In the days that followed, I worked hard to familiarize myself with the new changes in “Taoyuan”… Sorry, I can never seem to break the habit.

What I mean is, the changes in the “Land of End.”

That evening, I went to that dark, foul-smelling basement to see Chu Tianqiu and told him through the door about what had happened today.

Not only had Qi Xia arrived, but he had also brought eight other teammates with him.

Chu Tianqiu didn’t ask about Qi Xia’s teammates. He just kept staring at me with a smile—a smile that made my heart uneasy.

“What is it?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Xiao Nian, can you help me with one more thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“I want to know what ‘scent’ they carry on them.”

“Scent…?” Chu Tianqiu’s words left me completely baffled. “You mean Qi Xia?”

“No, not just Qi Xia.” Chu Tianqiu smiled. “I want to know the ‘scent’ of everyone in Qi Xia’s room.”

“But I don’t understand…”

“You don’t need to understand.” Chu Tianqiu smiled. “Just go and smell the ‘scent’ on them, then come back and describe it to me. The more detailed, the better.”

As I said before, I could never figure out what Chu Tianqiu was thinking.

“All right, I understand. I’ll go gather them all together.”

“You…” Chu Tianqiu’s expression changed slightly as he spoke again, “It needs to be kept secret.”

Secret?

That meant I had to secretly sniff the scent of everyone in Qi Xia’s room without being discovered by them.

For a moment, I didn’t even know what was going on anymore. Who was negotiating terms with whom? And who was using whom?

“Xiao Nian, you understand, don’t you… If I expose you now, I’m not the one who’ll suffer.” Chu Tianqiu seemed to read my thoughts, then smiled softly and slowly approached the door. “I can do things without needing your ‘core,’ but right now you need my ‘shell.’ I’m wronging myself by hiding in this dark basement, so you should pay something in return for me.”

Hearing this, I let out a deep sigh and then nodded.

Yes, Chu Tianqiu wasn’t wrong. The initiative was in his hands, not mine. If he was determined to expose my identity, I would be the only one to suffer.

But this situation wouldn’t last forever. I couldn’t remain this passive forever.

“I understand. I’ll go right now,” I agreed.

“Wait. Lock the door when you leave,” Chu Tianqiu added.

I, who was about to leave, slowly stopped when I heard this and looked down at the basement door lock.

The lock could only be secured from the outside. The person inside would be completely unable to get out.

“Tianqiu, why do you always ask me to lock the door every time I leave?”

“Naturally, it’s to put your mind at ease,” Chu Tianqiu answered. “If you lock the door, I won’t be able to get out. I won’t interfere with anything you need to do. Doesn’t that show my sincerity?”

It was strange to think about. Clearly, I was the one locking up Chu Tianqiu, yet I always had an ominous premonition, as if once that lock was fastened, I would be the one imprisoned.

But if I locked him up… what harm could it possibly do to me?

After thinking through countless scenarios, I couldn’t come up with any outcome that would be disadvantageous to me, so I decisively reached out and locked the basement door.

“That’s right, Xiao Nian.” Chu Tianqiu smiled through the door. “We need to show each other sincerity in order to complete a cooperation that satisfies both parties.”

Without another word, I left the room and began thinking of a strategy.

Fortunately, everyone in Qi Xia’s room was staying in one room together. As long as I could find a way to sneak into their room, I should be able to collect the “scent” from everyone all at once.

Still, I didn’t understand why Chu Tianqiu would suddenly be curious about the “scent” on them.

Although we had been reincarnating in the “Land of End,” our physical bodies were constantly being refreshed, always carrying the “scent” of the real world. Was Chu Tianqiu trying to understand their past through their scent?

Carrying the dagger I usually used and having taken a rope from the storage room, I made my way to the corridor under cover of night. By now, all the bonfires in the classrooms had been extinguished.

I tied the rope horizontally across the corridor in advance, then approached Qi Xia’s room.

Fortunately, the night here was extremely dark. I couldn’t even see my own hand in front of my face, let alone could anyone else see me.

Opening the door, with a crisp muffled sound, I stepped into the room.

Although visibility was poor, I could clearly sense they were sleeping soundly, so I walked a few steps forward to the person closest to the door.

I reached out to touch that person’s hair and felt that she was female, then leaned down to smell. She had no scent whatsoever.

I didn’t think much of it and quickly moved to the second person. This person had a large build and was snoring loudly in their sleep—clearly a strong, powerful man.

Just as I was about to smell his scent, I suddenly felt something was wrong.

This was only the second day after everyone’s rebirth… Why did that woman earlier have absolutely no scent?

As a human being, was it possible to have no scent at all?

Even if she had recently bathed or changed clothes, there should at least be some lingering fragrance on her. If she hadn’t taken care of herself in a long time, naturally her scent would be somewhat unpleasant.

So why did she have no scent at all?

“Strange…” I muttered softly.

I knew this opportunity was fleeting. Even if she had no scent, there was no need to dwell on it. I just needed to report everything exactly as it was to Chu Tianqiu.

With that thought, I sniffed the robust man in front of me again. His scent wasn’t pleasant—heavy with the smell of cigarettes and body odor, as if he hadn’t bathed in many days.

I turned around and realized my eyes had roughly adjusted to the darkness, so I surveyed the people lying in the room.

It felt a bit strange. If I wasn’t mistaken… there were eight people in the room?

I felt a chill run down my spine. It was already pitch black outside. Had someone gone out in the middle of the night?

It was possible I had miscounted. I extended my fingers and counted very carefully. There were indeed eight people.

One person wasn’t sleeping here.

If he wasn’t sleeping here and couldn’t have possibly gone outside, then where could he be?

I knew things were getting tricky. This situation appearing in any other room wouldn’t be surprising, but this was Qi Xia’s room.

A small coincidence was clearly a fatal flaw.

Realizing this, I immediately abandoned everything and rushed toward the door behind me. At that moment, a dark figure also instantly sprang into action, likewise running toward the door.

His goal was to close the door. I just needed to be one step faster than him.

When he realized it was too late to close the door, he instantly reached out to grab me. I dodged in the first instant, then ran sprinting down the corridor.