The oppressive control in this mechanical room and the mind-numbing adjustments were, in the beginning, extremely uncomfortable for Dream Leaf.
But as time went by, her strong adaptability allowed her to slowly get used to it.
As for this, Xia Meng was not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
Day after day of increasingly numbing routine, along with Lin Xue’er not giving her a single chance to act independently, left her in a constant daze.
At one point, she almost forgot that she needed to escape from here.
“What should I do about this…”
With Lin Xue’er treating her like this, even the usually self-possessed Xia Meng felt herself gradually losing her sense of self.
She was just like a puppet, manipulated by invisible strings, played and toyed with in Lin Xue’er’s palm.
But what could she do?
This time, the blackened Lin Xue’er was truly hard to deal with in every way, completely different from before she regressed.
She couldn’t rely on acting, because even if she pretended, Lin Xue’er would not leave her any chances.
If she acted obedient, she’d just be falling into Lin Xue’er’s trap, letting her control her more easily.
If she resisted… she was simply afraid of Lin Xue’er’s wrath.
As for directly rushing out and fighting Lin Xue’er head-on, putting aside whether she could win in her current state, just the mission given by God made it impossible for her to act.
“…Ugh, this is so suffocating!”
According to Xia Meng’s usual nature, as long as there was a way forward—even if it was a path with no end in sight—she would try to take that road.
But this time, it felt as if she were in a cage with no way forward and no way back, with only two choices left.
Either wait for the slim chance of rescue from Li Siqi, or… seek death.
She’d already considered the first option. Right now, the situation was like a Deadlock set by God.
That meant there was something she didn’t know about, or something that hadn’t happened yet, and that matter would become the key to escaping from Lin Xue’er.
As for the reason for seeking death as the second option, it was to try using Gui Hui’s ability and, by dying, test whether she could trigger it actively.
But this was far riskier than the former.
After all, she only knew that the ability would be triggered when her life was truly in danger; if she sought death with her own will and it failed, then she’d really be finished.
Wait a second! She suddenly realized why she hadn’t fallen into complete despair yet.
Because during this recent period of torment by Lin Xue’er, Xia Meng’s mind had become a little sluggish, but she inadvertently recalled something: before Lin Xue’er locked her away, Li Siqi had come to the Classroom looking for her.
At that time, because of Li Siqi, she triggered a multiple-choice event, and the reward she picked was that when Li Siqi faced danger, she would receive help from Xia Meng.
It seemed her only hope now lay in Li Siqi!
“Ah-choo!”
Who was it? Who was talking about her behind her back?
A girl with pastel-pink streaks in her hair was tying up her ponytail when she suddenly felt an odd chill and sneezed loudly.
Because she raised her head a bit too hard, her pair of ample snow-white curves, like water-filled balloons, jiggled up and down, wonderfully bouncy.
“It must be that crazy woman who’s been messing with me lately, tch.”
It had only been a week since she moved into the Dormitory, but Li Siqi had already encountered a lot of “accidents.”
For example, during P.E. class, she went to the equipment room to fetch some gear, and just as she was walking by, a shelf collapsed due to age. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and dodged the falling items—otherwise, she’d be seriously injured if not dead.
Another time, as she wandered the campus, someone in a nearby building carelessly knocked a flowerpot off a balcony, and it plummeted down from above.
If it weren’t for a kind passerby warning her, she might have died on the spot.
One accident, two accidents—those could still be coincidences.
But when they happen again and again, it’s no longer just an accident.
So, the person Li Siqi suspected the most was that woman who’d tried to persuade her about a week ago.
Unfortunately, she had no evidence.
So, she decided to follow Lin Xue’er and try to catch her red-handed.
However, it seemed Lin Xue’er had caught on to being followed, because in the past few days, Li Siqi had gotten absolutely nowhere.
As far as she could tell, Lin Xue’er would attend classes as usual, and after school, except for making a quick stop at a nearby Supermarket, she’d stay in her Dormitory until the next day.
On weekends, she’d only go to the Supermarket in the morning, and then stay in the Dormitory the whole time—just like any other unsociable student.
Even so, Li Siqi was convinced her accidents were all caused by Lin Xue’er.
It wasn’t just a woman’s intuition—she could see the hostility and murderous intent in the way Lin Xue’er looked at her.
She figured Lin Xue’er was deliberately pretending to be normal.
Therefore, to collect more intel, on this weekend, while Lin Xue’er was out, she used a spare key from the Dormitory manager to sneak into Lin Xue’er’s place.
clack
With the sound of a key turning in the lock, Li Siqi found herself standing inside a perfectly ordinary Rental Apartment.
There was a bedroom separated from the living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom—everything one could want in a decent apartment.
Of course, since Lin Xue’er’s private room was a high-end single-person Dormitory obtained with Special Privilege, it made sense that it was so much nicer than an ordinary dorm, and Li Siqi was a little surprised, but quickly refocused on her secret mission.
However, after more than ten minutes of searching, she could only show a disappointed expression.
Lin Xue’er’s Dormitory was as bland as Lin Xue’er herself—completely, utterly ordinary.
“Tch, I wasted a trip.”
Having found nothing, Li Siqi had no intention of staying any longer.
But just as she was about to leave Lin Xue’er’s Dormitory, she suddenly heard the sound of a key turning in the front door.
Crap! The owner was coming back! Li Siqi instinctively darted into the bedroom, looked around, and finally decided to hide under the bed.
Why did she have to come back now? Did she forget something?
Breaking into someone else’s place was illegal, so at that moment, Li Siqi was very nervous, terrified she’d be discovered and reported.
If that happened, her life would be ruined.
However, when a pair of legs entered her line of sight, her anxiety immediately faded, because what the person said confirmed her suspicions.
“Tch, that girl is really tough. I’ve engineered so many accidents in a row, and she still manages to survive every single time. Looks like next week I’ll have to use more drastic methods. Well, since she didn’t bother me today, I might as well head to the Supermarket.”