Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

An unidentified bird was cooing in the distance—nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.

But he always felt like there was a pair of eyes watching him.

There was no danger, no hostility, just a familiar indifference—like a cat watching a fly bouncing around on the window, neither trying to pounce nor chase it away, just watching.

Mike turned around abruptly.

Behind me was a dense thicket of bushes, with a few fern leaves swaying gently in the breeze.

There's nothing there...?

He stared at the bushes for a long time, then slowly exhaled and turned to continue walking downstream.

So what if we have it?

So what if we don't have it?

Behind the bushes, two pairs of golden-brown eyes were gleaming in the darkness.

One is a mung bean, and the other is a red bean—the mung bean is the best friend of the lynx.

Two lynxes lay side by side on the ground, their chins resting on their paws.

Green Bean let out a hearty yawn, revealing two sharp canine teeth.

"Meow."

—How much longer is he going to search? I'm getting sleepy.

Red Bean brushed Green Bean's ear with its tail.

The mung bean grumbled in dissatisfaction, but still lay there obediently without moving.

The two lynxes watched as Mike walked further and further away along the riverbank.

After he had walked more than a hundred meters, Green Bean stood up, stretched, and then quietly followed him.

Red Bean followed behind it, the figures of two lynxes appearing and disappearing among the bushes and rocks, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the human figure.

As night fell, Mike found a sheltered cave on the riverbank and lit a small campfire.

He sat by the campfire, wiping James's knife repeatedly on his lap.

The blade is already chipped, and no matter how much you wipe it, it will never be as sharp as it used to be.

But he still wiped it, wiping the blade and then the handle, mechanically repeating this meaningless action.

The campfire crackled, and sparks were swept into the air by the night wind.

He took out the charred cloth and examined it in the firelight.

The edges of the fabric were curled and blackened, and the burned part just covered the original military insignia.

It's obvious that this was left on purpose.

When the other party dealt with the scene, they deliberately burned everything that could identify the person, but they left a small piece behind—so that he would know, confirm, and see the result with his own eyes.

Then let him live.

Let him live on alone with this outcome.

Mike gripped the fabric tightly in his hand, his nails digging into his palm.

The firelight danced on his face, casting flickering light on his expression.

He wanted to cry, but couldn't. He wanted to curse, but couldn't bring himself to say it; he didn't even know who to curse.

He insulted Ou Yun? But he never intentionally hurt him from beginning to end.

He's been cursing himself. He's been cursing himself for a whole day.

Cursing this damned forbidden area? The forbidden area only listens to the Chinese players, why would it listen to him?

He could only sit by the campfire, wiping a worn-out military knife, guarding a piece of charred cloth, guarding a messed-up world that had completely collapsed.

The campfire gradually died down by midnight.

Mike added a few dry branches to the fire, then lay down on his sleeping bag and looked up at the starry sky.

The starry sky in the forbidden area was still unbelievably beautiful, with the Milky Way stretching across the sky and countless stars.

He and Ou Yun were sitting on the watchtower at that time, looking at this starry sky.

Ou Yun took a sip of vodka and asked, "Just how big is this forbidden area?"

What was his answer again?

It's very big. Yes, it's very big.

It is so powerful that it can crush all of a person's pride, confidence, and self-righteous strength into dust.

Then, all the rewards were given to the Dragon Kingdom players through various means without reservation.

They were just there to make up the numbers—

This conclusion was reached in Congress, and at the time, people were unwilling to believe it; it was just idle banter among netizens.

But now...

Mike closed his eyes.

The answer is no longer important.

He decided to continue searching tomorrow. Even though he knew he wouldn't find anything, he had to keep looking. Not to find anything in particular, but simply to have something to do.

And right above his head was the cliff.

Green Bean shifted to a more comfortable position on the rock, its tail dangling and swaying.

It nudged the red bean next to it with its paw and meowed.

It's shift change. You keep watch, I'll take a nap.

Hongdou snorted, reluctantly sat up, and continued to stare at the faint campfire below the cliff.

The night breeze blew in from the valley, carrying the coolness of the river.

Red Bean shook her ears, thinking that this job was really boring—but Captain Leng said he would give her extra food when she got back tomorrow!

*

Dinner had already been finished at the camp.

Nine people sat around the campfire, holding their daily evening meeting.

Today's topic is relatively simple: In less than two days, the restricted area interaction function and the third phase will be officially launched!

Let's first summarize the current situation.

"No new team activity was found in the direction of the mine, near the Pangolin King's side."

"In the direction of the circular valley, when my brother went there last time, he didn't encounter any other contestants besides those three from the beautiful country."

"In the hyena territory, the white fox and the hyena queen have increased patrols, and there have been no abnormal reports so far."

"but--"

Leng Ruolan changed the subject.

"Just because we haven't found it doesn't mean it's not there. Once the regional interaction function is enabled, all players will be able to sense each other's approximate location, and our camp's location will be exposed sooner or later."

"So what if we get exposed?"

Ou Yun lay swaying in the hammock, holding a bowl of shaved ice in his hand, thinking, "Anyway, whoever comes here dies."

"Big brother, can you please stop being so arrogant?"

Chen Hao sighed, "Although I agree with your point of view, we still need to be fully prepared."

"Isn't Captain Leng preparing? I just need to be crazy."

"..."

"..."

Leng Ruolan tilted her head back and took a deep breath, deciding to temporarily ignore this hands-off manager. "Brother Chen, how's the reinforcement of the fortifications going?"

Chen Hao skillfully opened his notebook. "The outer perimeter walls have all been raised to two meters high, and iron spikes have been added to the top. The warning line covers three main mountain roads and two hidden trails around the camp. All triggering devices have been tested, and their sensitivity is fine."

"An additional observer has been added to each of the watchtowers on the east and west sides—of course, we don't have enough manpower, so we're using monkeys."

"monkey?"

Alexander, the top student who was concentrating on the lesson, was taken aback. "Monkeys can stand guard?"

"After training, they will be basically competent."

Chen Hao pushed up his glasses, looking quite smug. "I used honey as a reward to train six monkeys to distinguish between humans and mutated wild animals. Once they detect someone approaching, they will make a specific call, different from their usual calls, which we can tell at a glance."

However, this inspiration came from watching my older brother train the cows and from Nanbei and the others. Aren't monkeys more intelligent than cows and lynxes? They're also more agile. If used properly, they could definitely be very useful!