Misplacement Game Chapter 27

Arc 2: Luxury Cruise
Chapter 27

When Xu Ziyue walked away, the five players couldn't help but follow behind him to see if he really had the intention to help them.

They saw Xu Ziyue walk over to an NPC in a wheelchair and "cautiously" say a few words before the NPC nodded in response. Xu Ziyue then turned around and sent them an "ok" gesture before coming over and telling them to wait while he goes back to his room to get the money.

The five players looked at this comrade of theirs in disbelief. They didn't expect that something so good would happen to them.

In this kind of game instance, they would usually be at odds with each other unless it was necessary to work together to oppose an external force. Other times, their act of grouping into teams was just a façade. Although they may be working together as a team the past few days, they were also on-guard against each other.

In an instance like this that required one to be careful around other players, they couldn't not be vigilant.

But Xu Ziyue's actions only benefited them. They couldn't think of any possible hidden intentions he may have.

"Don't you think it's strange? He came to the casino without bringing any money?"

"Maybe he was just casually walking around."

"Casually going around with that NPC who seemed to have lent him money?"

The players found it strange.

"Speaking of which, it's possible to borrow money from an NPC?"

"I don't know."

"Haven't tried."

"Forget it. If you borrowed money from an NPC and the condition is that you have to pay it back with your body……….I'm not talking about that kind of repayment! I'm talking about conditions such as giving up your body to a sea monster."

"Ohh, I encountered that before, but it was in a spiritual world. The ghosts can give you a hint, but the price of it is your eyes. And they won't tell you the hint before the exchange."

"………I really don't know how he did it."

"Regardless of how he did it, we might not be able to see him after today."

"Should we warn him?"

"Tsk. If you're going to warn him, go ahead. I don't care."

"……. Then I also won't say anything."

Austin watched them walk over to watch the other gamblers. He raised an eyebrow, closed his eyes and leaned back in his wheelchair. A faint smile hung from his lips as he waited for Xu Ziyue's return.

When Xu Ziyue stepped away from the players, he had briefly told him about them. He didn't mention anything specifically about the game, and only said that they really wanted to collect all the stamps, so they wanted to borrow some money.

Austin wanted Xu Ziyue to give them some of his chips, but Xu Ziyue resolutely shook his head and refused. As for how much of Austin's he had used, he prepared to ask about it later.

And in regards to how he would repay Austin…….Austin just said that they should sort out the other peoples situation first. Matters involving the two of them weren't urgent.

Austin's words clearly indicated that he regarded Xu Ziyue as someone close. This made Xu Ziyue's heart fill up with spring flowers. He even wore a smile on his face when he ran out of the casino.

He flipped through his cabin and eventually found a bank card with 100,000 dollars on the nightstand. Because there was the number "100,000" written on it and it was also mentioned by the players earlier, he knew how much was inside.

Please read this from kk translates

Xu Ziyue took the bank card and went directly to the casino to exchange for five chips. He first greeted Austin before walking over to the five players staring wide-eyed at him.

Xu Ziyue gave them each a chip.

The players received the chip, and they all gave him their sincere thanks.

"I think since you are able to borrow money from an NPC, you probably already have a way, right? Then we'll head off first."

Xu Ziyue's eyebrows raised. He nodded and let them leave.

Although he didn't help them so that he could receive their thanks, that att.i.tude of theirs left him with an unpleasant feeling. Xu Ziyue regretted it a little, but it was only a little bit. Afterall, if they didn't win this round and he didn't lend them his chips, they all would likely die here.

Xu Ziyue couldn't let himself bear that guilt.

He shook his head and threw the five players to the back of his mind. He then raised his spirits again and walked happily over to Austin.

Austin watched Xu Ziyue approach and said: "Seeing that you've been running around, why don't we take a break at a café?"

Xu Ziyue nodded. He would agree with whatever Austin says.

And he could also get a stamp at the café and have a chance to talk about the chips.

When they left, Austin directly asked the waiter to take the box with chips away. He didn't ask for it to be exchanged to cash. Of course, Xu Ziyue also didn't see him exchange cash into chips when they came earlier.

On the way to the café on the fifth floor, Xu Ziyue asked: "I saw other people exchanging for chips. Did you store chips at the casino?"

"No."

"Then what was it?"

Austin thought for a moment, "Something similar."

Did he not want to tell him? Xu Ziyue fell into thought for a moment. If Austin didn't want to say, then he just won't ask.

Reaching the café on the fifth floor, Xu Ziyue found a place to sit down with Austin.

There were not many people at the café. Most were doing their own things and, even if they were chatting, they were doing it softly.

A soothing piano tune was played through the speakers. From time to time, handsome or beautiful servers would walk around.

Sitting here, one would instantly feel relaxed.

What a great place for a date!

Auston handed a drink menu to Xu Ziyue. The coffee there were written in two languages, but Xu Ziyue only understood one. Occasionally he could understand a few words of the other language, but it was useless to him.

"I don't know what's good. Austin, can you help decide for me? As long as it's not bitter, I'm okay with it." Xu Ziyue paused and changed his words, "No, even if it's bitter, since you ordered it I will drink it."

Austin smiled. He gave the server two names and handed the drink menu back.

Seeing that the server left, Xu Ziyue leaned closer to Austin. With Austin's face so close, he felt both embarra.s.sed and his heart raced but he also couldn't bear to look away.

Xu Ziyue licked his somewhat dry lips and asked Austin: "Earlier at the casino, I just used whatever amount of chips you gave me. Why aren't you telling me how much I used?"

Austin replied: "You're just playing casually, so I also gave you the chips casually."

"That's not the same thing." Xu Ziyue shook his head. He looked at Austin's hands on the table, pouted and tentatively reached out to pull at Austin's sleeve, "Tell me how much I lost, okay?"

Austin didn't move away Xu Ziyue's hand. He even smiled fondly as he looked at the two fingers pinching his sleeve.

Xu Ziyue was like a cat who had something taken away. He pouted and narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't matter how much you lost. It's enough if you had fun."

Xu Ziyue froze. He buried his head in his arms and said in a m.u.f.fled voice: "You're cheating again."

Austin wondered: "Cheating?"

"……..You're teasing me." Xu Ziyue didn't look up and kept his face buried.

Xu Ziyue heard Austin softly chuckling.

He half raised his head, revealing only a pair of eyes, "If you're not going to tell me how much I lost, then just tell me how I should pay you back….. To be honest, I only have 50,000 left on my card."

"Is that so…….." Austin deliberately frowned and revealed a conflicted expression.

Xu Ziyue loosened the fingers around Austin's sleeve and slowly straightened back up. From his pocket, he took out a bank card and placed it on the table before pushing it over to Austin, "I'll give you this first…..Does the cruise ship accept work? Will they accept temporary workers like me?"

In any case, Austin wouldn't do something like asking him to repay with his body.

Xu Ziyue thought for a moment. If he really did ask for that then he would be let off too easily. Alas……..Even like this, it felt like he was taking advantage of Austin.

Austin laughed: "No need." After laughing for a while, he noticed Xu Ziyue's distressed look and added slowly: "But on my end, I just happen to need a temporary worker to spend some time with me."

The server brought the coffee over. Austin pushed Xu Ziyue's coffee over to him.

"If you accompany me during this time, it can be considered as paying off those chips."

Xu Ziyue was more than happy to but an amazing job opportunity like this was not something you could find anywhere. Austin was definitely saying this intentionally.

If Xu Ziyue spent more time in this world, he would have more time to earn money and pay Austin back, but he knew that he only had a little less than a month left. It wasn't enough time for him to earn the money needed to repay the chips he lost earlier. With tens of thousands of dollars, he probably won't be able to make enough even if he sold his body. What's more, he only wanted to sell it to Austin, and it was still a question whether the other party was willing to buy it.

"Alright? When you go out with me to play, all the expenses are on me. Afterall, you're just accompanying me."

Xu Ziyue nodded firmly. He couldn't say no. If a great master like Austin started spending, Xu Ziyue's 50,000 wouldn't be enough.

"As for your card……" Austin pushed it back, "Take it back." He had no intention to take it.

Sigh……..The fantasised scene of him giving up his money was over.

The experience at the café could be completed by just having a cup of coffee there. After Xu Ziyue received the stamp from the server, he sat there a little longer with Austin. Afterwards, they went to a specialty restaurant for lunch and similarly got a stamp there. Finally, Austin brought Xu Ziyue over to watch the opera.

It was a pity that the opera only sang foreign songs. Xu Ziyue didn't understand and eventually fell asleep on Austin halfway through. When he woke up afterwards, he was extremely embarra.s.sed.

Over the course of a day, Xi Ziyue managed to muddle his way through and received four stamps. Including the stamp from the main restaurant, he already has five.

Please read this from kk translates

He was pretty curious about the prize for collecting all twenty stamps.

Apart for the incident at the casino, Xu Ziyue's third day on the cruise was quite enjoyable.

Xu Ziyue even felt that it was like he was on a date.

When Xu Ziyue parted from Austin at night, he was too immersed in his happiness and forgot to say that he would come find him the next day.

And so, on the morning of the fourth day on the cruise, Xu Ziyue didn't manage to catch Austin.

Bringing along breakfast, he knocked on the door for a long time but there was no response inside.

Xu Ziyue eventually could only leave the breakfast by the door and look around the rest of the ship.

Along the way, Xu Ziyue even wondered if Austin was actually in the room and just didn't say anything because he didn't want to be with him.

The more he thought about it, the more upset Xu Ziyue felt.

But his negative feelings were all directed at himself.

What he shouldn't have done yesterday, what he should've done……He reflected on it as he made his way to the basketball court on the twelfth floor.

Austin's legs had a problem, so he decided to experience this alone. Otherwise, Austin would probably feel uncomfortable watching him.

In addition to the basketball court, there were also table tennis tables on the twelfth floor. It was all sport and exercise related. After some exercise, there were showers available for guests to use to wash off the sweat.

Xu Ziyue asked a staff nearby: "Excuse me……How do you get a stamp here?"

The staff was watching players shooting baskets on the court. Hearing Xu Ziyue's voice, he turned around and replied: "You can get a stamp if you successfully shoot a shot."

Just as Xu Ziyue was thinking that it wasn't something difficult, he heard a player on the court cry out before quickly throwing the basketball.

And he wasn't throwing it at the basket. It looked like he was throwing something away in haste.

After throwing it away, he started fervently wiping his hands on his clothes while cursing: "f.u.c.k! What the h.e.l.l?!". He then ran off the court. That act of his looked so ridiculous, the onlookers couldn't help but laugh.

Xu Ziyue also couldn't hold back his laughter, but he soon noticed that the staff NPC beside him was cold and indifferent. He quickly stored away the smile on his face.

With an expressionless person next to him, wouldn't he look extremely silly if only he was laughing?

The player who ran off the court saw Xu Ziyue and immediately ran over.

After reaching Xu Ziyue, he continued to stomp his feet and repeatedly wipe his hands on his clothes. Both hands had turned red from all the vigorous wiping.

"You're also………" He glanced at the nearby NPC and swallowed back the word "player", "…….Here on holiday?"

Xu Ziyue nodded, "What happened just now? Are there needles on the basketball?"

Otherwise why would you throw the ball away so quickly?

The player glanced at the NPC and pulled Xu Ziyue aside.

"My name is Wu Wenshan, and you?"

"Xu Ziyue."

"Oh." Wu Wenshan nodded. He glanced back at the basketball on the basketball court. There were two baskets on the court and there were four or five basketb.a.l.l.s scattered around.

One of them was the one thrown away by Wu Wenshan.

Wu Wenshan wiped away the cold sweat that had formed across his forehead, "This basketball court here is a little strange."

Xu Ziyue asked curiously: "How?"

Wu Wenshan licked his lips nervously. As he explained, he made a shooting basket gesture.

"It's just, when you hold that basketball and just as you are about to jump………don't you usually open your palm and push it diagonally up from your chest and then flick it over with your wrist?"

Xu Ziyue nodded.

Wu Wenshan demonstrated the act of shooting a basket very accurately.

"And then that basketball, just as it was pushed over your head, it suddenly turn into a head! And that head would be facing you with its eyes looking down at you. It had a smile that split all the way up to the corner of its eyes." Wu Wenshan shuddered, "It was horrible!"

"And in that moment, you could see……." Wu Wenshan pointed to his neck, "You could see blood dripping from here, dripping all over your body. Before you knew what was happening, your hand would also be completely stained."

"But you're clean now."

"Yeah. After running off the court, I realised that my hands were fine." Wu Wenshan rubbed his forearm, "It's really f.u.c.king strange."

Xu Ziyue turned his head and looked at the basketball court. There were no human heads there like Wu Wenshan has described but he also didn't look like he was lying. In fact, Xu Ziyue already believed in Wu Wenshan's words.

Because in this world, several strange incidents had already happened.

"I'll call the other player over." Wu Wenshan patted his chest. He seemed to have finally calmed back down.

"Ah? Okay, sure." Xu Ziyue nodded.

But just as they were about to call the player on the court over, something went wrong.

They clearly saw that the ball the player was holding was a basketball, but when the player raised it over his head and got ready to throw it, it turned into a human head.

The human head had short hair so you could clearly see the severed neck. The flesh there was jagged, and the wound was uneven. Blood seemed to flow out endlessly from the opening.

The area between the players thumb and the index finger was bitten off and eaten. It was unknown where it went.

From the basketball court, a loud cry of anguish rang out.

The player laid on the floor with his whole body curled up and twitching as he clutched firmly onto his wounded hand.

At this moment, that human head had turned back into a basketball.

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KK has something to say:
A cannibalistic basketball???