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墨書 Inktalez
It turned out that Gu Ze and Xu Hang's group had quite a rapport. Just as night fell over the island and the System prompted the first past, the two groups met in front of a white house with a windmill, and Gu Ze didn't even have time to use the ring for location tracking.
Compared to Gu Ze's group, who were closer to the stone path, Xu Hang's group seemed to have taken a much longer route. The three of them looked somewhat disheveled, and Deng Yinyin, who had rarely been injured, now had all her exposed skin wrapped in bandages except for her face. Xu Hang and Xie Huai appeared to be in much better shape than her.
"What happened?"
Xu Hang's group seemed to have encountered many issues during their journey, prompting He Min to ask.
Deng Yinyin, with a pale face and a gloomy expression, couldn't hold back her tears at the question. Even though it wasn't Gu Ze who spoke up as she had hoped, she let out a sob and wiped her tears with her bandaged hand.
"We found the statue, but someone took it away. That man was so despicable."
As Deng Yinyin cried and rambled on about their experiences from the day, Xu Hang and Xie Huai didn’t stop her. They allowed her to vent her emotions this way to prevent any other feelings from brewing inside her.
Meanwhile, Xu Nuan's group pieced together the general events through Deng Yinyin's intermittent sobs.
Xu Hang's group had relatively good luck; when they arrived at the white house that morning, they discovered a statue hidden behind the windmill. Due to the high vantage point, it was generally difficult to spot. Their luck was good, but those with ulterior motives were even luckier.
While Deng Yinyin temporarily stayed at the Campsite, a man named Yu Yu ambushed her and stole the statue. In the process of chasing him, Deng Yinyin rolled down a slope and got injured. At that moment, Xu Hang and Xie Huai noticed another group led by the money-hungry Xiong Qi acting suspiciously. The three of them became entangled in a conflict without any advantage.
By the time Xu Hang and Xie Huai reacted and tried to pursue Yu Yu, he used Xiong Qi—who was not part of their group—to set a trap for them. The end result was that the statue they found was stolen, and all three sustained varying degrees of injuries. Xiong Qi was beaten nearly to death by them but managed to escape amidst the chaos. Meanwhile, Yu Yu—the man who had once been a hotel lobby manager—was unscathed and took away the Mermaid Statue.
Despite being three against one, they allowed that man to escape, which left Xu Hang and Xie Huai feeling incredibly frustrated. The most injured among them, Deng Yinyin, felt both furious and helpless.
After their stroke of bad luck following their earlier misfortune of losing the statue that morning, they spent their time searching for it while also trying to track down other teams without success. They inadvertently wandered into an olive grove that resembled a maze and struggled for quite some time before finally finding their way out. Exhausted and empty-handed, they decided to head straight to the meeting point to find Gu Ze's group.
He Min watched as Deng Yinyin cried uncontrollably, looking utterly pitiful. With a kind heart, she handed over a tissue. Deng Yinyin took the tissue and, with her swollen red eyes, glared at Gu Ze and Xu Nuan. Noticing their lack of emotional response, she immediately pouted in displeasure.
"Yu Yu's group is Chi Xiaoming's, right?"
He Min mentioned the group that Xu Hang and the others despised with a somewhat normal expression.
"That's the one! Can't these people go find it themselves? It's outrageous!"
Xie Huai gritted his teeth, his mood not improving at all. Meanwhile, Xu Hang, whose face was dark with anger, reminded them.
"Don't forget, there are only eight statues on this island, and only two groups can leave. The other players can use tricks; we can too."
Xu Nuan immediately realized that Xu Hang was genuinely angry. Being outsmarted one against three was certainly something he couldn't swallow. However, she remembered that Yu Yu was indeed from Chi Xiaoming's group. Last night, Chi Xiaoming had come to ask questions seriously, only for his team members to pull this stunt afterward. It seemed that people could be deceiving; perhaps in this game, aside from teammates, no one could be trusted. Eventually, even teammates might not be trustworthy; one could only rely on oneself.
Xu Nuan felt somewhat relieved that there were no conflicts of interest among them in this round. If every round were like the 'Vast Gobi' challenge, she would inevitably part ways with these people sooner or later. At that time, she would feel lonely, she thought as she unconsciously glanced at Gu Ze beside her.
After crying for a while, Deng Yinyin wiped her nose and pointed at Xu Nuan, who also bore injuries.
"What happened to you? The one we found before was stolen too, right?"
Deng Yinyin looked utterly defeated, tears welling up in her eyes again. Xu Nuan believed that if she nodded now, Deng Yinyin would surely break down into tears again. If she had finally found a statue related to her life and it was stolen while she was injured, she would also feel devastated. However, before breaking down, she would definitely make that person pay.
Compared to the blunt and straightforward Xu Nuan who made people want to roll their eyes, He Min appeared more eloquent. She couldn't bear to see Deng Yinyin in such a pitiful state and quickly explained.
"No, we managed to secure a statue. We already have two; if we push a little harder tomorrow and save our extraordinary methods for when they are truly needed."
The few people present were well aware that if they took the statues from other groups, leading to those groups failing this challenge and ultimately being submerged with the island, they would carry that guilt for a lifetime. This was a hurdle that their conscience had not yet allowed them to cross. As for what they would become in the future, that was a matter for another time.
However, He Min's attempt to comfort Deng Yinyin only caused her to break down further.
"Ugh, it's all Yu Yu's fault! If it weren't for her, we would have three statues! Maybe we could leave here tomorrow!" Deng Yinyin cried, her sobs growing more intense. The others were at a loss for how to help her. He Min had intended to offer more words of comfort, but Xu Hang interjected coolly.
"Once she cries herself out, she'll stop. We should find a campsite to rest and decide what to do tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, Deng Yinyin actually stopped crying. Instead, she glared at Xu Hang with her swollen eyes and angrily stomped over to a tree, sitting down defiantly and refusing to move.
Gu Ze sensed that something else might be going on; otherwise, Xu Hang wouldn't have spoken like that. Narrowing his eyes, he noticed Xu Hang's hand hanging limply at his side. He immediately walked over and gently placed a hand on Xu Hang's shoulder. The usually stoic Xu Hang frowned instantly, his expression pained.
Gu Ze glanced at Xie Huai, whose deep brown eyes held an unusual intensity. He Min noticed this too and realized that the only two people who could provoke the usually gentle Gu Ze were Xu Nuan and Xu Hang. Taking note of this, He Min hurried over to Xu Nuan and guided her under a tree so she could rest properly.
Under Gu Ze's piercing gaze, Xie Huai felt compelled to reveal everything else that had happened. It turned out that after losing the statue, Deng Yinyin had lost her rationality and insisted on confronting Yu Yu. In an attempt to pull Deng Yinyin back, Xu Hang had been struck by a large rock thrown by Yu Yu when he wasn't quick enough to dodge, injuring his arm—a wound that wouldn’t heal quickly.
Gu Ze's expression darkened as he looked toward Deng Yinyin sitting under the tree not far away. This made Xie Huai feel uneasy, but he bravely stepped aside to block Gu Ze’s line of sight toward her. There wasn’t much he could do for Deng Yinyin, nor did he expect her to appreciate his efforts.
"You spoil her too much," Gu Ze said as he withdrew his gaze with a sigh, speaking seriously to the unexpressive Xu Hang.
"Even if it's out of love for her sake, it's gone too far. If she doesn't learn some lessons, it will be hard for her to survive in this game. Her temperament—it's just not suited for this environment."
"Are you addicted to teaching?"
Xu Hang pushed Gu Ze's hand aside, gesturing for him to look at Xu Nuan, who was sitting under a tree, exhausted and starting to doze off.
"We all have our own opinions; you don't need to worry too much. Overthinking can backfire, but if you find the right balance, you might gain more."
Gu Ze paused, his expression complex as he looked at Xu Hang, remaining silent.
To mitigate risks, Gu Ze placed a statue into Xu Hang's backpack. Since members of other groups had sent a few people to monitor them and look for opportunities to steal their statue, Xu Hang and the others decided that starting the next day, they would no longer split into groups. Some would search for statues while others kept an eye on the nearby players. If possible, they were allowed to seize unexpected opportunities during a counterattack. With all six of them together, they wouldn't have to fear attacks from any single group; after all, their team still had a numerical advantage.
The island wasn't large; in other words, they had already searched many places within a day. They were eager to know how many statues the other groups had found. If the other six statues were already claimed by someone else, they would need to change their plans instead of wasting time each day.
After finishing his thoughts, Xu Hang indicated that after resting enough in the afternoon, it was now dark enough for Xu Nuan to volunteer to scout out information about the other groups.
Perhaps Xu Nuan usually hid herself too well, or perhaps only Gu Ze was willing to invest significant effort into observing her. Among them, only Gu Ze knew that Xu Nuan had night blindness. Despite having a flashlight and moonlight, Gu Ze didn't believe that Xu Nuan could successfully complete this task. However, in order to create an opportunity for solitude, he tacitly approved of her self-nomination and nominated himself as well.
Even though he noticed Xu Nuan's unnatural expression at that moment, Xu Hang still agreed for the two of them to investigate the situation with the other groups. They were both capable and willing to look out for each other, which made him feel somewhat at ease. Besides, everyone else was tired and unwilling to take on this task for the team.
Xu Hang's calculations were sound, but they left Xu Nuan—who just wanted some quiet time—resenting him internally for quite some time.
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