Chapter 50: It’s not safe for you to sleep here alone.
After hearing these words, Shen Ti just lifted the corners of his mouth, not saying a word, as if accepting the fate of being eaten out.
He even raised his right hand, making a “come here” gesture toward An Wujiu.
How interesting.
An Wujiu’s eyes lightly glanced at that slender and provocative hand and then raised his eyes.
He reached out his hand, smiling as he patted Shen Ti’s cheek, leaning toward his ear, his tone lazy.
“No need to rush.”
An Wujiu’s frivolity and danger coexisted.
Just like his purity and kindness, they also coexisted.
Shen Ti’s expectation for the Holy Altar had always been to give himself a perfect ending.
But after meeting An Wujiu, his goal changed for the first time.
Being with An Wujiu, he would gain a special kind of happiness that he had never experienced before, something that no one else could give.
So, Shen Ti began to pay attention to the game itself rather than floating outside the game.
Because only if An Wujiu survived, and he survived, could he continue to experience this pleasure.
He turned his head, wanting to see if the Gate to Heaven had disappeared again, but unexpectedly found that there were now two arrow symbols at the top of the entrance that was originally the Gate to Heaven, one pointing west and one pointing east.
It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the directions indicated by the arrows were opposite to the evacuation map they saw on the first floor.
Shen Ti, with his arms crossed, leaned over and used his elbow to nudge An Wujiu. “Look there.”
An Wujiu didn’t do as he said, didn’t even lift his head, and grabbed his collar to smell the neckline: “I saw it early.”
“Really?” Shen Ti, curious about what he was smelling, lowered his own head and approached An Wujiu, sticking close to him like a large dog to its owner, causing An Wujiu to directly use his index finger to push him away from his forehead.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to smell too,” Shen Ti asserted.
An Wujiu felt that sometimes his brain was just like that of a seven or eight-year-old child.
“It’s the same smell; go smell yourself.”
Shen Ti crossed his arms and made a big cross gesture.
An Wujiu didn’t continue to pay attention to him, made a throat-cutting gesture, then turned around, facing the others.
In fact, what he said was not just to appease Shen Ti.
Because the smell on him and the smell on Shen Ti were the same—a very faint and simple almond scent.
“This floor doesn’t have any robots.” Yang Erci scanned around; there were no NPC guides that would appear on other floors, and there were no decorations or structures that looked unusual.
“Let’s put them down first,” she suggested. “I think everyone needs a little rest.”
An Wujiu glanced at the current time in the upper right corner of his field of vision, still 26 hours left.
The time spent on the second and third floors was considerable, especially with the earlier cycles of the resurrection of the black mist.
Wu You gently placed Nan Shan against the wall, allowing him to lean on it. But Nan Shan was even more feeble than he imagined, without any strength to rely on. His head kept tilting to one side along the wall, so Wu You reluctantly sat down as well, letting Nan Shan lean on his shoulder.
“Thank you,” Nan Shan said.
Wu You remained silent, hiding his eyes under the brim of his hat, not letting anyone see.
Well, at least his peach wood sword had saved a life.
Josh agreed with Yang Erci’s words: “Yes, even though this is a game, our physical exertion is similar to reality. How about exchanging some food? A little energy boost?”
An Wujiu suddenly had a premonition. He turned his head, and indeed, he saw Shen Ti already starting to eat a lollipop.
“How many candies do you have stored in your panel?”
Shen Ti deliberately opened his panel, unabashedly showing it to An Wujiu as if seeking a child’s reward.
Although An Wujiu didn’t feel the need to look, he still glanced.
“32 pieces?”
Shen Ti said vaguely, “Yeah,” holding the lollipop in his mouth like a cigarette. “Buying a pack gives you 20 pieces, which is more cost-effective.”
It turned out he had exchanged twice and eaten up to this point.
Wu You muttered, “I bet if the apocalypse happens one day, you’ll only stockpile candy.”
“Oh, right,” Josh remembered something. “The three of you seem to have used your exchange rights in this round to buy weapons, right?”
He opened his own panel and bought a five-kilogram Russian loaf.
“Eat this; let’s eat together!” Josh was excited but found that the bread was too hard, and he couldn’t break it.
“Oh… seems like I bought the wrong thing.” Josh scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed, his large brown eyes widening.
“It’s okay.” Wu You was quite handy and directly reached into Nan Shan’s sleeve but couldn’t find anything. Nan Shan, looking weak, said to Wu You, “Your hand has touched my shoulder.”
After settling Zhong Yirou, Yang Erci noticed that there were still no NPCs on this floor giving them tasks or posing any danger.
She glanced at Wu You, who stubbornly continued to draw Nan Shan’s sword, “You put it on the other side, didn’t you?”
An Wujiu sat on the ground, crossed his legs, and teased them with ill intentions, “Oh, our Xiao You and the Taoist-gege are getting closer and closer.”
Shen Ti, holding a lollipop, didn’t look at the people involved but instead stared at the side of An Wujiu’s face.
Taoist gege, these words were urttered by him…
“What?!” Wu You pulled his hand out, his ears turning red.
Nan Shan, with a smiling face, spread out the hand Wu You was tightly holding, making his palm face upward. In no time, the peach wood sword floated out on its own.
They divided the large loaf of bread, almost like a dangerous weapon, into pieces. Then they sat around each other. Although it wasn’t entirely safe here, if they didn’t replenish their energy at this time, in case more dangerous situations appeared later, given their current condition, they wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“Speaking of which.” After eating a bit, Nan Shan felt his stamina slightly recover. “Do you guys have a feeling that what happened here, you’ve also experienced in reality?”
As soon as he finished speaking, An Wujiu noticed that Yang Erci, who was chewing on bread, paused for a moment. After about two seconds of silence, she continued to eat calmly without showing any emotions.
This reaction might not mean much to others, but for Yang Erci, who rarely showed emotional fluctuations, it was unusual.
Which of the things that happened here were related to her?
An Wujiu first ruled out the deformed child caused by the rainbow weed killer. Although Yang Erci was familiar with this matter, she wouldn’t be a victim, and she didn’t seem to be intersex.
He then lifted his head and observed Yang Erci’s face.
An Wujiu’s initial judgment of her was that she was a Chinese person with Russian ancestry.
Now, it seemed highly likely to be Ukrainian.
“None of you have it?” Nan Shan eventually spoke up, confessing to the others, “I thought you guys might have a similar situation because, in reality, I am the abandoned child of a surrogate pregnancy.”
Wu You’s expression changed.
“Can’t tell, huh?” Nan Shan smiled, “I was adopted and raised by my master. I heard that I was directly abandoned on the roadside, and my master happened to be out for a walk and taking out the trash at night when he found me.” He spoke very casually, as if telling a story, with a smile on his face.
“And then, did he take you in?” Josh asked.
“Actually, he didn’t want to raise me at first.” Nan Shan smiled again. “He said he couldn’t even support himself. Nowadays, people like Western religions, and Taoism is declining, and even fewer people consult Feng Shui. Making a living is not easy; he had planned to close up and go read Tarot cards for others.”
Wu You’s face immediately fell. Finally, he knew where this guy’s unreliability came from…
It seemed to run in the family.
“But coincidentally, the night before he met me, he calculated his fate and said he would definitely have a disciple. He didn’t believe it at first, but the next day, he found me.”
“Wow.” Josh, a pure Westerner, was curious about mysterious Eastern religious practices. “Your master sounds like a very handsome man.”
“Well… he’s a 1.7-meter-tall old man with a beard. People have different aesthetics.” Nan Shan explained tactfully, then continued, “After picking me up, he took me to a friend who runs a black clinic for a check-up. Unexpectedly, his closed-door disciple turned out to be a sickly child—insufficient fetal development, a strange tendency to sleep, and most importantly, the doctor said, judging from the marks on my body, someone had already conducted a genetic test on me.”
An Wujiu rested his chin on his hand, a sarcastic smile on his lips.
It seemed like they weren’t satisfied with the results, so they went for a test, felt it was unnecessary, and just threw him away.
If these things were heard on a regular day, he would just treat it as a story. But now they were in the game, and players should theoretically be matched randomly.
Yet the players in the game, along with the game’s settings, seemed to have some overlapping experiences.
Things didn’t seem that simple.
“How do you know you were born through surrogacy?” Shen Ti, with candy in his mouth, spoke ambiguously.
Nan Shan wiped his small wooden sword on his sleeve: “My master told me that there seemed to be a name of a surrogacy company imprinted on the swaddling clothes on my body, called ‘Proxy'”
The name was quite straightforward, just short of naming the surrogacy company.
An Wujiu had intended to mock, but suddenly felt that the name of this company was very familiar.
Shen Ti wanted to ask something else, but An Wujiu suddenly grabbed his arm.
In this rare serious state, he squinted his eyes slightly, as if recalling something.
“The last time we went to the hospital, when the query screen opened, there was a hospital related to the same system, and this company was inside.”
“Proxy…” Shen Ti seemed to recall, “Their logo is a rainbow arch.”
Things suddenly became eerie. The rainbow levels in the game, the surrogacy factory, the backgrounds of the game players—all seemed to connect, pointing to a real company.
Shen Ti also noticed that since Nan Shan brought up this topic, Yang Erci’s expression and attitude had subtly changed. Ever since they entered the game, she hadn’t shown a moment of absent-mindedness; she had always been focused and calm.
However, she wasn’t as open-minded as Nan Shan and seemed to be someone who was not easy to open up to.
An Wujiu vaguely sensed that something was wrong and asked Nan Shan, “Are you also in Philadelphia now?”
“Yeah.” Nan Shan nodded, tidying up the unfinished bread. “I was abandoned in Philadelphia.”
An Wujiu continued, “Your biological parents are Asians, and they used Proxi for surrogacy. It shouldn’t be difficult to find them.”
Because his current state lacked most of the goodwill, he had no awareness of uncovering others’ wounds, so his words were very straightforward.
“Why don’t you go find them?” Shen Ti, with candy in his mouth, spoke ambiguously.
Before Nan Shan could answer, Wu You, who had been silent, spoke first. “Being intentionally abandoned, what difference would it make even if you found them?”
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a bit tense, Josh quickly laughed and changed the topic, “This bread is so dry. We should exchange for some water. I almost forgot.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Erci took out a bottle of water, which she had exchanged for in this round.
“Have some drinks; let’s prepare to look for clues.” Yang Erci’s attitude remained as cold as ever. She placed the already opened water bottle in the middle of the group. Although her neck wound was wrapped in a headband, the blood that had flowed earlier had almost soaked through the fabric.
“Instead of discussing these here, it’s better to stay alive and get out first.” She stood up indifferently.
Indeed, something was off.
An Wujiu supported his chin with his left hand, drawing circles on the ground with his right hand. Seeing everyone standing up and following Yang Erci, he, on the other hand, was too lazy to move.
“Not going?” Shen Ti nudged his foot with his own.
An Wujiu tilted his face upward, looking at Shen Ti on his right, lazily shaking his head like a cat.
“I’m tired; I want to sleep.” After saying that, he just lay down on the ground, limbs loose and eyes closed, as if nothing mattered to him anymore.
After closing his eyes, An Wujiu connected these scattered details in his mind.
There was a problem with the hospital from the beginning. He clearly remembered that his mother was there, but he couldn’t find any information about her.
That hospital and the surrogacy hospital where Nan Shan was born had the same origin. By checking up the chain of companies, he would surely find something.
He vaguely heard footsteps and felt that Shen Ti had probably left, so he quietly opened his right eye and glanced for a moment.
Sure enough, no one was on his right.
But when he turned his head, he saw Shen Ti crouching in front of him, guarding him like a big cat.
“What are you doing?” An Wujiu blinked.
“Isn’t it unsafe to sleep alone here?” Shen Ti crouched down, tilting his head at him.
Even more like a cat.
Upon hearing his words, An Wujiu chuckled lightly, turned over, and faced Shen Ti.
Then he reached out, leaned in, and grabbed Shen Ti’s exposed ankle.
“You seem to have misunderstood.”
His fingertips traced the shape of his bones.
“I am the most dangerous creature on this floor.”
Chapter 50: It’s not safe for you to sleep here alone.
After hearing these words, Shen Ti just lifted the corners of his mouth, not saying a word, as if accepting the fate of being eaten out.
He even raised his right hand, making a “come here” gesture toward An Wujiu.
How interesting.
An Wujiu’s eyes lightly glanced at that slender and provocative hand and then raised his eyes.
He reached out his hand, smiling as he patted Shen Ti’s cheek, leaning toward his ear, his tone lazy.
“No need to rush.”
An Wujiu’s frivolity and danger coexisted.
Just like his purity and kindness, they also coexisted.
Shen Ti’s expectation for the Holy Altar had always been to give himself a perfect ending.
But after meeting An Wujiu, his goal changed for the first time.
Being with An Wujiu, he would gain a special kind of happiness that he had never experienced before, something that no one else could give.
So, Shen Ti began to pay attention to the game itself rather than floating outside the game.
Because only if An Wujiu survived, and he survived, could he continue to experience this pleasure.
He turned his head, wanting to see if the Gate to Heaven had disappeared again, but unexpectedly found that there were now two arrow symbols at the top of the entrance that was originally the Gate to Heaven, one pointing west and one pointing east.
It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the directions indicated by the arrows were opposite to the evacuation map they saw on the first floor.
Shen Ti, with his arms crossed, leaned over and used his elbow to nudge An Wujiu. “Look there.”
An Wujiu didn’t do as he said, didn’t even lift his head, and grabbed his collar to smell the neckline: “I saw it early.”
“Really?” Shen Ti, curious about what he was smelling, lowered his own head and approached An Wujiu, sticking close to him like a large dog to its owner, causing An Wujiu to directly use his index finger to push him away from his forehead.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to smell too,” Shen Ti asserted.
An Wujiu felt that sometimes his brain was just like that of a seven or eight-year-old child.
“It’s the same smell; go smell yourself.”
Shen Ti crossed his arms and made a big cross gesture.
An Wujiu didn’t continue to pay attention to him, made a throat-cutting gesture, then turned around, facing the others.
In fact, what he said was not just to appease Shen Ti.
Because the smell on him and the smell on Shen Ti were the same—a very faint and simple almond scent.
“This floor doesn’t have any robots.” Yang Erci scanned around; there were no NPC guides that would appear on other floors, and there were no decorations or structures that looked unusual.
“Let’s put them down first,” she suggested. “I think everyone needs a little rest.”
An Wujiu glanced at the current time in the upper right corner of his field of vision, still 26 hours left.
The time spent on the second and third floors was considerable, especially with the earlier cycles of the resurrection of the black mist.
Wu You gently placed Nan Shan against the wall, allowing him to lean on it. But Nan Shan was even more feeble than he imagined, without any strength to rely on. His head kept tilting to one side along the wall, so Wu You reluctantly sat down as well, letting Nan Shan lean on his shoulder.
“Thank you,” Nan Shan said.
Wu You remained silent, hiding his eyes under the brim of his hat, not letting anyone see.
Well, at least his peach wood sword had saved a life.
Josh agreed with Yang Erci’s words: “Yes, even though this is a game, our physical exertion is similar to reality. How about exchanging some food? A little energy boost?”
An Wujiu suddenly had a premonition. He turned his head, and indeed, he saw Shen Ti already starting to eat a lollipop.
“How many candies do you have stored in your panel?”
Shen Ti deliberately opened his panel, unabashedly showing it to An Wujiu as if seeking a child’s reward.
Although An Wujiu didn’t feel the need to look, he still glanced.
“32 pieces?”
Shen Ti said vaguely, “Yeah,” holding the lollipop in his mouth like a cigarette. “Buying a pack gives you 20 pieces, which is more cost-effective.”
It turned out he had exchanged twice and eaten up to this point.
Wu You muttered, “I bet if the apocalypse happens one day, you’ll only stockpile candy.”
“Oh, right,” Josh remembered something. “The three of you seem to have used your exchange rights in this round to buy weapons, right?”
He opened his own panel and bought a five-kilogram Russian loaf.
“Eat this; let’s eat together!” Josh was excited but found that the bread was too hard, and he couldn’t break it.
“Oh… seems like I bought the wrong thing.” Josh scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed, his large brown eyes widening.
“It’s okay.” Wu You was quite handy and directly reached into Nan Shan’s sleeve but couldn’t find anything. Nan Shan, looking weak, said to Wu You, “Your hand has touched my shoulder.”
After settling Zhong Yirou, Yang Erci noticed that there were still no NPCs on this floor giving them tasks or posing any danger.
She glanced at Wu You, who stubbornly continued to draw Nan Shan’s sword, “You put it on the other side, didn’t you?”
An Wujiu sat on the ground, crossed his legs, and teased them with ill intentions, “Oh, our Xiao You and the Taoist-gege are getting closer and closer.”
Shen Ti, holding a lollipop, didn’t look at the people involved but instead stared at the side of An Wujiu’s face.
Taoist gege, these words were urttered by him…
“What?!” Wu You pulled his hand out, his ears turning red.
Nan Shan, with a smiling face, spread out the hand Wu You was tightly holding, making his palm face upward. In no time, the peach wood sword floated out on its own.
They divided the large loaf of bread, almost like a dangerous weapon, into pieces. Then they sat around each other. Although it wasn’t entirely safe here, if they didn’t replenish their energy at this time, in case more dangerous situations appeared later, given their current condition, they wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“Speaking of which.” After eating a bit, Nan Shan felt his stamina slightly recover. “Do you guys have a feeling that what happened here, you’ve also experienced in reality?”
As soon as he finished speaking, An Wujiu noticed that Yang Erci, who was chewing on bread, paused for a moment. After about two seconds of silence, she continued to eat calmly without showing any emotions.
This reaction might not mean much to others, but for Yang Erci, who rarely showed emotional fluctuations, it was unusual.
Which of the things that happened here were related to her?
An Wujiu first ruled out the deformed child caused by the rainbow weed killer. Although Yang Erci was familiar with this matter, she wouldn’t be a victim, and she didn’t seem to be intersex.
He then lifted his head and observed Yang Erci’s face.
An Wujiu’s initial judgment of her was that she was a Chinese person with Russian ancestry.
Now, it seemed highly likely to be Ukrainian.
“None of you have it?” Nan Shan eventually spoke up, confessing to the others, “I thought you guys might have a similar situation because, in reality, I am the abandoned child of a surrogate pregnancy.”
Wu You’s expression changed.
“Can’t tell, huh?” Nan Shan smiled, “I was adopted and raised by my master. I heard that I was directly abandoned on the roadside, and my master happened to be out for a walk and taking out the trash at night when he found me.” He spoke very casually, as if telling a story, with a smile on his face.
“And then, did he take you in?” Josh asked.
“Actually, he didn’t want to raise me at first.” Nan Shan smiled again. “He said he couldn’t even support himself. Nowadays, people like Western religions, and Taoism is declining, and even fewer people consult Feng Shui. Making a living is not easy; he had planned to close up and go read Tarot cards for others.”
Wu You’s face immediately fell. Finally, he knew where this guy’s unreliability came from…
It seemed to run in the family.
“But coincidentally, the night before he met me, he calculated his fate and said he would definitely have a disciple. He didn’t believe it at first, but the next day, he found me.”
“Wow.” Josh, a pure Westerner, was curious about mysterious Eastern religious practices. “Your master sounds like a very handsome man.”
“Well… he’s a 1.7-meter-tall old man with a beard. People have different aesthetics.” Nan Shan explained tactfully, then continued, “After picking me up, he took me to a friend who runs a black clinic for a check-up. Unexpectedly, his closed-door disciple turned out to be a sickly child—insufficient fetal development, a strange tendency to sleep, and most importantly, the doctor said, judging from the marks on my body, someone had already conducted a genetic test on me.”
An Wujiu rested his chin on his hand, a sarcastic smile on his lips.
It seemed like they weren’t satisfied with the results, so they went for a test, felt it was unnecessary, and just threw him away.
If these things were heard on a regular day, he would just treat it as a story. But now they were in the game, and players should theoretically be matched randomly.
Yet the players in the game, along with the game’s settings, seemed to have some overlapping experiences.
Things didn’t seem that simple.
“How do you know you were born through surrogacy?” Shen Ti, with candy in his mouth, spoke ambiguously.
Nan Shan wiped his small wooden sword on his sleeve: “My master told me that there seemed to be a name of a surrogacy company imprinted on the swaddling clothes on my body, called ‘Proxy'”
The name was quite straightforward, just short of naming the surrogacy company.
An Wujiu had intended to mock, but suddenly felt that the name of this company was very familiar.
Shen Ti wanted to ask something else, but An Wujiu suddenly grabbed his arm.
In this rare serious state, he squinted his eyes slightly, as if recalling something.
“The last time we went to the hospital, when the query screen opened, there was a hospital related to the same system, and this company was inside.”
“Proxy…” Shen Ti seemed to recall, “Their logo is a rainbow arch.”
Things suddenly became eerie. The rainbow levels in the game, the surrogacy factory, the backgrounds of the game players—all seemed to connect, pointing to a real company.
Shen Ti also noticed that since Nan Shan brought up this topic, Yang Erci’s expression and attitude had subtly changed. Ever since they entered the game, she hadn’t shown a moment of absent-mindedness; she had always been focused and calm.
However, she wasn’t as open-minded as Nan Shan and seemed to be someone who was not easy to open up to.
An Wujiu vaguely sensed that something was wrong and asked Nan Shan, “Are you also in Philadelphia now?”
“Yeah.” Nan Shan nodded, tidying up the unfinished bread. “I was abandoned in Philadelphia.”
An Wujiu continued, “Your biological parents are Asians, and they used Proxi for surrogacy. It shouldn’t be difficult to find them.”
Because his current state lacked most of the goodwill, he had no awareness of uncovering others’ wounds, so his words were very straightforward.
“Why don’t you go find them?” Shen Ti, with candy in his mouth, spoke ambiguously.
Before Nan Shan could answer, Wu You, who had been silent, spoke first. “Being intentionally abandoned, what difference would it make even if you found them?”
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a bit tense, Josh quickly laughed and changed the topic, “This bread is so dry. We should exchange for some water. I almost forgot.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Erci took out a bottle of water, which she had exchanged for in this round.
“Have some drinks; let’s prepare to look for clues.” Yang Erci’s attitude remained as cold as ever. She placed the already opened water bottle in the middle of the group. Although her neck wound was wrapped in a headband, the blood that had flowed earlier had almost soaked through the fabric.
“Instead of discussing these here, it’s better to stay alive and get out first.” She stood up indifferently.
Indeed, something was off.
An Wujiu supported his chin with his left hand, drawing circles on the ground with his right hand. Seeing everyone standing up and following Yang Erci, he, on the other hand, was too lazy to move.
“Not going?” Shen Ti nudged his foot with his own.
An Wujiu tilted his face upward, looking at Shen Ti on his right, lazily shaking his head like a cat.
“I’m tired; I want to sleep.” After saying that, he just lay down on the ground, limbs loose and eyes closed, as if nothing mattered to him anymore.
After closing his eyes, An Wujiu connected these scattered details in his mind.
There was a problem with the hospital from the beginning. He clearly remembered that his mother was there, but he couldn’t find any information about her.
That hospital and the surrogacy hospital where Nan Shan was born had the same origin. By checking up the chain of companies, he would surely find something.
He vaguely heard footsteps and felt that Shen Ti had probably left, so he quietly opened his right eye and glanced for a moment.
Sure enough, no one was on his right.
But when he turned his head, he saw Shen Ti crouching in front of him, guarding him like a big cat.
“What are you doing?” An Wujiu blinked.
“Isn’t it unsafe to sleep alone here?” Shen Ti crouched down, tilting his head at him.
Even more like a cat.
Upon hearing his words, An Wujiu chuckled lightly, turned over, and faced Shen Ti.
Then he reached out, leaned in, and grabbed Shen Ti’s exposed ankle.
“You seem to have misunderstood.”
His fingertips traced the shape of his bones.
“I am the most dangerous creature on this floor.”
