Everyone has awakened, but I am the only mortal!

Some hesitated, some struggled, and some had resolute eyes.

Soon, Ma Jun and his group seemed to have made up their minds.

The once deathly silent room was finally broken as they stood up one after another.

Meeting Luo Zheng's gaze, Ma Jun said in a deep voice, "Waiting here isn't a solution. We're planning to leave the room and try something."

The commotion was quite loud, and Su Bai and Lao Zhou also looked over.

As Ma Jun finished speaking, Hei Zi and another man stepped forward.

The man looked familiar; he was the same man who had said Xiaoli smelled bad earlier.

Ma Jun's eyes shone brightly, and his tone of voice betrayed an undisguised smugness and calculation.

His gaze swept over Luo Zheng and the other man, then landed on Su Bai and Old Zhou, and he asked in a raised voice, "Do you want to get involved?"

Luo Zheng and Zheng Yi didn't respond, they just glanced at him indifferently.

Ma Jun's actions were clearly intended to send others to pave the way and cause harm; they wouldn't be foolish enough to step forward.

Su Bai was too lazy to say anything more, leaning against the headboard and looking at the newspaper in his hand, not even glancing at Ma Jun.

Old Zhou, however, sat up abruptly, leaning lazily against the headboard, looking at Ma Jun with a half-smile: "We? What do you mean by that? Everyone's looking out for themselves, and we're not going to work together to find a solution? Am I misunderstanding?"

Previously, they kept saying "we'll all look for clues together," but now, whenever there's an opportunity to test the waters, they use the word "you," making it very clear that they're distinguishing themselves.

Ma Jun, being astute as he was, naturally picked up on the sarcasm in Lao Zhou's words, but deliberately avoided answering, instead talking about his own plan: "In the first room, as long as everyone stayed together, we were fine once we got out. So we're planning to try again; maybe there are other rooms. I just asked Luo Zheng, and he also thinks it's possible."

Luo Zheng raised an eyebrow, his gaze towards Ma Jun now carrying a hint of knowing disdain.

He knew exactly what Ma Jun was thinking.

If the test is successful, Ma Jun will be the one who led the operation, and all the credit will go to him.

If something goes wrong, he can also drag Luo Zheng down with him, saying that Luo Zheng also agrees with the plan.

Moreover, Luo Zheng's abilities are undeniable, and it is his "approval" that makes Hei Zi and his companion willing to take the risk.

Everyone present saw Ma Jun's little trick, but no one was willing to point it out.

Su Bai understood in his heart, and everyone else was holding onto a sliver of hope.

If they succeed, everyone will benefit, gaining more hope of breaking the deadlock. If they fail, it will be Ma Jun's team that suffers, not them.

Faced with Ma Jun's deliberate attempt to win him over, Lao Zhou didn't even bother to argue with him this time. He just found it ridiculously hypocritical and simply turned his face away, too lazy to respond.

Seeing that neither Su Bai nor Luo Zheng expressed their opinions, Ma Jun did not force them. He smiled, waved to Hei Zi and another man, and signaled them to come over and explain the matter.

Old Zhou leaned closer to Su Bai and whispered, "I've disliked him from the start. He's a typical scoundrel, always picking on others to take risks."

The room was so quiet you could hear breathing. Old Zhou's voice was soft, but enough for someone who was paying attention to hear it.

Su Bai glanced towards the doorway. Ma Jun was talking to Hei Zi and the other man with his head down, and didn't look in their direction at all.

It's unclear whether they genuinely didn't hear it or were deliberately feigning deafness.

Su Bai prefers the latter.

Encouraging others to scout ahead for him is such an unethical act, potentially costing him his life. If Ma Jun can do it, he can certainly pretend not to care.

A moment later, Ma Jun and the others had finished their discussion and gathered at the entrance.

When you open the door to the first room, you can see the desolate courtyard and the moonlight by the light inside, but when you open the door to the second room, all you see is darkness.

Strangely, the lights were on inside the room, but the light seemed to be cut off by something, and it didn't shine outside; it was pitch black outside.

Hei Zi and the man walked in front. The man stared at the closed door, his feet hesitant to move. His eyes were full of hesitation and fear. He instinctively took a step back, clearly frightened by the unknown darkness outside the door, and even had the thought of changing his mind.

But Hei Zi didn't give him a chance to back down. He grabbed his arm, lifted one foot first, and stepped into the darkness outside the door.

"No...no!" The man's terrified cries for help abruptly stopped as he was dragged out of the door by Kuroko, as if something had forcibly cut them off.

This is very abnormal.

Even if you've just stepped out the door, the sound shouldn't have disappeared so completely.

If they had just entered the strange realm, they would have screamed in terror. But after these past few days of torment, everyone had become numb, and their faces remained expressionless in the face of this bizarre scene.

Su Bai even noticed that some of the people around Ma Jun were curiously peeking out, trying to see what was happening outside the door.

"boom--"

With a dull thud, the door slammed shut by an invisible, strange force, completely cutting off everyone's view and shutting out everything outside.

Ma Jun's expression changed slightly. He quickly gave an instruction to the person next to him, then strode to the window and stared intently at the darkness outside, a hint of tension hidden in his eyes.

The room fell silent again. Although only a few minutes had passed, it felt like hours, with every second filled with oppressive tension.

Just then, a loud "bang" came from the window.

The window was pushed open from the outside, and Kuroko and the man were standing by the window.

Seeing the two return safely, Ma Jun's face instantly lit up with a smile, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was finally at ease. The people behind him also breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously surrounded them.

Hei Zi and the man jumped in through the window one after the other. The man's face was pale, his eyes were unfocused, and his face still showed the fear of the ordeal. His whole body was trembling slightly.

Kuroko, however, remained unusually calm, even sporting a smug smile, looking quite pleased with himself.

"How is it? What's the situation outside?" Ma Jun asked hurriedly.

Hei Zi didn't answer him first. Instead, he looked up and provocatively swept his eyes over Luo Zheng, Su Bai, and the others, as if he were a victor.

Only after seeing their completely unfazed expressions did she slowly turn back to Ma Jun and say, "Nothing's wrong. We went around to the back of the house and soon saw this window."

Ma Jun nodded slightly, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

Clearly, he hadn't expected it to go so smoothly, and he hadn't found any more clues.

But he quickly concealed his emotions, raised his hand and patted Hei Zi and the man on the shoulder, saying in a gentle tone, "Thank you for your hard work, it's all thanks to you."

"It's nothing for everyone." Kuroko raised his chin, his smugness almost overflowing.

Aside from Ma Jun and a few others echoing the praise, Su Bai, Luo Zheng, and the others remained silent throughout, neither expressing envy nor offering praise.

This made Hei Zi feel even more resentful, and his face darkened. However, due to the aura of Luo Zheng and Su Bai, he dared not cause trouble and could only suppress his displeasure.

Time passed slowly, and Su Bai's stomach suddenly growled.

He pulled out a packet of biscuits and half a bottle of water from his pocket, but didn't eat them right away. His gaze unconsciously fell on the father and son in the corner.

After hesitating for a moment, he got out of bed and went over. Without saying a word, he gently handed the biscuits and water in his hand to the father and son.