Jiang Nuan’s scalp prickled.
That face—identical to Qinian’s—stopped right in front of her, so close that she could see the shadows cast by his eyelashes.
She had thought he would attack, or bare his fangs like the monsters in the forbidden zone.
But he only drew closer and closer, until the tip of his nose was almost touching hers.
Jiang Nuan turned her head and once again tried to condense a moon blade in the hand gripping her wrist.
The face of the person wearing Qinian’s features was only a hair’s breadth away when he suddenly stopped.
His breathing faltered for a moment.
A trace of pain appeared on that face bearing Qinian’s likeness.
Just then—
“Nuannuan!?”
The real Qinian’s voice rang out from the other end of the corridor.
The person before her glanced at Jiang Nuan once more as darkness spread from behind him.
When Jiang Nuan blinked again, there was no one in front of her.
Only Jiang Nuan remained, her back pressed against the icy wall, her right hand still held down in the same position.
“Nuannuan!” Qinian ran over.
Flames sprang up from his palm with a whoosh, illuminating part of the corridor.
“I’m sorry, Nuannuan.” He pulled Jiang Nuan into his arms. “There was something strange in the bathroom. I got trapped inside.”
“I should have gotten out sooner.”
Qinian held her tightly, as if afraid she might disappear the next second.
His entire body was warm. Even through their combat suits, Jiang Nuan could feel the heat. Only then did the tension in her nerves ease a little.
She patted Qinian’s back. “I’m fine.”
Qinian’s voice came from above her head. “I should have held it in.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. She raised a hand and smacked him lightly on the forehead. “Let’s hurry and meet up with Qi Sui.”
“All right.” Qinian nodded, released Jiang Nuan, and led her toward the infirmary by the hand.
Jiang Nuan told him about the unknown creature that had transformed into Qinian.
“If it can turn into you, it could turn into Qi Sui later—or even me. We need to find a way to confirm each other’s identities.”
“Once we meet up with my brother, we’ll come up with a code phrase.”
Jiang Nuan nodded.
What she did not tell Qinian was that the thing pretending to be him had pinned her against the wall and completely restrained all her attacks, yet it still had not hurt her.
*
Inside the infirmary, a desk lamp cast a dim glow over a small area around the table.
Qi Sui’s face was half-hidden beyond the lamplight, giving him a gentle, refined air.
Although he and Qinian had identical faces, their temperaments were completely different.
“You’re finally back.” Qi Sui curved his lips. “If you’d taken any longer, I would have thought Nian Nian had decided to make a home in the forbidden zone.”
Qinian looked guilty for a moment, then quickly lifted his chin as though nothing had happened.
“The campus is huge, and we ran into a little trouble on the way.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“I had to use the bathroom.”
Qi Sui’s gaze lingered on his younger brother.
“I felt everything that happened while you were looking for her.”
Qinian pursed his lips.
Jiang Nuan recalled what had happened in the art studio, and her ears grew hot.
Their senses were shared, which meant Qi Sui had sensed that too…
Jiang Nuan cleared her throat and deliberately changed the subject. “In this forbidden zone, whenever the three of us get separated and meet again, we should first demonstrate our abilities.”
She briefly recounted her encounter with the other “Qinian” in the corridor.
Qi Sui’s expression turned serious. “A mimic of that level appearing in an A-rank forbidden zone isn’t normal.”
“I thought so too.” Jiang Nuan frowned. “A disguise of this caliber should only be possible for a monster in an S-rank forbidden zone.”
Qi Sui stood, walked around the table, and stopped in front of them, leaning against its edge.
“There’s still been no word from Bai Siyuan or the two investigators who entered the forbidden zone ahead of us.”
“Until we know what’s going on, try not to engage the monsters here head-on.”
“Find the others first and figure out the rules. Avoid confrontation whenever possible.” Jiang Nuan nodded.
She suddenly remembered Qi Sui’s warning over the broadcast. “By the way, Qi Sui, you said earlier that we shouldn’t answer questions from strangers.”
“But I already answered a teacher’s questions. Nothing seemed to happen then.”
“What? You already answered?” Qinian immediately grew tense.
“Now I’m worried too,” Jiang Nuan said. “I was registering my student records and answered one or two questions. What happens after you answer?”
Oh no, oh no. Had she triggered some kind of deadly curse?
Like those sinister rules in horror movies, where answering a single question meant paying with your life?
Seeing her tense up in an instant, Qi Sui raised a hand and gently rubbed the top of her head.
“Don’t be afraid, Nuannuan. Nothing will happen immediately just because you answered once or twice.”
“If answering a single question triggered the rule, Nian Nian and I wouldn’t still be standing here.”
His palm lingered on her head as his tone remained gentle.
“This forbidden zone is extremely cunning. It uses questions to make you gradually acknowledge that you belong here.”
“For example, it might ask whether you just saw a student wearing green.”
“If you answer that you did, you’re effectively acknowledging that the thing is your classmate—and acknowledging that you belong to this school.”
A fine chill spread across the back of Jiang Nuan’s neck.
So those answers would not take her life immediately. Instead, they would seep silently into her mind.
Once or twice might not seem significant.
But after answering enough questions and accepting enough of them, a person might forget why they had come here in the first place and truly begin to think of themselves as a member of the school.
Jiang Nuan’s heart grew colder.
She suddenly remembered something else.
When she had first entered the forbidden zone, Ji Chuying had taken the initiative to speak to her.
Even though Jiang Nuan had known she was a creation of the forbidden zone, she had exchanged only a few words with her before inexplicably developing a sense of familiarity.
At the time, she had attributed that feeling to memories of her best friend from before she crossed into this world.
But now that she thought about it, something was wrong.
She should have been at her most vigilant immediately after entering the forbidden zone. How had she so easily developed a sense of closeness toward a monster she knew was not human?
And there had been that incident in the dormitory area.
After Ji Chuying asked her for directions, Jiang Nuan had looked toward the dormitory building and unconsciously slowed her pace.
At the time, she had even felt that returning to the dormitory was the most natural thing in the world.
She had not answered aloud. She had only pointed in a direction.
So according to its logic, helping by pointing the way counted as acknowledgment too?
That meant Ji Chuying really had been helping her avoid violating the forbidden zone’s rules and being attacked by the monsters when she warned Jiang Nuan about them and testified on her behalf in front of Teacher Zhao.
But at the same time, she had also been asking question after question.
Step by step, she had been trying to make Jiang Nuan accept this campus and become part of it.
Jiang Nuan suddenly remembered something else.
When she had entered the school, the broadcast had said that identity verification had to be completed before midnight.
She instinctively looked at Qi Sui and Qinian. “What about your student records?”
Qinian raised an eyebrow and answered without hesitation.
“Easy. We’ll go outside and take two from someone.”
…That really was a simple and effective solution.
Qi Sui nodded and said gently, “Keep the disturbance to a minimum. Try to take them somewhere empty before dealing with it. Don’t alert the other monsters.”
Qinian rolled his wrists. “Got it.”
With that, he turned and walked out.
The infirmary door closed again, leaving only Jiang Nuan and Qi Sui inside.
Qi Sui raised a hand and gently tucked the loose strands of hair beside her cheek behind her ear. His fingers lingered there for a moment.
He lowered his head to look at her. The familiar warmth in his eyes gradually faded.
“Nuannuan, there’s something I need to show you.”
Qi Sui’s voice slowly grew heavier.
“You need to get ready first.”
With that, he turned around and picked up the top sheet from the stack of yellowed documents on the desk. The edges of the paper had already begun to curl.
Several bolded characters were printed across the document’s header:
Experimental Development Project for the Ability Stabilizer
Jiang Nuan’s gaze fell lower.
The name following “Core Donor” had been repeatedly struck through with a pen, the paper nearly torn through.
Yet beneath the scratches, two familiar characters were still faintly visible.
Jiang Nuan.
She stared at the handwriting she knew so well. A chill seeped from the paper and spread through her entire body.
…That was the name she had signed herself.
