Mo Shuwan frowned, looking hesitantly at the three boxes placed on the ground. She was still a little worried. Of course, this time her worries were not entirely about security. She was also afraid that the boxes contained some important items that might be damaged if she opened them rashly.

Seeing that Mo Shuwan was still hesitating, Liu Dongcheng, who was sitting next to her, said, "Take a look at yours first."

The items in Liu Dongcheng's and Wen Zuo's lucky bags were similar, but slightly inferior to Mo Shuwan's. Liu Dongcheng's bag contained three cards and two boxes, while Wen Zuo's bag contained four cards but only one box.

"I think Wen Zuo must have had a lot of rewards deducted because he was replaced before, otherwise he would definitely have gotten more." After seeing the rewards of the others, Chen Jiaxu hugged his black card and felt wronged to the point of crying. Even Yang Zhou had two cards.

"...Don't look at me like that."

Chen Jiaxu withdrew his envious and jealous gaze and refocused his attention on the boxes placed in front of him. "But what exactly is in these boxes?"

Ignoring Chen Jiaxu's question, Yang Zhou frowned and looked at Mo Shuwan. "Captain, I feel something's not right. If it's a reward from the game, shouldn't there be some hints? And I remember that the information you gave us said that this level required us to make a choice. If we made the wrong choice, we would enter the death gate, and if we made the right choice, we would enter the life gate to choose the real reward. And we were only given ten minutes to make the choice, but now... we've been here for who knows how many ten minutes."

"It is indeed a bit strange, but we can't judge it entirely based on the information in the posts on the forum. Moreover, since we entered here, the checkpoints we have encountered are different from those of most passengers. The current situation is neither expected nor unexpected."

Yang Zhou opened his mouth, but then realized that Mo Shuwan's words made sense, so he silently swallowed his rebuttal.

Mo Shuwan looked down at the box in front of her, reached out and touched it. "I think we should open it and take a look. What do you guys think?"

"I have no objections."

Mo Shuwan hummed in agreement, then reached out and took one of the three boxes she had been holding. She carefully examined the box, and finding nothing unusual, she opened the lid. Nothing strange happened either; inside the box was a light blue fruit.

Just as she was about to examine the fruit more closely, she suddenly heard a "ding" sound.

Side Quest: Bluegrass Fruit

"...Alright, now that we've confirmed there's nothing wrong with these boxes, they are indeed rewards. Keep them safe for now, and you should know their specific purpose once we get back to the bus." After saying that, Mo Shuwan closed the lids and added, "Whatever you do, don't open the boxes."

Upon hearing the notification sound for the side quest, Wen Zuo understood. Hearing her clearly frustrated voice, he couldn't help but smile.

Everyone put their things away, but Chen Jiaxu, who hadn't been able to exchange for storage space, was worried that he might accidentally lose his waist bag. After hesitating for a moment, he moved next to Mo Shuwan and quietly asked her to help him put his things away.

As the five of them waited to proceed to the next level, Qin Liu stopped with the remaining three members of the group, panting heavily as he plopped down on the ground, his face ashen.

Covered in wounds, Wan Sheng dodged the attacks of countless insects around him and carefully moved to Qin Liu's side, whispering, "Squad leader, I've checked, there's probably still half the journey left."

"Okay, let's take a break."

Wan Sheng sat dejectedly next to Qin Liu, then turned to look at his two other brothers. Both of them were also covered in wounds and looked ashen-faced. Such expressions would never have appeared on them before, but now they were.

After a long silence, Wang Lin took out several packs of compressed biscuits from his storage space. "Have something to eat."

Qin Liu sighed.

The four of them ate in silence, none of them speaking. If you looked closely, you would notice a sense of dejection emanating from each of them, including Qin Liu.

However, before they could even take a few bites, the insects that had been quiet for a moment suddenly became restless. The group's expressions changed drastically, and they wolfed down the remaining biscuits in their mouths. Before the insects could fully recover, they frantically waved their weapons.

After an unknown amount of time, the surrounding insects quieted down again, and several people who were badly injured staggered and fell to the ground.

Wang Lin gave a wry smile. "There's still at least a third of the journey left. Can we hold on?"

Even if you can't hold on, you have to.

Another passenger, who had remained silent, whispered, "Squad leader, let's give up. We won't make it to the fourth checkpoint." He paused, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Maybe it's just our fate. Back then, Wang Lin and Liu Dongcheng from 304 returned from their missions at the same time, but we were the ones who lost."

"Get up, all of you." Qin Liu kicked Wang Lin, who was lying next to him. "You've come this far, are you just going to stop at the gate of the fourth checkpoint?"

Wan Sheng also bent down to pull Wang Lin up, saying, "Get up, we can't let our brothers sacrifice themselves in vain."

After Wang Lin lost to Liu Dongcheng, they failed. As expected, the game left them a glimmer of hope by sending them to this place full of insects. If they want to reach the next level, they must get through it, otherwise they will be stuck here forever.

Perhaps—when new passengers arrive someday, they will be recycled by the game and become obstacles for those new passengers.

Wang Lin and another passenger stood up, sighed, and walked behind Qin Liu, barely preparing for battle. However, there was little hope in their eyes. The distance from here to the fourth checkpoint seemed short, but in reality, they were surrounded by insects, making it very difficult for them to break through.

"No one is allowed to give up." Qin Liu roared, and while the insects were still in their dormant period, he frantically began killing them. There was no other way; until the insects regained their activity, they could only stay where they were and could not move forward at all.

Just as Qin Liu and his group were frantically trying to rush into the fourth checkpoint, Mo Shuwan and her group, who had been stuck in the fourth sub-checkpoint of the first major checkpoint for a long time, finally found a large door in front of them.

Chen Jiaxu looked around nervously, swallowed hard, and asked in a low voice, "Are we leaving already?"

Although I felt a bit anxious after staying here for a long time, I was still safe. Now that I'm out here, my future is uncertain again.