Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Recruitment by Divine Punishment, Help Me Post Something

Lu Ce: ......

From the look of it, this guy's All-Seeing Eye had been watching me since just now.

I wasn't wearing a mask, so many of my senses weren't that sharp, and I didn't have the related mask bonuses either.

But he didn't care, walking forward and saying:

"What's with today's outfit?"

"Kind of like a little white rabbit trying to play big bad wolf."

His mind raced for a long time without knowing what to say, could only make conversation for the sake of it.

"Oh? Does it look a bit mismatched?"

"But even with the biggest contrast, it's not as big as someone else's contrast, don't you think?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"What?" Xie Antong raised her eyes, "I don't remember which of the Seven Deadly Sins requires someone to play dumb."

Lu Ce: ......

"I don't really know what you mean."

He finally decided to awkwardly play along.

"What did you need me for? I just went out for a swim and got called here."

"I thought at first someone was causing trouble."

Xie Antong looked into Lu Ce's eyes and said:

"Need something? Can our relationship only meet when there's business? Can't I come find my classmate for a meal when I'm free?"

As she spoke, she pressed a button, and a drawer slowly opened from the pearwood cabinet beside them. She took out a menu.

Asking Lu Ce:

"What have you been doing this whole time? Why have you been at sea the whole time?"

Hearing this, Lu Ce suddenly remembered and quickly asked:

"Oh right! How much time has passed?"

"Since our game ended?" Xie Antong looked somewhat surprised.

"Nearly fifty hours."

"What?!"

Lu Ce was shocked too—he had actually slept for that long purely!

"You're not trying to tell me you've been sleeping this whole time, are you?"

Xie Antong asked with some astonishment, and after seeing the expression on Lu Ce's face, she knew she had probably guessed right.

Xie Antong: ......

"Are the side effects of those masks of yours too strong?"

"Are you really okay?"

Since putting on the Sin mask, Lu Ce hadn't spoken to people like this for a long time, and instantly felt an uncomfortable sense of fragmentation.

It was like in this kind of conversation, he needed to forcibly integrate his two identities.

He lowered his head slightly and said somewhat stiffly:

"You don't need to worry about these things. It'd be good enough if you could control your own side effects and not cry every time after playing the game."

Although Xie Antong felt something was off about Lu Ce's tone, looking at the face before her, she still couldn't directly connect it with "Sin."

So she said with a smile:

"You're not wearing the Jealousy Mask either, no need to be so venomous."

"Want to eat something? My treat."

Lu Ce looked at the menu handed to him, not really in the mood, and randomly pointed at something in French, saying:

"I don't care, this one then."

Xie Antong glanced at it and said:

"You just ordered a piano piece. What? You're into music too?"

As she said it herself, she could barely hold back her laughter, continuing:

"And even if you order a piano piece, it'll only be played for people in the hall—you won't hear it yourself. Didn't expect you to be so kind."

Lu Ce: ......

"Then you choose. I don't understand these things. The guest follows the host's lead."

After this little episode, silence fell between the two again.

Although Lu Ce had considered the possibility of it being Xie Antong before coming, among all possibilities, this was the one he found hardest to handle.

He felt very uncomfortable.

The other's last words, "It's okay, Lu Ce," had already thrown all his thoughts into disarray.

Plus the previous events like crashing the wedding, shooting, faking death—things were really a bit complicated here.

He felt it would be more comfortable to put on the Greed mask......

"Sigh." Xie Antong sighed, her eyes somewhat dim. Actually, she hadn't figured out how to face this either.

"After wearing a mask for so long, can't you take it off to talk?"

Lu Ce looked up. This time, his eyes refocused and grew firm.

"I need to remind you of one thing."

"Those aren't my masks. That's my face. Actually speaking, those performances are all me."

Xie Antong shook her head.

"I don't care about that. I only know that I knew him before 'Sin' became 'Sin.'"

"Logically speaking, I should be the enemy who almost killed you," Lu Ce said with a laugh.

"Is that so? Then did this thing float into my heart by itself?" Xie Antong flipped her hand, and a dark golden long needle appeared, placed by her on the table.

—Gate of Death.

Then, she pushed this Sequence Object ranked first among A-class in front of Lu Ce.

"Alright, let's talk about something else," Lu Ce replied.

"What are you doing? Why did the woman who brought me here say something about an interview?"

"Right," Xie Antong said matter-of-factly, "My organization, Divine Punishment."

"To compete with you, my own strength isn't enough, of course. I need to gather a group of people. Coincidentally, there are quite a few people who hate you."

"Recruiting was surprisingly easy. Of course, most of them don't hate you—they're afraid of you."

"Divine Punishment has already been registered and approved by the Dragon Group. It's a legal organization now, all procedures simplified."

"Isn't this also executing your plan?"

"What plan do I have again..." Lu Ce was suddenly speechless, "Actually, I really haven't thought about some things. Maybe you're overthinking it."

"You go pursue the strongest, most extreme power," Xie Antong said proactively.

"And I pretend to become your enemy, trying to absorb all forces opposed to you. That way, in the end, the whole world will practically be under our control, one in the light and one in the shadows!"

As she said this, she interlocked her fingers and placed them before her eyebrows, hiding her expression from Lu Ce.

Her tone began to faintly reveal some excitement, as if gradually merging with that [Joy] voice within her body.

But actually, she was doing it on purpose. She deliberately said "pretend to be enemies," said "us."

She hid these words within grand plans, within her seemingly somewhat crazy ambitions, but in reality, she was suppressing what she truly wanted to express.

Actually, after learning Lu Ce's identity, she had always been very clear that "Sin" and Lu Ce had always been the same person—he wasn't acting.

But her own feelings had never been an act either.