Chapter 894: Multi-Party Talks

It was the first time I’d seen such a fierce girl. She wasn’t particularly tall, but she had an intimidating presence.

“Um… I haven’t even said who I’m looking for yet, and you already said you don’t know?” I asked.

“Tch, whoever you’re looking for, I don’t know,” the girl said. “I’m used to being on my own. I don’t know anyone.”

“Ah… alright…” I nodded, inexplicably feeling like this girl in front of me was a bit similar to me.

But she was way more assertive.

Just then, a middle-aged man walked by. I had no choice but to let the girl go and stop bothering her. Instead, I grabbed the man and asked, “Hey, do you know if there’s a participant named Jiang Ruoxue around here?”

“Who…? Jiang Ruoxue?” The man paused for a second. “I think I’ve heard the name, but I don’t really know her.”

What struck me as odd was that after I mentioned Jiang Ruoxue’s name, the girl in the leather jacket, who had walked away, stopped a short distance ahead.

“Alright then…” I gave the man a polite smile. “I’ll ask someone else.”

After he left, I curiously glanced at the back of the girl in the leather jacket. She lowered her head slightly, as if muttering something to herself.

But there was no one else around. Who was she talking to?

I shook my head, thinking that running into one or two weirdos in the “Land of the End” was nothing out of the ordinary.

Just as I was about to leave, the girl in the leather jacket turned around and called out sharply, “Hey!”

“Hmm?”

She walked toward me step by step, her expression conflicted. She hesitated for a long moment before finally blurting out, “Tch… this is a robbery. Hand over all the ‘Dao’ you have.”

I was genuinely confused.

Was this sudden robbery for real?

Judging by her expression, it looked like someone was forcing her to do this.

“Mind telling me why?” I asked. “If you really wanted to rob me, you could’ve done it when we first met, right?”

The girl didn’t answer. Instead, she lowered her head and muttered quietly, “Tch, shut up. What else am I supposed to do…? You told me to stall her, but how the hell am I supposed to stall her?”

“Wait… what?” I started to suspect this girl might have some kind of split personality.

“Tch, never mind. Just hand over the ‘Dao.’ If you don’t have any, I’ll just detain you for now,” she said, raising her head again. “No rush, take your time.”

“Take my time…?”

It had been a while since I’d encountered something like this. Solo adventures really did have their own unique thrills. I slowly reached up to smooth my hair, and the girl in front of me—as if completely out of her control—mimicked the gesture, running her fingers through her own messy braids.

The action startled even herself.

To put it bluntly, even if there were thirty people surrounding me, as long as I could still move, none of them would be able to lay a finger on me.

“I think we should skip the robbery,” I said. “You’d probably die before you even touched me.”

“Damn…” She looked at me, then glanced into the distance. “Tch, impressive. The Bell hasn’t even rung yet—are you a seasoned ‘Echoer’?”

I didn’t answer, just shook my head.

“Let’s shake hands,” the girl said, extending her hand toward me. “I’m Zhou Mo. Consider it making a friend.”

The fact that this girl, Zhou Mo, knew the term “seasoned Echoer” suggested she was an “Echoer” herself. I had no intention of touching her.

Among the many “Echoes” I’d encountered, physical contact was often a trigger—like with Jiang Ruoxue or Aunt Tong. There was no way I’d willingly touch a stranger carrying an “Echo.”

Seeing that I wasn’t reaching out, Zhou Mo lowered her head again and muttered under her breath, “Tch, I’m out of options. I’ll just have to try touching her myself. Suit yourself.”

Her mental state seemed… concerning. She was standing right in front of me, yet it was like she was talking to two people at once.

“I don’t want trouble,” I said. “Whatever factions you’ve got here, I’m not involved. I’m just looking for someone.”

“What do you mean, ‘figure it out myself’?!” she suddenly shouted. “Tch, don’t be so unreasonable! I’ve already helped you this much, isn’t that enough?”

“Huh…?”

Good grief, now she was outright ignoring me.

“Uh…” I asked hesitantly, “Zhou Mo, are you… okay?”

“Tch, just hurry up and get over here!” the girl snapped. “Gu Yu isn’t even that important—just let him leave already.”

I stared at Zhou Mo, completely at a loss.

“Gu Yu, I’m talking to you. You hearing me?” she mumbled, still looking down.

Great, the number of participants in this conversation seemed to be growing by the second.

Maybe I should just leave.

“Uh… I should go find that person now,” I said. “You… do what you need to do.”

“Tch…” Zhou Mo finally lifted her head to look at me and let out a deep sigh. “Why are you leaving?”

“I—”

“Tch, I can’t keep up this act anymore. Fine, I’ll be straight with you—Jiang Ruoxue and I are from the same room,” she said. “She was too embarrassed to face you directly, so she made me stall you. This is such a pain in the ass.”

“Wait, what?” I quickly processed what had just happened. “Are you saying… you can communicate with Jiang Ruoxue from a distance?”

“Zhou Mo, the ‘Voice Transmitter,'” she said, extending her hand. “You’re the ‘King of Extremes,’ right?”

“I—”

Very few people knew about the “King of Extremes” title. I hadn’t announced it when recruiting members, so the only one who’d call me that was likely Jiang Ruoxue.

Thinking that, I reached out and shook her hand.

“Yan Zhichun.”

I had to admit, “Zhou Mo” was a memorable name—easy to recall after hearing it just once.

“Anyone I’ve touched, I can ‘transmit’ voices to,” Zhou Mo explained. “I already told Jiang Ruoxue you’re here. That bitch wants to reconcile but doesn’t want to lose face, so she’s planning to ‘accidentally’ run into you. Just wait here for a bit, watch her little performance, and… improvise, I guess.”

“Improvise…?”

Her explanation was packed with way too much information. I didn’t even know how to respond.

“Tch, by the way, things have been pretty unstable around here lately,” Zhou Mo added. “There’s a newly arrived faction making big moves—they’re gambling their lives against ‘Human-level Zodiacs.’ It’s fine if you’re just wandering around, but try not to get involved in any ‘Human-level Games.’ Otherwise, you might get dragged into a life-or-death wager.”

I nodded, then looked her in the eye. “Zhou Mo, are you part of the ‘Extremists’?”

“I…” She met my gaze. “At this point, it doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter…?”

“Tch, the interview room we were in had a game that required us to touch each other, so the moment I arrived, I could ‘transmit’ to Jiang Ruoxue,” Zhou Mo said with a helpless sigh. “That bitch unofficially considered me part of the ‘Extremists’ before the faction was even properly established. I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to.”

Well… that did sound like something Jiang Ruoxue would do.