Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Over at the rocky area.
“How did you know Qin Nan was immune to the Green Bubbles?” Jian Fan began his interrogation of Xia Zeqin.
After the initial joy of the discovery, Jian Fan’s question caused everyone else to turn their gaze toward Xia Zeqin. When the unknown creatures first appeared, he had acted decisively by throwing the fried chicken, appearing as if he had known all along that they were after it. And then, while they were still trying to figure out the connection between Qin Nan and the Green Bubbles, it was Xia Zeqin again.
Who exactly was Xia Zeqin?
With Qian Xing gone, Xia Zeqin was truly isolated and without allies here.
However, he remained calm.
Xia Zeqin stood with his hands in his pockets, his posture relaxed. “I didn’t need to know. I just had to try it to find out, didn’t I?”
Jian Fan’s brow furrowed deeply.
Even Qi Shuping, standing to the side, looked at Xia Zeqin with increased wariness.
Xia Zeqin’s meaning was crystal clear: he didn’t care at all whether Qin Nan lived or died. If his guess had been wrong, then Qin Nan would have been the one to die, and it wouldn’t have affected him in the slightest.
This was a logical explanation, and in the Realm of Death, there were plenty of people who acted just like Xia Zeqin.
But Jian Fan’s frown remained.
“What? Suspecting I’m one of the Realm of Death’s people, just like Qin Nan does?” Xia Zeqin smiled at Jian Fan.
Jian Fan’s brow tightened further as he stared at Xia Zeqin without saying a word.
“If I were one of the Realm of Death’s people, I wouldn’t have pulled you back just now. I would have kicked you down along with him. Qin Nan survived, but you might not have been so lucky,” Xia Zeqin sneered.
Jian Fan watched Xia Zeqin in silence.
“Boring,” Xia Zeqin scoffed. He then sat down on the ground and closed his eyes to take a nap, looking completely at ease.
Seeing this, Jian Fan looked away.
However, his wariness toward Xia Zeqin didn’t diminish in the slightest.
He did indeed suspect that Xia Zeqin was one of the Realm of Death’s people, but sometimes, Xia Zeqin’s behavior confused him.
Xu Tian’s appearance had been to stop Qi Shuping or the other Players. Her focus was entirely on obstructing the Players; she didn’t care about clearing the level at all. But Xia Zeqin was different.
Xia Zeqin could be described as proactive in every world. Even now, it was his intervention that had given them the chance to find a way out of the Green Bubbles area.
It was as if he were living out his own words.
He knew he couldn’t leave the Realm of Death, but he wasn’t willing to just die like that. Therefore, he worked hard to clear the levels, yet at the same time, he didn’t hesitate to spend his Points to make his life more comfortable.
Was that really it?
If Xia Zeqin hadn’t tried to kill him back then, he might have believed it.
The conversation between Jian Fan and Xia Zeqin ended abruptly. The others glanced back and forth between the two of them, but regardless of what they were thinking, no one spoke up.
For a moment, the area fell into silence.
Unlike the quiet over here, Qin Nan and Qian Xing were busy making significant progress.
Qian Xing was responsible for hauling over any usable items nearby, while Qin Nan was in charge of placing them onto the Green Bubbles.
The two worked together with a clear division of labor, and their speed was decent.
Before long, the path was complete.
Just to be safe, Qin Nan walked back and forth across it once. After confirming there were no issues, he walked to the edge of the rocky area and shouted to the group, “Alright, let’s go!”
The group exchanged looks, and for a moment, no one moved. It was Xia Zeqin who, immediately after Qin Nan finished speaking, scrambled up from the ground and headed toward the grass.
Once Xia Zeqin moved, the others followed suit.
Qin Nan stood to the side, waiting until Jian Fan had also stepped onto the small path before following along behind him.
He stayed close to Jian Fan’s side, ensuring that if any accident occurred, he could protect him as quickly as possible and keep him out of harm’s way. As for the others, they were on their own. If someone happened to be nearby, he might reluctantly lend a hand.
The group moved forward with extreme caution.
No accidents occurred along the way.
It was only when their feet finally touched the grass that several of them truly breathed a sigh of relief.
“What’s the plan now?” Qian Xing asked, hurrying over to meet them as they arrived.
Lu Jing surveyed their surroundings and replied, “I still remember where the banana and coconut trees were from yesterday. We’ll head that way to secure a food source first, then look for a place to settle down.” As he spoke, Lu Jing glanced at Qin Nan and added, “We owe it to Qin Nan this time. For any resources we find next, Qin Nan gets priority.”
“Fine by me. I have no objections,” Qin Weiyi was the first to voice his support.
Yellow Hair and Orange Hair both nodded in agreement. As for the others, they were even less likely to object. The only outlier, Xia Zeqin, merely gave a soft snort, seemingly entirely indifferent to the matter.
It was still quite a distance from where they were.
Lu Jing led the way at the front to clear a path, while the elderly, the child, and the women walked in the middle. The remaining men brought up the rear to cover their tracks.
“I’ve traveled through quite a few worlds, but this is the first time I’ve seen a group this united,” Orange Hair said with a chuckle, appearing very satisfied with the current situation. “Like I always say, unity is great. Even three mediocre people can outsmart a genius if they work together. This world is dangerous enough as it is; if a bunch of people in the same boat like us don’t stick together and instead keep trying to hurt each other, wouldn’t that just be stupid?”
Walking ahead, Qin Weiyi laughed and said, “You’ve got a pretty clear perspective on things.”
“I have to. For small-time players like us, don’t we need to cling to the thighs of you Big Shots?” Orange Hair joked.
With the immediate danger gone, the others joined in the laughter.
In trivial times, sticking together was naturally for the best. However, once danger struck, everyone tended to prioritize their own interests. When that happened, hearts would waver, and everyone would start looking out only for themselves.
No one was a fool; they all understood this. Naturally, even during peaceful moments, they would maintain a degree of wariness or choose to act separately to eliminate the chance of being stabbed in the back.
The atmosphere among the group remained relatively pleasant.
Lu Jing soon led them to the area with the coconut trees.
Lu Jing took a look and said, “It’s still early. I suggest we keep moving forward. Carrying coconuts will drain our energy. Let’s head further up to the banana trees, eat some bananas to recharge, and then explore higher up to see if there’s a place to stay. Once it’s getting late, we can double back to pick the coconuts.”
“You’re the expert here. We’ll follow your lead,” Yellow Hair stated immediately.
Lu Jing then looked toward Qi Shuping.
Jian Fan and his group were definitely going along. That left Qi Shuping, Xia Zeqin, and Qian Xing.
Xia Zeqin… to be honest, Lu Jing didn’t even want to bother with someone like him.
“I can do that too,” Qi Shuping replied.
Once Qi Shuping had given her stance, Lu Jing immediately continued forward. Xia Zeqin didn’t seem to mind and followed at the back of the crowd.
Qin Nan and the others hadn’t walked the path ahead before, so they looked around as they traveled.
That day, it hadn’t taken Lu Jing long to make the round trip, but only when they walked it themselves did they realize just how long the path actually was. Moreover, it was an uphill climb. It was fine at first, but as they neared the end, Qin Nan felt both his legs aching.
All the exercise he had avoided in reality was likely being made up for, one step at a time, in the Realm of Death.