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It was only when Chi Xiaoming spoke that Xu Nuan realized someone was approaching from behind.
She quickly turned around and saw a very thin man.
The man's appearance was rather ordinary, but the most striking feature of his face was his Phoenix Eyes. They were long and narrow, similar to those of Zhang Xiao and Xie Huai, yet carried a hint of youthful innocence. However, the weariness reflected in his eyes indicated that this slender man was quite old and had experienced many things.
Xu Nuan felt that this man looked somewhat familiar, but she was certain she had never seen him before. Just as she was pondering this, she caught a whiff of Herbal Fragrance. It resembled the scent that had lingered on the deceased Cheng Ling, yet it was distinct in its own way; she had smelled it more than once.
As she quietly observed the man, he was also silently watching her. A flicker of complexity passed through his Phoenix Eyes, which Xu Nuan caught.
"Are you the one who has been watching me in Friendship Forest?"
The words slipped out of Xu Nuan's mouth as a sudden realization struck her mind.
After speaking, Xu Nuan pieced together other details from her memory.
"You were there during the Glacier challenge, and you were following us in the previous traps!"
The fragmented clues suddenly connected in her mind, and as she realized how many details she had overlooked, she became fully alert to this man's intentions.
She hurriedly stepped back a few paces until she stood in line with Chi Xiaoming. Noticing the look of shock and surprise flash across the man's eyes, she turned to Chi Xiaoming and asked, "Do you know him?"
This man had indeed lurked in the shadows multiple times but showed no malice or aggression towards them; his unclear motives made him even more dangerous.
Xu Nuan did not lower her voice; the man could hear her clearly. Yet, he did not speak up to defend himself but continued to gaze quietly at Xu Nuan. His intense stare made her feel a twinge of guilt.
"Let me introduce you. This is Feng Feng, one of the designers of this game. He has done considerable research on drugs, particularly those related to the brain."
Chi Xiaoming introduced Xu Nuan to Feng Feng with a sense of awareness, while Feng Feng remained quiet, not at all resembling the proud game designer she had seen before. He appeared even more ordinary than the players, seemingly weaker in ability.
Xu Nuan cast a suspicious glance at Chi Xiaoming and then turned her head to look at the silent Feng Feng, instinctively taking a few steps away from both men.
"Are you two familiar with each other?"
Xu Nuan did not know Feng Feng and assumed that this designer was merely interested in finding out where the secret passage was to exit the game. Since only five people could leave through the passage, perhaps Feng Feng felt confident about securing a spot for himself, which is why he showed no malice toward her. As for Chi Xiaoming, Xu Nuan had mixed feelings about him; he was strong enough to rival Gu Ze, but his taciturn nature made her suspect he might have ulterior motives. Neither of these men was Gu Ze, so she had to be cautious.
Chi Xiaoming's lips curled into a slow smile at Xu Nuan's actions, which heightened her wariness. It was then that she suddenly realized her two knives were missing—one was embedded in He Jun, and the other, left by Qin Yaojie, had been picked up by Gu Ze.
"Gu Ze knows him better."
Chi Xiaoming's intention to tease Xu Nuan lasted only a moment before he reverted to his usual serious demeanor.
"We were introduced through Gu Ze," he continued, noticing Xu Nuan's rare look of shock. His tone softened slightly. "Don't worry; he's also part of our Alliance."
"Alliance?"
Xu Nuan looked skeptically at Feng Feng, who had yet to speak. Aligning with the First Batch of Players, especially with one of the designers, felt akin to courting danger.
She trusted Gu Ze, but since he wasn’t present to vouch for this claim, her confidence diminished significantly.
"What capital does he have to ally with us? And what are his intentions?"
Xu Nuan maintained a certain distance from the two as she questioned them, her expression always tinged with wariness. The appearance of Feng Feng made her distrust Chi Xiaoming as well. What she failed to realize was that deep down, she had accepted Chi Xiaoming's earlier words: everything Gu Ze did was purposeful, and there was no need for her to rush to find him; she could potentially disrupt his plans. In fact, she had previously hindered Gu Ze.
This time, it was Feng Feng who responded to Xu Nuan. His voice was somewhat youthful, which contrasted sharply with the weariness reflected in his eyes.
"My value has already been manifested through you. You need not doubt this."
Feng Feng's physique was quite frail, yet his features and gaze suggested he was older than he appeared. His voice, a clear tone that lay somewhere between boyhood and manhood, combined with these traits, sent chills down one's spine.
"What do you mean by manifested through me?"
Feng Feng's expression remained largely unchanged as he spoke, but Xu Nuan felt a shiver run through her; it was as if she were merely an experiment for this man.
"The drugs Gu Ze injected into you were all formulated by me, and I have successfully created the antidote. It’s just a matter of whether you dare to use it."
Xu Nuan instinctively reached for the medication in her pocket, but Feng Feng was quicker, pulling out a similar vial from his own backpack. He even opened it up for Xu Nuan to smell the familiar scent.
She hesitated, but her long-standing caution kept her from fully trusting Feng Feng, the game designer. If Gu Ze had introduced him to her, she would have had no doubts. However, now, in a facility where Chi Xiaoming appeared alone and the previously elusive Feng Feng reemerged, it all felt too suspicious.
"Why were you hiding in the shadows before? Why are you out in the open now?"
Xu Nuan employed her Mind's Eye technique; she did not explicitly state that she accepted Feng Feng but framed her question from an accepting standpoint. She knew such tricks wouldn’t fool Chi Xiaoming or this ageless man. Whether Feng Feng answered would depend on his sincerity, although Xu Nuan harbored significant doubts about his collaboration with Gu Ze.
"Gu Ze instructed me to stay hidden."
Feng Feng replied calmly, maintaining direct eye contact with Xu Nuan and not signaling to the silent Chi Xiaoming at all.
"Before the last Pharmacist is alive, I cannot appear before you. Now that I have confirmed that I am the only Pharmacist left in this game, and your condition has improved by eighty percent, even if I do show myself, it won't provoke you."
"Provoke me?"
Xu Nuan found the word too subtle, leading her to unpleasant associations.
"I'm not sick."
Xu Nuan reiterated this fact. She did not consider her frequent headaches to be an illness; in her view, they were merely aftereffects of her previous Cranium injury and the forced medication she had taken. It was nothing serious. Therefore, had she known that the injected medication would hinder Gu Ze, she would have fought tooth and nail not to take it.
She failed to notice the subtle glance Chi Xiaoming cast her way as she stated her self-assured beliefs.
"The illness I refer to is not the kind you think it is."
Feng Feng was not angered by Xu Nuan's attitude; he seemed to have long understood her temperament, which was why he calmly answered her question. What he wouldn't tell Xu Nuan was that his demeanor was influenced by Gu Ze—the conditions proposed by that man were too tempting, even making him, who had remained neutral and resigned to his fate, feel tempted.
"What I mean by provoke is," Feng Feng patiently explained to Xu Nuan, despite noticing her rummaging through her backpack, "that those who are eroded by such drugs will have an instinctive reaction when encountering a Pharmacist who can concoct such drugs."
Noticing Xu Nuan's continued confusion, Feng Feng elaborated further.
"For example, the drug was concocted by Cheng Ling and me. You haven't received the antidote and are merely suppressed by some special medication. When you encounter Cheng Ling, you will inevitably react, causing your emotions to spiral out of control. I'm sure you remember this incident."
Xu Nuan quickly recalled what Feng Feng was referring to: it was when they were still at the glacier, shortly after Chi Ming had been killed during Gu Ze's fight with Cheng Ling. She had caught a whiff of the drug on Cheng Ling. When Cheng Ling's emotions became uncontrollable, hers did as well, leading to a significant reaction to Gu Ze's simple words before she ultimately fainted.
At that moment, she had wondered why she felt so agitated; it turned out she had been under the influence of the drug.
No, she couldn't just follow Feng Feng's words blindly; that would be an easy trap to fall into.
"What you mean is," Xu Nuan's slightly trembling lips betrayed her emotions, "that I was controlled by drugs and that's why I acted so strangely? Is that even possible? I've always had my own..."
Before Xu Nuan could finish her sentence, her eyes widened in realization. She recalled the time when Qin Yaojie tricked her into taking drugs, catching her completely off guard. During that period, she had been exposed to a large amount of medication. So, was she truly under the influence of drugs? Or was it something Qin Yaojie had orchestrated?
Suddenly, she found it hard to breathe. Every event from her past seemed to hold a deeper meaning, making it difficult for her to accept.
"It seems you've remembered something."
Feng Feng was also quite perceptive. He glanced at the expressionless Chi Xiaoming beside him and already understood his intentions.
"I'm not interested in how you took those drugs, but what I do know is that if you don't have the antidote, you'll eventually become a failure and end up like those Zombies."
Xu Nuan hadn't yet processed this information when Feng Feng's next words startled her.
"What do you mean by becoming a Zombie?"
She knew that those Zombies were humans who had been manipulated after death. According to Feng Feng's implication, did that mean those Zombies were actually people who had been drugged without an antidote and ultimately died, turning into Zombies?
Xu Nuan felt as if she were standing in a frozen wasteland, chilled to the bone. How much more was there that she didn't know? And how did Gu Ze know all of this?
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