Chapter 938: Chapter Thirty-Nine: Mortal Enemy (Sixth Update)

The tree hollow was spacious, at least ten square meters, and Su Xiao was resting on a blanket.

Without Alice’s doppelgänger threatening him, becoming a Contracted One would be the safest option, but with Alice’s doppelgänger watching him, Su Xiao couldn’t act rashly.

Su Xiao couldn’t move rashly, and Alice’s doppelgänger hadn’t come to confront him either—simply because the forest differed from a sealed room; in a sealed room, Su Xiao’s sword swings were restricted, and Alice’s doppelgänger could overwhelm him with ranged and close-range summoning abilities, but in the forest, victory wasn’t guaranteed for either side.

After a few hours of rest, Su Xiao rose, patted Bubu Wang, and signaled for it to rest.

Sitting at the entrance of the hollow, Su Xiao began his daily meditation; during meditation, his sensory awareness of the surroundings was heightened, so he wasn’t worried about ambushes.

As he had long suspected, meditating in a natural environment yielded better results—this was still an artificial natural setting; in a purely natural one, the effect would be even greater.

Time passed slowly; while other players struggled to find food, Su Xiao had already gathered more than he could eat, and for fresh water, he had harassed the Star- Ji crabs until they moved, leaving him with an endless supply.

The sun blazed overhead—Strong Man’s Forest had only this one kind of weather—and Su Xiao sat inside the hollow, holding a tablet, playing a puzzle game.

At that moment, the Lunhuileyuan ’s notification appeared.

Receiving the Lunhuileyuan ’s notification, Su Xiao was surprised—the time had passed faster than he’d expected.

“Is the fourth game this simple?”

Su Xiao picked up a bucket of fresh water, washed up—among all the players, only he dared use fresh water like this inside Strong Man’s Forest.

The man and the dog walked toward the edge of Strong Man’s Forest; soon, Su Xiao arrived near the small wooden cabin, where someone had already arrived—it was… Fatty Qian?

Fatty Qian’s appearance had changed drastically; once his entire body was bulging with fat, now he was merely slightly overweight; based on past experience, he’d regain his fat reserves soon.

“Looks like you’ve had a good five days.”

Fatty Qian chewed on dried meat, his expression slightly weary.

“Not bad—at least I got enough sleep.”

The three brothers of the national football team walked out of the forest; seeing them, Fatty Qian smirked.

“Hey… hi.”

The eldest brother gave a nervous greeting; all three brothers had black eyes and swollen faces.

In fact, the three brothers had fought Fatty Qian and been thoroughly beaten; among the seven, Fatty Qian’s combat strength ranked second only to Su Xiao’s.

From the youngest brother’s sallow, emaciated appearance, it was clear his food had been stolen by Fatty Qian.

“Looks like we’re going to compete for points.”

The gold-rimmed glasses man and the detective little girl emerged from the forest; the man had lost one arm, and the detective little girl staggered, on the verge of fainting.

All seven gathered—now came the point-competition phase; the wolf butler had been waiting for them by the cabin.

“Seven of you, congratulations on surviving Strong Man’s Forest—this is rare in the history of the game. Now, I will announce your game points.”

The wolf butler pulled a parchment scroll from his chest, unfurled it, and narrowed his eyes.

“First, the player with the fewest game points is…”

The wolf butler scanned the group, savoring the dramatic pause.

“The one with the fewest points is… Cocoa Bean.”

Cocoa Bean was the detective little girl’s alias—everyone had learned this in the third game.

Upon hearing this, the detective little girl’s lips parted; beside her, the one-armed gold-rimmed glasses man laughed.

“Sorry, but for survival, everyone is selfish. Goodbye—no, farewell, little Cocoa Bean.”

The gold-rimmed glasses man laughed heartily; during the five-day survival, he’d spent most of his time fleeing—from the “guests” hunting him.

Those “guests” were cowardly bullies; they dared not chase Su Xiao, drenched in blood, and Fatty Qian didn’t attract many attacks either; the three football brothers weren’t afraid of pursuit—their hammer tactics were too strong. So only the detective little girl and the gold-rimmed glasses man remained.

They had cooperated because both knew: the player with the fewest points would likely be one of them. They weren’t teammates—they were rivals, enemies competing for survival.

To understand your enemy, stay close to them—both thought this way, so they teamed up.

“Cocoa Bean is eliminated.”

No sooner had the wolf butler spoken than the detective little girl raised her hand: “Wait.”

“Don’t struggle pointlessly—it’s undignified. We’ve cooperated for a long time. Be graceful.”

The gold-rimmed glasses man’s smile vanished.

“I offer this artifact to Alice.”

The detective little girl pulled out a crimson crystal; the wolf butler’s eyes lit up at the mineral.

“This is a fragment of the artificial sun. Where did you get this?”

The wolf butler stepped forward quickly.

“Inside the stomach of a wild beast. If I’m correct, this artificial sun fell once before—look closely and you’ll see it’s missing a corner, and there are no weather changes. After observation, judgment, and deduction, I concluded the wolf butler might need this.”

The detective little girl’s breathing grew rapid; she was gambling—betting this item was valuable. It was her only chance.

“When did you acquire this?”

The gold-rimmed glasses man’s face darkened.

“While you were rushing to finish off the incapacitated guests.”

“….”

The gold-rimmed glasses man fell silent.

“This is indeed a fragment of the artificial sun. Because it’s missing, the artificial sun in Strong Man’s Forest cannot be shut down—hence why the forest has only midday weather.”

The wolf butler took the artificial sun fragment from the detective little girl and contacted someone; after a long pause, he spoke.

“You have two choices: receive ten thousand game points, or avoid elimination and receive a reward from Queen Alice.”

The two choices were obvious—but before the detective little girl could choose, the gold-rimmed glasses man spoke.

“Cocoa Bean, congratulations on receiving Queen Alice’s reward—it must be substantial.”

The gold-rimmed glasses man clenched his teeth with a grinding sound.

“Wosh, we’ve already been mortal enemies since the moment we chose to team up—when we learned only six could pass. Rather than face a mortal enemy later, I’m not interested in that reward. Wolf butler—I choose ten thousand game points.”

“You—”

The gold-rimmed glasses man lunged forward, grabbed the detective little girl’s neck with one hand, and lifted her off the ground.

Her feet dangled in the air; her dusty face showed no expression.

“Wosh, goodbye—no, farewell. You look too pathetic, Wosh.”

Even as she said “Wosh,” her voice remained sweet.

“Game points have changed—the eliminated player is now Wosh.”

The wolf butler’s face remained expressionless, despite his personal friendship with the gold-rimmed glasses man.

The gold-rimmed glasses man threw the detective little girl aside; he realized players couldn’t harm each other now. He rushed to the wolf butler, grabbed his collar.

“Wolf butler, our previous deal—”

Before he finished, iron chains descended from the sky and bound him.

“We never had any deal.”

The wolf butler slapped his hand away, adjusted his collar; the iron chains tightened, forcibly dragging the gold-rimmed glasses man away.

“No!!”

CRACK— the gold-rimmed glasses man was crushed into a mist of blood, leaving only a bloodstained pair of glasses on the ground.

Did the gold-rimmed glasses man truly have no deal with the wolf butler? Of course not—they had a deal. But the detective little girl had higher personal favor with the wolf butler!

“Now, let’s tally the player with the highest game points.”

Hearing the wolf butler’s words, the detective little girl’s breath quickened—she had over ten thousand game points; the highest scorer could choose any single item from Alice’s treasury.