Chapter 18

A girl in a white dress followed Jiang Mingran in. Soft black hair fell to her shoulders. Her clear, pretty almond-shaped eyes surveyed the room timidly.

“Wait,” Shao Lan said. “I didn’t invite you in.”

The sudden chill in his voice startled everyone, especially the girl.

“Yes. I mean you.” He looked at her, his tone level but cold. “When I said come in, I meant him. Not you. This is my room. Until I give permission, please wait outside.”

She’d already looked timid. At his blunt words, her pretty eyes immediately reddened.

Even Jiang Mingran felt awkward. “Hey, wait, you…”

Awkward or not, he still told her, “Could you wait in the corridor for a bit?”

She nodded obediently and left.

Shao Lan got up and went to the doorway. Only after watching her reach the stairwell at the end of the corridor did he shut the door and return. “Go on.”

“Her name’s Lin Zhizhi. She’s new, like us. She just moved into 901 today. She’s all alone and scared. She wants to join us.”

Uncle Bing nodded. Weak himself, he understood the feeling. Without Shao Lan in his group, he’d probably be dead.

Shao Lan caught the crucial point. “Alone? What about the people in her screening scenario?”

“All dead.” Jiang Mingran sighed. “She was the only one who survived.”

Shao Lan paused, then said, “Tell her to go back.”

“Huh?” Jiang Mingran scratched his head.

He’d come to Shao Lan full of confidence after hearing her request. It had never occurred to him that Shao Lan would refuse.

To him, Shao Lan was a good person who sympathized with the weak. Uncle Bing was timid and had a bad leg, about as vulnerable as anyone could be. Yet Shao Lan helped him wherever he could.

Lin Zhizhi was pitiful, too. A timid girl thrown into a terrifying scenario, with neither physical strength nor luck. Everyone who’d entered with her had died. She’d come into this eerie building without a single companion.

He looked at Shao Lan. Seeing that no explanation was coming, he could only get up and leave for the stairwell.

“Sorry.” He scratched his head apologetically. “Lan said no.”

Lin Zhizhi lowered her head in disappointment. “Do you have to listen to him?”

“Yes.” Jiang Mingran nodded. “He’s the one we rely on. Without him, I’d have died in the screening scenario.”

She nodded. “Then could I talk to him?”

“Huh?”

“He was so fierce just now. I never got a proper chance to speak to him,” she said. “Maybe a girl hurt him before, and that’s why he’s especially wary of me?”

“I’d like to talk to him. At least introduce myself. Then he’ll understand I’m not a bad person.”

Jiang Mingran thought that made sense. “I’ll ask him. But if he says no, don’t blame me.”

She nodded, and he ran back to 802 to pass it on.

“Lan, Lin Zhizhi wants to talk to you.”

He was a little nervous, expecting another refusal.

But Shao Lan surprised him again, agreeing readily. “All right.”

He went to the stairwell, where Lin Zhizhi waited.

She had a graceful figure and smooth, shoulder-length hair. She looked meek and harmless.

“Shao Lan, please don’t blame Xiao Jiang. He only agreed to ask again because I begged him,” she said timidly.

“I’m all alone. I’m really scared.” Her eyes reddened. “There’s an old man with a bad leg on your team. You must be a good person to look after him. Right?”

“So could you look after me, too? I’ll do anything.”

Shao Lan watched her for a long time. Then he gave a faint smile.

“Is that all?” He was smiling, but his eyes were cold. “If you have nothing new to say, I can only give you the same old answer. No.”

Her frail body trembled. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Shao Lan, you can refuse. But could you tell me why? Tell me what I’ve done wrong, so I know how to change.”

“What if I don’t give you a reason?”

“Then I’ll stay right here.” She lifted her head stubbornly.

“All right.” Shao Lan nodded. “Because you’re alone.”

“What?” She paused.

“If two people had survived your screening scenario, or three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, I’d be willing to discuss teaming up. The one case I won’t consider is a sole survivor,” he said calmly. “Do you still not understand, Miss Lin?”

Her expression changed.

She no longer looked like a bullied little rabbit. Her face cooled slightly. Lowering her eyes, she let her thick lashes cast two rows of shadows on her cheeks.

“Shao Lan,” she said softly. “You’re a little more impressive than I thought.”

He looked at her calmly.

Jiang Mingran was too naive. This girl wasn’t weak at all.

She’d already grasped the unwritten rule that could keep a person alive.

When the property manager called the screening scenario relatively easy, Jiang Mingran had been indignant.

But that was because Shao Lan had led them down the hardest path.

The scenario’s central difficulty was simple: they had to call the police, but Suxia would hear them.

And there was a very simple solution. Have someone else call while you stayed hidden throughout.

Uncle Bing had unknowingly come very close during the second loop. Only his own panic had made him step on Suxia, who was lying on the floor, and get caught and killed.

Someone as calm as Shao Lan could have stayed in the bedroom throughout, kept quiet so Suxia wouldn’t find them, and refused to open the door to Li Chengyuan posing as a policeman. Wait for the real police, and they could win without lifting a finger.

They wouldn’t learn Li Chengyuan and Suxia’s story or obtain the Precious Memory, Suxia’s Pocket Watch. But none of them had known what that was for. Staying alive certainly came first.

Shao Lan hadn’t chosen that method. But the property manager’s explanation had made him suspect that perhaps every scenario had an unwritten rule like this. If you gave up on saving everyone and were willing to send others to their deaths, the difficulty would drop.

Meeting Lin Zhizhi had confirmed that suspicion completely.

For a girl who looked so fragile and timid, who cried at the slightest thing, to emerge as the only survivor, there were just two possibilities.

Either she was born absurdly lucky, with good fortune falling straight into her lap.

Or she’d followed the rule of “sacrifice your teammates, gain unlimited power.”

Both were possible. But the latter was far more likely.

So Shao Lan wouldn’t gamble on it.

More tears filled Lin Zhizhi’s pretty eyes. She looked at him pitifully.

“Shao Lan, I had no choice. If there’d been another way, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it.”

“That’s all I have to say, Miss Lin,” he replied calmly.

“I answered because I think you’re intelligent. If I find you aren’t keeping your promise…” His voice softened. “Don’t blame me for being unpleasant.”

With that, he turned and left.

Behind him, Lin Zhizhi watched his retreating figure, her gaze slowly filling with wounded resentment.

“Shao Lan.” Her lips moved, silently repeating his name. “Shao Lan…”