Before Xiao Tan spoke those words, Gui Xiao had always thought that Xiao Tan, like himself, was the type who "could only be a bystander in a scripted scenario."

But soon… Gui Xiao's view changed.

"Anyway, you guys are handling the puzzle-solving, and I haven't been much help so far, so…" Xiao Tan said, walking over to the sink, "I'll take care of this kind of dirty work."

To him, there was nothing special about what he'd said; nor was there for Jue Ge and the others.

However, in Gui Xiao's ears, it sounded a bit "jarring"…

Although Gui Xiao had contributed a lot to the team along the way, in the end… he'd only done those things because Jue Ge had asked him to, and he himself had been very reluctant to accept them.

Previously, Feng Bujue's words to Gui Xiao implied, "Since you choose to run away when facing your weaknesses, we can indeed accommodate you and help you clear the level… if you think that's appropriate."

Gui Xiao had only said "I'm sorry" and taken on the job of covering the team's rear because he understood the meaning of Jue Ge's words.

However, he was only temporarily forcing himself to face his fear in action under Jue Ge's guidance. In reality, his mind was still evading.

Until… this moment.

When he saw Xiao Tan, who was just as timid as himself, voluntarily step forward and crouch down to fumble around the sink, which was full of filth, reeked of odors, and could trigger some terrifying scene at any moment, Gui Xiao suddenly felt very ashamed.

He suddenly realized that there was no such thing as "being good or bad at this kind of script." To run away or wash your hands of things you're not good at or don't like, and wait for others to help you clean up the mess, that's how children handle things; but adults need to be responsible and can't run away when facing difficulties… No matter what the situation, you should at least do what you can.

Of course, we still have to state an objective fact – Gui Xiao isn't an adult yet. But he's definitely the type of kid who's particularly competitive among his peers.

"Hmm… sticky and slippery…" After fumbling around for about half a minute, Xiao Tan muttered with a troubled expression.

"You don't have to describe it to us, really." Xiao Ling made a disgusted expression, standing behind him and responding.

"Heh… sounds like you're describing snot." Feng Bujue, on the other hand, pretended that these words weren't disgusting enough, and maliciously added.

"No, not like snot, more like…" Xiao Tan actually replied to Jue Ge very seriously, "Uh… leftover slop or something."

The topic didn't develop further, because after Xiao Tan finished speaking, a "glug--" sound was heard, and several bubbles rose from the liquid in the sink. Then, the dirty water slowly flowed into the drain.

"Phew…" Two seconds later, Xiao Tan breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to say to everyone, "Found the cause of the blockage."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, showing an oval object to everyone.

"This is…" Xiao Ling, who was closest to him, pinched her nose and took a closer look for a few seconds, then said, "A soap dish?"

Indeed, this was a soap dish, and it was the old-fashioned kind, basically just a small oval plastic box that could be divided into two parts, top and bottom.

"Yeah, I think so too…" After hearing Xiao Ling's words, Xiao Tan was about to reply.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, an unexpected change occurred!

From the sink behind him, from that narrow drain… a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Xiao Tan's lower back.

In that instant, everyone's attention was focused on the soap dish in Xiao Tan's hand, so this sudden attack… really caught everyone off guard.

Half a second later, Ruo Yu was the first to react, but because she was standing far from the sink at the moment, she couldn't reach out to help; but she still made the very correct response – immediately turning on her flashlight and aiming it into the sink.

Feng Bujue and Gui Xiao reacted a beat slower than Ruo Yu. The former was also standing relatively far away, out of reach, while Gui Xiao… happened to be standing to the side of Xiao Tan…

*Puff-*

A second later, a muffled sound came.

In that split second, blood appeared.

The hand had scraped away a piece of flesh from the right side of Xiao Tan's waist, and in pain, he couldn't help but groan and stagger forward a few steps.

In the same second, Gui Xiao's hand had gripped the monster's forearm.

"\[Beep—]" No one knew what Feng Bujue cursed, but along with this curse that blurted out, he rushed forward, and somehow already had a large pair of scissors in his hand.

As they say, it was too late! The arm that Gui Xiao had grabbed couldn't be retracted for a moment. Jue Ge, who rushed forward, seized the opportunity, raised the scissors, and stabbed them at the arm.

*Chi—dang!*

How ruthless was Jue Ge's attack? With one stab, the tip of the scissors directly pierced the arm and heavily struck the metal sink bottom, making these two sounds.

"Ooh—" Then, a muffled groan came from the pipe at the bottom of the sink, as if the monster lurking in the drain was crying out.

"Are you okay?" Feng Bujue crushed the monster's wound with the scissors while turning his head and asking Xiao Tan in a relatively calm tone.

"I'm okay…" At this time, sweat was already flowing down Xiao Tan's temples, but his expression was surprisingly calm. "No internal organs were injured, and the survival value loss is only 28%. I just need to deal with the 'bleeding' status, nothing serious."

"Okay…" Jue Ge, who received this answer, also breathed a sigh of relief, and then he began to deal with that arm…

"So… I'm sure you're all curious, how is this guy's body hiding in the drain?" Feng Bujue said, giving Gui Xiao a look.

For some reason, although Gui Xiao wasn't very familiar with Jue Ge, he completely understood Jue Ge's meaning at this moment.

"Uh… I'll leave it to you…" So, Gui Xiao let go of the monster's forearm and left the sink.

As soon as he took a few steps back, Feng Bujue acted…

Jue Ge pulled out the scissors, threw them aside, and then… jumped onto the sink in a flash, stepping on the edge of the sink and tightly grasping the monster's arm with both hands.

"Heh… you're pretty strong…" Feng Bujue pulled a few times with this exaggerated posture, as if he was pulling out a giant radish, and squeezed these words out from between his teeth.

And the monster… was letting out bursts of screams with each of Jue Ge's efforts.

"I'll help!" After that inexplicable tug-of-war stalled for thirty seconds, Ruo Yu put the flashlight on the experimental table and stepped forward to grab Jue Ge's waist.

At this moment, the others were a little stunned. They didn't know the meaning or result of doing this at all – no matter what, the size of that drain wouldn't allow a human head to pass through, let alone a torso.

Therefore, from an outsider's perspective, Feng Bujue simply wanted to avenge Xiao Tan and deliberately bully the monster, and Ruo Yu… seemed to want to help Jue Ge… no matter what he was doing.

Logically speaking, the result of their pulling would be nothing more than tearing off the monster's arm, and the question now was – which part would be torn off? When would it be torn off? And what events would be triggered after it was torn off?

However, unexpectedly… an even more shocking scene appeared next.

After this cruel double-pulling action had been going on for fifteen seconds, a strange "zirulululu--" sound was heard, and a whole strip of peculiar substance with a diameter similar to the drain was pulled out of the sink.

That thing… was about the same thickness as the monster's outstretched arm, but it looked very strange; to describe it, it was like stuffing a living person into a pastry bag (the kind used to frost cakes), and then squeezing it out of a pastry tip smaller than a bowl… what was squeezed out in the end was this noodle-like state.

Internal organs, flesh and blood, and bones were all twisted into a single strip, connected to the back of the arm and dragged out for a full five meters, and thrown on the ground.

Everyone was silent when they saw this scene – mainly because this thing was really disgusting. Just looking at it made you want to vomit, let alone comment on it.

"Ha!" But, Feng Bujue definitely had to say something. "The good news is that this monster should have been killed by us." He paused. "The bad news is that it doesn't seem to be able to provide us with any more information."

"It feels like…" Ruo Yu, who had helped him, then said, "This monster's nature is similar to the one we encountered at the door of the music classroom… we just needed to force it back, there was no need to go to this extent."

"Hey, you weren't hesitant when you were attacking." Feng Bujue said, looking back.

"I came to help you because I thought you seemed to be a little overwhelmed." Ruo Yu said coldly, "Besides… I wasn't sure what the result of you doing that would be."

"Okay~" Feng Bujue spread out his hands and looked at Xiao Tan again. "So… Xiao Tan, how's the injury?"

While Jue Ge and Ruo Yu were "pulling the monster," Xiao Tan wasn't idle either. He had already used the existing gauze and tape on the experimental table to treat his wound in an emergency and stop the bleeding.

"It hurts…" Xiao Tan's answer was very direct. "But the survival value isn't dropping anymore, and it doesn't have much impact on my actions." He sighed as he said this. "Alas… looking back now, I was careless. In that situation, it was indeed very likely to trigger a dangerous plot, but I ignored this and showed you the soap dish directly; if I could have been more cautious and waited until all the dirty water had flowed away, confirmed that there was nothing unusual, or simply taken a few steps back before talking to you, I wouldn't have…"

"No… I'm also responsible." At this time, Gui Xiao suddenly interrupted Xiao Tan and said, "I was scared again when the hand came out… If I had my normal reaction speed, I should have been able to grab that hand faster, at the very least… I could have turned the flashlight in my hand to aim at it, so… your injury wouldn't have been so serious, or even possibly not injured at all."

"Oh~ Your thinking is quite clear this time." Feng Bujue heard this and looked at Gui Xiao, looking at him with a smile that wasn't a smile. "Not bad, not bad… you're a promising child…"

"Stop talking nonsense, even if I really want to find a life mentor, I definitely wouldn't look for you." Gui Xiao rolled his eyes at Jue Ge and said as such; the tone he said this in was very subtle, to use an inappropriate example, it was as if he was saying "no thanks"…

"Heh heh… I didn't intend to be anyone's life mentor anyway." Feng Bujue laughed. "Oh, right, if you really want to find one, I think 'Chou He Tang' would be quite suitable…" Jue Ge immediately made fun of Chan Ge. "Just from his saying 'Don't look at me like this now, I used to be like this and that'… you can see that he's a person with a story."

"Okay, who was it who said we should save the flashlight's battery earlier? How long are you two going to argue?" An Yueqin was still reliable, and she also knew very well that if Jue Ge started the bickering and complaining mode, this conversation would never end…

"Okay, okay~ Anyway, the monster's dead, let's continue looking at the clues." After Feng Bujue said this, he walked to the experimental table and opened the soap dish that Xiao Tan had put on the experimental table without hesitation.

The thing in that box was incredible…

"Why…" Gui Xiao said immediately when he saw that thing, "There's a dead frog in here…"

His question was quickly answered.

[Please dissect this frog according to the process of the lecture notes within twenty minutes] The system prompt sounded as the frog appeared.

At the same time, a "click" sound was heard, and one of the drawers around the experimental table that couldn't be opened suddenly popped out by itself; without a doubt… the "lecture notes" mentioned in the prompt were in this drawer.

"Hmm… this time the system is giving clear instructions directly, instead of having the 'ghost' urge us like in the music classroom just now." Feng Bujue stroked his chin and muttered, "Is this because the 'ghost' in this classroom has been made into Italian noodles by us?"

"Hey! Is this the time to care about that?" Gui Xiao's face changed when he heard the prompt, and his voice also increased. "I've also dissected frogs in biology class before, I remember it took me an hour and a half to finish it then!"

"You are you…" Feng Bujue said, looking at Xiao Tan with a very proud look. "We have a professional here."

Xiao Ling on the side was even more straightforward. Before Jue Ge finished speaking, she had already taken out the lecture notes from the drawer and spread them out in front of Xiao Tan.

"Good luck." Xiao Ling touched Xiao Tan's arm. "But don't force yourself if your wound hurts, I can help you."

"Heh… that won't be necessary." When Xiao Tan said this, his eyes and temperament… suddenly changed. "I can do this dissection with my feet…"