Tan Xiao hadn’t followed the man in the cap for long before he encountered two men and a woman.

They were part of the same group as the man in the cap.

Villard had thrown this group together hastily. There were many of them, but they didn’t know each other, and there had been no time to get acquainted. Now that they had found one another inside the game, they immediately began introducing themselves and exchanging information.

As the lone member of the opposing side, Tan Xiao was naturally excluded.

Fortunately, his mental fortitude was solid. It didn’t affect him in the slightest.

Tan Xiao stood at a distance, chewing his gum and straining to listen to their conversation.

He was too far away to hear clearly, but he caught fragments — something about “vines” and “the King’s sword.” Their voices had an edge to them too. This hastily assembled team was clearly not particularly unified.

More precisely: it wasn’t that they lacked unity — it was that none of them had the authority to command the rest. Everyone had their own ideas, which led to some friction whenever they tried to work together.

One person among them had apparently had enough. He raised his voice: “None of us knows what the King’s sword looks like — why don’t we just find all of them and see?”

Find them all?

Tan Xiao’s mind stirred at the idea. That’s actually not bad — there must be plenty of swords inside this castle. If they searched them all out, at least one of them would be the King’s sword.

The problem was all those vines. They were coiled everywhere, and if the King’s sword happened to be wrapped inside one, no one would be able to see it.

He turned it over in his mind and couldn’t come up with anything better.

He decided the wisest course for now was to keep following these people. As soon as they found a sword, he would rush in and take it. How clever was that?

Tan Xiao silently praised his own ingenuity and decided that was exactly what he would do.

The group discussed things for a moment, then didn’t start searching for the sword right away. Instead they planned to meet up with their other teammates first.

They had been scattered throughout different corners of the castle when the game began, and still needed to locate everyone.

The man in the cap took on the role of temporary leader, and the group gradually reconvened while also getting a sense of the castle’s layout.

After going around once, they found they were still missing someone. By all accounts their group should total ten — but no matter how many times they counted, there were only nine.

“Who are we missing?” the man in the cap asked.

The remaining eight looked at one another.

They hadn’t even known each other when they arrived. If one was missing, they had no idea who it was.

A tall, curly-haired man suggested, “We should search carefully one more time. If something’s actually happened to them, better to know early.” Tan Xiao quietly gave him a nickname: “Curly.”

The man in the cap agreed with Curly’s proposal and split the group in two to search separately.

“No matter what you find, everyone meets back here in half an hour!” he said.

This left Tan Xiao in a bit of a predicament.

The group had split in two, and he wasn’t sure which half to follow.

Then he thought — they would be back in half an hour regardless. Whatever the outcome, they would inevitably end up discussing it when they returned. He might as well stay put and wait.

Tan Xiao worked this out in his head, decided not to follow anyone, and found an open spot to rest.

The area he was in now appeared to be the front courtyard of the castle, with straight columns and an open expanse of ground. Perhaps soldiers had once trained here — but now there were only withered weeds and creeping thorns.

Tan Xiao spotted a soldier in armor trapped within the vines. Remembering what the man in the cap had said, he walked over and yanked the sword free from the soldier’s side.

Dull and unremarkable — just an ordinary iron sword.

If only it had been the King’s sword — with none of the others around, he would have been the first to get his hands on it. A wonderful fantasy to entertain himself with.

He scanned his surroundings, then moved toward another stretch of vines that seemed to be concealing a body, and brought the sword down hard.

The vines were cut apart, exposing the clothing of whoever was inside.

Tan Xiao gripped his sword and stared at the patch of fabric, thinking: Something’s off here… the clothes this body is wearing look like modern clothing?

—