The phone rang for a long time. Just as it was about to disconnect, Yin Zhen answered.
"Is this Yin Zhen? I’m Bai Qiang, a psychological counselor. Do you have some time right now? I’d like to meet with you; anywhere is fine."
Yin Zhen remained silent for a moment. She didn’t want to see a counselor, but she knew it was a crucial step to close the case smoothly.
"Okay."
After providing the hotel name and room number, Yin Zhen hung up and went back to browsing the internet.
When the doorbell rang, Yin Zhen had just closed her laptop. She glanced at the time. Less than twenty minutes had passed since she hung up the phone. Either this counselor happened to be nearby, or she had been prepared to come over all along.
"Just a moment."
Opening the door, she saw a young woman in her late twenties standing outside. She had long brown hair and wore a pair of oversized, round-rimmed glasses. She walked in with an unhurried, leisurely pace. Her gaze seemed a bit unfocused, as if she had just woken up. However, Yin Zhen noticed that in the split second she entered, she had already rapidly scanned the entire room—the curtains, the nightstand, the laptop... before finally resting her eyes on Yin Zhen herself.
"Hello, Yin Zhen, I’m Bai Qiang." Her voice was clean and soft, carrying a hint of laziness. "Traffic was a bit jammed. Have you been waiting long?"
"No," Yin Zhen replied. She kept her head down, her black hair hanging over her face, and her voice sounded muffled.
Bai Qiang naturally walked around to the back of the wheelchair. "Let me push you over to the table. The lighting is better there."
Without waiting for an answer, her hands already gripped the handles of the wheelchair. With a light yet steady force, she pushed Yin Zhen to the table by the window, then sat down in the chair opposite her. Yin Zhen’s back stiffened for a split second. She wasn’t used to people approaching her from behind, but Bai Qiang’s movements were so natural that refusing would have seemed strange.
Bai Qiang habitually pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Only after pinching one between her fingertips did she suddenly realize where she was. Instead of lighting it, she brought it to her nose and took a sniff.
"I won’t smoke. Just smelling it. It’s a bad habit of mine."
Yin Zhen said nothing.
With a deft twirl of her fingers, Bai Qiang rolled the unlit cigarette from between her index and middle fingers to her ring and pinky fingers. Keeping it tucked there, she picked up a pen and began taking notes in her notebook.
"The police told me about what happened last night. Does the wound on your left shoulder still hurt?"
"It’s okay."
"Were you scared at the time?"
"...Yes." Yin Zhen lowered her eyes to look at Bai Qiang’s right hand, which held both the cigarette and the pen. She thought the counselor was a complete weirdo.
Bai Qiang nodded, her expression unreadable.
"It’s perfectly normal to be scared. Given the circumstances, the fact that you managed to fight back the entire time is already remarkable. Next, I’ll be asking about some details as a matter of routine. Don’t be nervous. If there’s anything you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to."
"Mhm."
The entire conversation was as standardized as an assembly line. Though Bai Qiang’s tone was relaxed, she constantly gave Yin Zhen a sense of rushed impatience and superficiality, as if she were racing against the clock. It was highly unprofessional, yet it easily made one lower their guard.
In just half an hour, the conversation concluded, and Bai Qiang began packing away her notebook.
Yin Zhen checked the time on her phone. Bai Qiang cast a fleeting glance at her and asked casually, "When you’re scrolling on your phone, have you seen any of those weird posts? Stuff about countdowns, zombies, or crossing into other worlds. There’s been a lot of that online lately."
Yin Zhen’s fingers twitched slightly, but her face remained expressionless. "I’ve come across a few."
"You saw them too?" Bai Qiang’s interest seemed piqued as she leaned forward. "I stumbled upon a livestream this morning. The guy claimed he had crossed over into a cyberpunk world, but right in the middle of talking, someone knocked on his door claiming to be a gas inspector. The stream cut off immediately after. Creepy, right? Who knows if it was scripted or real."
As she spoke, she clamped the unlit cigarette between her lips and let out a muffled chuckle.
Yin Zhen kept her eyes downcast. "It was probably scripted."
"True. In an era where traffic is king, people’s bottom lines are terrifyingly low. As for your case, I’ll have to write an evaluation report later. It’s basically just an assessment of your mental state. Don’t worry, it’s just a formality. It only serves as a reference."
Yin Zhen remained silent.
"I’ve seen the video. You acted in self-defense, so don’t worry."
"Mhm."
Bai Qiang stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly remarked, "Actually, I think that even if you had intended to kill him at the time, it would be completely normal. In a situation like that, anyone who had the ability would want to kill him."
Yin Zhen didn’t reply.
Bai Qiang smiled at her. Behind the glasses, the smile looked gentle and harmless.
"Alright, let’s call it a day. Once the report is submitted, I’m sure the case will be closed normally very soon."
She walked to the door, then turned back as if suddenly remembering something. "By the way, if you ever run into anything weird in the future, feel free to give me a call. I’m very interested in things both inside and outside the realm of psychology." Pulling a business card from her pocket, she left it on the table.
Bai Qiang walked out of the hotel and stood by the road across the street, finally lighting the cigarette she had been holding all along. She didn’t leave in a hurry. Instead, she leaned against a streetlight pole and took a slow drag, letting the smoke spill from between her lips and teeth. She was still wearing those oversized glasses, but her gaze was no longer the careless, unfocused one from before. Behind the lenses, her almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly, as sharp as twin blades.
"Interesting," she murmured softly.
That girl had kept her head down from start to finish, her voice muffled, looking for all the world like a frightened little beast. But Bai Qiang remembered every detail. When she had first entered the room, Yin Zhen’s breathing rate hadn’t changed at all. When asked if she was scared at the time, she said yes, but the look in her eyes at that moment—even though Bai Qiang only caught a fleeting glimpse—was far too calm. A truly terrified person didn’t look like that.
Bai Qiang exhaled a plume of smoke, a faint, almost imperceptible curve tugging at the corners of her lips. She just found it intriguing and had no intention of including any of this in her report.
"The imperfection of the victim cannot become an excuse to exonerate the criminal," Bai Qiang muttered to herself. She stubbed out the cigarette and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
She looked up at the window of Yin Zhen’s hotel room across the street. As she withdrew her gaze, her line of sight paused in mid-air for a split second.
[57:15:22]
The countdown was still ticking. She had more important things to attend to, which were far more interesting than probing into the dark psychology of a disabled girl. Bai Qiang hailed a cab. The door closed, and the taxi merged into the traffic.
...
Inside the room, Yin Zhen sat perfectly still, staring at the closed door. It took a full three minutes before she slowly raised her head.
Every line of their recent conversation replayed in her mind. Countdowns, crossing over, livestreams... When Bai Qiang brought those things up, her tone had been far too natural, like she was just casually gossiping. But why would she bring those topics up? Why discuss such bizarre, supernatural things with a victim who had just experienced a traumatic event?
Was it a probe? Could she be a Player too? Or... just like how Yin Zhen had masqueraded as S717, was Bai Qiang a Blood Clan invader in disguise?
A layer of cold sweat suddenly broke out on Yin Zhen’s back.
She picked up her phone, wanting to look up the name, but her fingers paused. What was she going to search for? And what if she did find something? If Bai Qiang really knew something, how much had Yin Zhen already exposed? On the other hand, if Bai Qiang knew nothing at all, this bout of paranoia would only highlight her own guilty conscience.
Yin Zhen tossed Bai Qiang’s business card into the trash can, closed her eyes, and let her breathing gradually steady. She glanced at the clock on the wall. There were only two days left before she had to enter the Red Corpse World again.
When the time came, would she run into ’Bai Qiang’ over there? Thinking of this, Yin Zhen fished the business card back out of the trash can. She memorized all the information on it, along with every single detail of today’s meeting. Afterward, she picked up the landline on the nightstand and dialed the front desk.
"The room next door is too noisy. Do you have any other rooms available? I’d like to switch floors."
Three minutes later, Yin Zhen had packed her belongings and wheeled herself out the door.
...
Nothing happened on Yin Zhen’s end until the afternoon of the following day.
However, the wail of police sirens echoed throughout Guan City all night long. Videos of violent assaults surfaced several times on local social media, only to be taken down immediately. Meanwhile, the television news continuously reported on an incident involving a mentally deranged man who had murdered his family and fled the scene, along with a wanted poster offering a bounty for his capture.
Last night, the police had also searched the hotel where Yin Zhen was staying. She had used her Super Sensing Ability to eavesdrop on a private conversation between two of the investigating officers, uncovering some inside information.
The killer, named Chen Wei, was highly unusual. His escape speed was freakishly fast. During the pursuit, he had taken a bullet but still managed to vanish without a trace—not even the surveillance cameras could catch a glimpse of him. The last place he was spotted was in the exact same district as her own home. The news stated that providing a valid tip would yield a reward of fifty thousand yuan.
Staring at the news report, a few thoughts suddenly sprouted in Yin Zhen’s mind.
It wasn’t about the reward money, but rather about the ’prey’. The two police officers had lowered their voices to mention one specific detail: Chen Wei’s parents had their necks torn open, yet there was very little blood at the scene. It was highly abnormal. Torn necks, yet hardly any blood. It was highly probable that Chen Wei was a Blood Clan invader.
Furthermore, he was injured. Being injured meant he needed to consume blood to recover; he needed to hunt for prey. Chen Wei was extremely cautious. Upon realizing he was being hunted, he hadn’t gone berserk or fed indiscriminately. Instead, he chose to hide and flee, which undoubtedly meant he intended to survive here long-term. In that case, he would carefully deliberate over his choice of prey. What kind of target would be the easiest to strike?
Yin Zhen looked down at her legs. A cripple, living alone, female. The perfect target.
Yin Zhen then glanced at her attribute panel. Luck: 0. Just as a rope snaps at its thinnest point, misfortune always preys on the vulnerable. With zero Luck, others might just accept their terrible fate, but she could twist this bad luck to her advantage and turn her misfortune into bait. Moreover, she had a strong intuition that since the invasion game had issued this quest, it would undoubtedly orchestrate an ’encounter’ for every Player. If she didn’t take the initiative, she would be thrust into a passive and dangerous position.
Yin Zhen wheeled herself to the window, looked at the gradually darkening sky outside, and made her decision.