Chapter 101 Passive Clues A hyena-like, ferocious gaze swept towards her...

A middle-aged, muscular man with his upper body exposed suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes.

Without tools these days, a small section of his dark stubble has grown.

His ample pectoral muscles are accentuated by a prominent chest hair, which, along with his somewhat irregular but firm and full abdominal muscles, are on full display.

This scene is so impactful.

Gu Keke screamed instinctively, covering her eyes tightly with both hands.

Luo Chuange pursed his lips and shielded Gu Keke behind him, giving her a clear view.

The others didn't react as strongly, though their brows furrowed slightly and their eyes were filled with vigilance.

Seeing that Liang Xun and the others didn't react, the middle-aged man growled again, "What are you doing here?!"

Behind him followed seven or eight burly men of similar age, all shirtless like him, seemingly unconcerned about the mountain temperature and the players' stares.

Unlike the middle-aged strong man, his teammates were covered with noticeable wounds, seemingly caused by sharp claws.

Liang Jun only glanced at it a few times before quickly looking away.

She met the wary gaze of the middle-aged man and spoke calmly, "We're here for the last project. What, have you taken over this place?"

Upon hearing Liang Jun's reply, the middle-aged man's fierce gaze seemed to soften slightly.

He moved his lips slightly, but before he could utter another word, another voice came from not far behind him.

"Brother Gang, these are the people I mentioned to you earlier, my sister and her family!"

Jiang Chunhua appeared out of nowhere, her eyes quickly sweeping over Liang Jun, then giving Jiang Zhiling a thorough once-over, before moving to the middle-aged man's side.

"Brother Gang, my sister and the others are just players too. They didn't mean anything by it. They just came up here to ride the Ferris wheel."

"Is this the group of people you were talking about?"

The middle-aged, burly man raised one eyebrow and roughly counted the number of people. "There are eight of them, and two of you—are you ten people in one team?"

His tone rose noticeably at the end, as if he was quite dissatisfied with the conclusion he had drawn.

It was as if Jiang Chunhua only needed to nod in agreement, and the next second he would expel all ten of them from this place.

Jiang Chunhua naturally sensed it as well, and she hurriedly shook her head and waved her hands.

"No, no, no, we're not with them." Jiang Chunhua hurriedly clarified the relationship between the two sides. "We're not in the same team. It's just that my sister is over there all by herself, and I'm a little worried about her, so I'm paying a little more attention to her."

Seeing her rubbing her hands together nervously, the middle-aged man reluctantly relented.

"Okay, but don't try anything funny here."

Seeing the middle-aged strong man and his "army of strong men" retreat, Jiang Chunhua couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As if she had unloaded a heavy burden, she rushed straight into Liang Jun's team without even saying goodbye to her former teammates, and pulled Jiang Zhiling away before she could react.

She was moving so fast, it was as if she was being chased and driven by something. Qi Zhixia and Gu Keke couldn't even grab Jiang Zhiling's sleeve, leaving them with only her back view.

Ge Lin raised his leg to chase after her, but Liang Jun stopped him with lightning speed.

He looked at Liang Jun with a puzzled expression. "Sister Jun, why didn't you chase after her? She wasn't with us anymore, so why did you take her away?"

Liang Xun clicked her tongue helplessly, moved her hand up, and rubbed Ge Lin's stubble amidst his groans.

"Are you stupid? Even if she has distanced herself from us, she is still Ling'er's sister—that relationship cannot be changed."

Liang Xun withdrew her hand and her gaze, saying, "It's just an older sister talking to her younger sister, nothing serious."

"Yes, that's normal."

Xin Sang chimed in, pulling Ge Lin back to her side and changing the subject, saying, "It's not good to just stand here, it makes us look too flamboyant—why don't we find a place to sit first, and then discuss how to start the challenge after Ling'er comes back?"

The Ferris wheel was just a short distance away, within easy reach, with only a seemingly heavy railing separating the two sides.

However, there were no staff members around, and the equipment was completely stopped, so players could not enter the Ferris wheel area during this time.

It seems that all that's left for them is the corner at the very end of the guardrail.

Apart from a rather conspicuous black support, there is nothing usable here.

They weren't picky at all. After all, as long as they had a place to stay, they were happy.

Some were sitting on the ground, while others were leaning against the railings; they were barely managing to hold their ground on this piece of land.

While waiting for Jiang Zhiling to return to the team, Liang Jun sat cross-legged on the ground, silently surveying her surroundings.

Jiang Chunhua and the other two were currently diagonally opposite where they were. A towering tree nearby partially blocked their view, and Liang Jun could only catch glimpses of Tang Cailei's clothes from time to time.

That group of burly men occupied the very center of the Ferris wheel, and was also the closest group to the trailhead besides Liang Jun and her group. This explained why they were the first people you saw after climbing the mountain.

Besides them, two or three other groups gathered deeper into the mountaintop, and without exception, their injuries were even more severe than those of the "army of strong men." These people seemed to have noticed Liang Jun's probing gaze, and their ferocious, hyena-like eyes swept towards her.

Liang Jun decisively averted her gaze.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zhiling was still being held tightly by Jiang Chunhua's wrist and was unable to break free.

Jiang Chunhua seemed to be unconsciously increasing her strength, and was about to exceed Jiang Zhiling's tolerance. Jiang Zhiling's expression showed some pain. "Sister!"

Only after being reminded did Jiang Chunhua release his hand.

But as if afraid that the other person would leave, the moment she let go, she immediately moved behind Jiang Zhiling, blocking her way to retreat.

Jiang Zhiling, bewildered, asked, "Sister, why did you call me here?"

Unexpectedly, Jiang Chunhua did not answer Jiang Zhiling's question immediately.

She seemed to have reached some kind of agreement with Tang Cailei, who had a cold expression beside her. After the two exchanged a mysterious glance, it was Tang Cailei who started to talk to Jiang Zhiling first.

He didn't use any titles and went straight to the point, "I'm asking you, are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

Jiang Zhiling blinked twice, seemingly not understanding the longing in Jiang Chunhua's eyes, and asked again in confusion, "Brother Tang, don't you know?"

She turned her gaze to Jiang Chunhua, "I've already told my sister, I'm going with Sister Jun and the others."

Hearing the same response from the other party, Jiang Chunhua visibly panicked.

Her voice quickened involuntarily, "But Ling'er, you've already returned the props. Being with us now won't cause any problems, so why..."

"Alright, can you stop talking so much nonsense?"

Tang Cailei coldly observed and said, "That's enough. After you've said what you want to say, hurry up and let her go back."

He seemed very reluctant to see the Jiang sisters again, his brows furrowed as he brushed past them.

Jiang Chunhua sighed, "Ling'er, listen to me, the Ferris wheel on the mountaintop only opens at night, so everyone is waiting here now. You must make sure you stay safe during this time, so we can all go out and meet safely, okay?"

Jiang Chunhua's tone was very urgent, even so urgent that it was tinged with a slight sob, which made Jiang Zhiling feel a pang of heartache.

She gripped Jiang Chunhua's shoulders tightly. "Sister, what do you mean by all this? How do you know the Ferris wheel's opening hours?"

"I arrived a while earlier than you, so naturally I have more information—but you don't want to come with me!"

Jiang Chunhua casually wiped his face, cleared his throat a few times, pulled her to the blind spot of his teammates behind him, and whispered, "When we came up here, there was only Gang Ge's team. Gang Ge told us this—don't tell Liang Xun and the others!"

Jiang Zhiling selectively ignored the second half of her sentence, "You believe everything he says? What if he's lying to you?"

"impossible!"

Jiang Chunhua's denial was a little louder, so she quickly lowered her voice again, "Brother Gang would never lie to us, because that's what he told everyone, and everyone is indeed waiting here. If they try anything funny, we'll see it clearly."

That's the logic.

However, Jiang Zhiling still held a somewhat dialectical attitude and did not completely believe it.

After quickly processing the information, she winked at Jiang Chunhua and asked, "Sister, is there anything else?"

Jiang Chunhua flicked her forehead lightly with her right hand.

"Don't you dare tell them these secrets I've shared!" Jiang Chunhua warned. "These are clues I went through so much trouble to get!"

"I know, I know..." Jiang Zhiling rubbed her forehead, gasping for breath in pain.

Looking at the graceful young woman in front of her, Jiang Chunhua's eyes suddenly reddened for some reason.

Just as surprise welled up in her younger sister's eyes, Jiang Chunhua sighed and shook her head, "Forget it, don't be so dramatic, you should go back now."

As they parted, Jiang Zhiling opened her arms and hugged her sister tightly.

More than 20 years ago, the child she raised with her own hands now has a physique even stronger than hers—Jiang Chunhua's nose tingled, and two lines of hot tears dripped onto Jiang Zhiling's shoulder.

Jiang Zhiling's voice also had a slight nasal tone as she wiped away Jiang Chunhua's tears.

"Okay, stop crying, sis. What's there to cry about?"

Just like the countless times her older sister had comforted her when she was little, she gently patted her sister's thin back.

"It's not like we're never going to see each other again. We'll return to the same login point after the instance ends."

"you're right……"

Jiang Chunhua sobbed twice, then pushed Jiang Zhiling away with obvious disgust, "Alright, alright, you should go back now, otherwise your teammates won't like you."

Jiang Chunhua's prediction, of course, did not come true.

When Jiang Zhiling returned to the group, the group of people sitting on the ground suddenly crowded around her.

Xin Sang patted Jiang Zhiling's shoulder and noticed a trace of water on it.

"Baby, are you alright?"

Liang Xun glanced subconsciously in the direction of Jiang Chunhua, only to see her quickly hide in the shadow of a large tree.

“If your sister wants you to go back, don’t feel awkward,” Liang Jun said sincerely. “After all, this is the last hurdle, so it’s normal for her to be worried.”

No, no.

Jiang Zhiling waved her hands repeatedly, "Even if I went there, my sister and Brother Tang would only find me a hindrance; besides, I'm an adult now, I can't rely on my sister to get by for the rest of my life."

After saying that, she squeezed forward a little more and said mysteriously, "I learned an important clue from my sister, but its authenticity is unknown. You can try to analyze it."

Ignoring Jiang Chunhua's repeated warnings, Jiang Zhiling relayed all the information to the group members verbatim.

Then, her eyes darted around as she looked at Liang Jun, "Jun-jie, what do you think?"

Liang Jun thought for a moment, "If they gave us false information, then any other unusual activity here will definitely be noticed by us—your sister's analysis is correct."

However, just to be on the safe side, everyone unanimously decided that it would be more reliable to send one of their own people to gather information.

Liang Jun's gaze swept over Luo Chuange, who immediately understood and nimbly got up from the ground.

Ge Lin, who was standing right next to him, quickly followed suit, "Me too, me too!"

"It's not appropriate for you to go."

Liang Jun brushed past his messy hair and shifted her gaze to Lao Ren. "They are very wary of us. To prevent any unexpected conflicts, let's go with two of the older ones."

Being older means being "mature and steady".

Liang Xun saw through it but didn't say anything, and Ge Lin also pouted and shrank back to her original position.

Even so, Luo Chuange and Lao Ren's process of gathering information was not very smooth.

The two tried to win over the other players, but were still rejected by them.

In dungeons, it's normal for groups to stick together so much.

In the current environment, with only passive clues, they can only huddle in this narrow corner, silently waiting for night to fall while remaining vigilant for the actions of others.

Until the unique night lights on the mountaintop suddenly lit up at a certain moment.

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Author's Note: Finally, we've surpassed 100 chapters! It was so hard! (wiping away tears)

Actually, my feelings were quite complicated during this period.

Firstly, there were no rankings released this month, and secondly, the data displayed in the backend was far from ideal.

There were moments when I thought about giving up, but then I realized that even if only one person was watching, I should keep going.

Once a story begins, there's no going back. Therefore, I will definitely write until the day it truly comes to a perfect end!