82: Can the battle be changed?

Gu Xiaoyue frowned, her eyes darkening with uncertainty, as a bad premonition surged in her heart.

She tore open the envelope. The text on the letter was printed, making it impossible to identify the handwriting.

"If you want her to be safe, then forfeit."

Gu Xiaoyue clenched the letter tightly. Her first reaction was—someone had kidnapped Ye Wanrou!

She immediately called Chen Yixuan to ask if he had seen Ye Wanrou.

Chen Yixuan's answer was that he had been looking for Ye Wanrou all day, and he hadn't contacted Gu Xiaoyue because he was afraid of disturbing her match.

Gu Xiaoyue called Chu Li, who was currently on the arena stage, preparing for a match against a contestant from Luoshui.

While answering Gu Xiaoyue's call, he summoned the Fire Phoenix and the Teng Snake.

Upon seeing this, his opponent immediately forfeited.

Chu Li understood the situation and immediately ran toward Gu Xiaoyue's dormitory.

Gu Xiaoyue also notified Ye Junhe and Lin Zhiyi, and the group gathered in the dormitory to discuss countermeasures.

It was clear that the person who kidnapped Ye Wanrou was actually targeting Gu Xiaoyue.

"Today is the round of thirty to fifteen. This person must be among those who advanced!"

Ye Junhe slammed his palm onto the table.

He also found it strange. Although Ye Wanrou didn't attend every one of his matches, she was often hopping around in front of him.

Gu Xiaoyue spoke slowly, "Maybe, or maybe not."

The others didn't quite understand what she meant and cast inquiring gazes toward her in unison.

"There is also a possibility that this person simply dislikes me. Of course, it also doesn't rule out the possibility that this person is among the thirteen who advanced."

Currently, the only clue was this printed letter.

To protect the contestants' privacy, there were no surveillance cameras installed in the dormitory hallways.

The National Competition officials strictly prohibited private disputes between contestants.

Once discovered, not only would one's eligibility be revoked, but the academy's results could also be implicated.

Given that this person dared to kidnap Ye Wanrou, they either had a powerful family background and were fearless, or they were not a contestant at all!

However, almost all major families had juniors participating in the National Competition, making it impossible to investigate or start from that angle.

Furthermore, even if the officials were informed of this incident, they would suppress it to minimize panic among the students and the impact on the National Competition!

With no leads, everyone was at a loss, as if the air itself had frozen.

"Why don't we take a gamble—"

Chu Li spoke up: "Since the kidnapper doesn't want Xiao Yue to compete tomorrow, let's participate as usual and bet that they wouldn't dare to do anything to Ye Wanrou!"

"No!"

"No!"

Chen Yixuan and Ye Junhe said in unison; they absolutely could not gamble with Ye Wanrou's safety!

Gu Xiaoyue took a deep breath. She didn't want to gamble with Ye Wanrou's safety either.

But if she didn't test them, how else could she make the kidnapper reveal their tracks?

"If someone could turn into Ye Wanrou's appearance, perhaps we could trick the kidnapper!"

Ye Junhe said indignantly.

His words made Gu Xiaoyue's eyes light up. "That's right, let's trick them. Lin Zhiyi, accompany me to the competition venue tomorrow! We'll do it like this—"

The next day at the individual competition venue, the twelve contestants waited for the teachers to announce the match list.

Gu Xiaoyue, holding Xiao Mo, arrived at the venue with Chu Li and Lin Zhiyi. Everyone was present except for Xiao Yun from Huaqing.

She walked side-by-side with Lin Zhiyi, observing the changes in everyone's expressions.

The first was He Zhichen from Chongbei, who politely greeted Gu Xiaoyue and the others.

Then there was Jiang Yi from Yuanquan. His expression when looking at Gu Xiaoyue was somewhat shy, his face flushed, and he didn't spare a single glance for Lin Zhiyi.

Next were Qian Mingyu from Xiangzhong, Yang Mingyu from Huaqing, and the other contestants from various academies; none of them showed anything unusual.

He Zhichen came over to chat with Gu Xiaoyue. "This is the classmate who comes to cheer for you at almost every match, right? You two have a great relationship!"

Gu Xiaoyue smiled. "Yes, she is my best friend—Ye Wanrou."

He Zhichen extended his hand, wanting to shake hers.

Lin Zhiyi smiled somewhat awkwardly and placed her hand lightly on He Zhichen's large hand for a moment.

Although Lin Zhiyi knew that it was Gu Xiaoyue's pet beast that had used a hallucinogenic skill, in others' eyes, she—was actually Ye Wanrou.

Still, she felt a bit awkward, fearing that someone would see through that she wasn't Ye Wanrou.

Gu Xiaoyue walked around with Lin Zhiyi, but everyone seemed normal.

Lin Zhiyi whispered to Gu Xiaoyue, "Have they all been ruled out?"

Just as Gu Xiaoyue was about to answer Lin Zhiyi, Xiao Yun arrived late.

When Xiao Yun saw Gu Xiaoyue, the malice in her eyes was revealed without any concealment.

But when she saw Lin Zhiyi, her expression showed a flash of surprise for a moment, and her brows furrowed unconsciously.

Afterward, Xiao Yun turned and left. Gu Xiaoyue narrowed her eyes and put Xiao Mo down.

Xiao Mo then disappeared. Everyone assumed Gu Xiaoyue had put her into her Yu Beast Space, so they didn't get distracted and continued to wait for the schedule arrangement.

A few minutes later, Xiao Yun returned, looking somewhat angry.

Gu Xiaoyue sensed that Xiao Mo was by her side and recalled Xiao Mo into her Yu Beast Space.

She took the opportunity to remove the pinhole camera that Xiao Mo had been carrying.

"Ye Wanrou, wait here for me. I'll go see why the schedule hasn't been released yet."

Gu Xiaoyue said gently to Lin Zhiyi in front of Xiao Yun.

Lin Zhiyi nodded obediently, "Oh my goodness, today's results are really slow to come out. Go ahead, Xiao Yue, I'll wait for you!"

Gu Xiaoyue left and found an empty corner.

She wasn't looking for officials to get the schedule; she was finding a secluded place to watch what Xiao Mo had just recorded—Xiao Yun's situation!

Xiao Yun was on the phone with someone, repeatedly confirming if the person was still there, and even saying, "Since she is still there, why did I see her at the competition venue?"

Gu Xiaoyue had originally thought that since she was too prominent in this National Competition, someone simply couldn't stand it and kidnapped Ye Wanrou to force her to withdraw.

In that case, finding Ye Wanrou would be like looking for a needle in a haystack; after all, there were seventy or eighty thousand contestants and spectators alone, not counting the original students of Huaqing.

She even thought that if the kidnapper wasn't in the freshman competition group, she wouldn't hesitate to hide her presence and search room by room!

Now that she had identified the kidnapper, Gu Xiaoyue naturally had the means to deal with her.

Just then, the teacher preparing the schedule walked past Gu Xiaoyue with a form in hand.

She hurriedly followed, "Teacher, is the schedule out? Can I take a look at it first?"

This teacher was specifically in charge of the freshman schedule. He naturally knew Gu Xiaoyue, the genius oddity who had Human Level talent but could summon four pet beasts, and he quite admired her.

"Alright, alright, I'll let you take a look first," he said, handing the schedule over.

Gu Xiaoyue looked at it; for the round of fifteen to eight, she had a bye in this match.

"Teacher, I see that I have a bye in this match. Can it be changed?"

The teacher on the other side was somewhat puzzled, "How do you want to change it?"