She had already taken up quite a bit of his time, and it wasn't until one of the bodyguards reminded him,
"Mr. Lu, we need to go."
that Chu Yian looked up, her eyes swollen and red, still hiccupping from crying.
"W-Where are you going?"
She had thought she'd finally found her people. She'd even planned to bring him back to her apartment complex.
"Mr. Lu, our itinerary is classified,"
another bodyguard said.
At this stage of the game, only individuals on the list were allowed entry into the Safe Zone.
Anyone who revealed the Safe Zone's location would not only lose their qualification, but would also be eliminated to protect the secret.
"You heard them. I can't tell you,"
Lu Qingyuan said, his voice as cold and flat as in the previous rounds of the game.
No—wait. They hadn't even become close in this round yet.
This was their first encounter in this cycle. He didn't even know who she was.
"It's okay… you should go,"
Chu Yian said quietly.
"Just make sure you bring enough food and water!"
"Bye…"
She widened her eyes to hold back tears, but they still spilled out in big droplets. Her lips trembled from holding back her sobs, and her chubby cheeks quivered along with them.
She looked…
So pitiful.
And somehow, also adorably heartbreaking.
For the first time, this thought crossed Lu Qingyuan's mind.
He suddenly found it difficult to imagine this girl dying out there—alone, in a world collapsing into chaos and cannibalism.
He reached out and gently took her hand, pulling her into a soft hug. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear,
"I can't tell you where I'm going. But don't be afraid. Smart people survive."
With that, he turned and got into the car.
Chu Yian stood frozen, staring at the black vehicle as it pulled away.
Her grief-dazed mind slowly started to clear.
Teacher Lu had always held a powerful role in each of the past games.
Was he being taken to the Safe Zone?
"Smart people survive…"
She repeated his words in her mind, then slowly opened her left hand.
Inside her palm… was a small platinum badge, slipped to her by Teacher Lu without anyone noticing.
It bore a strange emblem she had never seen before.
Was this his way of giving her a clue to the Safe Zone?
Chu Yian quickly tucked the badge into her pocket. She took one last look down the road he had gone, then pulled herself together, climbed onto her tricycle, and slowly pedaled back home.
Back at her apartment, Chu Yian immediately began researching the symbol on the badge.
She stayed glued to her computer for hours.
By the time the streetlights outside flickered on, she realized she'd been sitting there all day.
But no matter how much she searched, the symbol yielded zero results.
Nothing even close.
"Ugh…"
With a long sigh, she stood up to stretch and decided to make herself something to eat.
Actually, one of the reasons she had stockpiled so much food was because of Teacher Lu.
After meeting him in the last two rounds, she couldn't help but think—what if she met him again, but didn't have enough food to share?
Well, now he was gone.
But maybe that wasn't so bad.
At least he was safe.
And now she had less pressure to hoard supplies.
Besides, he'd even given her a clue to survival, despite barely knowing her.
It was hard… but he was such a cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside good guy!
Smiling faintly, Chu Yian pulled out one of her last three hot pot spice packs.
She hadn't felt like eating at lunch, but now she was suddenly craving hot pot.
She washed her hands, disinfected everything, then grabbed some rabbit meat, shrimp, and a small portion of her dried mushrooms.
The dried mushrooms were one of her few vegetable ingredients, and she couldn't bear to use too many.
She poured out just a third, quickly sealed the bag, and shoved it back into the fridge.
That night, the little kitchen filled with rich aroma.
The hot pot bubbled away. Chu Yian tossed in chunks of rabbit meat, shrimp, and dried mushrooms.
After so long without a proper meal, this was divine.
The rabbit meat was tender and fragrant, the shrimp bouncy and juicy.
The mushrooms soaked up the broth until they were bursting with flavor. One bite and the juice exploded in her mouth.
The rich aroma of chili oil, numbing spice, and savory broth danced across her tongue—hot, spicy, and deeply satisfying.
Even though it made her want to cough, she couldn't stop herself.
Every swallow felt like a spiritual cleanse.
So good.
Food really did heal the soul.
Her mood, which had been low all day, lifted.
Maybe it was a good thing that Teacher Lu had left early—now she got to keep all the food to herself.
And if she wanted to keep eating good food?
She had to stay alive.
That thought lit a fire in her.
She couldn't let herself spiral into despair again.
Chu Yian took out the badge from earlier and made a rubbing of the pattern with pencil and paper.
She was determined to find out what it meant.
Of course, the easiest way would be to ask someone.
But if she did that, the pattern might spread.
Would that affect Teacher Lu?
What if someone cracked the code and didn't tell her?
Or worse—what if they figured it out and told too many people, causing the Safe Zone to be overrun and shut down?
Weighing all the uncertain factors, Chu Yian decided it was safest to keep the clue to herself and find answers quietly.
Generally, emblems carried symbolic meaning—letters, landmarks, mascots, or specific items.
In the days that followed, Chu Yian barely left her apartment.
She threw herself into decoding the badge. Her living room was covered in sketches and diagrams.
She was tracing the pattern for the umpteenth time when—
A man's voice suddenly yelled from below, startling her so much she flung the pen across the room.
"The super mold has infected the seeds! Humanity is finished!"
"Humanity is finished!"
"HUMANITY IS FINISHED!!"
Startled, Chu Yian opened her window and looked down.
A well-dressed man in a suit and tie—his hair thinning, a briefcase in hand—was shouting at the top of his lungs.
He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown, with his wife behind him, trying in vain to calm him down.
"The super mold isn't just rotting food—it's infecting entire crops!
All the grain still in the fields this year has already gone moldy!
Even the government's grain reserves are ruined!
And this mold is deadly—just 500 milligrams of ingestion will cause instant organ failure!"
"They're lying when they say we still have food!
Every major grain silo is filled with rot—not even the rats can survive inside!"
"The factories have no raw materials! Nothing can be processed anymore!
The farms have no feed—most of the livestock is starving!"
"Millions will starve to death.
The elite few have already retreated into the Safe Zone!"
The man's voice broke as he screamed:
"We're finished! It's over!"