Chapter 121

Chapter 121

Fire.

What exactly did the missing element of Fire among the Five Elements refer to?

Lin Junruo’s mind wandered as she proposed a possibility. “Could it be-a Volcano?”

The others all turned to look at her.

It wasn’t entirely impossible.

After all, with so many mountains around, it was plausible that a Volcano was hidden somewhere among them.

“We can try looking for one,” Qi Shuping said, though she privately felt the likelihood was slim.

Jian Fan had remained silent. He seemed to be listening to everyone, but his brow furrowed from time to time as if he were thinking of something else, yet he chose not to speak.

Qin Nan glanced at him a few times. Seeing that Jian Fan remained quiet and everyone else seemed to have reached a stalemate, he finally spoke up hesitantly.

“I’m thinking about something,” Qin Nan said.

Jian Fan immediately turned his head toward him.

“What is it?” Jian Fan asked.

“The Rabbit. Why a Rabbit?” Qin Nan said.

Mu Xin frowned, not immediately understanding what Qin Nan was trying to get at.

Jian Fan’s expression remained unchanged. “What did you think of?”

“I’ve read some novels and seen movies before where there are certain settings. For instance, some deserted islands might have unknown radiation or viruses that cause the organisms on the island to undergo a Mutation. Could the Green Bubbles and the Rabbit be the result of such a Mutation?” Qin Nan suggested.

Mu Xin now understood what Qin Nan was pondering.

Although the Realm of Death was a game, every world had to have its background. For example, the last one was a Vampire World, and the Murder Mystery Game before that was set in ancient times with a metaphysical background. So, what about this Deserted Island they were on?

If it were a normal modern society setting, they should have encountered people. If it were a Vampire World, there should be Vampires. Or, if there were ghosts, then the appearance of spirits would be logical. Even if it were a post-apocalyptic world, they could understand it. But a Rabbit that could fire a gun…

Why would such a Rabbit appear?

What exactly was the background of this Deserted Island?

Aside from Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, this might be another clue they could investigate.

Qi Shuping followed Qin Nan’s train of thought and nodded. “A Mutation caused by certain factors… that is indeed possible. If that’s the case, do the causes of these mutations still exist? Will they affect us? If it really is like that, and we get affected, will it be life-threatening?”

Everyone’s expression shifted.

If something could cause a Rabbit to mutate like that and produce Green Bubbles, one could only imagine how terrifying the cause of that Mutation must be. Once they fell victim to it as well…

None of them dared to finish that thought.

Could this be the hidden danger lurking behind this world?

“The fruit,” Jian Fan suddenly spoke up.

“What?” Qin Nan was a bit puzzled.

Jian Fan looked up and met Qin Nan’s gaze. “The Unknown Fruit.”

Qin Nan blinked, only then realizing what Jian Fan was referring to. While they were searching for supplies earlier, they had found a type of Unknown Fruit.

Because they didn’t know anything about it, they hadn’t picked it, and naturally, they hadn’t eaten it.

“I overlooked it,” Jian Fan said with a hint of frustration.

As Qin Weiyi listened to Jian Fan mention the Unknown Fruit again, his expression turned solemn. “Lu Jing is extremely experienced in wilderness survival. Even he hadn’t seen that fruit before. We were too careless.”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Jing, who had been sleeping, suddenly heard his name. He snapped his eyes open and sat halfway up from the ground, looking around with a look of high alert.

Qin Weiyi: “…”
“It’s nothing, go back to sleep,” Qin Weiyi said.

Lu Jing glanced at their surroundings. Seeing that nothing had changed since he had fallen asleep, he gave a grunt of acknowledgement, put his head back down, and went back to sleep.

“It’s not too late to have noticed it now. We’ll wait for the Green Bubbles to fade,” Qi Shuping said.

Although they didn’t know what that Unknown Fruit was, they might be able to find some clues from it.

However, it was worth noting that according to their current logic, this Unknown Fruit was very likely a product of Mutation as well. That meant they had to handle it with even more caution.

“Besides that Unknown Fruit, are there any other strange things on this island?” Mu Xin asked.

Several of them fell into deep thought.

“Um… does the Starry Sky count?” Lin Junruo suddenly spoke up amidst the silence.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“It’s just… don’t you think the Starry Sky looks a bit fake?” Lin Junruo said hesitantly, her own voice filled with uncertainty. “I’ve only ever seen a Starry Sky like this in TV dramas.”

With the advancement of technology, seeing even a single star at night was no easy feat; seeing an entire Starry Sky was nothing short of a pipe dream. From that perspective, Lin Junruo’s claim that the sky looked fake was reasonable.

However, it was also possible that in this world’s setting, there wasn’t much pollution yet, allowing them to see the stars.

Still, it was something worth paying attention to.

“We can take another look tonight,” Qin Weiyi said.

They couldn’t afford to overlook any possibility.

Mutation, the Unknown Fruit, the Starry Sky, and the keyword Fire.

These were the clues they could think of for the time being. But what else was there?

There was one more problem.

“The Green Bubbles,” Jian Fan raised another key point.

Qi Shuping was also mulling this over. The Green Bubbles could be a Mutation, but how were they produced? The Rabbit might have grown taller because of Mutation, evolving to the point where it could walk upright on two legs and even fire a gun, but what did the Green Bubbles mutate from?

It was one thing when they were in the seawater-perhaps the Green Bubbles had initially been parasitic within the ocean. But the attack that happened not long ago had originated from dew, and just now, they had appeared from a crack in the rocks.

Given that the first two instances were related to water, it was likely there was some stagnant water in the rock crack as well.

Why were there Green Bubbles inside these things?

Why?

Jian Fan couldn’t figure it out, Qi Shuping couldn’t figure it out, and no one else could either.

Qin Nan turned it over and over in his mind but couldn’t come up with a reason. He speculated, “Could this just be a setting? It’s not impossible for there to be a Custom Setting, right? Like in that Vampire World we were in before-there were plenty of Custom Settings for the Vampires.”

The Realm of Death was a game itself, wasn’t it?

A game bound to have settings, and did those settings necessarily have to explain their origins so clearly?

“True, this might just be a game setting.” Qin Weiyi let out a small, self-deprecating laugh.

Jian Fan’s expression shifted slightly.

A game.

He felt as though he had overlooked a very important point, one that might be the key to cracking this world. But what was it?

Jian Fan replayed the conversation between Qin Nan and the others in his mind several times.

Finally, his attention settled on the word ‘game’.

A game. He felt that things were not as simple as they thought. It was as if they had already reached out and touched the answer, yet a layer of fog still remained, obscuring their vision.