The giant lizard puffed up its neck and glared at her, but only glared at her viciously.
Mu Anqi looked at its wound and felt that it didn't seem very serious. After all, this giant lizard hadn't continued cursing her. She thought for a moment, then still gave the giant lizard a few more shots with the special demon-slaying bullets, and then began to check what was in this room.
It was a one-room dwelling, the space not very large. There weren't many places to hide things. After a short while, Mu Anqi found another box, this time looking like the giant lizard's toolbox. Inside were black plastic bags, burlap sacks, coarse hemp rope, and several sets of handcuffs and shackles. In addition to these, Mu Anqi also saw a spiked whip and some things not convenient to describe.
Mu Anqi fell silent.
With slight distaste she picked through, took out the handcuffs and shackles and fastened them onto the giant lizard, then wound the coarse rope several times around its neck, finally looping it under its armpits and body to tie a knot, and tied the other end of the rope to the side of the bed.
After that, Mu Anqi pulled over a stool and sat down to the side, opened the communicator she had taken from the giant lizard, and fiddled with this device of the Shattered Mirror Continent that was similar to a "mobile phone." It was very similar to the phone Mu Anqi had used when she was alive. The device also had many functions; the communicator could even transform freely, enlarge or shrink, and when held in the hand was almost weightless—no telling what material it was made from.
In this way, seven days passed ordinarily. Mu Anqi felt that her rating level would definitely not be high, after all she had subdued the giant lizard on the very first day. But as for how to improve the rating…
Mu Anqi had absolutely no idea.
Could it be, she had to reform the giant lizard, make him suddenly repent and become a new lizard again? But that was too ridiculous. This was a survival game, not some kind of educational program; players surely didn't have the responsibility of helping the Underworld reform ill-behaved monsters. To put it plainly, that was a different kind of payment altogether.
But if she were to just kill this giant lizard directly… in the game he wouldn't truly die at all. Dying here would actually be a relief for him, ending his suffering. Maybe the moment he died he'd immediately revive outside the game and start retaliating by cruelly slaughtering animals again.
It was really difficult.
Just then, a chat message popped up. Mu Anqi clicked it open and discovered it was actually a group chat, the group named "Seven-Day Experience Exchange Group."
There were a total of 9 people in the group, all using code names. The one speaking now was a monster called "Get Rich and Prosper."
This monster had sent a link, asking everyone in the group to give it some support, and then asked what they had their pets do after bringing them back for so long—he didn't know what would be good for attracting traffic.
Mu Anqi didn't know how many players there were in the pet shop, but looking at this group chat, she figured it should be 9 people. Mu Anqi glanced at the giant lizard lying on the floor by the bed like a corpse, and then sent a message.
[Five-Clawed Golden Dragon]: The ability I received is really strange. It took me quite some effort to get it under control. I plan to rest for a while first and continue later.
The message was sent, and Mu Anqi, staring at that "Five-Clawed Golden Dragon," almost thought she was hallucinating. She looked in disbelief at the ugly lizard on the ground: "You actually call yourself a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon?! Then why don't you dissect yourself and see if something's wrong with your brain?"
The giant lizard, pretending to be dead, was provoked again and started a new round of curses.
Mu Anqi realized that these special bullets against demons were truly effective. The giant lizard's eyes were full of unwillingness and resentment, even though he was handcuffed, shackled, and tied with hemp rope to the side of the bed. Clearly, the giant lizard thought that with his ability he could have killed her. Looking at his physique… if it weren't for being weakened by the bullets, he might well have torn the cuffs apart with his bare hands. But now, the bullet wounds in his limbs were slow to heal, the intense pain leaving him barely able to catch his breath, and he could not break free from these restraints.
At the moment, she had plenty of ammunition, and also had the giant lizard's communicator (phone) in hand. Since that was the case… could she perhaps find a chance to slaughter the other monsters bought by players as well? Then save the players, and teach the monsters to become proper monsters again?
While she was thinking this, the group chat had already flooded with many new messages. Mu Anqi discovered that among these adopted monsters, the giant lizard was actually something of a celebrity. Quite a few people were looking forward to his "artistic creations." Someone even @-ed him, saying that the lizard's artistic work had given him much inspiration, and revealed he was a fan who had collected many of the lizard's work discs. What was worse, this fool even posted a short video in the group, imitating the lizard's so-called "art."
That made Mu Anqi furious. If she could crawl along the internet cable, she would've gone over right then and blown that idiot's head off without a second word.
"Happy Demon Life…" Mu Anqi stared at this screen name, then turned to glare at the giant lizard, raising her hand and giving him another shot. Mu Anqi was still very controlled—she never aimed at vital points. She was afraid of giving this lizard relief.
"You!, The hell are you going crazy for?!" The giant lizard howled in pain, then started rolling around, cursing her again with those vicious words Mu Anqi could already recite by heart.
"Have you still not realized your situation?" Mu Anqi was baffled. Was she acting too kind, or did she look too soft-hearted? This giant lizard was way too bad at reading the room. "You're going to stay here for seven days. Not even half of the first day has passed yet. You have energy now, but what about tomorrow? How many times can you go hungry, how many times can you go thirsty? You can relieve yourself anywhere you want—I won't clean up after you anyway. This video camera works great. I'll record all your ugly antics, burn them onto a disc, and give them for free to all your fans who watched your previous videos."
As Mu Anqi spoke, she kept watching the giant lizard's expression. Although she couldn't really tell what it meant, seeing that he finally shut his mouth made it clear that these threats were effective.
"…What do you want to do?" The giant lizard lowered his head and asked. "This time it's my bad luck. I'll cover all your expenses for these seven days. Do whatever you want, alright?"
"???" Mu Anqi really wanted to smash her four thousand Guansi in his face to wake him up. She raised her hand and realized her demon-slaying bullets were spent. Mu Anqi pulled a card from her backpack and pressed it to the gun, then took three more demon-slaying bullet cards and slipped them into her pocket. She fired a shot at the giant lizard's tail. "Can't you see your situation? No matter how much you provoke me, you won't get off with such an easy death!"
"Have you figured it out now? You think animals and monsters weaker than you are yours to bully, that you can kill them easily. By the same logic, in my eyes you're nothing but trash, not even worth shit. Crushing you would be as easy as accidentally stepping on an ant." Mu Anqi took out the candy cane, enlarged it, and smashed it hard against the giant lizard. "How did you enter this game? What exactly did the Underworld say to you? Tell me everything, down to the last detail!"
The giant lizard's eyes shifted, and before he could speak, Mu Anqi produced a Guansi generated red envelope and stuffed it into his hand.
The giant lizard's expression changed, but in the end he still accepted this "bribe."
Hearing the prompt that the skill had been successfully activated, Mu Anqi finally relaxed a little.
According to the giant lizard, last month he suddenly received an invitation. The invitation clearly stated the time and content of this game called "Animal Village," saying he had been chosen as a lucky participant and asking whether he was interested in joining the game.
There were no extra rewards for participating in the game—only that you had to buy a "player" as a pet and live with them for seven days. During those seven days, you could do whatever you wanted. If either you were killed or the player was killed midway, your game would end early. But once the seven days were up, if the player was still alive, they would leave the game. Similarly, if you were killed by the player beforehand, the game would also end. During the game, participants had to remain in full beast form at all times and could not reveal a human or half-beast form, so they had to take a special potion for control. After taking the potion, they could only act in their true form for seven days. Of course, this state did not affect their combat ability or movement.
Mu Anqi pressed further about this potion, but the giant lizard didn't know either. He said the Underworld had never produced such potions—these seemed more like something from Nirvana Space.
Death during the game wasn't true death, but the experience and sensations were real.
Players might possess powerful weapons or items, or they might be weak with nothing at all. However, since participants could choose which player to buy, the giant lizard hadn't been worried at the time. Because he was the first buyer, he had priority. Speaking of this, the giant lizard couldn't help but shed tears—he had never imagined that the seemingly soft and weak female player, who looked no different from the little monsters he had dissected before, would turn out to be so powerful.
After listening, Mu Anqi more or less understood the game. "They didn't restrict your freedom?"
"…I can't take the player out of this city." Otherwise, he wouldn't have rented a place here.
"In other words, the other monsters participating in the game are also somewhere within this city?" Mu Anqi stared at the giant lizard, raising the phone. "These monsters in the chat group—do you know them?"
"I don't know them! That group chat only appeared when the game started this morning. You can check the chat history, I never said a word." Seeing Mu Anqi's hostile look, the giant lizard quickly added, "But they must be in this city."
Mu Anqi nodded. She took a picture of the giant lizard's complete toolbox, then gave the lizard another Guansi. "Video call your fan. Invite him here. Whether he brings his player or not doesn't matter, but that monster must come. If he refuses, I'll carefully slice your tail into pieces."
"You can also call for help, let all the monsters come together." Mu Anqi smiled. "But you won't want to know what will happen to you before they arrive."
"…If I do as you say, can you… not kill me?"
"You can die more quickly," Mu Anqi said expressionlessly. "After all, we still have to live together for seven days."
The giant lizard stared blankly at this player. Those black bean-like eyes shut for a moment, and at last he said in a low voice, "As you said… give me a quick death."
"Mm. Aren't there nine members in the phone? Every day you lure one of them over, and that day you'll get a portion of food and water. As long as you make it to the seventh day, when I leave, I'll give you a quick death." Mu Anqi showed a kind smile. "Aren't I very kind?"
The giant lizard instinctively wanted to curse, but looking at Mu Anqi's harmless smile, he inexplicably felt a chill run down his back. He opened his mouth, forced out a smile, and echoed, "Y-yes."
[T/N: MA has grown so much, it's making me shed tears of joy (〒﹏〒)]