A strange silence fell over the dining table.

After a few seconds, the man in the plaid shirt stood up in agitation and pointed accusingly:

“You — what are you talking about?! You’re the most suspicious one here! You appear out of nowhere and say things without any basis — are you trying to make the Inspector suspect us?!”

“Exactly! Where did this woman even come from?!” The bald man was equally furious. He turned his head and shouted toward the front desk. “Where’s the Commissioner? Shouldn’t the Commissioner come out and explain the situation?! Why has a 15-player game suddenly become 16 players?!”

The woman holding the baby frowned in displeasure and snapped her brow upward. “I’m asking you people — could you keep it down?! You’re disturbing my baby!”

The young basketball boy sneered impatiently, “If you’re bothered, cover your ears! ‘My baby’ — it’s just a broken doll…”

“What did you say?!” The woman let out a shout, seized a fork, and lunged toward him. “Don’t you dare talk about my baby like that!!!”

“Inspector! Someone’s trying to attack me!” The basketball boy dodged behind a chair. “Hey! This woman’s gone mad! Is no one going to do anything?!”

The middle-aged woman sitting nearby continued laying out her tarot cards on the table, flipping one over, and said with cool detachment: “Who told you to bring up her child… serves you right…”

Utter chaos.

The Inspector from outside came running in, his expression thunderous. “Who dares commit violence in my presence?! You’ll be arrested immediately!”

The woman dropped the fork and rushed back to her seat, picking up the child and soothing it softly, the picture of a gentle, loving mother — as though the fork-wielding attacker from a moment ago had been nothing but a collective hallucination.

The Inspector didn’t press the matter either. He shot a fierce glare around the room and then turned and left.

Apparently, unless an actual murder occurred, the Inspector wouldn’t arrest anyone.

At this point, the Commissioner, in his role as the inn’s proprietor, finally made a leisurely entrance.

Compared to the cartoon figure she had seen before, this version of him had proportions far closer to normal.

Though his limbs were still long, they weren’t nearly as exaggerated as before.

Bai Youwei thought about it briefly and understood.

This game’s setting was neither the open wilderness nor a grand estate, but rather a run-down old inn.

If he had retained his previous proportions, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stand upright inside.

The moment the cartoon figure arrived, several players rushed to complain all at once. “What’s going on? Why has the number of players suddenly increased by one?”

“This is a clear violation of fairness! How can the number of participants be arbitrarily changed?! She should be expelled!” The bald man was full of hostility toward Bai Youwei — probably nursing a grudge over being referred to as “the bald one.”

The cartoon figure looked toward Bai Youwei.

Bai Youwei returned the gaze with complete composure, curious to see how it would handle this.

“Up to this point in the current game, no violations of any kind have occurred.” The cartoon figure said calmly. “A player has made reasonable use of an external support item within the permissible scope. There is no need for excessive concern. Please continue the game according to the established rules until this battle game concludes.”

“This isn’t fair!” the bald man muttered. “The numbers aren’t even — how are we supposed to play?!”

“Excuse me~” Bai Youwei said, her tone measured. “The ones who should actually be crying about unfairness are our side, don’t you think? This game created the greatest disadvantage for us right from the start.”

She looked at the cartoon figure, her tone cool. “Although the rules strive for balance, the Commissioner seems to have forgotten — our skin colours are different.

From our perspective, all of you are white. We can’t tell you apart easily. But what about you? You can identify at a glance that we’re on the same team — just by the colour of our skin. That put us at a disadvantage from the very beginning. It’s deeply unfair.”

The cartoon figure: “…”

It had known — dealing with her was never going to go smoothly.

—