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The white powder was a solid that had a corrosive effect when it came into contact with clothing, and it burned the skin. Xu Nuan realized that this powder was not the kind of chemical she had understood, and its subsequent effects were beyond her speculation.
Instinctively, Xu Nuan reached for Gu Ze's hand, wanting to examine it closely, but he dodged away. In that fleeting moment, she noticed the burn spreading.
Anger surged within her as she roughly grabbed the collar of the man lying on the ground, growling, "What is this stuff?"
As she looked at the oddly colored man displaying a strange smile, an ominous feeling crept into her heart; this man was already insane.
"Heh heh."
His laughter sounded like sandpaper scraping against itself—grating and unpleasant.
"I want everyone to be like me! Haha, this is the greatest invention... uh, uh."
After rambling incoherently for a few moments, the man's face began to spasm; he foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes back as if tormented by something.
Xu Nuan instinctively released her grip. This person was far more terrifying than when she encountered the deranged Wang Yiyun; he had been driven to madness by this game.
The moment she let go, Gu Ze pulled her back slightly with his uninjured right hand.
"Be careful, don't touch him."
The others did not understand what these symptoms indicated, nor did they have any means of rescue; they could only watch as the man continued to convulse and eventually lost consciousness due to difficulty breathing.
Xu Nuan didn't want to concern herself with the man's fate. She hurriedly took out Burn Ointment and applied it to Gu Ze's hand. During the process, Gu Ze would not allow her to touch the burned area.
It felt like being burned, yet it could also spread. Gu Ze did not let out a muffled groan, but sweat began to bead on his forehead, indicating the immense pain he was experiencing. This was clearly an antidote that ordinary people could not comprehend. Xu Nuan could only resort to burn ointment, but the results proved that those ointments were of no use.
"What should we do?"
Xu Nuan was so anxious that she felt like crying, but she knew tears would be pointless at this moment. She could only hold back her emotions and watch as the burn spread across Gu Ze's hand, quickly reaching the cuff of his sleeve, a place she could not see.
Chi Xiaoming was not idle either; seizing the opportunity, he rummaged through the man's backpack and pulled out a bunch of bottles and jars. They were all transparent vials, some with wide mouths and others with narrow ones, each containing strange-colored substances. The unusual colors and the solid or liquid contents indicated that these were not products from a Supply Station but concocted by this man himself. This revelation seemed to hint at the man's true identity.
Xu Nuan hurriedly snatched the bottles from Chi Xiaoming, hoping to find labels that would indicate their uses in search of an antidote. Unfortunately, none of the transparent vials had labels on them; she could only struggle to identify their contents with no success.
Meanwhile, Chi Xiaoming continued to sift through the man's backpack, hoping to find something that would confirm his identity. Neither of them noticed Gu Ze's subtle expression as he gazed at the wound on his hand; it did not convey worry but rather a sense of pleasure.
Whether they were Players or Designers, it seemed they all had a habit of keeping diaries. Perhaps it was because they never knew when they might die, so they attempted to leave behind fragments of their existence through written words. Yu Hao was like this, Tang Jingshu too, Qin Yaojie as well, and this man before them shared the same habit.
While Xu Nuan anxiously examined the bottles, Chi Xiaoming quickly flipped through a diary. The entries were not recorded in any special symbols; rather, it appeared that as time passed, the owner's state of mind changed, resulting in increasingly messy and feeble handwriting.
Gu Ze, who usually showed concern for Xu Nuan, surprisingly did not comfort her at this moment. He simply glanced casually at a stretch of snow in the distance, where a flicker of mockery and understanding crossed his eyes.
After retracting his gaze, Gu Ze noticed that Chi Xiaoming's expression had grown more serious and asked,
"What did you find out?"
Chi Xiaoming took a deep breath, casting a complex glance at the man lying on the ground before looking back at Xu Nuan, who was unusually anxious and preoccupied. He spoke slowly,
"This man is indeed a Designer named Cheng Ling; he is a Pharmacist who has won many awards."
Chi Xiaoming expressionlessly flipped through the notebook.
"This person is truly arrogant, thinking he can control someone by manipulating their brain, and even keep them trapped in their dreams for a lifetime. However," Chi Xiaoming glanced again at Cheng Ling, who was unconscious yet twitching involuntarily, "it seems he won't have the chance to realize such ambitions."
The listener was unwittingly attentive.
Upon hearing a few sensitive words, Xu Nuan instinctively halted her actions, stiffly turning her neck to look at Cheng Ling lying on the ground, her pupils momentarily dilating in shock.
"Control?"
This man appeared to be a significant figure in the design of the game segment. The drug she had taken and the strange Survival Game she had navigated all seemed to involve this man. What did he mean by 'making everyone like him' just now?
Cheng Ling’s face was hard to look at; it bore several colors and some areas were starting to peel away, revealing a sickly white underneath. His features appeared disjointed in this context, giving an impression that his mouth and nose did not belong to him. Furthermore, Cheng Ling’s body seemed odd; despite twitching for unknown reasons, his limbs moved awkwardly, creating a strong sense of incongruity—as if this body did not belong to him either.
As these thoughts crossed her mind, Xu Nuan abruptly turned to look at Gu Ze. Seeing the injury on his hand made her heart tighten; an ominous feeling washed over her. This strange powder and bizarre words suggested that Gu Ze might become someone else entirely.
But how could that be possible? Cheng Ling was just a Pharmacist. Control the brain? Control the human body?
Absolutely impossible!
Xu Nuan vehemently opposed this possibility in her mind, yet a voice deep within her insisted that it could be true, even real. Because she had seen it before, under someone’s narration; she had even encountered it in a dream.
This was reality!
Those works originated from this person's hands.
Intense emotions made Xu Nuan's face pale, and the violent fluctuations in her feelings caused her breath to quicken. The headache that had long been absent returned with a vengeance.
As she lost consciousness once more, a strong sense of unwillingness surged within her.
The dreams that had plagued her reappeared, and she could only watch as a bystander. No matter how desperately she wanted to scream or call out, no matter how urgent her feelings of frustration were, she was ultimately powerless.
She was a weakling; she finally understood this.
In fact, she had never been the "perfect child" from someone else's family. Her father was strict, and although her mother was kind, she had high expectations for her. From an early age, Xu Nuan had been shuttling between various training classes. In contrast, her neighbor Qin Yaojie was the epitome of the perfect child—he excelled without attending tutoring classes, was skilled in basketball and soccer, played the piano and violin, and was simply a prodigy.
The title "Prodigy Qin Yaojie" spread throughout City A. Xu Nuan remembered feeling envious yet proud at times because that prodigy was her neighbor, her brother. Undeniably, part of her motivation to work hard in middle and high school stemmed from wanting to stand beside Qin Yaojie, to face the future together. However hard she tried to catch up, she could never reach even a fraction of his brilliance.
What Qin Yaojie could accomplish effortlessly required her five or even ten times the effort to achieve. Even if she eventually became Qin Yaojie's girlfriend, she would still be chasing after him. She had truly resented the burdens he brought into her life; if it weren't for him, she wouldn't have been dragged into this game. Yet, it was also because of him that she continued to grow and strive for excellence in her own field.
Thus, when she learned that Qin Yaojie had merely gone to a branch office of a corporation, she felt confused. He was a man deserving of standing at the pinnacle; why would he lower himself? Why hide his talents?
That was during their passionate romance when she felt Qin Yaojie's tenderness and narcissistically thought he was waiting for her—to grow stronger and capable enough to create an incredibly bright future together. At that time, their fields could merge, making them the most envied couple.
As those dreams repeated themselves, the version of herself within them sneered coldly.
How naive her thoughts had been back then—was Qin Yaojie really waiting for her? Was Fengtong Technology so ordinary?
Ultimately, she recalled those details she had deliberately pushed aside. In middle school, Qin Yaojie was surrounded by adults; in high school, he had already determined his aspirations; in college, he was incredibly busy. As a result, her classmates believed she wasn't in a relationship.
This game was one that Qin Yaojie had devoted his entire youth to completing; however, this prodigy had ultimately failed.
Xu Nuan did not understand the greatness of this game; she simply felt that the man was pitiful, just as she once was.
A man who wanted to have both a career and love, a man who ultimately lost his life.
She wanted to laugh, but the self in her dream was crying, curled up in the corner of the room, covering her face and sobbing softly.
Her consciousness fluctuated between clarity and confusion, and her vision remained hazy.
Several times when Xu Nuan forced her eyes open, she could not see the person's face clearly; she only heard a gentle voice telling her to rest a little longer. Listening to that voice, she soon fell asleep again, slipping into unconsciousness.
"Are you really not going to tell her?"
Seeing Gu Ze expressionlessly inject Xu Nuan with an unknown substance, Chi Xiaoming frowned.
"Perhaps if she knew, she could break free from control more quickly."
Gu Ze gently stroked Xu Nuan's sleeping face, pausing for a long moment before responding.
"But it could also have the opposite effect. I can't take that risk with her."
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