[ Item Name: Chains of Binding ]
[ Type: Special Accessory ]
[ Quality: Normal ]
[ To Use: Wearer must fasten this around their neck. ]
[ Effect: Binding. Wearer's abilities are sealed. ]
[ SE Consumption: None ]
[ Note: All people are slaves to Capital ]
The Special Accessory known as the Chains of Binding had cost Bai Zhi 100 Coins and had the appearance of a finely-crafted necklace. It seemed powerful, due to its effect, but was, in reality, a massive trap, for several reasons.
The Chains of Binding could only work on humanoids, and in order to activate the effect, the target had to put the chain on themselves. On top of that, the chain could be removed at will.
Imagine having a rat poison formula that was incredibly effective, guaranteed lethal at even the smallest nibble, but completely unappetizing to any rat. Thus, to deliver the poison, one would have to find a way to catch the rat and force-feed it the poison...
The Chains of Binding was just like that, except possibly worse.
Most importantly, the Chain itself was not particularly durable at all—a ten-year-old child could break it if they wanted to, so even after jumping through any number of hoops to put the Chain on a humanoid supernatural entity, it was something they could easily break... unless they didn't even possess the strength of a ten-year-old.
Besides, it was totally possible for them to simply stop wearing it any time, even without breaking it...
With all these caveats, the Chains of Binding was laughably limited in terms of practical usefulness. The price Bai Zhi paid for it at the Auction was, therefore, relatively cheap.
He'd planned to use it on the impostor campus belle, but after meeting this Lin XiaoYi, he was beginning to second-guess himself.
He owed a lot to Chu Tsi's newbie guide, to be honest.
Through Pluto (Enervated), he was unable to see anything out of the ordinary about the campus belle before him, but even without the aid of this equipment, it was worth noting that Bai Zhi's Perception stat was already at the maximum possible value.
A Player's ability to survive a little longer than normal people was, in large part, due to high Perception. The ability to perceive danger, spot strangeness and suspect when something was not what it seemed—high-level Players could choose to specialize in different attribute, but the one thing they had in common was a high Perception, because this attribute was the single most important determinant of their chance of survival.
So it was that Bai Zhi found himself pondering a conundrum: if the girl before him was the real campus belle, then what reason did she have to come all the way to watch this movie with him?
Was she human? Or was she impostor? He just couldn't figure it out.
He had been mulling the question over ever since he met her, but Bai Zhi was no closer to uncovering the key to all this. Finally, he decided that if he couldn't think his way out, then he would simply do without thinking, and openly declare what he came to do.
Whether she was the real deal or not, all would be brought to light once she put on the Chains of Binding.
If she was the real campus belle, then the necklace would have no effect on her, but if she was the impostor, the item would seal her abilities, forcing her to revert to her true form and saving him any further effort.
Not that he harbored any high hopes, at this point.
To his complete surprise, as soon as the blushing campus belle put on the necklace, she disappeared before his eyes and he saw, sitting in her place, a young girl with snow-white hair and scarlet eyes.
"Uhh..."
Seemingly caught by surprise herself, the girl blinked in confusion, then realizing what had happened, hopped off the seat and turned to run.
Unfortunately for her, Bai Zhi was quicker. As soon as her feet touched the ground, his hand darted out to latch on to her shoulder, then rapidly reeled her into a bear hug from behind.
The whole commotion had lasted no more than a few seconds, and with the theater only half-occupied, only Xia Wen—who had been watching like a hawk from the start—noticed what had happened, while everyone else remained oblivious.
As she stared slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the scene before her, Xia Wen's phone fell to the floor with a soft thump, but she barely noticed it.
Her best friend... When had the impostor taken her place?
Her strangled cry of surprise caught Bai Zhi's attention.
He turned to her with the young girl still firmly trapped in his arms and flashed Radiance, his gun. Frowning at Xia Wen, Bai Zhi mouthed the words, "Police on duty, stand down."
Xia Wen could only stare in disbelief. Police on duty, my foot!
But that was not important right now. Xia Wen scrambled to pick up her phone, then dialed Lin XiaoYi's number with trembling fingers.
If she hadn't seen her best friend transform into a white-haired lolita before her very eyes, Xia Wen would never have thought the girl could have been a supernatural entity. After all, she had acted and spoken exactly like Lin XiaoYi would, even mimicking her signature cross choke to a tee.
The thought of having spent so much time with some stranger passing themself off as her friend gave Xia Wen the heebie-jeebies.
To her relief, after several rings, her call was picked up, and the very distraught voice of her bestie came through the earpiece.
"Where are you?? It's almost nine thirty, why didn't you wake me?! I told him our date was at nine!"
Immediately following this outburst, the sounds of something tumbling around and bumping into something, then a yelp of pain, could be heard.
Phew, she's not in danger, at least. Sounds like she's in the dorms. Did she oversleep?
As she thought this, Xia Wen's gaze landed on Bai Zhi, now saying something into the ear of the white-haired young girl he was keeping imprisoned with one arm, and her heart was flooded with new worries.
"...I don't have time to explain everything right now, but I promise I will later!" said Xia Wen in a fierce whisper, then, ignoring the cries of indignation from the other line, promptly ended the call.
Stop the press! Because Xia Wen, professional wingman, had made an important discovery.
Bai Zhi could be a lolicon*.
