Duan Chen, at this moment, suddenly realized he had overlooked something.
Who said only a few of them would be here?
What if there were others they hadn't discovered?
That was a good question.
Jun Ci, as perceptive as Duan Chen, reacted almost instantly upon noticing this.
His expression turned grim, and he spoke.
"Who said other people couldn't appear here?"
His words fell into silence.
Yuan Yuan suddenly realized what he had just said, his small face turning pale.
Right.
Who was to say others couldn't be here?
It was preposterous, utterly baffling.
He became flustered, looking at his sister's unconscious form. "Then what do we do?"
If that were the case, wouldn't it mean they were already exposed to others' sight?
Duan Chen didn't ponder this question for long.
He shook his head.
"No matter what we do, we are now in the open." The unsaid part was that he suspected the zoo wouldn't be just a competition between them and the NPCs.
Could it be a team battle?
This thought, once it arose, spread like wild grass, occupying Duan Chen's entire mind.
He took a shallow breath, trying not to appear too tense, and turned to Hill, who stood nearby.
"When will your other teammates arrive?"
Hill tilted his head, not quite understanding, his expression one of innocent confusion.
"Do they need to arrive soon?"
"No."
Duan Chen shook his head in negation. "I don't mean they need to hurry here. I mean we need to find a way to leave the zoo as quickly as possible and rendezvous outside."
Hill pondered for a moment, then turned his gaze to Monsalia.
They seemed to communicate something, though neither spoke, their eyes meeting.
It was like a legendary telepathic connection.
At that moment, everyone remained silent, not disturbing the two.
A moment later, Hill came back to himself and said.
"It's fine, the fastest among them will still need about three days."
Three days.
That was ample time.
Duan Chen breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"All things considered, the most important thing is that we've actually met up in the secret realm."
Yuan Yuan gratefully hugged his sister.
At this moment, he was exceptionally thankful to Hill, because without Hill, his arm wouldn't have recovered, and he would have had to trouble his captain or someone else to carry his sister.
Facing the grateful look from the young boy, Hill felt nothing.
She looked seriously at the sky, shaking her head, lost in thought.
Duan Chen stepped forward then, taking charge.
He issued instructions.
"Qin Nanyuan and Yuan Qingqing, both are injured. You two will lead your respective people. Hill, you'll come with me."
Though he said this, Hill, despite being healthy, was truthfully not much better than the severely injured Qin Nanyuan.
Indeed, the girl with completely unbalanced senses was truly worrying.
An interesting situation was forming.
Three men were each going to lead a woman.
Yet, the women they were taking were not their romantic partners.
As for Monsalia...
Monsalia gently raised her hand, pulling down the cloth strip from her cheek, revealing a well-formed mouth.
Her voice was pleasant.
"You don't need to trouble this captain, I can walk myself."
This was the first time they had heard Monsalia's voice.
Being able to walk on her own naturally brought some relief. Duan Chen didn't stubbornly insist on taking Monsalia.
His spiritual energy reserves were extremely low, almost to an appalling degree. Under such circumstances, keeping Hill by his side was the limit of what he could do.
A total of seven people, their objective to escape the zoo.
Though it seemed somewhat laughable, given they were all top experts in the outside world, in this place that was someone else's domain, only by successfully escaping the zoo could both sides stand on the same level and compete.
Otherwise, if the situation remained unbalanced, how could there be fair competition?
"But how can we leave the zoo?"
Yuan Yuan asked worriedly, holding his sister.
This question had been asked before, and their previous answer had been very complex. This time, however, there was a different answer.
"Force our way out."
That was what Duan Chen said.
His eyes sparkled with intelligence.
"What I was worried about before is no longer a concern, because we are not fighting against the true rules, but against another group of people."
Since that was the case, he didn't need to dwell on it incessantly.
Humans would be more cunning than the grotesque.
But humans were not as familiar with their own rules as the grotesque.
If it were humans, then there was much potential.
It was only when Duan Chen learned this that he truly relaxed.
After much deliberation in his mind, he settled on one thing.
"We'll go this way."
"Be careful, be extremely careful."
The group moved stealthily, sticking close to the walls. Now that everyone was accounted for, there were no further hidden worries.
Duan Chen considered even more things.
After walking for a stretch, he suddenly thought of something.
"Has anyone seen Qin Wuji?"
Upon hearing this name, Qin Nanyuan instinctively froze. Jun Ci's expression turned unpleasant, his brow furrowing slightly in confusion.
"Why bother with him?"
Duan Chen shook his head.
"It's not that I care about him, but I suddenly thought, among those who were supposed to be rescued, why specifically Qin Wuji?"
"Was it really because of his poor relationship with them? If this secret realm knows even such things, then..."
Then they would have no chance of escape.
But if the secret realm didn't know, why would Qin Wuji appear here?
Jun Ci was not a fool.
A glint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
"Captain, you mean..."
Duan Chen nodded. "Exactly, that's what I mean. So, should we leave the zoo first, or should we first resolve some of your past lingering issues?"
Those who didn't understand would naturally not understand. At least Yuan Yuan was still somewhat bewildered.
However, Jun Ci had already fallen into contemplation.
And at this moment.