Bai Youwei smiled. “That much faith in me?”

Fu Miaoxue said, “Because you have life-saving items, obviously—don’t think I don’t know~ Last time in the Corpse-Bearing Woman game, you suddenly called out so many helpers—where had they been hidden all along? You must have an item that can conceal people! And the space inside the item is very large—large enough to hide several people, right? And another thing~ they came out wearing their pajamas, which means the item’s space is livable!”

Fu Miaoxue raised her chin, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at Bai Youwei with an air of smug superiority. “You can’t fool me.”

Bai Youwei smiled faintly and looked her up and down. “Everyone else is one thing, but Du Lai—you’re willing to let him go with me? I’m making this clear upfront: even with the item, there’s no guarantee I’ll have time to use it. Anything can happen inside a maze. If something happens to Du Lai, don’t come crying to me.”

Fu Miaoxue thought for a moment, her voice unexpectedly cold. “Even if something happens to him, he owes me that. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be the way I am now.”

“What a ruthless heart~” Bai Youwei laughed. “If Du Lai heard you say that, I wonder what he’d think…”

Fu Miaoxue was silent for a moment, then suddenly lifted the black veil from her head, revealing a flawlessly crafted doll-like face.

Her glass eyes fixed steadily on Bai Youwei, and she said, “Even though I really dislike you, I’ve always thought you, more than those other people, should understand how I feel.”

Bai Youwei looked at her and said nothing.

Fu Miaoxue lowered her veil and turned to leave.

……

With twenty days remaining before the third battle, Bai Youwei prepared to take her group into the maze.

The weather was very cold. The glass windows of the conference room were veiled in a hazy layer of warm condensation; the lightest touch of a finger left a gleaming trail behind. After a moment, fine droplets would gather again over that trail, and it would cloud over once more.

Bai Youwei stood before the window, idly tracing patterns in the glass, passing the time.

The people in the room gradually assembled.

At the doorway, Fu Miaoxue had hooped her arm around Du Lai’s and was shamelessly acting spoiled: “Once you’re in the maze, you have to think of me, you hear? If you don’t think of me, you’re not allowed to go~”

Du Lai had his arm around her waist and nodded repeatedly. “Of course I’ll think of you—you think of me too. Once I’ve improved my physical fitness, we can go to the mazes on our own.”

“Wuuu…” Fu Miaoxue buried her face in his chest. “Du Lai, you do all of this for me. I love you~”

Du Lai: “I love you too…”

Chen Hui, standing nearby, felt slightly awkward.

Leonid rattled off a string of incomprehensible Russian, gesturing with both hands at the same time, and dragged Chen Hui off to a corner—seemingly telling her: this is not suitable for young eyes, look away.

Bai Youwei watched them for a while, and then—whether inspired by the scene or not—walked over to Shen Mo in a few quick steps and asked, “Is there anything you’d like to say to me?”

Shen Mo: “…”

Bai Youwei threw her arms around him and also began to wheedle with little whimpers: “Do you love me? Do you love me?~”

Shen Mo’s face warmed a little. He looked around at the others…

He was not the type of person who could openly display his feelings in public.

But Bai Youwei kept at him persistently, clinging and cloying without end. In a moment of desperation, Shen Mo grabbed her waist, turned, and pressed her against the wall. Bending down to speak beside her ear, he said, “Acting up again, are we?”

Bai Youwei’s ear felt warm. She pressed her lips together and asked quietly, “Then just say it already~ Do you love me or not?”

“I do.” Shen Mo nipped at her earlobe.

Bai Youwei was satisfied. She clung to his fingers again, all sweetness and lingering, and drew a heart on the glass window.

Shen Mo looked at that heart, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. His cool fingertip tapped the tip of her nose, and he sighed, “You’re about to go into the maze, and you’re not even a little bit nervous.”

Bai Youwei grinned. “Love has clouded my reason~”

Shen Mo couldn’t do anything with her—he just looked at her and laughed.

……

—