Chapter 13 Decision

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tong's lips tightened, as if wanting to say something, but after glancing at Lin Muyun and Lin Muwan, the brother and sister, she hesitated, a trace of entanglement surfacing in her eyes.

"We've already escaped from Yourun Building, why hasn't the mission ended yet?" Jiang Cheng was most concerned about this point, he couldn't quite understand it.

"Jiang-ge." Huai Yi interjected with a strange expression, "The mission... the mission has actually already ended."

Jiang Cheng noticed that after he asked this question, everyone's gazes were focused on the backpack in his hand, each with a strange look in their eyes.

Jiang Cheng curiously opened the backpack. Inside was an alarm clock, a black velvet pouch, and a flat, wooden box slightly larger than a pencil case.

The pouch made a "rustling" sound when picked up. Jiang Cheng squeezed it with his hand and knew what was inside. After pouring it out, it was indeed a pile of name tags.

Eight in total, one for each person here.

This time, the name tags even had their respective photos on them, probably to prevent them from accidentally taking someone else's.

After putting away the name tags, Jiang Cheng reached in again and took out the wooden box.

Jiang Cheng held the wooden box in his hand, his first reaction was that it was light, particularly light, as if it were empty inside. On the edge of the box, Jiang Cheng found a line of small characters.

The small characters were not very clear, only the two characters in the very center could be seen: Decision.

After fiddling with the box for a while, he couldn't find a place to open it. There was no gap on the box at all. Jiang Cheng reached in again and took out the alarm clock from the bag, wanting to see if there was anything special about it.

But the moment his fingers touched the alarm clock, the previously still hands suddenly began to move.

"Tick."

"Tick."

......

As the hands mechanically swung back and forth, the atmosphere began to become tense, and even more surprising to Jiang Cheng, the wooden box in his hand actually opened by itself with a "creak—" sound, without anyone touching it.

Inside were a series of arranged slots, three neat rows, with words engraved at the front of each row, coated with a layer of red paint.

From top to bottom, they were: End, Abstain, Continue.

Upon seeing the size and shape of the slots, Jiang Cheng immediately connected the box with the name tags. This box... looked like it was used for voting.

And the name tags in everyone's hands were the votes.

Feng Jie spoke up at the right time to explain, "We also saw this box in the Player's Handbook. As you can see, it's used for voting. We need to vote to decide whether to end this mission. Everyone has the right to vote."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone shouted, "I don't agree to end it!" Yuan Xiaotian stood at the corner, striding towards them, "I choose to continue, I want to go back and save Qiang-ge and Mengyao!"

He was hysterical, his eyes red, clenching his fists, looking crazed, as if he would fight anyone who dared to disagree.

"Xiaotian!" Feng Jie said loudly, "Calm down!"

Hearing Feng Jie's words, Yuan Xiaotian immediately exploded like a powder keg. A pair of bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Feng Jie's face, and he roared, "How do you want me to calm down? Feng Jie, you want to abandon Qiang-ge and Mengyao, can your conscience handle it? Have you forgotten how Qiang-ge treated you? Not to mention the distant past, when we... when we were trapped in Yunjian Canyon, you were injured and broke your leg, who carried you out step by step?!" Yuan Xiaotian became more and more agitated as he spoke, his eyes seemingly spitting fire.

Zhou Tong's eyes were red, and she choked with sobs, "Xiaotian, don't say that, Feng Jie... he has his own difficulties."

"Qiang-ge is gone now, as the second person in charge of the mission, he needs to be responsible for the entire mission!"

"I don't care!" Yuan Xiaotian roared, "I only know that my partners are inside, if no one takes care of them, they will die!"

Feng Jie looked at Yuan Xiaotian, Jiang Cheng noticed that his lips were trembling, turning blue, but he didn't argue, instead, he said in a low and calm voice, "Xiaotian, I'm really happy that you think that way. As a brother, you are impeccable."

"I also admire your courage to die for your brothers, but I hope you understand that you are not the only one who is not afraid of death." He stared into Yuan Xiaotian's eyes and said firmly, "I'm not afraid either."

"But have you ever thought about what Qiang-ge would do if he were standing here now, making the choice?"

"Would he want us to risk the safety of the people we are protecting to save them?"

"I don't need to say more about how difficult that killer demon is to deal with. Even Qiang-ge couldn't beat him. Even if we have some clues now, I don't think we have the confidence to escape again."

"But once something happens to the Lin siblings, do you know what will happen?"

"Do you know how much impact it will have on the family?"

"Do you know how much it will cost, and how many innocent people will die, to quell the possible repercussions?" Feng Jie's eyes also turned red as he spoke. As the second person in charge of the mission, he knew and understood far more than others.

"But we can't just stand by and watch them die!" Yuan Xiaotian sobbed.

Feng Jie turned around, took a deep breath, and said to Jiang Cheng, "Mr. Jiang, there is a time limit for voting, we..." He bit his lip, his eyes fierce, and said, "Let's begin."

Taking out the box, he placed it flat on the ground. Everyone's faces were unsightly.

Jiang Cheng noticed that Fatty had hardly said a word, his eyes were dim, as if he were a different person.

Everyone clenched the name tags in their hands, as if they were the lives of Xia Qiang and Li Mengyao, and their own.

"I'll repeat the rules one more time." Feng Jie said, "This vote will decide whether we stay and re-enter the cycle, or end the mission and leave here."

"This is a big deal, I hope everyone is cautious."

"Now, let's begin." Feng Jie was the first to step forward and vote, inserting his own name tag into the first row, in the slot representing End.

Jiang Cheng watched him silently, seeing Feng Jie's hand trembling. It took him three tries to insert the tag.

And the moment the tag was inserted, the man seemed to have aged ten years, his eyes as dim as those of an old man on his deathbed.

"I choose to continue!" Yuan Xiaotian walked forward stubbornly, forcefully inserting his name tag into the bottom row, in the slot representing Continue.

The next one to step forward was Lin Muwan.

Her face was pale, as if she hadn't recovered from the shock of what happened earlier, but her movements were quick. She picked up her name tag and inserted it without hesitation next to Yuan Xiaotian's tag.

Lin Muyun looked at his younger sister, his eyes full of tenderness. His sister had always been this kind of person, never letting him down.