Beneath the Mediocre

Lan Wu said softly, "Mo, who joined you, is in a hurry to find an excuse to get out of your sight. The more closely you watch her, the more carefully she'll hide her tail. You'd be better off leaving her an opening."

Zhang Yu was silent for two seconds. "Ah."

"You figured it out?"

Lan Wu was usually quiet and gentle, his clear gaze always forcing itself into a calm composure. Now, however, it was as deep as a pool:

"I've spent time with President Medusa and learned a lot. The Midnight Guild understands demons better than Broken Mirror does. So when Captain Xing, having only just returned, couldn't be sure what Mo was after and decided to keep her close to test her, I'd already realized she had an ulterior motive."

Zhang Yu couldn't help reassessing Lan Wu.

...That was right. They had never trusted Mo, who had joined them midway and traded the power of her eyes for information.

Even though she was someone Yu Xing had known before, what could a brief encounter prove?

Especially since that encounter had been more than a year ago. Anyone who had personally lived through this tense, absurd year knew that high-intensity games didn't just change their strength. They changed the way they thought, too.

A moment's carelessness could raise one's level of alienation beyond saving, while one's thoughts and consciousness were constantly eroded by ghosts. Even an old friend could have become a stranger.

Mo was a typical example of someone who had grown stronger throughout the past year. As a lone wolf, she'd become something like a bounty hunter, taking jobs with the help of her eyes and collecting the payment afterward.

As she'd said herself, she'd come to Nanshui Town this time because someone else had hired