The Coward - Chapter 2

Five years ago, all seven billion people on Earth received the same system notification, one riddled with garbled text:

【Welcome to the Infinite Horror… Game】

【Every human being is a… player】

【Please survive in the… instances】

【Please do not give up… wait…】

【We…】

After the initial chaos, humanity established a new order.

The game came with global rankings that shifted constantly and updated in real time. Only one name had never been shaken from the top—

【Li Jingchi】

On the very first day the horror game descended, Li Jingchi awakened two Talents.

One was 【Teleportation】. The other was 【Learning】.

The benefits of the former went without saying. The latter was like having a giant S+ stamped across the growth field on his character panel.

Every organization, large and small, dreamed of recruiting him.

But the most infuriating thing about Li Jingchi was that he was powerful—and arrogant. He did whatever he pleased, was capricious and unruly, and spared no one’s pride.

That was why, from beginning to end, I was the only person who stayed beside him.

People naturally gossiped and speculated about our relationship.

But anyone who watched closely would realize that Li Jingchi and I were not lovers. I was more like a lackey.

And the reason he had not thrown me aside was probably only that…

I was very good at soothing people.

After all, Li Jingchi and I had grown up in the same orphanage. We could fairly be called childhood sweethearts.

He had not been like this when we were little. Back then, his bullying went no further than tugging my braids or making faces at me.

But if he saw an older child shove me down and steal my cookies, Li Jingchi would charge like a mad dog. He would straddle the other child and pound fist after fist into their face, refusing to stop even when blood sprayed from their nose.

Terrified, I would plead from the sidelines.

“A-Chi, A-Chi, stop hitting him! He’s already passed out!”

“I-I know you’re the strongest, A-Chi! I admire you more than anyone, so please stop, okay?”

Only then would Li Jingchi’s fists go still, the tips of his ears flaming red.

As we grew older, bullying me became a habit of his. He would put fake cockroaches in my schoolbag or jump out at me wearing a skull mask.

Every time, I screamed in fright. When he scared me badly enough, I would burst into loud sobs.

At first, seeing me cry made Li Jingchi panic. At a loss for what to do, he would stuff candy into my pockets.

But after it happened often enough, he began watching from the side with a grin.

“Gu Lin, you’re usually ugly, but you’re kind of cute when you cry,” he would say with a laugh. “Keep crying for a while.”

He was the same now that we had entered the instances.

When danger came, he protected me. No person or entity could get near me.

When there was no danger, he frightened me instead. More than once, he did not stop until he had scared me into retching.

But in truth, on the first day the instances descended, I had also awakened a Talent:

【Translation】

As the name suggested, whether it was English, French, or any other language, I could communicate without difficulty.

If I had possessed that ability when taking the College English Test Band 4 or Band 6 at university, I would have loved it.

But in this perilous world of instances, it was utterly useless.

The howls made by entities carried no meaning. Translated, they were still just a mess of ghostly wailing.

So inside the instances, I depended entirely on Li Jingchi to stay alive.

I was working hard to level up, though.

I did not want to remain useless forever.

At last, a recruiter from a major organization called Gui’an approached me. They said they saw potential in me and believed my Talent could help them recruit more people from overseas.

I was ecstatic.

I thought my efforts had finally paid off. I thought someone had finally recognized me.

Yet on my second day after joining Gui’an, Li Jingchi appeared at the base entrance with a dark scowl.

And the recruiter who had praised my potential the day before never looked me in the eye again.

Only then did I understand.

I was nothing but the brick they had thrown out to lure in a piece of jade.