Retaliation

"Ah?!"

Feeling the icy chill at her neck, Wu Ya let out a startled cry.

The sudden turn of events left Tian Wang, who was still sitting on the ground sheet and panting heavily, utterly stunned.

He couldn't understand it.

How had they been smiling and exchanging pleasantries like old acquaintances one second, only to pull knives on each other the next?

Ke Jiangni, beside them, quickly realized what was happening and hurriedly tried to persuade her. "Don't—no matter what grievances you have between you, there's no need to drag Wu Ya into this, right? She's just an ordinary high school student. When you first met, didn't she even try to save you?"

In her panic, Ke Jiangni's words became unexpectedly fluent, pouring out in a rapid barrage.

Unfortunately, Guo Mi did not even spare her a glance. All her attention was fixed on Lu Bai.

"My guess was right, wasn't it?"

As she spoke, Guo Mi pressed the dagger in a little deeper, denting the skin of Wu Ya's neck. With just a bit more force, blood might start flowing.

"You reacted pretty fast. Fine, even if I said I didn't care, you probably wouldn't believe me..." Lu Bai frankly admitted it, then asked, "What are you planning to do?"

His question made Guo Mi frown unconsciously.

Indeed, Lu Bai's reaction had made her realize that he cared somewhat about this female student.

But among Deathmatch Participants, the general understanding was that the natives in the Deathmatch Arena, aside from being highly realistic, were little different from NPCs in games.

In other words, Deathmatch Participants generally did not regard natives as their own kind. Killing natives naturally caused no psychological burden.

At least, if it were Guo Mi herself, no matter how close they were, she could at most regard them as pets. She would never treat them as equals.

Putting herself in his shoes, she did not believe Wu Ya carried that much weight in Lu Bai's heart.

Perhaps she could use the hostage to force Lu Bai to let her leave.

But she had come here of her own accord, not to flee in disgrace once again.

Then what about making some excessive demands?

The proper limit was clearly not so easy to grasp.

To be honest, Guo Mi felt as though she had ridden a tiger and could no longer get off.

All sorts of thoughts flashed through Guo Mi's mind, yet her expression remained unchanged as she tossed the ball back to him. "What I plan to do depends on you."

Lu Bai immediately put on the expression of a black man staring at a question mark.

After thinking for a moment, he cautiously said, "I don't really understand what you're talking about. How about this—you let Wu Ya go, and I let you go."

Wu Ya, held beneath the dagger, did not dare make the slightest movement. She maintained the same posture throughout, only carefully pleading, "Sister Guo, Classmate Lu is a man of his word. I don't know exactly what conflict there is between you, but isn't it said that enemies are better reconciled than made?"

At the mention of conflict, Guo Mi's tone suddenly turned icy. "He killed my younger brother."

"Your younger brother? Don't the two of you have different surnames?" Lu Bai asked in astonishment.

Guo Mi did not answer, merely looking at him coldly.

"Fine, it's your family business, so it's not my place to say much. Sigh, human relationships really are harder to deal with than corpses..."

Lu Bai pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache. During that motion, he made his decision. When he raised his head again, all the amusement had vanished from his face. "Then do it. You kill Wu Ya, and then I'll kill you."

He said it with complete seriousness, without the slightest hint of a joke.

Guo Mi's gaze flickered, and no one knew what she was thinking.

As the two fell silent together, the tent instantly became quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

The quietly rising killing intent was so oppressive that it made breathing difficult.

Under the influence of that atmosphere, Ke Jiangni and Tian Wang both held their breaths for no reason.

Zheng~

The sound of the Eight-Sided Han Sword leaving its sheath was especially distinct in the silence.

Lu Bai held the sword in his right hand, its tip angled toward the ground. "Since you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll help you."

"Wait."

Seeing Lu Bai step toward her, Guo Mi was the first to crack. "I can let this little sister go, but you have to leave the tent first."

Unexpectedly, even though Guo Mi had already backed down, Lu Bai did not slow his steps in the slightest.

Either way, helping Wu Ya avenge herself could count as repaying a favor.

At this point, how could Guo Mi not know that Lu Bai had made up his mind to kill her? She simply could not be bothered to keep holding Wu Ya hostage. She hoisted her up and hurled her at Lu Bai.

Guo Mi's physical abilities were within the range of an ordinary person's, at most making her well-trained. Her raw strength was not actually very great.

Throwing Wu Ya at him could not possibly have much impact. Before Wu Ya even collided with Lu Bai, she was already staggering and nearly regaining her footing.

The reason she had done it anyway was obvious.

To draw his attention.

The instant Lu Bai helped Wu Ya stand steadily, a coldly gleaming dagger struck from behind her like a bone-gnawing maggot.

As the saying went: an inch shorter, an inch more perilous.

At such close range, there was hardly any room to wield the Eight-Sided Han Sword. If he swung, he would have to pretend Wu Ya standing in front of him didn't exist.

In the end, a woman had affected his swing.

With no time to think further, Lu Bai swiftly pulled Wu Ya behind him. His other hand had only just risen when he narrowly caught the dagger stabbing toward him.

Drip~

Flesh and blood were naturally no match for a sharp blade. Strands of blood seeped from between the fingers gripping the blade, running along the joints of his palm before dripping onto the ground.

Guo Mi held the hilt but did not press forward again in an attempt to inflict more serious damage on Lu Bai.

It seemed the purpose of that strike had simply been to draw blood.

And Lu Bai was not puzzled by it either.

The moment he touched the dagger, a string of information appeared before his retina.

[Weapon: Silver Ring Poison Fang]

[Description: The blade carries a potent neurotoxin. Its toxicity can be restored one hour after use.]

[Evaluation: Randomly obtained from [Armory II (Silver)], it is an exceptionally fine assassination tool.]

"Looks like I won."

A flicker of satisfaction passed through Guo Mi's eyes. "I tested it. This dagger causes neuromuscular blockade. You should already be feeling weak now—perhaps even having trouble breathing?"

There was no unnecessary expression on Lu Bai's face, but his skin visibly began to redden.

Guo Mi did not realize there was anything strange about this change. She assumed it was caused by the toxin...

Whoosh!

Lu Bai slashed diagonally. The blade traced an upward arc from below, swift as lightning and sparks struck from flint.

In an instant, blood gushed forth, splattering wildly across the tarp and bedding.

[Ding!]

[Points +1. Current Points: 15. Current Rank: 1/133]

The burning flush caused by [Blood Rage] gradually faded.

Lu Bai lowered his head to look down at the humanoid corpse at his feet. An unconscious smile appeared on his face, yet not a trace of emotion showed in his eyes.

"Rather than running away, you chose to approach me?"