“Huh? What are you mumbling about, slave!” The tall, lean noble clenched his fist as he approached Bai Ya, sneering as he threw a punch. “Try resisting again, and you’re finished.”
“I haven’t even seen the BOSS yet. Facing a mere minion’s threat and calling it game over? That’s way too early for me.”
No sooner had she spoken than Bai Ya was knocked flying, her body tracing an arc through the air before slamming heavily onto the ground. There was no dodging it—her dynamic vision couldn’t keep up with a grown man’s fist driven by anger. Though a hint of arrogance lingered in her spirit, it no longer mattered.
“Going to die, huh…”
That blow nearly left her unable to stand. Though she had partially absorbed the force in an instant and didn’t lose all mobility, a few more punches like that and this frail body would collapse like sand swept away by a flood.
Was her fate to be beaten to death? A truly unpleasant bad end.
“Huh? Minion, still trying to be tough at a time like this? Do you even know your situation? Wait, I get it—you’re crazy.” The tall, lean noble’s expression shifted to one of sudden realization as he pointed at Bai Ya and burst into wild laughter.
“So you’re crazy, huh? Haha! No wonder you chose this moment to escape prison. Madmen are incomprehensible—they just can’t grasp the noble’s supreme status and always foolishly act above their station. That’s what makes them mad.”
“Bai Ya Ifir Clorome, you are truly mad!”
“What a nagging little minion.” Bai Ya lightly rubbed her reddened cheek, closing one eye calmly as she spoke.
“You—you really are crazy! Why… why can you still laugh?” The tall, lean noble stared in disbelief. Bai Ya’s composure at such a moment was beyond anything he expected.
“Look around! You’re surrounded, slave! You’re hopeless! Your fate is to become a sex toy, discarded as soon as you lose all value. Do you know what I mean by ‘discarded’? That’s right! Thrown into a pack of starving juvenile man-eaters that could swallow an elephant whole after days without food, or hacked to pieces for your organs to be sold on the black market. Well, well, scared now? Hehehe… you bastard!”
Fear! Despair! Yes, slaves should know their place! What’s with that arrogant look on your face?!
Bai Ya still did not fall into despair.
“You’re so noisy.” Bai Ya waved her hand in annoyance as if shooing away a fly. “Don’t they say villains die from talking too much? Does a lowly minion like you really have the right to say so much? Your fate might be even worse than the villain’s—nothing’s impossible.”
“Why aren’t you desperate yet?!” The tall, lean noble yelled, close to losing his composure.
“Despair? Why should I despair? That would just mess up my performance.”
“Huh?”
“So yeah, despair is an unnecessary emotion.”
In this world, no one knew that Bai Ya had entered game mode. Her mind was only filled with the excitement and determination to win the game, constantly thinking about how to beat it. No matter how many times she failed, her fiery will to keep challenging never faded. Such a state made it impossible for her to feel despair, sadness, fear—any negative emotions that might interfere with her game progress were completely blocked out.
When the game mode ended or was broken, her long-suppressed negative emotions would explode, magnified many times over. It was only then that she truly experienced despair and the urge to commit seppuku.
How to break Bai Ya’s game mode was unknown—even to her. Until that method was clear, she remained in a state of peak challenge readiness.
“If I despair here, I lose—become paralyzed, unable to move, caught by you all with no thought of resistance. That’s a truly terrible bad end I don’t want.”
“Is that so? Then you think you can still escape! Fool!”
“I can.”
The nobles watching, including the tall, lean one, were stunned. Bai Ya scanned them once more and revealed a mysterious smile.
“Indeed, the situation is pretty hopeless. If you all attack at once, given my combat power is trash, I definitely can’t handle it and will be subdued in an instant.”
“I have two solutions for this. First, beat all of you until you can’t get up. Yes, as long as you’re immobilized, I can escape unhindered.”
“Are you an idiot? We have…”
“If a normal person’s combat power is 5, the first solution requires 50, but mine is only around 3 or 4—far below the requirement. So that’s out!” Bai Ya interrupted the tall, lean noble.
The nobles didn’t notice how Bai Ya was steering the conversation, nor did they see the faint light sparking in the hollow eyes of the slaves they treated like pets or cattle.
Bai Ya hardly looked like a slave. She never showed despair and didn’t care about offending nobles. She had never given up hope. What a remarkable girl. Her confidence and pride slowly rekindled the long-lost rebellious spirit in the slaves. Though just a flicker, it planted a seed.
That seed would inevitably take root, grow, and become a towering tree.
The nobles who stood by and watched would regret their behavior. Had they rushed forward earlier to beat and bind Bai Ya, maybe no calamity would have come.
But now, regret was too late.
“Well then, I’ll execute my second plan. Given my current conditions, it will work. So, it’s a pity—despite your numbers, I’ll still get away!”
Bai Ya reached inside her armor and pulled out three black beads, tossing them in her palm.
“This time, it’s a perfect victory for me!”
Seeing the beads in Bai Ya’s hand and connecting them in their minds with some kind of dangerous object, the tall, lean noble’s eyes widened like never before. Fear crept across his face as he spun around, screaming incoherently, perhaps hoping his screams could drive the reaper away.
“So here’s the question: what do you do when surrounded by monsters in a dungeon?”
The nobles standing by were stunned, then went pale and trembled all over. They didn’t even bother to bring their slaves and scrambled to flee the place, desperate to distance themselves from this madwoman, Bai Ya.
The three black beads were tossed high into the air and caught by Bai Ya. She glanced around again—human beings could indeed unleash extraordinary power when survival was at stake. The fat noble she’d glimpsed before, who seemed barely able to walk five meters an hour, was now running faster than a rabbit.
The once crowded street now held only Bai Ya and a handful of abandoned slaves—no other nobles remained.
“Speaking of which, are smoke bombs really that powerful?”
Being surrounded by monsters in a dungeon and escaping by invisibility was common sense.
Although she had altered the appearance of the smoke bombs to look like thunderfire bombs that could easily blow up a house, which was her fault for scaring the nobles away so easily, Bai Ya had no complaints—in fact, it was a big help.
She put away the beads, not waiting to see how the slaves would react, greeted each of them in turn, then put on her helmet, picked up a dagger from the ground, and moved as stealthily as possible toward the town center.