Chapter 209
The **Mind Catcher** began to sing, its melody a siren's language that resonated deep within her soul. She understood it, the song asking her: "Is strength more important, or is race?"
Yu Xunge answered without hesitation, "Strength."
As long as she was strong enough, even if she became a different race, as long as she stood on the side of Blue Star, the human race would not easily abandon her. Even if they did, with the vastness of the world, where could she not go? Conversely, without strength, she would have nothing.
The blue light of the sea demon characters flickered for a moment. Once it confirmed that Yu Xunge spoke from the heart, it released her hand, though the skeletal hand remained in a loose grip, the five sea demon characters already lit still radiating a soft blue glow.
A new line appeared in its item description.
**Mind Catcher** (Curio): With our fingers intertwined, tell me, will you choose truth or dare?
**One Answer (1/1)**: You can ask me one question related to enhancing your strength.
Yu Xunge pondered the previous question; it was too simple. If it were that easy, would anyone choose dare? How would the game continue? Or perhaps, was dare not that difficult?
But if that were the case, the game would lose its meaning. The fun of truth or dare lies in the fear of answering the truth and the hesitation to take on a dare.
**Chapter 250: Dare**
Now, it was time to see what this **One Answer** could reveal.
She tried asking, "I want to enhance my pet's strength. I need to know where the Dragon Ancestor's reverse scale, lost over a hundred years ago on Dragon Island, is located."
With the sound of a match striking, the lit sea demon characters dimmed, and blue light shot up into the air, forming a set of coordinates.
It really worked!
And the coordinates were in latitude, longitude, and surface elevation?
A minute later, the coordinates faded, and the skeletal hand that had been loosely gripping relaxed completely, lying flat on the table. Yu Xunge pushed the hand bone toward Tu Lan, letting her play. The game system's map already included the coordinates, so she opened the game map to check the exact location.
Yu Xunge keenly noticed that the glowing sea demon characters on the hand bone had changed.
However, the number was still not many. She counted—nine. Neither the types nor the quantity of the sea demon characters revealed any pattern.
**Mind Catcher**: "How many gold coins would it take for you to betray your friend?"
Tu Lan looked at Yu Xunge. "How much do you want?"
Yu Xunge casually replied, "A hundred thousand gold coins."
Tu Lan glanced at the skeletal hand. "Two hundred thousand gold coins." Then she turned to Yu Xunge and added, "Split fifty-fifty."
Yu Xunge nodded in satisfaction, approving Tu Lan's betrayal.
The **Mind Catcher** flickered emotionlessly, and just like before, a new skill appeared in the item description.
**One Answer (1/1)**: You can ask me one question related to money and wealth.
Tu Lan ignored this and eagerly grasped the now relaxed hand bone again, this time choosing dare.
This time, the sea demon characters on the hand bone lit up with red light—seven sea demon characters.
The **Mind Catcher** sang, revealing the content of the dare:
"Betray your friend, at least once."
The air fell silent.
Tu Lan felt a bit anxious, while Yu Xunge's brow furrowed deeply. Her concern wasn't about the dare's content; in fact, the dare appeared simultaneously for both her and Tu Lan, which meant she had ways to avoid it, just like Yu Bi and her good friend who had found a bug. She and Tu Lan could do the same.
What worried her was her own dare.
If the connection between dare and truth was so tight, what would her dare be?
Tu Lan's answer effectively chose "betrayal," thus the dare compelled her to betray.
Wasn't Yu Xunge's answer also implicitly affirming that strength could change one's race? Would her dare require her to change her own race?
Was there a connection here?
Was it sensing their hesitation, or was it purely for amusement?
Or perhaps it was the opposite, trying to force the respondent to confront the answer they chose?
There were too many possibilities and questions.
But at this point, Yu Xunge wouldn't easily give up on this curio.
She had merely played a truth and answered a question, yet she had obtained the whereabouts of the reverse scale. She had checked the coordinates; it was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean... If she were to search for it herself, how many years would it take?
She needed to see if the rewards from the dare were worth her efforts before deciding how to handle it.
But before that, Yu Xunge calculated the time and had Tu Lan use her skill to rewind time. After Tu Lan complied, they returned to just before the game began, the skeletal hand now lying limply on the table.
Both Yu Xunge and Tu Lan sighed in relief, but after discussing, they decided to play again to see if the dare's content would change and what rewards might come from completing it.
When Tu Lan grasped the hand bone again to start the game, a line of glowing text floated above it once more.
—"Betray your friend, at least once."
Was it the same dare again? It seemed the connection between dare and truth was indeed significant.
Yu Xunge reassured Tu Lan a few times before directly pulling her into a few rounds of the game, forcing Tu Lan to betray her in the game.
Unfortunately, the **Mind Catcher** was not fooled.
She then took Tu Lan to the apartment dungeon, granting her unlimited firepower with the light screen, removing all her gear, and drinking 10ml of Daughter's Red to lower her attributes and slow her reactions, drawing hundreds of monsters to attack her. She pushed all unfavorable conditions to the extreme and then had Tu Lan attack her.
They simulated various scenarios, even bringing Yu Xunge's health down to just 10%, but it was all in vain. The skeletal hand tightly gripped Tu Lan's dragon claw, changing size with Tu Lan's form.
Back at the villa, standing in the yard, Yu Xunge gazed at the silver moon in the sky, sighing heavily, "It seems we can't avoid being serious anymore."
Tu Lan shook her dragon claw. The grip of the skeletal hand didn't hurt her, just made her a bit annoyed. Hearing Yu Xunge's words, her eyes lit up with excitement. "Did you come up with a plan?!"
Yu Xunge nodded, her expression steady enough to reassure anyone. She asked, "Do you have other friends?"
Tu Lan: "………………"
Oh, Dragon Ancestor, what kind of language is this! It made her heart ache!
The two stared at each other for a moment, and Tu Lan said, "The Holy Grail, Bei Sui, and that powerful fighting dragon, Feng Qie, and Ying Long Di San, they're all my friends."
All tough opponents, and they were all elders. Yu Xunge grasped Tu Lan's hand firmly, sincerely saying, "I won't allow you to be friends with them. I'm your only friend."
Tu Lan: "……" What to do? Suddenly, she really wanted to practice free fighting with Yu Xunge.
Finally, Yu Xunge thought of Yu Bi, the friend from her past life who had betrayed her in a bug-filled escape.
Those two would always wait a moment after each "betrayal," waiting for the pursuers to arrive before starting their escape, sometimes even getting injured, rather than leaking information and fleeing immediately...
They would never inform the other about what they said or when they leaked secrets.
Looking at it this way, did it mean she had to bring unexpected harm to the other without their knowledge?
It couldn't be "scripted."
Like how she had planned everything earlier, knowing full well that Tu Lan would attack her; in that case, even if she died, it wouldn't count as betrayal—she would just be getting what she deserved.
Just as Yu Xunge was about to share her analysis with Tu Lan, Tu Lan, flying near her head, suddenly lowered her head and charged at Yu Xunge's nose with a rocket headbutt!
Yu Xunge couldn't dodge in time and was hit squarely on the nose. "Bang!" Her head snapped back, and for a moment, her mind buzzed, taking a while to recover. Slowly, she straightened her head, her eyes dazed as she stared at Tu Lan, blood trickling from her fingers.
She truly hadn't seen that coming, and the damage was astonishing, instantly taking away 3% of her health.
"Oh my Holy Grail, that felt amazing!" Tu Lan rubbed her head, savoring the moment for several seconds, then shook off the skeletal hand that had released her dragon claw, laughing joyfully, "It worked!!!"
Yu Xunge: "…………"
That night, the two of them practiced free fighting.
Tu Lan was still relishing the thrill of that hit. "That was a righteous backstab! You asked for it!"
Yu Xunge cleaned the blood off herself and the ground before seeking revenge. "Traitor! Spiral Bomb!"
Tu Lan: "Hmph! Mega Evolution!"
"Z Move!"
"Frost Beam!"
"Body Slam—!"
"Slap Combo!"
**Chapter 272: Borrowing Power from Dinghai**
They hadn't played long before dawn broke. Yu Xunge and Tu Lan headed out for breakfast. On the way, Yu Xunge noticed the changes in the **Mind Catcher** after completing the dare.
**Mind Catcher** (Curio): With our fingers intertwined, tell me, will you choose truth or dare?
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