"Haul me up!" Moxiaoi shrieked in terror, dangling over the pit’s edge as she stared at the bear trap below, her heart pounding.

"Hey! Don’t move!" Li Xiaobai roared from the collapsed floor’s edge, gripping her arm. He yanked hard, dragging her up and flinging her aside.

"Ah!" Moxiaoi cried out as she crashed into the corner.

"Moxiaoi! Are you okay?" I rushed over to help her up.

"Damn it! You bastard—how dare you throw me!"

After rescuing Moxiaoi, Li Xiaobai ignored her. Instead, he crouched by the collapsed pit, running his fingers along the jagged floor edge. His expression turned grim.

"Man-made collapse trap. The edges are uneven, but the cuts are smooth. That William... he’s no ordinary opponent." He glanced at the bear trap below, then down the dark corridor ahead. "This isn’t as simple as it seems..."

"*Cough cough~*" Moxiaoi rubbed her sore spots.

I gently patted her back, watching Li Xiaobai’s tense face. "Xiaobai, what did you find?"

"From floors five and six, each level likely holds three or four teams—about ten people. He managed to set bear traps at the stairwell between floors two and three. That means he’s probably cleared not just floor four, but floor three too... Floor two’s status is unknown."

"*Sigh~*" Even I, thick-headed as I was, understood the implication.

"So he’s killed at least ten people," Moxiaoi muttered from the wall, her face pale.

"*Ah!*" I gasped, leaning over the collapsed floor to peer down. Darkness swallowed the pit, but I spotted the sparse bear traps. An idea sparked. "The traps aren’t densely placed! We could jump down this hole, reach the stairwell to floor two, and bypass him entirely!"

"..." Li Xiaobai stayed crouched, deep in thought.

"..." Moxiaoi stared at me, stunned. "Pretty boy, when did your brain suddenly get so sharp?"

"Good plan. I’ll jump down first, clear the traps, then pull you both down..." Li Xiaobai mused.

"Right?!" I beamed proudly.

"But I must refuse!" He spun around, dead serious.

"Huh? Why?!" I flinched, bewildered.

"Four reasons to take him down: he’s better-looking than me; taller than me; richer than me; and I really want that claw-knife he’s carrying—as a souvenir." He smirked wickedly.

"*Ugh~* What kind of reason is that?!" I cried.

"*Heh~* You women wouldn’t understand. Us otaku harbor deep grudges against tall, rich, handsome guys... Without money and laws protecting them, they’d have been burned alive on streets countless times!"

"I’m a guy!" I yelled. His words after "you women" drowned out everything else.

"*Heh~* Even if I spared him, *that* woman wouldn’t." He shot a cold glance at Moxiaoi.

"Huh?"

"He nearly got me crushed and mangled in that pit. I won’t let him live." Moxiaoi stood, her face dark with fury.

"*Sigh!*"

"Two to one. Majority rules." Li Xiaobai rose.

"..." Speechless. These battle maniacs!

"This way’s blocked. We take the other path." Li Xiaobai gestured at the pit, resigned.

"Let’s go." Moxiaoi’s voice was icy.

"Okay..." I sighed.

We reset our formation: Li Xiaobai led, I followed, Moxiaoi covered the rear.

With the left floor collapsed, we turned right.

"Stop! Freeze!" Xiaobai suddenly halted at the front, arm blocking our path.

"*Ah!*" I slammed into his back, my nose throbbing. Rubbing it, I asked, "What’s wrong?"

"..." Moxiaoi frowned at him.

Xiaobai crouched, examining the floor intently. Then, like discovering treasure, he announced proudly, "Found a trap. *Heh~* Guess handsome guys really are dumb. Such an obvious piece of trash."

I peered ahead. A silver wire lay plainly visible—identical to the trap we’d dodged at the exit.

"Another trap... be careful."

"..." Moxiaoi said nothing.

"*Tch~* Couldn’t even hide it properly?" Xiaobai scoffed. He stepped over the wire, striding forward.

"*Huh?!*"

His foot landed—and immediately sensed something wrong. Just behind the obvious wire, nearly flush with the floor, lay a second, hidden wire.

He’d stepped on it.

*Clack-clack~* The mechanism triggered.

"Shit! Watch out!" Xiaobai yelled.

Before he could react, a fire axe swung out from the corner, slashing horizontally toward his face!

So sudden—none of us moved. Not even Xiaobai.

"Xiaobai!" I screamed.

He froze. After a heartbeat, his shaky voice came: "...I’m fine. Don’t worry."

The axe blade stopped less than half a centimeter from his nose. One step forward, one lean ahead—and it would’ve taken his face off.

Pure luck. He shuffled back toward me, his expression flickering between rage, shock, and fear.

"Lucky break~" Moxiaoi chuckled from behind.

"You okay?" I steadied him.

"Fine." Xiaobai glared at the axe, then turned to me. His face softened into a grin. "Just seeing Nurse Sister makes all pain vanish."

"First trap distracts the eyes. Second trap hides behind it. Visual misdirection, double-layered trap... clever," Moxiaoi commented dryly.

Xiaobai’s smile vanished.

Then, William’s voice echoed from the distant corridor.

"*Hmm~* This trap design has flaws. I thought swapping to a fire axe—its length would ensure a hit. But it’s still too short... Next time, I’ll use a scythe. That should puncture a nice hole through someone’s face." The voice drifted from the corridor’s end.

Xiaobai’s face darkened further. He jammed his flashlight into his belt, ripped the axe free, and charged forward, blade raised.

"Wait!" Moxiaoi shouted. Why reveal his position? Something’s off—

"William! Stand still!" But Xiaobai had already stormed into the corridor.

He froze. At the far end stood William—and lining the entire corridor were crossbows. Mounted on walls, ceilings, floors. At least eight. All aimed squarely at Xiaobai.

A cold bead of sweat slid down Xiaobai’s temple.

William smiled, shaking his head with mild disappointment.

*Clack-clack-clack-CLACK!* Every crossbow fired at once.

Eight black bolts shot toward Xiaobai!