“I could smell a faint trace a moment ago, but now there's nothing left at all.”
Half of the Jiao Ren's head peeked out from Ye Shu's pocket, its round eyes wide with confusion, as if doubting the very sense of smell it so prized.
“So, is there something here or not?”
Ye Shu forced herself to be patient—wasn't her whole point in exterminating these parasites to rack up points? If there were no parasites in this apartment block, then what was she even doing here?
“Master... the scent seems to have vanished.”
“But—give me a bit more time. I might, probably, still be able to find...”
Ye Shu could hear how Little Bai's confidence was running on fumes. She gave a noncommittal reply and leaned against the corner, her gaze lingering on the dried, filthy blood on the ground.
If her hunch was correct, the presence that had been spying on her just moments ago had to be somewhere nearby.
Should she drag them out, even if she didn't yet know whether they were human or parasite?
“Master, soon! Just a moment, please...”
As a monster from the deepest trench of the sea, and a high-ranked one at that, its sense of smell was supposed to be infallible... But the ephemeral, almost nonexistent scent really had disappeared in the blink of an eye—just as it thought it had locked in on the right spot.
The Jiao Ren hopped out of her pocket and circled the area, nose twitching, before coming to a halt in front of a not-too-shabby apartment door.
“It's here!”
It would stake its name on it—this was exactly where the scent had faded.
No mistake.
“Oh.”
Her own enhanced sense of smell, courtesy of the game, could barely pick up the faintest whiff when it rained—she still relied on the Jiao Ren for the real tracking. All those parasites they'd hunted down in a short burst were thanks mostly to Little Bai.
Ye Shu lazily wiped the blood from her peachwood sword, stepped forward, and approached the door where the Jiao Ren was stationed.
She lifted her hand to knock—when suddenly the door creaked open.
“Who are you? Why are you standing outside my apartment?”
“Ah!!”
“Are you the one who was fighting monsters downstairs just now? You’re incredible! Big sis, you really have the aura of a superpowered heroine from a novel! Did you come up here because there are still monsters lurking nearby? Can I come with you? I might be just an ordinary girl, but I can cook like a champ!”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Zhao Yao. This is my first time in the game—I’m a player too.”
The girl across from her eyed Ye Shu suspiciously—her innocent gaze was laced with a thread of fear and admiration.
“You... you're a player too.”
Ye Shu was caught off guard, momentarily at a loss for words.
She couldn't pick up that parasite stench herself, so she subtly signaled to the Jiao Ren.
The Jiao Ren got the message and slipped closer to Zhao Yao.
What's going on? The scent definitely drifted from somewhere near this apartment—so why was it gone now?!
There was no trace of the sickly, revolting odor that always clung to parasites. Instead, the girl smelled pleasantly of soap—clearly not the monster they were hunting.
Maybe... its nose really had failed it for once.
After double-checking, it cast Ye Shu a guilty, apologetic look.
Ye Shu nodded and gestured for it to stand down.
No parasite meant there was no reason to waste words with this rookie player.
“Leaving already, sis? Can you take me with you?”
Zhao Yao watched Ye Shu with pleading eyes. She couldn't help but think of Lin Qing, who had once pulled a similar pathetic routine to cling to her.
“No.”
“I’ll go on ahead.”
“Good luck, newbie. Stock up on food while the rain’s still holding off.”
With those words tossed carelessly over her shoulder, Ye Shu turned and strode away.
Long after she’d left, Zhao Yao’s dark irises gradually bled red. Her expression lost its innocence and turned sly as she muttered under her breath, eyes trailing Ye Shu’s back: “Ah... She just left like that? How boring! I really thought she’d see through it.”
“Well, the game’s only just beginning. Plenty of excitement ahead.”
Staring out at the dim, desolate sky, a trace of regret ghosted over Zhao Yao’s shadowed face.
In the car.
“Shushu, you didn’t find a parasite? No way! Little Bai’s nose never fails!”
Su Bai fiddled with a game prop in her hands, tossing out a quick tease as she did.
Ye Shu only grunted.
The Jiao Ren, now tucked safely away in her pocket, kept its mouth tightly shut.
It knew, with Su Bai, a sharp tongue was never far behind. If it couldn’t handle such an easy job in this dungeon, its master wouldn’t bring it next time—and it already lagged behind that creepy weirdo in terms of rank.
“Sister Ye, the parasite ran off.”
Lin Qing, usually silent, broke the quiet with a hammer blow.
“Wait, you can smell those monsters? You mean your nose is sharper than Little Bai’s? Why in the world didn’t you say so earlier?”
Ye Shu blurted the question without thinking.
A strange tension filled the car.
After a long moment, Lin Qing at last replied, “You never asked. And... I figured the half-fish was pretty strong.”
Was that a dig?
Probably.
Almost definitely.
The more the Jiao Ren mulled it over, the angrier it got—if its owner wasn’t right there, it would have leapt for Lin Qing’s neck, fangs bared.
But it held back.
It knew all too well—there was no way it could win against this human boy.
The car rolled quietly toward the villa district.
Parasite corpses, torn and broken, littered the roadsides the whole way.
Ye Shu gazed out the window, eyes half-closed.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that Zhao Yao wasn’t as harmless as she’d seemed.
It felt as though something important was eluding her.
……
The twenty-second day of the game.
Ye Shu led Fu Jingchuan and the others as they scoured the surrounding area, with the Jiao Ren sniffing out parasites one by one.
The point tally grew steadily, and her combat prowess sharpened.
Pang Pangzi, who had once been content to loot corpses, could now just barely dispatch the lowest-level parasites with a single strike.
The twenty-third day.
Monster hunting, leveling up.
The twenty-fourth day.
More fighting, more leveling.
By the time Ye Shu had carved out a vast, parasite-free safe zone spanning several hundred kilometers around the villa district, she’d drawn considerable attention—and received an invitation from a local sanctuary.
“Shushu, who cares about their parasite research... There’s only a few days left before we clear the game, it’s not like we have to join the sanctuary!”
Su Bai, sharp as ever, glanced at the invitation and instantly saw through the sanctuary’s ploy.
They wanted her to lead their parasite squad, yet nowhere did they mention pay—just some flowery words expecting her party’s labor for free.
Ye Shu agreed with her assessment.
But she still decided to go.
She couldn’t help but be curious about those parasites that could transition between their foggy form and solid bodies.
The sanctuary wasn’t far—about two hours round-trip from the villa cluster.
She discouraged Su Bai from coming along for company, and set off by herself.
The place was unlike her imaginings: bustling, crowded, as if the parasite invasion had simply passed it by.