With Ding Xun's help, everything became much easier.

Her Extrasensory ability was extremely useful in this maze-like old castle. Along the way, they almost ran into other players several times, but each time Ding Xun sensed them in advance and pulled Mo Bai into a corner to hide while confirming the players' identities.

They encountered Players No. 3, 8, and 11 along the way. No. 3 and No. 8 were moving together, clearly teammates. From a distance, Ding Xun even heard the two of them swearing at Mo Xiang for giving them false intel, which tricked them into not only buying Nightingale's Voice but also wasting a slot on a C-rank card called Candy House.

Judging from their conversation, Player No. 12 was also one of their teammates.

No. 3 and No. 8 were too busy cursing to look toward the corner, so Mo Bai and Ding Xun avoided their line of sight easily.

Once those two left, just as Mo Bai and Ding Xun were about to move, Ding Xun heard footsteps.

She raised both hands and signaled the number "11" to Mo Bai.

Mo Bai observed Player No. 11 with concern, recognizing him as a dangerous competitor. He demonstrated sharp instincts that distinguished him from the other players. In contrast, Players 3 and 8 would likely remain passive if they noticed her hiding nearby. Instead of taking decisive action, she could voice her frustrations regarding Mo Xiangyou, feigning her own deception, and then go their separate ways.

But if they ran into Player No. 11 under these circumstances, Mo Bai feared her title's Conquer-Sadism effect might trigger his violent impulses.

Even if she and Ding Xun could probably take him in a fight, inside this castle full of hidden threats, and with the Phantom Butterfly lurking somewhere, any battle could be suicide.

If a fight broke out and attracted Phantom Butterfly, all three of them would die.

It was best to avoid No. 11.

Ding Xun's intuition told her the same thing.

The two hit it off and decided to retreat.

Listening carefully to the footsteps, Ding Xun judged that No. 11 was still some distance away. So she simply hoisted up Mo Bai's wheelchair and sprinted off. Her own footsteps were light and silent, but Mo Bai's wheelchair was noisy no matter what, so to hide their trail, Ding Xun opted for the simplest solution.

Mo Bai: “…”

Yes, it was efficient. But Mo Bai wasn't tied to the wheelchair. She was just sitting on it. If she hadn't gripped the armrests with all her strength, Ding Xun would have flung her halfway across the corridor by now.

While running, Ding Xun put on her Prying Lenses to look for a hiding place.

The castle had many rooms, and with the glasses on, Ding Xun could see in advance where there were suitable empty rooms to hide in.

She quickly spotted a dozen cluttered rooms; one of them had its door slightly ajar, with a thin crack of space. She felt it would be safe to hide there and ran straight toward it, pushing the door open.

They were lucky. The door wasn't as old as the one in the player's bedroom, and it opened without making a sound.

"My intuition is amazing! This door doesn't creak at all!" Ding Xun excitedly praised herself.

She casually tossed Mo Bai's wheelchair down on the floor, then removed her glasses and pressed her ear to the door to listen.

When No. 11's faint footsteps reached the area, she put the glasses back on to observe his movements.

There were over a dozen rooms in this corridor. No. 11 opened a room not far from theirs. Seeing it empty, he closed it. He opened door after door, and even the one right next to their room. After finding nothing, he continued forward toward the rooms farther down.

Once he walked away, Ding Xun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Taking off her glasses, she muttered, "If I didn't want extra trouble, I wouldn't bother hiding from that guy."

"We already have extra trouble," Mo Bai, whom Ding Xun had casually tossed aside, said dryly.

Only then did Ding Xun remember she'd ditched Mo Bai aside. She turned around and saw the wheelchair overturned on the ground, while Mo Bai clung to a mannequin in the cluttered room just to stay upright.

"Sorry! I panicked!" Ding Xun hurried over, set the wheelchair back up, then scooped Mo Bai into a princess carry and gently placed her onto it.

Because she had shrunk into a teenage form, Mo Bai was only 158 cm now, while Ding Xun was a full 170 centimeters tall.

The tall, handsome girl in riding attire holding a delicate girl in a long dress was unexpectedly picturesque.

From the pile of mannequins, someone suddenly clapped as a lazy voice drawled, "What a beautiful scene."

Ding Xun's heart jumped at the sound. She was about to throw something at the speaker when Mo Bai, still in her arms, grabbed her arm and whispered, "Don't. If he wanted to attack us, he would've done so while you were observing No. 11. He's not an enemy. Put me back in my wheelchair first."

Ding Xun placed her back and apologized, "Sorry, my hyper-intuition makes me act before thinking."

"It's fine. I understand."

Despite her disheveled state, Mo Bai maintained her composure.

To her, none of this was Ding Xun's fault. It was her own oversight.

If Ding Xun weren't impulsive, she wouldn't have suddenly killed her personal maid while Mo Bai was still figuring out the rules.

She'd simply acted on a feeling. She acted without considering the consequences, without considering whether killing the maid, given the incomplete rules, might attract even more terrifying monsters.

So Ding Xun using Mo Bai as a projectile didn't surprise Mo Bai in the slightest.

Mo Bai murmured inwardly. Hmm, not surprised at all.

Years of illness had taught her a kind of mental trick. If she just kept telling herself she was fine, eventually she would stop feeling miserable. That habit had forged her composure and was the reason she could remain calm at all times.

"Wow, you're so rational. If it were me, I would have already lost my temper." A head poked out from the pile of mannequins.

It was Player No. 10.

He had been lying motionless among the mannequins, his face covered by a top hat. No wonder Ding Xun had mistaken him for another dummy.

"No wonder the door was ajar, you opened it," Ding Xun said.

"Did I forget to close it? How careless of me," No. 10 said, sounding unconcerned. "But hey, because I didn't close it, I ran into you two. Not a bad outcome at all. Bad luck followed by good luck, really lucky!"

"Try being more careful next time," Ding Xun said.

"Next time, for sure." Number 10 replied half-heartedly.

Mo Bai had been observing him. Hearing this, she said calmly, "No, you won't."

"Huh?" No. 10 looked at her in surprise. "Don't tell me you're—"

"Yes, I guessed it," Mo Bai said.

"No way!" No. 10 exclaimed.

Ding Xun waved a hand between them. "Hold on, what are you two talking about? Explain!"

Mo Bai explained, "He said, 'Bad luck followed by good luck.' I suspected it was related to his ability, so I tested him, and I was right."

"Ohhh, so you were testing me. I thought you actually figured it out." No. 10 shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You knowing my ability counts as a bad thing, so the next thing that happens will probably be good."

Ding Xun finally caught the key point. "Xiao Bai, you're saying he left the door open on purpose, that was the 'bad thing.' As long as something bad happens first, something good will follow. Right?"

Mo Bai nodded. "More or less."

No. 10 picked up his top hat, tipped it politely, and said, "Since you know my ability, I guess we're acquaintances now. My name is Ye Pingjun. My ability is Conservation of Luck. And you two?"

"Ye Pingjun? Your name suits your ability perfectly. She's Mo Bai. I’m Ding Xun. And I'm not telling you my ability," Ding Xun answered bluntly. (T/N: 叶平均 [Yè PíngJūn]. 平均 means "average or balanced")

"That's fine. Not knowing is considered bad luck, which means good luck is on the way. Double bad luck, maybe double blessings, right?" Ye Pingjun shrugged cheerfully.

Ding Xun looked skeptical, but Mo Bai picked up a mannequin arm and thoughtfully replied, "He's right. Something really good is about to happen."

The Author Has Something to Say:

Promo: "My Peach Blossom Debts Are Spread Across the Three Realms"

Summary:

Luo Yao's mother is an ancient true god, and her father is the Eastern Divine Emperor. As a second-generation goddess whose life goal is to coast along comfortably, she unexpectedly injures her divine bone and is now in a life-threatening state.

To restore her divine bones, she must find someone who understands her, cherishes her, and is willing to share fate with her beneath the Primordial Tree.

In other words… she needs to find a Dao partner.

The Eastern Divine Emperor performed a divination and came up with a list:

First: the Demon Emperor, whose cultivation was destroyed by her mother.

Two: the former childhood sweetheart from the Immortal Clan, whose entire family was exiled by her father.

Three: the Monster Prince, who has coveted her heart, literally, for over two hundred years.

Luo Yao: "…" Goodbye!

Just as she was about to give up on finding someone to accompany her to the Primordial Tree and started looking for another way to repair her divine bones, the three of them all showed up, demanding to "collect their debts."

The flirtatious, Playboy Monster Prince gazes at her with deep affection: "I've searched for you for two hundred years."

The childhood sweetheart from the Immortal Clan, who fell from puppy-like sweetness into twisted obsession, asks with reddened eyes: "Why him?"

The demon sovereign, infamous for his madness and cruelty, stares at her silently, his gaze full of meaning: You want to mess with me and abandon me again?

Luo Yao: “???”

At most, she only had grudges with them!

When did she end up owing peach-blossom debts all over the Three Realms?

Reading Tips:

1v1. Everyone else has big, obvious crush-arrows pointing at the heroine. She doesn't understand love at first, but eventually settles on the male lead.

Daily updates, posted at 8 a.m. If something comes up, the author will request leave in advance.

This is Long Qi's new novel! If you're interested, little angels can search the title or the author to check it out~