It was Xu Bai.
The moment she saw his figure, Jiang Xiuxiu recognized who he was.
Xu Bai was clearly standing there, waiting for someone.
And without a doubt, he was waiting for was Jiang Xiuxiu.
“You’re here.”
Noticing her arrival, Xu Bai tilted his head slightly and spoke.
Jiang Xiuxiu blinked.
“Ahaha, sorry, I think I came to the wrong place.”
She genuinely hadn’t expected Xu Bai to be lurking here, waiting for someone.
What was she supposed to do now that the boss himself was guarding the area?
Was she here just to get herself killed?
She hadn’t even had a chance to mess with Xu Bai yet.
Without a second thought, the moment she saw Xu Bai, Jiang Xiuxiu turned around and ran without hesitation.
She definitely didn’t want to stay with Xu Bai, especially under the current circumstances.
Based on her assessment, Xu Bai had lost a significant number of followers and was likely in a weakened state.
As long as she could escape, with no villagers to assist him, he would have a hard time catching her.
However, she had barely taken a few steps when she felt the flow of water beneath her feet change.
In the next instant, her foot slipped, and she lost control, crashing headfirst into the tree in front of her.
Her body slid down, and she ended up sitting on the ground with a thud.
It hurt so much.
“Still want to run?”
Xu Bai stood where he was, his tone gentle as he asked.
Jiang Xiuxiu sighed in defeat.
“Not running anymore.”
She couldn’t believe that even in his weakened state, Xu Bai was still not someone she could easily escape from.
Thinking it over, Jiang Xiuxiu sighed again.
Of course, Xu Bai was never someone easy to deal with.
Accepting her fate, Jiang Xiuxiu decided it was pointless to struggle further.
She grabbed the tree trunk to stand up, brushed the water off her clothes, and turned to face Xu Bai.
And when she looked at him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“You can manifest physically?” she asked.
She had noticed that Xu Bai was actually in a physical form.
He had a shadow, and from the looks of it, this body didn’t seem weak at all.
This doesn’t make sense, Jiang Xiuxiu thought.
Previously, Xu Bai could only appear in dreams, indicating that he was likely under some kind of restriction in this scenario.
Jiang Xiuxiu had considered this when she first entered the game.
To balance the influence a boss could have on the game, the game would impose certain constraints on Xu Bai.
For instance, in the first level, he could appear freely, but his abilities were limited by time.
In the second level, he could still appear freely, but his power grew stronger with the number of dead players.
So, the game gave him a fitting setting—his energy wasn’t directly provided by the players but was transmitted to him through sacrifices via a subterranean evil idol.
Therefore, destroying the idol on the altar would deal a fatal blow to him.
Now, Xu Bai had dozens of followers who obeyed his every word and could help him accomplish various tasks.
As for himself, he could obtain energy through sacrifices.
This made him not only powerful but also backed by an entire village of henchmen.
To balance the difficulty, the game would definitely impose limitations on him.
Considering Xu Bai’s appearances had always been in dreams, even in Wang Xiaoyue’s grandfather’s diary, it was recorded that the River God’s appearance originated from a shared dream among all the villagers.
Thus, Jiang Xiuxiu had concluded that Xu Bai’s restriction in this round of the game was that he couldn’t appear freely.
He could only control the villagers through the village chief, the only NPC who could communicate with him, to harm the players.
As for himself, he could at most appear in the players’ dreams.
Even if he had energy, it would be difficult for him to meet or attack players directly.
Jiang Xiuxiu’s previous plan to “kill the village chief, then brainwash the villagers to turn them against Xu Bai” was based on this assumption.
Because of this, when Xu Bai had kept a low profile before, Jiang Xiuxiu hadn’t taken him too seriously.
He couldn’t appear in person, and even if he did, it would only be in dreams.
Compared to face-to-face encounters, interactions in dreams would certainly lessen his presence.
Not to mention, there were so many real-life concerns weighing on Jiang Xiuxiu’s mind.
For instance, the fact that Ye Ming and she had become boyfriend and girlfriend.
This was a real-life relationship issue, far more important than any game. She wasn’t the type to toy with emotions, if she was going to enter a relationship, she intended to take it seriously.
But why was Xu Bai appearing now?
How could he appear? He shouldn’t be able to appear!
“You can manifest physically?”
At this moment, after hearing Jiang Xiuxiu’s question, Xu Bai tilted his head and gave her a slight smile. “Before, I couldn’t.”
His voice, muffled by the light rain, had a faint, indistinct quality. “But now, I’ve taken care of a little problem.”
Taken care of a little problem?
Jiang Xiuxiu was stunned for a moment.
Soon, she connected this to what Xu Bai had done earlier—drowning the village chief, then the villagers.
In a flash, an unbelievable theory began to form in her mind.
Could Xu Bai have done this to break free from the game’s “restrictions”?
Her wild guess wasn’t wrong—he was really trying to break the rules!
“Is it because you killed the village chief and the villagers?”
With this thought, Jiang Xiuxiu stared intently at Xu Bai.
Without any pretense, she got straight to the point. “Because of them, you couldn’t appear freely, so you killed them?”
She had never understood why Xu Bai would do such a thing.
But she couldn’t believe it was for this reason.
Hearing her words, Xu Bai slowly nodded under her shocked gaze.
His expression was natural, with no hint of joking or deceit.
He admitted it.
“You’re very smart,” Xu Bai said, “So you must also know there’s something here called a rule, right?”
Hearing this, Jiang Xiuxiu’s fingers trembled slightly.
“Rule?”
A few seconds later, she asked softly.
“Yes, a rule,” Xu Bai blinked and said, “You and your companions should be aware of it, right?”
Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t respond.
But fortunately, Xu Bai didn’t seem to need her acknowledgment.
In the silence, he withdrew his gaze and looked back toward the village at the foot of the mountain.
His voice, soft and clear against the whispering rain, was unmistakable.
“I realized a long time ago that whenever I faced you all, my power was always well-contained within a certain range,” he said.
“I was puzzled. I should have been getting stronger, but there were always these strange reasons that left me with no choice but to follow along.”
As she listened, Jiang Xiuxiu began to understand what Xu Bai was saying.
For instance, in the first level, his sealed power was perfectly restrained by the blood jade.
To escape, he had to find a way to destroy the blood jade.
Or, in the second level, his power source was the evil statue in the basement.
So, he had to protect the basement and prevent the players from entering.
It all seemed perfectly logical on the surface, but beneath it, there was an invisible hand that tightly confined Xu Bai within a framework, keeping him from being too powerful or too weak.
As a player with a god's-eye view, she naturally didn't find anything amiss. But Xu Bai, on the other hand, sensed something inherently wrong within this so-called "logic."
"What was your reason for killing the villagers?" Jiang Xiuxiu asked after a long pause.
Xu Bai responded with a casual chuckle, "In the ancient legend of the River God passed down in this village, it’s said time and again that the River God is a deity, unable to descend to the mortal realm, and can only convey messages through dreams and omens."
His tone then took on a deeper, more meaningful quality as he added, "I’ve always despised being shackled."
So, he broke free from the game’s programming that had been imposed on him.
Following the usual path, if he didn’t want to abandon these villagers as his followers, he would have to disguise himself as the true River God, issuing commands through dreams to deceive the masses.
That should have been something Xu Bai, as a demon, was particularly good at.
But he wasn’t willing.
After asking these questions, Jiang Xiuxiu finally understood Xu Bai’s ultimate goal behind his actions.
For a moment, she marveled at Xu Bai’s capricious and domineering nature, but her heart was left filled with nothing but unease.
No, in fact, from the moment Xu Bai nodded in affirmation, she felt as if she had plunged into an icy abyss, with the dampness of the light rain seeping into her very bones.
She had never been this afraid before. Even when facing Xu Bai in the past, she had never felt such overwhelming dread.
And all of this was because she realized that everything had spiraled out of her control.
In her mind, Xu Bai had always been a very real, almost human-like boss, with intelligence and keen observational skills.
But no matter how smart or human-like he appeared, he still held a fundamental identity—he was a game boss.
He would be bound by invisible rules and could never cause real harm to the players.
But now, Jiang Xiuxiu understood she was wrong.
Once Xu Bai became aware of the "rules" and sought to break them, he was no longer just a simple game entity.
He was more like a virus, and one with a certain degree of hostility toward her.
"So, what are you planning to do to me now?"
After a brief silence, Jiang Xiuxiu finally spoke up.
There was no way Xu Bai would tell her all this without reason—he wasn’t that kind-hearted.
He must have an ulterior motive, and Jiang Xiuxiu was curious about what it could be.
"What do I want to do to you?"
Xu Bai glanced at her, his smile innocent and harmless.
"I’ve already answered that question twice," he said.
At some point, Xu Bai had quietly moved beside Jiang Xiu.
His deep, dark eyes studied her with great interest, his gentle voice carrying an unsettling chill. "I really, really want you to stay."
With those words, Jiang Xiuxiu felt a shiver run through her entire body.
This wasn’t the first time she had heard this phrase, but never had it made her so terrified, made her realize that Xu Bai wasn’t joking.
He was dead serious.
And compared to a normal game boss, Xu Bai, who was closer to a "virus," might actually have the ability to use some special means to keep her from logging out of the game.
She had seen news reports about people being trapped by viruses, eventually unable to leave the network and ending up in a vegetative state.
She never thought it could happen to her, but now, here she was, facing that very crisis.
"Don’t think that way," Jiang Xiuxiu hurriedly tried to persuade Xu Bai. "You know I can never stay here. I think you should realize by now that we’re not from the same place. There’s no point in wasting your efforts on me."
As much as she liked the game, she really didn’t want to stay forever.
And she could never continue to live with a virtual, nonexistent being.
"I can’t stay, but someone from the same place as you can?"
But to Jiang Xiuxiu's surprise, Xu Bai asked such a question after hearing her out.
Looking at the stunned Jiang Xiuxiu, he blinked, and his smile grew even broader. "His name is Ye Ming, isn’t it? I know you’re with him."
Jiang Xiuxiu was speechless.
It seemed that even though Xu Bai had kept a low profile, he hadn’t stopped gathering information on the players.
He had even obtained such personal details.
But what exactly was Xu Bai implying by bringing up Ye Ming all of a sudden?
Jiang Xiuxiu couldn’t help but grow more cautious.
"That’s right, I’m with him."
After thinking it over, she decided to nod. "What’s it to you?"
"Nothing," Xu Bai said, "but he’s dead now, isn’t he? And yet, you don’t seem all that sad."
Jiang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth. "That’s none of your concern."
How dare Xu Bai ask her that?
If it weren’t for that sudden tidal wave Xu Bai conjured, she would still have plenty of time to spend with Ye Ming.
Separating a newly confirmed couple so cruelly, was Xu Bai even human?
The more Jiang Xiuxiu thought about it, the angrier she became.
But the problem was, she couldn’t afford to offend Xu Bai.
At least not until she figured out how to clear the level, she had no choice but to endure.
Xu Bai stared into her eyes as if observing something. Seeing the anger on her face, he suddenly let out a soft laugh.
"How is he better than me?" he asked, his tone curious. "Is it his looks or his personality?"
He paused for a moment. "Or is it simply because, like you, he comes from the outside world?"
Jiang Xiuxiu was momentarily at a loss for words.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that Xu Bai’s question was laced with something too ambiguous, as if suggesting there was some emotional entanglement between them.
And no matter how she answered, it felt like a dangerous trap.
"They can’t be compared," she finally said, after carefully considering how to keep Xu Bai appeased. "You’re not the same."
"Is that so?" Xu Bai raised an eyebrow, his expression one of amused disbelief, clearly unsatisfied with her answer.
Jiang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth. "That’s right. You’re much better-looking than Ye Ming, and you’re more adaptable in personality. It’s just that I have more in common with him, we get along well, and he can play games with me, so I chose him."
"I see," Xu Bai said after listening. "That actually makes me a bit happy."
"Really?" Jiang Xiuxiu replied.
For some reason, despite her best efforts to flatter him, she had a keen sense that Xu Bai’s mood had actually worsened.
By this time, the rain outside had intensified.
The sky was completely dark, and the temperature in the air was dropping.
After his last statement, a cold breeze made Jiang Xiuxiu shiver and sneeze.
Standing beside her, Xu Bai seemed lost in thought. "It’s getting late."
He glanced up at the sky and said lightly, "In that case, let’s continue."
Continue? Continue what?
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiuxiu felt an ominous premonition in her heart.
"What exactly are you planning to—?"
But before she could finish her question, a sharp pain shot through the back of her neck.
With that blow, everything went black as she collapsed forward.
In that brief moment before losing consciousness, Jiang Xiuxiu's mind raced with a whirlwind of emotions.
Shock, suspicion, and a deep sense of unease.
But just before her eyes closed, she recalled something that was always announced by the system before entering the game—the "Two Absolutes."
Never let an NPC discover where you come from, and never let an NPC learn about their true nature.
And then, her consciousness plunged into darkness.