Chapter 36: Accusations at Dawn

“Good morning, everyone. How were your results from last night?”

As dawn’s faint light barely touched the sky, Hank, Kabasiji, and Xue Hu had already gathered in the village square.

Holding up a wooden board, Xue Hu greeted the others with a smile.

“Let’s share what we’ve accomplished, then hurry off to hunt monsters!”

“…”

Hank stared silently at the silver-haired loli before him, as if trying to discern her true intentions.

Yet, apart from her innocent smile, there seemed to be nothing else to glean from her expression.

Finally, Hank shook his head and spoke.

“Haven’t you heard? Xingxing is dead.”

“Oh, I heard,” Xue Hu replied, still grinning at Hank and Kabasiji.

“But what does that matter? This place is inherently dangerous, and ultimately, only one of us will survive.”

On her wooden board, she scrawled a chilling message.

“If it were up to me, I’d certainly wish she’d died sooner, because her heart wasn’t truly with us.”

“Why did you let her go out?!” Hank demanded, impulsively rushing toward Xue Hu.

“Were you deliberately trying to harm her?! Was that person she knew—was it you?!”

His hands gripping Xue Hu’s shoulders, he questioned her furiously.

“Did you kill her to silence her, so we wouldn’t discover your secret?! How can you still smile and utter such cold, unfeeling words when a fellow adventurer has died?!”

“Let go first,” Xue Hu said coldly, her gaze fixed on Hank.

“While you can’t hurt me, this is quite irritating.”

A rapid stream of words appeared on the wooden board in her hands.

“You care so much about her, so are you the person she knew? What does her death have to do with me? I couldn’t have killed her myself; if she sought her own demise, how could I have stopped her?”

“Why are you so agitated? Is the secret revealed by her death perhaps your own?”

“Alright, alright, stop arguing for now,” Kabasiji interjected, stepping forward.

He extended his hands, separating Hank and Xue Hu.

“Xingxing’s death was her own doing; no one here could have killed her. Only monsters can do that, so she must have sought out a monster and been killed in retaliation.”

“She had her own legs; if she was determined to rush to her death, no one could stop her.”

“However, the crucial question now is, who was the person she knew? If Xingxing had succeeded in capturing White Tiger this time, we would all have lost.”

“If the person she knew also has a similar mission, then we must be on our guard!”

“So, you’re claiming you definitely didn’t know her, then?” Xue Hu’s sharp gaze pierced Kabasiji.

“Or is this elaborate explanation merely a cover-up for yourself?”

This man had always been Xue Hu’s prime suspect for being the “person Xingxing knew,” and she suspected his codename might even be something like “Renegade X.”

Thus, her interrogation was utterly merciless.

“You’re usually quite taciturn, so why have you suddenly jumped in to mediate now? Are you perhaps intentionally trying to clear yourself of this possible suspicion?”

“Don’t try to shift the blame; I still suspect you!” Hank retorted, redirecting the conversation back to Xue Hu.

“Tell me, did you know Xingxing was going to look for White Tiger last night? Why didn’t you stop her? Instead, you let her go capture White Tiger!”

“If she had succeeded, we would all have been utterly defeated!”

He questioned her gravely.

“I think you understood her very well, believing she couldn’t possibly capture White Tiger, which is why you boldly allowed her into the forest. This way, you could both silence her and eliminate her as a potential threat.”

“What makes you think I knew what she was going to do?” Xue Hu shot back, rolling her eyes at Hank.

“It was her freedom to go capture White Tiger; I had no interest in paying attention to her!”

She defiantly scrawled on her board.

“Do you have any evidence to prove it? If not, am I to assume you’re simply slandering me?”

“Heh, evidence?” Hank sneered.

“Don’t assume that just because I’m a brute, I lack any powers of observation. I have three pieces of evidence.”

“Firstly, only you could possibly know White Tiger’s specific strength, because you’re the only one among us who scouted the forest at night.”

“Moreover, your mission was clear: to investigate the distribution of monsters within the forest and their power rankings.”

He continued his analysis.

“Secondly, Xingxing could only have died in the forest, most likely killed by White Tiger. Your night mission was originally in the forest, so there was a high probability you would meet!”

“Thirdly, you are currently wearing ‘Fisherman’ class equipment; you are now a ‘Fisherman,’ and Xingxing was originally a ‘Fisherman.’ Can you explain why your classes and positions swapped?”

“We only swapped positions, not classes,” Xue Hu replied, shrugging her shoulders.

On her wooden board, she wrote.

“That person entered the forest as a ‘Warrior’; otherwise, she wouldn’t have died in there. Of course, as a Warrior, she wouldn’t have been able to capture White Tiger either.”

“I didn’t harm her; she came to me herself, requesting to swap classes, saying she wanted to clear her head. I simply agreed, never imagining she’d be so reckless as to go fight White Tiger alone as a ‘Warrior’!”

“You say I understand her? Perhaps I know a little more than you all, given that we initially teamed up together. But if you’re implying I know much more than that, then I must disagree.”