The young man trembled, his face ashen, tears coursing down his cheeks, and shook his head helplessly. “N-no, I just…”

He wasn’t alone in his despair. Apart from the middle-aged man who had bravely sought the stamp, standing with a grim resolve, the other four – three men and one woman – who had also been stamped were sobbing quietly. The middle-aged man with glasses, the first to succumb to panic, stared vacantly, muttering to himself about his desire not to die.

However, the young man in the plaid shirt, now slumped on the ground and weeping, exhibited a more acute distress. Both of his arms were covered in lotus flower stamps.

Not coerced, but of his own volition, he had actively requested them, even monopolizing the old man’s time, preventing another girl from receiving a stamp.

“W-we shouldn’t have to, like that man, smash, smash our—”

The lone girl with a lotus flower stamp on the back of her hand sobbed intermittently, her gaze drifting towards Ding Yi and the others with a hint of envy.

“Sister Ding Yi.”

Yan Ming gently tugged at Ding Yi’s sleeve. He couldn’t articulate why, but he instinctively felt that this sister would devise a solution. These people were undeniably irritating, yet they didn’t deserve such a gruesome end.

Qin Yuan, too, lifted his eyelids, observing Ding Yi with quiet anticipation. She was truly intriguing; a reversal of their roles would be even more captivating. Recalling the two punishment instances that still loomed, Qin Yuan’s fleeting good mood vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Under the scrutiny of twelve pairs of eyes, Ding Yi considered the young man in the plaid shirt’s “sleeves” for a moment before speaking.

“Just a guess,” she began, and the stamped individuals fixed hopeful gazes upon her, “Look at that man’s arms.”

“The lotus flower stamp on his right arm is blurred, with several overlapping impressions. However, the lotus flower stamp on his left arm, while densely applied, shows no overlapping.”

The girl who had spoken earlier sniffled and choked out, “What does this signify?”

“The right arm bears a star chain, and regardless, the lotus flower stamp on it will not be complete, clear, and independent.” Ding Yi paused, considering. “A clear and complete lotus flower stamp is the key. It’s not merely about red ink adhering to the skin.”

“If mere contact with the red inkpad were the condition for death, the old man could have donned gloves, grabbed a handful of inkpad, and begun his killing spree. But he didn’t. This suggests that simply having ink on your skin isn’t the trigger. Possessing a distinct and whole lotus flower stamp on the skin is the likely condition for death.”

Ding Yi mentally reviewed all the available clues before stating seriously, “If you can’t wipe it off, then paint over it. There’s still inkpad here. Covering the entire pattern with inkpad should suffice.”

“Sister, you’re brilliant!” Jiang Xianqing, following her logic, realized the validity of Ding Yi’s deduction. The preceding events had been so sudden and terrifying that the fear had obscured details that would have been obvious with a moment’s calm.

“How can you guarantee that it will be alright?”

The young man who had risen from the ground regarded Ding Yi with the desperate intensity of a cornered animal, his gaze fixed on her. “Did you already see that there was something wrong with the old man? You knew there was a problem, so why didn’t you stand up and stop it? Did you want us to die?”

Jiang Xianqing had instinctively aligned herself with Ding Yi from the moment she felt admiration for her. Hearing the young man’s senseless accusation ignited her anger, but before she could unleash a passionate retort, Ding Yi calmly countered, “With your level of intellect, I have no need to harm you. You’ll be stupid enough to die on your own one day.”

The young man’s composure shattered. “You vicious bitch!”

“Well, I’m still alive,” Ding Yi said calmly, picking at her ear, “unlike you, who will likely be dead soon.”

Jiang Xianqing couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Sister, you nailed it.”

Listening to Ding Yi’s words, Qin Yuan cast a slightly disapproving glance her way. In his opinion, she should have simply knocked out the young man’s teeth to silence his incessant nonsense, rather than wasting time with verbal sparring.

“Girl.”

The middle-aged man who had proactively sought the stamp used his stiff facial muscles to take a few steps forward. “I was rude earlier. Judging by your age, you can’t be much older than my daughter. You can call me Uncle Dong if you don’t mind.”

Wang Dong hadn’t initially taken Ding Yi seriously. Even when she hinted at the old man’s potential deception, he had only hesitated briefly. After all, she was just a naive newcomer, so young. Even her lack of visible fear, he had attributed to slow comprehension, never considering her as particularly insightful.

If he had known this girl was so capable, just now…

“Uncle just wants to ask, how certain are you about the method you just proposed? After all, you saw what happened to that guide. This…”

“Fifty-fifty.” Observing his tightening forehead, Ding Yi sighed. “I said it was just a guess. Based on everything that has transpired, this is the most viable solution I can think of.”

“The guide is clearly not the same caliber of NPC as that old man. From his appearance to his departure, his thought processes and speech patterns were very rudimentary. He likely only understood the conditions for death but not how to circumvent them, hence his panicked actions.”

Seeing that Wang Dong’s expression remained grave, Ding Yi added, “I have no intention of harming you. Whether you choose to believe me or not is your prerogative.”

Wang Dong’s lips twitched. “I didn’t say you wanted to harm us. We’re just… confused. Knowing this is an A-level instance and still being so bewildered.”

The stamped individuals teared up again at Wang Dong’s words. They cast resentful glances at the muttering young man, and after a brief internal struggle, decided to trust Ding Yi’s suggestion.

“Alright, we’re all adults and must bear responsibility for our choices. Now that things have come to this, I—”

“You should also apply some inkpad to your body.”

The young man in the plaid shirt fixed a crazed stare on Ding Yi. “Didn’t you say it’s okay to put inkpad on your body? If it’s okay, then you should put some on too.”

“You shut your mouth. I think you’re just mentally deficient,” Jiang Xianqing, having suppressed her urge to scold him for some time, finally snapped. “Zombies would probably spit phlegm into your head upon seeing your brain. What a creature. Ugh, I spit. Ding Yi, let’s go. Don’t engage with the mentally retarded, lest you catch their retardation.”

“Don’t go! You must put on inkpad!”

The young man suddenly lunged towards Ding Yi, and Yan Ming’s reaction was finally swift this time, his foot already raised to block the attack.

However—

Slap.

A forceful slap landed on the young man’s face.

“You bitch, how dare you hit me!”

His retort was met with two consecutive, even more powerful slaps.

Before he could even beg for mercy, the brutal slaps continued.

“D-don’t, don’t hit me!” the young man slurred, stumbling backward repeatedly.

Wang Dong was startled by Ding Yi’s ruthlessness, and after a moment of stunned silence, he offered a weak verbal dissuasion. “Girl, don’t hit him. Let’s try to talk it out.”

“You didn’t even dare to fart when he just glanced at you, because you perceived him as someone not to be trifled with. In contrast, you repeatedly provoke me.”

Qin Yuan, the recipient of her pointed remark, raised his eyebrows and continued to observe the unfolding drama with a smile.

“I was wondering just now,” Ding Yi’s tone remained remarkably even, and her expression wasn’t overtly menacing, yet it caused the young man’s legs to tremble, “You wouldn’t be mistaking me for a pushover, would you?”