We've Been Deceived!

"Pfft!" Austin choked on his tea.

Did I not see it wrong?

There are fucking flame throwers, grenades, and molotov!

Surely, they must be some kind of prop, right?

Austin squinted his eyes, attempting to discern the authenticity of the weapons. However, his limited knowledge of weapons left him unable to determine whether they were genuine or not.

In the end, he gave up and looked at Eris with a questioning expression. "Is this supposed to be a joke?"

"Can't you tell?" Eris replied indifferently, reclaiming her phone and using tissues to wipe away the saliva Austin had sprayed on it.

However, her expression still bore a look of disgust as she gazed at her phone. She debated whether she should start looking for a new phone now or not because of this. 

"I don't know," Austin smiled wryly. "The way you two behave is a bit strange. It's hard to tell whether you're being genuine or just deeply suffering from Chuunibyou." he accidentally ended up blurting out his thought.

"What's Chuunibyou?" It was unknown when Alysia had ended her call and started listening to their conversation.

Before Austin had a chance to explain, Eris answered straightforwardly while scrolling through her phone.

"According to Google, Chuunibyou means eighth-grade syndrome. This syndrome refers to a stage where individuals exhibit behavior associated with a desire to stand out, appear unique, or use special words just so that they look cool and edgy."

"Ah, so, during our entire conversation, you've been considering us delusional or lunatics?" Alysia raised her eyebrows.

"Ye- I mean, no," Austin hurriedly denied.

Crap!

How did Eris come up with her answer so quickly? Wasn't she look extremely disgusted and about to throw her phone away earlier?

What's more, why could he sense a dangerous glint flashing through Alysia's eyes?

Was he doomed? 

However, upon second thought, he felt like this would be the right time to expose their lies before things went too far. He knew that once someone delved deep into roleplaying, it could continue for hours.

Time really matters now for him. Today, he has a morning class with a strict professor. If he's late, he will undoubtedly enter the professor's radar.

However, before he could make any comments, Alysia had spoken first.

"Alright. I get it. Your concern is understandable since we barely gave you any explanation."

"That's why I will now begin explaining everything gradually to you. However, certain things can't be conveyed solely through words. Hence, prepare yourself!" Alysia suddenly opened her drawer and tossed something in his direction.

Austin was still processing her words when he caught sight of something hurtling his way.

As he examined the object more closely, his eyes widened in alarm.

What the fuck?

This girl is out of her mind!

Was she that mad because he viewed her as delusional? 

Even so, how could she throw something as dangerous as a knife without warning? And at full force, no less!

Austin had never felt the urge to swear at someone so strongly.

Back on campus, Alysia was always regarded kind, bubbly, and social butterfly kind of girl. Everyone, from professors to students, adored her.

Hardly anyone held any animosity toward her.

On top of that, she was good-looking and smart too!

That's why he and others found her to be special—a goddess-like existence.

However, now, that very goddess was behaving like a ruffian, or to be precise, a demon!

Who else but a demon would hurl a knife at full force towards someone completely unprepared?!

Although he felt the urge to curse intensely, he knew that the knife was a far more important matter here. Hence, he just moved his body out of instinct. 

However, he severely underestimated the knife's speed.

When he was busy pondering the situation, the knife already covered more than a few meters and was now only a few steps away from piercing his brain.

Damn it! I won't be able to dodge it in time!

However, much to his astonishment, his body, which he assumed would be too slow to evade such a flying knife, suddenly exhibited a swiftness he hadn't known existed before.

Swoosh!

He narrowly evaded the knife as it sailed past him, slicing through the air with its razor-sharp edge, and it plunged directly against the wall. Shockingly, the knife didn't get deflected by the wall; instead, it embedded itself deeply. The scene resembles a dart hitting a dartboard.

When Austin turned around and noticed the small knife now planted strongly in the wall, he couldn't help but suck in a deep breath and wonder how strong a person needed to be able to achieve such a feat. 

Previously, while strolling through the mansion, Austin took the time to marvel at its grandeur. During that period, he couldn't resist running his fingers across some of the paintings and the walls. Consequently, he knew that the walls were constructed from concrete rather than random, thin materials.

...

"Wait a minute, did I actually avoid that knife? But how? It was clearly a couple of meters away from me; how did I pull off that inhuman dodge?" Instead of feeling relieved, he was more perplexed.

He was certain that the knife would hit him, but surprisingly, his body moved much faster than the knife. But how was that possible?

"Do you get it now?" Alysia's voice rang in his ears.

Hearing her voice, he couldn't contain the rage that welled up in his heart anymore. "Are you insane? You almost killed me!"

"But you're still alive now, aren't you?" Alysia responded casually.

This woman...

Austin found himself utterly speechless, his emotions a tangled mess.

True, he was still alive! But that was because he managed to evade the knife! If he couldn't, he would be a dead man now!

"Y-you... what exactly are you trying to do?!" Austin said, trembling with anger.

"I just wanted to test something," Alysia said.

"What kind of test?" 

"Your sincerity."

My sincerity my ass!

What's the connection between my sincerity and being a dummy target for your throwing knife?!

"So, have you already figured out the result?" Austin asked sarcastically.

"No, that was only the beginning," Alysia pondered for a moment before saying. "I need to conduct ten more or so similar tests."

Pfft!

Ten more tests?

Might as well kill me directly!

He realized that conversing with Alysia was like conversing with an alien. No one could decipher her thought process.

He also understood that Chuunibyou was an understatement to describe her. She was a true lunatic!

Everyone in the college had been deceived by her goddess persona, including him!

Austin rose from his seat, determined to take his leave.

He wasn't going to waste his time talking with this insane woman! 

"You want to leave already?" Alysia said with a hint of disappointment.

"Yeah, I'm not going to fool around with you guys anymore. I have a class this noon, and I need to prepare some materials. You all can continue with your roleplay." Austin waved his hand.

As for his phone, he decided to tackle that issue later. Right now, his top priority was to leave this place as soon as possible, or else, he couldn't resist the temptation to strangle Alysia and spanked her ass. 

However, her next words disrupted his composure, and he couldn't help but instantly turn around.

"I thought you'd be interested in knowing what exactly happened to you last night at the Art Faculty Building, but it seems you aren't interested in that matter. Ahhh... it looks like I'll have to keep this secret to myself until the day I die."

"What did you just say?!"