Xu Xi only noticed the fare the red-dressed woman had given him after he put away the two wedding candies.
At that moment, Li Kang's stammering voice came from beside him.
"Y-you guys, look!"
Xu Xi followed his gaze out of habit and saw that behind them was a straight road, with no dense forest at all.
The vaguely visible village in the distance had also vanished; in its place stood a cluster of tilted, dilapidated houses that looked abandoned for a long time.
Well, now everyone knew for certain that the red-dressed woman was definitely suspicious.
The good news was that the wedding candies on everyone were still intact and seemed unchanged.
But... Xu Xi looked at the fare in his hand, which had already turned into spirit money, and couldn't help the corners of his mouth twitching.
The other three obviously noticed this too.
Li Kang guessed cautiously, "Could... could this thing be a prop too?"
Hearing that, Xu Xi counted carefully and said, "There are eight of them as well."
He glanced up at the three with varied expressions and suggested, "Why don't we split them evenly?"
Xu Xi hadn't thought much about it; he just didn't know what to do with these spirit money notes for the moment. Since Li Kang suspected they were props and the count was also eight, and since they had already divided the wedding candies, they might as well split these spirit money notes too.
Tan Xingyun nodded, "Alright."
Xu Xiuman and Li Kang had no objections either.
Viewers witnessing this scene commented one after another.
[What is this, aiming for fairness?]
[It's rare to see a team so harmonious]
[Everyone probably has their own little thoughts, but these players are more transparent, plus it's everyone's second time in the instance]
[That's why I like watching newcomers' streams. Old hands are too slick and selfish, they rarely match a newcomer's sincerity]
[People are treacherous, bro. Sincere people die early. In the instance, being selfish is how you survive]
[I think these players are smart. It's not pure sincerity, more weighing pros and cons]
[If a crisis requires sacrificing a teammate, would they still be this harmonious?]
Compared with denominations of millions or billions, the denomination on these spirit money notes was not large; each was worth ten yuan.
After the four split them two apiece, Xu Xi carefully put the spirit money and wedding candies into his right pocket.
His left pocket held the initial funds given by the instance.
They didn't delay long before continuing down the road.
Whether it was because the road ahead became smoother, Xu Xi felt less motion sick than before.
The sky remained hazy and overcast, giving off a suffocating, oppressive feeling.
No one in the car talked; possibly from consecutive dangers, everyone's nerves were frayed.
But the instance wouldn't give them time to rest.
"Is that... a tunnel up ahead?" Xu Xiuman whispered.
"One after another, can't they give us a break?" Li Kang complained softly.
For some reason, he suddenly felt very uneasy.
He trusted his instincts. There was definitely something terrifying in that tunnel.
Thinking that, he grew anxious.
Xu Xi, sitting beside Li Kang, was the first to notice his teammate's unease. Just as he was about to ask, he heard Li Kang swallowing and asking, "Uncle, can we go around that tunnel?"
Tan Xingyun frowned as he scanned the surroundings and then shook his head, "No, there's no way around it."
Xu Xiuman added, "To be precise, it's all fog around. Even if there were another road, we couldn't break through that fog."
It was as if this world had only this stretch of highway untouched by white mist, with just their lone car traveling along it.
"What's wrong, did you sense something?" Xu Xiuman looked at Li Kang.
"I've had a good intuition since childhood. Not every premonition comes true, but most of the time I'm right. My instinct tells me that tunnel is dangerous."
Li Kang's solemn tone successfully made the other three's hearts tighten.
[Intuition? That's mystical. Maybe it's just fatigue-induced hallucination]
[Don't dismiss it. Some people really do have a strong sixth sense. At the crucial moment, intuition can save your life]
[Yes, my neighbor has a strong sixth sense. Once he hesitated before crossing the street for two seconds because he felt something bad, and those two seconds— a car sped by and hit several people!]
"Wasn't that near XX Square? I saw that news. One dead, two injured."
"Yeah, that one!"
"Wow, didn't expect this guy to have that skill."
"I watched Li Kang's first stream. I thought he got lucky avoiding danger, turns out it's intuition."
Xu Xi was fairly credulous about such mystical things, much like how he believed that if he prayed to the God of Wealth devoutly every day, one day he'd strike it rich.
Tan Xingyun, driving taxis for over a decade and having encountered his share of taboos, believed Li Kang as well.
Even Xu Xiuman, who had been an atheist, came to believe in such things after the God Hunt game arrived.
"...But we really can't go around it."
The winding highway led into a pitch-black tunnel. Shadows swelled and rolled in the white mist on either side with no predictable pattern; one glance made the hair on one's arms stand on end.
If they didn't go through the tunnel, their only option was to charge into the white fog.
That was clearly suicide.
Li Kang looked pale; he knew there was no choice but to enter the tunnel.
"It's just a tunnel. We've overcome so many dangers already, this won't be any different," Tan Xingyun said with a smile to lighten the heavy mood.
"Let's see what this tunnel can do to us."
Whether to live or die, they had to try.
Hearing that, Li Kang's expression improved a lot. He glanced at the young man sitting beside him and thought to himself, right, there's a master here.
Seeing Li Kang calm down, Xu Xiuman said, "Let's go."
Tan Xingyun replied.
Completely unaware that his teammates had pinned all their hopes on him, Xu Xi prepared himself to enter the tunnel.
Was Xu Xi nervous?
Of course he was.
Was he afraid?
Not particularly.
At his current stage, even if he died, as long as it wasn't painful, he'd be fine.
He just didn't know what the tunnel contained.
[Oh man, I'm getting nervous]
[With Xu Xi here, it should— should be okay (swallows)]
[Hard to say. Even if this newcomer is as awesome as you praise, you can't guarantee he'll spot the instance's traps every time]
[Trust them, or rather trust the value behind 2 Minutes 48 Seconds]
Netizens were startled by Li Kang's words, and the record of 2 Minutes 48 Seconds was brought up again, successfully calming the restless chat feed.