Jiang Siyan felt a sense of confusion. Why?
Wasn't one of the reasons he joined to see how powerful Nan Yue could grow?
He wanted her to be as strong as possible, strong enough to tear away the veil covering this world.
"A-Nan, can you stand up now?"
Zhu Xi Ning's words interrupted Jiang Siyan's thoughts.
He knew better than anyone that Nan Yue's body had recovered; she had even reached her peak.
"I'm fine."
Nan Yue stood up.
She didn't look particularly good, as there were still bloodstains on her clothes and her face wasn't completely clean, but she possessed a mysterious, magnetic pull.
Gu Xiang Kai thought for a moment and realized this was likely the power of being "strong."
The resentment on the Barren Mountain had been devoured by Nan Yue.
As the focal point of the array, it had lost its original purpose, and the array of the Zhou residence was broken.
The scavengers still paddling in the lake suddenly heard a system announcement.
【Congratulations to the streamers for completing the 4,444-yuan tip task. You may choose to exit the stream.】
The people soaking in the water looked at each other in bewilderment.
"It's... it's over?"
"How is that possible! I'm still short by over a thousand."
Ma Junyang had brought his streaming screen with him into the water.
He looked down to confirm and saw that he indeed met the requirement for the 4,444-yuan tip.
To be more precise, a viewer had given a massive, uniform tip to all the streamers.
Yellow Hair and Bai Qing, who were following Daoist Qingfeng, weren't as excited.
To them, the money from tips was no longer meaningful.
They didn't understand why these people still cared so much about such worldly possessions.
"We can leave now!"
The people nearby clearly had no intention of explaining anything to them.
They increased their swimming speed, scrambling to get ashore.
Then, Yellow Hair and the others watched as the people who reached the shore before them vanished into thin air.
"! Daoist, did you see that?! Are we seeing ghosts again!"
Daoist Qingfeng pursed her lips, clearly unsure of the situation herself.
"...Did you receive a message from the platform?"
In the backend of the streaming platform, Daoist Qingfeng had received a contract termination.
She clicked confirm immediately.
"I got it,"
the two said in unison.
"...Let's leave."
"Those people..."
A woman with a cold expression and a mole under her eye flashed through Daoist Qingfeng's mind.
"Don't pry into their secrets. Just focus on staying alive."
The three of them stumbled along, supporting each other as they walked toward the gate of the Zhou Family Compound.
The streaming screen lying on the ground showed that the stream had ended.
The room was empty, and the hundreds of thousands of viewers had vanished without a trace in an instant.
Only a single line of blood-red text remained on the screen.
【Entertainment to Death, until the very end. The next stream will continue in 7 days.】
"Multiplayer qualification mission, 557654: Entertainment to Death Live Streaming Platform. Mission result: Cleared."
"Calculating scavenger rank evaluation based on the purification process, please wait..."
"Team evaluation grade for this mission: S+"
"Evaluation reward: 44,444 team reward points."
"Congratulations. We hope you will continue your efforts and devote your everything to the Scavenger Project."
Nan Yue's lips twitched when she heard the notification.
That point amount had a twisted sense of humor.
As soon as they returned to the purification room, she immediately turned to look for Wen Xiang Yuan.
Although she hadn't held much hope, her face still showed disappointment when she found only four people in the room.
Zhu Xi Ning and Gu Xiang Kai were just as anxious about not finding Wen Xiang Yuan, while Jiang Siyan remained the calmest.
"Let's head out first."
The Purification Hall was essentially the most unsafe place.
It was crowded and filled with omnipresent intelligent systems; they couldn't discuss anything here.
The four of them returned to their original hotel.
For the first time, Nan Yue didn't feel the urge to sleep immediately after a mission.
She was worried about Wen Xiang Yuan.
Wen Xiang Yuan's personal account was still greyed out, but there was a message.
Judging by the time, it had been sent right after Wen Xiang Yuan was ejected from the mission.
Wenwen is an Eagle, not a Bird: I'm fine.
However, Nan Yue couldn't contact her now.
She didn't know if Wen Xiang Yuan had been forced into hibernation after being ejected or if something worse had happened.
The room fell into a silent hush.
Jiang Siyan poured a glass of water for Nan Yue and spoke after observing their expressions.
"What are your thoughts regarding Wen Xiang Yuan?"
Gu Xiang Kai looked up at Jiang Siyan.
"She's fine."
Gu Xiang Kai added, "It's not that I'm blindly trusting, but regardless of why she was ejected, the fact that she could leave a message for the Boss means the situation isn't that bad. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had any autonomy at all."
Nan Yue thought the same, so while she was concerned, she wasn't yet at the point of panic.
Zhu Xi Ning threw up her hands.
"The main problem with Wenwen's situation is that we have no one to ask. Even if we're worried, it doesn't help."
Nan Yue pursed her lips and remained silent.
It wasn't strictly true that they had no one to ask.
Sharp Blade held the most complete records of player information and any mission irregularities.
Even if Wen Xiang Yuan's case was a first, there might be similar incidents in the records they could reference.
But they couldn't go to Sharp Blade right now because they didn't have enough leverage.
They had caught Sharp Blade's attention, but only as a team with decent potential.
That was far from enough to negotiate terms with Sharp Blade.
Furthermore, Wen Xiang Yuan's situation was too unique; Nan Yue worried there might be no room for negotiation at all.
"In that case, we might as well talk openly."
Jiang Siyan leaned back against the sofa, his gaze gentle.
"What do you all think about the issue of Wen Xiang Yuan's identity?"
The group, who had been looking worried, immediately turned solemn.
No one spoke; they didn't know how to start.
It was like a very troublesome secret that everyone knew but had a silent agreement not to expose.
Finally, Zhu Xi Ning couldn't stand the heavy atmosphere and gritted her teeth.
"Isn't Wenwen just... just a native! What's the big deal!"
Gu Xiang Kai remained silent.
Wen Xiang Yuan's identity represented many things, and they all knew it too well.
It was precisely because they knew that they couldn't discuss it publicly.
If Wen Xiang Yuan truly was an NPC, it first meant that the polluted worlds were not beyond saving.
They knew what kind of person Wen Xiang Yuan was.
If these NPCs possessed individual consciousness just like her, then the scavengers' methods of purifying polluted worlds were far too brutal.
They treated the living people inside as NPCs—as entities that were already unsalvageable and assimilated by pollution.
They were simply abandoned.
But what if they weren't? What if they didn't even know their world was polluted, that they had been permanently forsaken and would never be saved?
This would be a crushing blow to scavengers who prided themselves on being the protectors who purified the world.
Rate on N.U.
