The rest hall was filling with more and more players.

The walls of the hall were composed of squares. Whenever a qualifying round game ended, one of the squares would glow white, and the victorious players would walk out from within it.

Sometimes as few as three or five, sometimes as many as seven or eight.

Bai Youwei had been waiting, but Shen Mo and Tan Xiao and the others had not yet appeared.

She sat in her wheelchair, fingers twisted tightly together, suppressing her anxiety, feeling utterly wretched.

No Shen Mo, no Tan Xiao, no Teacher Cheng, no Pan Xiaoxin — she had nothing! Even though Yan Qingwen and Lu Yuwen were beside her, it wasn’t the same. It felt different.

She forced herself not to let her thoughts spiral, and instead turned her mind to the qualifying rounds themselves.

— 241 players, 5 abstentions, 197 signed up as kings, 39 signed up as subjects.

That meant 236 people were participating in qualifying. Assuming groups of 30, that would be roughly 8 qualifying games. If each game selected around 5 people, that would be 40 people… No, wait — that wasn’t right. Most people had signed up as kings, and even if they lost, they would remain as subjects.

Shen Mo had signed up as a king. If he lost, he would become a subject — so that was fine. Tan Xiao and Pan Xiaoxin were subjects; if they lost, they’d become commoners. That was fine too. Being commoners might actually suit them better.

So what was she worried about?

What was she worried about…

Bai Youwei’s mind was unsettled.

Ahead, not far away, a commotion suddenly broke out. She looked up and saw another square flare with white light —

A person drenched in blood walked slowly out of it…

Whatever brutal game this person had gone through, their entire body was covered in blood! Even the strands of their hair were soaked through, drops trickling down one by one.

The only clean thing on them was a pair of gloves — pristine white.

“It’s White Gloves,” Yan Qingwen said coldly, watching that figure. “Only one person came out.”

Only one person coming out meant only one person had won.

What about the others?

The number of players in each qualifying round was between twenty and thirty. With so many people — could it really be that not one of them was a match for White Gloves?

All manner of speculation filled each heart with dread.

People warily drew back. With White Gloves at the center, no one in the surrounding half-circle dared approach. Eyes of every kind studied, observed, and feared him.

Someone murmured quietly, “Anyone who ran into this guy had terrible luck. All that blood — it was probably all on his hands.”

Bai Youwei’s heart beat in rapid, urgent surges, and she found it a little hard to breathe.

Then, on another wall, white light bloomed — and Shen Mo, Tan Xiao, Su Man, and the others walked out from within the glow.

Bai Youwei’s heart lurched to a stop —

As if it had leapt into the air and frozen there, then slowly settled back into place…

Her breathing finally eased.

This feeling was truly like going from hell to heaven.

She let out a long breath, looking at Shen Mo, a relaxed smile spreading across her face.

Shen Mo walked over and gave her a brief embrace, then looked at Yan Qingwen, Lu Yuwen, and Yu Chaohui beside her. He asked, “Fang Yu and Xiaoxin haven’t come out yet?”

It was a simple question, yet both Bai Youwei and Yu Chaohui fell silent at the same moment.

Seeing this, Shen Mo had a rough answer in his heart. He paused for two seconds, then asked again, “Did something happen to them?”

Yu Chaohui bowed his head in dejection and said nothing. He didn’t know how to answer.

Bai Youwei took Shen Mo’s hand and said quietly, “I haven’t seen Xiaoxin come out.”

Not seeing Xiaoxin meant she had seen Fang Yu — and deliberately not mentioning him meant something had clearly happened to Fang Yu.

Shen Mo said nothing more, and didn’t press further.

He noticed the unusual glances nearby, and along with the others, turned to look toward White Gloves not far away. The glaring blood dripping onto the floor dissolved instantly into nothing, leaving the floor as brilliantly, purely white as ever.

Bai Youwei didn’t dare think about what might have happened if Pan Xiaoxin had encountered White Gloves in the game…

“The qualifying rounds aren’t over yet,” Shen Mo said, tightening his grip on her hand. He spoke in a low, soothing voice. “Wait a little longer.”

Bai Youwei closed her eyes briefly, then gave a gentle nod.

……

—