Devil App

Chapter14

[014]

Jason and Zoe regained some of their strength after drinking the water.

Looking at their pitifully inadequate points, they decided to leave for the time being. No matter how long they stayed here, they wouldn’t get any more points. If they wanted to get more and buy better weapons, they'd have to go out and earn them.

Jason felt like he finally understood a bit about this so-called “World of Terror.”

He didn’t yet know exactly how the world was built or how it worked, but it excited him.

It was more dangerous than the real world, but it also offered more opportunities.

He had no idea what the people who rewarded him were thinking. Perhaps they just thought of him as an entertainer on television, or even admired him like they would a beast in the Roman Colosseum. Either way, Jason didn't mind.

He didn’t mind being a tool that gave others an adrenaline rush, as long as he could earn points and stay alive.

He was a dying man to begin with who'd almost been devoured by death, but fate had given him a ray of hope.

The spark of life was back in his hands now.

Who was willing to fall into the abyss of death without a struggle? Since he'd been given another chance, he would do all he could to hold the spark tightly.

He wanted to live. Nothing more.

.

“Why do you think only us two can come in, and Dylan and the others can't see the store at all?” asked Zoe.

Her heels made a crisp sound on the marble floor in the corridor. When she walked out of the store, she discussed this with Jason curiously.

Jason glanced back at the shiny sign hanging above the salesperson’s head. Two blue-red light bands surrounded the two words “Terror Store” in a retro style.

“Perhaps it's because there aren't any dollars in this world, and the only currency is points. Dylan and the others probably don’t have any points yet, so the doors of the Terror Store wouldn't open to them.”

“That’s true,” Zoe said, shrugging her shoulders. “These guys don’t have a single point and are really cranky. If they see so many goods, they'll probably get greedy and make a scene in the store because they can’t buy them. If that happens, it would be really hard to deescalate, so it's better to eliminate the root cause.”

After mentioning this, Zoe and Jason thought of something at the same time, their eyes fixed on the robotic arm.

Jason began, “It’s okay. Even if we tell them there’s a*****e inside that requires points, they still can’t get in.”

“That not only saves the store trouble, but also helps us. But... aren’t you afraid they’ll try to rob you by force?” asked Zoe.

Jason smiled and turned off the safety catch on his g*n, “Then they’ll have to get past my g*n first.”

After that, he thought of something and pondered for a moment.

Jason and Zoe went back to the front door. The moment they stepped out, the glorious corridor disappeared. Their noses became more sensitive to the putrid smell in the air outside after they'd smelt the nice fragrance inside the store. The gray sky was still full of awful omens, reminding them that b****y battles could start at any moment.

When they stood next to the wall. Jason looked back and saw that there were still some strange movements in the place where he'd walked out. It seemed that the store wasn't a place offering one-off services, for it was warmly welcoming them to come back and buy things at any time.

“Jason,” Zoe began as she pulled Jason with a lot of force and obvious nervousness.

Jason immediately turned around as she pulled him back. Before he saw Dylan and the others, he noticed a strange man wearing a clown mask sitting nearby.

The man was wearing a splendid custom-made suit with polished shoes, and a million-dollar watch on his wrist. His attire was often seen among Wall Street’s elites. However, unlike the rich elite, he looked quite out of place with the clown mask on his face. He was sitting proudly on the top of the shabby wall. They had no idea how long he'd been watching Jason and the others.

The clown mask was a bit shoddy, and gave them a strong uncanny valley feeling.

It had an exaggeratedly twisted smile that stretched from ear to ear. Its smiling eyes were as stiff and dead as two upside-down crescent moons, which made it look even more creepy.

The man was sitting high up on the wall casually. The putrid wind blew up a lock of his silky blond hair from behind the mask. One could imagine a handsome face behind this creepy-looking mask.

In his hand there was a dark pistol casually placed on his knee, which made them slightly wary of him.

Lily, who'd just been hiding in a corner, saw them coming back. She immediately ran over and hugged Zoe  around the waist, hiding behind her.

Zoe felt a little helpless when she saw that the little girl seemed to be treating her like a rock.

The masked man looked at Jason and suddenly laughed.

“Look, our popular king is finally back. Let me see what goodies you’ve bought. Oh, a basic robotic arm. That’s very sensible. I can see you’re very practical, and it matches your little face quite well. Hmm, I'm starting to like you more and more,” said the masked man.

The masked man’s tone sounded like he was talking to a good friend, but Jason didn’t know him at all.

But, for some reason, when Jason had seen his clown mask to begin with, it had actually given him a brief feeling of familiarity.

Where had he seen this man before?

“What’s going on, guys? You’ve accepted my task, but all that's happened so far is a few losers died. You haven’t made any progress after such a long time, which deeply disappoints me. I’ve seen a lot of newcomers who dawdle, but this is the first time I’ve seen people run around in circles then go back to where they started. Don't you think this is a tad ridiculous?”

Originally, Jason just thought this person looked familiar and couldn’t remember where he'd seen him before, but when he heard him say “you’ve accepted my task,” his scalp suddenly prickled up and he thought of something.

He'd seen this scary clown mask before. When he first logged into the app, he had casually accepted the “do me a favor” task. At that point, the task publisher’s profile picture was exactly the same as this clown mask.

So he was the one who had published the “do me a favor” task?

This was the first time that Jason had logged into the app. He'd originally intended to find an outlet for his desperation, so he'd not even seriously read what the task was about.

He hadn't expected that the task publisher would show up because he was tired of watching them make no progress. Jason and Zoe, who'd been wondering what to do next, regarded it as a blessing in disguise.

However, their small amount of excitement didn’t last long, because soon they discovered that the masked man was a complete lunatic.

“Hey, lad, are you saying it was you who published this damn task?” a guy with dark skin questioned the masked man while walking forward.

He was one of Dylan’s followers, and all his muscles were as hard as rocks.

He'd always hated watching others show off in front of him. He'd originally been unhappy at the sight of the masked man with his blond, greasy hair. He and two of his companions had asked him several questions, but he'd just sat there and said nothing. Instead, as soon as Jason appeared, the masked man had suddenly started talking to him, completely ignoring the three of them. It was totally unacceptable.

The dark-skinned man abruptly interrupted Jason’s conversation with the masked man.

He began, “You published this task, so just tell us what the next step is. Our time is very precious, too. We don’t want to go round in circles. Besides, what do we get in return if we help you complete the task? Shouldn’t you make it clear...”

Suddenly, a sharp gunshot stopped him mid-sentence.

His eyes opened wide in surprise, his lips trembling. A clear bullet hole appeared between his eyebrows.

Hot smoke rose from the muzzle of the g*n in the masked man’s hand. “I hate it when people interrupt me when I'm talking. It’s very rude,” he said coldly.

The dark-skinned man fell to the ground, his legs twitching for a while before he became completely motionless. Dylan and the other man with green hair watched in horror as their companion was killed in cold blood. They dared not say a single word.

The masked man’s bizarre behavior also panicked Jason and Zoe. Subconsciously, Zoe hugged Lily tight.

It was clear that this masked man wasn't a zombie, and was in fact a sentient, living human who could talk and communicate. But still, he'd killed a man with such indifference like an emotionless monster.

Jason felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on him, drenching him from head to toe, even though he'd just been desperately fighting for his life from the zombies.

This guy was a homicidal maniac.