Chapter 250: Health Bar (5)

Adjusting her breathing, Qiong got back to her feet, her gaze calm once more, her expression icy and indifferent.

She turned around and, after a few swift leaps, rapidly returned to the original spot.

Eugene returned at the same time. They had gone in opposite directions, yet met again where they had started, the three of them reunited once more.

Ignoring Eugene's suspicious look, Qiong looked directly at He Yu.

"Did you find anything?"

He Yu shook his head.

"No."

Qiong frowned, her gaze dark.

"That shouldn't be possible. Siya couldn't have avoided a fight. As long as she fought, the other party would have left traces..."

He Yu withdrew his gaze, put the whistle back into his backpack, crouched down, and used the broken sword to carefully scrape up the bloodstained dirt from the ground. Bit by bit, he worked with extreme care.

Watching what He Yu was doing, Eugene sighed and crouched beside him to help. Qiong took out a small box, and He Yu placed the blood-soaked dirt inside before sealing it.

He looked at Qiong.

"You'll keep it?"

She shook her head, looking at the box with a complicated expression.

"You keep it."

Cheng Zhao's belongings had been entrusted to He Yu. Siya's would be entrusted to him as well.

Qiong didn't know how Siya had died.

But she did know that she herself might not survive to leave here.

If possible, she hoped He Yu would carry these keepsakes out of the Top Talent Show.

Everyone left behind proof that they had once existed. Even if nothing remained after death, traces and memories still did.

Qiong didn't know why He Yu collected these things, but preserving Siya's traces was enough.

She slowly withdrew her gaze and forced herself to stop thinking about it.

Bullet Screen:

"Why is He Yu collecting their belongings?"

"...Because they were teammates. As long as He Yu is alive, no one will ever forget Cheng Zhao or Siya."

"No one else will forget them, and He Yu least of all."

Another minute passed.

The two left briefly again before returning, resetting the timer once more.

He Yu put the box into his backpack, his expression tranquil, his voice calm.

"Siya definitely fought someone. Even if she was caught off guard at first, she would've resisted in the end. The blood all over the ground proves it."

Siya would never have lain there waiting to die.

Eugene was usually carefree and flippant, but Siya's death had shaken him.

Even he and Gedai had temporarily put aside their hostility toward one another...

Yet Siya had died.

His usually unserious face had become completely solemn. His silver hair looked colder than ever, his black eyes were deep, and his voice was slightly hoarse.

"But there aren't any traces of anyone else. Only Siya's traces remain. Footprints, dust, scent, battle marks... there's nothing belonging to another person. At least, I can't find any."

As someone from Mechanical Planet who excelled at treating himself like a machine, Eugene possessed radar-like detection abilities.

If even he couldn't find anything, then no one else probably could either.

He Yu let out a cold laugh.

"Because every trace was erased."

He slightly raised his head, looking toward the space above them. His eyes were unfathomably deep.

"I don't know who attacked Siya, but that person must be extremely powerful. Careful. Ruthless."

"And... assisted by a 'god.'"

Assisted by a "god."

But this "god" was very different from the ordinary meaning of the word.

Eugene's pupils contracted.

As though realizing something, he raised his voice.

"You mean it has something to do with the mastermind?!"

The mastermind could interfere with the rules.

Interfering with the competition itself wasn't impossible.

Qiong immediately frowned, her expression unreadable.

"So Siya was killed by the mastermind? How did they do it? Or did they use someone else?"

Eugene thought calmly.

"They probably used another person. The livestream exists. The mastermind couldn't have acted personally."

If they had acted personally...

The entire universe would have witnessed it live.

He Yu suddenly asked,

"Why do you think it was Siya?"

The two of them froze.

Yes.

Why Siya?

If the mastermind had intervened...

Why choose Siya?

She was powerful...

But she wasn't actually any more special than the others.

Take Qiong, for example.

Siya had been covering for Qiong.

Zhante, Eugene, Yuan Ze, Tang Ke, Wanrenzhan...

They were the real investigators.

Why target Siya?

Then...

What about everyone else?

Would the mastermind attack the others as well?

Eugene's heart tightened.

His mechanical arm unconsciously emerged.

"So... we might all be in danger too?"

Another minute expired.

The two disappeared, returned, and reset the countdown yet again.

Again and again.

Both of them were becoming increasingly irritated, barely suppressing their frustration.

Especially with the smell of blood still lingering in the air...

He Yu neither denied nor confirmed Eugene's speculation.

He merely said calmly,

"Everyone is in danger. Whether the mastermind acted or not, as long as the mastermind exists, we're all in danger."

Qiong asked,

"What do we do now?"

He Yu straightened his clothes.

His delicate face remained cold as he lowered his eyes slightly.

"Split up. Finish this instance as quickly as possible. Either reach the second half of the semifinals... or reach the Transfer Station."

Qiong looked at him worriedly.

Eugene frowned again.

"What's with your HP bar?"

If He Yu's HP bar were real...

There would be nothing to worry about.

But based on everything Eugene knew about him...

There was no way this thing was real.

Sure enough, He Yu nodded frankly.

"It's fake."

Eugene rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"So you're just walking around with a fake HP bar? You might fool the contestants, but there's no way you're fooling the mastermind. You're the one in the most danger."

Of course He Yu knew he was in danger.

The HP bar was fake.

Even Eugene and Qiong, who knew him well, weren't fooled.

How could the mastermind possibly be deceived?

He only intended to fool contestants who posed a threat to him.

He Yu remained completely composed.

"I know. But we can't stay here forever. I'll be fine. Just protect yourselves. If you run into the others, tell them everything we've learned."

Qiong hesitated before finally nodding.

"...Alright."

After agreeing, she turned around and disappeared into one of the tunnels within a few steps.

Eugene, meanwhile, circled He Yu from head to toe, his eyes stopping on the absurdly long HP bar sticking out of the tunnel.

"...That transformable decorative equipment again?"

He Yu nodded.

Eugene:

"..."

He looked utterly speechless.

"How the hell did that thing end up in your hands?!"

Back during Death Countdown, that equipment had already tricked countless people.

Even thinking about it now left Eugene speechless.

And now it had returned.

That ridiculous HP bar could fool people to death.

He could almost imagine it.

If he encountered He Yu and they weren't teammates...

He would probably give up trying to kill him purely because of that terrifying HP bar.

The trick was shameless.

But it worked.

The more outrageous it looked...

The scarier it became.

The sort of thing that left anyone who saw it completely speechless.

He Yu shrugged.

"It suits me."

That was true enough.

In anyone else's hands, the equipment would've been thrown into a backpack as useless junk.

Only He Yu could come up with so many ridiculous ways to use it.

When the equipment had first appeared...

Every one of them had despised it.

They had even mocked He Yu for not obtaining combat equipment.

Thinking of that, Eugene looked deeply at him.

"Take care."

He Yu nodded.

"Alright."

The timer was about to expire.

As soon as he heard He Yu answer, Eugene immediately turned and disappeared into another tunnel.

He Yu remained standing where he was.

He still couldn't see the Bullet Screen.

But he hadn't been relying on it completely anyway.

After persuading Eugene and Qiong to leave...

He himself didn't leave.

He remained standing there.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Anyone paying close attention would notice...

He was holding the smoke grenade Qiong had given him.

He Yu...

Was waiting.

He had a theory that needed verification.

There was a fifty-percent chance.

He wanted to know whether it was that fifty percent.

Of course...

If he confirmed it...

He would very likely die here.

But so what?

What He Yu feared least...

Was death.

Betting his life for an answer...

Wasn't the first time.

Whoosh—

A gust of wind.

He Yu's eyes narrowed slightly.

Closing his eyes, he listened carefully.

His mind worked like the backend of a supercomputer.

Every possibility.

Every piece of information.

Countless deductions.

Everything was being processed at terrifying speed, faster than any normal person could follow.

Someone was coming.

He Yu instantly dodged aside.

Opening his eyes, his gaze became as sharp as a blade.

The whistle was already between his lips.

He turned, ready to blow it—

Only to meet...

A scarred face.

Wanrenzhan.

He wasn't holding a weapon.

Instead, he spread both arms.

Seeing He Yu dodge away, he immediately turned and grabbed him into a bear hug, giving him two heavy pats before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Good thing you're alright. Looks like my luck's pretty damn good. I actually found you."

He Yu:

"..."

Wanrenzhan looked puzzled.

"Why're you just standing here? And why've you got a whistle in your mouth?"

He Yu:

"............"

At the same moment...

Two people emerged from neighboring tunnels, both holding weapons, both fully alert.

Eugene.

And Qiong.

Neither of them had actually left.

Seeing Wanrenzhan...

Both fell silent.

Bullet Screen:

"..."

"...I think I know what just happened."

"Me too. They were waiting for whoever killed Siya... and instead they got Wanrenzhan!!"

"So that's why they suddenly split up. They were trying to bait someone out!"

—

Wanrenzhan looked at the silent He Yu.

Then at Eugene and Qiong, who had returned just as silently.

Wanrenzhan:

"???"

He raised his voice in disbelief.

"What? You're not happy to see me?"

He'd gone through so much trouble to find He Yu.

Why was everyone looking at him like that?

Wanrenzhan was unhappy.

Expressionless, Qiong and Eugene said nothing.

They simply turned around and left again, disappearing into different tunnels.

This time...

They really were gone.

Another minute was about to expire.

Wanrenzhan entered another tunnel, quickly returned, and reset the countdown.

Standing in front of He Yu, his tall body looked overbearing as ever.

His scarred face appeared especially fierce, his blond hair wildly disheveled, his expression smug.

"Well? Didn't expect me to come back again, did you? Hahaha! I came up with a brilliant plan. I can leave first and then come back, so I can stay with you the whole time!"

He Yu:

"..."

Bullet Screen:

"Who would've thought this idiot could actually come up with something like that..."

"The tiny bit of intelligence he has is used entirely on He Yu."

Wanrenzhan grinned proudly.

"Well? Pretty good idea, right? Bet you didn't think of it."

He Yu:

"..."

Expressionless, his eyes paused almost imperceptibly on Wanrenzhan's head.

Nothing had changed.

So why...

Did it feel like this man's brainstem was shrinking?

Wanrenzhan continued,

"You're not touched? Siya died. This instance is dangerous. The maze's a complete mess. Nobody else could find you. Only I did. And you're not even touched?"

To be fair...

Sometimes fools really did have fool's luck.

Zhen Xing, Bo Jingshan, Ling Buchen, Duan Yuchen, and the others were all searching for He Yu.

Yet only this fool...

Despite starting farther away...

Had somehow wandered through the maze by sheer coincidence and found him.

Everyone else was still on their way.

Wanrenzhan, however...

Was already standing in front of He Yu.

Hearing that, He Yu replied perfunctorily,

"I'm touched. Very touched."

His eyes continued scanning the surroundings.

He no longer heard any strange wind.

Nor did he notice anything unusual.

Everything was calm.

As though nothing had happened.

For a moment...

He couldn't tell whether the wind from earlier had merely been caused by Wanrenzhan's arrival...

Or whether...

Someone else had already appeared...

Only to retreat after Wanrenzhan unexpectedly barged in.

He Yu frowned slightly, deep in thought.

Wanrenzhan clicked his tongue.

Naturally, he could hear the perfunctory tone in He Yu's voice.

He muttered quietly,

"Seriously doesn't appreciate anything. It's this dangerous, and instead of trying to butter me up, you're still brushing me off..."

After grumbling, he immediately ran off again before quickly returning to reset the minute.

"He Yu, I'll stick with you from now on. You're way too weak. With that tiny little bit of HP—"

His voice stopped abruptly.

He stared at the enormous HP bar above He Yu's head in disbelief.

"What the hell is that?!"

Bullet Screen:

"So you only noticed it NOW?!"

"...Honestly, his eyes only ever see He Yu, hahaha."

"He didn't even notice the HP bar. Is he focused... or just blind?"

Hearing that, He Yu looked at him.

With that gigantic, terrifying HP bar above his head, he smiled faintly.

A smile capable of sending chills down anyone's spine.

"What do you think it is?"

Wanrenzhan:

"............"

He blinked.

Looked at He Yu.

Then looked back at the HP bar.

A moment later...

He wore an unusually serious expression.

"That's fake."

He Yu nodded.

"Mm. It's fake."

Wanrenzhan practically jumped.

"Holy shit, it really IS fake?! Fine, fake's one thing—but why'd you make it this damn long?!"

So...

His certainty before had been nothing more than instinct.

He Yu paused briefly before looking away.

"None of your business."

Wanrenzhan wanted to keep talking.

He Yu spoke quietly,

"Two seconds left."

"Fuck! What kind of bullshit countdown is this?!"

Wanrenzhan immediately ran off again.

Moments later, he returned, resetting the timer.

Looking once more at the eye-catching HP bar, he seemed ready to complain again.

In the end, he held it back.

With a long sigh, he said,

"Forget it. As long as I'm guarding you, everything should be fine."

Looking directly into He Yu's eyes, he declared,

"From now until the end of this instance, I'll stay with you the whole time. I'll make sure you stay alive."

After a pause, he added,

"Don't get the wrong idea. If you die, there'll be one less person helping figure out the truth. I don't really care whether you live or die."

Turning his head aside, he muttered awkwardly,

"...Maybe I care a tiny little bit. So you'd better stay alive."

Bullet Screen:

"He Yu didn't even say anything, and Wanrenzhan already finished imagining the whole conversation..."

"Talking to himself again. Idiot, you'll always be an idiot."

Wanrenzhan's awkward tsundere reaction suddenly reminded He Yu of Siya.

Pressing his lips together, He Yu stepped forward, leaving only one sentence behind.

"If you want to follow me... then follow."

He left the place where Siya had died.

Her death had come far too suddenly.

But the truth behind it demanded to be uncovered.

He Yu had already said it before—

Whether in heaven or the underworld...

As long as he remained alive...

He would avenge her.

As the minute expired once again, Wanrenzhan sprinted away, shouting over his shoulder,

"Hey! Stay where you are! Wait for me!"

The maze was a complete mess.

If He Yu walked off while he was resetting the timer...

They might never find each other again.

—

"He Yu, is there some hidden truth behind Siya's death? Who killed her?"

Wanrenzhan returned once more.

He Yu shook his head.

His delicate, pale face carried a slight frown.

"I don't know. There's no evidence. No clues."

Only Siya's final words—

"He Yu, quick—"

That alone was nowhere near enough to determine what she had encountered.

"Siya was strong. Very few people could kill her. Out of everyone still alive, besides us, only six remain. Should we eliminate the suspects one by one?"

He Yu shook his head again.

"No rush. Survival is all that matters in this instance."

Gathering everyone together was almost impossible.

Even if they met...

They only had one minute.

Hardly enough time for meaningful discussion.

Whatever needed saying would have to wait until after advancing.

Wanrenzhan fell into thought as well.

After walking only a short distance...

The timer expired again.

He ran off once more before charging back at top speed.

He Yu looked at him.

"Aren't you tired?"

"Not at all."

Wanrenzhan was breathing heavily.

"Of course I'm not tired. This is nothing. My combat power's ridiculously high. A weakling with two combat power like you couldn't possibly understand."

He Yu:

"...Alright."

Whatever makes you happy.

Running once or twice...

Or even ten or twenty times...

Was nothing.

But running nonstop over a hundred times...

Was an entirely different matter.

Even if the body didn't tire...

The mind eventually would.

Yet Wanrenzhan looked...

Oddly excited.

Bullet Screen:

"..."

"An idiot indeed."

Wanrenzhan ran off once again.

This time, He Yu stopped walking.

Now...

He could see the Bullet Screen.

His eyes immediately focused on the discussions about Siya.

Like a computer, his mind rapidly filtered out useful information.

"Waaah... Siya actually died. I can't accept it!!"

"How exactly did Siya die? I haven't watched the replay yet."

"I watched it and still couldn't understand. Right before and after her death, the screen glitched for an instant. Then we heard Siya shout, 'He Yu, quick—' and after that... blood everywhere. Siya collapsed."

"Was everything completely blurred? Couldn't see anything?"

"Not exactly. It was blurry, but you could still make things out. Except... there wasn't anyone else in Siya's livestream. Only Siya herself."

"Right. No one else appeared. There was no way to see who attacked."

"And during that instant, every livestream glitched. Nobody saw the truth."

...

Standing beside the cave wall, He Yu frowned deeply.

So...

The screens had glitched.

Every single livestream had glitched for an instant.

Yet they hadn't gone completely blank.

Everyone witnessed Siya's death.

And yet...

No one except Siya appeared on screen.

A hallucination?

Impossible.

Siya had unquestionably died.

Then...

Who killed her?

Was it the system instance itself executing her?

If so...

That would be far too abnormal.

If the mastermind had gone that far...

Why kill only Siya instead of eliminating He Yu and everyone else?

Something was wrong.

There had to be something wrong.

Some Bullet Screen viewers guessed the mastermind had personally attacked Siya, causing the screen interference.

Others believed the mastermind had used someone else to kill her before erasing all traces and footage of the murderer.

Both theories...

Seemed entirely possible.

He Yu continued thinking.

At that moment...

A contestant suddenly emerged from the darkness and swung their equipment at He Yu.

Kill him!

He Yu's figure disappeared from where he stood.

The attacker froze.

Turning around...

They found He Yu standing behind them.

Their pupils contracted violently.

He Yu's HP bar was real?!

He had just completed an instantaneous movement.

Only top-tier experts could do that.

Combined with that absurdly enormous HP bar...

The only conclusion was that it was genuine.

The contestant immediately turned and fled at full speed.

Splash—

Blood sprayed.

Wanrenzhan wiped away the blood before walking back.

"Tch. You really do need someone protecting you. I was gone for just a moment and someone already attacked you."

Bullet Screen:

"Thanks, but even without you, He Yu would've scared them away himself."

He Yu:

"..."

He looked away, put away the projection equipment, and continued walking.

Wanrenzhan kept rambling.

"See? You need someone protecting you. My presence is absolutely necessary. You'd better start treating me nicer. Right now you're relying on me, so you'd better—"

He Yu silently sped up.

Only four hours remained.

Sixty contestants were left inside the Infinite Maze.

Within those four hours...

Ten more contestants had to be eliminated.

Otherwise...

Once time expired...

He Yu himself would be eliminated.

Yet accomplishing that was far from easy.

Many people had likely learned about Zhen Xing's plan.

As a result...

Very few contestants were still wandering through the maze.

Most had hidden themselves, hoping to survive until advancement.

After all...

None of them could defeat Zhen Xing and the others.

The contestant who had attacked He Yu had been hiding.

When He Yu happened to pass by, they thought killing him would distract Zhen Xing's group from hunting everyone else.

That was why they attacked.

What they never expected...

Was that He Yu had already activated his projection equipment while standing still.

Combined with that terrifying HP bar...

They immediately retreated.

What they expected even less...

Was Wanrenzhan.

As the two continued walking...

They suddenly heard sounds of fighting ahead.

Someone was there?

He Yu immediately headed toward the tunnel where the noise originated.

Wanrenzhan grabbed him, lowering his voice.

"Hey! They're fighting up ahead. What're you going there for? What if you get caught up in it?"

Without looking back, He Yu answered,

"Isn't that what you're here for?"

Wanrenzhan froze.

Then...

For some inexplicable reason...

The tips of his ears turned red.

He grumbled awkwardly,

"...Fine. Wait here. I'll scout ahead first."

He couldn't help it.

Whenever He Yu spoke to him like that...

He completely lost the ability to think rationally.

He simply obeyed.

He shot forward at top speed.

At exactly the same moment...

He Yu reset his own one-minute timer.

After Wanrenzhan rushed ahead...

He Yu didn't stay where he was.

Instead...

He followed.

Not because he wasn't afraid of death.

But because...

He had sensed something familiar.

Before long, Wanrenzhan returned with a strange expression.

"It's nothing. Just two people fighting. They're not from our team. Ignore them."

He reached out, intending to drag He Yu away.

He Yu didn't move.

Instead, he asked quietly,

"If they're not from our team... why didn't you attack them?"

Wanrenzhan:

"..."

He coughed.

Putting on a perfectly serious expression, he said,

"I don't need to. They're about to kill each other anyway. Let's go another way."

He Yu looked at him deeply before smiling faintly.

"Do you really think you can lie in front of me?"

After a pause, he added the finishing blow.

"Especially when your lies are this terrible."

With that...

He Yu walked around Wanrenzhan...

And headed straight toward the sounds of battle.