Chapter 79
“Let’s keep moving.”
Jiang Liu made a decisive call. After dropping that one line, she followed the scale’s lead and continued forward, leaving a bewildered Gao Yuan behind. “Why the hurry? Even if this thing is a replica, it’s still usable.”
Tang Ruo, however, was used to Jiang Liu’s ways. She chuckled softly at his words and followed after her.
Her intuition told her that Jiang Liu had discovered some clue. But it didn’t matter if she didn’t say anything. She was a good judge of character; whatever secrets Jiang Liu had, they would get out of here together.
The rusty dagger was left behind on the ground. Jiang He, who was trailing at the back, picked it up for a look, then frowned and tossed it aside with disgust.
He scratched his head, almost bursting from the questions piling up inside him.
What was going on? Wasn’t this supposed to be something Zhang Xiaochen left for him? Why didn’t he recognize any of it???
He wanted to boldly ask, but Jiang Liu was running so fast she was practically a blur, disappearing in an instant. The sight scared him so much that he forgot his musings and scrambled to catch up.
If he got left behind at the bottom of the sea, he wouldn’t have enough lives to die.
The third item was the most conspicuous, completely out of place in the underwater world. It was a wrecked car, lying dormant at the bottom like a behemoth.
The headlights were shattered, and the entire frame looked broken. Having been submerged for a long time, the lower parts had changed color. The doors hung precariously, and the inside was full of dust.
Gao Yuan exclaimed in amazement, “Who had the nerve to drive a car straight into the bottom of the sea?”
Jiang Liu ignored his teasing. The moment her hands touched the car door, a white light flashed in her mind, and the sudden influx of memories gave her a splitting headache.
A bustling street, a speeding car, and a panicked Xiao Si.
Unlike the previous, almost complete fragments, this memory was exceptionally chaotic, like it had been cut into flying pieces. One second it was Xiao Si’s smiling face, the next it was the moment the car was about to hit her.
She screamed out almost instinctively, trying to reach out and grab that figure. “NO!!!!”
The sound of screeching brakes echoed in her ears. Jiang Liu felt her vision go black, and an endless silence enveloped her like an eternal night. There was no more Xiao Si, no more car.
But it was all just an illusion.
***
Yang Caisi wiped the sweat from her brow, having finally arranged the matters for the Logistics Team ahead of schedule.
Gu Ran lay sprawled on the beach, sighing from time to time. “Are you really in such a hurry? Your punishment will be over in three more days.”
Yang Caisi paid her words no mind, continuing to load supplies onto a speedboat.
Seeing her about to grab a can of coke, Gu Ran grew anxious. “Wait a minute, can you not use my things to do favors every other day!”
It was already inconvenient for her to go out, and her stash of snacks at home was almost completely cleared out by Yang Caisi.
“I’ll pay you back when I get out,” Yang Caisi replied, taking a moment to stuff two more bottles of wine inside.
Gu Ran was speechless.
She couldn’t catch her breath, staring at Yang Caisi with a complicated expression and sighing, muttering to herself, “Could this be the Love Brain of a first love?”
After saying it, she herself shivered violently, her brows furrowed so tightly they could kill a fly.
The System’s Flower on a High Peak, the famously aloof Yang Caisi, was actually a Love Brain. Who would believe that!
Although she had long known Yang Caisi’s feelings from that room in her house, now that she was actually acting on them, Gu Ran found it hard to adjust.
While she was lost in her own thoughts, Yang Caisi had already finished packing her luggage. She was holding the key and about to get on the boat when Gu Ran quickly grabbed her.
“Wait, haven’t you thought that you’ve waited all these years, what’s a few more days?”
She usually had a nonchalant demeanor, as if nothing ever bothered her. Even when she retired from the instances and was assigned to this deserted beach, she would still say with a laugh that it was great and more relaxing.
But now, this very person had a rare serious expression on her face, her words like a soul-searching question to Yang Caisi.
Yang Caisi didn’t answer immediately. Gu Ran’s heart leaped with joy, thinking there was still room for a turnaround. She quickly continued, “And what if the result is the same this time? Can you not be so impulsive at times like this?”
The person opposite her seemed to be silent for a moment, then finally reached out gently, pried her restraining fingers away, and answered just as seriously, “Then we’ll start over.”
She was never an impulsive person, but she was only willing to be reckless for one person.
With that, she had already jumped onto the boat, started the speedboat, and sped away.
Gu Ran frowned as she watched the person gradually disappear into the distance, finally revealing a helpless expression.
No matter how much time had passed, she was still the same as before.
***
When Jiang Liu opened her eyes, she was lying on a reef. Jiang He and Gao Yuan were pacing anxiously below, while Tang Ruo was looking down at her phone, as if trying to contact Tang Rui.
The pain in her head had disappeared. She sat up with a start, only then realizing they were still near the car. From the bottom of the sea, it was impossible to tell the weather, and the nearby jewels were too bright to distinguish between day and night.
“You’re awake?” Tang Ruo was the first to notice her movement. She put her phone away and looked her up and down, her tone laced with concern. “Are you okay?”
Jiang Liu shook her head, refusing the hand she offered for help, and jumped down from the reef on her own, stretching her limbs. She didn’t feel any discomfort.
“What happened?” she asked, turning to Tang Ruo.
“You just fainted all of a sudden. We couldn’t wake you up no matter how we called.”
Tang Ruo answered, then thought for a moment about the time on her phone and replied accurately, “You were probably unconscious for about an hour.”
She looked at Jiang Liu’s head with concern. “Are you really okay? We can rest for a while.”
Jiang Liu’s sudden collapse, clutching her head, had really scared them all. Gao Yuan was even about to disregard his cover and call the medical team. Fortunately, Tang Ruo knew some basic medical skills and managed to stop him.
“It was probably a temporary loss of consciousness due to some stimulus. It’s not too serious. Did you see something?”
Tang Ruo touched Jiang Liu’s forehead, still a little worried.
Jiang Liu smiled. “Yes, some things I had forgotten from the past. It’s not a big deal.”
The short period of deep sleep had left her mind surprisingly clear. She took out her phone to check the time and found that it was almost evening.
“Why did Xiao Si enter the game?” she asked, her gaze circling around Gao Yuan thoughtfully.
Gao Yuan’s mouth twitched in annoyance. “Sis! I really don’t know about that, and even if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”
That information was all in the Archives Group, the very core of the entire System. How could he possibly be qualified to enter?
Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow and rephrased her question. “Then how did you guys become NPCs?”
Gao Yuan still kept his mouth shut. Jiang Liu frowned. “You can’t talk about that either?”
Under her gaze, Gao Yuan felt immense pressure and finally couldn’t take it anymore. “I can, I can, but you have to keep it a secret!”
He seemed to have been scared witless by Jiang Liu. He squatted in the water, chattering away with a sense of grievance. “It’s a game. If there are people playing, of course there have to be people maintaining its operation. To put it bluntly, we’re just workers. It’s just that this company is a bit different from others. You get what I’m saying?”
Jiang Liu shook her head honestly. “I don’t.”
This company didn’t pay them or give them vacation time. What were they getting out of it?
Gao Yuan took a deep breath and said in resignation, “I don’t know about others, but I was so crushed by reality that I couldn’t breathe. I happened to be selected by the company, so I came here to work.”
He counted on his fingers for Jiang Liu. “Food and drink are provided, housing is directly assigned, you have absolute authority in the instances, and you can do whatever you want when you don’t have a mission. Isn’t this a great job?”
As for Yang Caisi, he said frankly, “There are quite a few in here who were assigned through assessments like me, and some for other reasons. Of course, they wouldn’t tell others, so you might as well not ask.”
He was truly terrified of Jiang Liu. He had never even encountered her in a single mission, yet this person insisted on pestering him with questions. He should have known from the day they drank together that she was not someone to be trifled with!
Seeing that he looked genuinely broken, Jiang Liu quickly reached out to soothe him. “There, there. I won’t ask anymore, I won’t ask.”
Her tone was like she was coaxing a child, which made Gao Yuan feel even more aggrieved, his mouth hanging open, unable to speak for a long time.
Fortunately, she really didn’t continue to ask. Instead, she changed the subject and looked up. “Are you all rested? We can go up now.”
Everyone nodded, especially Jiang He, who showed great anticipation.
Jiang Liu noticed this and couldn’t help but shake her head helplessly. “What were you doing when you saw him before? You were so cold and didn’t even talk to him.”
Jiang He gave a bitter smile and waved the ring on his hand. “You don’t understand. I was throwing a tantrum at the time, and I couldn’t help it.”
His mention of it reminded Jiang Liu of what Hou Yuqiang had said, and she asked curiously, “Because of Chen Ping? What kind of dirt did he have on you?”
She had noticed long ago that this kid’s personality had changed drastically since entering the sea region. It was less of a change and more of him shedding his disguise. It was only because of the subsequent events that she hadn’t continued to ask.
As they spoke, the guiding scale had transformed into a giant bubble, inviting them inside.
Inside, there was plenty of air, enough to accommodate all of them. Leaning against it was very soft and comfortable, and it wouldn’t pop even if you poked it hard.
After they got inside, the bubble began to float silently upward. The surrounding seawater pressed madly against the inner wall, but Jiang Liu could only feel a slight coolness. She couldn’t help but marvel at how useful magic was.
Compared to this bubble, modern technology seemed outdated.
Jiang He lay down and immediately found a comfortable position, his whole body relaxing. Only then did he begin to explain Jiang Liu’s earlier question.
“He threatened me. If I didn’t do what he said, I would never get out of the next instance.”
When he mentioned Chen Ping, Jiang He’s face turned ugly, as if he was recalling something unpleasant.
Tang Ruo gave him a rare look of surprise, her eyes clearly saying, “You actually believe that nonsense?”
If every player had that much power, would this game even be playable?
Jiang He couldn’t help but shiver, looking at them with a serious expression, his tone exceptionally grave. “It’s true. He can control the plot’s development.”
His words made them all frown. Even Gao Yuan couldn’t help but sit up and listen intently.