Jiang Siyan smiled. "It's normal. Human psychology is very fragile, and warriors are no different."
"Even if we were born to prepare for the purification of the world, we are still human."
That night, Nan Yue suffered from a bit of insomnia. She kept remembering Johnny, whose face was a mangled mess, speaking in an excited and expectant tone about how they were finally going home.
It wasn't until the latter half of the night that Nan Yue finally fell asleep, and when she woke up, it was already noon.
Tan Xiaonan was still in the room. Seeing Nan Yue wake up, she smiled. "I thought you were too tired these past few days, so I didn't wake you. Anyway, there are no more adventure missions, so we can relax a bit."
Nan Yue hadn't rested well, and her head was still a bit foggy. She sat there blankly for a while before asking, "Are there really no more adventure missions?"
Tan Xiaonan shook her head. "None. Wen Xiang Yuan and the others went to find First Mate John today, and he said all the missions have already been released."
Nan Yue said nothing. She simply washed up and went out to see her photo.
The ink stains on everyone's photos had darkened slightly.
The mission... was not over.
Nan Yue found her teammates in the restaurant. Except for Jiang Siyan, everyone looked quite worried.
"A-Nan, there's a problem with the mission."
The gloom between Zhu Xi Ning's brows was the heaviest. "I sense danger."
In this mission, there had been almost no need to use her active foresight; usually, her basic intuition was enough to cope.
She had used it actively twice: once to see the barnacles, and once to barely see that Jiang Siyan was not in danger.
But this time, it was a passive perception, which meant they were indeed in danger.
Gu Xiang Kai took over the conversation. "The prompt said to complete 7 adventures, and we've only finished 6 so far."
Although Wen Xiang Yuan wouldn't die herself, she was worried about the others.
"I went to ask John today and even found Steve. They both said all the adventures have been released and told us to wait peacefully for the journey to end."
They all knew that if it were truly over, they should have already returned to the Purification Hall.
Since they hadn't returned, it meant it wasn't over.
"How is your body?"
Wen Xiang Yuan smiled. "No problems have appeared so far."
But today, Nan Yue saw that the ink stains on Wen Xiang Yuan's photo had already spread to her face.
"When did that last card from yesterday appear on the table?"
Nan Yue was the last to leave the illusion yesterday, so she really wasn't sure.
Jiang Siyan took out the card and placed it on the table. "It was brought by the waiter who served the last round of drinks, right around the time you came out of the illusion."
Nan Yue picked up the card and read it carefully once more.
"The barnacles mentioned before might be the final adventure."
Jiang Siyan offered his opinion. He found that for some unknown reason—perhaps a natural attraction to the team, or perhaps to make the next exchange of insights with Nan Yue smoother—he was uncharacteristically sharing his thoughts.
After all, for a long time now, he had relied purely on his own power to clear missions.
Nan Yue flicked the card. "That's also a possibility."
"Let's go look at the photos again."
Nan Yue hurriedly filled her stomach, and the five of them headed into the cabins.
Along the way, they saw some scavengers already relaxing in the bar and other places, while others stayed in their rooms waiting for the mission to end.
As soon as Nan Yue's group arrived, everyone's attention shifted toward them.
"Everyone has ink stains on their photos to some extent now, but..."
Nan Yue noticed that there were still three people whose photos were clean.
One was Fan Jiayuan, one was Li Anjie, and one was Bi Danyuan's roommate, Zhou Meifei.
"She... indeed almost never goes into the bathroom. Didn't I say? Ever since she hid during that mission, she's been very withdrawn. The mental stimulation from the first two missions was too great, so she stopped going into enclosed spaces like the bathroom afterward."
"It's actually quite surprising she's managed to survive until now."
Bi Danyuan was one of the people staying in her room. Hearing Nan Yue and the others talking, she shared the information she knew.
She didn't lower her voice to avoid Zhou Meifei, who was still in the room. The latter didn't talk back after hearing the sarcasm, only lowering her head.
"Forget it... I guess she has her own ways."
Although Bi Danyuan had been screwed over by her once, Zhou Meifei hadn't caused any more trouble since then, so she couldn't be bothered to hold a grudge.
"There's one more person."
Jiang Siyan had been watching quietly from the side, and only now did he turn to look at a certain door.
"Her photo isn't quite right."
Zhu Xi Ning frowned as she looked left and right. "Nothing seems wrong. Her photo has ink stains too, just a bit fewer than mine."
Jiang Siyan was talking about her roommate, Su Qian.
Speaking of surviving, Zhu Xi Ning was surprised that Su Qian had made it.
She had promised Jessica she would find that non-existent ball, yet she hadn't lost her life in the end.
As for how she did it, Zhu Xi Ning had some guesses.
She didn't judge her; if it were herself, she might have done the same. In a mission, doing anything to survive was normal.
"But I remember your ink stains were about the same a few days ago."
Nan Yue stood beside Zhu Xi Ning and pointed at Su Qian's photo.
"Her ink stains are growing too slowly."
Nan Yue placed the most importance on the photos of the people in her team; she had even memorized the photos of their roommates.
At the beginning, everyone's ink stains were very light, but as the mission progressed, they began to increase significantly over the last two days.
This was consistent with the pattern of missions getting harder and dangers gradually appearing toward the end.
This pattern also applied to the photos of both Nan Yue and Jiang Siyan.
But it was incredible that the growth of the ink stains on Su Qian's photo was actually slower than Zhu Xi Ning's.
Furthermore... Nan Yue felt that Su Qian's photo looked almost the same as it had a few days ago, as if there had been no change at all.
This wasn't right.
Others were in the hallway or their rooms, all listening to Nan Yue and the others discuss.
Nan Yue didn't continue. Ultimately, this was a very small detail; if it hadn't been mentioned, many people might not have noticed.
But once it was discovered, everyone knew it definitely meant something.
In a mission, there were no useless details.
But if Nan Yue deduced further, a few words might even decide someone else's fate.
She couldn't be that irresponsible.
"Let's go. Is there anywhere else to play on the ship? Let's go check it out."
There were various entertainment facilities on the cruise ship. Initially, Zhu Xi Ning had been very interested in the surfing pool, but since learning it might cause ink stains to appear on the photo, she had given up on it.
Wen Xiang Yuan took her to browse the shops one by one, and Gu Xiang Kai followed along to help carry things.
"Can things bought in a mission be taken out?"
Nan Yue was a bit curious. Although the color city states were very well-developed, there were still many things they didn't have compared to mission worlds.
"Unless it's a tool, you can't take it out."
Jiang Siyan said, "But it can make you a little happier."
Rate on N.U.
