Chapter 153: Thoughts, Meeting an Acquaintance Again

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: Thoughts, Meeting an Acquaintance Again

Seraphina Sullivan’s gaze lingered on Nicholas Jensen’s pale face for a moment before she finally looked away.

But for now, the most important thing was to let this guy heal up.

Seraphina Sullivan had no intention of letting the "arms supplier" and "potential manual laborer" she’d worked so hard to save become useless from severe injuries or overexertion.

’If he dies from exhaustion, who am I going to exploit... No, I mean, who am I going to cooperate with?’

"Well, we can figure out the specifics of how he’ll ’repay me’ later." Seraphina Sullivan waved a dismissive hand, dropping the subject for the time being.

Seraphina murmured this under her breath, as if speaking to herself and finalizing her decision.

She stopped paying attention to Nicholas Jensen.

With Flora silently watching him from the side, he wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble, even if he had something planned.

"Now that we’ve confirmed we’re all Players, the most urgent task is to stay alive and complete the main quest."

She looked at Nicholas Jensen and posed the question to him. "Do you have any clues for completing the main quest? Or have you found anything at all?"

Seraphina herself was finding it difficult.

The objective—"Find a Shelter in the dark apocalypse"—sounded simple, but as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but endless ruins and ever-thickening darkness.

There was no map, no guide, not even a clue as to what "Shelter" specifically referred to—a safe house, a Survivor Base, or some kind of symbolic location.

Every clue was another sliver of hope for survival.

She hoped that this seemingly unreliable Nicholas Jensen might have some crucial information.

Nicholas Jensen scratched his head. "I don’t know, either. I was attacked by monsters while I was searching for the Shelter."

As if suddenly remembering something, Seraphina Sullivan took out the [Sun Flashlight] she had "confiscated" from Nicholas Jensen. She tossed it lightly in her hand and asked in a teasing tone:

"By the way, in a pitch-black, monster-infested place like this, you dared to wave a ’little sun’ around? Did you have a death wish or something?"

Nicholas Jensen looked on, embarrassed, as she toyed with his beloved gadget.

He subconsciously patted himself down, as if checking for something.

When his fingers brushed against a necklace he wore under his clothes, his tense expression relaxed almost imperceptibly, as if that item was his true ace in the hole.

He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. "What else was I supposed to do? My night-vision goggles broke, and it was pitch-black. I was basically blind."

"It was the only thing I had for light. If I hadn’t used it, I wouldn’t have even been able to see where I was going. I would’ve died even faster!"

Just as Seraphina was about to say more, Sean Chandler, who had remained highly alert at their side, suddenly cut them off with a low cry.

"Movement over there!" His sharp gaze shot toward a point in the darkness.

Nicholas Jensen flinched, tensing up instantly. "Is it a monster?"

Before he had even finished speaking—

BOOM!

A deafening explosion ripped through the air from a distance, mixed with the faint roar of some kind of monster.

And that was only the beginning.

Then, as if a fuse had been lit, a succession of gunshots, explosions, and various unidentifiable battle sounds erupted from their front-left, back-right, and even further away!

The sounds grew closer, seeming to come from all directions, as if Players everywhere were engaged in fierce battles with the monsters of the night!

The dead silence of the night was instantly shattered by a cacophony of combat.

Seraphina’s brow furrowed. She scanned the darkness, which had suddenly erupted into chaos. "Hm? What’s happening? Did all the Players and monsters make a pact to start fighting at the exact same time?"

This sudden chaos clearly meant that many other Players were active in the area and had all been attacked simultaneously.

Hearing the chaotic sounds of battle erupting all around them, Nicholas Jensen instinctively ducked his head. "Causing such a huge commotion... could it be the Native People from this instance? No normal Player would be this reckless, right?"

At his words, Seraphina shot him a sidelong glance, her tone dripping with undisguised sarcasm. "Oh? You’re one to talk about being reckless?"

’Who was it just now, running around in the dark with a "sun," about to turn himself into an all-you-can-eat buffet for the monsters?’

Nicholas Jensen: "..."

He was instantly rendered speechless.

Sean Chandler ignored their bickering. His Beastification-enhanced senses picked up that the closest sounds of fighting were rapidly approaching. He warned in a low voice, "The fighting is moving. It’ll reach us soon. Do we avoid it or get involved?"

Seraphina considered for a moment before making a decision. "We hide first and observe. If it’s really a battle involving the Native People, it might be a squad traveling to or from a Shelter. We can follow them from the shadows and find its location."

It was certainly an efficient plan.

Nicholas Jensen’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, and he readily agreed. "Great idea!"

What he needed most right now was time. With his superhuman healing rate, he could quickly get back to fighting strength if he just had a moment to catch his breath.

Having reached a consensus, Seraphina didn’t hesitate. With a thought and a wave of her hand, she recalled the conspicuously large Flora and Moe into her Space.

The sight of two living creatures vanishing into thin air made Nicholas Jensen’s pupils contract almost imperceptibly. His gaze flickered for a moment before quickly returning to normal.

Seraphina appeared casual, but she was watching Nicholas Jensen’s reaction out of the corner of her eye. At the same time, she mentally instructed Sean Chandler to keep a close watch on him as well.

She had deliberately displayed this "Space" Ability as a test.

In the Doomsday Game, even former allies couldn’t necessarily be trusted when faced with immense pressure to survive or the promise of great rewards.

She needed to know if Nicholas Jensen, after seeing her reveal some of her assets, would choose to cooperate or become greedy and make a move.

’If he dares to use this as a chance to attack... then he can’t blame me for being ruthless.’

Seraphina even found herself missing the direct Control item she’d acquired before, the [Spirit Mutation Spider Silk].

’If only I had something like that now,’ she thought. ’I could just turn this promising "arms supplier" into a completely obedient weapon-crafting puppet and save myself all this trouble and testing.’

But things in this world rarely worked out so perfectly.

Seraphina suppressed her thoughts and whispered, "Find cover and hide!"

The three of them quickly hid in the shadows of some ruined walls, holding their breath and waiting for the unknown "visitors" to enter this soon-to-be-chaotic area.

Soon, the sounds of battle grew closer, and Seraphina saw two groups of people fighting a pack of monsters.

Not only did Seraphina see new types of nocturnal monsters, but she also spotted a familiar face among the fighters.

’How strange,’ she thought. ’How did all these acquaintances end up in the same instance?’