Chapter 3: A Deadly Joke – Is a Rusty Nail My Boyfriend?

“Lost?”

Jiang Shulan frowned slightly, looking a bit confused.

“I’m not lost.”

The man stepped back two paces, again swallowed by the curtain of rain.

Through the downpour, his gaze locked firmly onto Jiang Shulan.

He let out a low chuckle.

“I’ll get you.”

Jiang Shulan stared blankly as the man vanished into the rain.

He doesn’t use an umbrella?

It’s raining this hard and he’s still trying to act cool…

Jiang Shulan silently complained while heading into Room 16 with the key from the front desk.

Wait a second.

His eyes landed on the Room 17 door sign.

Fuller had just reported that passerby’s room number over the radio to the man called “Rusty Nail.”

So… could that person be in danger?

His little brain started turning.

Room 17 was knocked on.

“I told you I don’t need a towel!”

The old man yanked the door open angrily, but his irritation melted away the moment he saw who was standing there.

He forced himself to soften his tone.

“Kid, you better have a very good reason.”

“Sir, it’s like this.”

Jiang Shulan blinked.

“I’m actually a police officer. I’m currently tracking a fugitive. Could I switch rooms with you? Or at least swap room numbers?”

Anyway, he was going to die sooner or later.

If Fuller really was the BOSS, Rusty Nail, then dying early would complete the mission anyway.

If Fuller wasn’t the killer and it was actually the deceived truck driver coming for revenge, then he could at least drag Fuller and Louis into apologizing…

Thanks to his overly pretty face, the old man reluctantly agreed to the room swap.

More precisely, very few people could refuse him.

Louis and Fuller had no idea what Jiang Shulan was planning.

After hearing from the front desk that he had already gone to Room 16 to rest, they didn’t disturb him.

“Relax, bro. If I really wanted to do something to Jiang, I’d just put a little something in his water…”

Fuller was interrupted.

“Leave him alone. He’s my friend!”

“I know that!”

Fuller exhaled sharply several times.

“Forget it. I’m not talking about this.”

Anyway, they still had a long road trip ahead with Jiang.

This highway was usually deserted, nothing would happen as long as Jiang didn’t want to die, he wouldn’t be able to run.

Thinking this, Fuller gradually calmed down and pointed at Room 17.

“But tonight, we really are going to see a good show.”

The two of them sat on the bed waiting quietly.

The TV broadcast today’s news.

“In southern Nevada, a brutal homicide occurred on a highway. The victim’s jaw was torn apart, leg bones almost completely shattered, and the spine was extracted from the body and arranged into the name ‘Rusty Nail.’”

“According to reports, the suspect known as ‘Rusty Nail’ has already committed six similar murders in just one week…”

“This victim was also the perpetrator of a serial killing case five years ago, who was only imprisoned for three months…”

‘Rusty Nail?’

Louis shivered violently.

His hair stood on end.

Wasn’t this the exact route they had taken yesterday?

Had they somehow provoked a sadistic serial killer?

If the person they contacted really was Rusty Nail… what would happen to them?

Before he could think further…

Knock knock.

A crisp knock at the door.

“Dy, I brought your favorite pink champagne.”

Louis immediately recognized the voice.

It was him.

Rusty Nail.

He actually came. The killer.

‘What now?’

If he walked into Room 17 and discovered this was all a prank, they would all be in danger.

But Fuller’s attention was completely off the TV.

He pressed his ear to the wall, eyes shining with excitement.

Maybe the fatty would get beaten up. Maybe there’d be a fight. Maybe a scene.

But things were already going in a direction he never expected…

“I’m sorry.”

A voice, familiar, yet unfamiliar to him.

The young Asian man’s English was slightly slurred between syllables, as if he always had candy in his mouth.

His lips were always faintly red, breath sweet and soft.

Even when uncomfortable, he only frowned slightly and turned his face away, never refusing outright, only showing a delicate profile and a pale, soft neck.

Did he know that kind of behavior only made people like them more excited?

Or… was he actually expecting it?

Fuller thought darkly.

“Jiang!”

Louis instinctively tried to open the door.

But Fuller grabbed his arm tightly.

And in the next instant…

SLASH.

A sharp axe blade suddenly split through the doorway from the opposite room.

Cold steel stopped right between Louis and Fuller.

One step forward, and it would sever their hands without hesitation.

The room turned deathly silent.

Louis’s legs trembled uncontrollably.

The driver they had provoked… was really Rusty Nail.

Ring-ring-ring-

A piercing phone call echoed in the room.

Fuller fell backward in fear.

Louis crawled to the phone.

“Dy? You are a liar.”

“I’m sorry!” Louis panicked. “I pretended to be a woman to trick you, please let my friends go…”

“You should pay for that joke. Your brother… or your friend?”

A low chuckle came through the line.

Like a cello being played in the dark.

Elegant, cold.

“Your choice.”

‘Brother… or Jiang?’

Louis clenched his teeth.

And in the next room…

Jiang Shulan was being held in Rusty Nail’s arms.

His waist and chest were locked tightly under one arm.

Half his face was covered by a large hand.

He tried to move forward, but couldn’t move his upper body at all.

So he stepped hard on the man’s toe.

Even the strongest person had weak points!!!

But Rusty Nail didn’t even frown.

Instead, he lifted him slightly, ten centimeters off the ground.

Jiang Shulan’s eyes widened in shock.

After three seconds of thinking, he gave up.

He clasped his hands in his mind.

[If I die by someone else, is that okay?]

[No.]

[But you won’t even tell me who the BOSS is! How am I supposed to know who to die to?!]

[…Due to certain films requiring hidden bosses, I didn’t provide the identity. However, your point is valid, so I’ve applied a special privilege for you.]

Rusty Nail was about to leave after finishing his arrangement with Louis and Fuller, when he noticed something strange.

The struggling boy had suddenly gone still.

Eyes closed.

Expression peaceful.

“?”

And so Jiang Shulan was carried into the car.

So comfortable that he fell asleep on the way.

“…”

[Normally, anyone except the BOSS can’t kill you. Isn’t that a good buff?]

[Then how many times do I have to die to find the BOSS?!]

After half an hour of frantic praise, the system finally relented.

[Fine. I’ll label the BOSS for you from now on.]

Jiang Shulan was relieved.

Unaware that the system had chosen the most vicious BOSSes possible for his next worlds.

Because the most vicious ones were obvious at a glance anyway.

He happily asked,

[So who is the BOSS in this world?]

The system sounded slightly tired.

[The one who kidnapped you.]

[I thought he was just angry because Fuller tricked him…]

Jiang Shulan suddenly sat up like a carp.

He glared at Rusty Nail and shouted,

“Damn pervert! If you’ve got the guts, kill me! Otherwise I’ll kill you!”

Rusty Nail, who had been facing away, paused.

He turned around.

Only then did Jiang Shulan notice.

He was wearing a pink apron.

Left hand holding a ceramic bowl.

Right hand holding a ladle.

Steam rising from freshly cooked food behind him.

The contrast was absurd.

And worse…

That smile slowly appeared on his face.

Not sudden.

But like sunrise.

Jiang Shulan instinctively stepped back.

[System! Is this reaction normal?!]

[…Did you actually read your character profile?]

[Isn’t he just a normal college student traveling with Louis?]

[Your character has a boyfriend. That boyfriend is Rusty Nail. You tried to break up because he’s too controlling. The road trip was to escape him.]

So that’s why he asked if he was lost.

“…”

[Then how am I supposed to make him kill me?!]