Hua Huai was a complete novice, and nobody was willing to take her under their wing.
Driven by her desire to survive, she remained where she was despite the pain in her abdomen, listening to the other Players discuss.
The more she knew, the better her chances of surviving.
Xiang Lu was a veteran. As a Grade D Player, she could offer Hua Huai perspectives she had never even considered.
None of the Players present understood what Xiang Lu was getting at.
Zhang Mingxuan couldn’t understand her and grew frustrated. “What does that even mean? Stop speaking in riddles.”
Xiang Lu looked at him coldly. “With that attitude, you can figure it out yourself.”
“With a pig’s brain like yours, I doubt you’ll come up with an answer to Break the Deadlock.”
“I wonder how you made it through your previous Instances. Did you get carried by others the whole time?”
Players who had safely survived several Instances were no pushovers.
Zhang Mingxuan flushed with anger. He waved his fists and snarled, “You foul woman, don’t think you can get carried away just because I gave you a little praise. Believe me, I could kill you with one punch!”
Sun Sui and another Player stepped in to restrain him, barely holding him back as he fumed.
Xiang Lu gave him a smile full of provocation. “If you’ve got the guts, kill me. But do you dare?”
“The fifth Game Rule says Players aren’t allowed to kill each other. Otherwise, they’ll suffer Game Backlash.”
“Or do you want to find out what Game Backlash feels like?”
Zhang Mingxuan’s aggression eased, but his anger did not.
Only after he looked Xiang Lu up and down did the corners of his lips suddenly lift. “I don’t. I was wrong. My tone and attitude were bad just now. I apologize.”
There was something brazen in his eyes.
It seemed familiar.
Ah!
She remembered.
Yesterday, in the meditation room, the Female Instructor had looked at Sun Sui the same way.
Xiang Lu didn’t notice anything amiss. She gave a cold snort. “I’m not petty. I can’t be bothered to argue with someone like you.”
“There are actually Hidden Mission Objectives in the game instance. You have to explore to complete them, and there’s a chance they’ll let you leave the Game early.”
“Our status as students limits where we can go. We should be bolder and explore the entire school.”
“There’s strength in numbers. Every night, when we return to the Dormitory, we can share what we’ve learned. Maybe we’ll be able to piece together some useful Clues.”
So the last sentence was the real point.
If exploring alone hadn’t been so difficult, she probably wouldn’t have suggested sharing this information.
Hidden Mission Objectives.
Hua Huai committed it to memory, then hurried to the toilet to deal with her stomachache.
Once the stomachache was taken care of, a new problem appeared.
She had no toilet paper.
There wasn’t any in the toilet, either.
Her legs had gone completely numb from squatting.
Could she stand up?
She couldn’t!
With nothing to lose, she timidly called out, “I-is anyone there?”
If someone answered, that would be the really scary part!
The toilet was silent. No one answered.
She felt relieved, but couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“Sob, I’m so miserable. I don’t even have toilet paper, and I’m stuck squatting in here.”
Since no one was around, she let herself go, giving in to despair.
“I don’t want to run around smelling like poop. That’d be so embarrassing.”
“Is there anyone kind enough to help? I need toilet paper. I really, really need it.”
Suddenly, a clean, pale hand slipped through the crack beneath the door, holding a small pack of tissues.
At the same time, a somewhat familiar male voice said, “You’re so loud.”
Hua Huai’s legs trembled, and she didn’t dare take the tissues.
She had recognized the voice. It belonged to that Anomaly.
When she still didn’t move, he urged her, “Do you want them or not? If not, I’m leaving.”
Leaving?
No way. She didn’t want to go out smelling like poop.
She snatched the tissues from his hand and instinctively said, “Thanks.”
“……”
Why had she thanked an Anomaly?
And this was the women’s restroom. How could he come in here?!
Unable to hold back, she reminded him, “This is the women’s restroom.”
The man chuckled. “Fine, I’m leaving.”
“But~ I only came in because I heard you wailing.”
Ugh, Hua Huai covered her face.
How embarrassing. She’d humiliated herself in front of an Anomaly.
Hua Huai finally emerged from the toilet stall, but the Anomaly had already vanished.
It was almost dark, and the scenery around her seemed strangely distorted.
Hua Huai felt a chill creep over her. She had a feeling that something bad might happen if she stayed outside.
She quickened her pace and returned to the Dormitory.
When she opened the door, several Players were gathered around the table discussing something. They paused for a second when they saw Hua Huai, then continued.
Tan Tai lay on a yellowed bedsheet, looking very unwell.
He looked sick, but there was no infirmary in the school.
Perhaps, just as Xiang Lu had said, he wouldn’t live to see tomorrow.
After washing up in the bathroom, Hua Huai climbed onto her bed and crouched there. The bedding smelled awful, reeking of the stench of fermented sweat.
The weather was muggy anyway, so she didn’t plan to use a blanket that night.
She was exhausted after a whole day, and now that she had settled down, sleepiness washed over her.
She yawned and drifted off to sleep.
She didn’t know how long she had been asleep when a cry of pain sounded beside her.
Immediately afterward, a man’s voice snarled, “You crazy woman!”
The commotion was so loud that everyone in the Dormitory woke up.
By the moonlight streaming through the window, they saw Zhang Mingxuan clutching his abdomen. A scarlet liquid trickled from between his fingers.
A Utility Knife with its blade pushed out, stained red with blood, was in Xiang Lu’s hand.
Her clothes were disheveled, but her gaze was razor-sharp. “You’re the Madman here. If not for the game rules, you’d already be dead.”
The other Male Players took one look at the scene and guessed what had happened.
Hua Huai was still young and only vaguely understood this sort of thing.
But she could tell right from wrong. Zhang Mingxuan wasn’t a good person, and neither was Xiang Lu.
But Zhang Mingxuan was much worse than Xiang Lu.
When everyone thought she was young and left her to fend for herself, Zhang Mingxuan had stepped forward to point out that she was breaking the rules.
They clearly had no grudge against each other.
He was rotten to the core.
Sun Sui tried to smooth things over. “There aren’t many of us left who can act. Zhang Mingxuan was in the wrong, but looking at it another way, it means you’re attractive. How about you calm down?”
That only made Xiang Lu’s blood pressure rise even higher.
She held back, then snapped at Zhang Mingxuan, “Get out of here!”
Of the seven Players remaining, only five were truly able to take part in any action.
It was only the second night. Xiang Lu had to swallow her anger for now.
Everyone was getting ready to return to their beds when Sun Sui noticed another empty bed and stopped, puzzled. “Isn’t that Tan Tai’s bed? Where did he go?”
Before everyone went to sleep, Tan Tai had still looked terribly ill.
His bloodstains remained on the bedding.
Someone answered, “Who cares? He probably went to the toilet.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, an alarm rang out across the campus, loud enough to cover the entire school.
A voice sounded over the broadcast: “Everyone, assemble at the Athletic Field within five minutes.”