Chapter 31

But now, the very much alive Qi Yue outside was proof of reality slapping him hard across the face. Who knew whether Qi Yue might want to kill him to silence him because he had seen something he shouldn't have?

After Lu Zhaobei said, "What a coincidence," Qi Yue heard nothing more from him.

Qi Yue: "..."

Apparently, it wasn't just that he wanted to stay away from Lu Zhaobei. Lu Zhaobei didn't seem to like him much either.

That was fine.

Because he had to be ready to act strong anytime, anywhere, Qi Yue was accustomed to paying attention to everything around him at all times. He found a spot he could use to clear the entrance as quickly as possible and called to Lu Zhaobei inside.

"Step back."

He only needed one "pivot point" to pry open the entire entrance. Here was another chance to act strong.

The sooner he "rescued" Lu Zhaobei, the sooner he could leave. With that thought in mind, Qi Yue's voice unconsciously took on a hint of coldness.

Come to think of it, this counted as helping Lu Zhaobei, didn't it? So when the comic updated, the readers couldn't scold him for being "mean" to Zhou Ziyao, could they?

Lu Zhaobei was still considering the various reasons Qi Yue might have appeared here. Before he could reach a conclusion, he heard Qi Yue's commanding voice.

"...Okay." After answering instinctively, Lu Zhaobei realized his body had already obediently stepped back, his eyes fixed on the entrance blocked by the collapse.

The collapse hadn't sealed the entrance completely. Qi Yue listened closely, and for the sake of acting strong, the moment he heard Lu Zhaobei's footsteps retreating inside, he raised his leg without the slightest hesitation and kicked the spot he had picked out.

Lu Zhaobei: "! Wait, this..."

Wasn't this way too reckless? Wasn't he afraid of causing another colla—

Boom—

Before Lu Zhaobei could finish the thought, a brief boom sounded, and the blocked entrance was exposed without another collapse.

Through the falling dust and stone fragments, Lu Zhaobei saw the tall, slender young man standing not far across from him. Wearing a cloak that revealed only the lower half of his face, he had descended like a god in a forceful, cold manner.

The words Lu Zhaobei hadn't yet managed to say changed to: "...Thank you."

No matter why Qi Yue knew about this place or what his purpose was in coming here, the fact was that Qi Yue had saved him, and he had to thank him. Besides, he had been like a clown worrying about another collapse just now. This was Qi Yue, after all. How could he possibly do something he wasn't sure of?

"You're welcome." Qi Yue stated the fact calmly. No matter who it had been, his wonderful character would have made him lend a hand.

Qi Yue also knew what Lu Zhaobei had been about to say when he kicked: he had been worried about another collapse. How could Qi Yue not have considered such a simple issue when his own life was at stake? Before kicking, he had already examined everything around him and only acted after making sure it wouldn't cause another collapse.

The reason Lu Zhaobei had caused a second collapse was that, while clearing the entrance, he had removed a support to the upper side that was holding up a large stone slab above.

Of course, he wasn't going to tell Lu Zhaobei that. It would have greatly diminished the impact of his strong act just now.

Lu Zhaobei: "..."

Such a cold voice.

But when they first met, Qi Yue had already hinted outright that they couldn't be friends. With no third person present now, it wasn't strange for him to maintain a distant, indifferent manner.

Lu Zhaobei said nothing more. Qi Yue's gaze instinctively fell behind him, and beneath his cloak, his brows furrowed slightly.

From beneath the cover of his cloak, Qi Yue could see the surroundings below Lu Zhaobei's waist.

A marble floor, curved walls with a metallic finish...

Even with his eyes closed, Qi Yue could tell this was obviously a man-made passage that had cost a fortune to build.

Ah, he had almost forgotten. Lu Zhaobei, the comic's protagonist, was an Artificial Esper, one of the YR Research Institute's former research projects.

According to the synopsis for the first season of Chronicles of the Young Hunters, which he had once casually glanced at, Lu Zhaobei, as the protagonist, had suffered immense physical and mental torment at the YR Research Institute.

No one would secretly travel across most of the island overnight, leaving their classmates behind, to reach a battlefield outside their own level and appear at a place that had once caused them immense harm for no reason.

Unless...

He had a reason he had to come back.

His own reason was that note. What was Lu Zhaobei's reason?

And what was this passage about? Could the thing mentioned in the note have something to do with it? It wasn't impossible. After all, the Aberrants had clearly all once been test subjects, and Lu Zhaobei was a test subject too.

A test subject, Lu Zhaobei, had appeared at the entrance to the metal passage, so it wouldn't seem strange if the thing mentioned in the note that hadn't made it out appeared inside the metal passage too.

Clearly... there were some secrets hidden inside. So this was the "entrance" Lu Zhaobei had mentioned at the beginning.

Qi Yue withdrew his gaze from the passage and reached a tentative conclusion. Hiss... Walking around with his hood up gave him a very "big shot," very "mysterious" air, but it wasn't good for observing things after all. It obstructed his view.

Since he was already here, he needed to find a suitable reason to take off his hood, and also go in and take a look without arousing the protagonist's suspicion, while keeping the protagonist from asking further questions about his reasons.

"Um..." Although he couldn't see Qi Yue's eyes, Lu Zhaobei could still feel the cold, fierce pressure coming from him through the thin hood.

"May I ask why you're here?"

Lu Zhaobei asked after all. What he was truly worried about was...

None of the people from the First Hunter Academy were here, and he was the only one who had once been connected to the YR Research Institute. That meant no one else on the island should know where the real entrance to the YR Research Institute was.

How did Qi Yue know?

Hearing Lu Zhaobei's voice, Qi Yue quickly returned from his thoughts.

Here was his chance. The rocks blocking the entrance were gone, so taking off his hood and looking someone in the eye when speaking to them was a polite and normal thing to do, right?

Qi Yue seized the opportunity. Instead of answering Lu Zhaobei's question immediately, he raised a hand and took off his hood, then naturally and slowly lifted his eyes to look at Lu Zhaobei across from him...

Since they met, Lu Zhaobei hadn't confronted him about Zhou Ziyao. Though his body was tense now, he showed no intention of attacking either.

Apparently, he didn't know that Qi Yue had been "mean" to his companion Zhou Ziyao.

After checking Lu Zhaobei's condition, Qi Yue felt the worry in his heart ease a little. At the same time, he was glad he had chosen the cloak for various reasons. That allowed him, while facing off against the comic's protagonist, to use the cloak's loose fit to conceal how tense his body was and make himself look completely at ease.

"What a coincidence." Qi Yue's voice was cold.

Having confirmed that Zhou Ziyao hadn't had time to complain to Lu Zhaobei and that he had also helped Lu Zhaobei, Qi Yue had nothing to fear. If anything, he was a little "emboldened by the help he'd given": "That's exactly what I wanted to ask you."

His dear mother had told him from an early age: ask yourself why less often, and ask others what gave them the right more often. That way... in any case, his own world would be a better place, and what did it matter to him whether anyone else's was?

"Don't forget," Qi Yue said, making sure to back up his counterquestion with sound reasoning so he would appear "fully justified," giving Lu Zhaobei no extra time to think. "This place has temporarily been assigned to Area F, where level-three Aberrants appear."

"So..."

Qi Yue pressed his advantage.

"The one asking questions should be me in the first place, shouldn't it?" The Panel only stopped him from lying; it didn't say he couldn't answer a question with a question, did it?

When he first learned that the Panel wouldn't let him lie, Qi Yue had been uneasy. But he was no longer the person he had been back then. Now he had learned to exploit bugs in the rules of the world, and he was doing it effortlessly, with great skill.

"..."

When Qi Yue looked at him with those crimson eyes, his gaze was cold. His snow-white eyelashes and hair lent him an even chillier air.

Besides, his question was so well reasoned that it was impossible to refute.

It was true that he had crossed from Area A to Area F and "intruded" into another level's area. Knowing he was in the wrong, Lu Zhaobei was left speechless. People like Qi Yue really were good at turning questions they didn't want to answer back on others in just a few words, doing it in a way that left no room for doubt.

But...

If he didn't get a clear answer, he really couldn't put his mind at ease.

Lu Zhaobei didn't want Qi Yue to know his purpose either, and since he couldn't draw out Qi Yue's purpose, he licked his dry lips and could only voice his guess. "You're here... to 'see' him, right?"

Ruling out the possibility that Qi Yue was a test subject, his performance at the Seventh Hunter Academy also showed that he had close ties to the First Hunter Academy. Apart from that, Lu Zhaobei couldn't think of a second reason.

Few people from the First Hunter Academy came to "see" Number 8792, but there were some. If he could use the Weekly Assessment to retrieve his things, why couldn't Qi Yue use the opportunity to achieve his own purpose?

Qi Yue: "...?"

Him?

Who?

Chapter 31

If possible, Qi Yue hoped Lu Zhaobei had guessed well, but wouldn't guess again next time. His guess had left Qi Yue completely baffled.

Clearly, this was a question Qi Yue couldn't answer under the "can't lie buff."

Since opening his mouth meant he "couldn't lie" and would face the punishment of "dying without a burial place"...

Then...

He would just keep his mouth shut.

Unable to observe Lu Zhaobei's expression when he asked the question through his mosaicked features, Qi Yue could only let his own expression darken at a visible rate the moment he decided to stay silent—

To make sure even a "blind person" could see that he was "in a bad mood and becoming harder and harder to provoke," Qi Yue did his utmost to make his performance progress in stages.