Mi Xinjia looked at Xue Wei’s smiling face, and memories that had been suppressed deep within her heart for many years slowly emerged.
It was when she first entered junior high school, transferring from a remote mountain village to an affluent town’s middle school.
Although it was just a small town, the students in the town school looked down on those who came from poor mountain villages like her.
There were five such impoverished students in their class.
They were ostracized.
The more they felt inferior, the less they resisted. The more those people ostracized them, and even a few nasty classmates would directly resort to violence.
Later, the privileged children came up with a cruel game.
During lunch break, the classroom door was closed, curtains drawn, and a few tables in the middle of the classroom were pushed together.
The five of them were forced to sit in a circle, on the tables in the middle of the classroom, as if they were about to perform a private show for the entire class.
“Starting from Mi Xinjia, everyone slaps the classmate on their right, on the face, like this...”
*Smack!*
That girl forcefully slapped Mi Xinjia, “The slap must be loud, and the face must turn red.”
“Otherwise, for the person who didn’t use enough force, we’ll teach them together.”
That lunchtime was the most painful memory of Mi Xinjia’s life.
They sat at the tables, each one slapping the other.
If someone didn’t hit hard enough or loud enough, two boys watching would “teach” them how to slap.
No one dared to hold back.
*Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!...*
The classroom echoed with the loud sound of slapping faces.
Girls cried while hitting each other, lowering their heads with tears falling.
They were the only five people in the class who lived on campus, the ones who comforted each other and licked each other’s wounds outside the dormitory door, and now, they were slapping each other’s faces in desperation.
What shattered was not only the corners of their mouths but also their self-esteem and the bright fantasies they had about the world.
Surrounded by indifferent classmates, they endured the ordeal.
And those who were unwilling to watch buried their faces in books, as if by doing so, they could avoid seeing and hearing, and wouldn’t have to care, making them good people.
Several people who forced them stood there, delighted to see them, laughing heartily at their tears and snot.
Slowly, they merged with the image of Xue Wei in front of her.
Mi Xinjia’s eyes were blazing with fierce fire, trembling all over. “On what grounds do you demand this from us? We won’t comply!”
Xue Wei smiled, “Not complying? Are you feeling guilty?”
She glanced at her, then shifted her gaze back to her own fingers, looking at the purple-red nails. “Don’t think that just because the rules in this instance prevent me from killing you, you are safe and can resist my commands.”
“Do you think I can’t attract corpses to you in the future instances you enter?”
“Do you think you won’t encounter members of the Yongming Guild in every instance you enter? Is that possibility low?”
Xue Wei reached behind, suppressing the smile on her face. “I’m not very patient right now. Hurry up and find it for me, or I’ll turn you into human pupas right now!”
She was laughing just a moment ago, but her voice suddenly rose in the latter half of the sentence, and the suppressed anger erupted instantly.
Capricious and seemingly insane, her appearance was frightening.
Frightened, the male player next to Mi Xinjia immediately stepped forward and grabbed Mi Xinjia’s wrist.
Che Yutian was the one Xue Wei pointed at first. Under this intimidation, he didn’t hesitate to grab Mi Xinjia because he was sure Mi Xinjia was a player, not a corpse. He had no problem grabbing her.
Indeed, the wrist he grabbed was delicate and warm, that of a normal living person.
Mi Xinjia was stunned, looking at Che Yutian in disbelief, her voice hoarse and unwilling: “Why?”
Xue Wei wouldn’t actually kill them in this instance.
They had to resist.
They must have other ways.
As Mi Xinjia grew older, the more she feared being ostracized, the more she hated her own timidity and cowardice.
She repeatedly told herself that if such a thing happened in the future, she must step forward, she must resist.
When the bus 07 players were ostracized, she stepped forward, but still retreated under their indifferent gaze.
After being forced to retreat, she thought she was too timid and sensitive. She should have been more brave and insisted at that time. She should have walked over to prove herself as a player.
This time, she was truly brave. The eleven-year-old girl who didn’t dare to resist even a bad-tempered middle school student now directly said no to the most brutal and bloody human pupa master at the game base.
However, she didn’t anticipate it would turn out this way.
Che Yutian’s gaze flickered, avoiding eye contact with her.
Mi Xinjia, however, understood.
Che Yutian, of course, knew that Xue Wei wouldn’t actually kill them in this instance, but he was the first person Xue Wei pointed at, and it had to start with him.
If he didn’t initiate, all the pressure would be on him. He would be the most resented by the human pupa master and possibly the first target of her retaliation.
If he didn’t start, others could easily shift the blame to him.
Knowing that Mi Xinjia was a player, he didn’t hesitate to follow Xue Wei’s orders.
This way, the pressure and resentment shifted onto Mi Xinjia.
Mi Xinjia hated him, wanting to scold him yet finding it somewhat amusing.
The man, who initially kept his head down, sensed Mi Xinjia continuously looking at him. He suddenly raised his head, annoyed and embarrassed, “What are you looking at! If you want to resist Vice President Xue, don’t drag us into it!”
The other two in bus 07 remained silent.
Mi Xinjia looked at the male player on her other side, not entirely sure if he was a player.
Whether it was destiny or coincidence, similar people always gathered together. She was timid, and those around her were also timid.
The players on this bus were all very cautious, not recognizing each other. Before boarding the ship, she only confirmed Che Yutian, unsure who the other one was.
She only knew that she had seemingly encountered both of them on the bus.
In other words, there was a 50% chance that the person she was about to touch was a corpse.
Who would dare touch a corpse? Doing so might lead the corpse to discover they were a player.
Mi Xinjia bit her finger, feeling scared again.
She couldn’t understand why it had to be like this.
She had finally stood up to resist.
She hated Che Yutian, she hated Xue Wei, she hated the manipulation of fate on her.
She looked at Che Yutian, who once again glared at her fiercely.
In his annoyed and embarrassed, distorted and maliciously triumphant gaze, Mi Xinjia was stunned for a long time until, at some point, she suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore.
She smiled.
This was probably a magical moment in her life.
She asked Che Yutian, “I’ve been observing you. You touched my wrist to confirm that I’m a warm-blooded player, right?”
For some reason, Che Yutian seemed stunned as he looked at her at this moment.
Before boarding the ship, he had observed and confirmed that Mi Xinjia was a player.
Whether she was aware of it or not, whether sitting or standing, even when walking, she always kept her head slightly lowered, appearing timid as if afraid of being seen.
It was this timidity that partly gave Che Yutian the courage to immediately hold her hand and scold her.
At this moment, the slight downward curve of her head was gone. Her head was completely lifted, and the ordinary appearance had an inexplicable charm.
Che Yutian: “Y-yes, if you weren’t a player, I would have already told the vice president!”
Mi Xinjia looked at Xue Wei’s smiling face, and memories that had been suppressed deep within her heart for many years slowly emerged.
It was when she first entered junior high school, transferring from a remote mountain village to an affluent town’s middle school.
Although it was just a small town, the students in the town school looked down on those who came from poor mountain villages like her.
There were five such impoverished students in their class.
They were ostracized.
The more they felt inferior, the less they resisted. The more those people ostracized them, and even a few nasty classmates would directly resort to violence.
Later, the privileged children came up with a cruel game.
During lunch break, the classroom door was closed, curtains drawn, and a few tables in the middle of the classroom were pushed together.
The five of them were forced to sit in a circle, on the tables in the middle of the classroom, as if they were about to perform a private show for the entire class.
“Starting from Mi Xinjia, everyone slaps the classmate on their right, on the face, like this...”
*Smack!*
That girl forcefully slapped Mi Xinjia, “The slap must be loud, and the face must turn red.”
“Otherwise, for the person who didn’t use enough force, we’ll teach them together.”
That lunchtime was the most painful memory of Mi Xinjia’s life.
They sat at the tables, each one slapping the other.
If someone didn’t hit hard enough or loud enough, two boys watching would “teach” them how to slap.
No one dared to hold back.
*Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!...*
The classroom echoed with the loud sound of slapping faces.
Girls cried while hitting each other, lowering their heads with tears falling.
They were the only five people in the class who lived on campus, the ones who comforted each other and licked each other’s wounds outside the dormitory door, and now, they were slapping each other’s faces in desperation.
What shattered was not only the corners of their mouths but also their self-esteem and the bright fantasies they had about the world.
Surrounded by indifferent classmates, they endured the ordeal.
And those who were unwilling to watch buried their faces in books, as if by doing so, they could avoid seeing and hearing, and wouldn’t have to care, making them good people.
Several people who forced them stood there, delighted to see them, laughing heartily at their tears and snot.
Slowly, they merged with the image of Xue Wei in front of her.
Mi Xinjia’s eyes were blazing with fierce fire, trembling all over. “On what grounds do you demand this from us? We won’t comply!”
Xue Wei smiled, “Not complying? Are you feeling guilty?”
She glanced at her, then shifted her gaze back to her own fingers, looking at the purple-red nails. “Don’t think that just because the rules in this instance prevent me from killing you, you are safe and can resist my commands.”
“Do you think I can’t attract corpses to you in the future instances you enter?”
“Do you think you won’t encounter members of the Yongming Guild in every instance you enter? Is that possibility low?”
Xue Wei reached behind, suppressing the smile on her face. “I’m not very patient right now. Hurry up and find it for me, or I’ll turn you into human pupas right now!”
She was laughing just a moment ago, but her voice suddenly rose in the latter half of the sentence, and the suppressed anger erupted instantly.
Capricious and seemingly insane, her appearance was frightening.
Frightened, the male player next to Mi Xinjia immediately stepped forward and grabbed Mi Xinjia’s wrist.
Che Yutian was the one Xue Wei pointed at first. Under this intimidation, he didn’t hesitate to grab Mi Xinjia because he was sure Mi Xinjia was a player, not a corpse. He had no problem grabbing her.
Indeed, the wrist he grabbed was delicate and warm, that of a normal living person.
Mi Xinjia was stunned, looking at Che Yutian in disbelief, her voice hoarse and unwilling: “Why?”
Xue Wei wouldn’t actually kill them in this instance.
They had to resist.
They must have other ways.
As Mi Xinjia grew older, the more she feared being ostracized, the more she hated her own timidity and cowardice.
She repeatedly told herself that if such a thing happened in the future, she must step forward, she must resist.
When the bus 07 players were ostracized, she stepped forward, but still retreated under their indifferent gaze.
After being forced to retreat, she thought she was too timid and sensitive. She should have been more brave and insisted at that time. She should have walked over to prove herself as a player.
This time, she was truly brave. The eleven-year-old girl who didn’t dare to resist even a bad-tempered middle school student now directly said no to the most brutal and bloody human pupa master at the game base.
However, she didn’t anticipate it would turn out this way.
Che Yutian’s gaze flickered, avoiding eye contact with her.
Mi Xinjia, however, understood.
Che Yutian, of course, knew that Xue Wei wouldn’t actually kill them in this instance, but he was the first person Xue Wei pointed at, and it had to start with him.
If he didn’t initiate, all the pressure would be on him. He would be the most resented by the human pupa master and possibly the first target of her retaliation.
If he didn’t start, others could easily shift the blame to him.
Knowing that Mi Xinjia was a player, he didn’t hesitate to follow Xue Wei’s orders.
This way, the pressure and resentment shifted onto Mi Xinjia.
Mi Xinjia hated him, wanting to scold him yet finding it somewhat amusing.
The man, who initially kept his head down, sensed Mi Xinjia continuously looking at him. He suddenly raised his head, annoyed and embarrassed, “What are you looking at! If you want to resist Vice President Xue, don’t drag us into it!”
The other two in bus 07 remained silent.
Mi Xinjia looked at the male player on her other side, not entirely sure if he was a player.
Whether it was destiny or coincidence, similar people always gathered together. She was timid, and those around her were also timid.
The players on this bus were all very cautious, not recognizing each other. Before boarding the ship, she only confirmed Che Yutian, unsure who the other one was.
She only knew that she had seemingly encountered both of them on the bus.
In other words, there was a 50% chance that the person she was about to touch was a corpse.
Who would dare touch a corpse? Doing so might lead the corpse to discover they were a player.
Mi Xinjia bit her finger, feeling scared again.
She couldn’t understand why it had to be like this.
She had finally stood up to resist.
She hated Che Yutian, she hated Xue Wei, she hated the manipulation of fate on her.
She looked at Che Yutian, who once again glared at her fiercely.
In his annoyed and embarrassed, distorted and maliciously triumphant gaze, Mi Xinjia was stunned for a long time until, at some point, she suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore.
She smiled.
This was probably a magical moment in her life.
She asked Che Yutian, “I’ve been observing you. You touched my wrist to confirm that I’m a warm-blooded player, right?”
For some reason, Che Yutian seemed stunned as he looked at her at this moment.
Before boarding the ship, he had observed and confirmed that Mi Xinjia was a player.
Whether she was aware of it or not, whether sitting or standing, even when walking, she always kept her head slightly lowered, appearing timid as if afraid of being seen.
It was this timidity that partly gave Che Yutian the courage to immediately hold her hand and scold her.
At this moment, the slight downward curve of her head was gone. Her head was completely lifted, and the ordinary appearance had an inexplicable charm.
Che Yutian: “Y-yes, if you weren’t a player, I would have already told the vice president!”
