Zhang Yiyu poured out a stream of information.
Qi Si now had a clearer picture. Including Chen Lidong's group, there were at least three pre-made teams of players in this instance.
The four from the Listening Wind Guild and the two from Kyushu had all been separated. If the Teaming Rings weren't malfunctioning, it was safe to assume this instance contained at least two separate spaces.
What concerned Qi Si more was that Chang Xu was also in this instance.
Out of tens of thousands of people in a random match, constantly running into acquaintances was clearly the result of some entity pulling strings behind the scenes.
The so-called fairness and randomness were, in the end, nothing more than a joke to be molded and twisted by the rule-makers.
Of course, objectively speaking, it was perfectly reasonable to throw all the crickets into one jar for a fight.
But that didn't stop Qi Si from feeling annoyed.
A person like Chang Xu was trouble if kept alive and trouble if killed; having him around was even more irritating. And after the *Rose Manor* and *Hopeless Sea* instances, even a fool wouldn't be so easily deceived anymore.
What's more, animosity, perhaps even murderous intent, might already be festering in the shadows.
The only good news was that Chang Xu was likely not alone. He probably had an observer from the Listening Wind Guild with him, maybe even broadcasting live.
If he wanted to maintain his public image, he wouldn't dare be the first to attack another player in an instance.
Seeing Qi Si's brow furrow, Zhang Yiyu shifted anxiously, debating whether she should say something to gauge his mood.
Then she saw Qi Si glance down at his watch, look back up at her, and point a finger at the mushroom-covered corpse on the floor. "It's still early. Finish eating it quickly."
Zhang Yiyu was stunned, her eyes wide. "Huh? What did you say?"
Don't talk about eating a corpse so casually! she screamed internally.
You're more of a monster than I am!
Qi Si explained patiently, "There's no quicklime or hydrogen peroxide here. Eating it clean is the only way to leave no trace."
Zhang Yiyu sensed a dangerous undertone and blinked. "W-why... why do we need to leave no trace?"
"This person's death is, well, slightly related to me. To avoid giving the others any unnecessary trouble for their minds, it's best to handle this cleanly." Qi Si's tone was completely matter-of-fact. He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. "So, do you want to help dispose of this body, or do you want to die?"
"I... I'll eat, okay?"
Tears welled in Zhang Yiyu's eyes. Her future seemed utterly bleak—
Just what kind of entity had she bound her soul to?
...
At 7:50, Ms. Medina set down her chalk and left through the small door behind the blackboard without a backward glance.
The *tap, tap* of her footsteps gradually faded, soon drowned out by the overlapping chorus of students reading aloud.
She was undoubtedly gone and probably wouldn't be back for a while.
Even so, the players didn't dare to relax. They all feigned serious expressions, loudly reciting the lines on the blackboard.
Qi Si had already entered the cafeteria and taken a seat in the corner, drawing the attention of several other players.
His expression remained unchanged as he, like the others, began to woodenly recite the English text from the board.
He hadn't been in a school for six years. Even when he was, his English grades had been terrible. Combined with a daily life that required no spoken English, the words that came out of his mouth had a strange, highly inaccurate accent.
But given his persona in this instance, it was perfectly normal. What was so strange about an indigenous person, just beginning to learn English, having a weird accent?
The players showed no suspicion and continued their charade of studying the text.
Before long, Zhang Yiyu entered, carrying the heavy stench of blood. She was trembling like a leaf, constantly wiping away tears, looking as if she'd been scared out of her wits.
The morning reading session wasn't over yet. The players, though bursting with questions, dared not ask. They could only exchange glances while mindlessly mumbling the words.
A few of them moved their lips silently, their eyes locked on the smear of blood at the corner of Zhang Yiyu's mouth, their gazes filled with dread.
Finally, a mushy substance materialized on the empty plates on the tables, signaling that it was eight o'clock.
The reading ceased abruptly. The players exhaled in exhaustion, but none dared to make a move.
Jiang Junjue had been watching Zhang Yiyu with narrowed eyes ever since she entered the room.
Seeing that the girl still had her head down and showed no intention of speaking, he stubbed out the cigarette between his fingers and stood up, walking toward her.
Before he could speak, Zhang Yiyu, as if sensing his approach, whimpered timidly, "Sir... I... I think I ate a person..."
At her words, every player turned to look at her, intentionally or not, trying to read something from her demeanor.
Whispers rustled through the room. Jiang Junjue raised a hand to signal for quiet, his gaze still fixed on the girl before him. "Did you kill someone?"
Zhang Yiyu shook her head frantically, her terror palpable. "N-no! I didn't kill anyone! I just suddenly felt so hungry, I wanted to eat something, so I went out... I don't know what I was thinking then, I couldn't control myself at all, I just walked step by step into the archives..."
"The archives?"
"Yes, the archives. When I got there, I saw a large pile of dirt by the door. I don't know what came over me, but I thought the dirt looked delicious, so I went over and ate some..." Zhang Yiyu buried her head even lower, her voice trembling violently. "When I came back to my senses, I realized I was covered in blood. And what was in my mouth wasn't dirt, it was... it was..."
"A corpse?" Jiang Junjue's already narrow eyes tightened further. "Did you see dirt and eat a corpse, or did the dirt turn into a corpse as you were eating it?"
"I don't know." Zhang Yiyu shrank back, sobbing again. "I really didn't know it was a person... I don't know what I was thinking at the time..."
Her words sounded disjointed, but the key information was perfectly clear. Combined with the nursery rhyme the players had heard on the first day, the answer seemed to be emerging.
"What was the first line of that rhyme yesterday? 'Good children who don't want to eat can only eat dirt.' Don't tell me it wants us to actually eat dirt?"
"The dirt in this instance is probably more than it seems. The stuff that washed off that guy's back yesterday was dirt too, and then he died..."
"So, can we assume that when people die, they leave dirt behind, and to become a 'good child,' you have to eat that dirt? Isn't that basically just cannibalism?" The players buzzed with discussion, their attention momentarily shifting from Zhang Yiyu to analyzing the meaning of the rhyme.
Zhang Yiyu's shoulders were still trembling, but she knew she had passed their scrutiny.
She let out a quiet sigh of relief and glanced toward Qi Si, who was sitting in the corner.
The dark-haired young man, once again wearing his Human Skin Mask, wasn't looking at her. He wasn't involved in the players' discussion either, merely focused on silently shoveling the mush into his mouth. His lowered lashes cast a dark shadow on his eyelids, making him seem detached from the rest of the world.
...
Half an hour earlier, Qi Si had briefly recited all the lines Zhang Yiyu needed to use to absolve herself of suspicion, including the tone of voice and facial expressions required for each sentence.
Zhang Yiyu listened in a daze. Only when Qi Si asked, "Did you get all that?" did she snap out of it and shake her head.
As she saw Qi Si's gaze turn dangerous and his left hand move toward the silver bracelet on his right wrist, her face crumpled and she burst into tears. "It's not that I can't remember, I'm just afraid I can't act it out... I'm really dumb, and when I get nervous, I forget everything..."
"Is that so?" Qi Si tilted his head, seeming to consider it.
Two seconds later, he made his decision and broke into a brilliant smile. "Then you're useless. To live in such a foolish state, it would be better for you to die quickly."
A palpable malice laced the young man's words, and his smile was as bloodthirsty as a hyena toying with its prey.
The phantom of a single golden leaf materialized beside his right hand. The moment Zhang Yiyu's eyes fell on it, she knew it was her soul.
Qi Si raised his right hand, clasped the leaf in his palm, and slowly tightened his fingers.
Zhang Yiyu felt as if an enormous, invisible hand had seized her. The hand squeezed with irrefutable force from all directions, gripping her tighter and tighter, threatening to crush her from head to toe.
Even breathing became a burden. Pain crawled over every inch of her body from every angle. Death was imminent, her thoughts compressed to dust. She trembled, babbling incoherent pleas, tears already streaming down her face.
Just as Zhang Yiyu was certain she was about to die, the pressure on her body suddenly eased.
Qi Si had lowered his hand, and the golden leaf vanished with a wave.
The young man shoved his hands into his pockets and let out a chuckle. "Excellent. That's the state. Hold on to it."
Zhang Yiyu's legs were still shaking uncontrollably.
Qi Si sighed. "What are you afraid of? I promised I'd let you live. As long as you don't violate the contract first, what can I possibly do to you?"
Zhang Yiyu knew this was true, but the master of a contract always held the privilege of interpretation. Who knew if Qi Si would seize upon some minor mistake in the future and crush her on a whim?
On the way back to the cafeteria, Zhang Yiyu asked through her sobs, "If I feed them this false information, won't they be led astray?"
Qi Si turned his head to look at her, feigning confusion. "What does that matter? It's better if they all die. Only the dead can't talk, isn't that right?"
"Once word gets out that you ate someone, the Weird Investigation Bureau will know exactly what that implies. Do you think you'll have any hope of freedom then? Or are you willing to throw away your future for the lives of these strangers?"
The young man's lips curled into a malicious grin. "Of course, whether they live or die is none of my concern. After all, I've never aroused their suspicion. It all depends on you—you just need to tell me what you want."
Zhang Yiyu fell silent, because she knew perfectly well what choice she would make.
At her core, she was a selfish person. While she wouldn't normally go out of her way to harm others, when her own life was on the line, she never cared about anyone else's fate...
The answer was obvious, but Qi Si insisted on hearing her say it aloud.
He was like a devil placing weights on a scale, coaxing her with his seductive logic. "Don't look at me like that. Ultimately, this is all your own carelessness. If you had been able to clean up the bloodstains and successfully deceive them, they wouldn't have had to die."
"And now, it's either you live, or they live. The world has never been a place for perfect outcomes. I'm curious, what is your choice?"
After a long silence, Zhang Yiyu bit her lip and finally uttered the words. "I want to live..."
"I want... them to die."
...
"'Good children need to eat dirt,' and dirt is corpses... This isn't going to end with us killing each other, is it?"
"Don't be so pessimistic. There might still be a way for all of us to survive..."
"So what does the rhyme really mean?"
The players discussed for a while but didn't come to any conclusion.
Parched from talking all morning, they looked at the watery stew before them. With a collective "we have to eat it sooner or later" mentality, they picked up their bowls and began to sip.
The food tasted just as indescribable as last night's dinner, but considering it wasn't lethal, it seemed less difficult to stomach.
By now, the players were all fairly certain who was responsible for this culinary disaster, and they shot resentful glares in Qi Si's direction.
Qi Si, however, seemed oblivious. He finished his own portion, then took his bowl and utensils to the sink, rinsing them under a faucet that was completely out of place for the time period and setting of the instance.
The sound of rushing water filled the air, separating him from the players still eating behind him, creating an aura of cold solitude.
On the other side of the room, Zhang Yiyu stared at the food before her, devoid of any appetite. The feeling of fullness stirred up awful memories. The taste of the corpse returned to her in her waking state, and her face turned pale.
Jiang Junjue had been watching her expression the whole time. Seeing her hesitation, he assumed she was still lost in the psychological trauma of accidentally eating a person. He sat down beside her to offer some comfort. "Let the past be the past. Just pretend it was a bad dream. You have to eat breakfast, even if you don't want to. Otherwise, you might violate the rules."
Zhang Yiyu nodded and began forcing small spoonfuls of the food into her mouth, a pained look on her face.
Having just escaped one crisis, she was already sinking into a new one.
"Si Qi" and Chang Xu already had a bad history. Would he transfer his hatred to her and use her as a hostage?
No, wait, she was already a hostage. Did that mean he'd kill her next?