The boy's voice was calm and indifferent, as if he was just casually speaking.
However, upon hearing his voice, Jiang Xiuxiu, who had been silent and relatively calm in front of the
middle-aged man, immediately showed a drastic change in expression.
"What the hell are you?"
On the other side, the middle-aged man's words were interrupted, and he turned around with a look of
displeasure on his face.
Not noticing Jiang Xiuxiu's unease, he turned his head and shouted angrily, "Can't you see we're talking?
Why are you butting in?"
The moment he saw the person behind him, the middle-aged man’s scolding came to an abrupt halt, like a duck
with its throat suddenly squeezed.
In the dimly lit confinement room, a handsome young man stood quietly between the bookshelves, watching
them.
He was dressed in a neat school uniform, his skin pale, his black hair slightly long, and his deep black
eyes like a still lake—clear and tranquil, yet profoundly mysterious.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the survival horror game would recognize this face.
"You are..." the middle-aged man stammered with fear.
At this moment, faced with the middle-aged man who had just insulted him, Xu Bai didn't get angry. Instead,
he blinked in confusion and asked, "Who am I?"
His expression was natural, and his tone was devoid of any emotion. It seemed like he was just asking them a
simple question.
"No, no, no," the middle-aged man stammered, his face turning red with fear, his small eyes widening. "I
didn't mean it."
"You don't want to say?"
Xu Bai looked at the middle-aged man, seeing him stammer for a long time, his patience gradually waning. "Or
you can't say it?"
Jiang Xiuxiu could clearly see the middle-aged man's legs beginning to tremble uncontrollably.
His eyes were filled with undisguised fear, almost at the tipping point of a complete breakdown.
"Oh, I see." Xu Bai seemed to understand.
He looked at the middle-aged man, then shifted his gaze to the man's mouth, and said lightly, "Since you
can't speak, you shouldn't speak anymore."
"No, no!"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's face changed, unable to hold back any longer.
With a scream, he turned and ran towards the exit.
His movements were surprisingly fast for his large frame, almost instantly reaching the door.
Countless books were knocked off the shelves, crashing to the ground.
However, the middle-aged man seemed to have forgotten one crucial fact.
Earlier, to block Jiang Xiuxiu, he had intentionally moved the tables and chairs, firmly blocking the door
of the archives room.
Now, the consequences of his malicious actions had come back to haunt him.
"Ahhhhh!"
With a shrill scream, a loud crash echoed through the room.
Then, a chilling silence quickly filled the space.
Is the middle-aged man dead?
Did the boss kill him?
Hearing the noise, Jiang Xiuxiu, who had been standing still, gritted her teeth and cautiously stepped out
from the shelves.
She had been cornered by the middle-aged man, causing Xu Bai to notice him first when he appeared.
But she knew Xu Bai had definitely noticed her too.
Rather than hiding, it was better to come out and assess the situation.
Steeling herself, Jiang Xiuxiu peered towards the source of the sound.
She saw the middle-aged man curled up on the ground, his head covered in blood.
He wasn't dead yet; his eyes were filled with fear and unwillingness, his mouth still moving unconsciously.
However, Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t see much pain in his expression.
It seemed like the middle-aged man, like herself, had adjusted his pain threshold to 10.
What surprised her a bit was that Xu Bai hadn't physically harmed the middle-aged man, at least not visibly.
Xu Bai's hands were clean, without a trace of blood.
He just stood there quietly, watching the middle-aged man with interest, as if finding his situation
amusing.
It seemed that rather than being attacked by Xu Bai, the middle-aged man had injured himself out of fear,
crashing into the shelves in his panic.
"Why did you run?"
Seeing the middle-aged man unable to move, Xu Bai slowly approached, looking down at him.
The boy's face still bore a puzzled expression, but then he suddenly lifted his foot and stepped on the
man's ankle.
Then, he ground it down.
With a few muffled sounds, the middle-aged man’s body trembled, his legs twisted into unnatural positions,
lying limp on the ground.
His ankle had been crushed.
Innocence and cruelty, brutality and naivety, simplicity and cunning—all these seemingly contradictory
traits were perfectly embodied in Xu Bai.
Watching this, Jiang Xiuxiu couldn't help but step back, bumping into the bookshelf behind her.
Hearing the noise, the boy tilted his head, shifting his gaze to her.
"It's you," he said. "What's wrong? Are you with him? Do you want to save him?"
"No, no, no, of course not," Jiang Xiuxiu trembled and quickly shook her head. "How could I be that kind of
person?"
Ignoring the resentful look from the middle-aged man, Jiang Xiuxiu took out a sharp kitchen knife from her
pocket and handed it to Xu Bai.
With righteous indignation, she said, "He's like me; he doesn't fear pain. Torturing him is pointless. Here,
use my knife; it'll be quicker to kill him."
She had stolen this knife from the kitchen. Although small, it was sharp enough.
She had intended to keep it for self-defense, but now, using it to please the boss seemed worth it.
Xu Bai: “...”
Middle-aged man: “...”
Hearing Jiang Xiuxiu's words, the middle-aged man became furious, wriggling on the ground to curse her.
But Xu Bai, standing next to him, just laughed.
"Not afraid of pain?"
Curiously, Xu Bai reached out and took the knife, examining it closely.
The next second, his wrist moved, and he slashed Jiang Xiuxiu's arm with the knife.
Jiang Xiuxiu: “...”
Wait, what does this mean?
Startled by the boss’s action, Jiang Xiuxiu almost jumped up.
Seeing her bewildered expression and confirming her injury, the suspicion in Xu Bai's eyes finally vanished.
"You're right, you don't fear pain."
Jiang Xiuxiu: “...”
"Ha ha ha, yeah, why would I lie to you?"
Forced to endure the boss’s antics, Jiang Xiuxiu’s smile was bitter.
If not for the need to survive, why would she stoop to such flattery?
But she knew that Xu Bai was unpredictable and temperamental. Surviving one encounter didn't guarantee
surviving another.
Given the boss's nature, he was destined to be a dangerous entity. It was normal for him to kill players,
but it was abnormal for him to let someone go.
To bring Li Xiaoxiao's information to Shu Xin, she had to do everything possible to ensure Xu Bai wouldn’t
attack her.
Xu Bai didn’t comment on her words.
Lowering his gaze, he wiped the blood from the knife with a finger. "I'll keep the knife."
With that, he put away the knife, and with a slight shift of his foot, he stepped on the middle-aged man's
neck.
A cracking sound was heard, and the man's neck was broken, leaving him motionless.
The middle-aged man was thus eliminated.
Jiang Xiuxiu stood there, speechless.
She recalled her interactions with the middle-aged man, and emotions surged in her heart. Unable to hold
back, she laughed.
Serves him right, that vile man tried to set her up.
It’s not just that; after succeeding, he had the nerve to gloat in front of her.
Look at him now, his fate was to be eliminated, forever missing out on the prize.
She wasn’t the forgiving type. With the middle-aged man's evident malice, she could only feel schadenfreude
at his miserable end.
TNote : schadenfreude is pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune:
Especially since, despite not feeling much pain, the psychological impact of having his bones crushed must
be significant.
And at the moment she laughed, Jiang Xiuxiu keenly noticed that Xu Bai's barely perceptible killing intent
towards her finally disappeared.
She couldn't understand the boss's twisted preferences.
On the other side, after dealing with the middle-aged man, Xu Bai turned to Jiang Xiuxiu again.
"You want to investigate me?" he asked.
Why was he asking this?
Confused and fearful, Jiang Xiuxiu nodded and whispered, "Yes, but I couldn't find any information about
you."
She said this, worried Xu Bai might get angry about her investigating him secretly.
Surprisingly, instead of getting angry, Xu Bai smiled.
"Of course you couldn't find any information about me," Xu Bai said. "I'm not really a student here."
He looked at Jiang Xiuxiu with a meaningful expression. "Just like you all aren't real trainee teachers."
Jiang Xiuxiu's heart skipped a beat, shocked, and she looked up at Xu Bai uncontrollably.
What did he mean by that?
Did he know about their identity as players?
No, that shouldn't be possible.
Ignoring Jiang Xiuxiu's shocked expression, Xu Bai continued, "I can give you a hint. August 13th is my
birthday."
He smiled at Jiang Xiuxiu. "Time is running out. I hope we meet again tomorrow."
Time is running out.
This was the second time Xu Bai had said this.
Jiang Xiuxiu checked the time, realizing Xu Bai's appearances were indeed brief.
This time, she noted it down:
This was already the second time Xu Bai had said this sentence.
Jiang Xiuxiu calculated the time and noticed that the length of his appearances seemed to be quite short.
This time, she specifically looked at the clock and found that it was exactly five minutes, the same
duration as her disguise technique.
Is this a restriction imposed by the game on him?
He can only appear for five minutes a day?
It seems so. His whereabouts are unpredictable, appearing and disappearing without a trace, and he possesses
formidable strength.
If he were allowed to be out for twenty-four hours, the players present probably wouldn't survive even a
day.
Jiang Xiuxiu's mind was in turmoil, and she didn't know how to respond for a moment.
She just knew that she truly didn’t want to see Xu Bai again.