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墨書 Inktalez
Xu Nuan couldn't help but laugh amidst her difficult coughing fit. It suddenly struck her that her entire life was a joke, controlled by others, leaving her without the right to choose even the manner of her own death.
Her laughter seemed jarring and harsh in the moment, while Shen Shen, who had lost his elegant demeanor after being pricked at a sensitive spot, narrowed his eyes, exuding a dangerous aura. This feeling was familiar; she had sensed it in Ning Han and Zhang Xiao, as well as in Sun Ming and Guo Xu. Now, it was emanating from this psychologist.
This was human nature—once personal interests were involved, one instantly reverted to their most primal form, adhering to the most basic rules.
As Shen Shen prepared to pounce again, Dong Keyong spoke up.
“What’s more important to you, the secret passage or finding out where that place is?”
Xu Nuan hadn’t expected Dong Keyong’s words to be so effective. Shen Shen immediately reined in his hostility, transforming back into the approachable psychologist who effortlessly drew out what others wanted to know.
She had intended to use her coughing fit as an opportunity to observe Dong Keyong. After all, such a gloomy and taciturn presence was likely to be the final boss. Moreover, Dong Keyong didn’t give off the impression of being a talented individual or a Game Designer; just moments ago, he had stated that if Shen Shen killed her, he wouldn’t be able to leave this place. This meant that he was merely an ordinary First Batch Player. A Player could persuade a Designer, which inevitably raised questions about the underlying implications.
As Xu Nuan tried to process these thoughts with her still somewhat clear mind, she was abruptly pulled back by Shen Shen, forced once again into a humiliating position facing him.
The moment she locked eyes with Shen Shen, dizziness washed over her, and she felt as if she were weightless and falling forward, only to be ruthlessly pushed back by him.
She didn’t understand psychology but could only speculate that Shen Shen aimed to break down her psychological defenses to strike at her core, making her lose control and become manageable. In her unconscious state, any questioning would elicit responses from the depths of her heart.
Shen Shen’s next words confirmed part of her suspicions.
“Perhaps I didn’t push the real you out before. If I hypnotize you again, I might hear your true inner voice.”
Xu Nuan widened her eyes in shock but soon felt her gaze drift away after meeting Shen Shen’s stare. Faintly, she heard the conversation between him and Dong Keyong.
“Aren’t you going to avoid this? If you get hypnotized too, it would be quite something.”
It was Shen Shen's words, tinged with teasing yet somewhat profound.
"No need. My will is strong enough, and you have never successfully hypnotized me."
It was Dong Keyong's voice, hoarse and nostalgic, like the sound of an old cassette tape spinning.
"True."
Xu Nuan still had no idea how she had lost consciousness, nor did she understand the extent to which psychology could control the human mind, or just how capable this chosen game designer, Shen Shen, truly was.
When she groggily regained her senses, it was still dark outside. The flashlight's beam inside the cave seemed a bit dim, and the faces of Shen Shen and Dong Keyong appeared somewhat blurred.
She hadn’t fallen asleep; she had lost consciousness. That was why when she woke up, her mind felt chaotic, as if she had been run over by a vehicle, her organs and blood protesting in unison.
Perhaps due to being repeatedly hypnotized, even though Xu Nuan was awake this time, her gaze remained unfocused. After a while of swaying, she finally met Shen Shen's eyes. Her brain was hardly functioning; she simply didn’t have the energy for it.
When confronted with Shen Shen's penetrating gaze, she noticed his displeasure, confusion, and irritation. For such a refined psychologist to show such expressions meant he hadn’t received a satisfactory answer from her.
Xu Nuan felt a bit smug; finally, someone else was as confused as she was. She didn’t know if it was because of the medication she had taken or if her body had been manipulated in some way that caused Shen Shen's hypnosis to falter. Well, it wasn’t exactly a failure, Xu Nuan thought hazily; it was just that this person's hypnosis couldn’t completely extract what she knew.
But as these thoughts crossed her mind, her head and body grew heavier. The two people in front of her seemed to multiply into four; she could no longer make out their features.
Shen Shen sounded increasingly frustrated, his voice tinged with evident annoyance.
"I'll try again. I clearly know the conditions for opening the passage at each level and some details, so why can’t I get the specific location?"
Shen Shen turned to Xu Nuan again, his hands performing some unknown gestures. His eyes, seemingly filled with gentle amusement but harboring ulterior motives, locked onto Xu Nuan's gaze. Noticing something was off with her, he shook her roughly.
Xu Nuan's vision blurred further, her thoughts a chaotic mess. She felt that even without Shen Shen hypnotizing her, she would inevitably follow his lead into something disastrous. Her body felt wrong, and she realized this but felt powerless to change it.
Shen Shen wanted to continue his attempts, but Dong Keyong stopped him.
"She's already on the brink of collapse, and you've hypnotized her several times. If you keep this up, she'll lose her mind, and that would be a disaster."
Shen Shen stared intently at Xu Nuan, trying to discern whether she was pretending. When he noticed her dazed expression and lack of resistance, he frowned.
"Your mind is surprisingly fragile. As the most crucial existence in this game, you're truly disappointing. However, you're in our hands now; we have all the time in the world to extract what I want from you. There's no rush."
In her dazed state, Xu Nuan barely registered his words; they seemed more like self-soothing remarks for Shen Shen himself.
Temporarily left alone, Xu Nuan remained curled up in a corner with her hands and feet bound, head lowered and engulfed in shadows, making it impossible to discern her expression or guess what she was thinking.
In reality, Xu Nuan wasn't thinking at all. As Shen Shen had said, after enduring days of torment, she had become extremely fragile and sensitive. Her mind was blank; whenever she tried to think, sharp pain shot through her. With no other choice, she allowed herself to go completely blank, avoiding painful thoughts and deliberately ignoring the pain in her body.
In this state of emptiness, she lost track of time and became numb to the outside world.
Xu Nuan sat there vacantly until a pair of feet appeared before her. Someone crouched down and placed jerky and water in front of her. Only then did she sluggishly lift her eyelids and gaze blankly at the newcomer.
The figure coalesced into a point on her retina; she vaguely recognized it as Dong Keyong but said nothing and did not reach for the food.
Dong Keyong set the food aside and reached out to untie her ropes. She didn't analyze whether the knots were tied in a common way or by military standards or some other special organization. Even after the ropes were undone, her hands remained sluggish and immobile from prolonged inactivity. Clear bruises marked her pale wrists, their color easily misinterpreted. She made no move to touch the food beside her.
In another corner of the cave, Shen Shen was lost in thought, ignoring the situation nearby.
Xu Nuan didn’t care much either, but Dong Keyong seemed eager for her to eat the food, even explaining it to her in that peculiar voice of his.
"You’re having nightmares because you were subtly influenced at the Supply Station. This will gradually break down your consciousness. Once we uncover the clues we need, we’ll let you go, and you won’t be troubled by this anymore. As long as you cooperate with us, you can return home soon."
Return where?
Xu Nuan blinked but remained silent. Whether she was going insane or her consciousness was collapsing didn’t matter; she had no place to go, so nothing else mattered.
Dong Keyong, who appeared gloomy and sinister, surprisingly showed patience as he continued to explain to Xu Nuan.
"However, a hypnotized person cannot lie. You are indeed the only one alive who knows where the passage is, yet you don’t reveal its location. It’s likely that Qin Yaojie has tampered with you in some way. As soon as we find the right opportunity to break this, you will tell us what we want to know."
The familiar name made Xu Nuan's fingertips twitch slightly before she quickly fell back into silence. Dong Keyong also grew quiet.
Just when Xu Nuan thought Dong Keyong would give up, he suddenly leaned closer and spoke in a very low voice that he didn’t want Shen Shen to hear.
"If you can remember someone named Su Zihang, I can let you go early."
After saying this, Dong Keyong stood up and left, leaving the food beside Xu Nuan as if he was certain she would eat it.
Su Zihang—who was that?
Xu Nuan blinked again, her gaze falling on a dagger several meters away. It was the dagger engraved with Qin Yaojie’s name—the very dagger that had killed Qin Yaojie.
Qin Yaojie and Su Zihang were not the only ones unable to sleep that deep night. Gu Ze and his companions had spent the day searching for Xu Nuan, but they found no trace of her, nor any sign of the Outsider. The group had a heated debate about whether to leave or stay, but Gu Ze's discovery prompted them to decide to move on and continue their quest.
In their anxious search, Gu Ze remembered He Min's reminder that they had Tail Rings that could help locate each other. He had repeatedly asked Xu Nuan to keep her Tail Ring activated, and she had agreed. With confidence, he opened the Tail Ring app, but was dismayed to see that the light representing Xu Nuan did not illuminate.
He had warned Xu Nuan multiple times, and she had always promised to comply. The absence of her light now suggested that she was deliberately not activating her locator device, intentionally hiding from them.
A person who has made up their mind to leave does not need to be persuaded to stay.
Recalling Xu Nuan's furious demeanor at the time and her firm words regarding Qin Yaojie, Gu Ze cast his vote to leave the resting place.
This was a decisive vote, determining that the five of them would depart from their resting area and spend the entire afternoon heading in the chosen direction.
However, as night fell, unease began to creep in among them. Whether they cared for Xu Nuan or not, they all reflected on her past behavior and felt that disappearing without a word was not in her character.
This led Gu Ze to lie on the grass, gazing at the starry sky instead of entering the tent to sleep. As his drowsiness faded, he heard footsteps approaching. Turning his head, he saw it was He Min.
"Gu Ze, I have something I want to discuss with you."
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