Acting as ordinary NPCs, Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou perfectly ignored the large crowd following behind them, keeping their focus entirely on Xuan Jingyuan and Gu Hedao.
At most, they occasionally glanced at Xuan Yi and Xuan Er, who had been following them in silence.
Through casual observation, Zuo Lin'an had already identified the person holding the cards. It was Xuan Yi.
Earlier, when the wind blew, Xuan Yi's pants had clung tightly to his thighs, revealing a subtle square outline in his pocket. It was undoubtedly the cards.
Granted, for the strongest member of the Dark Dragon Guard, hiding things this way was a bit sloppy. But Zuo Lin'an could guess Xuan Yi's reasoning. He was confident that no matter what happened, he could protect those cards.
With this thought in mind, Zuo Lin'an picked up a steamed bun and took a bite. The filling was vegetarian and tasted quite decent.
Xu Youyou's gaze drifted toward the distance. The first floor of the cafeteria was massive, and many other players were eating besides them.
However, every time he saw something eye-searing, he would instantly snap his gaze back as if shocked by electricity, and then bitterly force down his own food.
After a few bites, he would forget his lesson, look up again, and quickly look away once more.
Zuo Lin'an noticed this and felt completely helpless. Was this guy a masochist?
Earlier, when Zuo Lin'an looked up, he had accidentally caught a glimpse of a player stuffing a rat into his mouth—the very dish the cafeteria auntie had called a "braised chicken leg." He had immediately looked away and didn't dare to look around again.
Gu Hedao's gaze darted between Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou. He remained silent. Even though he wanted to speak, the habit of "no talking while eating or sleeping" was deeply ingrained in him.
It wasn't until they finished eating that he found an opportunity. “Are you going back to the dorms to rest?”
Zuo Lin'an walked ahead. Just as they stepped out of the cafeteria doors and he was about to speak, several players walking ahead of them suddenly launched an attack!
In the blink of an eye, the attack reached them.
Fortunately, these players' targets were clearly not the two NPCs, Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou. Although they were fast, they simply bypassed the two of them and charged at those behind.
One of them intercepted Gu Hedao!
They likely knew that players could not kill each other, and they perfectly exploited this fact.
Even though they knew they were no match for Gu Hedao, they still attacked frantically, fighting as if their lives didn't matter.
Because of this, Gu Hedao was indeed unable to break free immediately.
On the other side, the other players who bypassed Gu Hedao quickly split up. Two of them engaged Xuan Yi and Xuan Er, while the remaining two charged straight at Xuan Jingyuan. “Dog Emperor, hand over your life!”
The knives they had obtained from somewhere were about to plunge into Xuan Jingyuan!
Fortunately, at that moment, a dark-skinned youth let out a loud roar and charged out from behind like a raging bull.
With a powerful crash, he actually sent the two attackers flying. Coincidentally, the two airborne players flew straight toward Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou, who had no time to dodge.
Of course, if they really wanted to dodge, they certainly could have, but they couldn't afford to show their strength. Thus, the two could only watch helplessly.
With a heavy thud, they were knocked backward several meters along with the two players, crashing hard onto the ground.
Honestly, Zuo Lin'an had never expected to encounter such a situation. Lying on the ground, he didn't feel any pain, just a bit dazed.
He even wondered if that dark-skinned player had done it on purpose.
Seeing this, Gu Hedao swiftly snapped the limbs of the person in front of him and rushed to their side using qinggong. “Are you two alright?”
Zuo Lin'an blinked, then sat up somewhat stiffly.
Honestly, any ordinary person would have been killed or crippled by such a violent collision, yet he was completely unharmed. “Uh... I feel a bit dazed. I need to go to the infirmary.”
The infirmary? Gu Hedao was slightly puzzled. He had never heard of an infirmary here before.
At that moment, another voice drifted over from nearby. “Brother An, you look perfectly fine to me! I'm the one who needs to go to the infirmary!”
Hearing this, Zuo Lin'an quickly turned around. When he saw Xu Youyou's condition, he stood up in shock and ran over. “What happened to you?”
Xu Youyou's condition was incredibly gruesome. His skin was covered in scrapes from falling onto the concrete. Although the bones in his limbs weren't broken, his head was no longer on his neck.
Indeed, only a perfectly clean cut remained on Xu Youyou's neck, as if his head had been sliced off by an incredibly sharp weapon. His head was currently rolling on the ground not far away.
“What else could it be?” The head rolling nearby actually spoke, even showing a look of distress.
This sight terrified the surrounding players, who didn't dare to step any closer.
Aside from Gu Hedao, who took a few steps forward, everyone else maintained absolute vigilance. Xuan Jingyuan, in particular, was once again heavily guarded.
Xu Youyou grumbled angrily, “The guy who crashed into me had a knife! Getting knocked flying was bad enough, but his knife just happened to slash right across my neck!”
Zuo Lin'an found the scene quite bizarre.
However, now was clearly not the time to dwell on it. He picked up Xu Youyou's head and patted off the dirt and dry leaves clinging to it. “It looks a bit dirty. Should I wash it for you?”
Xu Youyou hesitated. “Forget it. Just take me to the infirmary and have the doctor sew it back on. It's really inconvenient like this.”
Zuo Lin'an agreed. “Alright.”
He cradled Xu Youyou's head in his arms, then walked over to hoist his headless body onto his shoulder.
To be honest, he had assumed that if players attacked student NPCs during the day, they could kill them, and the NPCs would only reappear once the Scarlet Dream began to hunt the players as specters. He hadn't expected Xu Youyou to be able to do this. Or perhaps all of them, as NPC students, could do this.
He looked at the terrified and wary expressions of the players, finding it rather amusing.
Just as he was about to leave, Zuo Lin'an looked at Gu Hedao, the only one who hadn't backed away or shown fear. “Classmate Gu, I'm taking Youyou to the infirmary. You guys go ahead and tend to your business.”
Once he carried the body away, Gu Hedao and the others finally snapped out of their daze.
Xuan Jingyuan frowned as he approached. “Elder Gu, the native students are extremely bizarre. They can't be killed, and they don't even seem to feel pain.”
Gu Hedao took a deep breath. “Your Majesty, I will follow them to take a look.”
Xuan Jingyuan hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed. “Be careful.”
Gu Hedao replied, “Do not worry, Your Majesty. The school is very safe during the day, and none of the natives will attack players. You are the one who needs to be extra cautious. After all, those attackers earlier were clearly targeting you.”
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