“Mmm.”

Qian Chengxue replied with certainty.

“Ah… Actually, my parents died in a car accident when I was born. I lived with my grandfather all my life, and those days were the happiest days of my life. But later, my grandfather also passed away. He passed away peacefully and happily, because he told me that there was someone waiting for him down there, and he didn’t want to make her wait any longer. After that, I lived alone, staying at home playing games every day. When I was tired, I slept. When I woke up, I continued to play. When I was hungry, I went to find something to eat. Time passed by little by little like this. It’s not that life was bad, but I felt that my world was extremely cold and numb, as if the whole world had lost its color. I even felt like I was a living corpse.”

Su Mo slowly recalled.

Sitting beside him, Qian Chengxue was touched by Su Mo's words, and her eyes revealed an increasingly complex look. She could empathize with everything Su Mo said. She finally understood why she felt that this stranger was similar to her in some ways when she first met him. It turned out they were the same kind of people.

Su Mo continued, “I originally thought that I would live such a boring and uninteresting life alone. Later, by chance, I accidentally broke into the guild’s defense position. I saw the guild members resisting the monsters with unity and mutual assistance. They were not as chaotic and indifferent as other guilds, and it felt quite warm. So, by mistake, I joined. In fact, joining the guild has been the happiest time I’ve had in recent years. I feel like my life has a little more color…”

…

Qian Chengxue listened quietly, the evening breeze blowing her hair at the temples.

After a long time, Su Mo turned to look at Qian Chengxue and said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Say it.”

“Why are you working so hard? With your status and financial resources, you could be living a very good life. Why are you working so hard in Star Ring, even at the cost of everything? You had several opportunities to cash out gracefully and leave.”

Qian Chengxue looked at the starry sky above her, remained silent for a long time, and finally opened her heart.

“My life is actually no different from yours, even worse. Before I was six years old, when my mother was still alive, I lived a carefree and extremely warm life. But since my mother left, everything changed. Everyone around me showed deep malice, and my father became very cold, like a stranger. And my life after that was lived under high-intensity study and oppression. If I did anything wrong, I would be confined and not given food, or even beaten, but none of that mattered…”

Qian Chengxue took a deep breath and continued.

“The most suffocating thing is the coldness from the heart. The whole family is like a cold shackle, locking you up, making you numb, like a walking corpse. The reason why I’m betting everything in Star Ring is because I want to break this shackle, escape all of this, and be reborn.”

In fact, Qian Chengxue had another secret buried in her heart that she didn’t say. The most important reason why she was so eager to succeed was that her mother’s status was humble, and she didn’t even have a title after her death, and still hasn’t entered the Ye family’s ancestral hall. This is a thorn stuck in her heart, a hurdle she can’t overcome in her life.

Su Mo felt a pang of heartache in his heart as he listened to Qian Chengxue’s words.

“Of course, all of this is wishful thinking…”

Qian Chengxue said self-deprecatingly.

“Actually, you’ve already done very well.”

Su Mo raised his head and looked at Qian Chengxue’s clear and bright eyes.

Their eyes met, and the world seemed to stand still at this moment…

…

The next morning, the sky barely lit up when goose feather-like snow fell again.

Su Mo and Qian Chengxue got up and prepared to continue their journey.

“Eat some jerky to replenish your strength.”

Before setting off, Qian Chengxue handed Su Mo a piece of beef jerky.

“Okay.”

Su Mo naturally took it.

The two shuttled through the forest sea.

They took care of each other along the way. The scenery along the way was very beautiful. They chatted a few words occasionally. The boring journey was not only not boring, but they cherished this rare and pleasant time.

Until noon, Qian Chengxue stopped to look into the distance. She still couldn’t see the end of the forest sea. There should still be a long way to go.

So she suggested.

“Let’s rest here for a while and drink some water.”

Qian Chengxue handed Su Mo a bottle of mineral water.

“Thank you.”

Su Mo took the mineral water, found a fallen dead tree, swept the snow off it, and sat down. Then he unscrewed the cap and took a sip of water.

But he was soon stunned. The water was actually warm. He couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Qian Chengxue.

At this time, booming explosions were constantly coming from the distant sky. Just listening to the sound, you could tell that the battle in Praying Dragon City was extremely fierce.

Qian Chengxue naturally walked to Su Mo and sat down beside him, drinking water while saying.

“Actually, whether we go now or not, it won’t make much of a difference. By the way, Su Mo, why didn’t you think about giving up this time?”

“Unless I really lose, I generally don’t like to give up…”

Su Mo was in a good mood and chatted with Qian Chengxue. However, halfway through his words, Su Mo suddenly stopped talking, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

Qian Chengxue asked suspiciously.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something’s not right. Look closely at the snow. Are those almost invisible light green poisonous mists coming out of the snow?”

“Let me see, it seems so.”

Qian Chengxue immediately lay down and observed carefully. She could see a faint green mist seeping out of the snow.

Su Mo immediately began to dig through the snow. Soon, an inconspicuous pipe opening was revealed in the thick snow.

Qian Chengxue squatted down, brushed away the snow, looked at the exposed pipe opening. If you looked closely, you could still see a trace of light green poisonous mist floating out of it, and then said, “This should be the culprit of our alienation. The virus mist is emitted from here.”

“Hidden well enough.”

Su Mo looked at the pipe opening and replied.

“It’s really hidden well enough. It screwed us all over in one go. I’m also very curious about what’s hidden in this Praying Dragon City. Forget it, I don’t want to think about it. We can hardly even protect ourselves now.”

Qian Chengxue said helplessly.

“It’s not like there’s no hope at all.”

Su Mo suddenly showed a smile.

Qian Chengxue was slightly startled, looked at Su Mo, and seeing his confident face, which didn’t seem to be joking, she asked curiously, “What’s the way?”

“Dig up the pipeline. There must be a main pipeline below. If the main pipeline is wide enough, we can completely drill into Praying Dragon City against the flow of the pipeline.”

Su Mo said an idea that left Qian Chengxue dumbfounded.