The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series by Dan Sugralinov (e book reader free .TXT) 📕

I led her to the bathroom door and opened it. Michelle stepped inside, then turned around sharply. She stood up on her tiptoes, threw her arms around my neck and kissed me full on the lips. Before I knew what was going on, she shut the door behind me and broke away from me.

“What was that for?” I cried. “I have a girlfriend! What will she think? How am I supposed to explain?”

“She’ll get it. But let everyone else think there’s something between us,” she smiled. “So why do you need the essence?”

I figured I’d have to answer that question sooner or later, and had prepared, thought long about what to say and what not to. I decided to share what I knew:

“The Destroying Plague. Do you know how it affects non-citizens?”

“You mean the racial bonuses?”

“No. More like hardware penalties. Non-citizens who turn undead get sick with something that causes tissue necrosis. They die, Michelle!”

“What? How do you know?”

“Just believe me. Or don’t, I don’t care, the main thing you have to understand is that the Destroying Plague threatens the lives of real people, not just NPCs.”

“And how will the essence help you?”

“I have a quest to destroy the Nucleus of the Destroying Plague. I need Concentrated Life Essence to complete it.”

“Wait, wait!” Michelle turned on the water and lit another cigarette. “You mean to tell me that you entered the Games just to save some inwinova?”

“Yes.”

“Now it all fits.” She laughed nervously, bit her lip. “We’ve all been wondering: what the hell do you need the Games for? Really, Alex, you’re a star already! With your Threat abilities… Well, what could you get out of winning? Judging by what you offered all of us, you aren’t in dire need of three thousand stat points. Demon Fighter? Well… I don’t know. The rewards are good for us, but for you? The risk of getting Hell’s Curse is high! And you knew what you were getting yourself into! That you wouldn’t have your imba abilities, that people wouldn’t want you here… The whole internet wanted to see you disgraced!”

“Believe me, I would have rather not entered. This whole place is a pain in my ass! I have so much to do back in Dis! And the citizenship tests are coming up!”

“I believe you.” Her French accent cut through again. “Because your tale of the Destroying Plague is the only explanation. Or are you a masochist, like Mogwai?”

“No, I hate pain!”

“I didn’t mean that exactly, but okay.” Michelle took a long drag, breathed out a cloud of smoke and threw the butt into the toilet. She flushed the filter off on its journey, then washed her hands. “Thanks for sharing. It’s terrible! The inwinova are a burden to us all, of course, but they’re still people! I have relatives in the Marseilles Ghetto, and I really wouldn’t want any of them to get hurt… I have to warn everyone!”

The girl’s eyes flashed like those of a soldier ready to attack or a fighter preparing for a match. I mentally rubbed my hands — just what I’d been hoping for. Michelle was impulsive, with an acute sense of justice, and she had a huge audience of fans…

“I’ll write a song,” she said, as if that was that solved. “And now, my dear friend, let’s go have some fun!” she began to sing. “You’re only sixteen, time to go dancing in the sun!” Apparently, she liked how it sounded. She repeated the lines of her future song, adding: “Talking! Walking! Singing life’s song! Not worrying about righting society’s wrongs!”

Michelle took me by the arm and led me decisively out of the bathroom, then out into the hallway. But I dug my heels in at the door to my room:

“No! I don’t wanna! It’s night already, I need to sleep!”

“Either you come with me or I’ll tell the whole world that you and I did stuff! Hee-hee! I’ll tell them all that you didn’t know what to do and that you’re… heh heh… too fast!”

Chapter 17. Boom Boom!

MICHELLE’S THREAT worked. I didn’t care about her insults and implications (sure, I was at level one of rank zero in that skill, it would be dumb to deny it), but I really didn’t want to hurt Rita.

“At least tell me where you want to take me.”

“To the club, of course! Where else? We’re going to drink, dance and cut loose! Maybe we’ll meet one of our allies — you did want to discuss strategy, right? And it’s so loud there that the viewers won’t hear a thing…”

It seemed she was no longer worried who thought what. In the corridor, Michelle stopped by one of the camera drones, looked straight into it and waved.

“I’m talking to Scyth’s girlfriend now. That kiss in his room, in case you saw it, that was all me. You have a great boyfriend…” She turned to me: “What’s her name?”

“Over,” I answered, deciding to use Irita’s old game nick as a codename she would understand. “Just Over.”

“What a curious name…” Michelle looked back at the camera. “So anyway, Over, I just had to surprise him, it was for business. Alex will explain when he gets back.”

Finished, the girl led me to the elevators. By this time, the corridors of the living quarters had emptied: the contestants were either in their rooms or partying on the recreation level. I couldn’t get those three gankers I’d be meeting tomorrow out of my head.

“You don’t happen to know Smoothie, Phobos and Riker, do you?” I asked as we walked into the elevator.

“The Ditch champions? I know them, they’re cool. Why? Oh, right! The ones who attacked you in the forest, that was them?”

“Yeah. We were kicked