Chapter 528 Xiaoya’s Ability

Chapter 528 Xiaoya's Ability

Su Bai quieted his mind to listen to the nearby sounds. In the relatively quiet surroundings, faint footsteps echoed, stretching out into a blurry, drawn-out reverberation in the silent corridor. Some sounds seemed close at hand, as if they could appear within their line of sight at any moment, while others felt distant and indistinct, seemingly still separated by several turns, hovering between presence and absence.

This made Su Bai, who hadn't yet had the chance to closely observe the entire game environment, realize they weren't just in a single corridor of the Newborn Ward; this might be a very, very long hallway?

No, Su Bai dismissed that guess because he remembered that when they first entered this game, the administrator had said "666 Hospital Newborn Ward" was also called the "Corridor of Reverse Birth." Although the meaning of "Reverse Birth" wasn't clear yet, the environment they were currently in was likely a much longer and larger square-shaped corridor than they had imagined.

This meant that if conflicts occurred in the corridor later, escaping danger quickly would become extremely difficult. Unless they could take shelter in a ward, once targeted by Eerie Entities or other players, they would find themselves trapped between enemies, with no good way forward or back.

But were the wards really that safe?

"Brother, two people are coming towards us from ahead now. Both are women, in their twenties. Their clothes and jewelry look expensive, but their style is mismatched. They might be those who got rich overnight using their player abilities. It's just a pity that aside from undergarments, only items from the Nightmare World can be brought here. No matter how luxurious their furs are, they still have to run around carrying canvas bags. Hmm... From the way they're looking at each other, they seem to have known each other before the game started, but their relationship doesn't seem good. No, it might even be very bad. One of them looks very flustered, and the other is glaring at her as if she wants to skin her alive."

When Le Shiya's voice appeared directly (telepathically) in Su Bai's mind, he understood why the little girl had said her ability was very suitable for this game.

Even though Su Bai had spent only a short time with Le Shiya, he could tell the girl not only trusted her intuition but was also a keen observer. With his vision impaired in this game, Su Bai precisely needed such a detail-oriented "eye." However, no matter how observant an "eye" was, it still had to describe everything out loud. While this was beneficial when observing Eerie Entities, it was very easy to offend people when observing fellow players.

But the girl's ability allowed her to directly transmit her words into Su Bai's mind. No matter what she said, no one except Su Bai could hear it.

Perhaps due to her personality, or perhaps because she was well aware of the "advantages" of her ability, Le Shiya's choice of words when helping Su Bai observe others could be described as quite blunt.

This ability was indeed helpful to Su Bai. However, even if Le Shiya hadn't said anything, Su Bai could tell from listening that the dynamic between the two approaching was tense, because as they walked over, one of them was still angrily berating the other.

"Feng Xuelan, now you're not saying a word? Weren't you acting all high and mighty just now when you said my husband only married me for my money? Wasn't it you who said that after I got a bit of money, I became like a nouveau riche and even my personality changed? Why the victim act all of a sudden? What, are you planning to tell other players that I bullied you just now?" The woman's voice was brimming with anger, clearly indicating that the player named "Feng Xuelan" had said many things that offended her.

"Their conversation is all about things from the real world. They probably aren't just fellow players in the Nightmare Game; they should be friends in the real world too," Le Shiya's voice followed.

"Yueyue, there are other players ahead. Let's talk about what happened just now later," the timid voice that followed likely belonged to the female player named Feng Xuelan. "I don't even know why I said those things just now. I swear, I only meant to congratulate you on your wedding, but for some reason, the words that came out were completely uncontrollable. Maybe... maybe it's the Eerie Entities causing trouble!"

"Hmph." The other woman was clearly not very satisfied with Feng Xuelan's answer.

As the footsteps drew closer, Su Bai sensed the two players were now right in front of them. He could even guess their gazes were now fixed on them, likely carrying an undisguised sense of scrutiny.

Indeed, in the eyes of these two female players, their pairing was somewhat unusual. One was a child, a rarity in the Nightmare Game. The other, though standing there with unfocused eyes, had an appearance that was simply too striking.

"Hey, what's wrong with your eyes?" The player whose name contained "Yue" clearly hadn't been affected by the power due to overly deep observation like Le Shiya. Even if she thought Su Bai standing before her was good-looking, she wouldn't mistake his gender. "You're not blind, are you?"

"Vision impaired. Just a minor issue," Su Bai replied with his practiced smile on his face, while thinking internally that among the four players, only his "ailment" seemed visibly obvious.

"I'll be his eyes," Le Shiya chimed in with an innocent tone, raising her hand.

The girl didn't use the term "big brother" but directly called Su Bai "brother," making it seem to outsiders as if they were truly siblings.

"Such a shame for someone so handsome to be blind. He's better looking than that pretty boy Tian Yue you're willing to keep... Mmm—" Feng Xuelan, who had just spoken in a timid, delicate voice like a little white flower, now uttered words laced with sarcasm and mockery, sounding rather harsh.

Perhaps Feng Xuelan herself realized her words were inappropriate, as she covered her mouth the next second.

"Feng Xuelan! If you keep this up, we're done as friends!" Tian Yue had reached the point where she needed deep breaths to control her anger.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to say that, but I just couldn't control it somehow," Feng Xuelan's tone was so aggrieved it sounded like she was about to cry. "Yueyue, you have to believe me! We've been friends for so many years, gone through so much together. How could I possibly speak ill of you? It must be the Eerie Entities causing mischief. You know some Eeries love to sow discord among teammates during games. If you don't believe me, you'll fall right into its trap!"

"...This game is really cursed," Tian Yue seemed to have done some mental preparation and ultimately chose to believe Feng Xuelan's explanation.

Su Bai, however, believed the situation wasn't that simple. Combined with his understanding of 666 Hospital, Miss Feng Xuelan's condition seemed more like she had been afflicted with a certain Condition, just like him—a Condition that made her unable to stop herself from saying things she shouldn't.

As for whether these words came from deliberate provocation by Eerie Entities or were Feng Xuelan's usually unspoken true feelings, that remained unknown.

"Anyway, you must have heard what the administrator said. Let's hurry and go find the nurses' station together," Tian Yue spoke up, clearly having no intention of introducing herself. She glanced at the little Le Shiya. "Little one, hold your brother's hand tight. Be careful he doesn't get lost."

Her tone made it clear she couldn't care less about these two fellow travelers.