After the group split up, Luocha led Arataki Itto forward.
They walked for a while before stopping in a secluded area.
"Itto… can I trust you?"
Arataki Itto widened his eyes and said unhappily, "What do you mean? You think I'd betray you or something?"
"No, that's not what I mean."
Luocha shook his head and then pulled out a large handful of points.
"What I mean is—when it really matters, will you use these points to protect me?"
"Damn!"
Seeing what Luocha was holding, Itto's eyes nearly popped out.
He never expected Luocha to be hiding so many points.
In other words, this guy had been acting generous before, but was secretly keeping a stash for himself?
"Y-You… when did you hide all this?"
"Today."
"You actually kept it for yourself? That's not very honest!"
Ignoring Itto's teasing, Luocha said seriously,
"Lumine's behavior today was very strange. That's why I suspected something was wrong and decided to keep these points."
Luocha understood human nature well.
Yesterday, Lumine had barely given any useful suggestions.
But today, she suddenly changed completely—solving the illusion problem and proposing several good strategies.
It was completely different from before.
So he became alert.
At first, it was just suspicion.
But when Lumine and Firefly fell behind, his doubts reached their peak.
Later, when Firefly suggested splitting up, he immediately agreed.
He had considered exposing Lumine.
But without evidence, doing so would only put himself at a disadvantage.
What he hadn't expected was that everyone else agreed so easily.
Which meant… the people here weren't stupid either.
"You're saying… Lumine betrayed us?"
"Very likely. Yesterday, after we split up, not a single person was eliminated. That's not normal."
"I see…"
Itto frowned and thought for a moment.
His brain quickly turned into a mess.
In the end, he gave up thinking, grabbed the points, and said,
"Don't worry. I'm a proud oni man. If I say I'll protect you, I mean it."
"Good. Then let's go."
Luocha nodded.
From now on, it seemed he would have to rely on Itto to survive in this castle.
"Heh heh. Say… if Firefly finds out that Lumine beside her is a traitor, what kind of expression do you think she'll make?"
As they walked, Itto imagined it in his head.
In his understanding, being betrayed by a teammate would probably be devastating.
"Too bad she's still holding that skill card."
Luocha sighed slightly.
He could almost picture Firefly being eliminated.
It was just a pity about that card.
"Oh yeah."
Itto remembered too and said regretfully,
"Would've been nice if we had taken it from her before splitting up."
"Impossible."
Luocha chuckled.
"That's a life-saving item. Who would just hand it over? And now that we're separated, it's even more impossible."
"…Huh?"
Suddenly, Luocha stopped.
A look of horror appeared in his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Split up… split up!!!"
At that moment, Luocha finally realized something.
His heart sank.
"Quick, go back and find the others!"
Now he understood.
valerius never intended for the traitor to cause internal conflict.
His real goal was to make them split up.
Once separated, he could defeat them one by one.
Before, when they were together, they had the Cute Voice Fist for control.
valerius couldn't do much except drain their points.
But once they split…
That skill couldn't protect everyone anymore.
"W-What do you mean?"
Itto didn't understand.
Weren't they just agreeing on this plan earlier?
Why rush back now?
"Just come with me. We've been fooled."
After Luocha explained his reasoning, even Itto felt it made sense.
The two immediately sprinted back along their path.
Livestream
[Jing Yuan: Finally figured it out?]
[Fu Xuan: Too slow. If it were me, I'd never fall for something like this.]
[Qingque: Heh, these two are done for. valerius is already waiting there.]
Watching them run back, Qingque shook her head.
valerius had already set up an ambush there.
If they went now, they would walk straight into it.
[Yukong: Doesn't Itto still have the Cute Voice Fist? He should be able to protect Luocha, right?]
[Stelle: Look at where valerius is standing.]
[March 7th: Look at where valerius is standing.]
At this moment, valerius was casually leaning behind the door.
Anyone who pushed it open would be blocked by the door panel.
A perfect position for a sneak attack.
Impossible to defend against.
"You think… who figured it out first?"
Leaning by the door, valerius looked at Lumine with a faint smile.
But now, Lumine could only listen to the approaching footsteps in anxious silence.
She couldn't even make a sound.
"Bang!"
The door was pushed open.
In an instant, valerius was hidden behind it.
"Huff… huff… We're too late."
Seeing the empty room, Luocha felt bitter.
He prided himself on being cautious, yet he still fell for valerius's scheme.
"Huh?"
At this moment, Itto noticed a shining coin in the middle of the room.
It was a point.
"Who dropped this?"
In his eyes, it was clearly someone's lost point.
He hurried over to pick it up.
But the moment Luocha saw it, his first thought was—
It's a trap.
Just as he was about to warn Itto, a hand reached out from behind and covered his mouth.
Then it dragged him backward.
"Lucky! I even picked up a free point!"
After gaining another point, Itto was thrilled.
With more points, what was there to fear?
If valerius showed up, he'd just punch him!
He wiped the coin on his clothes and carefully put it away.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
With his mouth covered, Luocha was dragged backward uncontrollably.
He couldn't resist at all.
Half his body was already sinking into the wall.
Yet Itto was still happily celebrating his good luck.
Luocha was furious inside.
I'm about to die, and you're still excited?! Can you turn around for once?!
Livestream
[Silver Wolf: Uh… wow.]
[Kuki Shinobu: As expected, Boss is unreliable most of the time.]
[Kujou Sara: Turn around! What are you thinking?!]
Half of Luocha's body had already merged into the wall.
[Kamisato Ayato: It's over… truly worthy of Itto.]
[Stelle: Pfft—sorry, I couldn't help it.]
[March 7th: Someone calculate Luocha's mental trauma area.]
[Yae Miko: By the way… didn't Luocha give all his points to Itto earlier?]
[Jing Yuan: !!!!!]
[Raiden Ei: Nice move.]
[Welt: Free points. Not bad at all.]
Welt watched with satisfaction.
He loved seeing Luocha suffer.
If circumstances allowed, he would've opened a bottle of fine wine to celebrate.
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