The vanishing food

It seemed the game just wanted to torment the players.

In a Forest Labyrinth crawling with NPCs, what player would dare sleep peacefully?

They dared not sleep and still had to fight, so they would get hungry, and when they got hungry, they had to eat.

But their food disappeared the moment they took it out. Without replenishing their stamina, wouldn't they be left helplessly taking a beating whenever they ran into an NPC?

Xin Jiu was just about to reply to Ao Lin's message.

[Player Hash Brown Heavy Dependence has requested a trade with you. Do you accept?]

A trade?

Xin Jiu tapped accept.

[Bear Biscuits × 5]

[I bought these biscuits at the Bear Service Area. They're mainly for treating injuries, but they're still biscuits, so they can fill your stomach. Take these and eat them for now. These won't disappear.]

Ao Lin thought Xin Jiu had messaged him because she had run out of food, so he immediately sent some over in a trade.

[Player Xin Jiu has requested a trade with you. Do you accept?]

"...?"

Ao Lin was still feeling smug about what he had done, thinking that even the top-ranked player had to come begging him, the seventh-ranked player, for food, when the trade notification arrived.

[Bear Gummies × 15]

[Returning the favor.]

Ao Lin felt his face grow a little hot.

Right. How could the top-ranked player possibly not have bought products from the Bear Shop?

Ao Lin glanced at the spider. It was hiding a hundred meters away for now, not daring to approach, so he sent Heartless Dao Dabao a message first.

[Bro, the top-ranked player messaged me. I only just realized food disappears when moonlight hits it. Make sure you watch out.]

Sang Yi sat in a tree, crunching away on Bear Biscuits.

Seeing Ao Lin's message, Sang Yi casually replied.

[Already knew.]

[You already knew and didn't tell me?]

Sang Yi stopped replying.

[Want something to eat? I bought loads of biscuits.]

[Player Hash Brown Heavy Dependence has requested a trade with you. Do you accept?]

Sang Yi tapped decline.

Ao Lin: "..."

Fine, he was ranked seventh, so he wasn't important enough. Once he turned things around against the odds this round, he would see whether first and second place still dared look down on him!

After closing the chat panel, Ao Lin gripped his long saber and walked toward the spider.

He needed to vent.

Doudou was so anxious he was on the verge of tears.

He was genuinely starving now. Jiamin also looked helplessly at Chen Rui, hoping he would hurry up and come up with something.

Chen Rui checked the time on his watch. Time in the game was synchronized with reality. It was ten o'clock now, so they only had to hold out for another seven hours or so.

"Just bear with it."

Crunch, crunch.

Chen Rui's voice and the sound of Xin Jiu eating biscuits rang out at the same time.

Li Tao was incredulous. "Why didn't your biscuits disappear?!"

Everyone else's food clearly couldn't be exposed to moonlight, so why was she an exception? Did she have an item or skill card that could nullify the moonlight's effects?

Xin Jiu didn't give him the time of day.

"I'm talking to you! Are you deaf?!"

Li Tao had barely finished speaking when a dark blur whistled past his cheek. A sharp pain immediately shot through his left ear. He reached up to touch it, and his hand came away covered in blood.

Jiamin screamed, "Ah-his ear! His ear!"

Li Tao crouched on the ground, clutching his ear, his body trembling violently from the pain.

"I'm not deaf, but if you don't clean up that mouth of yours, you'll lose both ears."

Xin Jiu's blade was poisoned. If Li Tao was wounded by it, he would lose health every minute. She only wanted to teach him a lesson, not have him die right now, so she had used the slingshot.

Li Tao kept his head down, and no one saw his expression.

Doudou and Jiamin didn't dare provoke her either. Chen Rui remained silent.

For the rest of the time, Xin Jiu sat off to one side to rest, while Chen Rui stayed on the other side with Doudou, Jiamin, and Li Tao.

None of them stepped outside the circle Xin Jiu had drawn with powder.

Night deepened.

Doudou and Jiamin leaned against a tree trunk, asleep with their heads resting against each other. Xin Jiu lay with her back to them and seemed to be asleep as well.

Her slingshot and military dagger lay beside her.

Li Tao couldn't sleep at all because of the pain in his ear. He glanced at Chen Rui, who was sitting in a tree, and, seeing no movement from him either, crept quietly toward Xin Jiu.

He held his breath and made his footsteps as light as possible.

When he was less than half a meter from Xin Jiu, he raised his hand high, the blade in it gleaming coldly.

He was going to kill Xin Jiu!

But just as the tip of his blade came within twenty centimeters of Xin Jiu, Li Tao's wrist was suddenly seized.

It was Chen Rui.

At some point, he had jumped down from the tree.

Now he simply stared at Li Tao, his expression complicated.

His stare unnerved Li Tao, whose lips parted and closed again. Without a word, Chen Rui pulled him aside, then snatched his knife and threw it on the ground.

"Now's the best chance to kill her. You saw it too-her food isn't affected by the moonlight, and she must have lots of skill cards on her. Once we kill her, all of that will be ours!"

He spoke very quickly, but kept his voice low for fear of waking Xin Jiu.

"Don't let me hear you say that again."

"Why?!" Li Tao couldn't understand. "She even shot off one of my ears! Don't forget, I'm your teammate. Shouldn't you help me get revenge?"

Chen Rui sighed. "Do you think we can kill her with our abilities? Don't forget, we still need to follow her to get out."

Doudou's skill card had stopped working. Getting out on their own would not be easy.

Yet she had known how vast and dangerous this labyrinth was and still entered without hesitation. That proved she understood this place and knew how to get out. They needed her to lead the way.

The other thing was that she really was far too similar to Xin Jiu.

So, for either reason, Chen Rui would not let Li Tao attack her.

The two remained at an impasse for two minutes. Finally, Li Tao snorted coldly and went off to rest.

They were afraid of her, but he wasn't!

With her back to them, Xin Jiu opened her eyes, her clear gaze shining all the brighter in the moonlight.

At five the next morning, a pale glow appeared along the horizon.

Doudou and Jiamin immediately took out food to eat. By the time they had recovered a little stamina, daylight had arrived, and Chen Rui led them outside the circle to look for food.

The food they had brought would only last three to five days.

But there was absolutely no way they could get out of this labyrinth in three to five days, so they had to find other food.

What none of them had noticed last night was that plenty of mushrooms were actually growing nearby.

Every mushroom looked plump and fresh, delicious at a glance.

Li Tao was left behind to start a fire. The method was primitive: making fire with a wooden drill. He rubbed until his arms felt ready to snap before finally getting a fire going.

Chen Rui set the mushrooms he had brought back to one side.

"She isn't awake yet?"

Li Tao said snidely, "She's a pampered young lady. Why would she get up this early?"

Xin Jiu actually hadn't slept all night, because she had been thinking about the game's intentions. After thinking all night, she had reached a conclusion: if the people behind this game weren't twisted, then they were screening people.

As for what they were screening for... she didn't know.

When Xin Jiu got up, the livestream started as well.

[Wow, Jiujiu's having grilled mushrooms today?]

[Those mushrooms look a little colorful. Won't eating them put her in a coffin?]

[I remember Chen Yuyuer saying he specialized in biology. Surely he can identify mushrooms.]

Chen Rui took a skewer of freshly grilled, fragrant mushrooms from Li Tao and handed it to Xin Jiu.

"Have some. These mushrooms were just picked. They're very fresh."