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墨書 Inktalez
The forest at night was far more terrifying than during the day.
The cold moonlight cast shadows in unknown places, outlining the twisted forms of trees whose toxicity remained a mystery. The chirping of insects echoed from deep within the thicket, and the absence of wild animal breaths heightened the fear, making one dread the lurking presence of a hidden beast nearby.
Xu Nuan curled up in her sleeping bag, eyes closed, reflecting on the events of the day, which only made it harder for her to sleep. After a while, she felt a chill and instinctively began to wriggle toward the warmth of the campfire, seeking its comforting heat.
Once near the warmth, she craved more. Xu Nuan continued to squirm closer, oblivious to how dangerously close she was getting to the fire. In her sleep, she risked being burned if she wasn't careful. Just as she shifted again, a hand suddenly reached out and gently pressed down on her head.
If she were someone who believed in spirits of time, she would have screamed and woken everyone else. If she thought there were malicious intentions lurking in the dark, she would have reflexively drawn her dagger and struck at that hand.
However, she recognized that hand and was familiar with the presence that approached her. So, she obediently wriggled back, distancing herself from both the fire and that person.
The individual did not pursue her further; they simply withdrew their hand and closed their eyes to sleep.
Without any drowsiness, Xu Nuan found herself unexpectedly feeling sleepy after this brief interruption. After stifling a silent yawn, she slowly closed her eyes.
In that fleeting moment before falling into a deep sleep, she wondered if she could truly trust Gu Ze.
It was this thought that led Xu Nuan to dream about Gu Ze.
After entering the game, Xu Nuan often dreamed. Initially, when she was alone, all her dreams revolved around Qin Yaojie and memories from her childhood—those dreams were romantic and joyful. But waking up brought endless sorrow as she was still aware of Qin Yaojie’s identity at that time. Then she joined the Third Batch of Players, where her dreams shifted from beautiful memories to painful reflections on Qin Yaojie’s changes over those months. In those dreams, she suffered greatly and awoke in pain.
Eventually, she stopped dreaming altogether.
During those days, she would think through everything clearly while awake and began to understand Qin Yaojie comprehensively. Life became increasingly difficult for her; exhaustion consumed her so completely that she no longer had the energy to dream.
This time, Xu Nuan was quite surprised by her dream. She thought she had exhausted herself to the limit, yet it turned out that when she reached that extreme fatigue, dreams emerged to consume what little energy she had left.
However, she was quite satisfied with the scenes in her dream.
In the dream, Gu Ze was wearing a rather plain Tactical Jacket, but this simple outfit made him appear tall and handsome. Gu Ze didn’t always wear that pretentious smile; he could smirk mischievously, laugh teasingly, show a look of grievance, and even force a smile. Of course, there were moments when Gu Ze was serious, unhesitatingly saving others and articulating a series of irrefutable arguments while also engaging in serious confrontations with others.
Xu Nuan didn’t know which level of dreaming this was for her; she only knew that during this dream, her consciousness felt very clear, and she was aware of her emotions while dreaming.
What intrigued her was why she always saw Gu Ze from her own perspective without anyone else appearing. This feeling was strange and made her feel somewhat embarrassed.
Before she could fully process her embarrassment, she found herself and Gu Ze amidst flames. Then Gu Ze handed her a necklace. This time, seeing it from a different perspective, she surprisingly found the scene of receiving that necklace amidst the raging fire consuming the entire jungle to be somewhat beautiful.
Just as she was about to indulge in this rare moment of admiration for the scene, it changed before her eyes. She and Gu Ze were now on a cliff, and provoked by her resolute words, Gu Ze lunged at her frantically. No matter how she tried to explain or stop him, it was futile. In the end, it was her indifference that made Gu Ze cease his actions. Although the shadow of that incident still lingered and made her wary of Gu Ze, looking back now, it seemed like he had taken advantage of her completely. Why hadn’t she slapped him or stabbed him to vent her frustrations back then?
Thinking about stabbing him brought back memories of the scene outside the Supply Station where she had held a short knife and stabbed Gu Ze. At that moment, she had been too afraid to look at his expression or his wound. Yet from this angle in the dream, she realized that Gu Ze's expression truly reflected what he had said—he seemed to savor it.
Suddenly overwhelmed with mixed emotions of joy and pain crashing against her heart in the dream, Xu Nuan found it hard to breathe.
She no longer felt that this dream was beautiful or worth reminiscing about; as waves of pain washed over her, she panicked at the thought that she might die from heartache within the dream.
Suddenly, a gunshot shattered the scene in the dream. Everything fragmented into pieces and drifted away into nothingness.
She desperately tried to call out but couldn’t make a sound. The suffocating sensation made her feel breathless as if she were about to die.
Xu Nuan abruptly opened her eyes, gasping for air as her chest heaved violently. When she reached up to touch her forehead, her hand came away slick with sweat, and she realized that her clothes were drenched in perspiration.
It was only then that she realized it was already bright outside, with ample light streaming into the Forest. The brightness was almost blinding, and she instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. As she did so, the sound of gunfire came rushing back to her mind, causing her to sit up abruptly. Beside her, Gu Ze also shot up in alarm.
They exchanged a glance and spoke in unison.
"It’s not just our imagination!"
By now, the Forest was alive with the sounds of birds taking flight and beasts scurrying about.
Though they had heard the gunfire, neither dared to recklessly pursue the source of the sound, fearing that they might end up in danger themselves without being able to save anyone.
"Maybe someone is hunting?"
Xu Nuan muttered to herself as a form of reassurance, but even she didn't believe it. The Supply Station didn’t provide hunting rifles; it could only mean someone had brought their own weapons. Who would be willing to use such precious firearms for hunting?
The gunshots were distant and somewhat muffled, but the commotion caused by the fleeing animals was loud enough to wake Xu Hang and the others. They looked at Xu Nuan and Gu Ze, who were sitting there in a state of panic, clearly puzzled.
"What’s going on? What happened in the woods that’s causing all this noise?"
Before Xie Huai could finish speaking, another gunshot rang out, still from a distance, as if its owner hadn’t moved at all.
"What’s happening?"
Deng Yinyin jumped up suddenly, hurriedly putting on her clothes, while the others scrambled to dress as well.
"Could it be that person from last night? Is he silencing witnesses again?"
Xu Hang was very confused, but his speed in getting dressed and packing his bag did not falter at all.
Xie Huai was frantically organizing his things while rambling incoherently.
"How could there be so many people trying to silence him? This is clearly a madman driven insane by the game, recklessly killing with the weapon in his hand! How did this game turn into this?"
Xu Nuan and Gu Ze were also packing their things, puzzled.
The group hurriedly gathered their belongings and placed stones on the still-burning campfire before running a few steps in the opposite direction of the gunshots. Just then, a third gunshot rang out, and the distance remained unchanged; it seemed there was no intention of coming their way.
Xu Nuan suddenly stopped running, hesitating as she glanced back.
"What’s wrong?"
Gu Ze also halted, and the other three who had noticed the gunfire not getting closer stopped as well, exchanging puzzled looks. They were curious about what was happening but dared not go see for themselves.
"I think," Xu Nuan raised her head, hesitantly glancing at Gu Ze and then at Xu Hang, clearly uncertain.
"I think that gunfire seems to want to draw us in."
In truth, she was more concerned that it wanted to attract her specifically. If it were before, she would have rushed toward the sound without hesitation.
"Then we definitely shouldn't go!"
Deng Yinyin felt that Xu Nuan's words and actions were completely contradictory.
"Using our curiosity to lure us in, or to attract all the Players around, and then kill everyone."
Deng Yinyin believed her analysis made perfect sense.
However, it was Xie Huai, who had previously thought of the gunman as a mindless killer, who suddenly realized something.
"But if someone really wanted to kill, shouldn't they remain quiet and hidden in the shadows? Why make such a big show of it?"
At that moment, Xu Hang thought of something else.
"Could it be that the gunman is actually fighting with a beast or something? The gunshots are coming from a distance."
"What should we do? Should we go take a look or stay away?"
Deng Yinyin was starting to feel impatient, sensing that this game was becoming strange and terrifying. She genuinely wanted to leave the game immediately, but of course, she needed to secure her share of the prize money first.
Xu Hang frowned, seemingly deep in thought, but his gaze fell on Gu Ze, who was naturally looking at Xu Nuan, who appeared drenched in sweat as if she had just woken from a nightmare.
"Are you doubting something?"
The ever-anxious Xu Nuan looked up, still hesitant and unsure how to express her ominous feeling.
"I feel uneasy."
As soon as she finished speaking, another gunshot rang out. Xu Nuan instinctively shivered and turned her head sharply toward the direction of the sound. One hand clutched her clothing, and beads of sweat had already trickled down from her forehead to her chin, ready to drop.
"What are you anxious about?"
Gu Ze seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.
Stimulated by the gunfire, Xu Nuan suddenly turned to Gu Ze and the others with urgency.
"You all keep going ahead. I need to check something, and I'll catch up with you later."
As Xu Nuan turned to leave, Gu Ze quickly grabbed her arm.
She looked back in a panic, trying to break free from Gu Ze's grip.
"I don't even know how to explain it. I feel like if I don't go take a look, I'll regret it, even though that sounds ridiculous."
Everyone present could see Xu Nuan's distress, but most didn't understand why she was so flustered by the sound of gunfire.
Finally breaking free from Gu Ze's hold, Xu Nuan didn't wait for anyone's response and ran off toward the direction of the continuous gunfire.
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