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墨書 Inktalez
When Xu Nuan woke up, the first thing that caught her eye was the vast Starry Sky. The stars were strung together like pearls, forming a silver ribbon that stretched across the horizon. This was a sight she had never seen before in her city life, and those stars seemed so close, as if she could reach out and touch them, almost as if a meteor shower would occur at any moment.
The stars hung low, as if they might fall, perfectly capturing the scene before her.
The scenery was beautiful, but the surroundings were far from pleasant.
Xu Nuan realized that most of her body was buried in sand. Even her hair and clothes were filled with it.
Struggling to pull her hands out of the sand, she noticed the fine scratches covering them. Digging herself out was no easy task; her backpack had been tossed far away, leaving her without any tools. The sand that buried her was packed tightly, and her only tools were her hands. As she continued to dig, a fragment of a story she had once read came to mind.
She couldn't recall all the details, but one scene stood out vividly. It was about a male protagonist who sensed danger for the female lead. When he finally reached her location, she was already buried beneath the sand. He didn’t know where she was and kept digging until he found her still alive. She smiled at him and said, "I knew you would find me."
Tears suddenly streamed down Xu Nuan's face. She raised her hand to wipe them away but only saw her dirty hands and the new cuts on them.
“Qin Yaojie.”
Xu Nuan pronounced this name slowly, a name she thought would accompany her for a lifetime. Yet its owner had abruptly ended their relationship months ago with a phone call and cut off all contact. If it weren't for some means she had employed, she wouldn't have known he had come into this game.
“I will find you.”
Crying, Xu Nuan continued to dig through the sand with her hands.
“I want to hear the real reason; don’t think you can shake me off so easily.”
After an unknown amount of time, Xu Nuan realized she could move her legs again. With both hands and feet working together, she finally freed herself from the sand.
Lying flat on the desert floor, gazing up at the starry sky, Xu Nuan gasped for breath, trying to calm her racing heart.
There was another deadly aspect of the desert: temperature fluctuations. Xu Nuan remembered how the scorching heat during the day made her feel like a roasted pig, while now the coldness creeping in from all directions rushed through her Tactical Jacket and invaded her very bones.
Xu Nuan lay quietly for a while before suddenly flipping over and standing up. She hurriedly walked three steps at a time to her backpack, picked it up, and scanned her surroundings. The mountain range was formed of sandstone and clay. Not far away, there were several Wind-eroded Mushrooms, which would be a good choice for spending the night.
This time, Xu Nuan considered herself lucky and temporarily pushed aside the melancholic thoughts that had been haunting her.
While organizing her clothes and backpack, Xu Nuan suddenly remembered the few people she had parted ways with during the day. She wondered if they had safely weathered the sandstorm. That guy named Gu Ze had camping experience, didn’t he? Although it might not be enough to handle this place entirely, he should be able to keep himself safe, right?
Meanwhile, Gu Ze, who Xu Nuan had unwittingly praised, was completely unprepared for the current situation.
The sudden sandstorm caught them off guard, forcing them to flee in panic to find a place to take shelter.
Once the heart-stopping storm passed, Gu Ze realized that Xie Huai and Deng Yinyin were missing.
Were they buried nearby or swept away to a distant place?
As Gu Ze made the best of plans, he also considered the worst-case scenario.
“What should we do? Where could they have been swept away to? It’s so vast here, and we have no way to contact anyone.”
Tang Jingshu stood dazed for a few seconds before abandoning her gentle and delicate demeanor. The uncertainty of her friends' lives weighed heavily on her already taut nerves, threatening to unravel them completely.
“Tang Jingshu, it’s not that dire yet. Let’s search around,” Xu Hang was the first to step forward to comfort Tang Jingshu. Usually quiet and reserved, he always became the focal point in critical moments.
Gu Ze then spoke directly.
“Hang, you take her in that direction; I’ll go this way.” He pointed toward one direction, though every direction seemed to stretch endlessly with sand.
“When you feel you can’t go any further, turn back immediately. We’ll regroup here at this Ridge; that low area will serve as our shelter for the night.”
Gu Ze was able to quickly analyze his surroundings under any circumstances, a skill honed through three years of partnership with Xu Hang.
"But it's not good for us to be scattered now. What if we get separated?" Tang Jingshu expressed her concerns, feeling as if she were drifting like a floating weed, with only her two colleagues to rely on.
"It won't happen. I'll return quickly and choose another direction," Gu Ze reassured her.
"We came here as five; we'll definitely get through this together."
His deep brown eyes reflected care and calmness, which eased Tang Jingshu's worries a bit. She looked up at Xu Hang, who had been waiting for her, and forced a smile. Together, they began to call out the names of Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai as they walked.
Gu Ze moved ahead alone, shouting the names of the two missing individuals while analyzing the situation. The five of them had been walking almost side by side, with Deng Yinyin and Xie Huai on the outer edges. If they had been swept away, it would have been from the spots where they had just stood, searching in all directions from there.
Considering the wind direction and speed at that time, the paths that he and Xu Hang were taking were likely where the others could have been carried off, and they should be within a thousand meters.
At that moment, Gu Ze couldn't help but feel grateful for the camping trips he often took with friends during college, traveling across various parts of the country on weekends and holidays. He had once visited a desert; although he had a guide then, he learned a lot about desert survival skills from that experience, hoping it would be useful in this game.
However, Gu Ze's hopes were dashed. After multiple attempts to converge and separate again with Xu Hang and Tang Jingshu, they still couldn't find the two missing individuals.
By now, their voices were hoarse from calling out, and their legs felt as heavy as boulders. The chilling night wind pierced through them, making them wish they could hold onto a heater for warmth.
"Let's rest in that low area," Xu Hang decided after surveying their condition.
"We need to conserve our strength if we want to find them; I hope everyone understands this."
Tang Jingshu looked like she might be blown over by the wind at any moment. Holding back tears, she followed the two men toward the low ground.
Gu Ze quickly prepared a spot for them to rest and gathered dry grass and branches from around them. He took out some alcohol from his backpack meant for disinfection, splashed it on the dry grass and branches, lit it up, and finally felt some warmth as they huddled around the fire.
Xu Hang took out an extra blanket from his large backpack and handed it to Tang Jingshu.
"Thank you."
Tang Jingshu's voice trembled slightly. Although her gaze was fixed on the cooking pot over the fire, which was heating water, her eyes were vacant.
She really missed home, and she missed her boyfriend, Chi Xu Sheng. After entering this game, she regretted having quarreled with him, feeling inferior because his parents looked down on her family's background, which led her to distance herself from him. Out of spite, she had ignored him for a week, but now she hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to him, all because of her greedy uncle who had thrown her into this Survival Game.
Xu Nuan was right; this was indeed a Death Game. Those terrifying and chilling creatures, the overwhelming forces of nature, were not something fragile humans could resist.
What had happened to Deng Yinyin and the others?
What kind of scenes would they face?
Could she possibly survive this game?
Tang Jingshu knew her strengths and weaknesses well enough to navigate the workplace with ease. Aside from the occasional surge of inferiority when facing her boyfriend's family, she should have been confident and optimistic.
But here, she could not control the fear within her—the terror of the unknown environment and the anxiety of an uncertain fate. How much more would she have to endure? What should she do?
The black desert night felt like invisible hands ready to invade at any moment, amplifying the boundless dread that unearthed deep-seated insecurities within her heart, driving her toward despair.
Just as Tang Jingshu felt her eyes beginning to sting, a steaming cup of water was placed in front of her.
Looking up in confusion along the cup, she saw Gu Ze with a gentle smile on his lips.
"Drink some water and eat something. Get a good night's rest; we’ll look for them again tomorrow. You have to believe that we’re fine, and they will be too."
Gu Ze spoke for Tang Jingshu’s sake as well as his own.
Tang Jingshu took the hot water, feeling warmth spread from the cup to her hands, slowly seeping into her blood and warming her entire being.
She thought she might understand why her friend Deng Yinyin was so fond of the man named Gu Ze.
So, Deng Yinyin, you must live. Only by living can you have the chance to pursue Gu Ze; only by living can you talk about the future.
The three of them sat in silence around the fire for a while when Tang Jingshu suddenly thought of Xu Nuan, who was facing challenges alone.
"If she were here, how would she handle this? She must have made a lot of preparations and would be working hard to come up with a perfect plan."
Even with her calm demeanor, Xu Nuan always managed to bring Tang Jingshu a sense of reassurance.
"And she mustn't get into any trouble."
As soon as Tang Jingshu finished speaking, she heard Gu Ze's low voice.
"I will definitely give that person a beating."
At that moment, Xu Nuan, cocooned like a silkworm in her sleeping bag, had no idea that she was the object of concern for others. All she wanted was to get a good night's sleep, replenish her energy, and then seek out the Special Tree. Getting through this challenge as quickly as possible was her only thought.
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