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Xu Nuan was taken aback. In fact, up until now, she had no intention of sharing these matters with anyone else.
Keeping secrets in her heart was difficult, and occasionally, Xu Nuan felt the urge to confide in someone.
At this moment, telling Gu Ze didn’t seem like such a big deal after all.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Xu Nuan organized her thoughts and revealed to Gu Ze that there was a secret passage in the game and that Zhang Xiao's disregard for the rules might indicate a goal far more challenging than One Billion.
Of course, she chose to withhold the information that Qin Yaojie could be one of the key figures in these matters. Until she found evidence to support the suspicions swirling in her mind, Xu Nuan would not doubt Qin Yaojie.
Xu Nuan initially thought Gu Ze would share her confusion about Zhang Xiao's background, Zhang Xiao's intentions, and why Zhang Xiao could not harm Gu Ze.
Naturally, Xu Nuan had deduced that Zhang Xiao could not hurt Gu Ze. Zhang Xiao's teasing had inadvertently revealed that she knew something, and Xu Nuan wanted to tease Zhang Xiao back for unintentionally exposing that she couldn’t harm Gu Ze.
However, to Xu Nuan's surprise, Gu Ze did not immediately express any confusion. Instead, he smiled brightly, his lips curling up in delight, his eyes sparkling like a galaxy filled with stars, shining far brighter than sunlight. It was so dazzling that Xu Nuan felt the urge to shield her eyes.
"What’s your reaction?"
Feeling anxious about why the effects of the medicine hadn’t worn off yet, Xu Nuan looked at Gu Ze in confusion, momentarily forgetting how beautiful his smile was.
"Are you really happy that Zhang Xiao can’t hurt you?"
For a brief moment, Xu Nuan’s thoughts took a wrong turn, but she was always rational and calm, quickly dismissing those inappropriate ideas.
"Ahem," Gu Ze suddenly coughed a few times, slightly widening his deep brown eyes as he looked at Xu Nuan with a hint of grievance.
"Why would you think that?"
For a brief moment, Xu Nuan thought she saw a tail swishing behind Gu Ze. Indeed, the expression on his face was quite inappropriate.
Xu Nuan quickly averted her gaze, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. "I just wanted to know your thoughts. Maybe if we think together, we can discover something different."
Then Xu Nuan caught a glimpse of Gu Ze smiling that mischievous smile, as if all the beautiful things of the grassland had fallen into his eyes.
It felt like the whole world was reflected in Gu Ze's gaze.
Shaking her head, Xu Nuan tried to cast aside such bizarre thoughts. With that shake, she realized her strength had returned a little; at least her head and limbs could move slightly. She estimated that in less than ten minutes, she would be able to stand and walk.
How much time had been wasted due to this fog?
"Could it be a limitation of this game? The Designers wouldn't allow anyone to bring firearms into the game, right? Zhang Xiao might have some influence behind him to get in, but the Game Designer must have imposed restrictions. After all, if a Player's abilities disrupt the balance of the game, it could lead to undesirable outcomes."
"That makes sense, but it still doesn't explain why he can't harm you specifically."
Xu Nuan slightly turned her head to look in another direction, genuinely annoyed by how hard the ground was; lying on it was quite uncomfortable.
Perhaps sensing her discomfort, Gu Ze suggested, "Why don't you lie in my arms? It might be more comfortable."
Xu Nuan twitched her lips in disdain as she glared at Gu Ze. "Don't take this opportunity to be a rogue."
Gu Ze feigned innocence and spoke with righteous indignation. "I'm truly wronged! I just think girls shouldn't lie on the ground."
Xu Nuan was half-convinced but still refused. "No need for that. In a few minutes, I'll be able to move. Let's continue discussing what we were talking about; it's very important."
Xu Nuan emphasized the word "important" sharply, hoping Gu Ze would stop making jokes.
Gu Ze also became slightly serious, resting his chin on one hand as he looked at Xu Nuan, his expression inexplicably gentle.
"Actually, it's not that I can't be harmed; it's more like I can't be killed. Also, we don't know the limit on the number of people affected. Perhaps he can't harm anyone else among us, right?"
As Gu Ze explained, his hand absentmindedly reached out to play with Xu Nuan's hair. She shot him a look of refusal, and he reluctantly withdrew his hand to continue.
"This is a good thing. At least when we confront Zhang Xiao again, I can become a weapon for the team and won't have to fear the gun in his hand. Moreover, if he thinks we have information about secret passages and is wary of us, we can take the opportunity to search for that secret information. This will not only increase our bargaining power in negotiations but also allow us to leave the game directly if those secret passages really exist. That would be the ending everyone is hoping for."
Xu Nuan nodded slightly, agreeing with Gu Ze's words, but it took her a few seconds to realize that her goals were different from those of the Third Batch of Players. Even if she found a secret passage, she might not leave. But that was a matter for later; they would deal with it when the time came.
In an unusual display of denial, Xu Nuan chatted with Gu Ze until the effects of the medication wore off completely. She then struggled to sit up and touched the wound on her abdomen, her expression blank.
"Another scar added."
Gu Ze responded with an equally blank expression, "Then let it be ten more scars, all on your face."
Xu Nuan turned to glare at Gu Ze before saying, "We should go find Xu Hang and the others. Do you have a meeting point?"
"Huh? I forgot."
Gu Ze wore an expression that suggested he had been too flustered and rushed to remember.
Xu Nuan suppressed the urge to throw a punch and reminded herself that he had saved her; she shouldn't be angry. Besides, getting angry would definitely aggravate her abdominal wound.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Nuan initially wanted to find a place with more trees to light a signal fire, but then she saw Gu Ze suddenly break into a grin and blurt out a few words.
"I'm just kidding. Of course, we agreed on a meeting point; otherwise, how would we meet without our phones?"
Xu Nuan was so angry that her fist almost flew out.
As the two walked toward the meeting point, Xu Nuan suddenly remembered the purpose of the Tail Ring.
"Wait a minute, don't you have the Tracking Ring? Shouldn't it be easy to find each other?"
Xu Nuan looked at Gu Ze suspiciously.
Gu Ze suddenly slapped his forehead. "Right! I almost forgot about the Tail Ring."
Xu Nuan gave him an incredulous look. "You're not trying to trick me again, are you? How come you're either darkened or just love playing pranks? It doesn't fit your image, Gu Ze."
Gu Ze smiled gently and chose not to comment. After walking for a while, he finally spoke up.
"Tang Jingshu's Tail Ring is with you, right? Activate it; from now on, it will just be the five of us tackling challenges together."
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
After a long pause, Xu Nuan smiled.
"Activating it is fine, but there's no need to carry it. That's Tang Jingshu's thing; it will always belong to her. Besides, I already have a Tail Ring. Although it can only measure temperature, it's still somewhat useful."
As Xu Nuan took out Tang Jingshu's Tail Ring from her bag and pressed the activation switch, she thought about putting it back in her backpack.
Gu Ze originally just watched quietly, but when he saw Xu Nuan about to put the ring in, he spoke up.
"Make the most of it. Tang Jingshu hopes you can utilize this Tail Ring. You don’t have to wear it, but you can hang it around your neck or keep it close. After all, if something unexpected happens, your backpack might get lost."
Xu Nuan thought for a moment and found this reasoning valid. However, keeping it close didn’t seem practical; if she encountered a wild beast or changed clothes carelessly, the ring could still be lost.
Just as she was pondering this, a necklace appeared before her. Having not spent much time in the city lately, Xu Nuan wasn’t sure if the necklace was fashionable or outdated.
She calmly accepted it, slipped on the ring, and hung it around her neck. Then she casually asked, "Did you get this from the Supply Station? I used to complain about how many pieces of jewelry were there, but now it’s actually come in handy."
Gu Ze remained silent, seemingly acknowledging her statement.
However, Xu Nuan soon considered another issue. "If the backpack is so easy to lose, what about Tang Jingshu's diary? That can't be kept on me!"
Gu Ze responded nonchalantly, "Then just take good care of your backpack. Besides, you're already used to this one; switching would feel uncomfortable."
Xu Nuan nodded. "You're right; I should protect my backpack."
She completely forgot that just moments ago, Gu Ze had firmly stated that the backpack was unsafe.
The two walked for a while until they finally reached the meeting point where Xu Hang, Xie Huai, and Deng Yinyin were already waiting.
However, Xu Nuan couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off. She noticed that Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai had strange expressions—no longer twisted with previous chaos but tinged with a hint of resentment. They seemed particularly restless, like a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.
What had happened?
Xu Nuan felt puzzled but didn’t voice her questions. Everyone had their own secrets; what each person saw in the fog was their own mystery.
However, Xu Nuan did not expect that the peculiarities of Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai would lead to a divergence with the others on the path ahead.
The incident occurred at noon on the second day, when they were searching for the Special Tree in their chosen direction and encountered a Green Anaconda resting on the muddy bank. To defeat the three-meter-long giant snake, everyone exerted considerable effort and strength.
Surprisingly, Xie Huai no longer viewed the snake as his nightmare and put in extraordinary effort.
When the Green Anaconda finally died, a Hidden Level appeared.
At that moment, the System presented them with two choices.
The first option was to continue progressing through each level at their current pace.
The second option was to search for the Royal Lotus in the grassland; as long as they found a Royal Lotus and picked one of its flowers, they could directly pass through five levels.
The divergence occurred at this point. Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai insisted that searching for the Royal Lotus was more effective, while Xu Nuan and Gu Ze, considering past experiences, believed it was impossible to determine whether this Hidden Level was real or not. They chose a more conservative approach, opting to continue through the levels as they were already close to finding the Special Tree and would soon reach the Supply Station.
Xu Hang's opinion aligned with Xu Nuan and Gu Ze, but this time he could not convince Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai. The five of them remained at an impasse.
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