Tian Yue and Feng Xuelan walked on, both quieter than before, as though each had sunk into thoughts too difficult to put into words.
Le Shiya also reached out and took Su Bai's hand. He did not pull away, letting the girl lead him as he followed the two players with steady steps.
No one spoke again along the way. Only the footsteps of the four of them rang through the corridor, trailing echoes through the empty passage.
After walking for about two or three minutes, they reached the corridor's first corner and began turning right. Almost simultaneously, Tian Yue and Feng Xuelan stopped, apparently having spotted something beyond the turn.
At the same time, Le Shiya's voice sounded in Su Bai's mind again, carrying her usual lighthearted tone, though now tinged with a faint hint of wariness.
"Big brother, there are two players up ahead, a man and a woman. They look twenty? Thirty? I can't really tell. Anyway, they look young, but they feel a little world-weary. That fits the powerful veteran players I've met before."
Su Bai understood what Le Shiya meant. Among the human players who entered the Nightmare Game, children were rare, but so were the elderly. Simply put, most of those selected for the Nightmare Game were young adults in their prime, brimming with qi and blood.
He had once thought this might be a trace of mercy left in the "Administrator," but now that seemed unlikely. More probably, the so-called "test subjects" were selected primarily from groups with strong vitality. As for why a child like Le Shiya, frail and deficient in qi and blood, had also been dragged into the Nightmare Game, the answer to that question likely lay somewhere deeper.
Still, Le Shiya's instincts were sharp. Even though most players were