410: 8.10 Completion Reward

8.10 Completion Reward

"Hmm?" Ji Yan lifted his head with his cheeks bulging like a squirrel. His voice was muffled when he spoke, "What's wrong, Miss Irene? You should try the steak. It's so delicious!"

Lu Yizhou: "..." Why did the protagonist have to dig a hole so deep for him?

By now, everyone's eyes were trained on Lu Yizhou, either judging, accessing or waiting. Beads of sweat formed on Lu Yizhou's hairline and his grip on the fork tightened. What should he do…?

'Daddy, Daddy, eat the steak! My keen nose has confirmed that it's real beef! It's 100% safe meow~"

"No." Facing Luca, Lu Yizhou forced a smile on his face. "I was just confused on where to start because everything looks so tempting. Thank you so much, Master Luca, for your concern. I will definitely enjoy this." Without breaking eye contact with Luca, Lu Yizhou cut the edge of the steak and brought it to his mouth, swallowing. He put on the barest of smiles. "...Very delicious."

Luca stared at him for a few seconds. His eyes were akin to two whirlpools of abyss that messed with Lu Yizhou's mind. How could he ever think that this man was normal?! After a few seconds that seemed like hours, Luca finally nodded and broke eye contact. 

Lu Yizhou slowly, slowly let go of the breath he was holding. He did not slump down on his seat but that was a near thing. Fuck, that was so close… he could almost see his life flashing in front of his eyes.

After that little mishap, Lu Yizhou focused on finishing half of the steak, potato wedges, creamy mushroom soup (this was the most normal of all), and bitterly swallowed down one of the meatballs. He didn't even deem the salad worthy of a glance. 

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Ailín watching him intently before whispering something into Olivia's ear. Then both of them started to eat the exact same thing Lu Yizhou ate, with the exact same order. Lu Yizhou heaved out a long-suffering sigh. That was brilliant of them. Lu Yizhou wished he could be in their position and follow behind someone's steps too.

…Wait a minute. What about the protagonist?

Lu Yizhou snapped his head up to see that Ji Yan had almost finished eating. He was slurping down the mushroom soup to its last drop, all the while dipping the sandwich bread on it and munching on it with a happy look on his face. The delight that radiated from him was genuine. As for the sausages, the meatballs and the salad… he did not touch them at all.

Lu Yizhou was stunned. Was it only a coincidence that the protagonist managed to evade every single trap or was it only a dumb luck?

As if they were on the same wavelength, Luca asked curiously as he eyed the leftovers in Ji Yan's plate. "Is the food not to your liking, my lady?"

"Ah?" Ji Yan was flustered for a split second at being addressed. "Oh, you mean these?" He rubbed the back of his neck and let out an embarrassed laugh. "I don't mean to be rude… but I am allergic to cumin. I can tell that the meatballs and sausages have been roasted with cumin powder. Master Luca, I can assure you that you don't want to trigger my allergic reaction!" He put on a very serious expression. "I will go in and out of the bathroom nonstop and the smell will be— ugh, the point is, it's better for me not to consume that! You don't mind, do you?"

The corner of Luca's lips twitched. "Then… what about the salad? There's no cumin powder there."

"Oh…" Ji Yan cleared his throat sheepishly. "My apologies, Master Luca, but I hate eating greens the most."

Luca: "..."

Looking at the man's speechless look, Lu Yizhou had a sudden urge to laugh. His impression of Ji Yan instantly improved by leaps and bounds. So this was the power of the protagonist! 

Perhaps he had been too dumbstruck by Ji Yan's seamless answer and had no idea how to counter that, Master Luca could only pour himself a glass of wine and chugged it down.

In that instant, Lu Yizhou sat up straighter, his expression slowly turning grave.

It might only for a split second, but when Luca lifted his arm to drink the wine, Lu Yizhou's keen eyes caught sight of odd discoloration on the inside of the man's arm. 

He slowly drank his mushroom soup with his mind running a thousand miles per second. What was that? Bruise? But a voice inside Lu Yizhou's mind told him that it wasn't a simple bruise. For starters, the area was too large, it almost covered the entirety of Luca's upper arm. Of course he couldn't exclude the possibility of it being a simple bruise, but what if it was… livor mortis[1]?

Lu Yizhou's heart sank. Maybe he had to investigate a bit to confirm his doubt. Later, after everyone had fallen asleep.

The rest of the dinner passed by without any more incident and as soon as the plates were brought away, trumpets and drums resounded in Lu Yizhou's mind, followed by the background sound of applause and cheers.

[[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the side quest 'Survive the dinner with Master Knox'! Please check the reward in your inbox!]]

Master Luca stood up and bid them goodnight, saying that he would retreat to his own chamber. Lu Yizhou's eyes were fixated on the man's back until he disappeared through the door, taking note of the way he walked and especially how he moved his bruised arm. Now that Lu Yizhou knew where he should put his focus, he gradually realized that… Luca's movement seemed a little uncoordinated and stiff. It was like he had muscle cramps and had to move as little as possible so as to not jostle his body.

Lu Yizhou narrowed his eyes sharply. [Can any of you scan him, 666, Ozzie?]

[666: *gasp* Host, do you really think that Luca is a… a corpse?! A walking dead?! How?!!!]

'Daddy, I am your familiar. My main purpose is to aid you in fighting and protect you from harm so… I am sorry that I can't help you,' Ozzie said, dejected.

'No, it's okay.' Lu Yizhou patted her head. 'I have guessed that everything will not be so easy.'

One thing for certain, Luca couldn't be human. It seemed like Lu Yizhou had to investigate it by himself… He was so engrossed in concocting plans in his mind that he was startled when Ji Yan's face appeared within his line of sight, slightly tinged in concern. "Miss Irene, are you okay? Your complexion is not looking so good."

Lu Yizhou shelved the thought about investigation and asked instead, "Where should I check the inbox for reward?" 

"Oh!" As expected, Ji Yan was easily distracted. He told Lu Yizhou enthusiastically. "It's very easy. You can just call the inbox in your mind and it will appear in front of you just like the system panel! Try it out!"

Lu Yizhou nodded in thanks and followed Ji Yan's guide. In the next second, a floating rectangular screen appeared in front of him. There was a red dot beside the inbox so Lu Yizhou clicked it open.

[[Reward for completing side quest: x5 health potion.]]

"Health potion?" Lu Yizhou wondered out loud. 

"Ah, you got health potions, that's so lucky!" Ji Yan beamed brightly. "It's a very good reward for newbies. Usually, everyone will experience headache, hunger, nausea, or dizziness during their first game and the health potion will instantly rejuvenate you! It's kinda like in the game where your HP[2] is instantly refilled, you know?"

The corner of Lu Yizhou's lips twitched. He did not know. Had never played a game before. He didn't even want to know what HP was. "What have you gotten?"

"Ah, me?" Ji Yan chuckled, clearly trying to deflect from Lu Yizhou's question. "It's okay, because I am already in my fifth quest and my luck is better than average, I often get something a bit valuable at a time like this! It's okay, the reward will always be different for everyone. When you get to my level, you will also become like me!"

Lu Yizhou deadpanned, "So what have you gotten?" 

Ji Yan hummed and hawed, shifting on his legs nervously. When he was certain that Lu Yizhou wouldn't let the matter go, he meekly fished out a card from his dress pocket and offered it palm up in front of Lu Yizhou.

[Guardian Angel – Bound Skill Card] 

Lo and behold, you have been chosen as the lucky one! Fret not because the angel will be here to protect you from any harm. With this card, players will be able to sense three oncoming threats and save their life before others. Only available in this quest. Remaining uses: 3/3]

Lu Yizhou: "..."

What was with this blatant favoritism?! Comparing himself and the world's protagonist would only make him puke blood!

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[1] Livor Mortis (Lividity) is the settling of blood in body due to gravity. Livor Mortis starts to develop 2-4 hours after death, becomes non-fixed or blanchable up to 8-12 hours after death and fixed or non-blanchable after 8-12 hours from the time of death.

[2] In role-playing games, HP means hit points, a numerical attribute representing the health of a character or object.

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A/N: the protagonist's golden finger in this world is heaven-defying luck *laugh* our ML will finally appear in tomorrow's update so please wait for it

< so sorry for the long delay, I need to lay down the prerequisite for the game so everyone won't be confused. After LYZ has gotten a hang of it, the plot will pick up its pace ^^

Imagine what will this card show Ji Yan when ML appears around LYZ and saw him hovering around every single time? *evil chuckle*

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