The cave was covered in moss, its faint light glowing green.
The air was thick with moisture, heavy and cold.
Its only function was to shelter them from the prehistoric creatures outside.
A night passed.
No one slept well.
The final day arrived as expected. The light outside dispersed the mist, and the time on their wristbands refreshed.
Although everyone was in poor spirits, they gathered themselves and moved toward the final stretch.
The Permian was the last period of the Paleozoic era, marked by frequent tectonic activity, creating diverse ecosystems in different regions.
Stepping out of the cave meant crossing millions of years in time. The lush ferns at the cave’s entrance had disappeared, replaced by a vast swamp. The forest was thick with mist, and the wind from the north carried the salty scent of the sea.
This time, they seemed to be in a rainforest close to the ocean.
Lin Jing mused, “Looks like we have a chance to return to the ocean today.”
Xu Wanzhi stood tall in the light, then suddenly turned his head and asked, “What’s your collection rate?”
Lin Jing was momentarily stunned before answering truthfully, “Close to 100%. I think I’m only missing Dunkleosteus and a few marine species from the Carboniferous period.”
Xu Wanzhi smiled slightly. “I figured as much.”
The man in the black jacket was completely shocked. “D*mn, nearly 100%?! Did I hear that right?”
The other two guys also looked astonished.
Ke Lingxuan sighed. “Lin Jing has always been strong. What’s there to be surprised about?” His ability to discern and memorize details was obvious to everyone. Besides, he had a boyfriend who was practically a cheat code.
The man in the black jacket was still in disbelief. “But 100% is insane! Did you even get shots of the nautilus and sea scorpion?”
Lin Jing wasn’t keen on discussing the topic. He responded perfunctorily, “Mm.”
The photos had come from Xu Wanzhi anyway. If he thought about it, he had really taken the easy way out.
The man in the black jacket could only mutter, “D*mn.”
When Elena heard the mention of the nautilus, her eyes narrowed slightly, her smile seductive. But this time, instead of looking at Xu Wanzhi, she fixed an intense gaze on Lin Jing.
Lin Jing could almost feel the woman’s stare burning into the back of his neck.
“Let’s go,” Xu Wanzhi said calmly before Lin Jing could turn around. He took a long stride forward, leading him away.
Lin Jing nodded.
The game’s matching system required him to cooperate with the other survivors. This ten-player setup was a stroke of twisted genius. No more, no less—the good, the bad, the smart, and the foolish were all thrown together, perfectly encapsulating the spectrum of human nature.
Ke Lingxuan was the most rational of them all. She kept pace. “No use being envious. It’s the last day. Let’s make the most of it.”
The man in the black jacket agreed. “Right.”
In the group, the nearsighted guy lowered his head anxiously.
The Permian period saw an abundance of synapsid reptiles, especially in desert regions where the infamous gorgonopsians roamed. However, since they were in a rainforest this time, they avoided those ancient predators.
At this point, Pangaea was still in its early stages. The Earth’s landmasses were all clustered together, and the active tectonic plates had given rise to many mountains. Through gaps in the canopy, they could see the rolling peaks in the distance.
The creatures of the Permian rainforest had evolved from their Carboniferous predecessors. There hadn’t been any massive radiation-driven ecological changes, but after searching for a while, they found very few species matching the conditions.
Ke Lingxuan looked toward the towering mountain ahead and mused, “Could it be that a large number of animals have already taken shelter in caves?”
Lin Jing thought that made sense. “Let’s give it a try.” It was the last day, after all—there was nothing left to hold back.
They passed through the rainforest and reached the foot of a massive mountain. The slopes were covered with gymnosperms, and halfway up stood a magnificent ginkgo tree. Its fan-shaped leaves, a soft golden hue, filtered the sunlight beautifully. But what truly caught their attention was the dark, bottomless cave behind the tree. The entrance was draped with ferns extending from the slope, their stems crawling with black ants.
Lin Jing used his wristband’s light to check the inside. The cave was spacious, with the first fork splitting into three paths. He said in a low voice, “Let’s go in from here.”
Everyone had different reactions.
“Are we really going in? If we run into a large predator inside, wouldn’t that be a dead end?” one of the quieter guys voiced his concern.
The man in the black jacket, ever the risk-taker, scoffed, “We survived a submarine explosion. What’s there to be scared of?”
Ke Lingxuan had been dispirited ever since Karl’s elimination. Her eyes no longer held their initial spark. She shrugged indifferently. “It’s the last day. If we die, we die. It doesn’t really matter anymore.”
The guy looked around nervously before nudging the nearsighted man, who had been lost in thought. “What about you?”
The nearsighted guy jerked up violently. His reaction was extreme—his face pale, body tense, and forehead covered in cold sweat.
His startled state made the guy who touched him jump as well. “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
Realizing his mistake, the nearsighted guy quickly lowered his head and mumbled, “Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”
“Oh, uh, no worries.” The guy awkwardly rubbed his nose.
The nearsighted man glanced at the group ahead and said, “Let’s go in. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”
The guy nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you. We’ll stick together.”
The nearsighted man forced a smile. “Okay.”
The cave was narrow, covered in moss and algae. What surprised Lin Jing was that it wasn’t an animal’s burrow—it seemed more like a natural masterpiece, carving through the mountain to form an independent space inside. The entrance sloped downward, curving steeply like a path leading to the Earth’s core.
“Look! Something just ran past over there!”
Ke Lingxuan suddenly pointed to the path on the far side and shouted. The shadow was swift and agile, but from that brief glimpse, it seemed to be a small reptile.
Everyone held their breath.
Lin Jing put away his camera and ran after it.
The others exchanged glances before hurrying to follow.
The cave twisted and turned in a maze-like complexity, nearly causing them to lose their way.
Left, right—Lin Jing ultimately lost track of the creature.
But that shadowy creature ended up leading them to an entirely new world.
They found themselves standing before a massive sinkhole, with a diameter of over ten meters and an unfathomable depth. The group skidded to a stop just at the edge, barely avoiding falling in.
The ground around the pit was unexpectedly level.
Beams of sunlight pierced through from above, illuminating the rugged walls of the sinkhole.
Black Jacket’s face turned pale. “W-What is this? Why is there a massive pit here?”
Ke Lingxuan speculated, “Could the thing we were chasing have jumped in?”
Lin Jing shook his head firmly. “No.”
Even though he had lost sight of it, he still had a rough idea of where the small creature had disappeared.
Lin Jing stared at the abyss for a long time, frowning deeply before saying, “Forget about this pit for now. Let’s spread out and search the surrounding area.”
The rock walls around the sinkhole had multiple openings—some were dead ends, while others might lead somewhere.
When Lin Jing was fully focused on a task, he rarely got distracted. He retraced his steps, recalling exactly where he had lost track of the creature.
His fingertips brushed against a stone wall, triggering a faint memory.
He immediately turned around. “Xu Wanzhi, we should head north.”
But Xu Wanzhi was no longer behind him.
Instead, standing there was another teammate.
Pale-skinned, thin, and frail.
Lin Jing stared at him for a moment before realizing—it was the nearsighted guy. Turning around to suddenly see such a ghostly figure in this deep, eerie cave was unsettling. But Lin Jing had a strong nerve. His gaze remained clear as he looked at him, even offering a friendly, “You okay?”
“I…” The young man hesitated for a long time before lowering his head and muttering in a hoarse and eerie tone, “I’m fine. My backpack’s zipper broke. Can you help me pull it up?”
Lin Jing: “What?”
The nearsighted guy’s fingers trembled as he held out his backpack. The zipper seemed genuinely stuck, leaving a small but visible opening.
“I’ve been trying for a while, but I just can’t get it to close,” the young man added.
Lin Jing had never even helped a girl open a water bottle before, and now he was being asked to zip up a guy’s backpack. Life sure had its surprises.
But this guy was acting too strange. Lin Jing instinctively rejected the request.
Smiling, he said, “I’m not that strong, probably can’t help. Why don’t you ask Xu Wanzhi? He usually handles this kind of thing.”
The nearsighted guy’s lips quivered, his face flashing with panic and anxiety. His throat went dry. “I…”
Lin Jing watched him quietly, growing more certain that something was off. “It’s fine if it doesn’t close.”
Under Lin Jing’s increasingly cold gaze, the young man shrank back, clutching his backpack straps with trembling fingers and nodding stiffly. “Alright.”
Lin Jing had always been independent, and without Xu Wanzhi around, he didn’t bother looking for him. He simply continued marking the path as he headed north.
The nearsighted guy followed behind like a shadow, his footsteps alternating between light and heavy.
Several times, Lin Jing turned around only to see the man’s sweat-soaked face, his expression filled with hesitation, anxiety, and a hint of desperate madness.
“Do you need something?” Lin Jing’s voice was calm, his gaze clearly showing impatience.
The young man flinched under the pressure, took a few steps back, and stammered, “N-No.”
At last, Lin Jing had shaken off this strange, obviously suspicious guy.
Once the nearsighted guy was out of sight, Lin Jing muttered under his breath, “If you don’t have the guts, don’t try to do bad things.”
The young man staggered away, his steps slowing. His dazed eyes flickered with deep regret, and he let out a frustrated sigh. But he knew—even if he were given another chance, he still wouldn’t dare.
There were plenty of people like him in this world—envying those who gained without effort, yet too cowardly to commit real wrongdoing.
“Seriously? You had a perfect chance to get Lin Jing alone, and you didn’t go for it?”
A lazy, seductive voice rang out from ahead.
The nearsighted guy froze like a mouse caught by a snake, his entire body going rigid with fear.
He slowly lifted his head to see a woman stepping out from behind a bend—Elena.
She smiled at him, just like she once had standing amidst the coral reefs of the deep sea—beautiful and deadly.
The young man was filled with shame, frustration, and, above all, fear. He lowered his head, not daring to speak.
Elena said, “Give me the knife.”
His heart clenched. “Knife? What knife?”
She chuckled softly. “The one in your hand.”
His pupils dilated in shock. He was utterly speechless. After a long moment, he could only extend his hand, trembling, and hand over the knife he had casually brought into the game.
Elena took the small military knife, playing with it in her fingers, her expression amused. “A military knife? So you really did come prepared. I underestimated you.”
The young man’s fear of Elena had been ingrained in him since that fateful day. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
“Tsk. I should’ve known relying on you was pointless. Looks like I’ll have to handle it myself.” Her voice was soft as she brushed past him, the scent of her hair as suffocating as poison.
She paused briefly, then smirked. “Oh, by the way—whatever you’ve got in your backpack is about to die. If you’re going to use it, do it quickly.”
After she left, the nearsighted guy collapsed against the wall, his legs weak.
He wiped the sweat from his face, his mind a foggy mess.
The spider in his backpack was dying, the game was ending soon, and his collection percentage was still too low.
Dragging himself along the cave wall, he stumbled outside—only to see another boy waiting near the entrance, standing with Ke Lingxuan.
The boy waved excitedly. “Oh, there you are!”
The nearsighted guy stared blankly at them. His fingers slowly relaxed, and something inside him began to grow wildly.
He heard himself say, “Yeah.”
***
“Is that it?”
After walking for what felt like forever, Lin Jing finally spotted the creature deep within a cavern near the mountain’s surface.
It looked somewhat like a lizard—tail, limbs, and small teeth lining its jaw.
Lin Jing pinched the creature’s mouth shut, lifted it up, and took a photo with his camera. The small animal’s fury was nothing more than an itch; after snapping the picture, he ignored it and continued exploring the cave, hoping to find other creatures.
As he walked for a while, the question “Where did Xu Wanzhi go?” occasionally surfaced in his mind. Acting alone all of a sudden felt unfamiliar.
But Lin Jing quickly shook his head, driving the thought away.
No way—was he really getting used to this?
He wandered through the cave, stopping here and there, and ended up running into the last person he wanted to see.
“What a coincidence, darling. Even here, we manage to cross paths.”
Elena had dropped her previous silence and was once again exuding that bold enthusiasm, smiling at him with amusement.
Lin Jing marveled at his own bad luck. What kind of cursed luck was this? “Yeah, sure.”
Elena beamed. “It’s really nice to see you. I was actually starting to feel a little scared on my own.”
Lin Jing gave her a strange look.
He knew she was talking nonsense, but for the moment, he couldn’t quite figure out what she was up to.
Elena asked, “Where are you headed now?”
Lin Jing brushed her off. “Back to the sinkhole to enjoy the view.”
Elena paused for a moment before chuckling. “You’re as funny as ever.”
Then she asked, “Where’s Xu Wanzhi? I thought he’d be glued to your side.”
Lin Jing replied, “Ask him yourself.”
Elena, ever adaptable, smiled. “I’d love to, but he doesn’t acknowledge anyone but you.”
Lin Jing: “Oh.”
End of conversation.
Elena fell silent as well.
The cave was rugged, its path widening and narrowing unpredictably.
Lin Jing really was planning to return to the sinkhole. Using it as a central point for a radial search would save time and avoid circling back over the same ground.
***
To the south of the sinkhole, the man in the black jacket clambered out, looking frustrated.
Among those who remained, the only person who would even talk to him was Ke Lingxuan. She frowned. “You didn’t just wander around and come back empty-handed again, did you?”
The man in the black jacket ruffled his hair. “Yeah, pretty much. It’s bizarre.”
Ke Lingxuan curled her lip and gave her honest opinion: “Your sense of direction is awful.”
The black-jacketed man accepted it readily. “Yeah, can’t help it. Born this way.”
Ke Lingxuan sighed, then said, “Forget it. Let’s move together.”
“Great, great.” The black-jacketed man nodded eagerly.
In a game like this, choosing a partner was purely pragmatic. No one wanted to team up with someone far weaker than themselves—one-sidedly carrying dead weight was worse than going solo.
Naturally, the two most inconspicuous players had been left behind.
One of them, however, was optimistic. “They’re heading south; let’s go west. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
The near-sighted man muttered, “Alright.”
The western side of the sinkhole had plenty of tunnels, some leading nowhere, blocked off by walls after just a few steps. The other player hummed a tune as he walked, looking left and right, seemingly content. His approach was simple—this game wasn’t designed exclusively for geniuses. There were elites, sure, but there were also people like him, determined to clear the game through sheer persistence. No need to feel discouraged. Having survived one brush with death, he was convinced good fortune awaited.
“Hey, why’d you stop walking?”
He was shining his light ahead when he suddenly realized the footsteps behind him had vanished. Turning back, he saw that the near-sighted man had stopped, standing stiffly and clutching his backpack.
The near-sighted man felt like his mind had gone blank, as if he were watching himself from a detached perspective. He heard his own hoarse, strange voice say, “My… my backpack zipper seems to be broken.”
The other player blinked and walked over, friendly as ever. “Broken? Let me take a look.”
The near-sighted man’s fingers trembled as he handed over the backpack he had been afraid to touch all night.
The other player tugged at the zipper, pulling hard, but it wouldn’t budge. He frowned. “Nope, it’s stuck.”
The near-sighted man’s heart pounded so hard it felt like it was in his throat. His pale face was tinged with a strange flush, sweat dripping down as he said, “Then… can you reach inside and grab my codex? It’s hard for me to do it myself.”
The other player: “Oh, sure.”
He didn’t think much of the oddly worded request and simply saw it as a small favor. He reached his hand into the bag.
The moment his fingers slipped inside, he sensed something was wrong. His hand brushed against something covered in black fur, and an unnamed fear surged up his spine.
He jerked his head up to look at the near-sighted man, whose expression was equally panicked.
“You—ah!”
Before he could finish his sentence, a sharp pain shot through the back of his hand.
Something inside the backpack had stung him.
The near-sighted man was actually more terrified than he was, stumbling a step backward, eyes wide in shock.
The creature in the bag was highly venomous. The moment it bit him, half his arm went numb, his head swam, and dizziness overtook him. He stared blankly at the small, bleeding wound on the back of his hand, watching as the blackened veins spread rapidly under his skin.
He snapped to his senses and gritted his teeth, spitting out, “You… son of a—”
Fury overtook him. He lunged forward, swinging his other fist at the near-sighted man. His eyes were bloodshot with rage. “What the h*ll did I ever do to you?!”
The near-sighted man was petrified, stammering, “I… I didn’t know it would bite.”
The other player roared, “Didn’t know?! Didn’t know, and you still put it in your d*mn bag?!”
He grabbed the bag’s opening and yanked hard.
The creature inside had already tasted blood and was frenzied. With a final tug from both sides, there was a sharp tearing sound.
The bag ripped open.
A black spider leaped onto the player’s face.
“Ah—!” He screamed and staggered backward.
Seizing the chaos, the near-sighted man reached for his wristband.
All the tunnels in the mountain were interconnected.
Ke Lingxuan had split up from the black-jacketed man at some point. Separated by a wall, she suddenly heard a scream and froze.
Taking a step forward, she rounded a bend—and saw two players locked in a deadly struggle.
The black spider clung to the player’s face. He staggered back, his complexion turning blue and purple, his entire body convulsing with a crazed, erratic energy.
Meanwhile, the near-sighted man had successfully unlatched the wristband from his arm.
As the black spider finished feeding, the player’s breath stopped.
The camera hanging around his neck flashed twice, then began printing out photos one by one.
The near-sighted man was overcome with joy and lunged forward excitedly. His foot accidentally kicked a backpack—thud—something rolled out from inside.
It was a black wristband. It rolled all the way to Ke Lingxuan’s feet.
She stared at it, frozen, before stiffly crouching down to pick it up.
Karl’s wristband.
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