Chapter 00038: A Little Bit Troubled
# A Little Bit Troubled
Chapter 38
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 38 A Little Bit Troubled
The old cooling fan of the laptop was humming loudly as it ran.
Li Chengxi stared at the screen, where Roy, once a two-headed chibi figure, had now become a single-headed chibi.
A slight breath of relief escaped from his lips.
After helping Zola's side find the treasure and deal with the golem, Li Chengxi had immediately shifted the camera's focus to find Viola.
Not too long ago, during prayer, Viola had said she suspected the Lord would make a move soon, thanking the Demon God for providing evidence and whatnot.
Make a move?
What kind of move?
Li Chengxi immediately thought of the classic Feast at Hong Gate scenario.
Right now, this was likely the Lord’s only chance to get rid of Viola.
After all, she was always surrounded by Royal Guards, and with the Lord being only level 5, trying to accomplish this by force would be extremely difficult.
As the saying goes, “a clear spear is easy to dodge, while a hidden arrow is hard to stop.” Afraid something might happen to Viola, Li Chengxi had made sure to bestow upon her the Divine Arts of Detect Poison and Neutralize Poison during that morning’s prayer.
Combined with the innate Toxin Resistance of high-ranking members of the Demon Race, even if someone put real arsenic in her food, she should be just fine.
Still, he wasn’t completely at ease, so he came over to check at once.
After all, NPCs are not all the same kind of NPC.
It depends entirely on the player’s personal preference.
Just then, he happened to see Roy, who was originally locked up in a prison cell, trying to escape.
This punk was a tough fighter—if he really got away, Viola would have to constantly guard against sneak attacks from then on.
So, in a moment of panic, Li Chengxi grabbed the utility knife he used to open packaging and slashed at Roy on the screen.
That was the end of the Lord.
Roy had been split in two.
Now nothing should stand in the way of Viola taking full control of the territory.
Preaching and other matters should also go a lot smoother from here on.
With that thought in mind, he pulled the utility knife out of the screen.
“…What is this? Blood?”
There was a small red smear on the blade of the utility knife.
Li Chengxi lowered his head and gave it a sniff.
Yep.
That was blood.
“…Wait a second, how can a person inside a game bleed?”
Li Chengxi started to panic a bit.
He got up and ran to the bathroom.
Under running water, the blood on the blade began to dissolve and smear.
It didn’t seem like much—about the amount you’d get from a small cut—but blood it was, no doubt.
His brain buzzed.
He didn’t feel the nausea or discomfort you’d expect after killing something.
What he felt was deep, baffling confusion.
Even though AAI had always had a ton of unexplainable elements, like being able to reach into the screen or the way game and real-world objects could cross over freely…
Despite all those weird things, Li Chengxi had never really tried to get to the bottom of it.
There were no leads.
Thinking about it would be pointless.
No matter what, he had always regarded it as just a game.
He thought it was merely something made by some mysterious person or power and, for whatever reason, handed off to him.
So even with all its strange quirks, he had only ever treated it as a weird little game.
Think about it—how many crazy things have players, once hailed as the Fourth Calamity, done inside games?
Things too immense and numerous to even list.
But a game is just a game.
It’s made for fun.
The player can play however they want.
Yet what happens when you realize the game isn’t a game... but reality itself?
That’s when you start to feel it.
Li Chengxi finally understood this now—and the thought left him deeply confused...
–‐‐——–‐‐——
“Ahhh! Refreshing!”
Xue Wenshu had come around to Li Chengxi’s shop for an ice pop again.
One big bite in and he had already eaten half, the chill giving him brain freeze.
“Li Bro, what are you watching? Playing Minesweeper again?”
Behind the register, Li Chengxi turned the laptop toward him.
“Nothing special. Just watching a video to kill time.”
“Oh, checking out dancing girls, huh? Living the emperor life.”
He used to wonder what was so great about those ancient emperors always watching girls dance, but now that he’d tried it, he finally understood—it was pretty entertaining.
“Lemme see this uploader’s name. I wanna follow them too.”
“Aren’t you always stuck to your cute little girlfriend?”
“She’s not my girlfriend yet. And besides, looking at pretty girls doesn’t conflict with that.”
Just then, a delivery truck parked outside.
“Are you Mr. Li Chengxi? Got a delivery for you.”
Seeing the courier bring in a bunch of boxes, Xue Wenshu stuffed the rest of the ice pop into his mouth, waved goodbye, and said he had to go study.
As for what he was studying?
Well… let’s just say that’s hard to explain.
Li Chengxi stuffed all the boxes into the empty space behind the counter and sat back down.
Looking at the dancing girl swaying back and forth on the screen, he reached out and tapped the monitor.
The video paused.
“Just as expected. This is what’s supposed to happen.”
Losing interest, he closed the browser.
His gaze fixed on the AAI icon on the desktop.
After a moment’s hesitation, he clicked to open it again.
He’d spent the whole night trying to figure out what kind of game this was, but—as expected—he’d found nothing.
All he knew was, this wasn’t your standard game.
The NPCs on the other side of the screen were alive.
He didn’t know if that meant the game connected to some other world, or if his computer housed a little micro-world of people.
In the end, Li Chengxi came to a conclusion.
Doesn’t matter.
Who cares what it really is? As long as he could still play it, that was enough.
Li Chengxi’s biggest strength was that he didn’t get hung up on things.
If he couldn’t figure it out, he’d just let it go.
Might as well think of it like raising a tank full of goldfish.
As for the secrets lurking within?
That could wait.
Sure, he’d been bothered… but only for a night.
Then he moved on.
Once the game interface booted up, the screen still showed the interior of Lord Leon’s villa, though the blood and corpses had all been cleaned up.
He glanced at the in-game time shown on the right side of the screen.
It was just about time for Viola’s Morning Prayer, so he moved the camera in that direction.
–‐‐——–‐‐——
“So that’s what happened yesterday.”
Zola, who had rushed back to Leon Stronghold the night before, now stood at the door to Viola’s room in the early morning.
“What do you plan to do with Count Leon?”
“For now, he’ll be detained. I’ve already sent Hill. We must get Count Leon to reveal everything he knows about the Lord. Afterward, he will be granted hanging. Until a new lord is appointed, the Leon Territory will be temporarily incorporated into my direct rule.”
Although there wasn’t a big commotion, Leon Stronghold was too small a place—any event would spread fast.
The locals, upon hearing that the count had tried to assassinate the princess and was instead captured, were first shocked… then cheered loudly.
That alone showed exactly what people thought of that count.
“And the others involved?”
“The butler might’ve been scared out of his mind. He reported everything to me in advance, so I’m considering granting him clemency. As for Roy, who had been captured earlier, he died under Divine Punishment from the Lord. According to the doctor, when he was cut in two, he was still conscious—survived for several minutes before bleeding out.”
Zola helped Viola into a cloak and said upon hearing this:
“Looks like the Lord’s mercy only extends to His faithful.”
“Just like the legends say, the Lord is both cruel and merciful. That’s exactly what makes Him worthy of reverence.”
Seeing a hint of melancholy on Viola’s face, Zola asked:
“Things played out just as Your Highness foresaw. Are you still unhappy with the outcome?”
“The Lord warned me more than once. It’s not like I hadn’t considered this. But…”
She sighed.
“I didn’t want things to go exactly as predicted. The nobles in the kingdom are getting fewer and fewer, and now I’ve personally had to execute one. To outsiders… I must seem like a vengeful princess, stealing land from her vassal.”
“Your Highness, no matter what others say, I and the Royal Guards will always stand by your side. And the Lord is watching over you.”
“Yes, you’re right. I shouldn’t care what outsiders think.”
Viola smiled and fastened the buckle on her robe.
“Come now. It’s time we give our prayers to the Lord.”
“As you command, Your Highness.”
(End of Chapter)