After the pygmy marmoset left, the canyon fell silent again.

"Officer Zheng, you're injured, go get some sleep, we'll keep watch." Li Qianxia couldn't help but say when she saw Zheng Qing trying so hard to stay awake.

Zheng Qing didn't really want to move, so she shook her head and said, "No need. I'm not being stubborn, I'm just worried that if I fall asleep, the enemy will attack me first."

Li Qianxia didn't know what to say next; if she continued, it would seem like she was encouraging someone to commit suicide.

Li Changzhou stood silently, holding AK in his arms. There was no moon tonight; the sky was pitch black, so thick it seemed about to drip.

The campfire crackled and popped, its sound echoing as it battled the darkness, struggling to create a small, warm patch of light.

Li Qianxia yawned, wondering if she should ask her older brother to tell a joke to cheer her up.

"You're back." Yang Qinglan suddenly raised her head, her gaze fixed on the cliff face, the front line of the battle between fire and darkness.

Everyone looked over, and Zheng Qing, who had been drowsy, suddenly perked up.

The little radish crawled from the darkness into the firelight, shivering with cold.

Before the four could say anything, she leaped four meters and landed by the campfire, hugging her small body to keep warm.

"Aren't you afraid of me anymore?" Li Changzhou laughed.

"Don't scare it away again!" Li Qianxia gestured for him to shut up.

The little radish raised its head tremblingly, its clean, white teeth chattering as it said, "Now...now...you're not scary anymore."

Is it for rational reasons? Li Changzhou wondered.

When dopamine takes over and adrenaline is suppressed, he wants to kill the pygmy marmoset and rob it of its instinct to "avoid death and prolong life".

But now, how could he possibly bring himself to harm a fair-skinned, talking "child" who is shivering from the cold, without first realizing that the other party is hostile?

He, Li Changzhou, was just an ordinary college student.

He suddenly remembered what Yang Qinglan had said before: if he didn't have a sister or teammates and was acting alone, would he have shown mercy to Zheng Qing and the dwarf marmoset today?

It should become the 'Invincible Wind and Fire Wheel', so I won't hesitate to strike first.

Yang Qinglan turned her head slightly and asked Li Changzhou, "Have you thought of anything?"

“It might be a matter of perspective,” Li Changzhou said after careful consideration, giving what he considered a credible answer. “Someone like me can be like a god one moment and a demon the next. Hmm, that must be it.”

"Yeah, you're really handsome."

Don't think I don't know you're swearing.

“Reflect on this,” Yang Qinglan said, turning her gaze back to the campfire. “Why did I feel the urge to curse? I’m such an elegant, intellectual, noble, gentle, and refined person.”

Li Changzhou turned his head and glanced at her, his expression calm and indifferent, not like he was joking.

How shameless!

like.

On the other side, Li Qianxia and Xiao Luobo were already chatting enthusiastically, like two monkeys.

Do you have a name?

"A pygmy marmoset."

"No, that's not it. Everyone calls it a pygmy marmoset, right? So you need a more special name."

Who are the "everyone" you're talking about? Li Changzhou glanced at his sister and threw firewood into the campfire.

"I don't have a more special name." Little Radish shook his head, his knees drawn up to his chest, looking like an extremely well-behaved little girl, except that he wasn't wearing any clothes, which wasn't quite right.

“Then I’ll give you a name. You’re a monkey, and a pygmy marmoset, so how about ‘Zhu Wukong’? Zhu is the Zhu from Zhu Yuanzhang.”

"Does it know which 'Zhu' in Zhu Yuanzhang's name refers to?" Yang Qinglan asked instinctively.

Li Changzhou couldn't help but say, "It's a female."

"What do you mean 'female'? That's rude! She's a girl!" Li Qianxia rolled her eyes at her brother, then asked him as if she was about to fight, "So what do you guys think we should call her?"

“Why should it have a human name if it’s not human? All things are equal.” Li Changzhou dug at the fire pit. “I think it looks like a radish, so let’s call it ‘Little Radish’.”

“It’s definitely not a person’s name, it’s a name given to a plant by someone.” Yang Qinglan nodded, mocking someone’s idea of ​​equality for all things.

"Little radish, little radish," Li Qianxia muttered as she looked at the pygmy marmoset, then suddenly laughed, "It really does look like a radish!"

Li Changzhou pondered, "Aren't there radish emojis now? When I get back, I can draw a more detailed one based on it, and maybe I can sell it for some money."

Li Qianxia clasped her hands together and continued, "Then we'll use the money from selling it to buy clothes for Little Radish!"

"ah?"

Li Changzhou couldn't understand what women thought when they saw cute little animals.

The pygmy marmoset accepted the name 'Little Carrot', finding it easier to pronounce than 'Zhu Wukong'.

From now on, "Little Radish" will no longer be the only name Li Changzhou uses for the pygmy marmoset; everyone will call it that.

It also wrote 'Little Radish' on its nickname on the "identity card," afraid that it would forget it.

Speaking of his nickname, Li Changzhou felt extremely regretful; it was something he couldn't change.

His title of "King of the Black Mist" is like the QQ space post, "May you never betray me. If you betray me, I will give you everything I have to destroy everything you have," becoming something that cannot be deleted.

A desperate, cold night that I never want to remember.

He stood up and walked around, both as a patrol and to dispel the warmth of the campfire on his body and extinguish his sleepiness.

When people are sleepy or tired, their attention span decreases.

The night passed peacefully.

The desert was bitterly cold in the early morning, and by the middle of the night, only embers remained of the campfire.

The four people and one monkey, dressed in summer clothes, were all exhaling white breath.

"I have a suggestion." The cold prevented Li Changzhou from finishing his sentence at once.

Yang Qinglan simply didn't speak, but slightly raised her chin, signaling him to continue.

"The temperature isn't high yet, so we should hurry up and use Little Radish's instincts to find people, take the initiative, and end this game."

He shrugged his shoulders, simply merging with the cold, letting it draw warmth from his body.

My mind actually became much clearer.

He continued speaking to the other three people and the monkey who were huddled together for warmth:

"There is water here, but no food or firewood to help us get through the second night."

“Didn’t you say,” Li Qianxia shuddered, “that we should conserve our energy for when we go back?”

“That was when there was no target,” Li Changzhou said. “Now that we have Little Carrot, we can roughly know which direction there are contestants.”

“I support it.” Zheng Qing’s voice was crisp. “Some animals have a very strong ability to survive in the desert. They dig burrows, don’t need to eat for a week, and replenish their water through the morning mist. Compared with them, we have no advantage.”

She had another thought she didn't mention: if she left the canyon and went out, she might be able to find her scattered teammates.

Yang Qinglan didn't rush to make a decision. She asked Little Radish, "Little Radish, you can sense danger, but is it in a very dangerous direction?"

Little Radish nodded vigorously, his jade-like toes curling up as if trying to trap any heat loss.

"Let's go then."

The four people and the monkey took turns drinking some water. Li Changzhou carried Zheng Qing on his back and climbed up the cliff again, beginning their trek in the dimly lit desert.