Once the teams were merged in Chapter 68, there was truly no turning back.
"sister!"
Jiang Chunhua didn't receive a reply from Liang Xun; instead, she was greeted by her own younger sister's lament.
Jiang Zhiling stood beside her, her smiling eyes now filled with tears. Jiang Zhiling's eyes were bloodshot, her brows slightly furrowed, as she gazed at Jiang Chunhua with an unfamiliar look.
"Sis, what are you doing?"
Seemingly overwhelmed with emotion, Jiang Zhiling's words were tinged with a slight wheezing, "Other teams cooperate so well, why do we insist on trying to join them and causing unnecessary trouble for them?"
Jiang Chunhua probably didn't expect Jiang Zhiling to say that about her, and her face turned red and white in turns.
"What trouble or not, Ling'er, what nonsense are you talking about?"
Jiang Chunhua snorted, "Our team is pretty amazing too, okay? Just the four of us have managed to get this far unscathed. We're no worse than them!"
As if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, Jiang Zhiling shook her head with a bitter smile, her heart breaking, and tears welling up in her right eye rolled down like pearls.
With a heavy heart, she stretched out her arm, exposing it naked to everyone.
"Sister, do you dare call this 'completely unharmed'?"
Jiang Chunhua stood there, completely dumbfounded.
"Ling'er, you..."
Upon seeing this, Shao Feng immediately rushed to Jiang Zhiling's side.
He seemed even more heartbroken than the person involved. Shao Feng's eyes were red-rimmed as he softly comforted Jiang Zhiling while trying to gently smooth away her scars.
It wasn't until he took Jiang Zhiling aside and whispered something in her ear that Jiang Zhiling's emotions gradually calmed down.
But her once expressive eyes no longer held a smile; the look in her eyes as she gazed at Jiang Chunhua had turned ashen.
Seeing that her sister's emotions had been calmed down by Shao Feng, Jiang Chunhua secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She treated what had just happened as a farce, bowing and scraping, and then lowering herself again in the same manner.
"I'm so sorry to have made you all laugh," she said, her ingratiating gaze sweeping over everyone in the back row. "That's just how my sister is. She's been spoiled since she was little, and she's still not very sensible now that she's grown up. Please bear with her."
Being immature?
Liang Jun seemed to suddenly become interested, raising her eyebrows and sitting up straight.
She seemed to have heard a joke, and tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth, saying, "It's nothing."
Why did she feel that it was actually her older sister, Jiang Chunhua, who was less mature?
Clearly, nervousness clouded Jiang Chunhua's judgment, and she naturally took Liang Xuan's offer as a stepping stone to continue her performance.
Without hesitation, she pressed her advantage, saying, "Then, gentlemen, take a look at this matter concerning our cooperation..."
"No, no, no!"
Before Jiang Chunhua could finish speaking, Lao Ren stood up first.
He shook his head vigorously, exuding an aura of resolute rejection from head to toe.
"I disagree! I absolutely disagree!"
Liang Jun, Gu Keke, Qi Zhixia, and Luo Chuange all turned to stare at Lao Ren. Even Wang Jianping, who had always been detached, gave Lao Ren a rare second look.
Old Ren did not back down at all, his expression so serious that it was as if he had returned to the time when Young Pioneers took their oath—even though Jiang Chunhua was glaring at him with red eyes.
"Why?"
Jiang Chunhua stamped his foot in bewilderment, "Brother, we don't know each other in the real world, do we? We're all incredibly unlucky to have entered this game world, so why are you targeting me everywhere?"
Lao Ren scoffed at this, saying, "I made it clear beforehand that I did this not out of any personal grudge, but purely for the sake of our team as a whole."
He ignored Jiang Chunhua and then turned to look at Liang Jun and the others.
"Think about it carefully, how much trouble has this woman caused in just the last hour?"
Old Ren earnestly reviewed the situation: "Of course, it wasn't just this woman. The slightly older man seemed to have no sense of collective honor whatsoever. He couldn't integrate with those who had fought alongside him, let alone those of us who joined later. And that boy—the girl's boyfriend—all he did was cry. A grown man like him, all he did was cry no matter what happened, and he always seemed timid and hesitant. What can you expect him to do afterward?"
Old Ren's analysis was very logical, and he didn't forget to add "In conclusion" at the end.
"So, if you ask me, it's best not to get too close to them before we figure out their background, so as not to get ourselves into trouble."
The words may be rough, but the principle is sound.
This left Jiang Chunhua, who was initially on the verge of jumping up and down in frustration, helpless.
After all, she couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Old Ren glanced at Jiang Chunhua's discomfitured expression again, then looked confidently at the people on the bench.
"So? What do you think of what I said?"
He was doing his best to garner votes. Lao Ren knew that as long as he had more people on his side, he could temporarily leave Jiang Chunhua, this big trouble, behind them.
And if nothing unexpected happens, it should be...
"Old Ren, I think what you said makes a lot of sense."
Luo Chuange slowly raised his head, but the expression on his face was not as relaxed as his words suggested.
Old Ren's heart skipped a beat.
Sure enough, the possible twist he had anticipated came to be spoken by Luo Chuange hesitantly.
"But I might actually be quite willing to let them be on our team..."
Gu Keke first glanced at Luo Chuange, then secretly rolled her eyes, quickly scanned the dazed Lao Ren for a moment, and tentatively raised her right hand.
"I'm sorry, I agree too..."
Fireworks exploded in Lao Ren's head.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
"You, you two..."
His finger trembled as he pointed at Luo Chuange and Gu Keke. The two young people he pointed at lowered their heads as if they had done something wrong.
Old Ren sighed in exasperation at their lack of ambition, then abruptly shook his hand and looked at Wang Jianping and Qi Zhixia, who were closest to him.
"Those two kids were too impulsive. Director Wang, Xia, I know you're more level-headed and have more meticulous minds, so your analysis is similar to mine, isn't it?"
Under Lao Ren's earnest gaze, Qi Zhixia exchanged a glance with Wang Jianping behind her.
Qi Zhixia sat up straight and looked at Lao Ren with a very serious and earnest expression.
"I'm sorry, but I share the same thoughts as Coco and Luo Chuange."
"Me too."
Wang Jianping followed closely behind, saying, "Actually, adding four more members to our team is not necessarily a bad thing."
Old Ren felt as if his world had turned dark.
Finally, he looked at Liang Jun without any hope, but unexpectedly received a look from her.
Before he could even decipher the meaning in Liang Xun's eyes, Liang Xun had already summarized the final result for everyone.
"We've thought things through regarding the cooperation."
Liang Xun glanced around again, and after seeing the approving looks from everyone—except Lao Ren—she stood up and walked closer to Jiang Chunhua in the front row.
"You've all seen the choices everyone just made. Our team follows the majority rule, so—"
Liang Jun extended his right hand to her.
"It's a pleasure to work with you."
When the final decision was made, Jiang Chunhua was overjoyed.
She hurriedly grasped Liang Jun's outstretched hand, as if afraid that the other party might change her mind at any moment.
Just as Jiang Chunhua was about to pull her hand away and turn around to share the news with others, Liang Jun gripped her right hand tightly and pulled Jiang Chunhua back to her side.
Jiang Chunhua was startled by her action and stumbled.
After shaking her head, she seemed to calm down considerably.
What are you doing?
The pressure on his hands increased, and Jiang Chunhua's face inevitably contorted in pain. "Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
Liang Jun then released her hand and chuckled softly.
"Sorry, I tend to use too much force."
Jiang Chunhua is a few centimeters shorter than Liang Jun. Now that they are closer, if Liang Jun wants to make eye contact with her, she even needs to look down at her slightly.
Liang Jun lowered her eyes, gazing at Jiang Chunhua's trembling eyelashes.
"Since you took the initiative to propose this collaboration, it's not unreasonable for us, as the client, to make some small requests, is it?"
Jiang Chunhua's palms were already red from Liang Jun's pinching. She grimaced in pain, but it was all her own fault, so she had no choice but to swallow her anger.
"Go ahead." She glanced at the other person for only a moment before lowering her eyes in fear.
"First of all—although we have reached a cooperation agreement and it appears on the surface that we have merged into one team, the starting point for all of this is to enable everyone to help each other when necessary during the experience. Outside of the amusement park activities, we have no right to control your team members, and the same goes for you."
"Secondly, based on the first round of activities, there will be at least six more challenges with souvenirs. To be on the safe side, the remaining souvenirs need to be shared equally between the two teams. In other words, after ensuring that the souvenirs are successfully entered into everyone's system, they will be kept alternately by both teams and cannot be kept by anyone."
"Finally—at least until the entire third game instance is cleared, the two teams of ten people must maintain friendly and harmonious relations and must not harbor any thoughts of betrayal towards the other team members. If any such thoughts are discovered, the cooperative relationship will instantly break down, and if necessary, the policy of 'turning friends into enemies' can be adopted."
"We only have these three requirements."
After finishing her explanation, Liang Xun took a few steps back and then looked at Jiang Chunhua tentatively, "So? Can you agree?"
Jiang Chunhua clenched her molars inwardly.
Her initial reason for wanting to cooperate with them was simple: she was attracted by their large numbers, which might provide assistance to her own people in the upcoming games.
This would greatly increase their chances of successfully completing the mission. Even if injuries or disabilities occur, given that they account for three-fifths of the cases, it's unlikely that they will be the ones to suffer the consequences.
But now, Liang Jun has completely blocked her planned route, leaving no room for anything else.
But she had already gone this far, and if she refused to cooperate now, her true intentions would be obvious to everyone.
At that point, there will truly be no room for regret.
Jiang Chunhua swallowed nervously. "I agree."
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Author's Note: A humble mint silently swears—
I will keep up with daily updates ToT
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