Chapter 41

Holding his bag containing five balls, Lin Linya began a leisurely tour of the second floor of the venue, strolling around like a passing tourist.

When the ten-minute mark hit, he stood by the railing and looked down. He finally saw what the Villain Meows arranged by the venue looked like.

They were all NPCs wearing bulky, inflatable plush costumes. There were over a dozen on every floor. The costumes had fierce, snarling cat faces, but because the bodies were so oversized and puffy, they didn’t look intimidating at all. Instead, they were adorably clumsy and cute.

He couldn’t help but roast the design, “Are you sure these Villain Meows can catch anyone? They can’t even run in those plush costumes.”

It looked like a casual jog would be enough to shake them off.

The Villain Meows on Lin Linya’s floor quickly spotted his position. As he lifted his head, he locked eyes with one of them.

“…”

He silently took a step back. It was like he’d sent a “don’t come catch me” signal. Instantly, all the Villain Meows began charging toward him, their bodies bobbing left and right as they ran, their ears flopping wildly.

His earlier mockery about them not being able to run in plush costumes was now a massive face-slap. He hadn’t expected these NPCs to be so fast. One moment, they were still some distance away; in the blink of an eye, they were right in front of him.

What had originally been a funny scene suddenly turned into a horror movie. Lin Linya’s face paled drastically, and he turned and ran.

He hadn’t even run a few hundred meters before, in less than a minute, two NPCs cornered him at the stairwell entrance.

【I’m seriously dying of laughter. Yaya Baby, with zero stamina, you just had to mock others. Didn’t expect karma to hit back so fast.】

【I read the official notice that these Villain Meow NPCs are all students from Haicheng Sports College hired as extras. So every single one of them runs like the wind.】

【Fans: Interesting. Love watching the streamer suffer.

Extras: Fun, and we get paid too.

The Streamer himself: Wait, are the organizers insane?!】

The two Villain Meows who had intercepted Lin Linya immediately reached for his bag. Lin Linya clutched the corner of his bag tightly, pleading, “Wait, wait, I think we can talk this out!”

The two Villain Meows exchanged a glance. One of them let go of the cross-body bag he was tugging on.

Lin Linya quickly hugged the bag protectively to his chest.

That short sprint just now had made his legs go weak. He had to use both hands on the railing to pull himself up, his back pressed pitifully and helplessly against it.

Just as he tried to edge sideways, one of the Villain Meows blocked him, its massive head looking down at him from high above.

Lin Linya immediately stopped any attempts to move. He tried to strike up a conversation with the Villain Meow blocking his path. “Hey there. Are you a Big Bro or a Miss? Have you had breakfast yet?”

The Villain Meow held up a ‘1’ gesture, indicating he was male, then nodded to show he had eaten.

Lin Linya was so awkward he was swallowing nervously like crazy. “R-really? What did you eat this morning? Getting up this early must be tough. Aren’t you hot in that plush costume? Why don’t you take it off, and we can chat for a bit?”

Seeing they were unmoved, he had no choice but to change tactics. “Let me sing you a song. ‘Big Face Cat, Big Face Cat, loves to eat fish, meow meow mi, meow mi mi, meow mi mi…’ “

【Life is hard, Yaya performs street art.】

【Hahahaha, he’s basically a Wolf Fang music database. A mobile jukebox, seriously.】

【Understood. In the future, when having intense bed battles with Yaya, I’ll force him to sing ‘Big Face Cat’ while going at it. He’ll definitely cry from embarrassment, right?】

【You guys in the ‘thirst fans’ faction have weirder and weirder kinks. Don’t spout such bold nonsense just because he can’t see it right now, hey!】

“…”

The Villain Meow was getting a bit impatient and reached out again to snatch his bubbles away.

“Wait, wait, wait! You don’t like children’s songs? I know other ones too.”

Lin Linya ducked backwards. In a moment of quick thinking, he thrust his own hand out for a handshake, bobbing it up and down in a business-meeting style. “Please don’t take my balls, okay? Bro, good Bro.”

The Villain Meow stiffened, clearly not expecting this new tactic from him.

Seizing the opportunity, Lin Linya threw his arms around the inflatable costume, his entire body sinking into it. His voice was pitiful. “Don’t catch me, let me go. I’ll never talk bad about you again. You guys run way too fast. I can’t outrun you. I even failed my 1000-meter fitness test in sophomore year. Please, okay?”

【Oh my god, he’s so good at acting cute. His method of begging is to ask for a hug.】

【The guy under the costume must be about to lose his resolve. A Yaya this cute, just let him go.】

【Baby, you’re a boy! How can you act cute like this with other boys? This is too… you know!】

Villain Meow: “…”

Lin Linya let go and stepped back two paces. “You not saying anything means I’m taking that as a default yes, okay? You caught me once, so you can’t catch me a second time, understood?”

The man in the plush costume waved a hand helplessly, signaling for him to leave quickly.

Lin Linya immediately beamed with joy. He cupped the Villain Meow’s massive head in both hands, stood on his tiptoes, and planted a kiss on its feline face. “Thank you! Alright, I’m off, bye-bye! Go catch someone else.”

Just as he took his first step forward, the other Villain Meow suddenly blocked his path.

Taking full advantage of being inside the Villain Meow costume, the tall young man pointed a finger at his own face with righteous entitlement.

Lin Linya: “…”

【Hahahaha, I’m about to die laughing. Yaya: What is happening.】

【On the surface, it looks like they’re putting on plush costumes. In reality, they’re taking off their masks.】

【Poor Yaya. The first streamer forced into giving kisses by NPCs. He’s become a master of balancing favors.】

Lin Linya applied the same method and pressed a kiss onto the other Villain Meow’s cat face. “Alright, you can’t catch me either. I’ll remember both of you, Little Red Cat and Little Yellow Cat. No cheating. Got it?”

The two Villain Meows had different colored neckties on their chests. Lin Linya had used that detail to remember them.

The two Villain Meows nodded in perfect synchronization, looking a little dorky doing it. But Lin Linya couldn’t laugh at all.

He ran for what felt like two miles. Only when he couldn’t see anyone did he slide down the wall to sit on the floor, utterly drained. Like a mouse counting grains of rice, he meticulously counted and recounted his five balls. He let out a sigh of relief only after confirming not a single one was missing.

“This game is so hard. You need 15 balls to win, and I only have five.”

And two of those were gifts.

He stayed in the dimly lit stairway until the ten-minute period ended. When he poked his head out, he still felt a subconscious fear and weakness in his legs upon seeing the Villain Meows who hadn’t retreated in time.

After the first round’s scare from Villain Meow, the remaining streamers were mostly moving around in groups.

Lin Linya wandered around the labyrinthine gymnasium for ages, climbing up and down two or three floors without seeing anyone he knew. He was, however, completely worn out. The upper floors were beyond his energy to climb.

After wandering around, he arrived at the Tourist Center on the first floor. Since Wolf Fang had booked the entire gymnasium, this place was deserted except for a few venue staff members.

He peeked inside and found the air conditioning in here was set even higher than outside. He wanted to leave even less now. He caught one of the service desk ladies and asked, “Is it okay to come in here right now?”

Getting permission, he found a bench to sit on and poured himself a cup of hot water. After drinking it, his eyes locked onto the firmly shut door of the Broadcast Station inside the Tourist Center.

Holding his disposable paper cup, he casually strolled past the service counter. The staff member who was looking at her phone glanced up at him in puzzlement.

Seeing him approach, she put her phone down and asked, “Hello, is there anything I can help you with?”

Lin Linya quickly leaned in. “I wanted to ask, can a broadcast from here be heard throughout the entire gymnasium?”

The young lady’s smile was sweet, and her voice was gentle and soft. “Yes. If you and your friends or family get separated, we can help you locate them via a broadcast. Our ‘lost child’ assistance is available for those separated from their guardians.”

Lin Linya’s eyes lit up. “That’s great!”

Soon, the broadcast rang out throughout the entire gymnasium: “Qiao Yu, the child from the Wolf Fang Platform, your guardian is waiting for you at the Broadcast Station. Upon hearing this broadcast, please proceed to the Broadcast Station to reunite with your guardian.”

“Repeating the announcement. Qiao Yu, the child from…”

Thinking he was being pranked by an acquaintance, Qiao Yu stormed furiously toward the Tourist Center, only to find both Lin Linya and Little Yang already waiting for him there.

The two had their heads together, studying a venue map obtained from the staff, whispering quietly about something.

Seeing Qiao Yu arrive, Lin Linya greeted him and then honestly admitted on his own, “I’m the one who filed that missing person notice.”

Qiao Yu’s anger instantly dissipated. He turned his head and looked at Little Yang, asking displeased, “Why are you here, then?”

Little Yang replied calmly, “I guessed Yaya would be here, so I came to check. Never expected I’d get here faster than you.”

Hearing this, Qiao Yu’s face turned sour.

He really hated smart people.

He then noticed Lin Linya’s gaze on him and quickly explained, “I was assigned to the seventh floor, so it took me some time to rush over. How many bubbles have you guys collected? I’ve only managed ten so far.”

Lin Linya suddenly understood. “No wonder I couldn’t run into you. I’ve been hanging around the first to third floors this whole time.”

Little Yang let out a snort beside them. Seeing Qiao Yu’s cheap, chameleon-like expression, he couldn’t help but jab at him. “I’ve already collected all 15 balls. How come you only have ten?”

As the person with the fewest bubbles in the whole venue, Lin Linya immediately felt embarrassed. “I only have five. You guys are collecting them so fast. Why can’t I find any?”

Qiao Yu hadn’t expected anyone to have more bubbles than him. He opened Little Yang’s bag in disbelief and counted. Indeed, there were 15. “How did you find these? When those Villain Meows came out in the second round, I didn’t dare leave my hiding spot.”

“Damn, seriously, they run insanely fast! I thought I was already running pretty quick, but they caught up in no time. If I hadn’t shaken them by hiding in a room, I would’ve been caught for sure that time.”

Seeking some validation, he turned and asked Lin Linya, “Did they chase you? Were they running super fast?”

Lin Linya hesitated. “Um… they were definitely fast. But they didn’t chase me.”

Qiao Yu accepted this statement very readily. By now, he was completely used to the people around Lin Linya showing him inexplicable kindness. A few NPCs not chasing him wasn’t strange at all.

It would be any behavior unkind to Lin Linya that Qiao Yu would find hard to accept.

The half-hour mark hit. A bell rang throughout the gymnasium, and the Villain Meows once again set out to catch fish.

But this time, with friends by his side, Lin Linya felt much more at ease. Just as the three of them were about to head out the door to search for Bubble Balls scattered around the venue, they ran right into two Villain Meows.

Qiao Yu was still on guard, vigilant, but he watched as the two Villain Meows saw them, acted like they hadn’t seen a thing, and stiffly made a sharp 90-degree turn in mid-air, walking away very quickly with rigid bodies.

They didn’t look like fish-catching NPCs at all. They looked more like Bubble Fish getting caught, fleeing at top speed the moment they saw a cat.

Qiao Yu asked, baffled, “Did they not see us?”

From a distance, Lin Linya had already spotted the familiarly colored neckties on the two Villain Meows’ chests. His kittenish eyes blinked innocently. “I’m not really sure either.”