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墨書 Inktalez
Ning Han untied the iron chain right under the watchful eyes of Xu Nuan and the others, then calmly walked away. This meant that they would need to find a new way to leave the Cliff.
As Ning Han was untying the chain, Deng Yinyin almost rushed out to stop him, but was held back by Xu Nuan. A similar situation occurred with the men; Gu Ze, having realized something, restrained the agitated Xu Hang and Xie Huai.
"Why are you two so in sync at a time like this? He destroyed the chain; how are we supposed to get across now?"
Deng Yinyin was filled with rage, seeing a loathsome woman and asking Xu Nuan for answers. With the chain passage destroyed and Gu Ze and Xu Nuan working together so seamlessly, everything was making her increasingly frustrated.
Xu Nuan's lips felt dry, and her throat itched. The sudden realization was hard for her to accept, while Gu Ze remained calm.
"That guy named Ning Han has a gun."
The group gasped in shock.
"How did he get something so dangerous?"
Gu Ze shook his head, his gaze falling on Xu Nuan, whose expression had turned grim. He guessed she was thinking about Zhang Xiao, which would lead her to Qin Yaojie as well.
"We should not pursue this matter any further," Gu Ze said naturally, redirecting everyone's attention.
"Let's find another iron chain passage to leave here first. After that, we should try to avoid any encounters with them. Even if we do run into them, we shouldn't engage—just protect ourselves."
"But he has a gun! If he wants to kill us, it would be so easy! Our short knives can't compete with that," Xie Huai said, his face pale. It dawned on them that in this game, they not only had to face threats from ferocious beasts but also from humans!
Gu Ze tried to reassure him and the others who were struggling to accept this harsh reality.
"Don't worry, even in the game, carrying a gun is illegal, and murder is also against the law. He doesn't want to end up in prison after finally making it through."
Gu Ze thought of Zhang Xiao, that dangerous man. The handgun Zhang Xiao brought was clearly meant for killing, and he still hadn't figured out Ning Han's intentions. Instead, he was somewhat surprised by Xu Nuan's quick reaction.
"Exactly," Deng Yinyin chimed in immediately after dismissing Xu Nuan. "He might just be using the gun to deal with beasts. We live in a society governed by law."
Xie Huai was indeed fooled by such words, while Xu Hang looked thoughtfully at Gu Ze and Xu Nuan, his narrowed eyes hiding some unknown emotion.
It was already afternoon. If they couldn't leave the Cliff before nightfall, they would waste even more time.
The group set off again on their journey to find the iron rope passage. Normally, they would complain from time to time, but now, shocked by Ning Han's gun-wielding incident, they had forgotten the hardships of climbing around in search.
Xu Nuan was so focused on her own thoughts that she didn't notice Gu Ze and Xu Hang exchanging a gesture. When she finally lifted her head to observe the surroundings for the passage, she realized that only she and Gu Ze were left.
"Where did the others go?"
Xu Nuan felt as if she had missed out on a lot.
"They split up to act separately; it's not a big area anyway, and the locator device is useful," Gu Ze explained logically. However, Xu Nuan felt that things weren't that simple. When did it become a given that she and Gu Ze would act as a team? Didn't Deng Yinyin have anything to say about this?
She thought this way, but Gu Ze simply walked beside her, occasionally surveying the environment without speaking.
Xu Nuan felt somewhat perplexed and nervous, but she brushed aside that tension and tightened her grip with her left hand.
Time was passing, and the two of them were moving at a painfully slow pace. If Xu Hang saw their inefficient work, he would surely be displeased.
Pain was stimulating Xu Nuan's brain. She began to stop thinking about what Gu Ze intended to do and instead focused on the appearance of Rao Tingxue and the gesture Ning Han had made when he turned back to her.
"Until we meet again."
She sensed the smell of conspiracy; each person's appearance brought her different information. Of course, she could choose not to believe it, but her Rationality told her that those words were half-truths that needed analysis.
She felt a bit hesitant to analyze it. She even started to regret asking Gu Ze for help in piecing together her memories. She wanted to escape; she realized that entering the game itself was part of a conspiracy. An invisible force was pushing her toward a destination, but she didn't know where that place was.
She remembered that when she couldn't reach Qin Yaojie, she had inquired through his parents, friends, and company. A representative from Feng Tong Company informed her that Qin Yaojie had taken an extended leave, supposedly to go to a very secretive place and wouldn't be back for a long time. So she went to Qin Yaojie's parents' home, where his room was still preserved. Inside, she found many strange things and eventually came across a so-called diary belonging to Qin Yaojie.
The diary contained several blueprints and included a copy of the Life-and-Death Contract, along with contact information for some of his friends. Naturally, she reached out to the lawyer who had assisted Qin Yaojie in signing the Life-and-Death Contract, which led her to some information.
In the end, she took care of everything and entered this game.
At that time, she was so anxious about everything except for Qin Yaojie that she overlooked many details.
For instance, why did Qin Yaojie's parents exhaust all their connections in search of their son on extended leave yet receive no news at all? Meanwhile, as soon as she got involved in the search, all the clues seemed to unfold perfectly before her eyes, leading her into the game.
And her parents—who were overly protective and questioned everything—had easily accepted her unlimited vacation without any suspicion.
What had truly happened in between, she did not know. But now she understood that this was undoubtedly a conspiracy. The question remained: whose conspiracy was it aimed at?
Hers? Or Qin Yaojie's?
What benefits are there in entering the game for Mastermind? Is it to threaten Qin Yaojie?
I'm sorry, but even during her passionate relationship with Qin Yaojie, she was merely one of the important people in Qin Yaojie's life. There were too many people and things that could threaten Qin Yaojie, which ultimately meant that nothing could truly pose a threat to her.
Furthermore, is Mastermind related to her or Qin Yaojie in any way connected to the Game Designer?
This game was initiated by the chairman of Rao Group, and the Designer's involvement is extensive, encompassing technology, production locations, and threats arising from the Life-and-Death Contract. It's not something that Rao Group can handle alone.
Countless fragments raced through Xu Nuan's mind, and she seemed to grasp the key yet also miss it.
Is the secret passage truly Zhang Xiao's ultimate goal?
Is Mastermind's objective really Qin Yaojie?
What do the Designers want the Players to do?
Xu Nuan felt a bit lost. Her original purpose for entering this game was quite simple, but after encountering one issue after another, she no longer knew what to do.
Find Qin Yaojie? Get answers?
And then what? Would she really end up dying in this game as she had feared?
It seemed somewhat unwilling; she had made companions in the game. They had fought side by side, faced barriers and conflicts, but also collaborated and worked together. Did she really have to witness others die? Should she truly ignore many things while holding onto the thought of finding Qin Yaojie?
She found herself starting to doubt her beliefs. Xu Nuan wanted to laugh, but her heart felt bitter.
In the midst of various thoughts, doubts, and confusion, Xu Nuan suddenly felt someone grab her left hand tightly.
Startled, she looked up to see Gu Ze's furrowed brow and grim expression. Lowering her gaze to her palm, she noticed it was already a deep red, with the blade of a folding knife lying on it.
She remembered now. Upon hearing Rao Tingxue mention something related to Qin Yaojie, she felt a pang in her heart and instinctively reached into her pocket for the discarded but not thrown away blade, gripping it tightly in her hand.
With every word about Qin Yaojie that fell from Rao Tingxue's lips, she tightened her grip on the knife as if that could ease the pain in her chest and help her calm down to analyze what Rao Tingxue had said.
But it was merely self-deception.
Looking at the crimson stain in her palm where the knife lay, Xu Nuan suddenly laughed.
Her heart still ached painfully, yet she had been fooling herself for so long without realizing it.
Gu Ze continued to hold her hand, and she didn’t want to look at his expression anymore, allowing him to bandage her wound.
As she watched the blood being wiped clean little by little and felt the coolness of the alcohol, the soothing effect of the medicine, and the tightness of the bandage, Xu Nuan blurted out.
"What if I never get better?"
The grip on her hand suddenly tightened. Xu Nuan could imagine Gu Ze's expression at that moment and found it amusing that she could only guess what he looked like.
Who was really tormenting whom?
"Can you tell me why you stopped playing the drums? Why don’t you cherish your hands anymore?"
The brightness and melody of the girls on campus, the joyful and invigorating sound of drums, all serve as beautiful memories of that youthful time.
The memories that can be savored begin to take on a tinge of blood, and behind that blood is the story of a girl.
He was so far from that girl, yet he desperately wanted to know what had happened to her after leaving campus.
In the game, Calm Mask, the cruel Rationality, the deliberate Self-Harm, all driven by a belief in inevitable death, were nothing but strange and heart-wrenching experiences that ensnared him deeply.
A person's Sinking is indeed tragic.
How could he make that person, who wore a false mask and whose heart had already gone mad, sink together with him?
What else could be done to make that soul, which had been crying endlessly, come to a halt?
"I can tell you, because this is an inconsequential matter."
Xu Nuan spoke in a tone that was both relaxed and cruel.
"Because my hands can no longer hold Drumsticks."
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