28: I only choose to live.

Tu Nan pushed aside that curl of hair, her eyes fixed only on that cabinet.

She pressed her entire weight against it, and finally, the cabinet loosened; a wisp of flowing Qi surged out from within, brushing against Tu Nan's face.

"I'll do it."

Gaia reached out and applied force.

Accompanied by a creaking sound, the cabinet was pushed open like a door, revealing a pitch-black passageway.

Gaia pulled out a glowing orb, twisted it with both hands, and a lustrous, cold light appeared.

With a flick of his arm, the light source followed the momentum forward, hovering in mid-air, barely illuminating a small section of the passageway ahead and behind.

Unlike the other "structures" in the entire underground cave, this was clearly a man-made passage.

Neat stairs extended a short distance forward before beginning to spiral upward, leading to a destination named "Life."

"It really is an exit." Gaia patted Tu Nan's shoulder. "Not bad, we didn't lose the bet."

"Gambling with my life, my luck always rebounds from rock bottom."

Who else was like her, able to die and be resurrected, starting a new life?

"Then can you wait here for a moment? I'm going to call for people."

Gaia felt relieved.

Tu Nan turned her head abruptly.

"It's too late."

Her words were icy.

"What?" Gaia was puzzled, then soothingly patted her shoulder a few more times.

"Don't be afraid, you wait here for me, I'll be back in a moment."

"I said it's too late."

Tu Nan finally raised her head. With an expressionless face, she told Gaia the discovery she had been hiding the whole way.

"Just now when we came up... I saw the water in the underground river rising."

Her tone was devoid of any ripples.

"Right about now, I estimate the water has already submerged the low-lying areas."

"You mean..."

Gaia's eyes widened to the size of copper bells.

"It must be a flood. The thing you all said was absolutely impossible to happen alongside the insect plague has already happened."

"Then why didn't you say anything just now?"

Gaia looked at her incredulously, as if meeting Tu Nan for the first time.

He raised his voice.

"Li is still down there! You don't think about saving others, but you actually don't care about Li either?"

"It's simply too late!"

Tu Nan's expression was indifferent.

"I told him everything was wrong and asked him to come out with me first, but he refused. Just because I am a Foster Mother. He didn't believe what I said; he only thought he was right."

Tu Nan thought of her mother's face from her past life.

She had clearly told her mother to leave it to her, that she would handle everything, but her mother would rather die with her than believe her.

Slap!

Tu Nan's face was knocked to one side by this slap.

She covered her face, the taste of blood in her mouth.

See... it's the same; at times like this, they are all the same.

And then they would say— "I didn't expect you to be such a person."

The mumble in Tu Nan's mouth miraculously synchronized with Gaia's voice.

What kind of person was she?

Did Gaia know? Did her mother know? Did she herself... even know?

Why should she live according to the imagination in their minds?

Li... was just a buyer in this strange world who paid for goods. What was wrong with her prioritizing her own life?

He didn't believe her, so was she expected to risk her life to save him? Her life wasn't really worth only 60,000 currency.

As for those people by the river? What had they ever done for her?

Gray, who should have been responsible for them, ran away, and yet Gaia actually expected her to?

How did she not know she had this obligation?

This was escaping a disaster, not some life simulation game. A jolt went through Tu Nan's brain like an electric shock, and she suddenly calmed down.

What was she doing?

Wasting precious time complaining?

Venting the resentment from two superimposed worlds, suppressed in the bottom of her heart—but it was also just an emotion with no benefit.

Her boiling blood cooled down, and she self-deprecatingly realized that in front of this Big Dog, she had been too unrestrained, too real.

She had gotten carried away. Tu Nan swallowed the salty blood in her mouth and turned around decisively.

She walked up the path she had chosen along the stairs, leaving Gaia behind as well.

No one could slow down her pace of survival, otherwise... every extra day she lived would become a joke.

Gaia looked at his palm, feeling somewhat at a loss.

He had just been overcome by emotion because he was momentarily angered by Tu Nan; although he hadn't used much force, a delicate Foster Mother really couldn't handle it.

She was bleeding...

Gaia could smell the scent of blood.

Not long ago, he was still heartbroken that Tu Nan had been hurt by Li, and in a turn of events, he had done the same thing himself.

Gaia couldn't quite face his own behavior and wanted to catch up to apologize to Tu Nan. In any case, he shouldn't have resorted to violence.

However, looking at that upward path, thinking of Li... he gritted his teeth, transformed into his Beast Form, and bolted like lightning toward the path they had come from.

Tu Nan climbed the stairs one step at a time, all by herself.

The only light source here was the small glowing orb in her hand.

Pain and exhaustion surged out as if they had made an appointment. Or perhaps it was just because she had been so tense today, both physically and mentally.

It didn't matter. She thought.

Li was, of course, important; he was the 10% she needed for survival, the piece of driftwood she had grasped in this new century of Chaos.

She was certainly willing to work hard for survival—ignoring her own preferences, playing the role of that delicate Foster Mother which didn't fit her true nature, and coaxing Li into providing various resources so she could struggle on.

But when she saw Li's attitude visibly softening, saw that man's gaze becoming warm when facing her, and saw Li increasingly taking care of her out of emotional needs.

She would also feel it was nice; she wasn't a masochist, after all.

All higher organisms were like this, as long as they still had emotions.

This was their weakness, and also the weapon that allowed them to successfully break through on the long road of evolution.

And Gaia... she had thought she had built a preliminary team for herself—a Big Dog with a rugged exterior but a sunny and cheerful heart; he was really the most suitable teammate, wasn't he?

As it turned out, she had failed in that too, which was to be expected.

Cheerful and kind people—their enthusiasm comes and goes quickly. She was indeed sick, and quite severely so.

Tu Nan dragged her increasingly heavy steps upward, finally admitting this point.

She was always calculating; she couldn't simply trust anyone; she was completely broken.

But it didn't matter; she still had to survive just like this.

She could try a little harder to pretend to be a normal person.

If being tied to the 10% that was Li would cause her death, she would choose to keep her life and go find those two 5%.

She would find a way, as long as she first solved the problem in front of her.

The glowing orb flickered twice more and then went out completely.

The surroundings plunged into total darkness.

There wasn't a single ray of light.