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He Min, driven by a moment of curiosity about Tang Jingshu's whereabouts, inadvertently assisted Gu Ze and the others in uncovering the true culprit behind Tang Jingshu's death. Indeed, without Zhang Xiao's help during the 'Angry Jungle' stage, they would not have reached the Supply Station so smoothly. However, if this so-called smooth arrival came at the cost of Tang Jingshu's life, they would never agree to it.
The room fell into silence.
He Min felt a slight embarrassment; usually eloquent, she now found herself at a loss for words. She glanced at the other three men in the room. Gu Ze, the most charismatic among them, wore a serious expression, his deep-set eyes swirling with complex emotions. Xu Hang, who was typically stern, now displayed his anger openly. She believed that if Zhang Xiao were present, this man would not hesitate to confront him violently. Meanwhile, Xie Huai, who appeared delicate and refined, revealed a glimmer of murderous intent mixed with shame in his eyes. The latter was understandable, but the former indicated that this man had lost his rationality.
Feeling alarmed, she quickly lowered her head, pretending not to notice anything and refraining from organizing the medicine. She sensed that this originally capable team might undergo significant changes because of Zhang Xiao. Once a balance within a team is established, any substantial shift in strength or mindset can lead to subsequent conflicts.
It was Xie Huai who broke the silence first. He stared intently at Gu Ze, his trembling voice cutting through the tension.
"Gu Ze, who killed that man outside? Was it Zhang Xiao?"
In fact, during the Angry Jungle stage, Xie Huai, Xu Hang, and Deng Yinyin had heard Zhang Xiao probing Xu Nuan's words. At that time, Xu Hang was not yet part of Gu Ze and Xu Nuan's alliance; Deng Yinyin was still lost in her own world; and Xie Huai's cowardice prevented him from reacting to Gu Ze's intentions. Now that time had passed and each person had experienced many things—including betrayals—everyone was more focused on their own interests when considering the team. When it comes to one's life and benefits, human intelligence tends to surge dramatically.
The one who reacted most strongly to Xie Huai's question was not Gu Ze or He Min but Xu Hang.
Xu Hang looked uncertainly at Xie Huai and then suspiciously at Gu Ze; this matter had not been disclosed to him by Gu Ze.
Out of respect for Xu Nuan, Gu Ze would not casually spread rumors that Qin Yaojie was killed by Zhang Xiao. However, now that Xie Huai had brought it up, he had no choice but to answer and reveal that he had concealed this information from his buddy and ally Xu Hang.
"Yes."
Gu Ze's response sounded more like a sigh, catching He Min's attention as she noted the undercurrents among these men.
After receiving confirmation, Xie Huai suddenly fixed his intense gaze on Gu Ze and then on Xu Hang with determination.
"Then, may I join your Alliance?"
"We have a common enemy."
Immediately, Xie Huai provided his reasoning.
Gu Ze was taken aback and instinctively glanced at Xu Hang, who also looked surprised. Neither of them had expected that Xie Huai would notice their interaction and the agreement they had on the other side.
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
Gu Ze and Xu Hang never anticipated that the one with the least presence, who had once been the most timid and whose performance in the team was even less impressive than Deng Yinyin's, would explode with such astonishing momentum at this moment. They recalled how Xie Huai had panicked when he accidentally harmed Xu Nuan during the mission in the vast Gobi, as well as the different side he had shown when suspected in this round. They vaguely felt that Xie Huai had truly changed.
He Min, who was always perceptive and good at reading the room, quietly noted down the conversation among these people and their subtle interactions.
Knowing the truth behind Tang Jingshu's death and Xie Huai's significant transformation, Gu Ze surprisingly forgot to discuss the dizzying Flower Board matter with Xu Hang. After spending some time in the Storage Room, the four of them eventually went to rest in the lounge or living room.
Seeing He Min approach Xu Nuan, who was curled up on the sofa, Gu Ze thought for a moment but decided to retract his steps toward the lounge. Instead, he turned around and found a corner in the living room to lay down with a blanket and rest.
However, his rest did not go well. In a daze, he kept hearing various sounds, and his sleep quality was unexpectedly poor. Thoughts related to the game kept surfacing in his dreams—fragmented and disjointed—causing him a headache as he struggled to piece them together.
As his headache intensified, he suddenly heard a loud noise. He jolted awake, sitting up abruptly and looking around suspiciously. He noticed that Xu Nuan had also woken up, squinting at the situation in the living room with a puzzled expression on her face.
You heard that too?
Noticing He Min resting on a nearby recliner, Gu Ze could only gesture silently to Xu Nuan.
Xu Nuan nodded, understanding his lip movements. She reached up to rub her head, having been startled awake by sounds in the Supply Station several times due to nightmares. She increasingly suspected that there was something wrong with the Supply Station. However, she felt at a loss about how to investigate the issue, as their time was limited, and she couldn't mobilize the entire team based on her own suspicions.
While rubbing her head, Xu Nuan glanced at Gu Ze, whose expression was somewhat serious. She thought that perhaps when they found themselves alone again, they could team up to investigate the Supply Station and uncover unexpected findings. As her gaze shifted away from Gu Ze, she caught sight of the corpse in the icebox, momentarily feeling dazed. The sharp pain in her heart brought her back to reality, and she instinctively reached up to touch the corners of her eyes, which felt dry—an effect of tears that had been shed.
She had indeed cried.
Lowering her gaze, Xu Nuan picked up a notebook that had fallen open on the sofa. It contained some special symbols that would be incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with them.
It turned out that Qin Yaojie also did not remember the true instigator of this game; he too had been given a suggestion. He only knew that Chairman Rao was a puppet and that his purpose in entering the game was to dismantle its cruel aspects. He forced himself to wander through each level despite his body being poisoned to the core, seeking out hidden mechanisms to destroy them, which would present them with a thrilling yet not fatal game experience. His records only extended to the level before Vast Gobi, meaning that from that point onward, it was precisely what the game's instigator wanted to see. Xu Nuan suddenly understood why the game had become so brutal starting from that level; their previous narrow escapes were thanks to Qin Yaojie; otherwise, they might not have survived long enough to reach this point.
Xu Nuan stared blankly at the open notebook. After reviewing its simple records of each previous level, she felt deeply puzzled. Why would Qin Yaojie want to eliminate the cruel parts of this game when he was one of its two creators? Why hadn’t he left any remarks about Game Company? Why didn’t he provide any information about other Designers?
She could interpret the first point as a contradiction in game philosophy; the latter two could also be understood as being under suggestion. Since Qin Yaojie had written these points using symbols only she understood, why hadn’t he left his own explanations—about their separation, about being drugged, or about deliberately revealing secret passages and another crucial piece of information?
Based on her understanding of Qin Yaojie, if he did not want this game to be cruel, it meant his original intentions had not changed. Could she think positively and consider that the information he left in his mind served another purpose? For instance, protecting her?
The thought of "protection" made her want to laugh; from her current perspective, it was those very pieces of information that had caused her to lose everything and would keep her in danger moving forward—making "protection" seem quite ironic.
As Xu Nuan sank deeper into her thoughts, a shadow suddenly fell across the notebook. She looked up to see He Min waking up.
He Min rubbed his eyes and asked groggily, "What does it say up there?"
Xu Nuan's pupils constricted sharply before returning to normal as she casually brushed off his question with a vague response.
"He wrote it down casually when he was in a daze."
"Oh."
He Min nodded, not asking any further questions. It seemed she didn't notice Xu Nuan's momentary stiffness, but Gu Ze, who was a few meters away, did. He frowned and cast a meaningful glance at He Min.
The number of people in the team had once again become six, three men and three women.
When Xu Nuan saw the green prompt board displaying "Suffocating Sea," her face turned pale. Feeling extremely uneasy, she found herself back in a Survival Game involving the sea, with the modifier being "suffocating." This not only made her feel uncomfortable but also put her on high alert. Qin Yaojie was already dead, and no one was there to disable the traps; the difficulty of this level might be unimaginably high. Moreover, apart from He Min, the others did not have fond memories of the ocean. In the past thirty-plus levels, they had only encountered a sea-related Survival Game once, and that experience of surviving on a deserted island was still fresh in their minds, making them reluctant to relive it.
Xu Nuan thought this time would be like last time—they would lose consciousness before opening the green door and wake up again on the vast ocean. However, reality slapped her in the face.
As the team leader, Xu Hang twisted the doorknob and opened the door. When they stepped out of the Supply Station, they indeed saw a blue sea that sparkled like a gem, but they were on an island with white walls and blue windows topped with windmills.
Their view shifted from afar to near: Azure White Clouds floated above, seagulls soared freely, the sea surface shimmered with intoxicating blue waves, white sandy beaches stretched out, and tall green coconut trees swayed gently.
They found themselves on higher ground on this island, surrounded by tall white buildings with windmill roofs. As the wind blew, the windmills made a rustling sound. These white houses were enveloped by large patches of red and purple flowers, along with sprawling lemon trees and Olive Trees that draped over the white structures like veils.
This was their first encounter with a Survival Game featuring extensive modern architecture.
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