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墨書 Inktalez
Between the Love Forest and the Forest of Hatred, there are still nine levels to go. If they spend an average of three days on each level, Xu Nuan and her companions will need another month before they confront Zhang Xiao again.
During this month, their task is not only to safely pass through those nine Survival Games but also to strategize for their encounter with Zhang Xiao.
The planning naturally revolves around Gu Ze as the central figure, while Chi Xiaoming, Feng Feng, and Xu Nuan are the key players involved.
In contrast, Xie Huai and Deng Yinyin are simply immersed in the thought of escaping the game through a secret passage soon, without considering any other potential crises.
As for Xu Hang, Xu Nuan is unsure how much he knows about Gu Ze's plans. Their relationship remains lukewarm, yet she does not believe they are truly at odds. When it comes to handling matters, they still work in sync and trust each other when taking action.
After some contemplation, Xu Nuan decisively abandoned her observation of the two men's interactions.
With that distraction gone, her focus shifted entirely to Zhang Xiao. At this moment, she noticed something strange: after Ning Han, Yang Mingyue, and Li Xiangke were killed, Zhang Xiao's movements became significantly restrained.
Initially, Xu Nuan believed that Zhang Xiao had an absolute advantage by operating from the shadows, which meant that her own leverage needed to be deployed at the most opportune moment for maximum effect. However, after Gu Ze manipulated those Second Batch Players who were swayed by profit, Zhang Xiao's wings were systematically clipped. Once that happened, no one emerged to hinder Xu Nuan's progress, and Gu Ze no longer appeared as busy as before.
But did Zhang Xiao truly give up just like that? Did he really run out of manpower?
Xu Nuan was filled with doubt about this. She vividly recalled the expression on Zhang Xiao's face when they first met and he revealed his true nature.
He always had his brows furrowed and a sly smile on his thin lips—his indifference laced with mockery; it seemed like a smile but felt like a knife.
There was often a flicker of madness in his eyes. Even though it had been nearly half a year since their last encounter, his image was deeply etched in her mind—more so than Qin Yaojie.
He was someone who rarely showed himself yet was omnipresent; someone with twisted motives unknown to her; someone who collaborated with Another Founder and even willingly allowed himself to be used. He was too complex for Xu Nuan to fully grasp yet impossible to forget. And this forgetfulness certainly did not bode well.
In fact, Xu Nuan felt that compared to the ever-present threat posed by Another Founder, this man who had once threatened and harmed her was the one she held more resentment towards. She was filled with hatred and wanted to vent it all on Zhang Xiao due to the information she had and the distance between them.
She had never mentioned such thoughts to Gu Ze, but she knew he would infer them from her actions. The more she realized this, the less she dared to tell him about He Min.
The secret passage would be a crucial part of Gu Ze's plan. Originally, Xu Nuan was determined to help Gu Ze escape the game, even leading to conflicts with him as he was reluctant to leave. Once she understood that Gu Ze had to continue facing challenges, she decided to use the secret passage as a means of counterattack, vowing to do whatever it took. The one who would execute the plan was naturally Gu Ze, who was far more capable than her; she was merely a source of information and could not afford to hold him back at critical moments.
Gu Ze knew everything she knew about the secret passage. He would strategize based on what he deemed important. She trusted him but found it impossible to share the situation regarding He Min.
Since Yu Yu's death, Xu Nuan had been contemplating this matter. Even after regaining her skills, she found herself distracted and repeatedly putting herself in danger, needing Gu Ze to clean up the mess.
Gu Ze had no complaints; instead, he worried that Xu Nuan might collapse due to the medication. This only deepened her guilt. After concealing her promise to He Min, she continued to hide the fact that she had already taken the antidote.
Faced with the zombies surging from all directions, Xu Nuan lost focus again and exposed her back. A zombie seized this opportunity and swung its axe at her.
Deng Yinyin, standing not far from Xu Nuan, saw the zombie approaching. Despite being supposedly stronger than Xu Nuan, she appeared dazed. As she instinctively opened her mouth to warn her, a tall figure darted past.
Deng Yinyin recognized who it was. Watching Gu Ze swiftly eliminate the attacking zombie and then stab another one with ease made her heart sink. In that moment of despair, she exposed a vulnerability that caught the attention of another nearby zombie, which also swung its axe toward her.
Deng Yinyin reacted too late and could only watch helplessly as the axe descended toward her body. Xu Hang, who could have helped her, was entangled with several zombies due to his poor mental state and lacked the strength to come to her aid.
Just when she thought an ugly zombie would finish her off, someone dashed in front of her and blocked the attack with a pitiful short knife.
The figure before her was frail and seemingly defenseless compared to Gu Ze, yet it had persistently stood by her side.
In that moment, Deng Yinyin perceived Xie Huai as towering. She suddenly recalled events in Love Forest when she had been toyed with by an unknown mechanism in the game and mistook Xie Huai for the slain Fan Beibei. She even inadvertently revealed that she knew He Min had killed Fan Beibei. Of course, during that time, she also exposed her own dirty thoughts; however, it was only in front of Xie Huai that she did so—neither Gu Ze nor Xu Hang would ever know her true nature.
At that time, she hadn’t felt anxious about being unmasked; how Xie Huai viewed her seemed irrelevant. Yet she never anticipated that she might hurt Xie Huai or even accidentally kill him. To her, Xie Huai was like dust, but that didn’t mean she would remain indifferent about harming him.
In that moment of regret, when she realized the wolf pack was approaching, it vanished without a trace. She ran.
After covering some distance, she suddenly became aware of something: if she had treated Xie Huai in time, he might still have a chance to survive. If she took Xie Huai with her, he wouldn’t die prematurely. But once she fled, even if Xie Huai wasn’t killed by her, he would ultimately die because of her.
The fear of killing and the loneliness of losing the only companion she could share the Love Path with intertwined in her heart, compelling her to run back.
Alone, before the wolf pack completely surrounded them, she carried Xie Huai away. Afterwards, she clumsily attempted to treat him.
Rather than saving Xie Huai, she saved herself.
She finally proved that she could accomplish many things on her own. The title of a strong woman was no longer exclusive to Xu Nuan and He Min; she too could be praised. She redeemed herself.
This growth led her to reevaluate Xie Huai. He was not on par with Gu Ze or Xu Hang; though he was frail like them, he lacked Feng Feng's profound expertise to navigate the game. In comparison, Xie Huai was a thorough weakling. Yet, this very weakling had made it this far. While it was true that he had help from Gu Ze and others, it also represented Xie Huai’s own strength to some extent. In fact, Xie Huai was also growing—his growth was subtle but significant enough for him to start becoming a man capable of standing on his own. In this regard, they were similar.
The change in perception was slight but marked a new beginning.
In those few seconds, Deng Yinyin pondered deeply. When she looked at Xie Huai again, her eyes reflected a different emotion.
Xie Huai was already injured, and the long journey hadn’t allowed him proper recovery. After fending off the dazed Zombie for a while, he lost strength and his momentum waned. Although he gritted his teeth and persisted, it was only a matter of time before the Zombie's axe came down on him.
But he couldn’t back down; standing behind him was Deng Yinyin.
Having solidified this thought, Xie Huai managed to hold on for a little longer. However, this surge of energy didn’t last long; the Zombie's axe was nearly at his forehead.
In a flash, Deng Yinyin suddenly exerted herself. The short knife in her hand spun rapidly and struck the Zombie's arm with force. This time, she put all her strength into it and managed to sever half of the Zombie's arm in one blow.
A short knife was not enough to sever a human arm, but the Zombies were nothing but decaying flesh, their bones long since rotted away. They could move freely only because of the chips and drugs implanted in them, and their actions were dictated solely by the commands of the mechanisms.
Deng Yinyin did not know any of this; she only knew that she had saved Xie Huai with her own strength.
"One person at a time, that's even."
Deng Yinyin quickly said this before turning to deal with the other troublesome Zombies. As she turned away, she did not see Xie Huai's satisfied smile, while he, after smiling, continued to fight on despite his injuries.
Xu Nuan was unaware that her one slip-up being rescued by Gu Ze would lead Deng Yinyin to overthink things, ultimately resulting in Xie Huai playing the hero.
What Xu Nuan knew was that she absolutely could not afford to be careless at this critical moment.
After leaving Love Forest, she told Gu Ze that she had been taking her medication regularly. The seriousness of her expression made Gu Ze believe her completely. Over time, she managed to hide her deteriorating condition from him for over ten days without being discovered.
During those ten days, they also experienced several Survival Games.
In a treacherous wasteland resembling a Maze, every five meters they walked would trigger a Maze mechanism, causing their group to scatter rapidly. They could only communicate by shouting loudly to reach each other. Eventually, the taciturn Chi Xiaoming discovered that as long as they were at a higher vantage point, they could find the flaws in the Maze and regroup.
In the melancholic Hidden Valley filled with dangerous creatures like Pythons, they had to make continuous choices to move forward. Every hundred meters posed a question involving various topics, yet similar to each mechanism. Thanks to their collective brainstorming, they managed to safely reach the Supply Station.
Now, after dealing with a horde of approaching Zombies and re-entering the Supply Station, the next Survival Game awaited them: Arrogant Swamp.
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