The metallic smell was mixed with a faint scent of alcohol, which was very unique and pleasant.

Chi Yao sucked away the infected part of the blood, and his tongue licked the slender wound. He unconsciously moved closer to Jing Xi’s gland, searching for the scent of alcohol.

As long as he bit down, this person would be marked with his scent.

Although Alphas cannot permanently mark other Alphas, if the other person is marked for the first time, his pheromones will be written into his genes and cannot be erased for life.

Chi Yao’s half-closed eyes were focused on this fragrant and fair piece of skin. He couldn’t resist the temptation, or rather, he didn’t even intend to resist it. He pressed his teeth against it.

“Chi Yao!”

Feeling something sharp touch his gland, Jing Xi was startled. Just as he was about to push him away, a melodious bell suddenly rang, echoing throughout the entire maze.

Chi Yao came to his senses. The golden light in his eyes disappeared in a blink.

He paused slightly and looked up.

There was a row of very shallow teeth marks on Jing Xi’s gland. The two canines were especially obvious.

If it weren’t for the bell, he would have actually bitten down.

Looking at his masterpiece, Chi Yao: “…”

Mark an Alpha? His brain must have short-circuited just now.

Jing Xi and he were on opposing sides. If he really bit him, there would probably be no peace for him in the future.

Jing Xi: “What are you doing?”

He took a breath, his voice a little hoarse.

Facing his wary eyes, Chi Yao looked away, feeling a little guilty.

“What do you think? If it weren’t for me, would you still have the strength to speak?”

Jing Xi’s eyes flickered slightly. His voice was a little weak. “Thank you.”

“Sacrificing your life for people who have nothing to do with you, how have you survived until now?” Chi Yao let go of him and sat on the ground casually.

Jing Xi moved his fingers. His senses were gradually returning.

“What does ‘irreversible’ for a transformation of over 30% mean?”

“The literal meaning.”

Chi Yao swiped Jing Xi’s terminal on his wrist.

He switched to the control interface of the three miniature robots and looked at the maze scan.

After the bell rang, the red dots representing the beast-men quickly retreated toward the outside of the maze.

The morning’s free activity time was over.

Jing Xi turned his head to look at him. “Why would they transform?”

Chi Yao made the virtual screen hover in mid-air. “Injecting mutated beast genes can have a certain probability of causing transformation.”

Jing Xi was stunned.

Even though he had guessed it, when it became a fact, it was still hard for him to believe.

“You said a certain probability?” Jing Xi asked in a low voice. “Is it also possible that nothing happens?”

Chi Yao chuckled, as if he had heard something very funny. He moved over and sat with his back against the wall next to him.

“A certain probability means that some people die before they can even transform.”

Jing Xi’s hands on his legs tightened sharply.

“Can transformation be controlled with medicine?”

After Chun Qin injected something into Iron Bear that day, Iron Bear recovered.

Chi Yao seemed to know what he was thinking.

“That was just a sedative.”

Jing Xi frowned. “Is it voluntary to become a subject?”

Chi Yao observed the movements on the virtual screen and scoffed. “Is that possible?”

Jing Xi: “Who did it?”

Chi Yao: “If I knew, would I be wasting my time here?”

It was very dark here. Jing Xi couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly.

After a moment of hesitation, he asked directly, “Why do you know about the existence of the transformed people?”

Chi Yao: “Someone hired me to investigate. Otherwise, you think I’m this free?”

Hired?

The “X” he had been branded with on his arm and the crossed-out numbers flashed in Jing Xi’s mind. He put a question mark next to that sentence.

There was no point in pressing Chi Yao for things he didn’t want to talk about.

Jing Xi followed his words. “You’re very busy? Busy stealing mines or busy scamming money?”

Chi Yao leaned against the wall, the corners of his lips slightly raised.

“I’m a space pirate. All my actions are naturally based on profit.”

Jing Xi: “Then why don’t I see you being so active with the task I hired you for? Do you think the reward I gave you is too little?”

That “yao” again.

Chi Yao: “Can you stop mentioning your childhood friend in every other sentence?”

“If I don’t talk about him, should I talk about you?”

The wound on his neck was probably numb. He couldn’t feel any pain.

Jing Xi raised his hand, wanting to touch it to see what was going on.

Before he could touch it, his wrist was grabbed by Chi Yao.

“Don’t touch the wound with your dirty hands.”

Chi Yao’s gaze swept over the row of teeth marks. His expression was a little unnatural.

They should fade in about half an hour. Then no one will know—

Jing Xi broke free. “My hands are dirty, but is your saliva clean?”

He retorted verbally but obediently put his hand back.

Chi Yao snorted. “So many people want my saliva. Don’t be ungrateful after getting a good deal.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Why does this sentence sound so familiar?

Feeling that his senses had mostly returned, Jing Xi stood up with the support of the wall.

“Then go give it to the people who want it. I’m not very interested in your saliva.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Although they had a map, they still returned the way they came to be safe.

But the door wouldn’t open.

“Is it because it’s break time now?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao shook his head. “Didn’t Xiao Hong hijack Cyberin? Tell it to open the door.”

Jing Xi used his mind to give Xiao Hong the command.

The door opened with a click.

Xiao Hong: [Cyberin’s defense network is being strengthened. I can only hold on for ten more minutes at most.]

Ten minutes was enough time for them to leave.

The door opened, and they returned to the original passage. The lights came on.

The sudden brightness stung Jing Xi’s eyes. He slightly tilted his head to block the light. He adapted after a moment.

He glanced at Chi Yao’s clean hand from the corner of his eye. He paused and pulled it closer to inspect it.

When he was attacked by the beast-like child, his hand was injured. Why was there no trace of it?

“Anyone can hold my hand?” Chi Yao pulled his hand back and counted on his fingers. “You kissed me and held my hand. That’s one life, plus a debt of 300 pictures.”

Jing Xi: “…”

How did he even calculate that?

Jing Xi: “What do you want so many photos of me for? To hold an exhibition?”

Chi Yao walked ahead with his hands in his pockets, a lazy smile on his face. “Can you control that?”

Jing Xi looked at the back of his hand and then raised his hand to touch his own neck.

He couldn’t feel any marks from his neck to his shoulder, except for a very shallow teeth mark.

It really wasn’t his imagination at that time.

Jing Xi: “The bite you took cancels out 300 pictures.”

Chi Yao’s footsteps paused. He used Jing Xi’s own words to retort. “That was an accident.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao: “Anyway, we’re both Alphas. What’s wrong with me biting you? Don’t be so stingy.”

Jing Xi’s face was cold. “You’re so generous. Then let me take a bite.”

Chi Yao held up one finger. “One bite for 1,000 sexy photos. Think carefully before you speak.”

Jing Xi: “…………”

They reached a fork in the road and ran into Li Yuan and Lu Meng, who had rushed over.

Chi Yao: “Where are they?”

Li Yuan looked at his boss again. He felt that something wasn’t quite right.

“They’re fine. They’re hiding and don’t dare to come out. But the ones who had their hands and feet cut off are about to give up.”

“Then let them stay there. I’ll find a way to get some tools over.” As he spoke, Chi Yao walked outside. “You and your little sister will follow us.”

Li Yuan: “…”

Where the hell did he get a little sister from?

Lu Meng saw that his boss’s face wasn’t looking too good. He quickly asked, “Are you okay?”

Jing Xi shook his head. Thinking of what had happened before, he warned in a low voice, “Don’t let those people cut your skin.”

Lu Meng: “Yes.”

Chi Yao and Jing Xi both had a map. It was easy for them to get out when no one was chasing them.

After the three miniature robots returned to Jing Xi’s hand, they drove the sightseeing car out of the maze.

“Go to the Happy Tower in the west. The main control room is there,” Jing Xi said to Chi Yao, who was driving.

Chi Yao did a beautiful drift and went straight toward the west.

Xiao Hong: [I’m sorry. I have lost control of Cyberin.]

Jing Xi: “Okay.”

The AI had regained autonomous control, which meant that their every move would once again be exposed to the AI’s sight.

They had to destroy the entire AI management system before those people could get there.

On the top floor of the Happy Tower, Black Mask stared at the restored screen. He listened to his subordinate’s report.

“We have lost 28 of our people, and the players have barely decreased.”

Black Mask tapped the sightseeing car twice. Chi Yao and Jing Xi’s personal information appeared on the virtual screen.

The Beta in black looked at it and asked in confusion, “Do you think these two have a problem?”

Since the game began, this person with the long braid had been extremely wild and didn’t play by the rules at all.

Although there had been this type of player in previous years, they had never seen one this strong.

And that one-eyed man.

To be a miner in a high-risk area, his strength was definitely not something an ordinary person could compare to. This was also the reason why the higher-ups agreed to let him in.

Having both strong and weak players in a batch made the game more exciting.

But no one expected them to be this strong.

Black Mask: “They’re coming here. Tell them to get ready.”

Beta in black: “But it’s break time now—”

Black Mask: “Don’t you get it? Their goal isn’t the prize money.”

The Beta in black was stunned. “Then, what is their goal?”

Who would come here to risk their lives if not for money?

Black Mask crossed his hands in front of him. The smiley face pattern looked especially strange.

“Whatever their goal is, they can’t live.”

The sightseeing car drove to the bottom of the Happy Tower.

Jing Xi was about to get out of the car, but Chi Yao grabbed him.

“Sit still.”

Chi Yao put the car in the highest gear and stepped on the gas pedal all the way.

The sightseeing car broke through the gate and rushed in.

The Happy Tower had eighteen floors. Each floor had a different theme and various amusement rides. The diameter was as wide as a hundred meters, which was completely wide enough for the sightseeing car to pass through.

Jing Xi: “Top floor.”

Chi Yao drove the car directly into the freight elevator and pressed the button for the eighteenth floor.

“It’s this smooth?” Lu Meng couldn’t help but wonder. “Didn’t the AI already recover?”

“Who knows what these clowns are up to?” Li Yuan snorted gruffly. “Maybe they know we’re too strong and have given up.”

Lu Meng glanced at him, his expression one of disdain. “Stop showing off your three-year-old IQ.”

When Li Yuan heard this, his anger immediately flared up. He rolled up his sleeves and retorted, “And you like to show off your one-year-old fists?”

Lu Meng: “Are you looking for a fight?!”

Li Yuan: “Come on! I’m not afraid of you!”

Chi Yao watched the numbers changing. He looked at the two muscle-bound cross-dressers fighting in the rearview mirror, and his eyes were getting tired.

While the two of them were arguing loudly to disrupt the voice-activated system, Jing Xi said in a low voice, “More than 200 beast-men are gathered on the seventeenth floor. The second warehouse in the east of the lobby is the armory. They might have weapons in their hands.”

The two people in the back were arguing loudly to disrupt the voice-activated system, but they also had their ears perked up.

Chi Yao stared at the numbers. He laughed. “I was just worried about not having any weapons.”

Jing Xi’s expression was serious. “Xiao Hong and the others can block the first wave of attacks, but if they have heavy weapons, they probably won’t be able to hold on for long.”

Chi Yao had his hand on the steering wheel. He watched the number change to seventeen.

With a ding, the freight elevator door slowly opened.

He scoffed. “The first wave is enough—”