“There are so many people in the competition zone — I refuse to believe every single one of them is refusing to sell strategies!” Ada grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, expression cold, and yanked the door open. “I’m going out for a look around. I’ll be back before dinner.”

Natasha was silent for a moment, then rose to her feet as well. “…I’ll go out too.”

The two of them filed out one after the other.

Yuri watched their retreating figures, let out a quiet breath, and turned to Shen Mo. “Honestly, when I think about it now — we should have seen something like this coming. The others out there can see we’re about to take the spots away from them. Trying to extort us while they still can — that’s entirely predictable. We were the ones who weren’t careful enough.”

Shen Mo considered for a moment. “Which dungeons are left?”

Yuri picked up a page from the low table and held it out to Shen Mo. “34. At this count, if we have strategies, we could probably clear them in about a month. Without strategies — it gets considerably more complicated.”

The competition zone had over a hundred dungeons in total, and on average a new one was added every six months. For a squad to clear every dungeon, time was one factor — but strategies were a critically important part of the equation.

At the very least, before entering a dungeon, you needed to know the environment, the climate, and the nature of the creatures inside.

You might pack plenty of ammunition only to arrive and find the boss dwelling at the bottom of a body of water. Or you might bring ample fuel only to find the dungeon trapped in ice and snow, the fuel freezing solid on the spot.

To put it simply: without a strategy, you were dead in the water.

Shen Mo and Bai Youwei were both newcomers who had only recently arrived. They had no connections here whatsoever. When it came to hunting down strategies, everything depended on Yuri, Ada, and Natasha.

“If someone is deliberately working against us, Ada and Natasha will likely come back empty-handed,” Shen Mo said to Yuri. “Do you have a plan?”

Yuri thought for a moment, then said, “I intend to reach out to some old friends and have them purchase the strategies on our behalf. As long as we’re not the ones making the transactions, it might work.”

“Are they trustworthy?” Shen Mo asked.

Yuri didn’t answer at once. He was quiet for a moment, then gave a slow nod. “We haven’t been in contact for a while, but we have a bond forged in life and death. They should be trustworthy.”

Shen Mo glanced over the list of dungeon names, committed it to memory, then set it back on the table. He said quietly, “If it ever comes to the point where we seriously need to consider restructuring the team — give us as much notice as possible. Both of us together.”

Together they would stay, or together they would go.

Yuri pressed his lips briefly together, and said in a low voice, “…Don’t worry. It won’t come to that.”

Shen Mo said nothing further. He turned and went back upstairs.

……

Shen Mo felt that even if Yuri genuinely removed him from the squad one day, he wouldn’t hold any resentment toward him. It had nothing to do with magnanimity — it was because he and the others had one very fundamental difference:

He had very little longing for the Upper World.

Unlike Yuri, who missed a daughter waiting for him in the Upper World. Unlike Ada, who had a vague, half-formed memory of a fiancée somewhere. Unlike Natasha, who despised the deeply hostile environment the competition zone imposed on women.

Everything he yearned for and searched for — he had already found.

Right here.

Right at his side.

The bedroom door opened. Bai Youwei was sprawled across the bed playing with stuffed animals — the plush rabbits he had retrieved from the claw machine were arranged neatly alongside her own rabbit.

When she heard the door, she turned her head to look at him for a moment, then looked away again and went back to adjusting the rabbits.

“What happened downstairs?” she asked, fussing with one rabbit’s bow tie.

“Someone has covertly united the people in the competition zone against us — they’re refusing to trade strategies with our squad. Yuri is working on a solution. Ada and Natasha have gone out, likely to gather intelligence.”

Shen Mo explained the situation in a few words, then crossed to the bed and settled an arm around her waist. “Yuri is planning to ask a friend to help purchase the strategies under another name.”

“Is it someone he can trust?” Bai Youwei asked, the same question as Shen Mo.

Shen Mo gave a slight shake of his head. “Not certain. Yuri says it should be fine.”

“That better be the case,” Bai Youwei said seriously. “Otherwise, what he’s doing could make things significantly worse.”

—