But no matter how gentle the movement, it couldn't stop the venomous tongue of Cheese Milk Cap with Eight Percent Sugar.
"Look at you, look at you, tsk tsk. Poor little cough fairy! So weak you are, it almost makes me feel bad about bullying you, hahaha."
Xie Shaoning, completely clueless about the situation, chimed in from the side, "Then why don't you just drop her on the ground? Why are you still carrying her?"
Cheese Milk Cap with Eight Percent Sugar's smile froze. A pile of taunting words got stuck in her throat, unable to come out—she'd been blindsided by Comrade Xiao Xie.
Comrade Xiao Xie was truly something else. No matter who started a fight, he'd jump right in.
Now the one getting excited was Endless Longevity instead, laughing weakly and wildly...
In the end, she choked back the blood she was about to spit out, only to have it burst forth simultaneously from her throat and nostrils. It was truly as miserable as it gets.
Wolf Warrior 005 had been laughing on the side for a while before finally remembering the main business. "Whirlwind Boss, why did those monsters lose sight of their target once we entered this thick fog?"
Qi Xu had also been watching the show, couldn't help but laugh along for a bit.
Seeing the curious looks from the group, he started spouting nonsense to enlighten them: "The cards and dice from the beginning of the survival game, along with what happened in the dining hall, gave hints. So I guessed this area might be something like a safe zone.
But there's probably a limit to how long this safe zone lasts—we can't just stay here until the Great Escape ends. Let's rest for a bit, then explore together."
The group immediately began surveying their surroundings. This area was noticeably more open, with plenty of exposed rocks on the ground, and the air was thick with a strong sulfuric acid smell.
Endless Longevity and Cheese Milk Cap with Eight Percent Sugar immediately furrowed their brows tightly, desperately racking their brains.
Then, one after another, they managed to fill in the gaps of Qi Xu's nonsense.
"The southeast corner of the tavern is the bar area—the core of the tavern."
"It's also the direction where Handsome Me, 188 votes, got resurrected."
"There's a symbol totem to the southeast of the card table—a flame. I was wondering what that flame meant back then. Now I get it. It's hope."
"And in the dining hall, the glass we successfully shattered was also in the southeast."
"So Whirlwind Boss, you chose the southeast as the escape destination because the paths to survival in the first two scenes were all in the southeast!"
"The exchange point is in the northwest, and the southeast is exactly its diagonal opposite. The only two escape routes of the Great Escape lie at the farthest ends!"
"Amazing, Whirlwind Boss. I have to hand it to you—if you hadn't given that hint, I never would have connected all these clues."
Qi Xu nodded expressionlessly, but he really wanted to say, "I can't believe it!"
He was just spouting nonsense, making things up on the fly. He never expected these two to connect so many details. It made Qi Xu doubt himself—could the first two rounds really have given hints?
No... that couldn't be.
In truth, this wasn't a so-called safe zone at all. It was a far more dangerous place.
Buried beneath the ground was a massive worm, its outer shell covered in dark purple scales. Its mouth was lined with hook-like fangs, and every breath it took sent sulfurous, scalding hot air gusting up from the depths—hence the strong sulfuric acid smell in the air.
As for the seemingly solid rocks on the surface, they were nothing more than a disguise, formed from mucus it had spit out while sleeping, which had since hardened.
If any living thing lingered in this area for more than two hours—or if someone removed the 10 energy cores from the scaled worm's head—the "ground" beneath their feet would begin to soften. Eventually, they'd be silently dragged into a lair a thousand meters deep, not even a bone left behind.
Qi Xu and Fortune God's Only Daughter had confirmed this time limit through repeated discussion. As long as they left before then, there'd be no problem.
In fact, it bought them nearly two hours of rest and adjustment time.
"Alright, enough talking. I'll keep watch. You guys eat something and get some sleep, quick."
Endless Longevity closed her eyes immediately. She was running on fumes—it had already been a miracle for her to muster the energy to chat with everyone for this long.
Xie Shaoning looked like he wanted to say something, his hands rubbing together nervously, his face beaming with a flattering smile like a blooming flower.
Suddenly, Qi Xu remembered something. He pulled out tables and chairs and laid out a feast—all dishes by Master Chef, and all of them his masterpieces.
Cheese Ribs, Dongpo Pork, Four-Joy Meatballs, Stir-Fried Squid, Cola and Plum Ribs, Oyster Sauce Lettuce, Steamed Sea Bass, Stir-Fried Beef with Chilies...
Everyone around stared wide-eyed! This food looked way more delicious than what was on the dining hall tables. No—it wasn't even comparable.
"Come on, come on, let's eat something first." Qi Xu warmly invited everyone.
Xie Shaoning had already decided he was going to beg for a spot at the table, no matter how much Invincible Black Cyclone charged.
But she didn't even mention a price.
"Boss, do we need to pay?"
"Pay for what? We're all friends. It's on me."
Even Endless Longevity, who had already passed out, dragged herself back up—the aroma was just too irresistible.
"Thanks, Boss!"
Xie Shaoning instantly turned into a happy little piglet.
The others weren't as exaggerated as Xie Shaoning at first, but the moment the food hit their mouths, their eyes lit up in delighted surprise.
"Is this food made from special ingredients? How can it even be taken out? Whoa, this taste... it's addictive!"
They were all top-ranked players, none of them exactly poor. But during the Great Escape, many support items couldn't be used, including items that restored status or recovered fatigue.
Yet every bite of this feast brought gains!
As they savored the gourmet food, they watched their fatigue values plummet and their mental energy gradually recover. Their exhaustion and the pressure on their shoulders vanished by more than half!
Once everyone was happily devouring their meal, Qi Xu quickly replenished his own energy too. Master Chef's skills had actually improved!
He glanced up at the barrage comments. Sure enough—thick and dense, an impressive number, with an alarming frequency of exclamation points.
Qi Xu stood up directly and waved toward the air.
He remembered from watching the livestream in the previous round that whenever a player spoke, there seemed to be an invisible camera pointed straight at them.
"Hello everyone, I'm Invincible Black Cyclone from Sector 88. Can you hear me? I've got some free time right now, so I'd like to share some experience with you."
The "barrage teachers" were "stunned" for a moment, then quickly flooded the screen with "Yes, yes, yes!" How interesting—they were even playing along with the interaction!
...
