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墨書 Inktalez
In the jungle, everyone's situation had shifted slightly.
Xu Nuan had finally escaped from the circle that had deliberately targeted her. She bore some injuries and looked disheveled, but her eyes, filled with concern, appeared somewhat clean.
At that moment, she couldn't care less about her condition. After rolling on the ground, she called for the dusty short knife and ran toward Gu Ze's direction. Chi Xiaoming, who had been guarding this area from the outer circle, didn't have time to greet Xu Nuan or offer any warnings before he saw a figure flash past him, causing his expression to finally shift.
Xu Nuan had only run a few meters when she caught sight of Gu Ze's difficult predicament. However, she quickly sensed that something was off in the atmosphere around her. It was a unique sensitivity inherent to humans; she barely had time to utter a word before her body instinctively fell to the side into an open space. Just then, a knife whizzed past her ear. As she fell sideways, she twisted her wrist and thrust the short knife toward the man who had suddenly appeared.
“It’s you!”
Xu Nuan's voice was filled with gritted teeth as she continued her movements. However, the weight of her body slowed her down and caused her aim to falter. In contrast, Sheng Chao, who had been lying in ambush while everyone else was caught in their struggles, had plenty of energy to deal with Xu Nuan.
His eyes, which were usually searching for gossip, were now fixed greedily on Xu Nuan, reflecting his desire for the rewards that would come after completing his mission.
Xu Nuan felt an intense loathing for this person but had no choice but to strive to minimize her injuries in this critical moment.
“Nuan!”
Meanwhile, amidst his busy efforts, Gu Ze noticed this and shouted out loud. However, in that moment of distraction, he failed to see a large tree coming straight at him. It was only when he collided with it that he realized this trap was far more sophisticated than it appeared. Zhang Xiao, who was most likely behind this series of ambushes, had long since arranged everything with time and manpower. The so-called hiding in the shadows wasn't merely about lying in wait for the perfect moment to strike. His limited interactions with Zhang Xiao only highlighted how unfathomable Zhang Xiao truly was. Much like the founder of their organization, both he and Zhang Xiao were similar in nature—rarely seen yet silently controlling the larger picture. They exerted little effort but possessed more than those Players who had struggled hard to reach this point.
Gu Ze spat out blood, tasting iron in his mouth. Reality left him no room for contemplation as new traps were triggered again. He remained trapped within this mechanism, enduring attacks more intense and concentrated than anyone else present.
As Xu Nuan agilely rolled aside, she changed direction and lost sight of what was happening with Gu Ze. Her greater concern was whether she could evade this attack or if she could inflict damage similar to Sheng Chao's.
When faced with a disparity in strength, Xu Nuan instinctively began calculating her options.
Unexpectedly, she found herself unharmed because there was someone else on the field who had invested tremendous resources outside of the game to gather substantial intelligence—information that could lead him into perilous situations but now helped him avoid many threats.
Thus, Chi Xiaoming made his first heroic rescue in this lifetime.
With one hand gripping Sheng Chao's shoulder, he exerted force and executed a shoulder throw. Sheng Chao was no weakling either; while flipping through the air, he quickly changed his target and thrust a knife straight at Chi Xiaoming.
Chi Xiaoming freed one hand to grab Sheng Chao's wrist. With a firm pull, he caused Sheng Chao to grunt in pain. However, their scuffle temporarily diverted the danger away from Xu Nuan.
It was only temporary. While Chi Xiaoming had taken the threat of Sheng Chao away, Xu Nuan's body fell to the side due to inertia. The massive dust cloud blurred her vision, and some dust even entered her throat, obstructing her breathing.
"Cough cough."
Xu Nuan propped herself up with one hand, trying hard not to let the pain in her twisted wrist make her falter. With her other hand, she covered her mouth and coughed lightly.
Just as she coughed for a few seconds, the dust in front of her suddenly parted, followed by the sound of wind rushing in. Something had triggered a mechanism while her vision was obscured by the dust.
It was a few large trees nearby. These trees had been tampered with and were now falling one by one at specific moments. Among them, one tree happened to be toppling toward Xu Nuan.
How long does it take for a tree to fall?
How long does it take for a person who has fallen to the ground to get up and run a certain distance?
No one calculated; in such dangerous moments, there was only instinct.
The thick cloud of dust covered Xu Nuan completely and also enveloped Chi Xiaoming, who was still engaged with Sheng Chao.
Gu Ze, clearly targeted at this moment, remained within the trap of mechanisms. The intense barrage made it impossible for him to focus on anything else. Finally, the sound of several trees crashing down caught his attention.
Gu Ze glanced around and immediately recognized who had been in this area before. His expression changed drastically, and his voice became hoarse.
“Nuan!”
In that moment, the surge of emotion made him fearless against any incoming attacks. Trapped in a cycle, Gu Ze broke through the boundaries, challenging what seemed like an impossible task. Overwhelmed by immense anger, he cast aside all rationality, focusing solely on one thought.
Amidst the chaos and the dust that obscured everything, a significant change occurred on the other side, surrounded by mechanisms.
Xu Hang was resisting the bamboo rafts that were flying toward him. As long as he could temporarily withstand the assault, he would try anything to buy time for Xie Huai to free Fang Zheng and Qi Huan from their iron chains. Most of his efforts were futile, but little by little, he managed to create a glimmer of hope for the two.
One person's strength was weak. In front of mechanisms designed to exploit the advantages of nature, Xu Hang, who appeared to be a capable man, felt insignificant. This was evident in his increasingly pale face and the beads of sweat that fell like rain.
No one knew how Xu Hang had narrowly escaped death on the Love Path, nor did anyone know how many scars lay beneath his robust exterior. Compared to Xie Huai's visible frailty and recurring wounds that refused to heal, Xu Hang swallowed all his suffering alone. He indeed embodied the traits described by Xu Nuan and others—possessing a strong sense of masculinity that he brought into leading the team. He did not welcome dissent; he believed in making decisions unilaterally. However, as a man who bore both pain and exhaustion, once he resolved to protect this team, he would cast aside all doubts and wholeheartedly fulfill his responsibilities as captain.
This realization struck Deng Yinyin as an observer in that instant. In that moment, she could not articulate her feelings but found herself for the first time defying her instinct for survival and rushing forward.
The combined strength of the two might not yield significant results, but it alleviated some of Xu Hang's burden momentarily, granting relief to his protesting hands.
“Who told you to come here? Hurry up and leave!” Xu Hang shouted, his anger evident on his face while his gaze flickered toward Xie Huai's actions.
Xie Huai's situation was no better than his own. The iron chains binding Fang Zheng and Qi Huan were clearly designed with special intricacies; their entangled paths were far from simple twists and turns. It was evident that Xie Huai could not untangle them. Beads of sweat dripped from his chin onto the ground, quickly disappearing into the dust.
Just seeing Xie Huai's face allowed Xu Hang to guess what he was thinking. They had no tools to cut through the iron chains—something anticipated by those who designed this mechanism, which was even more dangerous than those created by the System itself.
Thinking about it this way, Xu Hang's expression became even more terrifying.
In the past, Deng Yinyin would have felt intimidated by such a face and would have instinctively shrunk back, yielding to Xu Hang. However, at this moment, there was an emotion she could not quite describe occupying her mind, dominating her thoughts and allowing her to follow its lead.
"Don't! Just take care of yourself!"
When she said this, Deng Yinyin clearly let out a sigh of relief—not because of the situation in front of her, but because of the complex feelings she had harbored towards Xu Hang all along.
Being protected, being tolerated, and progressing smoothly in the game were all thanks to this person before her, or perhaps it was due to her cousin Lan Ling. Conversely, if she distanced herself from the factor of Lan Ling, she might become someone like Fan Beibei, willing to do anything to survive in the game. However, in reality, she did not possess the same resources as Fan Beibei.
The more she understood this, the more she resisted it; this rebellious feeling had always been within Deng Yinyin. At this moment, that feeling found release. If she could help Xu Hang in return for his assistance, the connection between her and Xu Hang regarding Lan Ling would weaken, and they could fight side by side as comrades in this game.
Deng Yinyin could not deny that she had longed for such a scene; everything was coming to fruition at this moment. She, who usually did not consider things comprehensively, would not think too much about it now.
However, Deng Yinyin indeed contributed her strength. After catching his breath, Xu Hang reached out and pulled Deng Yinyin aside, letting go of the bamboo raft that had been used to their advantage. Immediately after, a large tree began to fall down towards them, while several Bamboo Arrows started targeting them.
At this point, Xie Huai, who had been sweating and trembling with tension, found a solution. He went straight to chop at the mechanisms that were emitting iron chains; those mechanisms were wooden and could easily be cut through.
After severing the mechanism that bound Qi Huan, Xie Huai moved on to chop another one while Fang Zheng watched him eagerly.
Qi Huan was able to stand up now, but her body was still tightly wrapped in iron chains. She began to hop sideways just as a large tree fell directly in her direction.
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