“Using items… to trade for used puzzle pieces?” Su Man was stunned. “…Why?”

Why would she want those puzzle pieces?

And why was Brother Yan bringing this up now?

Yan Qingwen lowered his gaze, his tone composed and even: “At first, I thought she was joking — after all, about the maze, aside from knowing it produces puzzle pieces, we know almost nothing else. We don’t even know how many pieces there are in total, so how could anyone possibly collect them all?

And yet she didn’t just talk about it — she acted on it. And she was willing to give up valuable items in exchange.”

He looked up and let his gaze travel slowly across the people assembled there.

“Later, I realized she wasn’t actually trying to collect the full set of puzzles.”

Su Man knit her brows. “Then what is she trying to do?”

“It’s a goal,” Yan Qingwen replied. “A goal powerful enough to unite the people around her, and to bring hope.”

Su Man looked at him, sensing she half understood — yet also sensing she still didn’t quite grasp it.

Yan Qingwen said: “A goal that carries real worth generates an enormous driving force inside the heart. As long as that force exists, even if they were to die on the road someday, they wouldn’t regret it.

Whereas if we stay here — day after day completing tasks handed down by superiors, going by the book to clear games assigned by the organization — nothing about our situation will ever change.

And as for the doll game, we will never find any answers here.”

“Brother Yan, staying here doesn’t mean giving up on finding answers! There is still hope here!” Su Man said urgently. “Professor Song’s research group has never stopped studying the doll game!”

“That’s for them — not for us.” Yan Qingwen looked at her with a calm steadiness. “Staying here isn’t called seeking answers. It’s called waiting for answers. Su Man, you should understand — both Lu Ang and I detest sitting idle waiting for fate to decide things.”

Su Man’s eyes reddened. “But… the odds of survival out there, they’re really very low…”

“Actually…” Zhu Shu murmured softly, “the way we are now, we can’t even really call it living.”

Su Man looked at her.

Zhu Shu said: “We’re just not dead yet.”

Everyone fell silent.

After a moment, Yan Qingwen smiled gently: “Human beings can never shake their curiosity or the spirit of adventure buried in their bones. Since the world has become what it is, we might as well live according to our own will — so that when death comes, there will be no regrets or sorrow. Su Man, don’t try to persuade us anymore.”

Su Man bit her lower lip and said nothing more, head bowed.

Lu Ang laughed at himself self-deprecatingly: “If I’d known we’d be collecting puzzles, I never should have made that bet with that girl back then. Alas — five puzzle pieces gone in one shot!”

Yan Qingwen laughed alongside him, then turned to look at Zhu Shu beside him: “Scared?”

Zhu Shu shook her head gently. “As long as you don’t find me a burden.”

Su Man watched them, her expression growing more and more dejected.

All of them had escaped death again and again together. Despite the occasional friction and arguments, the bond between them was anything but ordinary. If there were any way, she genuinely didn’t want to part ways.

But unfortunately…

Every feast must end.

……

The night grew deeper.

The temperature hadn’t cooled with the onset of night. The air remained damp and stifling, leaving everyone coated in a film of sticky sweat, unbearably uncomfortable.

Bai Youwei sat in the pitch-dark living room, hugging her plush rabbit.

Teacher Cheng, Tan Xiao, and Pan Xiaoxin had all fallen asleep inside the doll house, but she couldn’t sleep — she kept coming out from time to time, worried Shen Mo might return and not find anyone.

Shen Mo still hadn’t come back.

The apartment next door, however, had welcomed several visitors.

One of them had the foresight that, after finding Unit 102 empty, to pry open Unit 101’s door as well.

But Bai Youwei had retreated into the doll house at the first sound, and the person searched the three-bedroom apartment from top to bottom, found nothing, and left in frustration.

He should count himself lucky. The sweltering weather had made Bai Youwei sluggish and lazy, too idle to lift even a finger, so she let him go.

At three in the morning, Shen Mo finally returned.

—