chapter 18

“Ahhh!”

Tong Qian’s once-slender, pale arm was instantly mangled as though crushed beneath a heavy truck.

Her face went bloodless. The sudden agony robbed her of even the strength to struggle, and she slid to the floor.

Having escaped, Zhao Liang leaned against the wall and panted. Pleasure flashed across his twisted face as he watched Tong Qian moan in pain.

The heavy scent of blood excited the bear. It stopped wondering why Tong Qian lacked the mouthwatering smell. With a roar, it finally raised a paw to strike her.

Cheng Miao’s cool voice suddenly came from behind it. “Hey! Papa Bear! Want some fish?”

She hurled a blue fish the length of her arm with all her strength. It struck the bear’s head, bounced to the floor, flopped several times, and went still.

Stunned by the blow, the bear turned and roared at Cheng Miao. The noise made her dizzy, while the intense stench from its mouth nearly caused her to retch.

Suppressing her nausea, Cheng Miao saw that the strange fish had successfully attracted the bear’s attention.

It twitched its apple-sized nose, discovered something it adored, and scooped up the fish. Then it tore into the flesh.

Cheng Miao released a deep breath and glanced at the barely conscious Tong Qian. That had been close!

The bear ate crudely. Within moments, it stripped the fish clean. It tossed aside the bare bones, licked its lips, and regarded Cheng Miao expectantly.

“ROAR!”

Understanding the threat, Cheng Miao smiled and stepped backward. She brought the hand hidden behind her back into view and gave it a shake. Another huge blue fish dangled by its lip from one finger.

As Cheng Miao tossed fish and the bear ate them, the two slowly moved toward the kitchen with remarkable cooperation. The people left in the bedroom finally exhaled.

Bai Jiang and Qi Jiajia emerged from hiding. Bai Jiang helped Tong Qian upright, then tore a strip from his shirt and tied it tightly around her upper arm.

Qi Jiajia stared at Tong Qian with a dark expression. She wanted to say she had never asked for help, but after looking at the injury, she could not force out the words.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Bai Jiang was busy, but Qi Jiajia was looking down at people for the first time, so he could still guess what she was thinking and offered a word of comfort.

Qi Jiajia seemed to remember something. Her knifelike gaze flew toward Zhao Liang, who had collapsed beside the wall in terror.

Now that Zhao Liang had recovered enough to understand how repulsive his actions had been, he swallowed. Sweat shone across his forehead. “I-I didn’t do it on purpose. She was just unlucky and didn’t hide properly.”

Qi Jiajia’s eyes turned glacial. Her hand moved toward the small purse beside her skirt as though she meant to retrieve something. Alarmed, Bai Jiang caught her wrist. “He’s not worth it.”

Bai Jiang had endured many instances and witnessed plenty of human malice, betrayal, and scheming.

Each occurrence still disgusted him, but he had developed some immunity.

Qi Jiajia was young and appeared spoiled. She still believed in repaying kindness and avenging wrongs.

But human life was the cheapest thing in an instance. Wasting an Item earned at the risk of death on scum like Zhao Liang would be the real loss.

During the struggle, Bai Jiang bumped Tong Qian’s injured arm. The sharp pain woke her from her half-conscious state.

“It hurts…” Tong Qian stirred dazedly. When she saw her severely deformed arm, shock and pain twisted her face. A scream rose in her throat.

Bai Jiang reacted instantly and covered Tong Qian’s mouth, smothering the cry as it escaped.

“Keep her quiet! If she wakes the other two bears, we won’t even know how we died! Useless newcomer!”

Zhao Liang had been startled by Tong Qian’s near scream. Nervous sweat soaked the collar across his chest as he glanced fearfully at the two bears still asleep.

Both sides were about to argue when they abruptly fell silent and turned toward Cheng Miao, who had just emerged from the kitchen wearing a dangerous expression.

Cheng Miao’s mood was foul, worse even than when another player had nearly killed her outside the Dormitory after her first instance.

Zhao Liang worked his mouth as though he wanted to speak, but the hostility radiating from her frightened him into silence.

Cheng Miao ignored him and went directly to Tong Qian. After checking the injury, she looked up at the others. “Papa Bear is eating fish in the kitchen. The basket stays full no matter how long he eats, so he shouldn’t come out anytime soon. Check the schedule. Has it changed?”

After Tong Qian’s injury, Qi Jiajia had become much more cooperative. Without arguing, she followed Bai Jiang’s directions and dragged the schedule from beneath the bed where he had hidden it.

Sure enough, every task for the day had ended. In their place, new words slowly appeared: Water the flowers.

Water the flowers?

Everyone stared. Which flowers? Did those towering plants count?

“The front door was open when I came from the kitchen. Who wants to inspect the garden with me?” Cheng Miao pointed behind her. The door, closed tight until now, had somehow opened a crack, and sunlight streamed inside.

Qi Jiajia wanted to follow Cheng Miao, but she looked at the swaying Tong Qian, opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“I’ll go. Jiajia, can you watch Tong Qian?” Bai Jiang rolled up his sleeves and stood. After what he had just witnessed, he was certain that the girl he had underestimated possessed a means of defending herself.

Qi Jiajia nodded. When Cheng Miao showed no intention of saying anything to her, the girl’s gaze dimmed.

Cheng Miao’s group headed outside. The other group consisted of a half-dead woman and the young girl Zhao Liang had long found interesting. Still, finding a path out alive mattered more.

Suppressing his restless thoughts, Zhao Liang followed Cheng Miao and Bai Jiang at a careful distance.

An enormous garden lay outside. Beyond the fence was a blurred boundary. The fence had no gate, and its towering, needle-tipped stakes discouraged any thought of climbing out.

On one side grew the unnaturally colorful flowers visible from the window. The other resembled a vegetable plot, though the raised mounds looked so much like graves that no one wanted to approach them.

Cheng Miao and Bai Jiang exchanged a glance. Water the flowers. The task probably referred to the blossoms on the left.

The sun had begun to sink, softening its once-glaring light into warm, variegated colors.

They approached flowers one and a half times their height and examined them from below. Even tilting her head all the way back, Cheng Miao could barely see the stamens.

The proportions were strange. Even compared with the bears, these flowers were far too tall to serve as ordinary garden decorations.

Zhao Liang emerged from the house panting, dragging a basin he had found somewhere. It contained the pus-yellow slime Tong Qian had described.