Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Through Fan Beibei, Deng Yinyin saw the fate that awaited her once she lost her protection, and as she caught sight of Fan Beibei's figure in the twilight, she felt a slight loss of control.
In her moment of instability, Deng Yinyin unleashed a torrent of words at what she thought was an illusion of Fan Beibei, allowing some of the dissatisfaction buried in her heart to spill out.
However, before she could calm her emotions, she noticed Fan Beibei approaching her with a fierce expression, blood gushing from the gash on her neck, splattering onto Deng Yinyin's face.
"Isn't this an illusion? How can you move?"
Deng Yinyin stepped back in surprise and fear, momentarily oblivious to the stone behind her, which caused her to trip and fall to the ground.
Sitting there in terror, she watched as Fan Beibei drew closer, her lips trembling.
"Y-you... don't come any closer!"
"I'm not afraid of you!"
Deng Yinyin's bravado was merely a facade; she reached for a dagger but couldn't find it after searching her body. When she noticed the shadow looming over her, she swung out instinctively.
She struck Fan Beibei hard with a punch, feeling warmth upon contact.
"You're still alive?"
Deng Yinyin's eyes widened in shock, her eyeballs nearly popping out from exertion, bloodshot and frightening at first glance.
As Fan Beibei continued to approach, Deng Yinyin's fear intensified. In her panic, she failed to realize that Fan Beibei was merely getting closer without intending to harm her.
Overwhelmed by guilt and terror, Deng Yinyin finally found a dagger and thrust it toward Fan Beibei without thinking.
"Since you're already dead, then die again. That way, I won't be considered a murderer."
"Go die!"
Deng Yinyin shouted as she accurately plunged the dagger into Fan Beibei's abdomen, who did not evade. Warm liquid immediately sprayed onto her face and some even splattered into her eyes.
Before her stood a sea of red. Deng Yinyin blinked and murmured, "It's warm."
"How can it be warm?"
Deng Yinyin blinked again, finally realizing that the person before her was not the deceased Fan Beibei, but her teammate, Xie Huai.
At that moment, Xie Huai was clutching his abdomen in agony, blood gushing out in torrents. If this continued without stopping the bleeding, he would soon succumb to blood loss.
Just moments ago, when Deng Yinyin had attacked, she had been ruthless; the knife had plunged deep into his abdomen, twisting as it went, damaging his insides in the process.
"Xie Huai, I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you. I wouldn't have hurt you!"
Deng Yinyin hurriedly apologized, her words tumbling out in a panic. Seeing Xie Huai's pale face and his inability to speak only heightened her anxiety. She frantically pressed against his abdomen, hoping to stem the flow of blood.
If Xie Huai died too, her situation would mirror that of Fan Beibei's, and she could very well meet the same fate.
"No, I don't want you to die."
Her thoughts spilled out, but to the suffering Xie Huai, they quickly took on a different meaning.
"Deng Yinyin, I'm fine. Just get me some medicine."
Xie Huai forced a smile, but his bloodless face was unsettling in the dim light. Instead of feeling reassured, Deng Yinyin became even more frightened and continued to explain.
"Xie Huai, you have to believe me! I mistook you for someone else when I attacked. I didn't mean to kill you. There must be a mechanism behind this; I'll find it and show you."
Deng Yinyin tried to rise to search for this so-called mechanism, completely oblivious to Xie Huai's weakening breaths and the pool of blood surrounding them.
"Deng Yinyin, don't go."
Due to excessive blood loss, Xie Huai's voice had become extremely weak, and Deng Yinyin, who was desperate to prove her innocence, didn't hear him at all. She hurriedly rummaged through the surrounding plants, trying to find the so-called mechanism. At that moment, she completely forgot that Gu Ze had previously analyzed for the team that the surveillance and mechanisms here were intelligent; if they could be easily spotted by the naked eye, this game would not be the terrifying existence it was.
As darkness fell, Deng Yinyin, having found nothing, turned around to look at Xie Huai, wanting to explain further. To her shock, she saw that Xie Huai had already collapsed on the ground, surrounded by a pool of crimson.
“Xie Huai!”
Deng Yinyin scrambled over to Xie Huai's side, shaking him vigorously while crying out.
“Xie Huai, you can't be in trouble! What am I going to do if something happens to you?”
“Xie Huai!”
Deng Yinyin's voice was already loud, and when she screamed like this, all the birds in the forest preparing to rest were startled away.
After shaking Xie Huai for a while and screaming for what felt like an eternity, Deng Yinyin finally confirmed that he had completely passed out. Overwhelmed by fear, she was gasping for breath between sobs.
Seeing the wound on Xie Huai's abdomen reminded her that she needed to give him blood due to his excessive blood loss. She crawled over to her backpack and rummaged through it for a while but couldn't figure out what to take out to bandage Xie Huai.
“Should I use alcohol? Or a bandage? Is this a hemostatic patch?”
Having been well protected by Xie Huai and Xu Hang, Deng Yinyin only recognized these items but had little opportunity to use them. Naturally, she was clumsy and flustered as she tried to handle them.
After a long while of searching, Deng Yinyin finally crawled back to Xie Huai's side, ready to bandage him. Just then, she suddenly heard the howl of wolves.
“Awooo!”
The sound of the wolf howl startled Deng Yinyin so much that she dropped everything in her hands. Instinctively grabbing her short knife, she darted into a nearby thicket to hide.
Each howl sent shivers down her spine as she trembled, trying to gauge how far away the wolves were. When she realized the howls were getting closer and closer, an impulse to run surged within her.
Thinking this way, she stood up ready to flee. However, in her panic as she hastily slung her backpack over her shoulder, she noticed Xie Huai still lying unconscious on the ground.
Deng Yinyin stared at Xie Huai's increasingly pale face, a myriad of emotions flashing in her eyes.
Time passed quickly; the two had already spent three days in the Love Forest, working in pairs.
Among all the traps Xu Nuan and Gu Ze encountered, only the one that revealed Gu Ze's gruesome corpse had frightened Xu Nuan. The rest of the traps posed little challenge to them.
Whether facing wild beasts or making difficult choices, nothing could deter the two. No matter how strong the attacks from beasts and strange creatures were, as long as these two skilled individuals teamed up, there was no creature that could stand in their way.
The traps requiring choices could not hinder their momentum either. When it came to life-and-death decisions, both were considerate of each other, willing to sacrifice themselves. This mindset was precisely the nemesis of traps designed to challenge couples. If it involved a test of wits or cleverly laid textual traps, it was even less likely to stump the already intelligent Xu Nuan. Moreover, if Xu Nuan found herself unable to decide, she had an even smarter and more capable Gu Ze by her side.
Initially, they had shown signs of discomfort and appropriate shock at the first few traps, but afterward, they navigated through them smoothly. Their ease led them to lose track of time, and by the time they realized it, they had entered the fourth day of this challenge.
During another break, Xu Nuan and Gu Ze leaned against each other to rest while casually rummaging through their backpacks.
"I wonder how Amin and the others are doing?"
Due to their relative safety, Xu Nuan had time to consider the movements of other groups, especially He Min and Yu Yu, whom she should have been paying attention to in recent days. Out of her dislike for Yu Yu, she omitted mentioning her name.
"That depends on the traps they've encountered."
Gu Ze was not one to naively think everything would turn out well for those he cared about. Both he and Xu Nuan were acutely aware of the game's brutality and understood that uncertainty existed in all matters; being overly optimistic could lead to harm for each other.
"True," Xu Nuan nodded in agreement. "And it's possible that the System has set different traps on each path, so what they encounter might be completely opposite to what we face."
Xu Nuan sighed lightly but still earnestly expressed her hopes.
"Regardless, it would be best if everyone could safely complete their paths and meet up at the Supply Station."
She acknowledged that this was merely a hope and prepared herself for the possibility that someone might encounter an unexpected mishap.
"Warm."
As Xu Nuan quietly assessed how many days it would take to reach the Supply Station, Gu Ze suddenly spoke up.
"What's wrong?"
Xu Nuan turned her head to ask Gu Ze, but all she saw was his handsome profile, bathed in sunlight, resembling a finely carved sculpture that captivated her thoughts.
Gu Ze did not turn his head but gently inquired, "What do you think about the idea of just the two of us tackling the challenges together from now on?"
"Huh?"
Xu Nuan was momentarily taken aback and took a while to process his words.
"You mean, from now on, it will only be the two of us in all the Survival Games?"
She found it hard to believe that such words came from Gu Ze's mouth and repeated them. Although there were undercurrents within the team that made her wary of others, she knew Gu Ze's relationship with the Third Batch of Players. A man who valued his emotions deeply would not easily abandon his companions. Just like during the Beautiful River challenge when everyone was helpless against the water ghost and feared being bitten and turned into one themselves, only Gu Ze had stepped up to help Tang Jingshu. The same went for the volcano incident; in many subsequent Survival Games, no matter how angry he got, Gu Ze would never forsake his teammates.
She had indeed heard negative comments about Gu Ze from others, claiming he was no longer the gentle Gentleman they once knew but had become a frightening figure who could be both domineering and sinister. She had always dismissed such opinions; the multifaceted Gu Ze was the real Gu Ze, and those people simply failed to see him clearly.
Comment 0 Comment Count