"Hmph!" Moxiaoi huffed and turned away with puffed cheeks.

"Xiaobai, stop messing around, okay?"

"Mmm~ If you say stop, I’ll stop." Xiaobai chuckled, leaning against me. He seemed thoroughly satisfied after teasing Moxiaoi.

"Alright, alright~ Let’s go," I urged.

*Sigh*... My heart’s so tired. These two—sometimes reliable, sometimes acting like goofy, childish kids.

"Let’s move! Who goes first—you or me?"

Li Xiaobai’s knee injury seemed fully healed… He flexed his left leg, no longer needing my support. How do I even describe this? It’s utterly unbelievable.

Moxiaoi was one thing—though just a high school girl, her strength was freakishly abnormal, yet still within human limits. But Li Xiaobai… His bursts of speed, impossible reflexes, that wound-healing speed I just saw, and that initial ability to sense people’s positions… None of this felt human anymore.

Was he some kind of enhanced human or android like in the movies?

*Ugh*… A man wrapped in mysteries.

But I didn’t dare ask. Even if I’m a bit slow, some things are better left unspoken. Though we’re teammates now and they’ve been kind to me, strictly speaking, we were strangers just hours ago.

"What’s wrong, Donghui? You seem low on energy."

"A little sleepy." I rubbed my eyes and checked my wristband. "I’ve only got one hour left."

"Mmm~ We’d better hurry. I’ll handle it—you don’t need to lift a finger." He took my hat and ruffled my hair.

"Hey—don’t treat me like a kid!" I shook his hand off, snatched back my hat, and pouted.

"Just a habit. I knew a girl who reminded me of you," he grinned.

"Your girlfriend?"

"Heh~ No. A seven- or eight-year-old."

"Are you insulting me?" I deadpanned. Comparing me to an eight-year-old?

"No. A girl as cute as you."

"And you’re *still* not insulting me? ‘Cute’? ‘Girl’? Which part isn’t an insult?" My face darkened. I hated being treated like a child.

"Heh~ Sorry," he laughed.

"Enough chatter—the path ends here!" Moxiaoi called back to us.

While talking, we’d silently reached the first three-way junction. Another corridor stretched ahead. After our last scare, we pressed against the walls, observing carefully. This corridor differed—the rooms had doubled from three to six, lining both sides.

More rooms meant more places for William to set traps.

"What now?" Moxiaoi nocked an arrow, peering cautiously down the hall from the opposite wall.

"…" Li Xiaobai stayed silent.

Even he—the usually reckless, decisive one—hesitated after what happened. His expression flickered as he muttered, "Let’s find something to toss inside first."

"Heh~ *Brilliant* idea~" Moxiaoi drawled, dripping with sarcasm.

Unfazed, Li Xiaobai acted on his own suggestion. He hoisted a broken cabinet we’d passed earlier—lifting it one-handed—and hurled it down the corridor. It landed just outside the first ward’s door.

"Seems quiet~"

*Crack! Crack! Crack!* Before he finished, both adjacent wards erupted with noise.

*Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!* A barrage of black arrows shot out, skewering the cabinet from both sides like a porcupine.

The battered cabinet jittered like it was dancing before finally stilling.

"…" We three just stared, speechless.

A heavy silence hung.

"*Damn*," Li Xiaobai finally breathed, turning to us. "I say we jump back into that pit and escape to the second floor."

"…Coward," Moxiaoi shot him a cold glare.

"I’ve got 45 minutes left…" I whispered weakly.

"…" Li Xiaobai’s face darkened. "Sorry. Forgot." His voice turned icy. "No choice. We’ll have to take him down to buy you more time."

He strode forward, machete in hand. Moxiaoi followed without a word. I hurried after her.

Li Xiaobai stopped before the arrow-riddled cabinet.

"Overthinking just holds you back."

He kicked it like a football. Well—not quite. It rolled like a bowling ball all the way to the corridor’s end, slamming into the wall.

As it rolled, it triggered every silver-wire trap on the floor!

*Swish! Swish! Swish!*

Every ward except the first unleashed volleys of black arrows—just like before—but with no target, they all flew empty.

"Let’s go." Li Xiaobai marched ahead, machete raised, not glancing back.

This felt so familiar… Like watching a triad movie about gang fights.

"Hope it works," Moxiaoi muttered coldly, falling in behind him.

"Yeah… Should be fine?" I gripped my scissors tightly, trailing after Moxiaoi.

We crossed the corridor unscathed. Aside from the arrow traps, it held nothing else.

At the last room on the left, we caught a whiff of something off—a thick, coppery stench of blood.

We peered inside cautiously.

"*Ugh*—" I clapped a hand over my mouth.

"…" Li Xiaobai stood frozen in the doorway, his expression shifting unreadably.

"…" Moxiaoi gave one cold glance and walked on, her voice sharp as ice. "Watch your step. Or you’ll end up like them."

The ward was piled with over a dozen headless corpses—contestants William had killed. Blood pooled across the floor.

A horrifying sight…

"Don’t stare, Xiaobai. Let’s go." I tugged his sleeve.

"Ah—got it." He replied but didn’t turn, still fixated on the bodies—especially a young girl’s headless form.

Helpless, I followed Moxiaoi. The stench was unbearable.

"So *this* is true evil…" A sudden, sharp pain flared in Li Xiaobai’s left eye. He clamped a hand over it.

No surprise crossed his face. He understood the change in his body. A deep chill spread through him.

His blood was turning cold—craving slaughter. It needed to heat up again.

"Brr… So cold."

"I thought people only kill to survive… Guess I was naive. I thought killing for myself might ease the guilt. But it doesn’t… Guess I’m just like you now, William." His grip on the machete trembled slightly.

"Now I want to kill for fun. And you’ll be my first, William." He chuckled softly to himself.

"Xiaobai?" I didn’t catch his whisper, but I thought I saw him smile…

"Ah—nothing. Coming." He turned, lowering his hand with a grin.

His eye looked normal—but for a split second, a vivid yellow beast-like pupil flashed.

*I saw that yellow beast’s eye again…*

"Let’s go." He patted my shoulder as he passed.

"O-Okay. Let’s go." I blinked in confusion.

He still looked like that silly, airheaded boy—but deep down, something had changed. Something unsettling.