Duosheng Danyuan

Chen Yu's dormitory was laid out almost exactly like ours, except that their living room was significantly larger than ours, and the U-shaped sofa made it feel spacious enough for all nine of us to sit comfortably.

"Please sit wherever you like," Chen Yu said.

So, we all took our seats in turn. Chen Yu and his two friends sat together, Lin Xu and I sat directly opposite them, and on either side sat Zhang, Tang, Zeng, and Xie. Zeng Yixi and Xie Qinghan sat together, while Zhang Muyun sat with Tang Anran.

It's clear that Zeng Yixi and the others didn't excessively reject Xie Qinghan because of her later appearance.

"I didn't expect Zeng Yixi to be such an honest person," I thought to myself. I had assumed that with her strong personality, she would create a suffocating atmosphere in her dormitory, but judging from the current situation, she was surprisingly considerate towards Xie Qinghan.

"Just say it, what did you find out?" Zeng Yixi suddenly spoke first.

"Huh? We didn't find anything. Haven't we all been together since yesterday? We called everyone over mainly to exchange our opinions on this place, not because we discovered anything." Zeng Yixi's words clearly surprised Wang Hao, but he immediately explained.

"Wow, so this is a tea party for making friends after dinner?" Zeng Yixi said, pursing her lips as she played with her fingernails.

"What tea party? Do you know how dangerous our situation is right now?! Su Wanqing was even taken away by those monsters, and her fate is still unknown!" Qian Zhe frowned and shouted loudly beside Wang Hao.

"Haha, danger? I don't feel any danger at the moment, after all, the rules have defined the danger for us. Oh, you're right, it is indeed quite dangerous for you. Yesterday I thought you were just unlucky, but judging from your performance in the 'Heart Refining Pool' today, you're just a noob."

"What did you say?!" Qian Zhe was furious when Zeng Yixi pointed at him like that. He was about to stand up when Chen Yu stopped him.

"Am I wrong at all?" Zeng Yixi waved her hand with a smile, making a disgusted expression.

"You gossip..." Enraged, Qian Zhe turned his head to look at Tang Anran, who had remained silent, and grinned, saying, "What do you mean I'm bad? Am I the only one having problems? It seems like Miss Tang from your dorm also messed up, right? This isn't just my problem!"

"Ugh!" Tang Anran, who was suddenly called out, was startled and visibly shrank back towards Zhang Muyun.

I could clearly see the look in Zhang Muyun's eyes; Qian Zhe's thoughtless and foolish words had already begun to make this seemingly kind-hearted man hostile towards him.

"What a fool who's so eager to save face," I thought to myself.

"This person... is not worth associating with. Both his abilities and his personality are despicable." Lin Xu scrutinized Qian Zhe and made this assessment in his mind.

"Are you an idiot?" Zeng Yixi rolled her eyes disgustedly at the agitated Qian Zhe and said, "Tang Anran was completely ignorant about anything related to terrorism and remained silent. Her failure at the Heart-Refining Pool was understandable, and killing her at first sight was perfectly justifiable. I'm asking you, did your failure, or Anran's, affect anyone else?"

"I......"

"What do you mean, 'you'? You don't believe me when I say you're stupid? Fine, I believe most of you here are smart. It's okay if you're not smart, but don't affect everyone, okay? At first, you were spouting nonsense at Chen Yu in front of the Jingxi Lodge, and I thought you were some kind of tough guy. Now, tsk tsk."

"you!"

"Sigh..." Wang Hao pursed his lips and pressed down on Qian Zhe, who was trying to stand up, shaking his head helplessly. "Say less, after all, we're the ones who called them here."

"But..."

"Indeed, let's say less. This kind of argument is pointless." On the other side, Chen Yu also pressed his hand heavily on Qian Zhe and gave him a meaningful look.

Seeing that Chen Yu and Wang Hao both said so, Qian Zhe obediently sat back down on the sofa.

"Hmph." Zeng Yixi saw that Qian Zhe stopped talking, so she wisely shut her mouth and didn't add fuel to the fire.

"Alright, let's get down to business now. You must have a purpose for inviting us here to chat, right? Otherwise, this will just turn into a tea party, won't it?" I said, seeing that both sides had calmed down.

"Hmm." Wang Hao nodded and said, "We called everyone here mainly to discuss what has happened recently, and also, how exactly we should get out of this hellhole."

"Leave?" Xie Qinghan's eyes lit up instantly when she heard Wang Hao say that.

"Can we really leave?" Zhang Muyun asked in a low voice.

"I don't know," Wang Hao shook his head apologetically, then pointed to Qian Zhe beside him and said, "Qian Zhe and the two of us analyzed the situation here. I think he's more familiar with this kind of terrifying and bizarre world, so I'd like to invite everyone to come and talk about it. Chen Yu agreed."

"That's right," Chen Yu nodded and said.

"Let's chat? Okay, to show our sincerity, let's start with you." Zeng Yixi crossed her legs, fiddled with her hair, and said casually, "Qian Zhe told us that you seem to be having a bad day. This morning at nine o'clock, you were the only one who stayed in bed."

"I guess so, but it's fortunate that I was late, so I was able to get the information that none of you got." Chen Yu chuckled self-deprecatingly, looking at Zeng Yixi with neither humility nor arrogance.

"Oh? What kind of information is it?"

"That's a different price." Suddenly, Qian Zhe interrupted Chen Yu and Zeng Yixi's conversation and said, "Of course we can tell you what happened to Chen Yu, but you must exchange it for corresponding information. And we'll talk about our information last."

"Impossible." Zeng Yixi didn't even lift her eyelids, rejecting Qian Zhe's request.

"That's not appropriate," Lin Xu said after a moment's thought.

"No, this is a dead end," Wang Hao stepped in to smooth things over, standing next to Qian Zhe. "We always need to communicate, don't we? In that case, instead of guarding everyone's own information, why not exchange ideas? There's a saying that goes, 'If two people have one apple, exchanging them still results in one apple; but if two people exchange their thoughts, then they each have two different ideas, right?'"

"Sure, you guys go first," Zeng Yixi said, her expression still haughty, pursing her lips.

"this......"

"How do I know if you'll tell us first and then tell us too? Even if you do, how do I know if you're lying to me?" Qian Zhe said in a deep voice.

"Pfft! What a statement. Let me repeat it, cough cough, 'How do I know if I tell you first and you won't tell us?' Isn't it appropriate for me to say that to you as well?" Zeng Yixi laughed and repeated Qian Zhe's words in his tone.

"you!"

"In short, whatever you want to know from us, we can't tell you first. Frankly, we don't trust you at all. Right?"

"Hmm..." Zhang Muyun, Xie Qinghan, and Tang Anran nodded one after another.

Looking at this scene, I shook my head.

This is where Qian Zhe's stupidity lies. We originally came into this world as a group of nine, and even with Xie Qinghan joining later, there are only ten of us now. The grouping in Jingxi Lodge simply couldn't allow us to develop a strong sense of community. But Qian Zhe, this foolish and oblivious scoundrel, has made things worse by stirring up trouble. This will only solidify Zeng Yixi's group, while also deepening the divide between our three teams. This is bad for everyone.

It can be said that Qian Zhe, in order to satisfy his own urges, forcibly separated himself from the others.

"Looks like cannon fodder..." I sighed and clapped my hands twice, looking at Qian Zhe and then at Zeng Yixi, who refused to back down.

"What?" My movement instantly attracted Zeng Yixi's attention, and she turned to ask me directly. It seems that this woman had noticed me a long time ago.

"Everyone's right and wrong. I didn't come here to debate. How about this, since we're the fewest, we'll take the first loss and be willing to share our information. After I share, Qian Zhe will share, and then it'll be the four of you. How about that?"

My suggestion caused everyone to fall silent for a moment.

"Okay." Zeng Yixi was the first to speak.

"Well... no problem." Qian Zhe frowned, but agreed to my suggestion.

That's for sure. The exchange just now was clearly a childish squabble, containing roughly the same amount of information as what elementary school students call "rebound." I've now offered them a way out, and unless they're hopelessly stupid, they naturally won't refuse.

"Okay, what do I need to share?" I nodded and looked at Wang Hao, asking.

"Huh?" Wang Hao was clearly taken aback when I asked him the question, and looked at me strangely.

"What? Didn't you just say you wanted us to share intelligence? The premise of sharing intelligence is that we have intelligence, right? Zeng Yixi and I both know about Chen Yu, so naturally we also know that you have intelligence about Chen Yu's experiences. But what about us? Why are you so sure we have intelligence? It means you have something you want to know from us, and something we ourselves must have done, right?"

"That's right," Chen Yu nodded.

"So, I'm asking, what do you need me to share, Qian Zhe?" This time, I looked directly at Qian Zhe as I spoke.

"It's very simple. When you were in the Ancient Elixir Scripture Building, why did you dare to wander around alone? And later, why did Lin Xu go up to the second floor with you? Of course, these are not the key points. The real key point is only one thing—what did you discover? Don't tell me you didn't discover anything. Anyone can see that you're not brainless. You can't pretend to be stupid."

"Haha, I didn't mean to play dumb." I pursed my lips, shook my head and sighed, then said, "Alright, you asked three questions. Although you said the last one is the most important, I'll tell you all three to show my sincerity."

"I'm all ears," Qian Zhe said.

"..." Zeng Yixi and the other three didn't speak, but I could tell that their expressions were very serious, and they had obviously been very curious about my strange behavior for a long time.

"The first question is, why do I dare to wander around? Because Elder Jianchen said we can run around as we please, as long as we don't damage the scroll. The answer is that simple."

"..."

"No objections? Okay, then I'll move on to the next two questions..."

Soon, I recounted to everyone present what I had discussed with Lin Xu and Su Wanqing the day before, without holding anything back. In fact, I didn't need to hold anything back, since this information would only be useful until Xie Qinghan appeared. I was only sharing it now to clear things up for them, nothing more.

However, I deliberately omitted my personal opinions and evaluations of Xie Qinghan. The reason is simple: saying things that don't need to be said aloud might inevitably lead to unforeseen complications, and I don't want that possibility.

After hearing my description, everyone present, except for Lin Xu, had an expression of sudden realization.

"You little rascal, you're really cunning! Is that why you slipped away at the entrance of Jingxi Lodge?" Qian Zhe said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, is that not allowed?"

"Couldn't we have gone to the hut first and then divided into groups?" Wang Hao asked doubtfully.

"It's no use. Xie Qinghan's appearance was obviously intentional. As long as Elder Jianshan is willing, he can insert Xie Qinghan into our team at any point. There's no way to avoid it," Lin Xu said, shaking his head.

"Stop spouting nonsense, you idiot. Xie Qinghan's identity itself is not problematic; he's Chinese, just like us. I advise you not to throw mud at me here," Zeng Yixi frowned and scolded Qian Zhe.

"I**."

"Alright. Smack!" Seeing that everyone was about to start arguing again, I slammed my right hand on the coffee table, forcing everyone to quiet down.

"I've finished speaking, it's your turn. Mr. Qian Zhe, you're not going to breach your contract, are you?"

"Of course not..."

"Ahem! It's clearer for me to tell you about my experience." Chen Yu cleared his throat and began to recount his ordeal to us, standing next to Qian Zhe.