9: Chapter 9 You really think I'm afraid of you?

Li Jianbin closed in on Su Wan, a muffled gurgle escaping his throat.

Then, he reached out abruptly and shoved her hard against the wall.

Su Wan's back hit the wall with a dull thud.

But she knew right then that she absolutely could not make a sound, otherwise her only outcome would be death.

She bit her lip tightly, stifling her cry of pain.

Seeing her remain silent, Li Jianbin grew anxious, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes as he punched her heavily in the abdomen again.

"Ugh!"

Su Wan could no longer control it and let out a short groan of pain.

In the distance, Gu Changming frowned.

He quickly scanned his surroundings and spotted an alarm clock near his feet, smashed into parts inside a crater.

He grabbed it and hurled it violently toward the iron railing beside them.

"Bang!"

The sound of metal colliding exploded in the stairwell.

Almost simultaneously, that invisible force descended again, instantly twisting the iron railing into a pretzel.

Gu Changming noticed both of them freeze for a moment; presumably, the notification panel had popped up.

However, Su Wan had no time to check what those things were.

After realizing she wasn't dead, she immediately endured the abdominal pain, bent over to break free from Li Jianbin, and stumbled, crawling toward Gu Changming.

Seeing her running over, a glimmer of joy flashed in Gu Changming's eyes.

It wasn't because he thought she was smart for knowing to run toward him.

It was because she was still clutching that spatula tightly in her hand as she ran.

Gu Changming glanced at her, said nothing, and simply held out his hand calmly.

Su Wan paused for a second, then immediately understood and handed the spatula to him.

The metal spatula felt slightly cool to the touch; it wasn't heavy, but the edges were hard enough.

Gu Changming gripped the spatula and looked up at Li Jianbin not far away.

Li Jianbin was staring at them right now, his eyes devoid of fear and instead filled with an unusual excitement.

Five times—his title had already upgraded to "Game Breaker"! He didn't know how big the reward would be after the Assessment ended.

But then, he frowned, looking suspiciously at the unharmed Gu Changming and Su Wan.

Why weren't they dead?

Before he could figure it out, he saw Gu Changming hold up three fingers at him.

The expression seemed to be asking: Did you complete three instances of "Sound Pressure Coverage"?

Li Jianbin understood his meaning, curled the corner of his mouth triumphantly, and held up five fingers, shaking them vigorously.

Three times? He had completed five!

Gu Changming's eyes shifted slightly.

Sure enough, the other party had also discovered the hidden rule, but seemed to have misunderstood the direction, appearing to limit Sound Pressure Coverage to human identity, which was why he came out to attack others.

However, that wasn't the point.

The point was, this was the fifth time for the other party, yet without quick dodging, he hadn't been torn apart by those invisible things?

You have to know, when he was on his fourth time, he had almost been hit and killed by those things.

Were there too many sound-emitting targets, causing those "things" to hesitate and become sluggish again?

Gu Changming had already discovered this during his sixth or seventh attempt.

He had come out this time carrying that bag of alarm clocks to make his final attempt, but an accident occurred when the other party intercepted him at this stairwell entrance.

However, Gu Changming guessed it shouldn't be that simple; he had tried it during his sixth and seventh times, but the deception wasn't enough, and those things could still roughly distinguish his location.

So, the high probability is: the more "humans" making sounds in the same area, the harder it is for those "things" to make a choice.

After all, sounds made by humans don't count as noise.

There was a real-life example: just now, when he triggered the eighth time, the difficulty of dodging was much easier than the seventh time he tried last night.

Thinking of this, Gu Changming's eyes lit up.

If that was the case, then he really was a "Lucky One".

Gu Changming weighed the spatula in his hand and looked at the other person.

Li Jianbin stood on the stairs, and seeing the weapon in his hand, a look of disdain appeared on his face.

Then, he slowly pulled a fruit knife from his bosom; the blade was half the length of a forearm, glinting with a cold light.

He had been carrying this thing just in case, but he hadn't expected the other party to be so hard to kill.

He weighed the fruit knife in his hand a few times and triumphantly tilted his chin at Gu Changming.

He was stronger than Gu Changming, and his weapon was sharper; there was nothing to be afraid of.

Without waiting for him to react, Gu Changming stepped forward and swung the spatula toward Li Jianbin.

Li Jianbin instinctively raised the knife to block.

"Clang!"

The crisp sound of metal colliding rang out.

Li Jianbin's expression changed; only then did he realize: when things collide, they make a sound.

In the moment he was stunned, Gu Changming flipped his wrist and smashed the spatula hard against the already twisted iron railing beside them.

"Thud!"

A loud noise exploded.

Almost simultaneously, that invisible force descended again.

"Boom!"

The iron railing, along with a section of the concrete stairs beneath it, was completely demolished, and rubble and dust came crashing down.

Not only that, the impact also affected the spatula in Gu Changming's hand.

The iron spatula head was affected by the invisible force, shattering and flying off, leaving only half a rough wooden handle in his grip.

Seeing the bare wooden stick in his hand, Li Jianbin grinned, revealing unconcealed triumph.

He tilted his chin at Gu Changming, his eyes provocative—the weapon was gone, what else could he use to fight him?

Gu Changming's face remained expressionless. He reached out and carefully snapped off the jagged splinters on the wooden handle one by one.

Soon, only a small piece of wood, about the length of a chopstick, remained in his hand, one end snapped to form a sharp edge.

That move just now wasn't to fight the other person.

He just wanted to test whether his idea was correct.

Now it seemed his idea hadn't been wrong.

The two of them had made sounds at the same time, causing those invisible things to stall for a moment, unable to instantly lock onto him and launch an attack.

So... he just needed to do it one more time, and his "Lucky One" title would be his.

Gu Changming gripped the small piece of wood and walked forward again, his pace unhurried, as if he were taking a normal stroll.

Seeing him like this, Li Jianbin gripped the knife handle tightly and thrust it fiercely toward Gu Changming's chest.

He didn't believe anyone could get stabbed and still manage not to scream.

The moment he lunged close, Gu Changming sidestepped, deftly brushing past him.

Li Jianbin only felt a chill on his neck, followed by a sharp, stabbing pain.

The two separated, each standing their ground.

Li Jianbin's eyes widened in anger, and just as he was about to turn and attack again, he felt the world spin.

He instinctively covered his neck, warm liquid gushing from between his fingers.

He raised his hand to look—it was covered in scarlet red.

Gu Changming stood on the stairs, quietly watching Li Jianbin kneel to the ground.

Before, he had only been wary of making noise; did he really think he was afraid of him?

Once he had a handy tool, there was naturally no need to hide anymore.

The blood from his neck gushed out like a floodgate opening, continuously pouring from the wound on his neck and spreading a dark red pool across the concrete floor.

The excruciating pain made him uncontrollably let out a low, hoarse moan.

The next moment, the invisible force descended again.

With a dull "poof" sound.

The body on the ground exploded instantly like a watermelon hit by a heavy hammer, flesh and blood splattering everywhere.

Gu Changming looked at the pool of blurred flesh and blood on the ground, his face devoid of any emotion.

Then, with a casual toss, he threw the sharp, blood-stained piece of wood onto the mangled corpse.