Fu Miaoxue was dressed in an all-black gown, a black veil draped over her head, her entire person concealed from head to toe — even her hands were covered in black embroidered gloves. Not a single patch of bare skin was visible anywhere on her body.

Such an outfit was far too unsettling, so no one approached her to speak.

And she herself carried the haughty air of a pampered young mistress, apparently with no intention of proactively seeking out anyone to team up with.

Noticing Bai Youwei’s appraising gaze, Fu Miaoxue shot her a glare through the black veil, then turned and walked away with a huff.

Bai Youwei gave an unconcerned curl of her lip.

Shen Mo had also noticed Fu Miaoxue walking away. He said lightly, “If she were a Subject, she could be recruited. A pity she chose King.”

“I wouldn’t want to recruit her anyway — having her nearby would be like keeping a time bomb on hand.” Bai Youwei smiled. “A troublemaker like that is better left to cause problems for someone else~”

Shen Mo’s thin lips curved faintly upward. “So you deliberately lured her into signing up as a King?”

“Others don’t know her the way I do — they’ll definitely find her a headache. But I know her well…” Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes, watching Fu Miaoxue’s retreating figure. “She’s like a paper tiger — she can scare people, but only up to a point.”

Having someone like her become a King would suppress the other Kings while posing no threat to Bai Youwei herself. Why wouldn’t she welcome that?

Compared to Fu Miaoxue, Shen Mo was more concerned with the movements of White Gloves.

In the short time they’d been watching, a small cluster of people had already gathered around White Gloves — it seemed he was also one of the Kings.

Yan Qingwen walked over, his expression somewhat sour. Su Man and Lu Yuwen followed close behind him.

Bai Youwei tilted her head and looked over curiously. “What happened to the Subjects you recruited just now?”

“Over there.” Yan Qingwen lifted his chin in an unenthusiastic gesture, directing Bai Youwei and Shen Mo’s gaze toward the distance.

A crowd had gathered in that direction.

Standing at the center of the crowd was a man in a white coat, somewhere around forty years of age. He carried himself with refinement and warmth, his smile approachable, his manner and appearance entirely non-threatening — the kind of person who instinctively put others at ease.

Yet in the registration hall for the Maze War preliminaries, the appearance of someone this benevolent-looking felt deeply out of place.

“That fellow goes by the nickname ‘the Doctor.’ He’s already recruited sixteen Subjects.” Yan Qingwen frowned, his tone carrying a measure of cold gravity. “Every other team has recruited around four or five people — he’s the only one who’s gone past ten. The people we just recruited were pulled away to him as well.”

“Could he specialize in psychology?” Bai Youwei murmured, watching the distant man with suspicion. “I wonder if we’ll end up running into him in the later games.”

Shen Mo said calmly, “Someone handpicked by the system having a few exceptional qualities isn’t surprising.”

Yan Qingwen frowned and said, “We still have plenty of time — let’s keep watching. Even players who seem unremarkable shouldn’t be underestimated; we might run into any of them in the next game.”

As the saying goes: know yourself, know your enemy, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.

For the remainder of the time, their strategy was this: make contact with as many players as possible.

That applied to Yan Qingwen’s side, and equally to Shen Mo’s.

And so the time slowly passed, in observation and quiet probing…

When the ten-hour deliberation period came to an end, the image of the rabbit-headed Inspector reappeared on the wall —

“It is a pleasure to see everyone again.

After ten hours of careful consideration, I trust each of you has made your decision.

However…”

The rabbit-headed figure’s voice shifted, its expression twisting into an uncanny smile.

“However, before you announce your choices, there is something I must inform you of.”

Everyone looked at it with puzzled suspicion.

Then, word by deliberate word, it said: “This competition is a preliminary round. All registered players must enter the arena to compete. Those who emerge victorious will have successfully registered.”

—