chapter 19

Zhao Liang dragged the basin in front of Cheng Miao and wiped sweat from his forehead, still struggling for breath. His voice was ingratiating. “You walked too fast. By the time I filled this with water, you were gone.”

Bai Jiang turned away without answering. Anxiety stirred in Zhao Liang. He had not thought before sacrificing Tong Qian, but now that the others had isolated him, panic was setting in. He desperately wanted to prove his value so the team would accept him again.

Zhao Liang had concealed something during introductions. Bai Jiang was not the most experienced player here. Zhao Liang was.

Luck had always placed him with experts who carried him out alive. But he was so incapable that it had taken four instances to save enough for the Intermediate Dormitory. This was already his third Game at that grade.

Zhao Liang had been unpopular in the real world. Though he harbored inappropriate thoughts about children, he had never dared act on them.

He had spent his life as an insignificant employee at a small company, swallowing every insult and obeying every order.

When such a man entered the Survival Inn, where the law was imperfect, the evil within him magnified without limit.

He had caused deaths. Many deaths.

But once someone was dead, it ended there. People who knew what he was might beat him, but they never killed him.

Hypocritical cowards!

To Zhao Liang, what happened to Tong Qian was merely routine. She had only her bad luck to blame.

He had no interest in women, however beautiful. Qi Jiajia alone caught his attention, but her temper was truly awful… She deserved to die too!

Without reacting, Cheng Miao caught the fleeting savagery in his eyes. “Why did you bring water?”

Zhao Liang returned to himself. Contempt colored his eyes, though his tone remained servile. “What else do you use to water flowers? This stuff reeks, but I’ll handle it. No need for either of you to work.”

He could attack Tong Qian, but he did not dare target Bai Jiang or Cheng Miao.

The reason was simple. He was weak and needed experts to carry him through.

Zhao Liang had not been present when Cheng Miao and the others solved the workbook. While Tong Qian washed the dishes, he had focused entirely on the fish. He did not know that every minor task could conceal a trap.

Bai Jiang raised an eyebrow and promptly stepped back. “Go ahead.”

Cheng Miao remained to one side, watching Zhao Liang without the slightest emotion.

She could not bring herself to imitate a man who stabbed people in the back and treated human life as worthless. She would not become an executioner with blood on both hands.

But if Zhao Liang insisted on courting death, she had no intention of playing saint.

Failing to understand either expert’s thoughts, Zhao Liang grunted, flushed with exertion, and poured the basin over the flower’s roots.

The thick fluid clung to the stems and seeped slowly into the soil.

Bai Jiang had spread the schedule at his feet. He watched in surprise as “Water the flowers” gradually disappeared. “Huh. That really was it!”

Zhao Liang smugly dusted off his hands. “You young people just make things too complicated sometimes.”

Cheng Miao’s sharp eyes caught a leaf trembling on the stem. She and Bai Jiang recognized the danger at the same moment and sprinted aside.

Zhao Liang stared blankly at the two people who had abruptly fled. He instinctively turned to look behind him, still muttering, “What’s wrong with you? Jumping at every…”

Behind him, a bright tuliplike flower bent its stem with almost comical exaggeration, like something from a cartoon. It lowered its petaled head in front of Zhao Liang, seemingly to study the person who had watered it.

The sudden movement stunned him. When the tulip merely leaned down without doing anything else, he relaxed enough to shout at Cheng Miao and Bai Jiang in the distance. “See? I told you it wasn’t as complicated as you thought… Ahhh!”

Layer upon layer of petals opened, revealing a brilliant golden center.

Cheng Miao narrowed her eyes, trying to see more clearly.

“Those aren’t stamens…”

“No,” Cheng Miao agreed with Bai Jiang. “They’re teeth.”

Row after crowded row of teeth filled the bud. They rose, fell, and writhed in a steady rhythm, covering Cheng Miao’s skin in goose bumps even from a distance.

The tulip snapped onto Zhao Liang’s arm. A tremendous chewing sound rose alongside his screams.

Cheng Miao winced. Just hearing it hurt.

Unexpectedly, the tulip did not swallow Zhao Liang whole. Clamping onto his arm, it swung its head up and down until it tore the limb from his body.

Zhao Liang hit the ground with a thud, too overwhelmed by pain to speak. A fierce will to live drove him to wriggle across the earth.

The tulip feasted on his arm. Fresh blood streamed from its petals with every bite.

Before long, it shook itself and stood straight among the flowers again, swaying in the breeze as if it had never moved.

Except for the blood winding across its petals.

Cheng Miao was developing a tolerance for revolting scenes. Not far away, Zhao Liang improvised a tourniquet from his undershirt, then lost consciousness.

She went over and felt his neck. “Still alive.”

Bai Jiang nodded indifferently. The sooner a liability like this died, the better.

“No new task appeared. Either we’re finished, or there’s a break between tasks.” Bai Jiang fiddled with the schedule and repeatedly confirmed that no strange new writing had emerged.

“There won’t be another today.” Cheng Miao indicated the sun nearly below the horizon. “Daytime is ending. Night is for rest. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for new tasks.”

Bai Jiang relaxed. Even he could not withstand tasks of such density and intensity forever. A period of rest sounded wonderful.

“Don’t get too comfortable.” Cheng Miao shook her head. “Night is when we complete the main objective. Once daylight comes, the schedule alone will keep us busy. When exactly do you expect to search for Baby Bear’s toy?”

Only after her reminder did Bai Jiang realize that their goal was not completing the schedule, but finding Baby Bear’s toy and clearing the instance.

This instance was exceptionally cunning. It used numerous minor tasks to distract players from the objective.

If players relaxed after completing the day’s schedule and missed the only period without new tasks, they might never have another chance to search for the toy before sunset the next day. By then, they would have no idea what killed them.