After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

Chapter 25

The moment he heard that familiar voice, Ye Jia's mind went blank, "……"

This…..this can't be real.

But the sound of footsteps slowly approaching him broke his final strand of hope.

Ye Jia closed his eyes in despair.

—–Why does this person like to sneak up from behind him so much?!! Does he have a problem?!

After about two seconds of stunned silence, A'mi was the first to react. It trembled all over and quickly turned around and bowed, "King!"

Ye Jia turned around and also stiffly saluted, "…..King."

Standing with the streetlight behind him, Ji Xuan's tall and slender figure was outlined by the dim light. His pair of scarlet eyes were half-narrowed, "Enough."

A'mi asked in panic, "King, w-why are you here?"

"How else could I have heard such an interesting conversation if I didn't come?" Ji Xuan's gaze fell onto Ye Jia and his thin, pale lips rose into an almost imperceptible smile, "So, what did you want to know?"

Ye Jia: "…….."

I don't want to know anything now.

Compared to Ye Jia who was directly asked by Ji Xuan, A'mi's reaction was significantly greater. It trembled like it was struck by lightning and its face with blurred features seemed to show some fear, "K-King….It's my fault….I shouldn't have spoken behind your….."

Ji Xuan withdrew his gaze and cast a sidelong glance at A'mi, "Shut up."

A'mi instantly closed its mouth.

He came over unhurriedly, stopped in front of Ye Jia and asked with interest, "Are you interested in me?"

Ye Jia replied hastily, "No, no—-"

Ji Xuan raised his eyebrow, "You're not interested in me?"

"……." Ye Jia didn't know what to say.

Why….did he feel like the conversation had taken a strange turn?

He racked his brains for a few seconds and answered awkwardly, "No….my interest in you…..only falls within what a normal subordinate would feel towards their superior."

Why did it sound even more strange now???

And as for A'mi who had witnessed everything from the sidelines, it seemed to be overly shocked by the scene and swayed in the air as if it could pass out any second.

Ye Jia waited nervously but even after a long time passed, he didn't hear anything from the other party's end.

He quietly raised his eyes and looked at the man standing in front of him but accidentally met with Ji Xuan's dark scarlet eyes.

Ye Jia's breathing stopped for a moment.

At that moment, he thought his disguise had been seen through.

But he then saw Ji Xuan nonchalantly withdraw his gaze.

His eyes lowered slightly, and his pale face looked cold and emotionless under the streetlight, resembling a lifeless sculpture. His low voice seemed to have a hard, almost metallic texture: "If that's the case, then know your place."

The moment he heard those words of warning from the other party, Ye Jia quietly let out a sigh of relief.

He respectfully performed a perfect bow at the man before him, "This kind of thing won't happen again, King."

A'mi stared blankly at the scene before it. It felt that the strangeness it had felt yesterday had once again appeared and it was also stronger this time.

Was King…….

Always so easy to talk to?

It had seen King slowly tear a fierce ghost into pieces with a smile on his face after he found out about it talking behind his back and that fierce ghost was even forced to use its remaining head to eat up the remaining remnants of itself before King benevolently ended that fierce ghost's life.

W-was he in a good mood recently?

A'mi thought this with some uncertainty.

But that wasn't right. The number of ghosts fed to the blood gu fish had broken a new high recently and even the blood gu fish couldn't eat anymore.

While A'mi was still feeling puzzled, Ji Xuan seemed to have lost interest in this topic.

He looked at A'mi: "Has it all been taken care of?"

A'mi lowered its head even more and said fearfully, "Y-yes, none are left."

"Very good." Ji Xuan nodded without much concern. His voice however didn't contain much praise, "Send the news out. Let everyone know what fate they would have if they betray me."

"Yes." A'mi responded hurriedly.

"As for you….." Ji Xuan's attention once again returned to Ye Jia, "How are things going on your end?"

Ye Jia: "…..It's just…I should be able to soon infiltrate in….I think."

Contrary to his expectations, Ji Xuan didn't dwell on this topic.

"Speaking of which," he narrowed his scarlet eyes slightly and dark light slowly swirled around inside, "ever since you became my subordinate, I haven't tested your strength yet."

Ye Jia's heart almost stopped.

A'mi boldly intervened, "K-King….A'ye helped a lot today with dealing with the remaining traitors. I have to say that you have very good vision! He is the most promising newcomer I have ever met!"

"A'ye?" Ji Xuan hooked up the corner of his lips.

A trace of cold dissatisfaction flashed across his eyes and the temperature of the surrounding air seemed to fall several degrees in an instant.

Please read this from kk translates

His assessing gaze fell onto Ye Jia and he asked slowly, "So—–A'ye, tell me, what kind of weapon are you proficient at using?"

Ye Jia's muscles slowly tightened, "……Claws."

"Oh?" Ji Xuan asked with interest, "Let me see."

Ye Jia's eyes were fierce. The slender fingers hanging by his side suddenly twitched, as if he was suppressing the urge to lash out.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

A'mi gritted its teeth —- No, I can't let my colleague who I finally found pleasing to the eye anger King and die here.

I-It should step in.

It gathered up some courage and carefully broke the silence, "Uh, King, A'ye's race only expose their claws while mating……"

"Oh." In a span of less than a few seconds, Ji Xuan had already stored away the deadly energy that was faintly leaking out, "Is that so."

He dragged out the last word and his voice was mixed with a trace of regret, "What a pity."

Ji Xuan seemed to be no longer interested in this topic.

He waved his hand and said calmly, "Go. Report back to me once a week on the progress of your mission. The shadow ghost will tell you the time and location when it is time."

Ye Jia: "……"

The other party seemed to change topics too quickly. It made the killing intent that he had built up earlier disappear like a punctured balloon.

…..I suspect that I have just experienced workplace sexual harassment.

But I don't have evidence.

Hearing Ji Xuan's words, A'mi was relieved. It hurriedly pulled Ye Jia over, saluted him and got ready to drag its little friend who was almost killed away from this place—–

"Shadow ghost stay behind." Ji Xuan spoke without warning.

A'mi's vision went dark.

It waved pitifully at Ye Jia and then cautiously returned to the moody Ghost King.

Before leaving, Ye Jia quickly glanced back behind him.

The tall man stood under the streetlight. He seemed to be quietly watching him leave.

.

Ye Jia went straight back home.

The room was very quiet. One could vaguely hear distant traffic sounds through the window. The light in the room was not turned on. Only dim lights from outside penetrated through the glass, falling onto the windowsill and ground.

Ye Jia sat motionlessly in the darkness, his eyes slightly lowered. There seemed to be an invisible cloud covering his head.

His gaze settled firmly on his feet, as if he was caught in some kind of deep thoughts.

—-For some reason, Ye Jia couldn't forget the scene he saw briefly when he glanced back earlier.

The tall man standing alone under the streetlight with his dark shadow splitting light from shadow. He stood there as if waiting for something.

It was puzzling but it somehow bothered him a lot.

In fact, ever since Ji Xuan was involved, Ye Jia had been feeling quite uncertain.

He was especially uncertain…..as to whether the other party recognised him.

Based on his previous experiences, he should be safe — After all, Ye Jia had enough confidence in his disguise and was certain that he wouldn't leave even a little bit of his original scent uncovered. What's more, all the player's faces in the game were fake. Even if Ji Xuan was now the Ghost King, Ye Jia didn't think that the other party would be able to recognise him solely based on his past appearance.

More importantly……He currently need to figure out what Ji Xuan's purpose was.

Although Ye Jia didn't want any further involvement with his past, he couldn't just sit back and watch the current situation unfold —- After the game collapsed, too many fierce ghosts and monsters had lost their restraints, but behind all this chaos, there seemed to be something darker lurking.

That bus carrying fierce ghosts over to an unknown destination, the force behind the spider queen that A'mi had mentioned…..All those unstable factors had gathered together, making him feel exceptionally uneasy.

And Ji Xuan…..this Ghost King.

As the King, what exactly did he want to do? Destroy mankind? Or rule the world?

Would he once again cross swords with him this time as well?

Ye Jia's eyes lowered slightly. He carefully examined his palm.

The room was dim. Under the light entering from the window, his pale palms looked as white as snow.

—-It was still stained with blood the day before but today it was as clean as ever.

But that cold and sticky sensation never seemed to disappear. It still lingered in his palm and between his fingers.

At this moment, the small black hand spoke up next to his ear, "What's wrong?"

It climbed onto Ye Jia's shoulder and asked quietly, "What are you thinking about?"

Ye Jia retracted his gaze, "Nothing."

He paused for a moment, and suddenly asked, "In your opinion, is Ji Xuan's attitude…..normal?"

The small black hand tried to recall.

It was too weak. Even in the game, it wasn't easy for it to encounter a powerful fierce ghost and even that time when he saw King, it was from a distance.

But a King who cares about his subordinate must be a good King!

The small black hand answered sincerely, "Normal!"

"Oh." Ye Jia replied dully. He seemed to be distracted.

Suddenly, the phone on the table rang and the screen lit up in the dark.

Ye Jia was surprised, He turned and looked in the direction of the phone.

The small black hand hurried over, picked up the phone and glanced at the screen.

It then let out a small gasp of surprise, "My god!"

Ye Jia frowned, "What is it?"

The small black hand hurried back with the phone. Its voice had become a little distorted due to the shock, "Look!"

Ye Jia glanced at the phone. His eyes widened.

Please read this from kk translates

"This…….."

The screen displayed a transfer record.

It was from A'mi.

"So much money!" The small black hand cradled the phone like a baby and was filled with excitement. It was almost about to cry with joy, "I haven't seen so much money before!"

—-Especially after knowing about Ye Jia's salary, it was deeply aware of how poor its household was.

Ye Jia had to check it twice before confirming that he didn't see wrong.

He slowly took a deep breath and his eyes brightened.

This part-time job…..Worth it!

.

"S-sent."

The shadow ghost's figure cowered even further. Despite not daring to let out a single sound, it fearfully reported itself.

"Scram." Ji Xuan apathetically waved his hand.

"Yes."

A'mi who was granted amnesty immediately turned and dived into the shadows.

Watching the shadow ghost disappear into the darkness, the expression on Ji Xuan's face disappeared like snow melting in the sun.

Cold, bloody air wrapped around him, as if to express the owner's dark mood.

He lightly raised a finger.

A scarlet wave slowly rose from the ground and soon the summoned blood gu fish appeared beside him. It rubbed its skull head against Ji Xuan's palm.

Ji Xuan looked down at the blood gu fish and spread open his palm.

The next second, a drop of semi-coagulated blood slowly emerged and hovered in the air.

The blood gu fish opened its large mouth and consumed that single drop of blood. A whirlpool instantly appeared in the blood surrounding it and, in the centre of the whirlpool, a scene appeared.

Amidst the indistinct background, a young man appeared in the centre of the frame.

His face was shrouded in dark haze, making his features unclear. Ji Xuan however could still distinguish his tall and slender figure which resembled a sharp blade hidden inside a scabbard.

Ji Xuan stared at the scene in the whirlpool with deep eyes.

He raised his hand and his pale finger lightly swept it over the figure of the young man in the scene. His movements were slow and gentle, as if he was stroking a precious and extremely fragile treasure.

"A'ye….."

He whispered softly. Although those words were spoken very gently, it also somehow felt a little chilling, "You never told me your name…….big brother."

The blood gu fish turned around and rubbed its head against Ji Xuan's hand again, as if urging him.

"No, not yet. Now's not the time."

Ji Xuan's gaze was fixed on the figure in the scene. He finally could no longer suppress the emotions in his eyes. Crazed paranoia and possessiveness as well as desire that was almost suffocating emerged.

He slowly and gently spoke, "I have scared him off once. I won't let something like that happen again so I should take it slowly…."

He restrained the tremor of his fingertips. Strong emotions surged within in scarlet eyes.

He whispered, "Best not to act too rashly."

The author has something to say:

Ye Jia: I love making extra money!

Ji Xuan: If you want, there is a way to make more money (hinting)