16 No way out

In the next hour, Xiao Xun had to look unceasingly stunned as Iris told him the fore-known fact that he was a character in the game. This was a great test of Xiao Xun's acting abilities, what expression would a noble descended from the Middle Ages who ran away and grew up as a mere commoner yet vampire for a decade make if he was told that he was a character in a game on an unknown device from the future? Hard to know.

[When you put it like that it's hard to believe he's not a character from a game, this backstory is ridiculous.]

'Yeah, making the impossible possible is my special talent.'

"So you see," Iris tried to put it mildly "You are actually a body made up of data, and this data is not what was shown in the trailer, so if you could tell me maybe a little about your current character's background..."

"Did you tell another one of the... characters you said?" Xiao Xun tried to extract information.

She shook her head "You are the only character who isn't hypnotized or completely jerky, everyone else acts like forking haughty zombies. The worst part is that no one tries to hit on me!"

"I-"

"You know, this game is expensive, like really expensive, and I had to buy a special console and virtual reality glasses, and pay so much to be the first beta tester. This is not what the synopsis promised! This was supposed to be an otome harem game with a bunch of handsome guys, not this weird mystery horror game! None of the other characters even look at me!"

Edmund tried to sneak a word in: "I think-"

"You're the only character who didn't abandon me!" She suddenly hugged him, "That's why I love you the most, under your icy face you're so cute and considerate!"

[Haha, the only reason you are her favorite character is because she thinks she has a chance with you.]

She broke away from the hug pretty quickly, "So, why are you a baron's heir? And why is your name Danny? It sounds lame, in the synopsis you were like the duke's heir, you should change your name again by the way."

[And she does not even really like you! I am fucking dying here!]

Although it would have been much more helpful to tell her the whole thing, the bureau's ooc had no exceptions.

"How'd you know I'm the duke's heir?! You're a spy? You actually thought you could trick me with your 'other world' nonsense?!"

In a flash, a short dagger poked her neck, millimeters from her arteries.

Her young girl's heart succeeded to be moved by Edmund's (or Danny's?) hand holding her chin before she realized he was trying to find easier access to her gurgle.

Even without his enhanced vampiric body, only the training Cecil had put him through over the years was enough to overcome this modern world girl.

"No- I didn't mean that Danny is a stupid name! It's also pretty cute! Please don't kill me!"

[This poor girl is completely missing the point.]

'I don't know about that, maybe Edmund is really sensitive about his name? We need some reason to chill or things will get very ugly.'

The last thing he wanted to do was kill an innocent girl only because she couldn't justify herself reliably enough, even if it was a virtual reality game for her.

Not out the kindness of his heart, of course. It's just that the second this girl leaves the game she's going to report it, and then the news of the game being 'autonomous' will spread like wildfire in the c world, which will lead to - you guessed it - mission failure.

"I guess you may be speaking the truth." Edmund lowered his dagger "Sorry, I was impulsive."

[The host is being warned; this is a 15% ooc. In return, 10,000 points have been cleared from your account. Please pay attention.]

[The current level is 45.8%, host, the world will start rejecting you soon.]

When you take over someone else's body, you infuse the karma of two people.

This is an unholy act that destroys the life of the next world for both parties.

For Xiao Xun, a bureau worker, the impact will be minor to non-existent. Yet Edmund, for example, will have to go through another very unhappy life just to return the karma to its stable level.

This is why ooc is not allowed. Bureau workers are supposed to maintain peace and tranquility between the worlds, not destroy the balance: Therefore, for any behavior that deviates from what the original owner of the body does (which requires a different karma calculation), the host is fined points, the numerical representation of karma.

Iris didn't notice his slightly twitching mouth at the announcement and breathed a sigh of relief. This game was the first in which she tried the 'full dive technology' that came out several years ago, she was always afraid of horror games so she chose this dating simulation, who would have thought…

She had tried to disconnect from the game dozens of times without success, she assumed that she would return to reality when she died or finished the game but she never dared to try the first option.

Sometimes she suspected that she was simply hallucinating, that she was really a baron's daughter who was trying to convince herself that it was a game from another world in order not to face her grim reality.

She almost cried when she first saw Edmund, even though his name and title were different, he was the first living proof that she wasn't just imagining it all.

She took a deep breath, determined to check the second option that came to her mind to get out of the game: "So, now what are we gonna do?"