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Regarding Gu Ze's question, Xu Nuan avoided answering and instead asked, "What was Amin's expression like?"
"Huh?"
Gu Ze, familiar with the situation, reached out to gently rub Xu Nuan's chin, seemingly hoping to coax a smile from her.
"It was pretty much the same as usual, but he seemed a bit anxious. Why do you ask? Are you two in a fight?"
"No."
Xu Nuan shook her head and pulled Gu Ze's hand down, but she didn't let go. Turning her gaze toward the rain curtain, she noticed that He Min's figure had already disappeared.
At that moment, Gu Ze felt a surge of joy because Xu Nuan had taken the initiative to hold his hand. However, just as he was reveling in this, Xu Nuan turned to him and asked, "Are you in such a hurry to come over because you're prepared to explain something?"
Gu Ze, who had been secretly rubbing Xu Nuan's palm with his fingertip, suddenly froze. After awkwardly chuckling a couple of times, he recalled the real reason he had rushed over.
"Did you notice anything unusual around here just now?"
"It's unwise to change the subject at this time."
Xu Nuan wrapped her fingers around Gu Ze's hand to stop him from fidgeting. However, her strength was no match for his, and it only made things worse.
"I'm serious," Gu Ze suddenly adopted a serious expression, his tone matching it. Xu Nuan instinctively became serious as well; her earlier disappointment from the conversation with He Min began to fade. "I noticed a man moving through the reeds nearby from quite a distance away. He never got close to you two; I only came over after observing for a while."
"A man?"
Xu Nuan followed Gu Ze's words and thought about the few people currently in the cave. Her eyes widened in shock as she reflexively started to move aside.
"It's Ning Han!"
Gu Ze quickly reached out to stop her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle pat.
"That person has already run away. If I could have caught him, I would have gone after him just now. It's best not to act rashly until we understand his intentions."
Xu Nuan, whose head was spinning with emotions, began to calm down slightly. Although Gu Ze's touch was just right, she couldn't help but feel the pain from when He Min had gripped her injured shoulder. She knew it was all in her mind, yet she still frowned involuntarily.
Gu Ze immediately released her and shifted to smooth the furrow between her brows. Despite the fact that they had not expressed their feelings for each other before, this moment felt completely natural, as if they were already familiar with one another and acting on instinct.
"Ning Han has been secretly following Shen Shen and Dong Keyong. It's very likely that he is hiding in the shadows watching them. I only discovered him by chance, but his presence around you is quite alarming."
Thinking of this made Gu Ze feel a bit uneasy.
"If he had suddenly jumped out, you and He Min might not have been able to handle it. We're quite a distance from the cave; it's truly fortunate."
"Perhaps it’s not just coincidence."
Xu Nuan murmured this unconsciously, her voice barely audible. Even Gu Ze, standing across from her, could only see her lips move without catching the words.
"What did you just say?"
Gu Ze increasingly sensed that something was off with Xu Nuan's demeanor.
"Nothing."
Xu Nuan lifted her head, exhaling heavily before looking seriously at Gu Ze.
"Is it alright now? What happened when you and Xu Hang went to corner Shen Shen and Dong Keyong?"
"You don't allow me to have any secrets at all."
Gu Ze sighed lightly and then took Xu Nuan's hand, guiding her closer to the lake.
"You've probably guessed it too. Xu Hang discovered that Shen Shen and the others were secretly following us. At least, they didn't seem to have any intention of cooperating. However, once we cornered them, their attitude changed immediately. The discovery of Ning Han was a coincidence; I was the only one who saw it. I was about to chase after him when suddenly someone wrapped in cloth jumped out to help Ning Han escape."
"Another person?"
Xu Nuan knew that unless one was present at the scene, they wouldn't understand the tension and twists of that moment. And knowing Gu Ze as she did, she realized that he would always downplay thrilling events with a calm tone; it was a unique gentleness of his.
"Shen Shen had previously emphasized that their group only had four members, indicating that they had searched the entire Survival Game and there were only two large teams."
After Xu Nuan relayed the information they had gathered, Gu Ze narrowed his eyes slightly, a cold glint flashing across them.
"Either Shen Shen is lying about having other team members, or there are other Players in this round, or..."
Xu Nuan instantly grasped what Gu Ze left unsaid: there might be a traitor among their ten-person team at that time. She recalled the two who had stayed outside the cave when she and Deng Yinyin were in trouble, and a faint suspicion brewed in her heart but quickly dissipated. In this game, one needed to be wary of others at all times, but going too far could lead to falling into the System's trap.
"If you had taken me out then, we might have caught Ning Han; my observational skills are quite good."
Xu Nuan shifted the topic back, immediately eliciting a helpless sigh from Gu Ze.
"I didn't dare take you because I knew how obsessed you are with Ning Han. The situation was so..." Realizing he almost let something slip, Gu Ze stopped himself and changed his words. "You're very capable, but losing your cool can lead to reckless actions. It's better not to take such risks."
Xu Nuan stared intently at Gu Ze until even his thick skin felt a twinge of guilt. With an expressionless face, she spoke rapidly.
"Even if that's the case, I'll still be very angry. Opportunities like this don't come around often, especially now that we know about that existence; it's precisely the time to be flexible in our approach."
Initially worried that Xu Nuan would be upset by this, Gu Ze's expression shifted from concern to something strange and gradually turned into excitement. He boldly pulled Xu Nuan closer and leaned down to look at her as she continued to glare at him, his tone cheerful.
"Nuan, you were just being cute, right? Right?"
Xu Nuan expressionlessly pushed Gu Ze's increasingly close face away with a stern demeanor.
"You need to check your ears and eyes; I'm angry."
"I knew you were being insincere; you're worried about me, right?"
Gu Ze completely interpreted Xu Nuan's words in the way he hoped.
The uncomfortable feeling that had arisen in Xu Nuan's heart dissipated entirely amidst their playful banter, but soon she thought of something else.
"Get up, Shen Shen gives me a very familiar feeling."
"Hmm?"
Gu Ze's lowered voice immediately filled with danger, and the warm breath he exhaled against Xu Nuan's neck sent shivers down her spine.
From last night until this morning, Xu Nuan had not felt shy at all, yet at this moment, she suddenly felt a rush of embarrassment. Her neck and ears turned crimson, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
"Is he another one of your troublesome admirers?"
Gu Ze's voice grew increasingly dangerous. Seeing Xu Nuan's reaction filled his eyes with delight. After leaving a mark on her neck as he wished, he finally released her, speaking with righteous indignation.
"I was just explaining myself; now it's your turn to explain."
Xu Nuan glared at Gu Ze while covering her neck. She now doubted whether the man before her had some relation to dogs.
"This is completely different! I’ve only seen you guys in the game; how could I possibly attract admirers?"
"You may not actively seek them out, but others will through that..."
Caught up in excitement, Gu Ze almost let slip the name of that person at that moment. However, even though he managed to stop himself in time, Xu Nuan understood what he meant.
Xu Nuan had encountered a similar situation when confronting He Min before. But He Min had pointed it out quite bluntly, while Gu Ze concealed such thoughts. With his abilities, it was easy for him to keep things hidden from others. What Xu Nuan saw of him now was merely what he wanted her to see.
With her head lowered, Xu Nuan did not notice the fleeting bitterness in Gu Ze's eyes. When she lifted her head again, Gu Ze was still the familiar Gu Ze she knew. She didn't want to put on a sad act at this moment; since Gu Ze had not brought it up, she pretended not to hear it.
"My temperament is unique, while Shen Shen's demeanor resembles that of a doctor, yet different from the typical hospital physician."
Xu Nuan carefully recalled the familiarity she felt upon seeing Shen Shen.
"It seems I experienced this feeling when I was hospitalized before, but my memory of that person's appearance is quite vague, and he wasn't from that hospital."
Once she began to reminisce about the past, it inevitably connected to Qin Yaojie and this game, as well as her parents' deaths. All of this became an obsession for Xu Nuan, a past that Gu Ze was not part of.
"If you can't remember, then don't think about it."
Gu Ze suddenly felt a wave of irritation. He suppressed it and instead reached into Xu Nuan's raincoat to tousle her hair.
"That guy might just be a doctor; doctors often make people let their guard down."
Gu Ze pondered for a moment before continuing.
"Or perhaps he's a designer. If he’s linked to doctors, he might be something like a Pharmacist. This game often features strange illusions, right? He might have been involved in designing those aspects, but given his current predicament, he probably can't deactivate those traps."
Not wanting Xu Nuan to recall the past or think of Qin Yaojie, Gu Ze was unaware of the wake-up call he had inadvertently given her. Xu Nuan suddenly realized why those Designers were often more helpless than regular Players after entering the game. Aside from Zhou Long's experience, they could only manage their own sections and lacked the qualifications to participate in real testing and operations. There was another reason: the true large-scale mechanisms were controlled by a select few—namely Qin Yaojie and that Mastermind. If Qin Yaojie entered the game to sabotage from within the Game Base, could it be that the Mastermind would repair those mechanisms from inside the Game Base?
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