In the darkness, the two of them stared at the crude crayon drawing, looking at each other in bewilderment.
Yu Suheng was the first to react. With a practiced motion, he snatched the drawing away, folded it in a few quick movements, and tucked it into the inner pocket of his coat.
Having completed his open “robbery,” he looked up to meet Li Xin’s speechless gaze, patted his hands, and said righteously, “Compensate me for a clue. You said it yourself.”
Li Xin, who had just dug a hole for himself, was left speechless: …Fine. Whatever you say is right.
In any case, he only needed one glance at what was on the paper to memorize it; he could replicate a near-identical version even with his eyes closed, so he didn’t necessarily need the original.
However, since losing his memories, this was the first time someone had snatched something out of his hands. While doubting his life, Li Xin also felt a strange sense of novelty.
Yu Suheng didn’t intend to let anyone reminisce. He stood up and scanned his surroundings, only to find that the shadows were as airtight as a clam shell, leaving not a single gap.
“I hate these pitch-black liquids,” Yu Suheng sneered, finally losing his patience.
“I hate them too,” Li Xin replied casually. After saying this, he gestured for Yu to proceed, signaling him to show his stuff.
Regardless, he had no options left, no tools, and no abilities—he couldn’t very well face the “tiger” bare-handed.
Yu Suheng ignored him and walked to the wall, his fingertips touching the viscous liquid again. Since the shadow had shifted into this form, it had played dead, not making a single move.
Since it wouldn’t move, he certainly had other ways to deal with it.
Li Xin sat nearby, hoping to see the “cool guy” forcefully dismantle the monster. Instead, he saw the man pull out an item.
With his superior night vision, Li Xin realized it was actually a vacuum cleaner.
Yu Suheng stood there with a blank expression, one hand holding the vacuum nozzle, the other pressing the button, his face clearly writing the words “I am doing this against my will.”
The scene was comical. Li Xin couldn’t help but want to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was glared at fiercely by Yu Suheng, who seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.
The meaning of that look was clear: Shut up if you don’t want to die!
Li Xin blinked and promptly shut his mouth.
Yu Suheng had scavenged this vacuum cleaner from a suicidal teammate during his first mission.
Back then, aside from having quick reflexes, Yu Suheng was no different from an ordinary person. The restrictions placed on him were like carrying a heavy load while hiking; if he hadn’t developed a killer instinct then, the [Rules] would have loved to see him clear this godforsaken dungeon in a wheelchair.
Under those circumstances, adhering to the principle of “take what you can get,” Yu Suheng had held his nose and accepted it, keeping it buried until he remembered it today.
The vacuum cleaner’s unique property was that it could absorb all liquids and gases—perfect for dealing with shadows.
The suction was powerful. At first, the shadow struggled, but as one corner was pried loose, the tear in its form was sucked away in countless black particles.
It took five minutes, and the last remnants were finally sucked into the vacuum’s belly. Li Xin curiously leaned in, wanting to egg Yu Suheng on to open the lid and see if there was a giant “shadow patty” inside.
This childish request was ruthlessly rejected. As Yu Suheng pressed the power button to turn it off, he suddenly froze, hit by a sudden bad premonition.
Li Xin noticed his reaction, confused: “What’s wrong?”
Recalling the key that had changed its form ten times last night, Yu Suheng pursed his lips and turned to walk toward the door. The other person in the room, although not fully grasping the situation, never acted out of turn in moments like this.
Just as the two reached the doorway, the vacuum cleaner began to shake violently without warning.
Li Xin looked back instinctively, witnessing the entire process of the vacuum cleaner disintegrating into dust.
Damn.
Li Xin’s brow twitched: “Run.”
He didn’t need to remind him. Yu Suheng hadn’t even looked back; he was actually a step faster, and both of them bolted toward the stairs.
The shadow behind them gave chase like a mad dog. Li Xin couldn’t help but mutter: “Do dungeon items come in cheap, counterfeit versions?”
Yu Suheng sneered: “Yeah. This stupid game is hopeless.”
They moved quickly, reaching the third floor in a few bounds. Li Xin didn’t hesitate: “To the classroom.”
Teacher Rabbit was waiting there to see if the students completed their tasks. He was betting on the priority level of that room.
The black shadow crashed through the hallway behind them, knocking NPCs over like bowling pins.
Liu Heng, who had returned empty-handed, happened to push the door open just in time to see “Boss Yu” and a certain NPC teacher sprint past him, followed by an unknown entity.
Nearly knocked over, Liu Heng grabbed the door frame and peeked out, staring in shock, completely impressed.
A boss is a boss, he thought—he could even get the dungeon to chase him while dragging an NPC along.
By the time Li Xin reached the classroom door, the shadow was almost right behind him. Fortunately, Teacher Rabbit didn’t have the habit of closing the door; otherwise, if they had been delayed by even a second, they would both be dead.
Teacher Rabbit was delighted to see two people burst into the room.
She had been incredibly bored all morning. This group of students had zero initiative; no one had completed the assessment ahead of schedule.
Seeing Li Xin, Teacher Rabbit asked directly: “Teacher Li, are you bringing a student to complete their assessment?”
This played right into his hands. Li Xin didn’t hesitate to sell Yu Suheng out, laying on the flattery thick: “Yes, Student Yu has completed a perfect work and is very confident about passing today’s assessment.”
Yu Suheng, who had been a step too slow to interject, stood there with a deadpan expression. Since he had guessed this outcome the moment they walked in, he simply couldn’t be bothered to argue and glanced back at the door.
Just as Li Xin had predicted, the moment they entered the classroom, the assessment began, and the black shadow was blocked outside. It hovered at the entrance, unwilling to give up, but eventually slunk away.
After dealing with Teacher Rabbit, Li Xin followed Yu Suheng’s gaze for a moment, then pulled him forward and said with a smile: “Come on, Student Yu, show your artwork to Teacher Rabbit.”
The “artwork” Li Xin referred to was the drawing they found in the utility room. He suspected this was left behind by a previous student—dungeon items weren’t there for no reason—and this was the perfect chance to fish for information from Teacher Rabbit.
He was certain Yu Suheng understood his subtext, and this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for him. He should have realized that completing work corresponding to his target would accelerate his assimilation with the shadow. If he wanted to avoid that, he certainly couldn’t submit his actual project.
Given that, submitting this drawing—even if it wouldn’t get a high grade—still fell under the category of art, just like origami. It wasn’t so far off-topic that he would face lethal punishment.
Most importantly, there was a hope of finding clues about the person who drew it.
Li Xin couldn’t imagine a reason why the guy would refuse.
In fact, Yu Suheng wouldn’t refuse. Not because of anything else, but because he truly had nothing else to submit.
With a blank expression, he slapped the drawing onto the desk.
Teacher Rabbit leaned in. When she saw the painting, which could barely be identified as containing grass and a window, her expression changed for a split second before returning to normal.
She looked at Li Xin in disbelief: “Teacher Li, is this the ‘masterpiece’ you were talking about? And if I recall correctly, his interest is origami, right?”
Getting exactly the reaction he wanted, Li Xin, who had anticipated this, remained very calm. He slowly pulled out a chair, sat down, and replied: “What kind of work do you expect from a six-year-old child?” After saying that, Li Xin shook his head in disapproval: “This is still an age that requires encouraging education.”
Teacher Rabbit: …What the hell is ‘encouraging education’?
Seeing Teacher Rabbit choked up, Li Xin smiled pleasantly: “It seems Teacher Rabbit agrees. And since we’re talking about interests and goals…” He paused, looked up into Yu Suheng’s eyes, and asked nonchalantly: “What was it that Student Yu wrote as his goal again?”
Yu Suheng narrowed his eyes, coldly meeting the gaze filled with amusement. After a brief confrontation, he spat out a few words: “Architect.”
Li Xin: …………
Miscalculation. Li Xin maintained his smile, stared at the face beside him that screamed “I don’t care,” and muttered: “You really are a talent.”
Yu Suheng shrugged.
Teacher Rabbit, seeing an opening, pounced on it with a sharp tone: “Listen to that. Architect. What does that have to do with origami, or this green blob of a thing he submitted? Teacher Li, does this look like someone who is working hard toward his goal?”
Just as Teacher Rabbit was about to explode, Li Xin cut her off sternly: “No, Teacher Rabbit, you are wrong.”
His tone even carried a hint of profound disappointment.
Teacher Rabbit, whose “casting” was interrupted, was stunned: “…Huh?”
Li Xin stood up, placed the painting in front of her, and spoke slowly: “Teacher Rabbit, origami and becoming an architect are not mutually exclusive, and neither is painting.”
Teacher Rabbit gave him a look that said: I suspect you’re lying to me.
Noticing her expression, Li Xin smiled again, slowing his speech to make people subconsciously listen.
“You know that a three-dimensional building is made of points, lines, and planes, and the combination of these three creates a sense of volume and space.” Li Xin casually folded the assessment form sitting under Teacher Rabbit’s hand, his long fingers nimbly shaping it into a 3D rectangle: “Look, like this tall rectangle. Placed here, what does it look like?”
Teacher Rabbit clearly didn’t understand the long explanation Li Xin had just improvised, but upon hearing the question, she frowned instinctively: “It looks like…”
Before she could finish, Li Xin provided the answer: “Doesn’t it look like a miniature building? See, everything is the same—from the small to the large. So, origami is meant to train the students’ sense of space; how could that be unrelated to his ultimate goal?”
As his voice fell, the room was pin-drop silent.
Teacher Rabbit was speechless: Although I don’t understand it, it weirdly makes sense.
Yu Suheng, who had just casually written down “origami,” was also speechless: Holy crap, he can even spin this.
Although Li Xin had successfully “stun-locked” Teacher Rabbit for a minute with his unique logic, she was a dungeon NPC and didn’t intend to be derailed so easily.
She quickly found the loophole and rebutted: “But he didn’t hand in an origami assignment! He handed in a painting with zero focus!” Teacher Rabbit looked at the green-smeared canvas with disdain, feeling back in control: “If he had drawn an architectural blueprint, that would be one thing, but there is none here. I absolutely cannot give him a passing grade.”
Teacher Rabbit felt she had the win in the bag, her eyes filled with malice as she looked at Yu Suheng.
Yu Suheng was indifferent; a little punishment didn’t bother him in the slightest, though it seemed Li Xin’s plan had fallen through.
However, just as Teacher Rabbit was about to write “Fail,” Li Xin stopped her hand again.
“Wait, Teacher Rabbit.” Ignoring her annoyed glare, Li Xin gestured slowly to a spot on the painting: “Take a look at this. What is it?”
Teacher Rabbit repressed her temper and barely identified it: “A window?”
“Exactly, a window. If there’s a window, doesn’t that mean there’s a house?” After saying this with a smile, in the face of Teacher Rabbit’s so-what expression, Li Xin continued without blinking: “Inside the window is the interior, and outside is the landscaping. Isn’t this the expression of the relationship between architecture and landscape?”
Without giving anyone time to react, he took a step back and looked at the stunned teacher with a gentle smile: “Now, Teacher Rabbit, do you still think his interests in origami and painting are unrelated to architecture?”
Teacher Rabbit: “…”
Yu Suheng: “…”
At this moment, Yu Suheng, one of the protagonists of the event, had been completely excluded from the debate. He watched the scene with a numb expression, suppressing the urge to cover his face. Only one thought remained in his mind:
Whether it’s a person or a ghost, he can swindle anyone. Only you could pull this off.