She felt she was a good judge of character, so her lack of defensiveness toward the two wasn't naivety, but confidence in her own judgment.
"Yippee!"
Zhu Xi Ning's eyes curved into crescent moons. "I'll buy you guys milk tea!"
...
It was Nan Yue's first time drinking milk tea, and she was in a good mood.
The faint aroma of tea mixed with the milky flavor wasn't strange, though it was a bit too sweet.
Gu Xiang Kai didn't like such sweet things and only ordered a glass of lemonade.
"If we're in a team, is the evaluation grade the sum of everyone's performance?"
Gu Xiang Kai shook his head. "It's based on the person with the best performance in the team."
This surprised Nan Yue a little. "In that case, if someone joins a good team, doesn't everyone just ride the coattails of the best player?"
Gu Xiang Kai dangled the straw from his mouth nonchalantly. "Exactly. That's the whole point of a team. Why else do you think we wanted to join yours?"
Nan Yue nodded solemnly. "Then I'll have to replace you both if I find someone better."
Gu Xiang Kai choked and coughed violently, while Zhu Xi Ning gloated from the side.
"Actually, that is the point of a team. A strong team shows its strength in every aspect; it's impossible for one person to carry everyone forward forever."
"I've heard that in top-tier teams, every single member is indispensable."
Nan Yue returned to the topic after teasing Gu Xiang Kai. "Yes. Teaming up isn't an act of charity; it's about maximizing the abilities of people who are on equal footing."
Otherwise, why would she bother with these two? Finding a submissive idiot would be worse than working alone.
"Do you think Pu Yuan and Lu Jiao's logic for solving the mission was wrong?"
Nan Yue was also pondering this question. The academy taught that there was never only one way to complete a mission, only easier or harder paths.
The vast majority of scavengers were simply searching for that one path to survival in the dark.
However, in the last mission, those infant ghosts truly didn't attack those women and children. If Pu Yuan and Lu Jiao had led them away without incident, they really could have reached the dense forest.
"I think... they weren't wrong. They just had a bit of bad luck."
Nan Yue tapped the table unconsciously with her finger. "That method couldn't have been used by everyone at once. The target would be too big, and once the townspeople realized everyone was gone, they would definitely have given chase."
"But we stayed in the cave to draw their attention. If they hadn't run into the town residents on their way out, they probably would have escaped."
Gu Xiang Kai was more blunt. "They chose a path that seemed to have lower risks. They were careless."
At the time, everyone's attention and vigilance were focused on the child ghosts, ignoring the townspeople.
It seemed like the townspeople were just humans and couldn't be more terrifying than ghosts.
Yet it was precisely these people who had committed so many atrocities.
"Pollution really should be purified. In real life, such appalling things would never happen."
Zhu Xi Ning murmured. The three of them were in low spirits. Everyone knew pollution needed to be purified, but people were, after all, prone to fear and despair.
"Let's not talk about that. Do you know how many points are needed to unlock the next city state?"
Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning glanced at each other, both wearing slightly odd expressions.
Finally, Gu Xiang Kai rubbed his stubble and said slowly, "Generally speaking, you can enter the letter cities once you have a balance of 2,000 points."
"Team identity verification works the same way as evaluations; if one person can enter, everyone can."
These were the rules of the world. If you could cling to a powerful person, that was also a type of skill.
Nan Yue realized something. "You've already obtained an ID card for the letter cities?"
Gu Xiang Kai sucked at the bottom of his cup. "Yeah."
No wonder the system hadn't reminded him this time; he had already obtained a letter cities ID card before.
Nan Yue looked at Zhu Xi Ning, who weakly raised her hand. "I... I have one too, I just haven't gone yet."
"Well... because I've spent almost all my points."
Nan Yue fell silent.
She turned her gaze back to Gu Xiang Kai. "Have you been there?"
Gu Xiang Kai tossed his cup aside and played with his lighter. "Yeah, I've been. It's not all that."
"The digital cities might be chaotic and full of scum, but I think they're at least real."
"Further up... things start to feel fake."
Nan Yue now understood a bit of Gu Xiang Kai's temperament. He was straightforward and didn't fear being stabbed in the back, but he despised hypocrites the most.
Nan Yue thought about it; she had only completed two missions since coming to the digital cities, so slowing down wouldn't be bad.
For her, moving upward was partly to see more of the world.
The world she knew at the academy was different from the world in the digital cities. She wanted to know how large this world truly was and how much she had yet to witness.
But her pace seemed to be too fast. She enjoyed entering missions because she could at least get a good night's sleep, but it wasn't the same for others.
"Since we've formed a team, we'll discuss everything together from now on. We can talk about when you want to go to the letter cities."
Gu Xiang Kai and Zhu Xi Ning looked at each other, their expressions strangely similar. "Whenever is fine."
Perhaps sensing Nan Yue's concerns, Zhu Xi Ning laughed. "Yueyue, are you underestimating us? No one likes entering missions, but we aren't cowards who fear trouble."
"Before, we weren't willing to move up because there wasn't much point. But now that we're a team, wouldn't it be great to go see the wider world together?"
After saying that, Zhu Xi Ning shot Gu Xiang Kai a look. They could all see that Nan Yue moved fast, and they could understand why; geniuses were like that.
The world didn't lack geniuses, and they had heard stories about them. Just like Nan Yue, they could cross a city state in one or two missions, moving so fast you couldn't even see their tails.
Since they could team up with Nan Yue, they couldn't let themselves hold a pro back.
Gu Xiang Kai finally caught Zhu Xi Ning's signal and nodded. "Yeah, I don't care. It's the same everywhere."
A warm current surged in Nan Yue's heart, different from the moist heat she felt when wrapped in that meat-like fear. This was very comfortable.
She looked from one to the other.
She had thought that because of that thing, she could never be a normal person. But now, two people she hadn't known for long were making her feel a warmth she hadn't experienced in twenty years.
Teammates really were important.
In her heart, Nan Yue marked the importance of teaming up in bright red.
"Then let's pack up and go see the letter cities."
Nan Yue thought for a moment and looked at Zhu Xi Ning. "When we get there, let's have a really good meal."
Zhu Xi Ning's eyes lit up. "Yippee!"
The three of them were people of action. They didn't have much luggage anyway, so after checking out, they headed for the city gate's teleportation point.
The teleportation point was crowded. It had been over half a month since Nan Yue was last here, and it seemed it was always this busy and noisy.
There were newcomers in student uniforms teleporting in, curious about everything and not daring to talk back when mocked.
There were also those dressed in fine clothes heading to other city states; Gu Xiang Kai said these were usually merchants, reselling specialty items from different cities to make a small profit from the price difference.
Rate on N.U.
