Following the clues Jiang Ruoxue gave me, I quickly arrived at the building where Xiao Xiao usually stayed.

But I didn’t reveal myself. I just hid in the shadows, observing that girl with an abnormally robust build.

After all, my mission wasn’t to become friends with her—I only needed to confirm that she was an “Extreme Path.”

I have to say… she was truly insane.

She could attack anyone without reason, and would suddenly become obsessively fixated on disrupting the normal flow of a game. I discovered that Jiang Ruoxue was simply a genius—whenever Xiao Xiao had an episode, her code of conduct was exactly like that of the most perfect “Extreme Path.”

She could kill people based on her own preferences, and would casually bestow “despair” upon her teammates. Her existence was a ticking time bomb, capable of fulfilling all of Baiyang’s requirements for an “Extreme Path.”

Moreover, her “Echo” was called “Frame,” and even if ordinary people wanted to take revenge on her, they couldn’t do it. She could easily transfer any calamity descending upon herself to someone else.

I roughly understood the origin of Xiao Xiao’s “Frame” ability. After all, whenever she had an episode, it was always others who suffered bad luck. This was her innate skill—clearly her own disaster, yet she could transfer it to become someone else’s disaster through her own power alone.

I followed her from a distance to many places and discovered that her favorite venue was an Earth-Ox game.

That Earth-Ox used black bears to kill people, and Xiao Xiao frequently appeared there. This game was very suitable for her.

Not only did she have a harmless-looking face, but if she put on an outer coat, she also had a seemingly unthreatening body type. Anyone would think she was just a girl with a plump figure, absolutely unable to imagine that beneath her outer clothing was a body of terrifying muscles.

So she could move about in the game according to her own preferences—killing, sowing discord. The Earth-Ox there saw her every day, and the game venue seemed like her exclusive domain.

After observing her for a period of time, I found that the Earth-Ox wasn’t a bad person. Each time he tried to persuade Xiao Xiao to reform from his own perspective. After all, from his viewpoint, Xiao Xiao’s behavior not only made many enemies but was also completely meaningless. However, he didn’t know that Xiao Xiao couldn’t even control her own urge to cause destruction.

That shameless Jiang Ruoxue still lied. Xiao Xiao didn’t just “have episodes often”—she was “always having episodes.” I clearly saw her taking medication, but those drugs had no effect whatsoever.

I had never seen her in a normal state. I really didn’t know how that crazy girl Jiang Ruoxue dared to chat with such a person.

After another period of time, Xiao Xiao finished participating in the Earth-Ox’s game and walked out of the venue with a disgruntled expression. Then I saw a group of people emerge from the venue. I had never seen an Earth-Ox game where so many people could survive at once, especially since most of them were unfamiliar faces I’d never seen before. Two of them were even carrying bear arms, looking like they had returned with a full load.

After the crowd dispersed, Xiao Xiao went back to exchange a few words with the Earth-Ox. The Earth-Ox was still trying to persuade her to reform, but she completely ignored him.

Then, with a strange expression, she ran out of the game venue and walked quickly toward one of the “Participant” teams carrying bear arms. I didn’t know what “Echo” they had that could actually tear off an arm from a bear’s body.

If one day they discovered that these “bears” were actually products of “Echoes,” or learned that these “bears” were people transformed through “Metamorphosis”… would they still feel at ease tearing off bear arms?

I looked in the direction Xiao Xiao was heading. I had seen this expression of hers before—she wanted to kill someone.

This time, she unusually didn’t kill anyone inside the game, but instead wanted to hunt them down outside the game. Could those people be important?

Hiding in the shadows, I watched Xiao Xiao walk quickly into a restaurant. Not long after, those two men and two women carrying bear arms also arrived.

This situation was indeed somewhat special. Xiao Xiao had actually begun using cunning tactics to kill people. Was this tactic waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit?

Since she chose to wait by the stump for a rabbit, I would wait by the stump for her. This girl hadn’t yet obtained her “Echo,” which was truly worrying.

Fortunately, not long after, the sound of bells rang in the distance. It seemed Xiao Xiao’s “Frame” had descended. What made me feel somewhat surprised was that a few minutes later, distant “bells” rang again. I didn’t know what connection this had with Xiao Xiao’s “Frame.”

“Tsk…” A voice suddenly sounded in my ear. “‘Ignite’?”

“Zhoumo?” I said questioningly. “Why the sudden voice transmission? What ‘Ignite’?”

“Uh…” Zhoumo paused. “It’s nothing much. Yan Zhichun, you’re together with ‘Frame’—”

“How do you know?” I was a bit puzzled.

“Tsk, that bitch Jiang Ruoxue explained it to me. She said these days you’d be with ‘Frame,’ and told me to contact you if something came up.”

I was about to answer, but found it inconvenient to tell Zhoumo that I had been observing “Frame” from the shadows all along. That would make me seem very socially anxious.

“We’re together, more or less,” I said. “What happened?”

“Tsk, nothing much really.” Zhoumo’s voice rang in my ear. “I just happened to be in front of the display screen and saw two ‘Echoes’ activate one after another. I thought Xiao Xiao had gotten into a fight with someone.”

“So do you need help?” I asked again.

“Tsk, no need. We’ve made a deal with that ‘Ignite,'” Zhoumo said. “She’s a pretty decent person. If Xiao Xiao and that ‘Ignite’ really do fight, and you’re nearby, you might need to mediate a bit. After all, we’ve been recruiting strong people lately.”

“Recruiting strong people…?”

“Tsk, yeah. Whether it’s ‘Extreme Path’ or ‘Cat,’ right now both need personnel,” Zhoumo said. “Oh right, last cycle they said a very formidable person appeared, called Qi… damn, what was it? Never mind, I’ll go confirm the name again. I’ll have my subordinates tell Jiang Ruoxue directly when the time comes. After all, having the ‘Extreme Path King’ come forward wouldn’t be good either. But where the hell did that bitch Jiang Ruoxue go? Haven’t seen her in so many days.”

After hearing this, I shook my head helplessly. “Don’t mention any ‘Extreme Path King.’ Now that Xiao Xiao has obtained her ‘Echo,’ my mission is complete. Let’s find a chance to meet up, and I’ll tell you about Jiang Ruoxue’s situation.”

“Alright.” Zhoumo said. “Tsk, then you’ll have to wait. I need to ask Fifth Brother for leave.”

After ending the call with Zhoumo, I arranged to meet her in a building where Jiang Ruoxue and I often met.

But before Zhoumo could show up, I saw the exhausted-looking Jiang Ruoxue. She walked through the door facing the setting sun’s glow, looking like a corpse.

She had only been gone for a dozen days or so, but those eyes looked as if they had experienced a dozen years of vicissitudes.

“Ruo… Ruoxue? You’re back?”

Jiang Ruoxue’s expression was clearly not right. She picked up a chair and sat down slowly with a sorrowful face.

“What happened…?” I said. “Where are ‘Flower’ and ‘Seed’…?”

“Zhichun… let’s destroy this godforsaken place…”