“Shushu, thank goodness you’re alright!” “I honestly thought I’d never see you again…” Su Bai, still gripping the steering wheel, cried out before she’d even left the car. Without bothering to park properly, she leapt out and swept Ye Shu into a fierce embrace. The familiar scent in her arms gradually calmed Su Bai’s frantic heart. She had always known this little maniac Ye Shu, a thousand-year harbinger of disaster, couldn’t possibly die so easily! Su Bai ran her hands anxiously over Ye Shu, searching for wounds. “Are you hurt? And—what about that parasite?” “Me? I’m perfectly fine!” Ye Shu put on a show of composure, her expression utterly unchanged. If she hadn’t started out with that resurrection card, things might have ended very differently. This round, the parasites had evolved at a terrifying rate. Zhao Yao transformed from a human to a high-tier parasite in under half a month; had she concealed herself until the very last day, there was no way Ye Shu could have taken her out so easily with just some strong acid. Now that Ye Shu’s safety was assured, Su Bai finally noticed Zhao Yao’s mangled, rotting body not far away. “That—that thing? Is this the so-called top parasite you mentioned?” Ye Shu nodded. Zhao Yao had rallied the parasites, even established a fake shelter—she was truly a monster among monsters. Back before she’d discovered their weakness, Ye Shu had nearly worn herself out trying to kill this one. A faint, guttural pant slipped from Zhao Yao, splayed weakly on the ground like a dying dog. Her eyes were filled with venom as she glared at Su Bai. “What are you looking at? Even with your body eaten through like that, you still dare to glare at me? Tsk. Hey, Ye Shu, I don’t recall Fu Shiyi giving you any venom before he left! For you to melt this thing to a puddle… Must’ve taken a fair bit of blood, huh?” Hearing this, Fu Jingchuan and the others turned their attention to the feebly twitching remains of Zhao Yao. Any monster Ye Shu called a real problem was bound to be anything but simple. Pang Pangzi tensed like he was facing a primal threat, eyes glued to the dissolving mess on the ground. Meanwhile, Lin Qing’s face twisted in a peculiar way. If Ye Xiaoshu had walked away from this unharmed… then she must’ve learned its weakness, right? The very next second, Ye Shu laid it all out with zero hesitation: “This bug’s afraid of acid. I didn’t do anything special—just doused her with regular vinegar. And here she is! Honestly, at first I thought I was done for.” Her words were flippant, but her face stayed stern as she produced what remained of a bottle of white vinegar. Lying on the ground, Zhao Yao’s face drained white; her half-corrodded body curled in on itself. This cursed madwoman… She just blurted out their species’ secret without a care! If it had known how badly things would turn out, it would never have tangled with this lunatic! “Really? You’re serious?” “Just a bottle of plain vinegar?” “You can’t be serious. What—so I could’ve stomped this bug flat in a heartbeat?” Su Bai looked unconvinced, which sent flickers of green and purple over Zhao Yao’s ruined face. It wasn’t just Su Bai—Fu Jingchuan and even Pang Pangzi looked skeptical, and Fu Shiyi in particular refused to believe food-grade vinegar could rival true poison. Lin Qing, however, understood. If you got a second chance at life and still couldn’t figure it out, you might as well accept your fate. Ye Xiaoshu was hardly that useless; clearly, the one to die had to be someone else. A sly, harmless look darted across Su Bai’s face as she eyed the heap that had once been Zhao Yao, sending a chill down what was left of her spine. Something bad was coming—Zhao Yao could sense it. She’d guessed right. “Shushu, lend me that vinegar. I’d love to see if you’re just messing with me.” Su Bai’s mind flashed back to the dream: Ye Shu, bloodied, lying in the mud. The memory made her shiver all over again. She snatched the vinegar from Ye Shu and poured a ladle over Zhao Yao’s twitching remains. A fierce hissing rose up as white smoke curled from Zhao Yao’s flesh; what was left of her collapsed into mush. “I—I’ll never… dare— Please, let me go, I swear I’ll—” But her words never finished. Extreme corrosion took her last breath. Zhao Yao was dead. “Well, I swear that wasn’t on purpose! Who knew she’d die so easily? Shushu, would you believe me if I said it was an accident?” Su Bai spread her hands helplessly, a mocking glint in her eyes. Ye Shu didn’t notice, nodding along. Given Su Bai’s brash temperament, mistakes were only to be expected. She’d meant to ask why the parasites inherited the players’ memories—and the screens—but perhaps Zhao Yao’s body was one of a kind. ... Armed with vital information, the group cleared out a vast area in short order. Ye Shu shared the parasite’s vulnerability to acid generously with the locals and other players alike. By the game’s twenty-fifth day, strong acids had been tested everywhere. Special extermination squads popped up in every region. Infected people with lighter symptoms took vinegar to flush out the parasites from their bodies. The anti-parasite campaign blazed across the nation. On the twenty-sixth day, everyone joined the effort. Parasites lurking in the shadows were unearthed one by one. By all indications, things were finally looking up. By the twenty-seventh day, the parasites had vanished without a trace. Life slowly returned to normal. Ye Shu, first to uncover the parasite’s weakness and lead the charge, kept her merits quietly to herself. “According to the latest reports, at 10:29 this morning, the very last parasite victim in Beijing’s XX Hospital was discharged in good health… thanks to this crisis, plain white vinegar has become a household hero…” The news anchor’s voice was lively, full of color. Having finished a set of Wing Chun moves, Ye Shu asked off-handedly, “So what day of the game is it? We’re about to be sent out of here soon, aren’t we?” Fu Shiyi was fiddling with a micro-detonator, cute round face scrunched with concentration. Seems that ever since Ye Shu split a batch of these detonators from her latest purchase, he hadn’t put it down. “Not yet,” Fu Shiyi said breezily. “Tomorrow’s the twenty-eighth day; we’ve got three days left in this instance, Sis Ye. Your sense of time’s always a bit off.” Three days left?! Such a long stretch—who knew what else could go wrong? Ye Shu’s easy smile faltered; the fried peanuts in her mouth suddenly tasted like dust. She had a hunch the game, being ever so devious, wouldn’t let things wrap up peacefully. Determined, she tossed her fruit plate to the merman and placed a citywide order for a large supply of industrial acid and white vinegar. Within an hour, dozens of barrels of industrial-grade acid arrived at the villa, and Su Bai, saying nothing, helped by buying out all the remaining vinegar in local shops. Yet, by the end of that day, nothing happened. Game day twenty-eight—6:14 a.m. The sun had not yet risen. Just as Ye Shu was beginning to doubt her own instincts, the merman at her side let out a cry: “That stench—it’s back again!”