When Bai Youwei said “barring anything unexpected,” she was simply being cautious in case she changed her mind at the last moment. What she hadn’t anticipated was that something unexpected… truly did happen.

At nine-thirty in the morning, half an hour before the third round of voting, everyone gathered early in the square.

It started when the Black man from the blue-eye camp suddenly collapsed to the ground. His white companion rushed over and called his name, while the others crowded around out of curiosity.

The Black man’s powerfully built body lay sprawled across the square, white daylight casting over his ashen-gray face.

A feeling of unease spread like a plague through everyone present. Thinking back on what Xufang He had said the night before about “divine punishment,” people couldn’t help but look in his direction.

Just then, the Black man on the ground suddenly convulsed. Everyone jumped in fright.

And then—

The Black man’s throat began to swell violently, as though something was trying to force its way out from inside!

—His cheeks bulged outward, his lips stretched wide, and a large, furry black spotted moth crawled out from his mouth!

Everyone instantly recoiled!

Even the Black man’s white companion staggered back several steps in terror, staring at the Black man on the ground in dread and horror!

But it wasn’t over yet!

After the first moth crawled out, a second one of the same size appeared and crawled out, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, sixth, seventh… densely packed, one after another!

The Black man was covered all over with large, furry spotted moths!

His companion could bear it no longer—he tore off his shirt and flung it down hard!

A massive cloud of moths burst into the air all at once, instantly scattering and vanishing without a trace, leaving behind only a shriveled-up corpse.

“It was you!!” The white man turned on Xufang He in furious accusation. “You did this!”

“How could it have been me?” Xufang He stood where he was without any expression on his face, his voice equally devoid of emotion. “This is divine punishment. Those who betray others will, in the end, receive divine punishment.”

The white man turned and glared up at the stone sphere overhead, bellowing: “Isn’t the Inspector going to do something?! Violence is prohibited in this game! Someone has killed a person inside the game—he should be immediately eliminated!!!”

“Violence?” Something finally appeared on Xufang He’s face. The corner of his mouth curved upward ever so slightly into an expression that wasn’t quite a smile, as he looked toward the roof of the voting booth. “I’m also very curious—I never even touched him once… Does this, then, count as violence?”

The stone sphere: “……”

How tiresome…

It was always running into this type of player who looked for loopholes in the game.

There was nothing to be done about it. It was precisely because most of the system’s rules were far too rigid that a monitor was needed—to oversee every single game, provide a more “humane” interpretation of the rules wherever possible, and patch loopholes and bugs in a timely manner.

“No, it doesn’t.” The sphere answered in a flat tone. “This game only prohibits physical confrontations, direct attacks, and violent coercion whose primary aim is bodily harm. The current situation… hmm, falls outside the scope of what the game’s rules prohibit.”

“This isn’t fair!” The white man was beside himself with rage.

The sphere was deeply displeased. It let out a sound of contempt. “Where is it not fair? You can arrange a death like this too! Make the other person end their own life! Or have them fall into the sea, get food poisoning, suffer a heart attack—anything at all. Even being bitten to death by insects counts, as long as you can pull it off. The game will rule it as an accidental death! Hmph—when it comes down to it, it’s simply that you lack the ability, yet you blame my game for being unfair!”

The sphere washed its hands of all responsibility completely: “My game is impossible to be unfair!”

Everyone’s hearts went cold.

There was absolutely no way those large black spotted moths had appeared out of thin air—it was plainly Xufang He’s doing. He certainly had an extremely dangerous item in his hands, yet there was nothing anyone could do about it!

Even Bai Youwei, after carefully thinking it over, couldn’t figure out which of her own items could stand against his.

Either they were too weak to take someone’s life immediately, or they were too powerful—and once used, would violate the game’s rules.

Xufang He reached into his pocket, withdrew a slip of paper, and handed it to the white man, smiling as he said: “For this round, please vote according to the new numbers. Thank you for your cooperation.”

—