She looked away, turned around, swiped her card to open the door, and went straight into the house, successfully blocking out outsiders' view.
Leaning against the cold alloy wall, Xiao Jin slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
This base commander is really interesting.
Why put all the players in one place? What are we trying to see?
Putting that aside for now, Xiao Jin looked up and surveyed the room before her.
This is a small apartment of about 20 square meters, with a 1.2-meter bed, a bedside table next to it, and a single wardrobe on the other side.
In front of the wardrobe is the dining area, which contains only a small round table. Finally, in the far corner of the room, there is a tiny bathroom of only three square meters.
Don't underestimate its size; it's quite large for an underground base.
It's important to know that the rest of the ordinary people slept in large, unpartitioned dormitories and used public toilets, as did the soldiers. Only special talents, such as doctors and researchers, received better treatment.
Even the base chief lived in a small cubicle behind the command room, for her convenience in her work.
Xiao Jin did not lower his guard after entering the room, but immediately checked the situation inside.
She checked under the bed, on the corner of the table, and even in the bathroom, but thankfully she didn't find any cameras or eavesdropping devices.
Seeing this, she relaxed a little, glanced at the bathroom and saw that the water was still running, and then immediately went in to take a shower.
Although the disinfectant at the base couldn't leave any marks on Xiao Jin's clothes, the smell was still there.
Good heavens, she's almost fainting from the stench!
It should be noted that Xiao Jin has an extremely sensitive sense of smell, which can often be a torment at certain times.
……………………
Time slipped away quietly in the somewhat oppressive atmosphere of the base.
During this period, Xiao Jin did see the other players one after another.
There were about a dozen faces, all unfamiliar and wary; not a single one was a familiar face to her. Perhaps the players Xiao Jin knew were in other cities in this world, or perhaps they weren't even here at all.
Among this diverse group of players, only two made Xiao Jin's nerve endings tense slightly, as if he had smelled the scent of a fellow beast.
One of them is a man as tall as an iron tower.
He was clad in heavy, jet-black armor, resembling a mobile steel fortress. A menacing, long-handled battle axe, nearly half a man's height, was casually slung over his back, its blade covered in dark stains that silently testified to its battle exploits.
What was most chilling were his eyes—peeking out from the gaps in his helmet, they were pitch black, like a bottomless, icy pool, devoid of any emotion, only exuding a bloodthirsty aura that seemed almost solidified.
He stood there, and the air around him seemed to grow heavier.
The other was the complete opposite, a chubby middle-aged man with a warm smile always on his face.
He was dressed plainly and even looked somewhat simple and kind, always smiling and nodding to everyone he met. However, Xiao Jin's intuition was sharply warning her.
From the moment Xiao Jin saw him, she knew that this man was far more troublesome than the previous one.
The saying "a dog that bites doesn't bark" perfectly describes this situation!
That smile was like a mask welded onto the middle-aged man's face, full of enthusiasm, but deep in his eyes was a frozen indifference and a calculating cold light.
A typical smiling tiger, a venomous snake disguised as a kind face.
The other players also have their own strengths.
A man dressed like a magnificent medieval mage was muttering incantations as he fiddled with several glowing crystals; another woman was tall, but her pupils were strangely vertical.
Every now and then, a fluffy tail with unusual patterns would occasionally peek out from under her clothes, only to be quickly pushed back down.
Strange and unusual items appear and disappear in the players' hands, either clipped to their waists or floating beside them.
Since their identities had already been exposed, the deduction of points became an inevitable consequence, and many people simply gave up on pretending and openly displayed their "abnormality".
They've stopped acting altogether.
These people are all ruthless characters who have struggled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood; the instinct for survival is ingrained in their very bones.
They had an almost beast-like keen intuition for Xiao Jin, who occupied a corner alone and whose aura was as deep and stagnant as an abyss. It was a kind of danger signal that could be sensed without words.
Therefore, everyone tacitly maintained an invisible distance from her, each occupying a corner, forming a delicate balance: each minding their own business, wary of each other, yet temporarily at peace.
Before we knew it, it was mealtime. The food provided by the base was simple and regular.
Two meals a day: in the morning, a bowl of bland porridge, a boiled egg, and a white steamed bun; in the afternoon, a small portion of rice and vegetables that could barely be considered as one meat dish and one vegetable dish.
The portion was barely enough to fill their stomachs, and it had no flavor whatsoever. However, this was already considered a "privilege" treatment within the base.
Xiao Jin briefly left the area where the players gathered and glimpsed the meals of ordinary survivors.
What they were given were dry, hard white flour pancakes, as hard as bricks, requiring great effort to even bite off a few crumbs. The side dishes were pitifully few, consisting of only a small bowl of thin, watery vegetables with almost no oil.
In comparison, the players' meager "meat" and relatively soft steamed buns seemed incredibly precious.
After receiving the food, Xiao Jin went straight back inside and locked the door from the inside.
The other players did the same thing, and their figures disappeared one after another behind their respective doors.
As soon as Xiao Jin entered, she took the food delivered by the base out of the lunchbox and skillfully put it into a disposable lunchbox in her spatial ring.
She has been managing her meals this way during this period. After all, she's not without food, so why should she deprive herself of it?
Thinking of this, Xiao Jin's lips curled into a sly smile. He figured the other players must be thinking the same thing as him, enjoying their food in their rooms!
"What should we eat?" Xiao Jin looked at the ready-made food section in the space and stroked her chin.
His gaze swept across the many delicacies before finally settling on a corner.
"Yes, it's you!" Xiao Jin's eyes lit up instantly.
She quickly reached out and picked out a roasted lamb leg tightly wrapped in tin foil from a pile of food. The lamb leg was golden and crispy, with an enticing aroma; you could almost smell the tempting meat through the foil.
Xiao Jin then casually picked up a few more exquisite dishes.
A plate of tempting shrimp and tofu, garnished with vibrant green scallions; a dish of garlic vermicelli scallops, the scallop meat plump and juicy, perfectly blended with the aroma of garlic; and a bowl of steaming mushroom soup, the broth clear and fragrant with mushrooms.
Xiao Jin placed the selected delicacies one by one on the table in front of her. Then, she couldn't wait to tear open the foil of the roasted lamb leg, and a rich aroma instantly filled the entire room.
Picking up his knife and fork, he plunged them fiercely into the roasted lamb leg. With a "crunch," the tender juices burst forth. Xiao Jin chewed heartily, his eyes growing brighter with each bite.
"Hmm! Not bad, the heat is just right..."
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