Chapter 175

Chapter 175

Zhao Yingguo was still in the corridor.

After the group came out of Dormitory 6103, seeing Zhao Yingguo again still filled them with fear, but their state of mind was much more open than before.

They used the same tactic as before: making a sound in one place to draw her attention while moving somewhere else.

Before coming here, they had scavenged plenty of things. Lu Jing’s pockets were still stuffed full, so they relied on him to toss things along the way as they advanced cautiously. At last, they returned to the dormitory supervisor’s room.

Jian Fan opened the door.

The group entered the area of the dormitory supervisor’s room once more.

Only one final step remained.

Everyone was a little excited, even eager.

However, the moment they entered the room and turned their heads, they froze. Strange expressions appeared on all their faces. Even Jian Fan was stunned for a second, but he quickly recovered, a trace of gravity settling over his face.

No one had expected Xia Zeqin, who had not appeared all this time, to show up again in the dormitory supervisor’s room.

He was sitting at the desk, right beside that cabinet.

When he saw Jian Fan and the others appear, the corners of his mouth lifted toward them. “You’re here?”

Everyone was already puzzled by Xia Zeqin’s appearance, but the moment he spoke, their expressions changed sharply.

He would lure Zhao Yingguo over!

Jian Fan glanced at Xia Zeqin, then walked straight toward the cabinet.

Xia Zeqin raised an eyebrow. He stood up, then beat Jian Fan to it and opened the door.

A foul stench instantly wafted out from inside the cabinet. Qin Nan instinctively covered his nose, but Xia Zeqin seemed completely unaffected. Standing at the cabinet door, he looked at Jian Fan as he approached and laughed. “Tsk. What a shame. This time, all your effort was for nothing.”

Jian Fan halted.

Xia Zeqin knew Zhao Yingguo couldn’t see and relied on sound to find people. Yet at this moment, he was speaking not because he wanted to lure Zhao Yingguo over. They had already reached their final destination and had a chance to escape, so Xia Zeqin’s goal was-

The instant Xia Zeqin’s words fell, everyone saw him lift his leg and kick into the cabinet without the slightest hesitation.

With that kick, it was as though a long-sealed door had been opened. A burst of white light spilled out from inside the cabinet, and everyone instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes. When they realized the light had dimmed and looked up again, the environment around them had already changed.

They were still in the dormitory supervisor’s room, but the difference was that every trace here showed this was the room after the Fire.

By passing through that cabinet door, they had left the virtual space-time and returned to Zhao Yingguo’s true world.

Zhao Yingguo was sitting on the bed.

Perhaps because they had cracked the virtual world, her figure had already begun to turn somewhat faint.

She looked at Xia Zeqin, the first to appear before her, and said, “Thank you.”

Xia Zeqin gave a laugh, his tone casual. “I did it for myself.”

Zhao Yingguo did not mind. She also laughed softly. “That’s good.” Then she asked, “Is there anything you want to ask me?”

Xia Zeqin’s expression was calm. “No.”

Hearing this, Zhao Yingguo sighed lightly and said, “Then, goodbye.”

As soon as her words fell, Zhao Yingguo’s figure faded and vanished without a trace.

Xia Zeqin remained perfectly calm in the face of it all. After Zhao Yingguo disappeared, he turned and walked out.

He opened the door to the dormitory supervisor’s room and headed toward the Stairs.

Qin Nan watched Xia Zeqin and frowned. “What is he trying to do?”

Jian Fan lowered his head and did not explain. He only said, “Let’s go.”
Qin Nan was seething.

The situation was already painfully obvious.

Their whole group had appeared, yet Zhao Yingguo had spoken only to Xia Zeqin. In other words, as far as Zhao Yingguo was concerned, Xia Zeqin was the one who had cracked the virtual space.

And technically, that wasn’t wrong. Xia Zeqin had indeed been the first to get out. But from beginning to end, Xia Zeqin hadn’t done a damn thing. Their group had run themselves ragged, fleeing for their lives, only for Xia Zeqin to swoop in and reap all the rewards. Qin Nan was furious enough to die.

Xia Zeqin had already gone down the Stairs.

Jian Fan was heading out as well. No matter how angry Qin Nan was, the outcome had already been decided. Other than stewing in his rage, there was nothing he could change, so he could only swallow his anger and follow behind Jian Fan.

The iron door at the sixth-floor Stairs landing was not locked.

They went down the Stairs and arrived at the main entrance on the first floor.

At that moment, the first-floor door was also unlocked. Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Zeqin stepped through it, and Jian Fan and the others followed closely behind.

The moment they crossed that threshold, the scene before them shifted. When they looked up again, all they saw was that familiar expanse of white.

They had successfully cleared the level and returned to the Realm of Death.

It should have been something worth celebrating, but the moment they thought of how things had ended, none of them felt very good about it.

For people like Yellow Hair, the Points had never had anything to do with them in the first place. Still, they had gone through everything alongside Jian Fan from beginning to end, while Xia Zeqin… Just thinking about it was enough to make them angry.

Shi Chen was frowning too.

He felt like he understood now why this group disliked Xia Zeqin. He looked down on the man as well.

Xia Zeqin did not care what any of them thought.

As soon as they returned to the Realm of Death, he stretched lazily, then walked off with an easy gait, found a room, and went straight inside.

Once he was gone, Qin Nan finally couldn’t hold back. He spat in the direction Xia Zeqin had left.

“How did he know?” Qin Weiyi had been thinking about this the entire time.

Xia Zeqin had not been with them. Several of the key items had all been in their hands, which meant Xia Zeqin couldn’t possibly have found the clues on his own and arrived at the answer. So why had he been waiting at the dormitory supervisor’s room so early, before everyone else?

There was another question too.

The key to the dormitory supervisor’s room had been in Jian Fan’s hands. When they left the dorm room, Xia Zeqin had not been there. So how had he gotten into the dormitory supervisor’s room afterward?

Behind this nauseating incident, Xia Zeqin’s strangeness was becoming more and more apparent.

Jian Fan shook his head. “Only he knows.”

The matter of the Points was, in the end, a minor issue. What Qin Weiyi cared about most was how Xia Zeqin had managed to cut in out of nowhere. Having such an uncertain time bomb around was extremely disadvantageous for them.

Besides, if Xia Zeqin could do this every time, then wouldn’t they work themselves half to death in every world only to end up with the guaranteed minimum? Five hundred Points per world. To save up ten thousand, they would need to get through twenty worlds.

And if they had to spend some along the way, wouldn’t that make the goal hopelessly far away?

He had to figure out the secret Xia Zeqin was hiding. This was no longer a private grudge between Xia Zeqin and Jian Fan. It was already directly affecting the interests of bystanders like them.

However, now was not the time to discuss it. They would have to wait for the later worlds and continue observing Xia Zeqin.

Qin Weiyi concealed his thoughts.

“I’m heading back to rest. See you.” Qin Weiyi said to Jian Fan, then took Lu Jing with him and left.