「Well done, reward the wife.」
A single comment drifted by, and the girl on screen subtly trembled in the shoulders, her sobs seeming even clearer.
“W-wah… Dad… Mom…”
“Stand up.” Lin Zhen painfully moved to the girl’s side.
“Even if you want to die, at least don’t die here. Fallen leaves return to their roots; for us humans… our only home is our hometown.”
“B-but… I don’t have a home anymore…”
The girl lifted her head, her delicate face streaked with tears, her star-like red eyes full of helplessness and fear.
Please forgive Lin Zhen; he was an uneducated illiterate and couldn’t find the words to describe such beauty.
The comments fittingly streamed by: “I’m okay now,” “Holy crap, that’s a face attack,” “She’s definitely my wife!”
【Popularity +1456】
Under the blow of such overwhelming beauty, Lin Zhen’s mind short-circuited for a full second before he barely managed to organize his words:
“No home doesn’t mean no hometown. Don’t you want… to be buried beside your parents in the future?” he said seriously.
“I’ve heard that on Origin Earth, there’s an old saying: family buried together might have a chance to reunite in the next life.”
“R-really?” The girl’s eyes widened slightly, and in that innocent, doe-like gaze, a faint light finally appeared.
“Fake, I’m from Earth, I testify there’s no such saying there.”
“This male lead’s way of comforting is so unique… learned something.”
“Don’t learn that, it’s useless, it’s all about modeling and information gaps.”
Seeing the girl’s pure eyes, at this moment Lin Zhen suddenly felt reluctant to continue deceiving her.
Yes, the saying was made up on the spot.
He could see how strong her self-destructive tendencies were; it was unrealistic to get her to cheer up in a short time—unless the hypnosis his grandmother taught him suddenly worked.
But that trick had never succeeded.
So he simply went along with her emotions, guiding her at least to be willing to move.
After all… as long as you live, there are infinite possibilities.
“It’s true,” Lin Zhen nodded decisively, his expression sincere.
“Why would I lie? You know, my grandfather was an Earth Culture Scholar, and he told me this. He also said… if family members aren’t buried together, they’ll never be a family again.”
“No… I don’t want that!”
Hearing “never be a family again,” tears welled up again in the girl’s eyes.
“If you don’t want that, then stand up and move forward.”
Lin Zhen breathed a quiet sigh of relief and reached out his hand to her.
“Even if it’s just to be buried next to your family, you have to keep moving forward, until you return home.”
“I, I, I…”
The girl hesitated, wavering, her right hand raised but not grasping Lin Zhen’s hand.
***
Time ticked by second by second. Lin Zhen noticed more and more people had already put on their collars.
He was burning with anxiety.
“There are three minutes left.”
The cold male voice’s reminder was the last straw.
Lin Zhen no longer waited for her reaction and directly grabbed her hand.
“Eh, eh eh!?”
Amidst a chorus of gasps, he pulled her, stumbling forward as they ran.
His wounds hadn’t healed; every step was piercing pain.
And he had to drag someone else—though she was as light as cotton—Lin Zhen still felt like his whole body would shatter.
But in the end, he gritted his teeth, held her hand tightly, and sprinted toward the other side of the room.
They were almost the last to arrive.
By then, the collars had almost all been taken; only those with the highest numbers lay on the floor, ignored.
From 9990 to 9999.
The difference of a few units was negligible at the ten-thousand level.
Lin Zhen didn’t have time to look closely; he casually grabbed 9991 and 9992, imitating those around him.
He fastened the collars onto himself and the girl.
Click!
The collar locked with a crisp mechanical sound, its surface lighting up with a blue indicator.
Lin Zhen was 9991; the girl was 9992.
Then, the last few weakest children barely crawled to the finish and picked up the remaining collars.
Finally, only a solitary 9999 collar lay on the ground.
Whoever kidnapped them used cruel methods.
But this first “task” wasn’t actually difficult.
Except for the arrogant boy who provoked soldiers and was kicked into serious injury, barely conscious now, everyone managed to arrive within the time limit.
And as collar 9998 clicked shut, the silver iron gate behind them slid open to both sides.
“Everyone did well today. I think we have had a good first meeting and established a basic understanding and simple trust.”
What “understanding and trust” meant was everyone now understood he would really kill.
A chill silently spread through the crowd.
“Please proceed to the hall next. I will explain all your questions there.”
Screech!
With those words, all the spotlights suddenly illuminated the direction of the gates.
The soldiers, who had stood motionless, stepped forward at the same time.
Silent, but oppressive.
Clearly, it was a warning to hurry up.
The crowd began to move slowly toward the gates. Lin Zhen glanced back at the blue-haired girl who had quietly followed him, speaking softly:
“Let’s go first and see what they want to do.”
“Um, um…” The girl suddenly whispered, her soft voice barely above a mosquito’s hum.
“What?” Lin Zhen didn’t catch it.
“My name is Yun Ruoxi… What’s your name?” The girl gathered courage and looked up, cheeks faintly flushed.
“I’m Lin Zhen.”
He touched his collar. “But now that we’re here, I feel names won’t matter much anymore.”
“Why?” she asked, puzzled.
“Just a feeling.” Lin Zhen smiled. “Let’s go.”
“Mm.”
The two walked at the end of the crowd toward the gate, unaware that a Red-haired Girl was watching them closely through the crowd.
The camera focused briefly on this girl before quickly shifting away, but such a blatant hint drew attention from the comments.
“There’s something going on! That redhead seems to know the male and female leads.”
“Could it be a love triangle? I love watching women fight, hurry up and show more.”
“Women fighting is the best, I love it too.”
“Calm down, this isn’t a dating show (dog head).”
Behind the door was a straight silver iron corridor, with no branches or rooms.
The overly plain color and the crowded people made everyone feel vaguely uneasy.
At the end of the corridor was a spacious platform.
On the ground, ten thousand white squares were drawn, each marked with a number.
Lin Zhen and Yun Ruoxi were among the last to arrive.
He first glanced at the white squares covering the ground, then at the scattered crowd.
After some thought, he led Yun Ruoxi toward the end.
“Stand on the square matching your collar number.” He pointed to her collar and whispered the reminder.
“Okay.”
The girl obediently nodded and walked toward the adjacent square marked “9992.”