“Easier said than done, but who knows which bus is the right one!” Xiong Jiabao put on a brave front, but inside he was feeling weak. They had been acting together, and he was still dying non-stop; now, they had to split up to take different buses?
He had never been confident in his observation and analytical skills. To find the right bus without the analysis of Xin Meng or Dong Xiu was akin to committing suicide; there was simply no way out!
So he leaned closer to Xin Meng and smiled ingratiatingly, “Xin bro, you’ve got to help your brother out. You don’t need to shield me from danger or anything, just help me figure out which bus I can board, and I’ll leave my life in your hands!”
Xin Meng glanced at him. The pleading light in Xiong Jiabao’s eyes made him look quite pitiful. He still had two lives left; if he died again, he would truly be erased by the game.
The once naive boy had undergone a tremendous change after just two or three games. He had learned to retreat, to observe coldly, to push others forward as shields, and to shamelessly plead with those he had offended. Xin Meng couldn’t remember the last time he had heard him mention the words “brotherhood.” His eyes were clouded, gradually losing himself under the pressure of survival.
He wouldn’t live much longer.
Once he completely lost himself and strayed from his true nature, that would be the end of him.
Xin Meng had an inexplicable feeling that he would be erased; to be precise, he would be eliminated.
Eliminated by what?
Xin Meng found it strange that this thought had suddenly emerged. It seemed to exist naturally in his mind. When he recalled the events from earlier, it felt as if he had touched some mechanism, and it burst forth all at once.
He was lost in his thoughts when Xiong Jiabao could no longer wait. He grabbed Xin Meng’s arm and continued to plead, “Xin bro, I was wrong earlier. I shouldn’t have been too scared to stand up and refute them, but I was just so terrified. I promise it won’t happen again. Can you help me? I don’t want to die! My mom, my mom is still waiting for me at home. I’m her only son!”
The emotion surging in that last sentence touched Xin Meng a bit. He snapped back to reality and finally nodded nonchalantly, “Anyway, I need to find the pattern. If I find it, I’ll let you know.”
He needed to find his own, You Yi’s, and Qi Xiaokui’s; since he had to look out for three people, it wouldn’t hurt to inform Xiong Jiabao as well, provided that this pattern applied to everyone. If it didn’t, he wasn’t prepared to go out of his way for Xiong Jiabao.
As for the other two… they were on their own.
Xiong Jiabao was temporarily placed in Xin Meng’s camp due to his sincere apology and relatively good past record, while the other two, who were accustomed to betraying their teammates, were cast aside and could only form their own alliance. However, with only one life left, could Dong Xiu and Li Yougen really cooperate under the premise of fearing for their lives?
The two of them knew the reality, so for the first time, they tacitly refrained from proposing an alliance. At least on the surface, they didn’t split into smaller teams but instead slightly leaned towards Xin Meng and the others, wanting to hear their analysis and gather some information.
Xin Meng ignored them. Just then, another bus pulled into the station. He focused his attention, wanting to observe the characteristics of this bus.
It was a very ordinary bus, so much so that it could be said to be indistinguishable from the previous two that had carried them. However, it was packed with people; not only were all the seats taken, but there were also many standing, resembling a bus during rush hour in reality.
But more people also meant more trouble. Even though Xin Meng’s observation and memory were quite good, he was no superhero and didn’t have photographic memory. There was no way he could remember the appearance and characteristics of every person on the bus in such a short stop, let alone identify the key points.
“You all look,” Xin Meng said, unable to find anything on his own. He turned to Xiong Jiabao and said, “Let’s search together. I’ll look at the front half of the bus, Xiaokui will look at the back half, and you look at the middle part.”
The two nodded and then approached the bus, widening their eyes and searching carefully.
Suddenly, Qi Xiaokui pointed to the last row of seats on the bus, “There’s someone sitting there who looks really familiar, it seems like… oh, blocked!”
Xin Meng followed her finger but couldn’t see the person she mentioned. There were too many standing, almost completely blocking the last row, and he could only catch glimpses of a shadow through the occasional gaps.
Fortunately, soon two people moved in different directions, revealing the person who had been obscured.
So familiar—the color of the clothes, the hairstyle, and the glasses on the face…
“Dong Xiu?”
“Yes, that’s him!”
Xin Meng and Qi Xiaokui couldn’t help but turn to look at Dong Xiu. Dong Xiu was startled and quickly turned to look at the last row of seats. Just then, the bus door suddenly closed, and the engine roared to life; the bus actually drove away!
But Dong Xiu was, of course, intimately familiar with himself. He didn’t need to look closely; just a glance was enough to know that it was indeed him!
“There’s me on that bus!” Dong Xiu exclaimed in shock, “It looks exactly like me!”
Qi Xiaokui, who was the first to notice, pondered for a moment and analyzed, “It should be a hint. That bus has someone from the team; it must belong to whoever it is.”
“I missed it…” Dong Xiu’s face turned even grimmer as he muttered, “I actually missed it… Will the bus come back?”
No one knew the answer. The others were tense, unconsciously moving towards the edge of the platform, hoping to determine as quickly as possible whether the next bus was theirs. As for whether the bus would cycle back, they didn’t dare to gamble.
Only Xin Meng harbored doubts. The previous two buses had been so dangerous, with traps intertwined, causing them to struggle for survival. Even You Yi had lost a life. Would this last bus be so simple?
Soon, the next bus quickly pulled into the station, and several people tensed up, scanning the bus continuously.
“Li Yougen!”
Li Yougen, whose name was called, shivered suddenly. He followed the direction Xiong Jiabao pointed, and sure enough, he saw someone sitting in a front row seat who looked exactly like him. “He” seemed to have heard someone call his name and turned his head, looking out from the bus, just in time to make eye contact with Li Yougen.
Li Yougen stared blankly at the other version of himself. The identical face was like two sides of a mirror, but the other side no longer obeyed his commands, revealing a completely different expression. That person smiled, his eyes filled with encouragement, as if beckoning him to hurry and get on the bus…
Li Yougen couldn’t help but take two steps forward but quickly stopped again.
“What’s wrong?” Xiong Jiabao urged him anxiously, “That’s your bus! Hurry up, or it’ll leave!”
Li Yougen stood still but suddenly took ten steps back, trembling and shaking his head vigorously, “N-no… I can’t… I…”
“Why can’t you? If you don’t get on, you’ll die, do you understand?” Xiong Jiabao scolded impatiently, “Coward! Whether you want to or not, I don’t care!”
Until the vehicle drove away, Li Yougen still didn’t move. He squatted on the ground, his head lowered, and in a place where others couldn’t see, his eyes kept flickering.
He was scared; he only had one life left and couldn’t afford to squander it. They had just discovered the images of team members on the bus, but who could be sure if this was the correct bus? The moment this bus arrived, he instantly became the one taking the risk, but whether what he consumed was a delicacy or poison, others didn’t worry; they merely observed him like a white mouse. For him, it was a matter of life and death. He wouldn’t be the one to stick his neck out; he needed others to be the pioneers.
Under the pressure of death, Li Yougen’s thoughts surprisingly became remarkably clear. He recalled Dong Xiu’s earlier question, thought about the bus he had missed, and wondered if it would come back. He felt it would, because that bus had left, yet Dong Xiu hadn’t died, and the others in the team were fine, still at the platform. So they still had a chance; as long as he didn’t board the wrong bus, he wouldn’t die!
However, he didn’t say this discovery and didn’t plan to tell anyone.
He needed a white mouse.
“Damn, you don’t want to live when there’s a way out! What’s wrong with your brain?” Xiong Jiabao was furious at Li Yougen’s cowardice. He was actually thinking about letting Li Yougen try first. If it was the right bus, that would be great; if it was wrong, they could at least die one less time.
Just as Li Yougen had anticipated, or rather, as he had thought, there were others like him who wanted to be the observer of the white mouse.
Another bus arrived, and this time, the person on it… was Xin Meng!
Xin Meng clearly heard several people let out a sigh of relief. He knew who it was but was too lazy to care.
“You…” Qi Xiaokui hesitated for a moment, a bit worried.
“It’s fine,” Xin Meng smiled at her, “I still have lives to spare, so I can help you all test it out. If it’s wrong, we’ll look for other clues.”
Qi Xiaokui looked at the frail boy in front of her, who was only eighteen or nineteen years old, like a neighbor’s younger brother, still innocent. In real life, he might not have even started college yet, enjoying a carefree life under his parents’ love, possibly having a pure first love or nervously preparing for college entrance exams. In short, there shouldn’t be so much pain and danger in his life.
If it were another boy, he might have already broken down, crying for his mother like Xiong Jiabao, but he hadn’t.
Just now, she had heard the others, including Xiong Jiabao’s relieved sigh. The person she had just promised to protect turned around and treated her like this. Even Qi Xiaokui, as an observer, found it hard to remain calm. However, looking at Xin Meng, he appeared calm, without resentment or unwillingness. It wasn’t because he was easy to bully; one could tell from the emotionless gaze he cast at Xiong Jiabao that he had long regarded the other as an inconsequential person. Moreover, he didn’t intend to let this inconsequential person ruin his mood or affect his rationality, thus hindering his progress.
He had a clear boundary in his heart, distinguishing who was inside and who was outside. He was very clear about it. No matter how the people outside stirred, he had already made the best preparations and would never let it affect his emotions. Just like he wouldn’t make sacrifices for them because of Li Yougen’s pleas or Xiong Jiabao’s pitifulness, nor would he refuse to board this bus out of spite for Xiong Jiabao’s indecisiveness. Because he wasn’t doing it for Xiong Jiabao, but for himself, for You Yi, and perhaps also for Qi Xiaokui.
This resilient mindset left her in awe. Facing the potentially fatal danger, he could jokingly say, “I have many lives, so I can help you all test it out,” showing such nonchalance and calmness, which deeply moved her.
She couldn’t understand how a boy with only brains but no physical strength could maintain such composure and calmness throughout this terrifying death game.
Was it because he had You Yi as a backup?
That was certainly part of the reason, but not entirely. From the first time she met Xin Meng, he seemed to have already possessed such mental qualities. Meeting You Yi only relieved his worries; the traits in his character were innate and not due to any particular person.
One could say that among the entire team, Xin Meng was the person she admired the most, with You Yi coming in second, as that belonged to the realm of the fearless strong. Xin Meng, on the other hand, relied entirely on his calmness in the face of danger and just the right amount of wisdom to become the player with the fewest deaths in the team, aside from You Yi.
How far could he go?
She hoped to see it with her own eyes—not to see Xin Meng’s endpoint, but to see him leave this game and return to the real world, living the life a boy his age should live.
But at that moment, Qi Xiaokui didn’t know that her wish would never come true.
