Core Rewards

If information is distributed equally, with each team receiving one piece, then there must be one team whose information is that the shelter can only be used once.

As for the last team, what could be the information they still do not know?

Cheng Shuili shook her head. This team dungeon is truly strange; the teams are not in a competitive relationship but rather one that requires cooperation.

Thinking about it now, it is a real pity that they didn't manage to pry the information they knew out of Qian Xun earlier.

But fortunately, they are about to meet now.

Cheng Shuili opened the map again for a look. The two small light dots were almost overlapping, but this area was a complex of buildings, and the broken walls and ruins blocked much of the view.

Rounding a collapsed wall, Cheng Shuili finally saw Qian Xun and his group.

Only four of them remained, and the faces of those who were still alive looked grim.

Cheng Shuili observed them carefully and realized that among those who had died was the young man who had interrupted them at the warehouse.

He was too reckless, so it was no surprise he lost his life.

Qian Xun’s expression was ugly, clearly having experienced something unpleasant. His gaze toward Cheng Shuili held a hint of hope: "Crow, you should understand the rules of the shelter by now, right?"

Cheng Shuili met Qian Xun’s gaze and nodded: "Yes. The shelter can only be used once, and they are limited in number—not enough for every team to have one until the end."

Her words were like a stone thrown into the already troubled hearts of Qian Xun’s team, stirring up heavy ripples. The last trace of luck vanished from the faces of the three remaining members behind Qian Xun, replaced by deeper anxiety and exhaustion.

Qian Xun took a deep breath, as if trying hard to suppress his surging emotions: "We only just found out too... By the second peak, the shelter we found had already expired. We received the notification too late, and we almost..."

He paused, his voice raspy, "Almost wiped out. Luckily, there was another one nearby that hadn't been used, so we rushed for it with everything we had."

He omitted the dangers of the journey, but Cheng Shuili could imagine the thrill of it from their wounded appearances and disheveled gear. That young member who died likely perished during this transfer.

Cooperation was necessary, but before that, Cheng Shuili had to know what information their team possessed.

Before she could even make her request, Qian Xun volunteered: "The information we obtained was about the central research institute. That’s also why we were extremely passive during the first peak—we lost four people entirely and even wasted one of my items..."

So they were originally a ten-person team.

Qian Xun didn't dwell on the item but went straight to explaining their information: "The information we got at the start was that only by exploring the central research institute could we obtain the most critical reward of this dungeon, and this reward can only be obtained by one team per dungeon."

Cheng Shuili understood immediately. No wonder the three members behind Qian Xun looked so miserable.

It was a reward almost within their grasp, yet now, for the sake of surviving the dungeon more steadily, they had to give it up. Anyone would be unwilling.

Cheng Shuili, however, was quite pleased. They had nearly missed the core reward of this dungeon. The mechanics of this instance were truly cunning; one could be caught off guard without the slightest bit of caution.

Cheng Shuili shook her head and very generously took out her own map: "This is the map we found. Tell us the locations of the shelters you have already used, so it will be easier to find the ones that haven't been used yet."

Qian Xun looked at the map Cheng Shuili shared, a flash of complexity in his eyes.

The sincerity and efficiency displayed by the other party made their previous decisions, fueled by selfishness and resulting in losses, look all the more foolish.

He suppressed his emotions and immediately pointed out the two shelter locations they had used.

"Here, and here." Qian Xun’s finger tapped rapidly across the map. "The second shelter is the one we just escaped into; it was almost right next to the first one that expired. Thank goodness it was close, otherwise..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a member beside him with a scrape on their face added, their tone lingering with fear: "The acid rain had already reached its peak at the time, and it started directly corroding the lizard skin. Luckily, we brought a few extra."

But Cheng Shuili’s focus was on the fact that they had used two shelters.

In this way, out of the ten shelters, six were confirmed to have been used. Only four remained in an unknown state, and according to Cheng Shuili’s deduction, there must be three shelters among those that were not necessarily used.

Victory was within reach!

Cheng Shuili selected the location of a shelter, and the group immediately moved forward.

The time was still early, so there was no need to walk too urgently. Consequently, almost no accidents occurred on the way, and they simply bypassed any monsters they encountered.

Moreover... speaking of which, it was strange; aside from the voices of her group, there were no other sounds in the entire dungeon.

They had nearly crossed half the dungeon this time, yet they hadn't seen a single soul along the way. Perhaps the team that had engaged in a shootout with them at the warehouse had already perished.

Whether they were alive or dead didn't matter to Cheng Shuili now. Finding the shelter had wasted too much time; they would have to wait until after the next peak passed before going to explore the research institute.

Including Qian Xun, the ten people huddled inside a single shelter.

When this peak arrived, Cheng Shuili and her group were all very calm—not panicked, and not impatient.

It is worth noting that this time, the system popped up a new notification panel.

【Each shelter can hold a maximum of ten players!】

Cheng Shuili didn't even want to comment on how malicious the intent was for such a thing to pop up at this moment.

Inside the shelter, ten people squeezed into the tiny space, but the atmosphere was more solemn than ever before. It wasn't just because of the crowding, but because of that final prompt from the system.

Ginger Candy muttered in a low voice: "This system is so bad... Isn't this clearly trying to make us fight among ourselves?"

Qi Wanyi patted her on the shoulder, signaling for her to say less.

There was more than just their own people here now.

The expressions of the members of Qian Xun’s team were even more subtle.

If their team hadn't lost members and was still six people, then meeting Cheng Shuili’s six-person team now would have inevitably resulted in conflict over this shelter that could only hold ten people.

The malicious intent of the system was laid bare.

There is no need to mention the other members; although the death of their companions was heartbreaking, they truly felt a sliver of relief at this very moment.

But in truth, the happiest person present was Master of Slacking. He was in the corner, trying his best to lower his presence, his heart filled with lingering fear.

Luckily... luckily there were exactly ten people now. Although he was a "captive," at least he had a spot.