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墨書 Inktalez
A Sand Python, as thick as an adult's thigh, was a formidable presence that an adult would find difficult to handle.
When Xu Nuan shone her flashlight on the Sand Python, it stopped hiding and began to slither toward her.
She turned and ran, not forgetting to alert the usually vigilant Xie Huai.
"Xie Huai, there's a python! Run!"
In her frantic escape, she failed to notice the surprise on Xie Huai's face when he saw the python; it was astonishment, not fear.
As she ran, she felt frustrated, realizing that her poor vision in the dark had caused her to overlook the approaching Sand Python, putting both herself and Xie Huai in danger.
Caught up in her anxiety and frustration, she didn't notice Xie Huai's hesitant steps as they fled. All she felt was her body growing heavier. The thought that she might not outrun the climbing Sand Python crossed her mind, and she considered confronting it directly. If she had been healthy and alert with normal vision, she would have had a good chance of overcoming it. But now, Rationality told her that her only option was to escape.
She and Xie Huai were far from the campsite gathering firewood, and they couldn't run toward it now; doing so would only bring danger to more people. Even though they each had their own thoughts and the mission remained unclear, they were still companions. The word "companion" held great value for Xu Nuan; she hoped it wouldn't vanish.
Why hadn’t Xie Huai screamed in fear like he usually did?
Xu Nuan realized this too late. In the moment of hesitation in her steps, she heard a sound slicing through the air. Struggling to sense the fluctuations in the air, she quickly dove in one direction. After rolling on the ground once, she looked up at the Sand Python that had attacked her.
At that moment, she could no longer gauge whether Xie Huai had managed to escape; all her thoughts were focused on the menacing Sand Python before her.
Seeing the snake's eyes reminded her of Ning Han's gaze when he had thrown her off the cliff—cold, sticky, and cruel.
The snake's tongue flicked as if dancing a death dance, its thin sound resembling a mournful tune while its twisting body expressed sheer delight.
Both she and the Sand Python scrutinized each other.
She gradually realized that the creatures appearing before her were all controlled by the game, starting from an unknown point. Every level, every location, and every encounter was meticulously designed, even adjustable based on different players. Initially, they believed that the survival game they entered was a relatively closed wilderness environment, where all the mutated animals and plants roamed freely. If they encountered fierce beasts, dangerous traps, or overwhelming natural disasters in succession, they simply considered themselves unlucky.
Upon realizing this misconception, Xu Nuan understood that perhaps what she faced was not the Sand Python but rather the person controlling the game.
Whoever could control the pace would emerge victorious in this confrontation.
While it was said that striking at a snake's vulnerable spot was crucial, Xu Nuan did not truly believe that these Sand Pythons were just ordinary snakes after passing through the Designer's hands.
As she fixed her gaze on the Sand Python's eyes, Xu Nuan's hand had already reached for the short knife at her waist. The knife was as ineffective against the Sand Python as a drop of water in the desert—there was no chance of victory.
She was used to being alone, accustomed to fleeing and preserving herself. When there was no way to protect herself anymore, she had to face it alone. She overlooked Xie Huai, who hadn’t strayed far behind her, and didn’t consider why he hadn’t come forward to help or why the Sand Python wasn’t attacking him.
Sweat trickled down her forehead along her temples to her chin and dripped off. A few drops landed on her eyelashes, obscuring her vision. The short knife, the Sand Python, venom, teeth—the only possible advantage lay in controlling its fangs.
As the Sand Python lunged swiftly towards Xu Nuan, she sidestepped and bent down to evade it temporarily. However, when it came to flexibility against a creature like the Sand Python, her efforts were utterly insufficient. After its first attack missed, the Sand Python quickly turned its head and opened its mouth to reveal its venomous fangs, aiming straight for Xu Nuan. Prepared for this moment, Xu Nuan boldly used her short knife to temporarily control the Sand Python's mouth, preventing it from biting.
Seeing the Sand Python's eyes up close for the first time and smelling its foul breath made Xu Nuan feel faint. Yet she held on tightly; when she turned to see where Xie Huai was, she was swept away by the Sand Python’s tail.
"Cough cough."
After being knocked to the ground and sliding back a considerable distance, Xu Nuan felt pain all over her body. Her back felt as if it might break from being struck by the Sand Python’s tail. She lay there in disarray, coughing for a while before realizing that she had created some distance between herself and the Sand Python—a better opportunity to escape. Her short knife had been lost; unarmed, she stood no chance against a Sand Python.
Thinking of this, Xu Nuan gritted her teeth against the pain and got up. When she saw that the Sand Python was swiftly approaching again, she turned and ran forward, intending to engage in a life-or-death race with it.
But after just a couple of steps, Xie Huai blocked her path.
Xu Nuan froze for a moment, momentarily forgetting to change direction and continue running.
“Xie Huai?”
Xu Nuan looked at Xie Huai, whose expression had suddenly turned fierce, feeling a bad premonition in her heart. Just as she was frozen in place for that brief moment, Xie Huai rushed toward her and pushed her back with great force.
Xu Nuan leaned backward, her legs leaving the ground. The pull of gravity seemed to have no effect at that moment; she felt as if she were being sent straight into the mouth of the Sand Python. In a daze, she heard Xie Huai say something.
“Don’t blame me; I didn’t want this either!”
In the blink of an eye, memories flashed through her mind: Dai Zhengyan being swallowed by the Python, herself being pushed toward the Python by Guo Dafu, and Tang Jingshu being eaten by the Python.
To her, the Python represented a knot in her heart.
To Xie Huai, it was also a knot in his heart.
And once she was consumed by the Python, Xie Huai’s knot would become a deadlock, turning into an eternal nightmare.
She seemed to have guessed what Xie Huai’s mission was.
But she had no chance to question or scold him.
After flying backward in an arc for a few seconds, she fell to the ground. The entire process took only a few seconds, and before she could stabilize herself, she collapsed onto the ground. Pain spread throughout her body as she heard the sound of something slicing through the air—the hissing of the Sand Python and the sound of death approaching.
Injured all over, she had no strength left to evade this wave of attack. She wanted to cough, but in her sheer terror, even that simple action felt impossible. She no longer needed to complete her mission.
Was it relief or despair?
Xu Nuan didn’t know and thought she would never know.
Heroes always arrive late, yet they shine brilliantly, like a figure draped in countless clouds, dazzling and radiant, evoking a sense of admiration.
Xu Nuan was still in a daze, unable to evade the deadly strike of the Sand Python, when she hoped for the arrival of a hero she thought would never come.
In a moment of peril, a figure lunged from her side, grabbing the head of the Sand Python and rolling it away. A strong wind whipped past her ear. Before she could react, she caught a heavy whiff of blood, so intense it made her stomach churn. She saw Xie Huai standing not far away, too stunned to run, his face filled with terror as he stammered out a name.
"Gu... Gu Ze."
Gu Ze had arrived.
Gu Ze had saved her.
The person she didn't want to expect had come.
The scent of blood wafted through the Gobi winds, filling her nostrils, and then an object rolled to her feet.
The head of the Sand Python lay there, with a neatly cut wound from a sharp blade. The copious blood flowed into the night, obscuring its color.
Xu Nuan finally coughed up blood, droplets splattering onto her clothes and palms.
She froze, not noticing a figure swiftly passing by her side.
This time, she had truly been injured internally. Xu Nuan blinked and realized her vision was becoming blurry; the world seemed to turn into a haze of white and gray, like the distorted image on a malfunctioning black-and-white television.
What she could see was all like this; it was more alarming than seeing everything in black.
"What... is happening to me?"
Xu Nuan's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
Suddenly, she felt two figures appear before her. She lifted her head but saw nothing.
What part of her was injured to cause this situation? She wasn't a doctor; she couldn't tell.
She heard Gu Ze's voice, familiar and deep, laced with fury and restraint.
"Your mission is to kill Nuan?"
She had never expected Gu Ze would still refer to her as Nuan. She didn't trust him, and that alone was enough for a man to abandon his ridiculous obsession with love.
"No... no, you misunderstand."
She heard Xie Huai's panicked voice. She remained seated on the ground, looking up, yet she saw nothing.
Could she not see?
"My mission is just to push Xu Nuan towards Python. I intended to kill her; I planned to push her over and then save her back, which would count as completing the mission. You know how hard it is to encounter Python here, so I... I..."
Xie Huai continued to stammer through his explanation. She had considered that the System wouldn't be cruel enough to give them a direct mission to kill someone; that would turn into a scene of Players slaughtering each other. After such carnage, all Players would be dead, leaving no one to complete the game. The System's main goal was still to exploit their inner weaknesses, sow discord among them, and create a nightmare from which they could never escape.
"Just push her towards Python?"
She also heard Gu Ze's cold laughter, but she couldn't see his expression at that moment. All she saw was a blur of white; it wasn't blindness, but it felt indistinguishable from it.
"And then you’ll once again watch helplessly as your companion is devoured by Python?"
Gu Ze's words clearly struck a nerve with Xie Huai, who stammered and then broke down into incoherent ramblings.
Gu Ze, evidently lacking the patience to listen to his nonsense, threatened him a few times before sending him back to the Campsite.
When Xie Huai left, only Xu Nuan, Gu Ze, and a dead Sand Python remained.
Xu Nuan felt Gu Ze crouch down in front of her and sighed, but said nothing.
She had no idea what was happening; she couldn't see Gu Ze's expression at that moment. Was he angry? Annoyed? Worried?
After a moment of silence, something seemed off with Gu Ze. He reached out and waved his hand, and when he noticed Xu Nuan didn't respond, he gasped.
"Nuan, what happened to your eyes?"
Xu Nuan frantically reached out with her bloodstained hand, but it was Gu Ze who first grasped her hand and saw the blood on it.
"Gu Ze, I think I can't see."
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