“You really are holding back,” Lin Zhen stretched lazily, “but I think this time we can be bad together. Hey, little pet, are you trying to use this to extract information about the remaining split space?”
The first to look at Lin Zhen was Yan Mingguang.
This person had none of the languid expression he had when handing the files to Yan Wei earlier. He merely glanced at Lin Zhen, the slightly reflective lenses of his glasses softening the sharpness of his gaze, yet adding a hint of inscrutable indifference.
Lin Zhen instinctively stiffened.
Yan Wei looked at Yan Mingguang in confusion, but the latter immediately withdrew his gaze, as if the earlier displeasure was merely an illusion.
However, Yan Wei felt that Yan Mingguang had seemed to… warn Lin Zhen, because of Lin Zhen’s address to him.
Although he often told Lin Zhen not to call him “little pet,” he understood Lin Zhen’s nature after spending time together; ultimately, he didn’t care how others called him, especially friends he had already accepted. But Yan Mingguang seemed to care even more than he did.
Yet this person always gave Yan Wei the impression that it was all just his misunderstanding, to the point that Yan Wei still wasn’t sure if he had misread the situation.
He put away the stack of files and answered Lin Zhen’s earlier question: “You guessed right this time. Given the general quality of players entering this time, these people are all players who can handle many dangerous situations in normal instances, and there are seeds among them, but they are still lacking a bit in dealing with the split space’s side quests. So, in this flow of information, based on my estimates, there will inevitably be a large number of casualties among average players entering the split space side quests, just like those three players from Morning Star earlier.”
“But now, aside from those three from Morning Star,” Yu Feizhou interjected, “there hasn’t been any large-scale casualties among players in the same team.”
Yan Wei snapped his fingers: “So, currently, aside from the two split spaces we’ve encountered, no one has cleared them, but I don’t think others are without information; they just don’t know that the split space is caused by Legendary Item fragments.”
Lin Zhen clicked his tongue twice: “Using student status to exchange for information about the split space, some people would be willing. But how do we divide it? I want a Legendary Item too.”
Zhou Tian immediately said, “Exclude me; I’m not in the direction of physical stats or Perception. My abilities are more specialized, and according to what Yan Wei said, the functions this Legendary Item might have are irrelevant to me.”
Yan Wei smiled: “Although the final judgment of rewards is based on who contributes the most, everyone participates to varying degrees. To be frank, this Legendary Item is very compatible with me, and I must have it, but I also know everyone has put in effort. So if you trust me, let’s first do our best to collect all the fragments in the instance, and after we get out, we can discuss compensation or exchanges with points or other items.”
This was essentially a blank check.
Currently, everything was kept in Yan Wei’s possession, and whether he would fulfill his promise after they got out depended entirely on his character.
But the others present had no objections.
Yan Wei nodded, said no more, and turned to leave the file room.
At the entrance of the file room, including Li Qing, the bodies of several players from Moonlight lay peacefully and chaotically on the ground. Li Qing’s head hung back at an unnatural angle, clearly indicating that his neck had been completely broken. The expressions on these people’s faces were quite surprised, with Li Qing looking particularly unwilling and shocked.
Yan Mingguang and the others also came out one after another.
As soon as they stepped out, Gao Ming, who had been told by Yan Wei to hide, jogged over: “Yan Wei! I was hiding in the corner waiting for you to come out, afraid of causing you trouble, so I didn’t move, and I didn’t discover anything new.”
Yan Wei nodded slightly and said, “It’s fine; you were forced into this instance by Li Qing in the first place.”
Lin Zhen squatted down in front of Li Qing’s body and scoffed, “Oh, dead, huh? This Ghost/Monster isn’t as ruthless as I am. How did this fool die?”
Yan Wei roughly pulled Lin Zhen away by the collar of his school uniform, saying irritably, “Step aside so Gao Ming can see the scene.”
Without Yan Wei needing to say anything, as soon as he pulled Lin Zhen, Yan Mingguang directly brushed his hand away and instead pulled Lin Zhen aside himself.
“Hey, hey, hey, oh no!!”
After a moment.
Gao Ming slowly stood up, frowning: “Did you guys go through some kind of fight earlier? There are a lot of bloodstains on the ground, but because there are so many, their actions are easy to discern. After they were injured, there was a struggle here; the bloodstains show clear signs of pushing, but there aren’t many traces of pushing, just a few, it feels like…”
“They died right after the pushing started?”
“Yes.”
Yan Wei understood.
He put one hand in his pocket and casually tossed a coin in his other hand.
He pondered all the clues he had gathered since entering the instance, from the continuously cycling death triggers to the emerging clues about He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan…
He said, “Borrowed students, bottom of the class, and these death triggers, aside from some that we can’t see the signs of for now, like being pushed into a sink in the bathroom, rolling down stairs, pushing, chatting late at night in the dorm… they all have a vague commonality, which is that these events generally involve one party bullying another. Regarding this instance, I have some thoughts…”
After finishing, Yan Wei glanced at Yan Mingguang.
Usually, when he reached this point, Yan Mingguang could guess the answer and help him summarize it briefly.
But this time, Yan Mingguang remained silent. His indifferent eyes seemed to flash with a hint of subtle confusion—indeed, although Yan Mingguang had never told him about his identity and background before entering the building, he certainly couldn’t have experience in this regard.
Instead, Zhou Tian suddenly realized: “Campus bullying!”
“Exactly. Do you remember the patterns we summarized for campus instances? The difficulty of these instances fluctuates greatly because of the large number of people; the maps can be big or small, and the range of clues is also vast. But fundamentally, they are simpler than other instances because students deal with just a few issues, either interpersonal relationships or academic pressure… Borrowed students, poor grades, many negative actions within the campus can trigger death, and overall, it resembles bullying. I had suspected before, at the very beginning of the death cycle, why those Ghost/Monsters died and became murderous Ghost/Monsters? If it’s campus bullying, then it provides a reasonable explanation—revenge.”
“He Luo, Qian Xuanxuan, they might have been the targets of campus bullying and likely died for some reason long ago. After dying, He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan took revenge on those who bullied them, and those students who were retaliated against became Ghost/Monsters. Once someone triggers their actions from before they died, they will emerge and kill the corresponding players. And the two borrowed students also align with my previous guess—there are two types of Ghost/Monsters, one side wants everyone dead, while the other even helps us; He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan could be one good and one bad.”
“However… I can roughly guess these reasons, and we don’t need to worry about these simple death triggers for now, but that doesn’t mean this instance can be cleared easily. I think our biggest danger is the unknown—those casually devoured bodies. We don’t even know what the conditions are for that thing to kill, how strong it is, or what its origins are. In the logical chain I just deduced, there’s no place to fit this ghostly thing.”
Yan Wei finished speaking in one breath, and instead of feeling happy for uncovering part of the clues, he felt even more pressure.
He seemed to be casually playing with the coin in his hand, but his amber eyes were filled with countless thoughts.
He murmured to himself, “So we still haven’t reached the final step. I don’t know what that man-eating ghostly thing is, and whether it relates to breaking the situation is still uncertain. Also, what happened to He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan that led to the current situation? The fact that one is good and the other is bad must also have a reason. Finally, the biggest question is, what is the method to break the situation…”
Lin Zhen said, “Oh, so what do you plan to do next?”
Yan Wei suddenly threw the coin up, tracing a perfect parabolic arc in the air.
After a moment, he opened his palm, and the coin landed in his hand.
“Head, then I’ll follow my heart’s choice; my next plan is to go back to the dorm and take a shower.”
Gao Ming: “Ah? … As expected of you.”
Lin Zhen: “…”
Yu Feizhou and Zhou Tian chuckled a few times.
Yan Mingguang then raised his hand and patted Yan Wei’s dirty shoulder without any disdain, saying calmly, “You go back; we’ll check on He Luo and Qian Xuanxuan’s situation and regroup to discuss in the evening.”
After all, they weren’t afraid of death triggers now, and they could talk in the evening, giving them time to discuss.
Moreover, Yan Wei now had an immortal state, so going back to the dorm to take a shower wouldn’t pose any danger for the time being.
Yan Wei didn’t hesitate, nodded, and was about to turn around, his eagerness to return already quite evident.
But Yan Mingguang suddenly stopped him: “The student files of the players, give them to me.”
“Huh?” He took out the stack of student files from the black ring and handed them to Yan Mingguang.
Yan Mingguang said, “If I encounter a suitable opportunity, I can exchange for information about the split space first.”
Yan Wei thought about it and found it reasonable. He smiled, nudged the other’s arm playfully, and said, “It’s not easy for you, Ice Block—oh no, Teacher Yan! Back in our first instance, you were reluctant to share a room with me, and now you’re actively taking on tasks to help me.”
Yan Mingguang lowered his gaze, silent.
“I’ll head back to the dorm now and consolidate the clues tonight.”
“Whoosh—”
The showerhead suddenly sprayed a curtain of water, and the steam from the hot water rose immediately, enveloping the small space in a haze.
Yan Wei closed his eyes, feeling the hot water cascading down from his head, slowly washing away the smell of blood and dirt from his body.
He breathed in the warm, humid air, his mind a jumble.
He was eager to return to shower, not just because of his cleanliness obsession but because he felt something was off with his state and wanted to adjust alone for a bit.
The first time he entered the Ghost Hand Space and obtained the first Moon Wheel fragment was fine. At that time, he only felt a sense of déjà vu, as if some thoughts were about to emerge, but ultimately, he couldn’t think of anything, and it passed after some suppression.
However, the second time he entered the split space, after focusing on cracking the handkerchief game, that feeling emerged again.
It was a very strange feeling, like the dreams he occasionally had during this time, hazy, familiar, with fragmented clarity.
Yan Wei closed his eyes, the hot water soaking his hair, flowing over his tightly shut eyes. The sound of the rushing water did not serve to awaken him; instead, it pricked at his nerves.
Yan Wei rubbed his face, and in the misty steam, he suddenly recalled the subsequent fragments of his last disjointed dream.
In that dream, he saw Yan Mingguang smoking by the window, asking him what his purpose was for reaching the top. The following fragments were very vague; he forgot everything completely after waking up and didn’t take that chaotic dream seriously. But at this moment, another fragment suddenly emerged in his mind after that question.
In the dream.
He and Yan Mingguang seemed to be in an instance, but this wasn’t the corridor hotel they had been to, nor the ancient town of Ankang, nor the current Morning Star High School. It might be an instance conjured up in his dreams, surrounded by dangers far greater than now, with Ghosts/Monsters even more unpredictable.
They were in the bathroom.
The hot water washed away the blood and dirt from their fierce battle, and the steam swirled around them. He couldn’t see the specifics, only catching sight of Yan Mingguang right in front of him, his silver hair wet and dripping with water, not appearing cold at all.
He seemed to be leaning against the bathroom wall, slightly tilting his head back, with the cold wall behind him and warm water in front.
What was Yan Mingguang doing?
In the dream’s scene, the man’s bony hand gently rested on his shoulder, slightly lowering his head…
—Yan Mingguang was kissing him.
Yan Wei suddenly opened his eyes.
Oho past lovers? Amnesia? 🥰