Bugs and Loopholes: A LitRPG Adventure (Beta Tester Book 3) by Rachel Ford

Author:Rachel Ford [Ford, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

He blinked up at Jordan’s face a moment later. Or, maybe it had been longer. He couldn’t tell. “Did I…die?”

She shook her head. “No. The chest was boobytrapped. It knocked you out.” She frowned, brushing soot off him. “And you took some damage.”

He glanced at his health meter. He’d lost about a third of his hitpoints. “Sugar. That was quite the trap.” Then, he thought it best to add, lest she thought he had been trying to rob her, “I must have brushed it as I passed, or something.”

She didn’t acknowledge the remark, although a shadow of skepticism crossed her features. But she stayed focused on something on his arm. He glanced down, and then gaped. His glove was off – presumably, removed by Jordan – and a bright red burn mark reached up his palm, and up his arm. “What the heather?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like it, though. You’re sure this doesn’t hurt?” Gingerly, she placed her own now bared fingers on his wound.

Jack shook his head. “Not at all.”

“That’s good, at least. But I don’t like it. It’s like your body is starting to reflect the actual damage you take.”

He shrugged. “Does it matter? I mean, as long as I don’t feel any pain, right?”

She nodded slowly. “I guess. I hope.”

He pushed himself up, and slipped on his gloves. Then, he flexed his fingers, just to verify that he didn’t feel any pain. “Nope. Nothing.”

She got to her feet, and offered him a hand. “Okay. We should move.”

“Yeah.” He stood and stared at the chest. “How are we going to get that open without cooking?”

“Oh, I already did.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Yeah, while you were out. It was a one-time trap. You absorbed it. I just took what I wanted.” She shrugged, like it had been no big deal.

Jack opened his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it. His burn marks had been a little too telltale. His story about an accidental brush against the chest wouldn’t hold water. So whining about her collecting the items after he meant to do it behind her back might provoke some unwanted questions or recriminations. He said instead, “Well, let’s go rescue that poor little boy, eh?”

Jordan nodded, and they headed toward the still wailing kid. She unfastened his legs and then passed the key to Jack. He took it gingerly. “Me?”

“Get his hands.”

He bit down on the urge to protest that he didn’t want anything to do with babysitting. He was nearer the kid’s arms, so it made sense. Even if that kid was covered in filth and blood and spit and snots. Hell, he thought, wrinkling his nose as he bent toward the shackles. He even stinks. Marshfield Studio really had taken realism a little too far.

He turned the lock on the right shackle with a loud click. The boy’s hand slipped out. Argantulum, meanwhile, groaned out some kind of magical incantation behind them, and a light appeared above their heads.

“Yeah, that’s not freaky at all,” he grumbled, moving to the last lock.

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