Chapter 158

Guan Suiyue swiftly layered several A-grade shields on her sister, and still feeling it wasn't enough, she tucked her only two S-grade shields into her coat pocket. "That No. 42 isn't an ordinary monster—she's the devil walking the earth. Those outsiders have produced who knows how many energy stones by destroying worlds. Their abilities can't be measured by any A-grade or S-grade standard."

"Hey!?" Sensing the commotion inside, No. 42 outside began pounding on the door. The massive force made the entire door shake, and the narrow toilet stall vibrated as if an earthquake had struck.

Guan Suixing tensed as well. After a moment's hesitation, she grabbed her sister's sleeve. "I was tricked out by No. 42. Sister Lin Tu said that Yi Ying and the others are already coming for me. Just take me to them and don't delay your own matters. They'll do their best to help me."

"What are you thinking? Taking care of you is no delay," Guan Suiyue smoothed the wrinkles on her sister's shoulder. "You're a [Doctor]. She won't let this go easily. Stay close to me."

With that, she pressed one hand against the toilet door, stopping the trembling. The shaking stall settled back into stillness.

Guan Suiyue clutched a prop and opened the door, coming face to face with No. 42's grin, stretched to the extreme.

——This wasn't No. 42. Guan Suiyue confirmed at once. When had she been swapped? Or had she been performing all along? Guan Suiyue couldn't know.

Seeing one person enter the stall and two emerge, No. 42's smile slightly faded, and she tilted her head, puzzled.

Without wasting a word, Guan Suiyue used the once-stored [Avenger], then flung a prop at No. 42——S-grade prop [Hand-Stitching Needle: A serial killer used it to stitch together dismembered corpses; likewise, it can sever any part of the human body]——if Lin Tu were here, she would recognize it as the very prop she had once considered when choosing a weapon to kill the highest-level monster, before she chose [Warden's Blood].

A powerful energy surged forth. No. 42 quickly retreated, but three fingers on her right hand were still severed, falling to the ground.

The Hand-Stitching Needle swung forward, attempting to crack her ribs. She stared at Guan Suiyue in terror, dodged the attack, and fled.

"Wasn't that your last use?" Guan Suixing said woefully.

"Because your safety matters most. It's a pity I didn't kill her." Guan Suiyue looked at the three fingers on the ground and the gradually fading Hand-Stitching Needle, then without lingering, she dragged Guan Suixing out.

Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since the Return of the Dead event. Those once-rotting, easily killable dead had been repeatedly wounded and each time upgraded, becoming exceptionally troublesome.

Guan Suiyue had plenty of props, but even so, it took her nearly an hour to meet up with Yi Ying and the others.

"Are you okay!" Yi Ying and the others rushed over, checking Guan Suixing from head to toe. Once they confirmed she was safe, their faces turned furious. "Are you crazy? You actually dared to follow No. 42 out! Are you stupid?!"

"I didn't, how could I..." Guan Suixing, scolded, didn't get angry but quickly explained. "She had a prop that blinded people. I was really deceived!"

Yi Ying and the others nodded, saying no more. Worried about props like the [Shapeshifter], Guan Suiyue intended to check whether Yi Ying and the others were still themselves. About to speak, she noticed Yi Ying, Luo Yongzhi, and Liu Sheng all staring behind her——

"Where's Sister Lin?" Luo Yongzhi asked in a muffled voice.

Yi Ying simply bypassed Guan Suiyue, walked behind her, found no one, then opened the dorm door and looked out——she only saw a few stray dead wandering outside——she quickly closed the door and looked, no, glared at Guan Suiyue, asking the same question: "Where's Sister Lin?"

*If something happens to me, but Guan Suiyue comes back safely, watch out for her! Don't believe anything she says.* Lin Tu's words when she handed over the Love Divine Incense echoed in her mind. The thing Yi Ying had feared most had happened.

Seeing Guan Suiyue remain silent, she repeated: "Why did you come back, but Sister Lin didn't?"

Even Liu Sheng, usually the gentlest, glared at Guan Suiyue with the same hostility, as if she were a stranger, or even an enemy.

Only Kou Lin, being Guan Suixing's friend and thus not privy to the secret in case she tipped her off, stood bewildered. But even if she were clueless, even blind, she could sense the gunpowder in the air.

"Don't be like that," Guan Suixing said, quickly stepping in front of her sister. "Guan Suiyue came for me in a hurry. Sister Lin Tu's fine over there," she turned to her sister, confirming, "Right, Guan Suiyue."

"Bullshit!" Yi Ying's curse hovered on her lips but she swallowed it. She stared steadily at Guan Suiyue. "You'd better make sure Lin Tu is okay!"

With that, she took out the [Love Divine Incense].

"What are you doing?" Guan Suiyue asked warily.

"I'm going to find Sister Lin myself. I don't trust you!" Yi Ying said, and lit the incense.

Everyone's eyes fixed on the stick in her hand. A long moment passed, and the incense showed no reaction.

Luo Yongzhi scratched his head: "Is it broken?"

"Bullshit! Props can't break!" Yi Ying, feeling everything was going wrong, grew angrier. She lit it twice more, and the [Love Divine Incense] still showed no response.

A bad feeling crept over Yi Ying. As the saying goes, three strikes and you're out; she dared not light it a fourth time. "Did I attack someone in the middle? No, I didn't... Did I misremember? Impossible either... Is she in a special place it can't get through? But the incense shouldn't be completely silent either..."

Eliminating all possibilities, only one remained, written in the [Love Divine Incense]'s notes: "The Love Divine Incense can only find the living, not the dead."

Yi Ying felt the lighter in her hand weigh a ton. In her mind surfaced the girl with gold-rimmed glasses, head slightly bowed. Truly, she hadn't liked Lin Tu at first, but when she saw her standing there so easily, like a banyan tree, giving her a longing she'd never known, she realized that the one she'd disliked from the start was herself. And yet, inexplicably, she was willing to trust that girl.

How could such a person die...

"Is it you! Did you kill Sister Lin!" Yi Ying shrieked at Guan Suiyue, never finding that face so foreign, that golden hair so damned. "This bastard, why don't you die! Give her back! You killed her! You pay with your life!"

"What's wrong, Yi Ying? My sister didn't mean it. Sister Lin Tu can't be dead. Don't jump to conclusions..." Guan Suixing hadn't expected Yi Ying's words so harsh; she instinctively stepped in front of Guan Suiyue.

"You don't know, do you! Right, you just hide behind your sister like a pure, innocent little white rabbit," Yi Ying pointed at the two sisters with her index finger in the most insulting manner. "Lin Tu told me long ago that your sister would harm her! She had already guessed, but still followed your sister! And you? Do you really know nothing? Or did you know all along, but for your own benefit, you sold out the Sister Lin you claimed to love?"

Guan Suixing looked at Yi Ying in disbelief, unable to believe she was being accused so. She then looked at Luo Yongzhi and Liu Sheng behind Yi Ying; both stood silently behind her, as if they would approve whatever harsh words she said. Even Kou Lin secretly moved behind the others, and when she caught Guan Suixing's gaze, she slightly looked away.

At the critical moment, Guan Suiyue pressed her sister's shoulder: "They're her friends. Don't talk about her like that."

"Um..." Kou Lin spoke up weakly, "Let me say something fair... What exactly is going on with Sister Lin now?"

Guan Suixing snapped back to reality. Everything else could wait; the key was Sister Lin Tu's current condition. She took her sister's hand from her shoulder, turned around, and looked at Guan Suiyue, finding her sister's face paler than ever.

"Wait..." Guan Suixing knew her sister too well. She looked at her again in disbelief, finding a familiarity in her expression yet a strangeness. Her heart sank. "You know? You know everything? You lied to me when you said Sister Lin Tu was fine. You knew she might be in danger, didn't you? Is she... is she really possibly dead?"

Guan Suiyue recalled the scene on the snowy plain: with just over four hours of Divine Kingdom time left, No. 51 stood like a giant in the center, and around him, of the three black dots, only two remained, fleeing in despair.

"I'm going to find her." Guan Suiyue didn't answer her sister. "Take care of yourself with No. 42. Stay here."

Guan Suiyue turned and headed for the dorm door, and Yi Ying and the others immediately followed. But Guan Suiyue clearly didn't intend to take them along; she tossed a net behind her, which easily trapped Yi Ying and the rest.

"What a saint your sister is." Yi Ying mocked, using the offensive props she'd bought before entering the disaster to break the net——never imagining she'd use them on her own people.

"Are you crazy! Careful? Am I made of porcelain?" Guan Suixing grabbed the net, shouting at the departing Guan Suiyue. "Do you know how disappointed I am? If the freedom you speak of has to be achieved this way, sacrificing other people's lives, then I'd rather be dead! How dare you decide for me! Do you know what I want? Just because you think you're sacrificing for me! Do you think you can replace Mom and Dad? Do you think I'll be grateful? I won't!"

"Guan Suiyue, I don't need you! I hate you! Go die!"

She watched Guan Suiyue disappear down the corridor, that vicious curse echoing in her wake.

"She'll be hurt hearing that. After all, your sister really did want the best for you..." Kou Lin quietly grasped Guan Suixing's shoulder. "Though I do think she went about it the wrong way."

"If she's wrong, she deserves to be scolded. Does being wrong mean she doesn't need to change?" Guan Suixing muttered, looking at the empty corridor, dispelling a hint of regret. "Let's break this net quickly and go find Sister Lin Tu."

She was a [Doctor]; as long as she got there fast, she could definitely save Lin Tu.

Meanwhile, Guan Suiyue, avoiding the monsters, took about half an hour to reach the snowy plain at the very top of the ship.

It was the same as before—cold, desolate. She sprinted across the plain, found the spot where they had cornered No. 51 earlier, and her heart sank as she saw the scene from afar.

Bright red blood was splattered everywhere. Guan Suiyue crouched beside the snow with the most blood, plunged her five fingers into the glaringly red snow, and scooped out a thick layer of blood-soaked snow. Blood that should have been warm in a living body was now as cold as Guan Suiyue's heart.

Because by her estimate, the sheer volume of blood here meant the person had at least been severely injured.

Following the trail of blood, Guan Suiyue ran on, then spotted a broken bracelet by the roadside. She picked it up and quickly realized it was a damaged prop, [Sunscreen Bracelet], which Lin Tu often wore, never mind how useless it was.

A person who liked hoarding all sorts of odd things like that wouldn't toss her belonging by the roadside unless she had no choice...

Guan Suiyue put the bracelet in her pocket, continued forward, and after more than ten minutes reached the end of the snowy plain.

This plain was an extraneous structure caused by the Return of the Dead event, not part of the actual world. So its end was a bottomless cliff, the darkness below impenetrable, no telling what lay beneath.

Snowflakes drifted down here, and the cliff marked a clear dividing line: beyond, no snow, only darkness.

The snow stopped abruptly here, and the blood trail vanished too. But Guan Suiyue still didn't see Lin Tu or the other person.

Only a snow-white statue stood at the edge of the plain. Guan Suiyue had no trouble recognizing it as No. 51.

"Lin Tu! Lin Tu!?" No. 51 was clearly in a strange state, but she ignored him, crawling to the cliff's edge and calling out.

"Crack—crack—" The statue behind her gradually emitted sounds like insects breaking from their shells. Guan Suiyue paid him no mind. Seeing no response from below the cliff, she circled the end of the blood trail calling out, but never heard an echo.

"Crack—crack—" The statue's cracking grew louder. Finally, when No. 51's voice came from within, Guan Suiyue gave up the search.

"How fake," came No. 51's mocking voice from the broken statue. "Anyone would think you're so full of sisterly love."

Guan Suiyue angrily hurled a prop at him, attacking. "And what about you? A tool of the Temple. You're not even a person!"

"I never said I was human. I have no friends, and I don't need any," No. 51 deflected the attack easily, laughing. "I just didn't expect the Temple to produce a loyal zealot."

"At a time like this, you still have the mood to mock me?" Guan Suiyue sneered, raising her sword. "Your [Divine Descent], [Divine Kingdom Descends], and [Divine Sculpture] are all spent. You've lost your lifelines. Tell me, where are my friends?"

"Tsk, watching you act is quite amusing. Friends? You mean the one who wore such a wonderful expression after you betrayed her?" No. 51 laughed heartily. "Why, she's dead, of course."

Having said that, he stopped toying with her and charged with his strongest lethal move——the "good thing" he'd saved for Guan Suiyue all along, finally time to use it.

"You're the first to push me this far!"

Guan Suiyue didn't hesitate, raising her sword to meet him. The hatred for the Temple she'd harbored since childhood, plus her fury at Lin Tu's death, all poured into her every move.

The two were of the same origin, knowing each other intimately. Originally, No. 51's strength outmatched Guan Suiyue, and she had no chance of winning, but as she'd said, his powerful skills had been depleted, so they fought evenly, neither able to best the other.

This battle lasted a full three hours, until both were utterly exhausted.

Guan Suiyue threw away her broken sword and fought No. 51 with bare hands, wanting nothing more than to tear him apart. And she did. When she finally knocked him to the ground, she bit down on his nose, viciously gnawing off his nasal cartilage.

The moment her tongue tasted the blood, she nearly chewed the flesh apart, then spat the nose onto the snow in disgust.

"You can't kill me, hahaha," No. 51 laughed despite the blood gushing from his face. "You think the Temple has no counter against you? I'll always, always, always be one step ahead!"

Guan Suiyue screamed, digging her fingers into No. 51's eyes, stirring, but the man kept laughing——

"The Temple will always, always, always control you! I'll kill you, then your sister. You think in this disaster, with scientists, they can resurrect? No, they can't. Your friends, hahaha, your laughable friends can't be revived, your sister can't be revived, everyone will die because of you!"

His words oddly calmed Guan Suiyue, because she realized he was speaking nothing but the truth——

Perhaps it was dissociation from extreme anger and pain, her soul gradually left her body, watching her own tragicomedy with indifference like a spectator.

She saw the snowy plain crumbling bit by bit, as if the water system had been repaired successfully;

She saw herself and No. 51 battling on the disintegrating plain, two bastards steeped in blood and sin, neither deserving to live in this world;

She saw the person who deserved to live most, yet her blood spilled onto snow filled with betrayal and lies;

The eyes from memories had never been forgotten—her sister's dependent eyes when she was little, Lin Tu's trusting eyes, the eyes of the guilty and the innocent, and the grateful eyes of those naive locals in the [Place of Exile], the eyes she could never forget most.

If she had the choice, she too would want to wield her sword through the confusion, to see clearly whether she was human or what. She would tell the friends who once trusted her that such a wretched person was willing to pay with her life for them.

In the next life, she didn't want to live like this.

"Fine, I concede," Guan Suiyue suddenly raised both hands and sat on the snow beside her as her soul returned to her body. "But on one condition: tell me who wanted to harm my friend, and all my friend's secrets."

The still-laughing No. 51 came to his senses, looking at Guan Suiying in confusion, until she promised him: "You know I have no strength left to resist anyway. I'll come out of the disaster world with you, and you can do whatever you want. In these last moments, tell me these things, and I won't struggle. It's no loss for you."

No. 51 mulled it over; he had also noticed the plain collapsing, and staying was unwise.

After all, Guan Suiyue was a talent the Temple had cultivated. Even in this state, taking her down quickly wasn't easy, so her proposal was extraordinarily tempting.

In the end, No. 51 agreed, on the condition that he first break both her legs. The latter readily agreed.

Lin Tu's "secrets" were highly classified; many were known only to the highest tiers of the Temple. As Guan Suiyue listened, her eyes widened. No wonder the Temple's White Gloves were hunting Lin Tu—it had nothing to do with Professor Lü or Zhang Bao... If what No. 51 said was true, then Lin Tu was in grave danger, and there would be more, more powerful people than No. 51 wanting her dead.

She pulled out a recording prop pen and silently wrote a few sentences in the snow.

*If you can come back to life...* A slight smile tugged at her lips. Kang Lina was far more reliable than Guan Suiyue; she knew that without No. 51's interference, that woman would surely get scientists to revive Lin Tu.

"Done yet?" No. 51 grew impatient. He didn't know much anyway, and here Guan Suiyue was pestering him left and right, as if her friend could really come back. Ha. Kill Guan Suiyue, then guard Lin Tu's corpse; he'd make sure she died beyond all return!

"Done." Guan Suiyue shifted her body, lifting her head to face No. 51 directly. "Did you know? This snowy plain is fake. It's the perfect place to bury us both."

"What do you mean?"

No sooner had No. 51 turned his head than he saw a strangely shaped gun appear in Guan Suiyue's hand. This gun had two muzzles at a hundred and eighty degrees; when one muzzle aimed at him, the other pointed at Guan Suiyue's own forehead.

"Right, the Temple did anticipate everything. I can't win against you. But they forgot we're in a disaster world, where endless possibilities exist." Guan Suiyue finally revealed the skill she'd once lied about, the [Fourth-Level Avenger (Green Name)]: "My vengeance is so strong that I can trade my life for any person's life, and that person can never be revived!"

"No! It's not necessary! We..." No. 51's words were cut off by a gunshot.

He watched as two bullets shot from the two muzzles—one piercing Guan Suiyue's forehead. She looked wistfully at the translucent, fading snowflakes in the air, murmured something unintelligible, and closed her eyes forever.

The other bullet, slightly delayed due to distance, was just about to reach his forehead.

"You madwoman!" He shrieked, falling back onto the snow. Countless faces of those he had killed pressed down on his hands and legs, leaving him no room to retreat. "I won't go to hell!"

The next moment, the bullet pierced his forehead, and blood sprayed.

The gun, its mission complete, vanished between them.

The snowy plain crumbled inch by inch, and the two bodies fell with it into the boundless abyss. The last few snowflakes drifted down, catching the golden hair, reflecting a faint glimmer in the darkness for a long while.

The Return of the Dead event, after many twists and turns, finally ended within the 24-hour limit.

This meant a horde of monsters that would have grown unstoppable had been taken care of. The people on the ship nearly cheered.

The illusion dissolved, and the ship reverted to its original form; finding people should have been easier. But Yi Ying and the others, who had searched for Lin Tu for nearly four hours, scoured every corner of the entire ship and never found Lin Tu, or even Guan Suiyue.

An hour had long since passed. Guan Suixing sat dazed behind the others, watching them huddle around Kou Lin's screen to review the surveillance footage.

It showed the moment twenty-four hours earlier, when Lin Tu and Kou Lin left the dorm and ran all the way upstairs.

"Why did they go upstairs?" Kou Lin asked what the others wanted to know. If they recalled correctly, when Lin Tu and the others left, they'd said they were going to find the red name who'd damaged the water system. And shouldn't that red name be in the lowest decks?

Thinking of the tension between Lin Tu and Guan Suiyue earlier, Yi Ying touched the two figures on the screen. "What secret are you hiding?"

The group watched Kang Lina appear, watched the three chase after No. 51.

They immediately contacted the players who had been tricked by No. 51 and quickly learned what had happened.

A lie often needs countless lies to fill. Once you tell the first lie, there's no turning back. Whether to maintain the lie or lured by temptation to tell more lies to wrap a perfect truth—like an addiction to plastic surgery—the more lies, the more obvious the cracks, until one lie is exposed, and thread by thread, the whole story comes back to those who once saw the clues.

"So Guan Suiyue defected from the Temple and stole something, which is why the White Gloves chased into the disaster?" Liu Sheng wore an expression like the old man with a phone. "But what we knew was that Guan Suiyue came in with Sister Lin to help her deal with an enemy."

Yi Ying had observed Lin Tu closely. She noticed that when Lin Tu heard No. 51's words, her pupils briefly constricted—a clear sign of surprise—and realized, "Sister Lin Tu knew as much as we did. She, too, thought Guan Suiyue was just helping her."

"But," Luo Yongzhi raised another point, "before that, Sister Lin Tu already knew Guan Suiyue would betray her."

"Sister Lin isn't the type to chase rumors. That only means Guan Suiyue had already betrayed her before, which further proves a fact," Yi Ying analyzed. "Guan Suiyue was using us, using Sister Lin to help her deal with her enemy."

The group's gazes turned to Guan Suixing, who clutched her chest in pain; they silently looked away.

Kou Lin walked over and patted her back. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just..." Guan Suixing stared at the three figures stepping onto the deck, then vanishing into the fully fabricated hallucination space on the screen. "My chest feels tight. I feel like something very bad has happened."

"Don't worry, there's one more person we can find." Kou Lin pointed to the only unfamiliar woman in the screen, Kang Lina.

.

Lin Tu felt as if a long time had passed, yet also just a moment.

Death was a terrifying experience—breath failing, body aching, feeling her life slowly seep away. Fortunately, when she opened her eyes again, she was miraculously alive.

Lin Tu sat up, finding herself in a narrow, pitch-black space.

"You're awake?" A hoarse voice came from nearby.

Lin Tu turned and saw Kang Lina's haggard face.

She immediately recalled what had happened before she died.

Kang Lina had said she had a prop to deal with No. 51 and asked Lin Tu to stall for time. Lin Tu had seized that only chance, desperately trying to delay No. 51. [Furious Corn] [Bloodthirsty Razor Wire] and even [Cannibal's Whistle]... She threw every usable prop at No. 51, and when they were gone, she fought him with a broken blade.

Luckily, Kang Lina was fast too. She quickly set up a self-made weapon from the Black Factory and aimed at No. 51.

As she attacked, Lin Tu was at death's door. She watched Kang Lina's weapon fly toward No. 51, then fell into complete unconsciousness.

"What happened after?" Lin Tu asked.

"Those damned Temple White Gloves are really hard to deal with." Kang Lina coughed a few more times. "He turned himself into a sculpture to avoid most of the damage, and I suffered the backlash. Luckily, as a sculpture, he couldn't move either. To protect you, I brought you here, so the just-cloned you wouldn't be got by him once he was free."

"Here?" Lin Tu looked around this narrow, dark space—two meters long, one meter wide, less than two meters high. "This is..."

"My house," Kang Lina said proudly. "Every time I enter a disaster, I can place it anywhere. As long as it's hidden well enough, no one finds it. It's a sort of makeshift shelter."

Lin Tu: Why does that sound so familiar?

Seeing Lin Tu's confusion, Kang Lina continued, "A senior from our Black Factory developed it. There are only a few in the whole factory, and I got the last one, so don't get any ideas."

Lin Tu, who hadn't really been thinking about it: "...Which senior?"

"I don't know. I just heard it's a half-finished product of the 'God-Making Project.' As for what the 'God-Making Project' is, don't ask me—I don't know either..." Kang Lina coughed lightly. "Anyway, shouldn't you quickly ask your friends how things are outside? I'm still hurt! I need a [Doctor]!"

God-Making Project... The words circled in Lin Tu's mind; this wasn't the first time she'd heard them. But now wasn't the moment to ponder it. She quickly took out her communicator and sent a message to Yi Ying.

When they received Lin Tu's message, a full ten hours had passed since the Return of the Dead ended. The group met again; Yi Ying and the others wept for joy, hugging Lin Tu tightly.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Kang Lina said weakly from the side. "Who's going to help me? I need a [Doctor]..."

Guan Suixing snapped out of it and stepped forward to use her skill to heal her.

Kang Lina was badly injured, but thankfully this disaster was special; with the [Doctor]'s skill, her gruesome wounds soon healed completely.

"Change your clothes." Lin Tu was about to toss her some clothes but then remembered her own clothes were also in tatters.

They both went into the bathroom to change.

Most of Lin Tu's props were damaged, including equipment like the [Sunscreen Bracelet], [Thermal Vest], and [A Pair of Light Shoes]... all showing wear and tear, to Lin Tu's deep dismay.

If she hadn't thought ahead and put her gold-rimmed glasses in her backpack before the fight, they'd be ruined too.

Lin Tu inspected her props in the bathroom, wasting time, then came out to find everyone sitting around the bed with grim expressions.

"Guan Suiyue is dead." Seeing Lin Tu emerge, Yi Ying said in a low voice.

Dead? Lin Tu couldn't quite say what she felt—no sense of vengeance, no sadness. She silently leaned against the wall, watching Guan Suixing and Kang Lina confront each other.

"Why!" Guan Suixing shouted. "The [Scientist] can revive Sister Lin Tu, so why not Guan Suiyue!?"

"I don't know either!" Kang Lina was exasperated; she was just a middleman. "You'd have to ask what your sister did! The scientists said that apart from Guan Suiyue, No. 51 also can't be revived. Clearly, one of them did something."

No. 51 was dead too? Lin Tu straightened up. Guan Suiyue killed No. 51?

How could she have done it? As far as Lin Tu knew, Guan Suiyue was no match for No. 51; otherwise, she wouldn't have schemed to drag Lin Tu into it.

"Why! Why! Where is Guan Suiyue!? I'm going to find her!" Guan Suixing collapsed, turning to Kou Lin, who shook her head in shame.

"Xingxing, they went into a completely fabricated space. Dying there might mean being lost forever..."

"No, no, I don't believe it. She didn't die; she can't have died! I'm going to go break the water system again, then I can go to the snowy plain, find her, and revive her." Guan Suixing muttered, heading for the door.

Lin Tu grabbed her arm.

"It's not because of getting lost," Lin Tu said. "I guess it's her [Fourth-Level Avenger] skill she lied to us about." At that time, Lin Tu had keenly noticed Guan Suiyue's lie. And why would she lie about such trivial info? Only if the skill's effect was special.

"Kang Lina, ask the captain if anyone has leveled up to fourth-level Avenger? And what the skill does?"

Emergencies easily level up skills. Players weren't fools; by now, someone would have reached level four.

Kang Lina asked, and indeed someone had advanced: "Fourth-Level Avenger extra skill: Your vengeance is so strong that you can trade your life for any person's life, and neither can ever be revived by [Doctor] or [Scientist]!"

"A self-destruct skill, she... she traded her life for No. 51's?" Kang Lina was incredulous.

Guan Suixing snatched the communicator, staring blankly at the message. A violent surge of emotion welled up, leaving her unable to speak.

What had she last said to Guan Suiyue? Oh, right—"I hate you... go die..."

Guan Suixing clutched the communicator, knelt on the ground, and curled into a ball. How could she forget? The cold winter nights when Guan Suiyue held her, the meat she ate that her sister had saved from her own rations, the gentle hand running through her hair. Back then, she thought Guan Suiyue was the greatest sister in the world.

Gradually, she realized Guan Suiyue often went hungry and was bullied, and she herself was the deadweight. She didn't want to drag her sister down anymore. So she began to hurl harsh words, anything she could say, yet Guan Suiyue never blamed her, like a feelingless robot.

"Let me take care of you!" "I can help too!" "Stop sacrificing yourself like this!" Those words hid behind her cruelty, never uttered.

...How was she to know, before she could accomplish anything, the cursed Guan Suiyue was truly dead?

Heart-wrenching sobs filled the dorm. Kou Lin patted Guan Suixing's back; the others crouched beside her, handing tissues or simply staying in silent company.

In the apocalypse, death and separation were as common as eating and drinking, but the pain, deepened by deep affection, never lessened.

Lin Tu silently turned and left the dorm, walked to the deck, and leaned on the railing, gazing at the endless snowy plain. Snowflakes drifted down from the sky; the sun that rarely showed in the snow region hid somewhere unknown.

Lin Tu fumbled in her backpack, pulled out a bottle of liquor, then a lighter, spinning it between her fingers.

"Drinking in a disaster world? You don't want to live either?" Kang Lina, who had been following Lin Tu because she didn't know anyone else, stepped forward and leaned on the railing, looking at her.

"It's not for me to drink," Lin Tu said. "In my world, we have a custom of offering liquor and paper money to the dead."

She pried open the cap, took a symbolic sip, then poured the rest over the side of the ship. She took out thirty points, found them too few, and fumbling again, added thirty-six, totaling sixty-six points, signifying good luck.

"Burning too many points would hurt my heart. Make do with these sixty-six points for now. For the rest... have your sister burn them for you." Lin Tu lit the first point and dropped it beside the bottle.

Then the second, the third.

Points weren't like ordinary paper; when burning, they gave off little twinkling lights, like the boundless starry sky. There was a saying that deceased relatives and friends become stars guarding the living below, but Lin Tu didn't know which star Guan Suiyue would become. She only hoped that star would watch over Guan Suixing, and not come to her.

When the points had burnt away, Lin Tu stood up again, her slightly reddened eyes calm.

"Now, we're just missing a spade ace."