"I'm going to look for the red skull symbol."
Saha had initially only felt disdain for the young man's casual attitude, but now, that feeling was mixed with a wariness of the unknown.
Polina's knuckles were clenched white, and the angle of her dagger's blade adjusted slightly, no longer pointing completely outward but also subtly aimed toward the young man's location.
It wasn't until Winifred spoke up, shouting toward the surveillance camera, that the air, frozen as if it could drip icicles, was finally cracked open by a sliver of a gap.
Xu Xi slowly let out a sigh of relief.
Because the moment the bearded man spoke, those Blue Monsters gradually faded until they completely disappeared from his sight.
They did not attack him.
After a long while, Saha was the first to ask, "What on earth happened? What was it that attacked her?"
Although the question was posed to the group, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally kept drifting toward the youthful figure at the front.
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
The smile at the corner of Buriman's lips had already vanished, his tone laced with a sharp edge. "You all, your experiences last night... were probably not ordinary, right?"
The "you all" in his words referred to Winifred, Polina, Dana, and... Xu Xi.
The atmosphere among the first three this morning had been quite different from each other, and as for the latter...
"Friend, did you see something, or perhaps... you knew something in advance?"
Xu Xi didn't expect to be suddenly put on the spot like this.
He was still mulling over the meaning of those two words.
So, those were the two words from the previous timeline that he couldn't read on the lips.
'Withdraw' and 'die'... Leave this place, or die?
This was the most reasonable meaning he could deduce based on his previous inferences.
And this seemed to once again support his faction theory.
If you don't leave this place, you'll face pursuit from that living corpse man.
Caught off guard by such a direct and blunt question, Xu Xi no longer felt as flustered as he used to.
He knew that whether it was observational skills, on-the-spot reactions, or various types of experience, he couldn't compare to these elite players. It was also difficult for him to completely conceal the nuances of his own emotions in front of such people.
But he had other advantages.
"Information requires equivalent exchange, doesn't it?"
Xu Xi didn't hesitate to borrow a certain lady's words.
So what if they were suspicious of him? Or rather, what could they actually do to him?
"..." Everyone, who had been waiting to see the young man's reaction, was met with this light, almost casual statement.
Polina's eyelid twitched, the corner of her eye twitching almost imperceptibly.
The tense, scrutinizing atmosphere in the front hall was subtly unsettled by these words.
Information equivalent exchange.
In a perilous instance, this was indeed the principle of trade.
Beyond reproach.
But this also indicated that the other party did not deny that they indeed possessed intelligence unknown to the others.
The other party's attitude was simple—
Want the information I have? Fine, trade it for what you know.
However, in reality, having only been here for one night, what valuable intelligence could they possibly possess?
Yet, in that same single night, the young man had surged far ahead of the rest.
Polina was the most anxious among everyone.
As one of only two players inexplicably attacked, she feared she might be the next target of that thing.
But she didn't have any impressive intelligence to offer.
Thinking of the young man's words just now, her fingers involuntarily curled slightly, a hint of irritation surfacing.
What was this? The boomerang finally coming back to hit her?
Invisibly, the young man was isolated in a subtle position.
The medical team hurried over, carried away the short-haired woman, and hurried off.
Upon learning that Dana had only fallen unconscious and hadn't died, everyone felt somewhat relieved.
Xu Xi glanced at that brown-haired, blue-eyed young man.
In the previous timeline, the other party had applied to withdraw from the competition at this point.
Perhaps, without him taking the lead this time, the other party didn't dare to easily try that path.
He didn't know he was currently the focal point of the players' attention. This glance of his not only made Buriman's heart tighten but also caused the others to subtly distance themselves from Buriman.
Just as Buriman was about to urgently say something, the slightly distorted voice of the slovenly man suddenly came through the loudspeaker.
"Hey, hey, contestants, can you hear me—"
...
Three challenges, three locations, three teams.
Xu Xi silently observed the discussions of the nine players.
Until everyone had chosen the location they wanted to go to.
Finally, only he was left who hadn't participated in the selection.
Everyone's gaze naturally fell upon the young man.
This time, there was less scrutiny and more of an indescribable sense of waiting and probing.
They all wanted to see which team he would choose.
Yet, once again defying their expectations, the young man didn't choose any of them.
Xu Xi's gaze calmly swept over the three teams.
The personnel were almost identical to the previous timeline. The only difference was that the player going to the Bone-Burial Forest now included the brown-haired, blue-eyed man.
He had no interest in any of those three utterly malicious challenges.
Apart from provoking and angering the Blue Monsters, he really couldn't think of any other purpose those tasks served.
Therefore, he said, "I'm going to look for the red skull symbol."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear.
This was Xu Xi's spur-of-the-moment decision.
He noticed that, whether in the previous timeline or this one, everyone, including himself, seemed to have overlooked this symbol.
All the players had been completely absorbed by the so-called challenges.
And the slovenly man's original words were—
"...complete some small challenges while searching for the red skull symbol we've hidden."
The symbol also wasn't located at any of those three places.
He felt that this symbol was the real focal point, perhaps even an important clue helpful for clearing the instance.
From the very beginning, Xu Xi had been pondering: what exactly was the role of the production team in this instance towards the players?
After all, instances generally don't include too many irrelevant background elements.
To pit the players against the Blue Monsters? To add some extra difficulty for the players to clear the instance?
On the surface, it seemed that way.
But in reality, the production team might also play the role of guiding players to key clues.
Those troublesome challenge tasks were just smokescreens; the red skull symbol might be the core hint.
It was precisely thinking of this that Xu Xi, who originally still planned to continue wandering aimlessly, finally had a target.
As for whether this line of thinking was correct? He'd know once he found the symbol.
Anyway, he truly had zero interest in going to dance on the Blue Monsters' graves.
Hearing Xu Xi's choice, the front hall fell silent for a moment.
Winifred's brow subconsciously furrowed.
He had originally understood that the red skull symbol was just something to be looked for incidentally while completing the challenges.
He glanced around at everyone.
Clearly, judging by their expressions, that's what everyone else thought too.
But the young man's implication seemed to be that the priority between the challenges and searching for the symbol was equal?
