Ada didn’t return until midnight.

He’d left in a hat and hoodie. He came back disheveled, hair loose, only the dark T-shirt underneath remaining on his body.

Nik opened the door for him and looked him up and down. “What happened?”

The moment Ada got inside, he shut the door and moved quickly to the window to peer out. He was visibly shaken. “Several people were tailing me. I spent half the day going in circles, changed my hairstyle and shed the hoodie, took seven or eight bus transfers before I finally lost them.”

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo were in the living room taking stock of the supplies for the night’s operation. They looked up at Ada’s entrance — his sunglasses and face mask were still on. If not for his familiar voice and the distinguishing length of his hair, even they wouldn’t have recognized him immediately.

“You dressed like that and people still tailed you?” Bai Youwei looked at Ada with disbelief.

Ada looked faintly embarrassed. He let the curtain fall and explained with some awkwardness: “I stopped by the hospital — I might have been recognized there.”

“Ah……” Bai Youwei understood. “You went to see Natasha.”

Ada said nothing, which was as good as a confirmation.

Shen Mo asked him: “Did you get to see Natasha?”

Ada shook his head. “No. She’s very cautious — anyone coming to visit has to register their real name and identity. When I was filling in the registration, I spotted Jason and several others walking through the hospital. I was afraid of being caught, so I left immediately. I didn’t expect to get someone on my tail anyway……”

From the side, Nik said drily: “Natasha is the captain. If I were Jason, I’d keep a close watch on her too. If someone got to her in the hospital and finished her off, all that effort would go to waste.”

After saying it, he couldn’t help feeling a flicker of worry for himself: “……Hey, should I be hiding somewhere too?”

Bai Youwei smiled slightly. “Once the records are out, there’ll be no shortage of people competing to protect you.”

Ada hesitated and looked at Bai Youwei: “What about Natasha’s situation…… what do we do?”

“Jason won’t be at the hospital indefinitely — they’ll still have dungeons to grind,” Shen Mo said. “We’ll find another opportunity to visit her later. For tonight, let’s get the dungeons done first.”

Ada was quiet for a moment, then gave a nod. “Okay.”

……

At one in the morning, they cleared two simple dungeons at top speed.

When they walked out of the subway station, the sky was just barely beginning to lighten. At the station exit they encountered only one early-rising squad — and quickly passed each other by.

Even so, Nik remained uneasy. He led his squadmates through a winding, roundabout route, and they moved to yet another new safe house.

The days that followed, they slept somewhere different every night. Like mice that couldn’t afford to be seen, they were constantly running and hiding, lying low during the day and moving at night.

It was clear just how much Nik valued his life.

This continued until Bai Youwei ground out a third 999, at which point the situation reversed completely.

— Nik posted on the public forum, using the strategy guides as leverage to hire bodyguards: whoever could guarantee him and his squadmates safe passage out of the competitive district this year would receive the remaining high-score strategy guides as payment.

This year’s slot was already gone — but there was always next year, wasn’t there?

Players throughout the competitive district left comments in droves, asking how many guides remained.

Nik asked Bai Youwei with great deference.

Bai Youwei said: “Ten, I suppose.”

“Ten?!” Nik was shocked. “These people aren’t easy to fool — if you put out fake guides, they’ll tear us apart!”

Bai Youwei gave an impatient eye-roll: “Who said anything about making fake ones?”

“But ten guides — there’s not enough time……” Nik said.

Creating a single 999-score strategy guide took Bai Youwei at least three days — the first day to feel out the dungeon, the second to map out the high-impact moments that could be drawn from each element of the dungeon, the third to refine and finalize.

It was mentally taxing work. Nik thought it was wild that she’d casually said “ten.”

Bai Youwei: “Are you stupid? I can sell just one at 999, and the rest can be 900-plus, 850, whatever score — as long as it breaks some record, right? If someone wants a score that no one can ever top, fine — first come, first served. It all depends on how they perform.”

Nik stared at Bai Youwei, a thousand feelings washing through him: “You really are……”

Bai Youwei raised an eyebrow: “What about me?”

Nik turned and walked out the door: “Nothing, nothing……”

—