Chapter 572: The Return of the Pain

Huang Shengjie nodded slowly as things clicked into place."Now that I think about it, when I first arrived in this community, I did have a vague sense that something was a little off.

"Like something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Now I understand!

"But for us, this is actually a good thing, isn't it?

"Qin Cheng, since you've already figured this out, you could easily use this tension to your advantage and become one of the community's core players.

"From where things stand, Lu Bingjun, Ye Lin, and Lawyer Lin are basically confirmed as core players.

"But the community now has fourteen people. There's easily room for a fourth.

"As long as you don't actively push the role away, and go along with it just a little, you're the obvious choice.

"And then you can look out for me too!"

Qin Cheng's expression was somewhat serious, "I'm not particularly concerned about that. What worries me more is, if the community's stability were to collapse, say if the tension between Lu Bingjun and Ye Lin suddenly escalated into an open conflict, would that put us in the crossfire?

"Looking at things now, that's not entirely out of the question."

Huang Shengjie paused, "Hmm? How would that affect us? If we stay well back and keep a foot in both camps, wouldn't we be fine?"

Qin Cheng shook his head, "If things came to an actual confrontation, it wouldn't happen in the community.

"Because whatever happens in the community amounts to a kind of political struggle. There's no way to finish someone off here. In other words, it's very hard to land a decisive blow.

"If it came to an actual confrontation, it would happen in a game, where you can get the other person killed outright.

"The problem is, they couldn't be the only two people in the game. There would almost certainly be other community members in there at the same time.

"If an opportunity arose in the game to eliminate the other side, but the cost was taking out some fellow community members in the process, do you think either of them would hold back?

"Or, if Lu Bingjun died, do you think Ye Lin would go easy on the people who had firmly supported him?"

Huang Shengjie paused and said, "She would... wouldn't she?"

Qin Cheng shook his head, "If Lu Bingjun simply died on his own, then of course it wouldn't matter.

"But if it happened in a conflict, and Ye Lin was the one who engineered his death using the game's mechanics?"

Huang Shengjie's brow furrowed deeply. After a long silence, he let out a quiet sigh.

"Alright, that's... genuinely hard to imagine.

"Though your scenario is a bit extreme. In a place like this, anything really can happen.

"You can't think about it with normal assumptions.

"So why are you telling me all this?"

Qin Cheng said, "Self-preservation.

"I'm telling you all of this partly so you understand the community's current dynamics and are aware of the potential danger, and partly because I'd like to bring as many players together as we can for mutual protection.

"A single player on their own is easily sacrificed as a pawn when conflicts arise.

"But if we can build a group of people, it becomes a force that can't be easily ignored, which is considerably safer.

"I've been looking at the community's composition.

"From what I can tell, the veteran players are mostly aligned with either Lu Bingjun or Ye Lin.

"Yao Yuan, Deng Xiao, and Wen Wan all seem fairly clearly in Lu Bingjun's camp.

"Geng Yuxia, He Qinyun, and Zheng Chunhua seem more inclined toward Ye Lin.

"Zhou Wanlin I'm not sure about. She might be a quiet middle-ground type or lean either way. Though players like Wen Wan, Zheng Chunhua, and Geng Yuxia probably don't have particularly firm positions either.

"Regardless, there's not much point trying to pull the veteran players over to our side.

"So the only real avenue is through the new players.

"The two of us, plus Lu Qi, are all new to this world for the first time. We're natural allies by default. That goes without saying.

"I'm thinking of making a particular effort to bring Shen Bowen in. She's the piece I consider most important.

"First, Shen Bowen survived the entire First Stage in a weaker community, and making it this far on her own terms means she has something going for her. Her ability isn't in question.

"Second, her current position in the community is awkward. As a veteran player, she doesn't have Lu Bingjun's full trust, and given various constraints, she also has almost no path to becoming a core player.

"If we can find a role within our small group that suits her, she should be willing to come on board."

Huang Shengjie immediately asked, "What about Lawyer Lin? He's obviously capable enough."

Qin Cheng bowed his head in thought for a moment, "Yes. If we can bring Lawyer Lin in, that would be ideal. The problem is, I can't begin to guess what he's actually thinking.

"A lot of his behaviour doesn't follow the kind of logic most people would apply.

"On top of that, if it came down to choosing between Lawyer Lin and Shen Bowen, Lu Bingjun would almost certainly choose Lawyer Lin. So from Lawyer Lin's perspective, joining our group might not offer enough of an incentive.

"In any case, I'll definitely try to engage with him. But I can't count on him taking our side entirely.

"The good news is that he doesn't seem to have any particular reason to be firmly aligned with either Lu Bingjun or Ye Lin either."

Huang Shengjie let out a long breath, "Yes. That's probably right.

"My head is spinning. I feel like my brain is growing.

"If you hadn't pointed all this out to me, I'd never have worked it out on my own."

Qin Cheng shook his head, "Shengjie, you're actually very sharp. You're just a little lazy.

"It was the same in this game. You're not particularly attuned to certain kinds of information and don't have the habit of actively thinking things through. But the moment you get enough of a push and enough information, you can reconstruct the truth immediately.

"So the two of us can actually make something of ourselves here.

"I'm certain of it."

Huang Shengjie nodded slowly, "Yes, I hope so."

After sitting a little longer, the two of them stood and went back inside.

The meal was nearing its end. The players still in the hall quickly cleaned up, and once everything was tidied away, everyone headed back to their rooms to rest.

Late at night.

In Room 14, Huang Shengjie jolted awake from sleep.

It felt as though countless ants were crawling over every inch of him, with a dull aching pain spreading through every bone and muscle in his body, leaving him in a state of unbearable restlessness.

Not only that, his mind felt deeply foggy. He tried to move in bed but could not manage to get up, and could only curl himself up as tightly as he could.

Tears, mucus, and sweat flowed without restraint.

"It's back.

"No, wait. What's going on?

"This isn't the community's agonising pain. This is withdrawal pain.

"But I'm already out of the game."

Huang Shengjie struggled against the pain. Gradually, his mind narrowed to a single thought.

"Why won't it end. Why won't it end."

Finally, as the pain across his whole body slowly receded, Huang Shengjie went limp, sprawling flat on the bed, his entire body soaked through with cold sweat.

But the pain had only weakened. It had not disappeared entirely.

Not only that, Huang Shengjie could feel his hands and feet not quite responding to him, still trembling faintly.

Just as before, he had not been able to time the pain precisely, but it had felt extremely drawn out, quite possibly lasting more than half an hour.

"This is clearly lasting longer than the pain in the game.

"Lawyer Lin once said during the game that the rules never stated the withdrawal pain would definitely disappear once you left.

"Well. It really doesn't go away."