Chapter 128

Chapter 128

Qin Nan looked toward Jian Fan.

It was true. This wasn’t over yet. But they were running out of time, and Lu Jing couldn’t hold out much longer.

Once Lu Jing died, every one of them would inevitably become souls beneath the other side’s guns.

Did they have any other way out?

Jian Fan sensed Qin Nan’s gaze. He turned his head, his expression serious, and looked Qin Nan in the eye. “Find a way to leave this place.”

“With us like this, what way could there possibly be?” Yellow Hair already seemed close to giving up.

Orange Hair’s death had hit him too hard. In fact, his mental state had started to unravel long before this, so when a real crisis appeared, he was no longer the same person who dared to take risks and fight with everything he had. He was the first to want to quit.

“Why wouldn’t there be?” Jian Fan asked in return. “If we don’t try, we die. If we do try, there’s still a sliver of hope.”

Everyone understood that. But what else could they do?

Xia Zeqin’s expression was calm, as if he didn’t care about their current situation at all. However, when Jian Fan spoke, he still watched Jian Fan with exceptional focus, as though he were pondering something.

“I can’t think of anything.” Qin Weiyi suddenly clutched his head, his voice tinged with pain.

He was smart. Qin Weiyi had never denied that about himself. But aside from intelligence, he also had emotions. He could be indifferent toward anyone. He could remain unmoved by the deaths of other Player participants. But Lu Jing was the sole exception.

Lu Jing’s condition tugged at Qin Weiyi’s emotions.

This was already the second time.

Qin Weiyi was now completely controlled by his own feelings. His mind had become a muddled mess.

“What else have we failed to connect?” Qin Nan quickly calmed himself and asked the group.

Fire corresponded to the fiery clouds. There were no shadows. There was something wrong with the sky. Then there was also-

“Unknown Fruit,” Jian Fan said again.

That Unknown Fruit. They still didn’t know what it was used for.

But what could that fruit do?

Everyone fell into thought.

Danger was right at their doorstep. While keeping part of their attention on their surroundings, they worked hard to think through the possible uses of the Unknown Fruit. The only one who could probably sink fully into contemplation was Jian Fan.

From the first step they had taken onto the island until now, every single event flashed rapidly through Jian Fan’s mind.

He must have overlooked something.

The attack of the Green Bubbles, the Transmission Medium of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, the Rabbit after its Mutation, the suspiciously game-like Airdrop, the problematic sky, the Unknown Fruit…

All of it flashed through his mind in quick succession.

Qin Weiyi had said this was a game.

Jian Fan tried hard to recall the details from that moment.

The appearance of the Airdrop crate had reminded them of Chicken Dinner. After that, Qin Weiyi said that Chicken Dinner was a game, and that the Realm of Death was also a game world. Game…

Jian Fan’s eyes darkened.

He finally knew what he had overlooked earlier.

They were in a game world. This game world didn’t refer to the Realm of Death, but to the Deserted Island Survival scenario they were currently in. It was a game world.

In their previous worlds, the settings had been solid, tangible worlds. But this time, Deserted Island Survival had a game-based setting.

This point had been raised right from the beginning, yet he had overlooked it.

A game world inside the Death Game. A game within a game.

Because it was a game, there was no need to investigate the origin of certain mechanics. Because it was a game, the person who designed it had come up with the concept of a Poison Circle, and so the Poison Circle existed. As for why it appeared, how it appeared, or what principle it followed-did any of that matter?
No one would care.

This was a game. It was only part of the game’s setup.

“Game.” Jian Fan parted his lips and breathed out the word.

He said it softly, and the others’ minds were elsewhere, so none of them reacted at first. The first one to hear him was Xia Zeqin.

Xia Zeqin raised an eyebrow. Then, when he looked at Jian Fan again, his gaze grew heavier, carrying an indescribable hint of wariness.

Perhaps Xia Zeqin’s stare was too intense, because Jian Fan pulled himself out of layer upon layer of thought. He lifted his eyes and met Xia Zeqin’s gaze.

Gunfire roared all around them. There were other people nearby. Yet in that instant, as their eyes met, it was as if only the two of them were left in the entire world.

But where their gazes crossed, there was no warmth. There was none of the tacit understanding a Partner should have. There was only mutual suspicion and vigilance.

This was probably the most serious look Jian Fan and Xia Zeqin had exchanged since their falling-out. And it was precisely in that look that Jian Fan confirmed an idea in his heart.

The suspicion that had plagued him for so long.

“You’re not him.” Jian Fan looked at Xia Zeqin, his lips moving silently to form the words.

Xia Zeqin did not seem surprised that Jian Fan would say this. His expression was grave, but after reading Jian Fan’s lips, he suddenly smiled. He made no sound, but his eyes filled with laughter.

The smile did not last long.

As it faded, a trace of appreciation surfaced in Xia Zeqin’s eyes. But soon, his face was calm again, utterly still, without the slightest emotion.

He was the first to look away.

Jian Fan paused, then lowered his head.

Xia Zeqin was not the urgent matter right now. Jian Fan turned his thoughts back to the answer before him.

It was as if their earlier eye contact had been nothing more than an illusion shared between them.

Qin Nan was right beside Jian Fan. Only now did he belatedly register what Jian Fan had said. “What game?”

“A game world,” Jian Fan said again.

Qin Nan froze for a moment. He quickly understood what Jian Fan meant, but so what?

Knowing where the Green Bubbles came from, knowing the reason for the Mutation-none of that seemed to help with the danger they were currently in.

Jian Fan knew that perfectly well too.

Then the only thing left unsolved was the Unknown Fruit.

Jian Fan raised his head and looked toward the horizon.

The sky was still flushed red, but dusk was fading, and night was about to fall. Once darkness arrived, they would lose their chance completely. And the most crucial point-what exactly was it?

Jian Fan was getting a little tired of lying there. He shifted his legs slightly, wanting to change position.

His palm brushed unintentionally against his clothes, and he felt a small bulge.

Jian Fan froze. Then he reached into his pocket and took out several bullets.

They were from the Military Box at the very beginning-the bullets he had secretly hidden away. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to use a gun, so the bullets were useless. He had taken them back then only as a precaution, just in case. Now, it seemed, that had been pointless.

Jian Fan tugged at the corner of his mouth, wanting to smile. But at that moment, a flash of insight shot through his mind.

He remembered when they had gone back again to look for the Unknown Fruit.

Lu Jing had carried a gun as he moved closer, looking at the fruit with a chuckle. “That size-it’s kind of like a bullet.”

The red Unknown Fruit. Bullets…

Jian Fan abruptly lifted his head and looked at the Fire clouds at the edge of the sky.

Fire clouds, red spreading across a corner of the horizon.

Jian Fan smiled.

He knew the answer.