"Mountain Inn": She Shouldn't Have... Offended Him, Right?

The young man watched in terror as the Evolved Body drew closer, unable to believe he was going to die at the hands of a test subject he had only just created.

He had only one question before he died.

His plan had been so well concealed. How had the young man who had barely spoken the whole time seen through it?

The moment the Evolved Body appeared behind them, the young man hadn't looked back, yet he had charged straight at him as if he knew what was there, catching him off guard.

He couldn't accept this. His experiment wasn't finished yet...

From inside the iron bars, Xu Xi and the High-Ponytail Woman could only watch as the Evolved Body pounced on the young man and tore him to pieces, leaving him with an even more miserable end than the Refined Man.

"Take off your jacket and throw it outside."

Xu Xi took off his own jacket as he reminded his last remaining teammate beside him.

The High-Ponytail Woman didn't understand, but she did as he said.

For some reason, she now felt a sense of trust in him.

Fortunately, after they entered the instance, it had changed all their clothes into hiking outfits, so all they had to do was unzip their jackets.

The two of them did their best to throw their jackets through the gaps between the bars.

The Evolved Body, which had been about to head toward them, was instantly distracted by the jackets.

"What... what on earth is going on?"

The string of events in such a short time had left the High-Ponytail Woman struggling to keep up.

First, the Burly Man had inexplicably mutated, costing their team another member. Then the young man had revealed his identity, bringing their progress to a halt again. After that, the Refined Man had been killed by a suddenly appearing... even taller White Humanoid.

The young man beside her, however, had not only acted decisively against the young man, but had even known there was a compartment here, as if he knew everything about the situation.

She had actually gleaned a few things from his actions herself. "Could the Burly Man's mutation have been that man's doing?"

Xu Xi nodded.

"While the Burly Man was subduing him, he deliberately gave him a cut and infected him with a toxin."

"This thing should be the Evolved Body that resulted from the mutated Burly Man and the White Humanoid in Room 106 fighting and devouring each other."

"That man scattered a special powder on the way here while leading us to the cellar. It can attract the Evolved Body, and he scattered a little on us too."

He didn't mention the finer details. He could pass everything he had said off as careful observation, but not things like the toxin having been extracted from the White Humanoid or the powder containing wax.

The High-Ponytail Woman hadn't expected the young man to be willing to explain so much to her. She had thought that even a brief answer or two would only be because they were the only two left in the instance.

No wonder he had told her to take off her jacket and throw it out.

"So he started setting us up as soon as we caught him? Because we didn't fall for the earlier trap."

"You could say that."

Xu Xi hadn't expected the young man to be so calculating either. If he hadn't had the ability to roll back, the underground passage alone would have been enough to wipe them all out.

No, that wasn't quite right. He and the High-Ponytail Woman should have died right outside Room 103.

After all, the young man had released the First-Generation Body from Room 101. Thanks to his rollback ability, only the Short-Haired Woman with Glasses had died.

The underground passage beneath the wardrobe in Room 101 was the second layer of the man's plan.

The cellar was the third.

The traps linked together one after another. He had to admit, without his cheat, he really couldn't have outplayed the young man's schemes.

But then again, why hadn't the High-Ponytail Woman's Necklace Item worked the first time she died?

Xu Xi compared the situations in which the necklace had worked on these two occasions.

Was it because the anomalies attacked differently?

The first time, it had clearly been infecting their minds and bodies. Both times since, it had gone straight for their hearts and lungs.

It seemed the necklace could only deal with physical attacks, not mental ones.

The High-Ponytail Woman thought for a while and gradually worked it out too. A chill ran through her.

"That man's scheming was terrifying."

She seemed to think of something, and her breath suddenly caught.

Wait, the young man's schemes were chilling enough, but what about the young man beside me who saw through all of them?

Were his perfectly timed hints really that simple?

The Short-Haired Woman with Glasses, killed instantly by the First-Generation Body; the mutated Burly Man; the Refined Man, whose heart was ripped out by the Evolved Body...

The High-Ponytail Woman's lips twitched involuntarily.

I shouldn't have... offended him, right?

Probably not. Otherwise, I don't think I'd still be alive.

Ha ha.

Xu Xi turned his head and saw that the usually somewhat aloof High-Ponytail Woman was looking at him rather strangely.

What was going on? Was there something wrong with him? Why was she looking at him as if he were an anomaly?

Had he accidentally been scratched and mutated during the fight after all?

Holy shit! No way!

Xu Xi hurriedly looked down at his body.

Thank goodness. It was normal.

"What's wrong?"

Convinced there was nothing wrong with him, Xu Xi could only ask the High-Ponytail Woman, who looked like something was wrong with her.

After all, she was his only teammate.

He had never expected the death rate in this instance to be so high. Having come from an instance where everyone survived, Xu Xi still wasn't quite used to it.

"N-nothing. Uh, I was just thinking..." Seeing the young man frown, the High-Ponytail Woman immediately changed the subject. "So that's why the Burly Man mutated."

As soon as she said it, the High-Ponytail Woman wanted to slap her own mouth.

Of all the things I could have brought up, why that!

Xu Xi, meanwhile, detected something off in her expression.

...She didn't suspect him of deliberately failing to warn the Burly Man, did she?

That was unfair!

He had noticed the wound at the time, but he really hadn't paid it any mind.

Who knew the young man was so underhanded?

The Refined Man went without saying. His rollback could only bring him back to that point in time passively, so there was no way he could have saved him. He had only just finished warning him when the man probably died the very next second.

"I didn't expect it at the time either."

After thinking it over, Xu Xi offered a serious explanation.

He didn't want his only remaining teammate to see him as cold-blooded and heartless, someone who would stand by and let others die.

The High-Ponytail Woman nodded silently.

Xu Xi didn't know whether she believed him.

He couldn't explain what was special about himself to her either.

Oh, forget it. I'd better find a way to clear the instance first.

Outside the iron bars, the Evolved Body simply clutched their jackets and tore at them blankly. Even when the High-Ponytail Woman's flashlight occasionally swept over it, it didn't react.

It seemed the Evolved Body no longer had the trait of being provoked by flashlights. In contrast, its fondness for things like candles seemed to have shot up, and it completely ignored the two living people inside the bars.