After walking for a long time, the terrain began to descend, and every step we took landed in melted snow.
Stepping over the puddle, a swamp appeared before Shi Jinzhe's eyes.
Transparent bubbles are rising from the surface of the sludge, where the toxic gas is most concentrated.
Behind him followed a large swarm of moving brambles, each one tentatively trying to wrap around his body. Some of them managed to grab a drop of blood, and immediately hard barbs sprouted from their sharp points, capable of tearing out thin, bright red flesh with a single scrape.
Another wound appeared, and soon after, Shi Jin's back looked as if he had been dragged, covered in abrasions.
Unable to see the edge of the muddy swamp, he sensed his surroundings but couldn't find a single vine that could be used as a rope.
There is nothing here but these strange thorns.
Shi Jinzhe had no choice but to pick and choose to find suitable brambles. He pulled up the one closest to him and yanked it hard, but unexpectedly, the other brambles around him, which were tangled and intertwined, were also stretched.
In the darkness, the moving brambles resembled a tangled snake, its head nowhere to be found, and it was impossible to tell which body corresponded to which part.
The bramble is a single, continuous plant…
That way there's no need to be picky.
Thinking of Shekh, Shi Jin carefully picked up the thorny branch and trimmed off the thorns, but as soon as he trimmed them off, even sharper thorns grew back.
He simply threw away the thorn branch, picked up another one, wrapped it around his waist without hesitation, and then walked into the swamp.
The water was very cold, and the chill crept up from the wounds on the soles of my feet. Walking on it felt like dragging two unyielding wooden sticks. When I bent my knees, I had the illusion that my legs would break. After soaking for a while, my skin felt hot, painful, and itchy.
The suction of the silt was strong, and walking was like a tug-of-war. It was as if the thorns and swamps on his waist were pulling him up, and it felt like there was a ring of iron nails on his waist, all of them fighting for his body.
Shi Jinzhe's body was pulled unsteadily, and he staggered twice before barely managing to stand. He didn't think about stopping, and continued walking after regaining his balance.
To escape the pain of his body being torn apart, he recalled the past.
From the very first time I met Sheikh.
With countless images combined, one's energy is diverted, and one no longer focuses on whether or not one is injured. Every word she speaks becomes crystal clear, becoming the obsession that sustains one through the ordeal of persevering to the end.
He remembered Schechner's double S earrings, a subtle hint that his mother had specially made for him.
With limitless possibilities, she was encouraging Shech to fight against the system.
They arbitrarily arranged everything. The system was indeed saving the world from danger. If they were the ones being protected, it would feel good. But as chosen victims, they were unwilling.
The system vividly demonstrates the domineering ideology that "the more capable you are, the more responsibility you bear."
It's like an unscrupulous businessman who forces you to sign an unfair contract, so that as long as you don't die, you'll be a laborer for life.
Games can exist, and players can be summoned to assist in completing tasks in another way, but there is no need for this system that leaves no one with grievances and suppresses everyone.
Especially the current system.
Time reveals the difference; compared to the previous lively and dynamic system, the current system is like a machine executing tasks.
Thinking about what it was going to do to Shech, he even wondered if the system had been formatted as well.
The last time I contacted that perpetually frustrated little system was before entering the Horrifying Lovers instance. Shekh had mentioned the strangeness before entering the instance, but the system was interrupted and hurriedly left a typo.
It also had its emotions, and would get so angry that it was speechless. It would also always try to take advantage of him and Shekh, but it would also offer help when appropriate, giving them some backdoors that wouldn't affect the overall situation.
However, its human touch has vanished, completely gone.
Shi Jinzhe considered many possibilities, and after much thought, he concluded that the system monitoring Shekh had been replaced.
The game has too many worlds and players to control, and the system cannot control them all. The boss also needs to learn to delegate authority. There should be many subsystems, each with its own function.
Perhaps the previous system never followed the rules, or perhaps it was time for Shekh to return. In any case, it was taken back and replaced by the person at the top.
A rotting bird was unearthed from under the mud while walking. Shi Jin glanced at it, walked around the dead bird, and then lost his footing and fell sharply.
The mud rose from his thighs up to his chest, the wet and cold mud pressing against his chest cavity. He gasped for breath a few times, then turned to pull at the exposed thorny vines.
His hands were covered in wounds from the thorns. The vine he used to stabilize himself had absorbed a lot of blood and was covered in barbs. After gripping and releasing it several times, the flesh on his hands was so bad that it was unbearable to look at.
After finally managing to pull himself out of the place where he had fallen, Shi Jin bent over and gasped for breath to relieve the pain in his back caused by the thorns.
The road ahead was riddled with deep pits, and each time he emerged, it was incredibly difficult. Numbly, he grabbed onto the brambles and climbed out again and again before moving forward.
Outside the thorn forest.
Pu Sheng threw two small twigs into the fire, and a few sparks jumped out from the crackling flames.
He stared blankly at the sky, lost in thought. Ji Hui called him several times before he came back to his senses.
"You look so worried you're about to grow gray hair."
"Because whether the three of us can go back depends entirely on the two of them."
Pu Sheng glanced again at what Shi Jinzhe was about to face, and his mouth tasted bitter with worry.
He never doubted Shi Jinzhe's abilities, but he had never truly experienced genuine love.
Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately. Throughout history, how many people have retreated in the face of difficulties? When the time is up, can one really persevere?
"Yan Ruoying, why don't you pray for him again?"
"I'm praying."
"Hopefully things will go more smoothly for him."
Pu Sheng took out his Nine-Character Card. If things went smoothly, and then the Heavenly Secret Card was returned, their mission would be accomplished, and he would be able to escape this game.
Under the same night sky, Shi Jinzhe in the thorn forest had traversed most of the swamp.
Under his deliberate neglect, using life force to pave the way, use life force to raise body temperature, and use life force to change the body are no longer the first things that come to mind when encountering difficulties.
He is trying to adapt to a situation where he does not need the assistance of life force.
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