Chapter 19 Who Am I 18

Wang Zixuan had been terrified all night.

Ever since he turned on the light for his mother, a faint noise had been ringing in his ears; at first, it sounded like a mosquito’s buzz and wasn't very loud, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

However, as time passed, that mosquito buzz grew louder and clearer, gradually turning into a tiny cat's meow, weak and feeble, like a newborn kitten's.

But the cat's meow grew louder and sharper; by the time his hands were trembling as he brought the dishes to the table, he could hear nothing else but that meowing.

The Eerie Mother smilingly placed food into his bowl, and the Eerie Father put a drink covered in condensation from the refrigerator by his hand; their mouths opened and closed as they said something, but Wang Zixuan could no longer hear anything.

If Lin Xiangjun were here, she would surely tell him: Child, you've been contaminated.

His symptoms were still only mild contamination; at this point, he should avoid eating any food in the instance and stay away from all eerie things without violating the rules.

Unfortunately, Wang Zixuan was just a novice who had just entered the instance, so in this situation, he only knew how to follow the instance rules while trembling and feeling utterly lost.

Characteristics of mild contamination include slowed thinking, hallucinations, auditory illusions, issues with perceiving distance and size, and decreased physical control; these were already beginning to manifest in Wang Zixuan.

Fortunately, Wang Zixuan wasn't stupid, or rather, he had his status as a high school student to thank.

High school students are at the peak of human intelligence; even with the "slowed thinking" debuff, his intellect was merely dragged down from "clever" to "average," and average intelligence was enough for him to take emergency precautions.

He didn't know how to avoid contamination, but he knew that except for the five people at the entrance, no one else was on his side and everyone needed to be guarded against.

So he pretended to have a stomachache and used the cliché but extremely effective excuse of "slipping away to the bathroom," not eating a single bite of that meal.

Slipping away saved him from dinner, and luckily, because the cat meows in his ears never faded, he missed the cat meows from outside the window; after sleeping peacefully for a night, he found the meowing in his ears had lessened significantly, and he could barely hear people speak.

He also knew he couldn't just sit and wait for death; as soon as the Eerie Parents left today, he crawled out of his room and squatted in the hallway.

Squatting for whom?

Naturally, it was that unlucky person, Lin Xiangjun.

Lin Xiangjun glanced at Wang Zixuan; the boy's eyes were now bloodshot, his voice was uncontrollably loud when he spoke, and his hands were shaking violently. Clearly, the decrease in the meowing didn't mean the contamination was fading, but rather that it had distributed itself evenly throughout his body.

He had now reached the stage of mild contamination.

Contamination of this degree would automatically recover after leaving the instance, or it could be recovered by purchasing a Contamination Cleansing Potion on the Forbidden APP; however, a small bottle of that potion cost 1,000 underworld currency, which was simply out of reach for a player who had just entered the instance without a single coin in his pocket.

By this time, Lin Xiangjun and Wang Zixuan had stepped out of the residential building one after the other.

Only then did Lin Xiangjun turn around, looking with some amusement at Wang Zixuan, who was following her like a little tail: "So?"

"What 'so'?"

"So, why are you telling me all this?" Lin Xiangjun looked at Wang Zixuan; when they first met, his face still carried the innocence of a youth, but in just one night, that innocence had been replaced by a somewhat neurotic tension and fear.

"What do you mean why?" Wang Zixuan's eyes widened in disbelief. "I'm going to die! If I don't solve my current problem, I really will die!"

"That's a pity." Lin Xiangjun shrugged. "This Young Scholar will remember to pop two bottles of champagne for you when you pass away; if the young master likes red wine, that wouldn't be out of the question either."

Wang Zixuan's eyes widened even further, as if they were about to pop right out of their sockets. "I'm... I'm about to die and you're still here making jokes?!"

His rationality pulled him back from the brink of death.

"Why not?" Lin Xiangjun casually brushed him off while confirming the direction of Garden Road with Wang Min in her mind; her steps were light, without a hint of urgency, as if she were just taking a morning stroll and chatting with a neighborhood boy.

"This Young Scholar asks the young master to get a clear grasp of the situation. Right now, the one who might pass away isn't This Young Scholar but the young master. Why should This Young Scholar be anxious?"

Wang Zixuan stood frozen on the spot.

Yes, the one who would die for violating the rules was him, not this woman; he had never met this woman before and didn't even know her name. Why was he so certain that she had the ability to save him and was willing to do so?

Perhaps it was because of her unwavering confidence and composure since entering the instance; it was as if this life-threatening instance was just a playground to her. Even when the security guard had literally torn Sun Tao apart and eaten him, she had watched without a trace of fear.

Especially this morning; he had left early, and while the others were on the floors above him, he had also encountered Aunt Wang and Zhuo Xing while waiting for Lin Xiangjun.

Aunt Wang's condition was similar to his, while Zhuo Xing was doing a bit better but had heavy dark circles under his eyes and was in a poor mental state.

No one was as full of energy and relaxed as Lin Xiangjun.

Only she, only she could save him.

As mentioned before, as a high school student, Wang Zixuan's IQ wasn't low; although he was somewhat contaminated, as long as he was willing to use his brain, it wasn't hard for him to understand the requirements of the question.

Lin Xiangjun hadn't walked away directly, which meant she wasn't rejecting him outright. Her words might sound unkind at first, but this was like a question asking to guess what emotion an author wanted to express with a certain sentence—one had to consider the context and normal logic...

"Save me." Wang Zixuan said each word deliberately, trying his best to make his words clear and unambiguous. "I have clues related to the instance. If I die, these clues will disappear forever."

"instance clues—what everyone gets is different."

While Wang Zixuan was busy interpreting the author's deep meaning, Lin Xiangjun had already taken three or five steps away.

Hearing Wang Zixuan's words, she finally stopped, then took two large strides back to his side, finally revealing a warm smile.

"This Young Scholar is willing to hear your brilliant opinion, Young Master."

Wang Zixuan didn't want to deal with this hypocritical and somewhat neurotic archaic-style "Young Scholar"; the cat meowing in his ears started up again, and he could only irritably cover his ears tightly to try and block the noise.

"Each player is spread across different floors because the instance assigned different identities and clues to everyone. That man died before he even got in, so his clues are gone. If more people keep dying and we don't have complete clues, no one will be able to leave this instance."

"I know you must have already obtained clues. Clues are all interconnected; if I tell you half, you'll know if it's true. If you're willing, I'll trade the rest of the clues for something that can cure me."

Wang Zixuan wasn't completely stupid; he knew that if he said everything at once, he would lose his value. If Lin Xiangjun wasn't willing to give him something, he would be completely beyond saving.

Lin Xiangjun made a "please" gesture.

"Please speak, Young Master. This Young Scholar is all ears."

Wang Zixuan: "..."

He hated this archaic-style "Young Scholar"!