Under the hallway lights, Xu Jiawei's face was stunningly beautiful, but her expression was ice-cold.
"I'm going to kill him. Otherwise, he'll only get all of us killed."
"Huh?" Xu Jiaojiao jumped in fright.
Remembering something, she hurriedly grabbed Xu Jiawei. "You can't, Jiawei! Zhang Fang might not be a good person, but this Instance has him set as the 'boyfriend' I brought home. If he dies, I could very well suffer the consequences!"
"Besides, we still don't understand how this game works. What if the village chief finds out you attacked Zhang Fang and punishes you? Those ghost children all seem to obey him..."
As Xu Jiaojiao spoke, she seemed to recall the children's pitch-black eye sockets and couldn't help shuddering.
Xu Jiawei stood where she was, expressionless.
She made no further move. Clearly, Xu Jiaojiao had persuaded her that killing someone now really was risky.
Xu Jiawei closed her eyes and considered it for a moment, then turned to Shao Lan beside her. "Other than singing, Zhang Fang shouldn't have any other way to hurt people, right?"
Shao Lan answered with precision. "None that we've discovered so far."
Xu Jiawei looked at Xu Jiaojiao. "Go boil a kettle of water."
"What?"
"Aren't you worried that since you two are a couple, his death will implicate you? Then we'll pour boiling water down his throat and scald him mute."
Seeing that Xu Jiaojiao was too frightened to move, Xu Jiawei sighed in exasperation at her timidity.
She went into the room to boil the water herself, then emerged a little later carrying the kettle.
Xu Jiaojiao knew she couldn't persuade Xu Jiawei to spare Zhang Fang, but she couldn't bear to watch such torture either. All she could do was turn her head away.
But just as Xu Jiawei was about to pour the scalding water down Zhang Fang's throat, a figure rushed up and snatched the kettle from her hand.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
The person who had rushed over was Xu Nan.
He had come up from the second floor and happened to see Xu Jiawei about to scald Zhang Fang mute. He immediately panicked.
"Listen here, you little bitch. Zhang Fang is my brother. If you dare lay a hand on him, you'll answer to me!"
Xu Jiawei said coldly, "If I don't kill him, he'll only get everyone killed."
Xu Nan refused to listen. "Your life matters, but my brother's doesn't? I'm telling you, if you touch him, I'll fight you to the death!"
Shao Lan frowned slightly.
Something felt strange. Although Xu Nan and Zhang Fang belonged to the same robbery gang, they seemed more like two rotten men bound by shared interests than friends with any particularly deep bond.
When he had dragged Zhang Fang into the elevator earlier, Xu Nan hadn't been willing to sacrifice himself to help.
Why was he suddenly acting as if he would take a knife for his brother?
Now Xu Nan was fiercely shielding Zhang Fang, refusing to let Xu Jiawei anywhere near him.
Xu Jiawei sounded a little helpless. "Injuries you suffer in an Instance heal automatically when you return to the building. Even if I scald his throat and make him mute, it won't do any lasting damage."
Xu Nan paused, then said hesitantly, "No. How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Look at Shao Lan," Xu Jiawei said. "Didn't his injuries heal when he entered the Instance?"
She would have been better off not mentioning Shao Lan. The moment she did, Xu Nan's guard shot up.
"I almost forgot. You and that Shao brat are a couple!" Xu Nan said bitterly. "That brat has a grudge against me. You two are working together to get back at us, aren't you?!"
Xu Nan drew his knife and pointed it at Xu Jiawei and Shao Lan. "Stay back. I'm not someone you can push around!"
Xu Jiaojiao had been scared stiff by the scene. Distraught, she tried to reason with them. "You... you can talk this out. This is only our second day here. Please don't fight among yourselves..."
Xu Jiawei's brow shifted slightly.
Xu Jiaojiao was right. The monsters in the Instance might still be watching for their chance. The players couldn't afford to fall apart.
She took a step forward, calmly facing the point of Xu Nan's knife.
"Listen. If you won't let me kill your brother, find a way to keep his mouth shut yourself."
"If I hear him sing even one more line," Xu Jiawei said, looking at Xu Nan, "I really will kill you along with him."
Xu Jiawei's gaze was sharp as a blade, and Xu Nan shuddered involuntarily.
He stiffened his neck. "Who do you think you're threatening..."
Despite his defiant words, Xu Nan quietly put away his knife.
Seeing that the two sides were finally no longer at each other's throats, Xu Jiaojiao hurried to smooth things over.
"Xu Nan, did you come upstairs because you needed something from us?"
Xu Jiaojiao had only asked casually, but Xu Nan suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Fuck. Yeah, there is something."
He hemmed and hawed awkwardly.
"Song Liru is missing."
As soon as he said that, everyone's expression darkened.
Everyone knew how badly Xu Nan and Song Liru got along. If Song Liru merely hadn't shown up for an hour or two, Xu Nan would have assumed she was avoiding him and thought nothing of it.
Xu Jiaojiao hurried downstairs and brought Xu Zijian and Qin Ning up as well.
The seven players gathered in Xu Jiaojiao and Zhang Fang's room. All of them said they had no idea where Song Liru was.
"When did you last see Song Liru?" Xu Jiawei asked.
Xu Nan said, "She went out yesterday and never came back."
"What?" Xu Jiaojiao's eyes widened. "You mean Liru has been missing since last night?"
"Since last night..." Shao Lan asked quietly. "Why are you only telling us now?"
Those words struck like a thunderclap. In an instant, everyone's suspicious gaze fell on Xu Nan.
Xu Nan shared a room with Song Liru, and more importantly, Song Liru had said yesterday that she wanted Xu Nan dead.
Could Xu Nan have found out and struck first, attacking Song Liru?
Under everyone's stares, Xu Nan stamped his feet in fury. "What are you all looking at me for? Do you think I killed her?"
"I have no fucking idea where she went! We had a fight, and then she slammed the door and left!"
Shao Lan frowned.
Xu Nan's account did match Song Liru's.
When he had gone downstairs yesterday, Song Liru had been tearfully complaining to Xu Jiaojiao. Her face had already been bruised, and she had said Xu Nan had hit her.
"Last night, Song Liru, Xu Jiaojiao, Xu Zijian, and I talked in the hallway for a while. Let's call it the 'hallway conversation' for now."
"In short, after the hallway conversation ended, the four of us went back to our respective rooms," Shao Lan said calmly. "But now you're saying Song Liru never went back?"
Xu Nan grunted an irritated acknowledgment.
Xu Jiaojiao's eyes were a little red. Of all of them, she was closest to Song Liru, and now she couldn't help turning her anger on Xu Nan:
"You shared a room with Liru. She never came back, but you didn't go out to look for her or think anything was wrong? Instead, you slept right through until morning? Do you expect us to believe that?"
Xu Nan hadn't expected Xu Jiaojiao to side with Shao Lan too, and he grew even more furious:
"No, who the fuck has nothing better to do than look for that old woman? Didn't she go crying to you? I thought she was staying with you!"
Xu Jiaojiao didn't believe him at all. "Our names are written outside our rooms! Staying in someone else's room could very well break the rules. Don't you know that?"
"So what if she broke the rules? Haven't enough idiots died in every Instance because they broke the rules?"
Xu Nan shouted bitterly.
"That old woman doesn't seem all that smart to me anyway. If she wants to get herself killed, what's it got to do with me? Am I supposed to run out and warn her? Don't assume I bullied her just because her face was bruised. Look at these wounds on my arm. Her nails did all of that. I'm a victim too, all right!"
The two were about to say more when Qin Ning suddenly kicked the door hard three times.
She was wearing combat boots, and their collision with the metal door produced a tremendous noise that stunned everyone into silence.
"Stop arguing," Qin Ning said flatly, her eyes lowered. "You're too noisy."
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