As the figure drew closer, the three finally made out… it was Xiao Ma Ge.

At this moment, Tianma Xingkong was covered in dust, looking rather disheveled. He held a silver torch in his hand, the top of which was burning with a strange green fire.

"Eh?" Xiao Ma Ge quickly spotted his teammates as well. "Sure enough, it's you guys. When I saw the flashlight beam, I guessed it was you."

"Are you okay?" Feichai Shu asked.

"I'm alright. I ran into some monsters and traps along the way, but the loss of Survival Value wasn't too great," Tianma Xingkong replied.

The four exchanged a few brief words before turning back toward the sacrificial hall.

Along the way, Feichai Shu and the others explained the events after encountering Feng Bu Jue, while Tianma Xingkong recounted his own experiences. Just as Jue Ge had predicted, Tianma Xingkong had indeed been teleported away during the time the other four were trapped. Of course, he didn't know anything about the switcheroo, and he was completely clueless about how he had suddenly entered the temple.

As they walked and talked, the group quickly returned to the sacrificial hall. Stepping through the archway, they could see Feng Bu Jue and Mimic Soul beside the altar.

Several tens of minutes had passed, and the two of them were still chatting away, seemingly deeply engrossed in their conversation…

"Oh, you're back pretty quickly." When Jue Ge caught sight of his four teammates, he stopped talking with Mimic Soul and turned to his companions, saying, "I told you choosing the second option was the right way to go. The mission is easily completed now."

"Well… now that you're all here…" Mimic Soul swept his gaze across the players and continued, "I guess it's about time for me to leave as well."

"Don't you want to chat some more?" Feng Bu Jue asked.

"Hmph… don't take me for a fool, Feng Bu Jue," Mimic Soul said. "I know what you're scheming. I'm just cooperating with you to put your mind at ease."

"Heh heh… okay…" Feng Bu Jue smiled. "Then… I won't see you off."

"I don't need you to see me off…" Mimic Soul said, then seemed to remember something. He immediately added, "I see you're a pretty sensible fellow, so I might as well give you a free piece of advice…" He paused, his tone changing slightly. "If you encounter the 'Heart of Fear', it's best to run away as fast as you can. You 'humans' are no match for it."

Before the words had even faded, Mimic Soul had vanished from before their eyes.

"What's going on?" Jibu asked in confusion. "Is it trying to mislead us? The Heart of Fear should be one of its companions, so why would it give us a warning like that?"

"Who knows…" Feichai Shu replied. "Maybe the relationship between the four guardians isn't as simple as we thought."

"That's right. Just because Mimic Soul and Tuoyin Zhi Shou (Hand of Impression) are on good terms, it doesn't mean the four guardians are all like that," Feng Bu Jue said as he turned to his teammates. "Besides… the guardians' duty isn't to kill people. It's perfectly normal for them to give us a warning."

"That's not right… when we were in the Rock-Paper-Scissors domain earlier, if Tuoyin Zhi Shou (Hand of Impression) had successfully imprinted all of us on the ground, we would have been collectively screwed when the mission time limit ran out," Jibu countered.

"That's not their concern," Feng Bu Jue replied. "System obliteration and things like that are only effective on us players, and they have nothing to do with the rules of Ju Mo Island (Chewing Demon Island)." He spread out his hands. "Think about it carefully… if the guardians' goal was to kill us, we would have already been wiped out…"

"Mm… that's true," Honghu adjusted his glasses and chimed in. "Take that Mimic Soul for example. If it wanted to kill us, it could have just teleported us to the bottom of the Ghost Swamp. It wouldn't have drowned there itself, anyway."

"You didn't have to say that…" Jibu shuddered upon hearing this. "Now that you mention it, I'm actually a little scared…"

"By the way, what did Mimic Soul mean when it said that to you earlier?" Honghu turned to Jue Ge again. "What did it mean by 'I know what you're scheming'?"

"Oh… that?" Feng Bu Jue chuckled. "Heh… why do you think I was chatting with it for so long?"

"Because the two of you share the same anti-human ideals?" Honghu quipped at the opportune moment.

"It was to prevent it from pulling the same trick again, wasn't it?" Feichai Shu interjected from the side.

*Snap-* Feng Bu Jue snapped his fingers, then casually pointed at Feichai Shu. "Insightful."

Although he was praised, Feichai Shu wouldn't get as smug as Jue Ge would. He simply continued his explanation in his usual tone: "If we had let Mimic Soul leave immediately after arriving at the altar, then this might have happened… it would have teleported somewhere else, disguised itself as Tianma Xingkong again, and then mingled back in with us."

"I see…" Honghu understood upon hearing this. He glanced at Jue Ge again. "You used the conversation to stall it, thereby preventing it from pulling the same trick again."

"That's right, that's how it is." Feng Bu Jue tilted his head, making a helpless expression. "But… then again, this Mimic Soul's intelligence is really high… for it to say something like 'I'm just cooperating with you to put your mind at ease' means that it had already seen through my intentions." Jue Ge scratched his head. "Mm… NPCs with this level of intelligence and personality completion are most likely unique data. They should be in the same category as some of the troublesome guys I've encountered before…"

"Whatever about that," Tianma Xingkong interrupted at this moment. "Right now, there's a very serious problem that we need to address as a priority!"

"What problem?" His teammates all turned to look at him and asked in unison.

"I'm hungry." Xiao Ma Ge's answer was crisp and concise, his three words domineering to the extreme.

The other four all staggered, nearly tripping over themselves on the flat ground.

"Now that you mention it…" Feng Bu Jue muttered, "Counting from when we entered the scenario, it has indeed been nearly four hours. Even if the system defaulted our status to 'just ate a full meal' back then, we should be feeling hungry by now…"

Some things are best left unsaid. It wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't been mentioned, but now that it was, it became especially noticeable.

"Ah… I suddenly feel like my legs are sore, and I'm super hungry…" Jibu said, simply sitting down cross-legged.

"The physical exertion from earlier was indeed significant…" Feichai Shu's hand instinctively moved to his abdomen as well. "From the Leech Forest to the Taunting Tree Forest, then crossing the Ghost Swamp, and finally entering the temple… the distance we've traveled alone must be immense. In real life, we might not even be able to walk this far in a day."

"Mm… there's something I've been wanting to say, but I haven't had a suitable opportunity until now," Honghu added. "I've noticed that… my Stamina Value seems to be depleting much faster than in a normal scenario." He paused. "I suppose… it's also due to this scenario's special settings…"

"Fatigue, thirst…" Feng Bu Jue licked his lips. "The real threat seems to be surfacing…" As he spoke, he also sat down cross-legged and looked up at Tianma Xingkong, saying, "Xiao Ma Ge, when you walked into this great hall, the Main Quest had already been completed, right?"

"That's right," Tianma Xingkong replied.

"Mm… okay…" Feng Bu Jue muttered thoughtfully. "I estimate that… the next Main Quest will appear in one of two possible time frames… either ten minutes after 'all players complete the previous quest'; or ten minutes after the 'fixed time limit for the previous quest', namely 'three hours', has fully elapsed." He sighed. "Hopefully, it's the latter. At least we can use those extra two-plus hours to rest."

"Hard to say…" Feichai Shu replied. "Since it's Team Nightmare Mode, it's best to prepare for the worst."

"Heh heh… I understand that, of course," Feng Bu Jue said. "That's why I said 'hopefully' it's like that…"

"The key is still food and water…" Tianma Xingkong said. "Sitting around doing nothing without eating or drinking is the same as not resting, isn't it?"

"Well said." Feng Bu Jue chuckled and countered with a question, "Do you have any food on you?"

"Ha! Nope!" Tianma Xingkong replied in a clear voice. A hero is a hero, his nature is so frank, so open-minded.

"Alright…" Feng Bu Jue shrugged helplessly. He scanned his teammates and asked again, "Does anyone have any food or water with them?"