Chapter 59: Forcibly Binding Eli

Looking at Eli in this state, Tang Mu felt a pang of sadness.

If things between her and Yan Xingwen were destined to be like this...

Lifting her head again, Tang Mu’s eyes shimmered. “Use [Blessing of the Resentful Couple (B-)], bind to ‘Eli’ from The Murder on Train 1924.”

The item was used successfully.

Just as she was about to leave the instance, she used [Red Thread Bell (A)] as well.

“Scarlet threads in the dark, strings for the puppet. By urgent decree, go!”

The red thread tightly bound her to Eli.

When the instance ended, no force could separate their bodies.

“Don’t blame me, Xingwen. This is the only way I can keep you,” Tang Mu whispered in her heart.

She closed her eyes.

She didn’t know how much time had passed.

The world around her grew noisy again.

From the sounds, Tang Mu guessed she was back in the game’s main hall.

But now, she felt timid, afraid that everything she had done for “Eli” would be in vain.

Until—

A familiar man’s voice sounded in her ear.

“So this is the world outside the game?”

It was Yan Xingwen!

Tang Mu opened her eyes in delight, staring blankly at the man before her. Unfortunately, Yan Xingwen still wore “Eli’s” face, which left her a little disappointed.

But regaining Yan Xingwen filled Tang Mu with such joy that it drowned out her fleeting disappointment, giving her heart comfort and courage once more.

“Yes, this is the world outside the game.”

Tang Mu opened the system shop and bought two bottles of stamina restoration potion, spending a total of one hundred points.

Outside the game, potions were cheap in the shop, but inside an instance, the price was more than ten times higher.

It was hardly a good deal.

Unless absolutely necessary, no one would waste points on items inside the game.

“Drink this. Even though we’ve left the instance, if you don’t take the potion, your body won’t recover from the anthrax infection when you enter the next instance.”

“I don’t want to become disfigured by anthrax again.”

Yan Xingwen didn’t refuse the potion Tang Mu handed him.

He removed the wooden stopper and downed the ice-blue potion in one gulp.

“And this one.”

Tang Mu handed him another bottle of clear potion.

But before giving it to him, she had torn off the instructions from the bottle, making sure Yan Xingwen had no chance to read them.

Yan Xingwen glanced at the obvious tear where the paper had been, frowning slightly.

Though he knew perfectly well what Tang Mu was up to, his expression was all confusion and doubt.

A flawless performance.

“Didn’t I just drink a potion?”

“This one is a booster.”

“Then why aren’t you taking a new one?”

“I’m not an NPC from the game,” Tang Mu replied with a gentle smile.

“You’re different from us. Even though you still can’t leave the game lobby for the real world, you’ll disappear from the lobby without strong stamina potions to support you.”

“So you have to keep drinking potions.”

Tang Mu deliberately emphasized the words “keep” and “drinking” to coax Yan Xingwen into obedience.

“All right,” Yan Xingwen replied, looking as if he reluctantly believed her.

He downed the clear potion in one go.

Tang Mu watched the whole process anxiously. When he finished, her eyes sparkled with anticipation. “Well? Do you remember anything?”

Yan Xingwen gazed at her quietly.

He wanted to tell her that he didn’t need any potion to remember everything between them with perfect clarity.

But he couldn’t say it.

Not yet.

“It feels... a bit different. But I can’t quite put it into words…”

“Tang Mu.”

A sudden, unpleasant male voice interrupted.

Tang Mu turned toward the sound.

It was Joseph and his brother, Johann.

Seeing Tang Mu, Joseph reacted like a dog spotting a bone—utterly delighted and excited.

As for Johann...

Johann was far more composed.

He stood with the bearing of someone in power, observing the subtle currents between Tang Mu and Yan Xingwen before letting out a soft, derisive laugh.

His attitude displeased Tang Mu, but he didn’t care.

Joseph, oblivious to his brother’s disdain for Tang Mu and Yan Xingwen, simply hurried to Tang Mu’s side, eager to ingratiate himself, ignoring anything and anyone else.

“Tang Mu, you’re truly amazing. Even without your gallant protector, you made it safely out of the game instance. Did you get all your rewards? Did you strike it rich again?”

“I haven’t checked the rewards yet,” Tang Mu replied, her mind elsewhere.

She motioned for Joseph to keep his distance.

“The air circulation in the game hall is bad enough. Could you please stand a bit farther away?”

Despite her rebuke, Joseph showed no intention of retreating. He’d grown thick-skinned from Tang Mu’s repeated rebuffs.

In fact, he felt that as long as Tang Mu didn’t stab him with a real knife, she was already being kind to him.

“Tang Mu, don’t be so cold to me... Your boyfriend isn’t coming back anyway. Why not reconsider me? Unlike that man you can never hold in the real world, I’m right here—tangible, touchable, able to give you every pleasure an adult man can.”

Tang Mu was left speechless.

“I don’t need that. Thank you,” she replied icily, keeping him at arm’s length. “Even if every other man in the world were dead, I still wouldn’t choose you.”

Joseph clutched his chest dramatically, as if wounded and in need of comfort.

“Oh, heavens. The old routine... Tang Mu, you can’t always be so heartless. Even wildflowers and weeds need rain and dew to survive!”

Tang Mu ignored his theatrics.

When she gave him no response, Joseph felt a pang of disappointment. Only then did he notice the unfamiliar man standing beside her.

His heart skipped a beat.

During Tang Mu’s second game, Joseph had asked his brother to thoroughly investigate her.

Naturally, he also knew about her supposedly “deceased” ex-boyfriend.

But Joseph had always harbored an inexplicable confidence, stubbornly believing that as long as he persisted, no woman could resist the charms of Joseph the Sleep King.

As for a dead rival—

Well, the dead don’t compete, do they?

“And who is this?”

Since Joseph had asked, Tang Mu seized the moment, linking her arm with Yan Xingwen’s and, in a tone full of pride, announced:

“My boyfriend, Yan Xingwen.”

Then she introduced Joseph to Yan Xingwen. “And this is Joseph—a clingy nuisance who just won’t go away.”