The principal stared at Xu Youyou for a long time, utterly speechless. He could not help but feel that having such a student in his school must be karma for some sin he committed in his past life.
“Alright, stop joking. Those players are already searching the dorms. What do you two plan to do next? It doesn't really matter to me.”
“Even if they use me to help those players complete their Repel Specter main quest, it won't matter. Without the cards, it's all pointless anyway.”
Zuo Lin'an blinked. “So, Principal, do you mean we should hide on our own?”
The principal dropped to all fours.
“Yes. Be careful, you two. I'm leaving first.”
Without waiting for Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou to respond, his limbs blurred as he quickly scrambled away. He concealed his figure and vanished without a trace, leaving the two of them staring at each other in silence.
“Brother An, what should we do?”
Zuo Lin'an thought for a moment. “We need to find a safe place first to settle my living body.”
He quickly came up with a good plan.
“Let's go to either the academic building or the cafeteria.”
Xu Youyou asked, “Those two places?”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “Xuan Jingyuan and his people came from the academic building, passing through the cafeteria, and are currently searching the dormitory area for specters.”
“This means that the specters in the academic building and the cafeteria have mostly been hunted down, making those areas relatively safe for other players.”
“My living body just needs to pose as a player hiding in some corner. Even if Xuan Jingyuan and his people double back later, they won't suspect us.”
“After all, they are searching for specters, so they only need to check for specter aura. They can't possibly inspect every single living person one by one.”
Xu Youyou nodded in realization. “I get it, the most dangerous place is the safest place. So, do you want to go to the academic building or the cafeteria?”
Zuo Lin'an peered toward the distant cafeteria before finally saying, “Let's go to the academic building.”
Xu Youyou asked, “Oh? Why?”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “Earlier, the Lin sisters handed one of their cards to Ming Ruofeng. This means there's a high probability he is currently inside the cafeteria.”
“Since we aren't sure of Ming Ruofeng's current situation, it's best we don't wander around the cafeteria.”
Xu Youyou nodded. “Then where will you hide your gold hairpin and the card?”
Zuo Lin'an said, “Let's head to the academic building first.”
Xu Youyou stood up immediately, and the two quickly departed under concealment, heading toward Academic Building No. 5.
Zuo Lin'an remained highly alert to his surroundings along the way. As they entered Academic Building No. 5, he sensed a few scattered living auras, likely some lone players hiding inside.
The sixth floor.
Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou carefully scanned the area. After confirming there were no people or specters on the sixth floor, and that no one was watching them, they cautiously opened the office door and stepped inside.
At a glance, Xu Youyou spotted a cloud of blood mist floating inside the room.
He paused for a moment, then let out a mischievous grin.
“Brother An, is this our homeroom teacher?”
“Oh man, how miserable!”
Zuo Lin'an locked the door behind them and checked the windows and curtains.
Once he was sure everything was secure, he let out a sigh of relief. Turning around, he saw Xu Youyou staring with a wicked grin at the cloud of blood mist, which was slowly reforming in the office.
“Behave yourself. If our homeroom teacher can hear and see us, she'll definitely make your life hell once the dungeon ends.”
Xu Youyou did not seem to care at all.
“Huh?”
“I've already graduated anyway. What can she even do to me?”
Zuo Lin'an was speechless. “Keep pushing your luck then.”
He stopped paying attention to him and began searching for a hidden corner in the office. Eventually, he slid Liu Gaomei's desk aside.
This spot was directly beneath where the blood mist was floating.
“Youyou, come over here for a second.”
Xu Youyou quickly scurried over.
“What's up?”
Zuo Lin'an pointed at the floor. “Dig a small hole here. Just big enough to fit my gold hairpin and the card.”
Xu Youyou was puzzled. “Why do I have to dig it?”
Zuo Lin'an pointed at Xu Youyou's hands, then raised his own to show him.
On Xu Youyou's hands, the nails of all ten fingers gleamed with a deep, pitch-black sheen and were incredibly sharp. They looked like lethal weapons at first glance.
Having experienced several Scarlet Dreams, Zuo Lin'an had seen many different specters, but he had never seen anyone else with nails like Xu Youyou's.
Even his own nails remained rounded like a normal person's; they had not sharpened at all, only turning a bruised, dark black.
Speaking of which...
Ever since Xu Youyou became a dungeon boss, Zuo Lin'an did not seem to have ever witnessed him hunting players with his own eyes.
Back when Xu Youyou's family ran their own dungeon, whenever Xu Youyou came to find him after a run, he would only verbally describe how he had slaughtered the players.
And during these past three Scarlet Dreams, Zuo Lin'an had been occupied with his own matters, so he rarely saw what Xu Youyou was up to.
Xu Youyou looked at Zuo Lin'an's hands, then at his own.
“You know, I really feel like these hands of mine look even deadlier than your boning knife!”
He casually swiped downward, easily carving out a small hole in the floor. To his claws, the floor tiles and concrete felt softer than tofu.
Zuo Lin'an thought to himself that if those claws ever struck a person, they would shred skin, flesh, and bone into absolute dust.
This actually made him a little curious to see Xu Youyou hunt players; it probably wouldn't be any less spectacular than his own methods.
He placed the items in his hands into the small hole, then slid the desk back to its original position.
“Safe.”
Xu Youyou asked, “Why not just bury it in some random corner downstairs, or throw it directly into the river?”
Zuo Lin'an raised an eyebrow.
“When we sneaked over here, we occasionally sensed living auras along the way. Those still walking around in teams right now are mostly search parties sent out by Xuan Jingyuan to look for stray specters.”
“Their footprints are all over the campus.”
“Burying it somewhere or throwing it in the river does sound secure, but can you guarantee one hundred percent that we won't be spotted by players when we do it?”
“I'm certain there are players with 【Spirit Vision】 in those teams.”
“While hiding it in the academic building carries some risk, there's blood mist here. If you were a player, would you ever suspect that something is hidden under the desk directly beneath this blood mist?”
“Especially since this is already the third Scarlet Dream?”
After all, during the first two Scarlet Dreams, Xuan Jingyuan and his people had used Academic Building No. 5 as their stronghold. This meant they had already thoroughly searched this building multiple times.
Every place that could be searched had already been checked!
“For us, this is actually the safest place right now.”
Xu Youyou nodded in agreement. “That makes sense.”
“So what do we do now? Hide your living body here? And then go out to hunt players?”
Rate on N.U.
