Chu Zichuan had not remembered who Lu Renyi was. For reasons known only to Tang Hui, she had not mentioned Lu Renyi's name and had referred only to Lin Shubei and his roommate.
Besides, as ordinary cannon fodder, Lu Renyi was usually forgettable. Everyone's first impression of him was that he was Lin Shubei's roommate. Only after that did they think of him as himself.
It was not until the System came to him, Jiang Yan noticed that he was unusual and deliberately tested him, and he faced an unknown danger alongside Lin Shubei that Lu Renyi slowly entered the readers' view. Only then did he cease to be a faceless man branded with the words "cannon fodder."
When he grew closer to Lin Shubei and the others, his features finally became clear, and the people around him realized that someone like him had been beside them all along.
"So he's the top-ranked student in the year. Why did I have no impression of him before?"
The System was delighted by this. Lu Renyi did not care. Other people's awareness of him mattered very little to him.
As for Chu Zichuan, who lived within the comic world, his only opportunities to learn who Lu Renyi was had been the announcement and the twins' conversation with Lin Shubei yesterday afternoon.
The announcement contained neither a name nor a photograph. Lu Renyi had not said a word while the twins spoke to Lin Shubei, and their attention had remained fixed on Lin Shubei. Consequently, Chu Zichuan had not remembered Lu Renyi's identity.
Still, out of caution, Chu Zichuan trusted no one he encountered now.
After all, the rules said that any abnormal behavior noticed by an NPC would lead to immediate elimination. Chu Zichuan had to be careful.
Lu Renyi was kneeling on the floor now. Other slaves in identical numbered clothes knelt beside him, receiving the same punishment of ice water.
Chu Zichuan carried the bucket. After filling it with ice water again, he poured it over the slave beside Lu Renyi. Many of the ice cubes also struck Lu Renyi.
"This is the price of not working hard. If you dawdle and gossip again like you did today, or imitate those people outside and attempt some kind of uprising, you won't get off with nothing more than ice water and no food."
The trial ground's setting was the depths of winter. Slaves in this era had no human rights to begin with and labored inside the Church's towering buildings in thin clothes.
After a bucket of ice water, every one of them shivered from the cold. They would receive no food afterward and could only work on empty stomachs. No one knew how many of them would still be alive by the end of the day.
Lu Renyi was not particularly cold. The instant the ice water struck him, the System activated its protection.
"Don't worry, Host. We're a legitimate department. We would never do anything that harms our Host's physical or mental health. If you encounter danger later, I can also warn you in advance, as long as it doesn't affect the plot's development."
Lu Renyi kept his head lowered, thinking about the phrase "as long as it doesn't affect the plot" and wondering how far the System could go.
The System could tell him the broad course of later events and even warn him to be careful of certain people, yet it said nothing before he encountered a major character and identified them only after they met.
It could place a protective barrier around him before he suffered, but it would not advise him on what to do afterward.
The System was known to be responsible for preserving the plot's integrity. Lin Shubei and the others had to experience every plot point. Lu Renyi was merely an incidental part of them and needed to seize opportunities to make his presence known.
Therefore, when he was not with Lin Shubei's group, or rather, when the "comic's camera" shifted to the major characters, he could do anything as long as he was absent and did not interfere.
There were no major characters among this group of slaves. Or rather, nothing significant enough for the comic's camera to capture would happen here.
Lu Renyi rose with the other slaves, keeping his back bent. After seeing off the guards who had carried out the punishment, the man leading their group took everyone back to their usual workplace.
On the way, he did not forget to warn them that the next time they discussed events outside the building, they should avoid the elusive guards and remember their work.
"No matter how extraordinary the things happening outside may be, we can't take part. Uprisings, resistance—none of it has anything to do with slaves like us."
The words were pessimistic, the tone flat, and everyone around him took it for granted. Even those who had initially seemed defiant fell silent.
They seemed to have witnessed such things too many times. They were accustomed to oppression. Even if the Church truly fell, it would only mean suffering in a different place for them.
Silence spread through the group. Standing among them, Lu Renyi did not step forward indignantly to argue. Like everyone else, he lowered his eyes and listened obediently.
The ten of them returned to the great hall where they worked and resumed what they had been doing. They would receive no food today, so they could only remain here.
Lu Renyi waited for an opportunity and walked toward an unoccupied area, but the leader, who had been in the opposite direction, followed him.
"Are you feeling unwell? Your work area is over here. Why are you going that way?"
Lu Renyi slowly turned his head and looked at the leader staring at him. The man's pale face and dripping hair clearly showed that he was in poor condition, yet his eyes were full of probing scrutiny as he watched Lu Renyi.
He suspected there was something wrong with Lu Renyi.
Although Lu Renyi knew the man's suspicion was unrelated to his true identity, if he said something like, "There is something wrong with your identity," Lu Renyi would be eliminated immediately.
The people around them also looked over. They had the same pale faces and stark black-and-white eyes. As they stared in silence, they resembled vengeful ghosts from a horror film. Even their coarse clothes hung loosely on them.
Lu Renyi slowly lowered his head, his voice very quiet.
"I'm sorry, but I saw there was no wind blowing over there, so I wanted to go that way. I'm afraid I'll really die here. My family is waiting for me outside."
His voice grew quieter as he spoke, and he coughed twice when he finished. Seeing his timid, fearful appearance, the leader stopped pursuing the matter and assumed that the recent punishment had frightened him.
"It's all right. Go over there, then. Don't worry. Someone made a careless mistake this time and dragged you into the punishment. As long as you work properly, you won't die."
After patting Lu Renyi on the shoulder, the leader prepared to leave. Lu Renyi nodded shakily, then reached for a towel in a nearby basin and prepared to wring it out. At that moment, however, the leader suddenly seized his hand.
A surge of psychic power entered Lu Renyi's body and swiftly crawled through every part of him, as though searching for something.
Lu Renyi lowered his head even farther. He acted as though he had no idea what was happening, could only let it proceed, and dared not resist.
It happened so suddenly that the people around them did not know what the two were doing. They saw only the leader abruptly seize Lu Renyi's hand, hold it for roughly half a minute, then let go and order them back to work.
Even the System was stunned. It did not react until Lu Renyi turned away and began wringing out the towel to wipe the floor.
"Host, what was he just doing?"
"Checking whether I'm an ability user. His ability must be related to that."
The ability itself was unimpressive, but whatever else might be said, the man's psychic power was genuinely high. Lu Renyi had nearly failed to conceal himself.
Fortunately, he had passed this hurdle.
The only question was whether he alone had undergone such a test or whether everyone who entered this trial ground would be probed in the same way.
The slaves were supposed to be ordinary people without abilities. It seemed that the history books were not entirely accurate. At the very least, that leader was an ability user with considerable psychic power.
"Either Jiang Yan deliberately arranged someone like this to make trouble for us, or given the social conditions of the time, the Church already suspects that the government has planted moles inside and has begun a purge."
The Church's largest population consisted not of ability-user members or elders, but of slaves. They were numerous and inconspicuous, making them the most suitable people to use as moles.
With such an arrangement, even people who were not moles would lose their lives because of the church's determination to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty escape.
Lu Renyi made a show of wiping the windows with his towel. The glass had been ground into shape and gleamed with multicolored light in the sunshine, dazzling him when it fell across his face.
It truly was extravagant. This was only a modest reception hall, yet even its windows were made from fine glass.
Lu Renyi ran his hand over the window's smooth surface. Unsurprisingly, he sensed psychic power on it. Apart from preventing anyone from smashing the window and escaping, it was probably also a means of surveillance.
Using the motion of turning his back to block the unreadable gaze behind him, Lu Renyi raised his wrist and looked at the watch strapped there.
It displayed the locations of the other members of his team. Xie Qin and Jian Yi were together, probably attending some activity for Church members. Lin Shubei and Qi Yue were also together and moving slowly, likely patrolling as a pair.
Everyone but Lu Renyi was paired off. He considered how to fool the leader later. Even if there was no need to meet up immediately, he first had to understand the building's layout.
But Lu Renyi did not actually want to find the others yet. Since he knew that new characters would formally appear during this trial, Lin Shubei and the others were certain to encounter plenty of trouble.
They were protagonists and would not die. Lu Renyi was different. If he accidentally played himself to death, he would never get to enjoy a single cent of the money in his bank account.
Lu Renyi repeatedly wiped the same section of window, then walked to the side and began wiping the floor. He worked so diligently that even the leader thought he truly felt guilty.
"All right. We won't get any food today, so let's rest a little more. Otherwise, if someone faints tomorrow, it'll mean another punishment."
The leader seemed easygoing. He even voluntarily stood guard at the door and allowed the others to rest.
The others sat together, pressing their bodies against one another for warmth. Lu Renyi slowly walked over and sat a little farther away. Although they were puzzled, no one took the initiative to ask him about it.
After waiting a while longer, Lu Renyi began to nod off and looked dazed. The leader came over and touched his forehead. The burning temperature was impossible to ignore.
"You have a fever. I'll take you to the clinic. The rest of you stay here. In a while, go to the next hall and continue cleaning. Don't wander off."
The leader helped Lu Renyi up. After giving his instructions, he took Lu Renyi outside without noticing the puzzled looks of the people behind them.
"Wasn't he obviously just sleepy? His complexion looks better than mine."
They had not gone far when Lu Renyi saw Lin Shubei approaching. The two of them each looked away.
They would meet up later.
Lu Renyi pretended to be weak and placed part of his weight on the leader. When they were about to reach the clinic, he suddenly raised a hand at a corner and knocked the man unconscious with a chop.
The entire maneuver left the System dumbfounded. "Host, didn't you really have a fever just now?"
"Of course not. I'm not a real slave. My constitution is better than theirs. I really am cold, but not enough to develop a fever."
Lu Renyi had merely been looking for an excuse to leave. A minor illusion fooled the leader and planted the suggestion that he had to escort Lu Renyi out. Lu Renyi simply had not expected to run into Lin Shubei.
Lu Renyi dragged the leader toward the clinic. After setting him down, he lowered his eyes obediently and briefly explained the situation to the doctor on duty.
"He was punished just now and fainted soon after we returned. We didn't know what to do, so we could only bring him here."
After briefly checking the leader's condition, the doctor smiled gently at Lu Renyi and reassured him.
"Don't worry. It isn't serious. He has no external injuries, so he probably fainted because he was in a poor mental state after the punishment. You don't need to worry. Go back for now."
The doctor looked no different from those Lu Renyi usually saw, except that he wore a brown robe rather than a white coat. It appeared to be of much better quality than Lu Renyi's clothes.
When the doctor approached, Lu Renyi sensed intense ability fluctuations. He was either an exceptionally powerful doctor or an exceptionally powerful competitor.
Lu Renyi glanced at the nameplate pinned to the man's chest.
He Xu.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell too?"
He Xu continued to smile gently, but the more Lu Renyi looked, the more hypocritical it seemed. He feared that if he truly nodded, He Xu would slice off his head with a knife in the next instant.
"I was drenched in ice water and feel a little cold, so I wanted to put off going back for a little while. I'm sorry for bothering you."
Lu Renyi bent forward and ran out of the clinic. He Xu did not stop him. The hand hidden behind his back lowered the scalpel. He rubbed his fingers together, dissatisfied with the crude workmanship of scalpels in this era.
He raised his watch and looked at the red dots marking his teammates' locations, speaking with some impatience.
"Where did Chu Ziji go?"
The moment Lu Renyi left the clinic, he walked in the opposite direction from the way he had come. He kept his head down without watching the road. After memorizing the intervals between the surrounding guards' shift changes, he raised his watch and looked at the four red dots drawing ever closer.
Almost without thinking, Lu Renyi immediately quickened his pace and walked in the opposite direction from the other four.
Xie Qin and Jian Yi had just finished a meeting and seen the legendary Grand Elder. The man indeed kept his staff in hand at all times and seemed to possess at least the strength of a Level-Eight ability user. An elusive guard also remained beside him. The two had vanished from everyone's sight in an instant, likely because of the guard's ability.
The situation was a little more difficult than they had first imagined. If that guard remained beside the Grand Elder, capturing him would also be difficult. Xie Qin and Jian Yi decided to regroup first.
But the people who had just been moving toward the center of the building in tacit coordination all discovered that Lu Renyi was getting farther and farther away. He was even moving faster.
"He isn't hiding from us, is he?"
Jian Yi had known Lu Renyi for only a few days, but she had already gained some understanding of his aversion to trouble. He had been in a poor mood after drawing the city trial ground and the role of a slave. It was only natural if he did not want to face them now.
"He can't refuse to do the mission just because he's unhappy. We agreed to exchange information. These watches can't communicate, so how can we exchange anything without meeting?"
"Could he have run into another team head-on and be fleeing for his life?"
Jian Yi noticed that Lu Renyi was moving faster and faster. His direction made no sense either. He went left, then right, and even took detours. His apparent panic looked nothing like the Lu Renyi she knew.
Xie Qin also felt something was wrong, but when he saw Lin Shubei and Qi Yue drawing closer, he put his doubts aside for the moment.
"Let's meet up with Lin Shubei and the others first. They're guards. We can have the captain of the guard detain him later."
Xie Qin lowered his head to switch off his watch. When he looked up, he saw Ke Qi waving at him.
"Hi. Are you looking for Student Lu Renyi?"