Lu Renyi waved at Ke Qi. After watching him leave, he turned toward Xie Qin, who still had murder in his eyes, and felt speechless.
"He's already gone. Why are you still glaring? We know you have big eyes; you don't need to compete over it."
Xie Qin's expression went blank for a moment. He then followed Lu Renyi in dissatisfaction and lowered his voice.
"Be reasonable, will you? I clearly rushed over and threatened him for your sake just now. How did it become a childish competition when you described it?"
"Thank you. If Ke Qi hadn't told me you'd do something that drew other people's attention the moment you saw him, and if you hadn't actually done exactly that, I'd certainly be happier."
Lu Renyi was not interested in other people's secrets. He had thought Ke Qi strange before, but he had not expected such a strong reaction to the subject. Ke Qi had simply turned and left when Lu Renyi had originally intended to use it as grounds for a discussion.
Lu Renyi chatted intermittently with Xie Qin while asking the System about Ke Qi inside his head.
His earlier words had merely been a personal guess. He needed to prepare in advance to avoid exposing himself directly in the future.
"I'm sorry, Host. That concerns the character's personal privacy and has nothing to do with the future plot, so I can't reveal it to you."
"...Wow, so you people actually know what privacy is. Seeing how you told me everything before, I thought you'd tell me anything. Is the bond between us really worth so little? A relationship held together solely by mutual benefit can never last."
The System watched Lu Renyi discuss how they might establish contact with the Grand Elder and obtain the staff with Xie Qin and the others, all while staging a tragic melodrama and preaching to it. It felt deeply concerned about Lu Renyi's mental state.
Would Host develop a split personality after enough time? Would that count as a workplace injury? Should it file a report?
The System struggled with the question alone. Lu Renyi, on the other hand, found its continued silence rather dull. Lin Shubei and the others were exchanging intelligence and discussing who should keep watch.
"Lu Renyi, what's your opinion? Which one of us do you think is best suited to go?"
Xie Qin had endured a thorough round of sarcasm from Lu Renyi just now. Seeing him distracted, Xie Qin could not help adopting a barbed tone as well.
Lu Renyi merely treated it as the childish temper of someone spoiled by his family and did not truly argue with him.
"All of you want to go? Since when is standing around on watch such a wonderful assignment? Whether you're a guard or a Church member, staying there too long is bound to attract attention. And aren't Lin Shubei and Qi Yue injured? Get those wounds treated first."
"Then what? We don't have much time. We have no leads right now, so all we can do is wait and watch. We can't let emotion dictate our decisions. Old Qi and I are fine. It just looks like we lost a lot of blood."
It was Lu Renyi's first time being accused of letting emotion dictate his decisions, and he found it rather novel. He gave Lin Shubei an appreciative look. The protagonist truly was different, capable of seeing his delicate inner heart.
System: "Blech! S-Sorry, Host. I suddenly felt a little sick."
Before Lu Renyi could complain about the strange noise the System had made inside his head, the people before him seemed to tune into the same frequency as Lin Shubei and began condemning Lu Renyi's current hesitation one after another.
"You and Qi Yue caused such a huge disturbance, yet you still made it here unharmed. None of us even encountered anyone on the way. Everything is so calm. You don't honestly think it's because we concealed ourselves well, do you?"
Lu Renyi's words struck like an alarm bell in their ears, pulling them out of their muddled thoughts.
Ever since entering this place, they had thought only of completing the mission. Their minds were filled with the need to keep anyone from noticing anything wrong, yet they had overlooked the environmental factors that deserved the most attention.
There was something wrong with this building.
Or perhaps there was something wrong with the trial ground itself. It had made them focus only on people and ignore their surroundings.
"You've cared about nothing except completing the mission. Even after encountering your competitors, you failed to maintain the most basic vigilance toward your surroundings. If someone suddenly leaped out and stabbed us, you probably wouldn't react in time."
"Linzi and I didn't encounter anyone when we ran up either. Not even the guards on the lower floors came to check the situation. We thought Xie Qin had dealt with them on his way down."
"I thought you two had dealt with the people below. I even wondered whether we should take care of the aftermath, but..."
"But somehow you forgot to ask. You stumbled all the way here in a daze, and after encountering Ke Qi, all you could think about was hurrying to complete the mission, beating him to it, and doing a better job. Right?"
Lu Renyi took over the rest of Xie Qin's sentence and raised his head toward the chandelier overhead. It had a very old-fashioned design. If Lu Renyi had not sensed someone spying on him from there, he might have happily studied it.
"The only question is whether this feeling comes from something being wrong with the building itself or with the trial ground we entered."
Lu Renyi looked away and prepared to ask what the others thought they should do next. Now that they were much clearer-headed, they could have a proper discussion.
But when he turned, he found all four of them wearing the same contemplative expression.
"You know, System, every time I nearly forget this is a comic world, someone uses practical action to remind me that I really do live inside one. Those four practically have the same face right now, don't they?"
"Brother Lu, I have a question."
Qi Yue blinked his puppy eyes, raised a hand, and waved it, courageously making the first move.
"When did you realize something was wrong? Was it from the beginning, or later when you were running around by yourself?"
"Since you noticed, why didn't you say anything when we first met up? You deliberately waited for us to ask you first, as though you wanted us to foolishly present our questions so you could condescendingly offer the solution."
"Do you enjoy that feeling?"
Qi Yue's words were far less harmless than his appearance. Paired with the smile on his face, the sarcasm doubled. At the very least, Lu Renyi sensed considerable hostility. Looking around, he found that none of the other three intended to defuse the situation. It was as though they were observing how he would respond.
"As expected of the protagonist's group. After knowing one another for only a few days, they've already united against a common enemy and formed a single front."
Lu Renyi, whom they had placed on the opposite side, was unaffected by the System's words. This was a youth comic, after all. People could open their hearts after knowing each other for a few days and even plunge into danger for one another. It was standard procedure.
Although he was a little displeased, Lu Renyi mostly found it exciting. A protagonist's group capable of scheming and disguise was far more interesting than a collection of hot-blooded fools.
"I did notice something was wrong as soon as I arrived. I'm quite sensitive to the feeling of being watched. You can find a little potted plant in nearly every corner here, and their scent is so strong that I can barely breathe."
"I didn't think much of it at first. I assumed this was one of their usual evaluation methods. It was only later, when I saw that all of you were acting without the slightest restraint, so recklessly that even I grew a little frightened."
"Only then did I realize that none of you seemed to sense anything strange about being observed and recorded, or notice that the fragrance from those plants was interfering with your thinking."
Seeing that they had reached the entrance to the hall where he needed to play his role, Lu Renyi simply laid everything bare, entirely unafraid of earning their resentment.
"To be honest, you're a little weaker than I imagined. Things I consider obvious have to be spelled out for you and broken into pieces before I can feed them into your mouths. So it's perfectly normal for me to grow impatient and deliberately toy with you, isn't it?"
Lu Renyi was practically stating outright that he looked down on them and remained with them only because the mission forced him to.
Lin Shubei and the others were all proud people. Throughout their lives, they had always managed to turn danger into safety despite the setbacks they encountered. No one had ever told them to their faces, "You're weak. I look down on you."
Yet Lu Renyi's disinterested manner, including the unpleasant words that had nonetheless jolted them awake, also revealed that he had the qualifications to look down on their strength.
With nowhere to vent their anger, none of them looked pleased. The System began screaming at precisely that moment.
"Host, how can you talk like that! If this appears in the comic, no, this segment will definitely appear in the comic. The readers will curse you to death!"
"Will being cursed kill me?"
"Of course not, but your popularity will fall greatly. If you don't have enough points, how will you exchange for suitable items in the System Shop and safely survive the certain-death ending a year and a half from now?"
The System was sincerely anxious for Lu Renyi, but he did not care. He had never planned to exchange for anything in that shop. If he could not even control his own life and death, there was no value in keeping this life. Besides, he truly wanted to know who had the ability to kill him.
"A drop in popularity won't kill me, but arousing the suspicions of the entire protagonist's group might. System, I'm only an ordinary cannon-fodder character. I have to prioritize how I handle things. Just watch."
The System no longer believed Lu Renyi's nonsense about being ordinary cannon fodder, but it had no authority to interfere with his methods.
Especially after their department head had told it not to simulate Lu Renyi's actions in advance.
"He's merely someone you bound by accident. Don't spend too much effort on him. If he fails, we can simply restart this world. It wouldn't be the first time."
The department head's words remained fresh in the System's memory. Lu Renyi and the department head acted as though they had spoken face to face, yet the System did not understand the meaning behind it. Since neither side cared, it could not meddle unnecessarily.
With the extra voice gone from Lu Renyi's head and Lin Shubei's group unable to think of a rebuttal, his mood grew even better. He even marveled silently at how harmless the protagonist's group was right now.
He had merely shifted the focus of the conversation, yet they had believed him so easily.
This was the floor he controlled. He was fully capable of influencing the thoughts of everyone else here.
For example, he could make the people before him a little more irritable.
"Can we properly discuss how to investigate the bonus mission and steal the staff now?"
Seeing that none of them spoke, Lu Renyi estimated the time. The leader lying in the clinic should be waking soon. It would be perfect for Lin Shubei and Qi Yue to go deal with him.
"You said that the entire second underground level is filled with aberrants. The surrounding walls are almost entirely built from densely packed iron bars, and without exception, aberrants are locked inside."
"With that many of them, this must have been a decision by the Church's leadership. Finding the person won't be difficult. We only need to learn why they did it."
"Keeping watch is impossible. Even if Xie Qin went, only a fool would fail to notice the ulterior motive behind a high-ranking Church member waiting there all the time."
"Then what should we do? We can't expect someone to jump out and tell us they were responsible, can we?"
Lin Shubei was still uncomfortable, but he considered Lu Renyi's words reasonable. They really had been careless. The unspoken rule that strength governed relations between ability users applied everywhere. Since Lu Renyi had a method, there was no harm in listening for now.
But he was still so angry!
Lin Shubei secretly planned to put a sack over Lu Renyi's head with Qi Yue someday, then ask Jian Yi to check the consequences in advance. It would be even better if Xie Qin were willing to join them.
"You and Qi Yue were deliberately lured over there to serve as food for the aberrants. Now that you've caused such a commotion, the person responsible is certain to check the situation. The fact that they haven't come looking for you yet means they're probably observing in secret or simply lying in wait somewhere for you to take the bait."
"Fortunately, I didn't notice anyone following you, so it's probably the latter. You two should still remember what the person looked like, right? Lin Shubei's ability is rather suitable for interrogation."
With Lu Renyi saying this much, Lin Shubei and Qi Yue understood his meaning. If that person knew they were injured, they would probably wait for them at the clinic. After all, injured people who did not dare seek treatment openly might still come to steal medicine.
Since that person had known about the aberrants on the second underground level, they should know something else as well. Perhaps Lin Shubei could force them to reveal who had brought the aberrants here. Following the trail one layer at a time was relatively safe.
"I didn't expect you to be so cautious, both with people and missions. I thought you'd claim to be the strongest and volunteer to keep watch yourself."
Xie Qin understood Lu Renyi's approach. Now that he had come to his senses and escaped the inexplicable restraint clouding his mind, he also began noticing changes in their surroundings. But he still looked displeased with Lu Renyi.
He would definitely beat Lu Renyi up after they got out.
"I'm not the kind of person with nothing but brute strength who charges forward whenever something happens, heedless of everything else. Why would I throw my life away just because I trust my own strength?"
Seeing Xie Qin unhappy improved Lu Renyi's mood considerably. Lin Shubei and Qi Yue preferred out of sight, out of mind and pulled Jian Yi away. Xie Qin followed to assess the situation, leaving Lu Renyi alone again.
"Host, aren't you afraid they'll cause trouble for you after getting out of the trial ground because you angered them?"
"Let them come if they want. Private fights on academy grounds earn demerits. Serious cases can even result in expulsion. As an innocent victim who knows nothing, I won't suffer any loss no matter what."
The System had no response. It had worried that Lu Renyi would be unhappy about the protagonist's group excluding him, only to discover that its concern was entirely unnecessary. Lu Renyi was clearly delighted.
The System watched Lu Renyi push open the doors, cross the hall under everyone else's respectful gaze, and lie down comfortably to one side without the slightest awareness that he still had a mission to complete.
"Host, the readers will definitely curse you. You simply don't fit in with the protagonist's group."
"Thank you for the compliment."
System: ...
It was so angry!
Since Lin Shubei and the others planned to beat Lu Renyi up, surely it could join them too?