# 164
**Chapter 164: Strongest and Weakest**
Seeing Lin Qiye’s actions, Cao Yuan took a deep breath and slowly moved his hand away from the hilt of his blade…
After the headless man cleaved Li Shaoguang in half, he didn’t continue attacking Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan. Instead, he stood silently in place, his body slightly turned toward them, dragging his executioner’s blade as if in thought.
At the same time, a wave of absolute darkness spread from Lin Qiye’s body, enveloping Cao Yuan as well. Within this darkness, Lin Qiye deliberately suppressed the sound of their heartbeats, preventing them from escaping the dark.
After confirming that no sound came from the surroundings, the headless man turned around and slowly dragged his exaggerated blade forward.
As the headless man’s figure gradually disappeared into the distance, Lin Qiye was just about to relax when suddenly, the surrounding space distorted again.
The environment shifted rapidly, and by the time everything stabilized, the corridor in front of them had transformed into a dorm room. The headless man had vanished entirely.
Lin Qiye retracted his Mortal Divine Realm and released Cao Yuan’s arm.
Seeing the danger had passed, Cao Yuan let out a long sigh of relief…
“Li Shaoguang…”
“Don’t worry, he’s not dead.” Lin Qiye seemed to know what Cao Yuan was going to say and smiled.
“Not dead?” Cao Yuan was stunned. “But he was clearly cut in half by that guy…”
“It was just an illusion.” Lin Qiye shook his head. “At the moment the blade was about to strike Li Shaoguang, I sensed two new auras appear out of nowhere. They instantly teleported Li Shaoguang away and replaced him with a highly realistic replica, which was then cleaved in half.
If I’m not mistaken, this was all part of the instructors’ plan.”
Cao Yuan seemed to realize something. “You mean, the corpses we saw in the cafeteria and the female body in the hallway earlier were all fake?”
“Exactly. At first, I couldn’t tell either. If not for that sudden switch, I wouldn’t have realized it.”
Cao Yuan exhaled in relief, but the image of Li Shaoguang being bisected flashed through his mind again, and his brow furrowed slightly.
“That mysterious creature is incredibly fast, and its attacks are sharp. In a direct fight, we’re no match.”
“True, but its weakness is also very obvious.”
“Sound?” After what just happened, Cao Yuan had also noticed something odd about this “mysterious.” It seemed to only attack objects that had made a sound within its range.
Li Shaoguang had been cut in half simply because he had spoken a sentence in front of it.
“Right. But maybe it’s not a weakness, more like… a trigger mechanism?” Lin Qiye pondered for a moment, then continued, “Maybe its base speed isn’t that fast, but it can keenly detect nearby sound sources and use its ability to move at near-teleportation speed toward them…
No, that still doesn’t explain why its blade is so fast.
Could it be…”
Lin Qiye seemed to realize something, his expression growing serious.
“Could it be what?”
“As long as there’s sound nearby, its speed gets boosted? Or maybe, the louder the sound, the faster it becomes?” Lin Qiye frowned. “If that’s the case, this mysterious creature is extremely dangerous. Drop it in any modern city, and it’d be a terrifying killing machine.”
“A nightclub killer, a KTV maniac?”
“…Basically.” Lin Qiye continued, “If that’s true, then its weakness is also very clear. As long as you use a certain relic or deliberately minimize noise, even someone at the Pool Realm might be able to kill it.
In short, if my guess is right, this is a mysterious that can be ridiculously strong or pathetically weak depending on the situation…”
“In that case, why didn’t we just kill it earlier?”
“Because I only just thought of this possibility.”
“…”
Lin Qiye shrugged. “I’m not a god. I can’t think of everything in such a short time.”
“So what now?”
“Let’s search slowly. If my reasoning is correct, that mysterious creature shouldn’t have spatial abilities. That means there’s a second River Realm mysterious here.”
“Alright.”
…
Outside Building Three.
Baili Pangpang rushed to the entrance, panting heavily. He knocked on the glass door.
“Hello? Anyone there~”
After waiting for a long time with no response, he gritted his teeth and tried to push the door open, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge.
Baili Pangpang stepped back, pulled out a piece of chalk from his pocket, and snorted.
“You think this little trick can stop me?”
He drew a circle on the glass door. The moment the chalk line connected, the glass within the circle rippled and vanished.
Baili Pangpang stepped through the circle and easily entered Building Three.
“Molly! I’m here to save you!” he declared confidently. But the moment he took a step forward, the space around him distorted.
To his shock, the staircase in front of him disappeared, replaced by a plain storage room.
“What the hell? Inception?” he muttered, looking around before choosing a direction and walking forward.
After passing through several dorm rooms and corridors, Baili Pangpang was completely lost in this twisted spatial maze. Logically, the building wasn’t that large, but no matter how far he walked, he couldn’t find the end.
He scratched his head, hesitated, then took a deep breath and shouted:
“Molly!!
Qiye!!!
Cao Yuan!!!!
Where are youuuuu~”
His voice echoed through the maze of rooms, gradually fading. He sighed in frustration…
Scrape… scrape… scrape!!!
Just then, a faint dragging sound came from afar.
Baili Pangpang turned toward the sound, raising an eyebrow. The dragging noise grew closer, accompanied by the sound of doors opening and closing…
“Something’s not right.”
He muttered, hesitated, then pulled out the [One Becomes Three Thousand] sword and gripped it tightly, while placing the [True Sight Eye] on his nose.
The dragging sound grew closer, now just a room away. Baili Pangpang stood alert, frowning slightly…
Suddenly, two figures phased through the wall beside him. One of them grabbed his wrist.
Just as Baili Pangpang was about to cry out, a hand quickly covered his mouth.
“Don’t speak. Come with me!” Molly glanced warily behind the door and whispered.