Strengthening] may not be effective anymore. [Heart-Strengthening] could only prolong a person’s life in a critical situation, but it could not revive someone!
“Thankfully, I have been using the [Jade Pendant of the G.o.ddess of River Luo] the last few days, otherwise it would definitely not be in my backup slot…”
Ren Suo hesitated no further and leaned in closer to Gu Yueyan. He placed his lips against hers and blew air into her mouth!