Gao Wu: I'll enjoy the benefits, but you'll bear the side effects.

Among these people, Huang Xu's situation was the most tragic.

He couldn't find anything to eat on his body, and after searching everywhere, all he had left was a piece of beef jerky.

To make matters worse, the remaining beef jerky didn't look like high-quality stuff either; it was dry and didn't seem to offer much energy or comfort.

Upon witnessing this situation, Gao Jie couldn't help but chuckle, but he was mostly speechless.

He frowned and said helplessly.

"When you go out to play, don't you prepare some food with you in advance? With just this little bit of food, it's practically impossible for us to survive for the next three days. It's extremely difficult."

Huang Muran scoffed at Gao Jie's words, responding with a hint of dissatisfaction and doubt.

"Who could have predicted things would turn out this way? What should we do now? We can't just stand here and do nothing, can we?"

He paused, then seemed to remember something, his eyes lit up, and he continued.

"Besides, why don't we just quit? We can just find some excuse related to the school system, like a system malfunction or a task conflict, and then quit, and everything will be fine, right?"

Upon hearing Huang Muran's suggestion, Gao Jie simply shook his head slowly, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

Because he knew very well that if they could really get out of this predicament so easily, wouldn't they have already escaped it long ago?

The reality is that there's no way to consider quitting now.

Moreover, the school should have realized that something is wrong by now, but strangely, why hasn't it made any move yet?

Gao Jie was really puzzled by this, and he didn't want to delve too deeply into the reasons behind it.

He vaguely understood that something special was happening, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Just then, Huang Xu, who had been standing silently beside him, seemed to suddenly wake up from his reverie, and asked something in a soft voice with a hint of confusion and urgency.

"Is it possible that if we voluntarily withdraw, they might treat it as if we deliberately withdrew and use that as a basis for their calculations?"

"If that's the case, what should we do?"

A bitter smile appeared on Gao Jie's face.

He secretly thought to himself, if it were really as simple as Huang Muran said to be to quit, that would be the best thing ever.

But reality is often disappointing; if it were that simple, perhaps we wouldn't be in such a difficult predicament.

However, since Hou Agui has met with misfortune, the system should have returned to normal operation by now, right?

As he thought this, his brows furrowed slightly, and his eyes revealed a hint of doubt and anticipation.

After pondering for a moment, Gao Jie slowly walked to the cave entrance and lingered around it for a long time, but nothing unusual happened.

By this time, the rain outside had stopped, the sky was gradually clearing, and fresh air was blowing in.

The group exchanged glances, each seeing a complex mix of emotions in the other's eyes—a fear of the unknown and a longing for liberation.

"Then let's stop standing there dumbfounded. Let's go out for a walk and see what the situation is like around here. If there's nothing seriously wrong, let's get out of here as soon as possible. In any case, we absolutely can't risk our lives here."

Gao Jie broke the silence first, his tone resolute.

After saying this, the group hurriedly left the cave, each scattering in different directions to explore the surrounding area.

After all, given the current situation, the whole incident is far too bizarre and outrageous.

They really didn't want to waste their precious time in this weird place any longer.

But after they walked out of the cave and only circled around, Gao Jie vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

The feeling was very subtle, like an undercurrent hidden beneath a calm lake surface, silent yet impossible to ignore.

He tried to pinpoint the source of this strange feeling in his mind, but to no avail. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong, which puzzled him.

Helpless, Gao Jie shook his head slightly, deciding to put his doubts aside for the time being and continue moving forward with everyone.

Just then, a slight noise came from beside him. Although the noise was not loud, it seemed particularly abrupt in the quiet environment.

"Get out of the way!"

Gao Jie shouted this out almost subconsciously, his voice filled with tension and urgency.

The sudden shout startled the people around.

They all stopped in their tracks and looked at Gao Jie with surprise.

His eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment, not understanding what had happened.

At this critical moment, Huang Xu inadvertently turned around and saw a chilling scene behind him.

A gigantic tentacle slowly emerged from the darkness, its surface covered with suckers, wet and emitting a nauseating odor.

Seeing this, the group didn't dare to hesitate for a moment and ran to the side without hesitation.

They had only run a short distance when they heard Huang Muran's terrified cries for help coming from behind them.

"Help! Can any of you save me? I'm almost trapped here! Can any of you turn around and look at me?"

The voice was filled with despair and helplessness, echoing through the empty valley, evoking pity in those who heard it.

Upon hearing this noise, Huang Xu instinctively turned his head.

However, when he saw the situation before him, a look of helplessness appeared on his face.

Huang Xu and Xu Rourou exchanged a glance, both seeing deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

In this perilous situation, they were truly powerless and did not know how to save Huang Muran.

Gao Jie waved without hesitation, then turned and ran quickly back towards Huang Muran's direction.

Upon seeing Gao Jie, he resolutely returned.

Xu Rourou felt a warmth in her heart, and her steps, which had originally intended to escape, instantly stopped.

So she turned around, ready to work together to find a way to rescue Huang Muran.

Gao Jie quickly approached Huang Muran's location, only to discover that the situation was far worse than he had imagined.

It turned out that Huang Muran was currently on the edge of a cliff, about to lose his footing and fall into the bottomless abyss.

Gao Jie was puzzled. When he ran over here, it was a flat area. How did it turn into a cliff in the blink of an eye?

All of this is so bizarre and incomprehensible.

But the situation was critical at that moment, and Gao Jie didn't have time to think. He hurriedly reached out and tried to pull Huang Muran up from the edge of the cliff.

However, Huang Muran was horrified to feel that the surrounding soil was very loose.

Just as he was about to grab Gao Jie's hand, the soil beneath his feet could not support his weight and collapsed slightly, causing his body to fall a little.

At this critical moment, he frantically reached out and grabbed a vine nearby, which barely allowed him to regain his balance.

"Don't rush, stay calm. Be careful when I reach out your hand, and grab it. This time it'll be fine, understand?"

Gao Jie tried his best to make his voice sound calm, attempting to soothe Huang Muran's flustered emotions.

"Don't be afraid. I'll hold your hand, and everything will be alright. Slowly extend your hand to me."

As Gao Jie spoke, he slowly stretched out his hand further, trying to shorten the distance between himself and Huang Muran.

Hearing Gao Jie's words, Huang Muran felt a little more at ease. He took a deep breath and then slowly reached out his hand.

But just as his hand was about to touch Gao Jie, the seemingly tough vine suddenly disappeared without warning.

Huang Muran felt his center of gravity instantly lose its balance, and he plummeted downwards like a kite with a broken string.

His eyes were filled with terror and despair, and his mouth was wide open, as if he wanted to shout something.

Faced with this situation, Gao Jie no longer hesitated and immediately bent down, even grabbing the other person's hand.

Fortunately, at this critical moment, the other two rushed over and grabbed Gao Jie's leg; otherwise, both of them would have fallen.

"This is too risky! You two be careful."

As Xu Rourou spoke, she quickly stepped forward to help. She held Gao Jie's hand tightly, and the two of them worked together with all their might to pull Huang Muran up.

When Huang Muran finally returned to the ground safely, the three of them felt as if they had just escaped death, and a strong feeling of relief welled up in their hearts.

Without exception, they were all panting heavily, their chests heaving violently, wiping the dense cold sweat from their foreheads. The sweat had already soaked through their clothes and clung tightly to their backs.

Gao Jie also raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear.

"I have to say, this situation is really dangerous."

After calming down, Gao Jie looked at Huang Muran and Xu Rourou and asked.

"Are you all alright? Are you feeling pretty good?"

Hearing Gao Jie ask this question, Huang Muran frowned slightly, feeling somewhat puzzled.

He didn't understand why Gao Jie would ask such a question at this moment, but he still subconsciously shook his head.

He indicated that he was currently experiencing no unusual symptoms.

But in that brief moment, a gentle breeze swept by. Gao Jie was all too familiar with this feeling. The breeze seemed to carry an indescribable eerie aura, which sent a chill down his spine.

Once he realized what was happening, he shouted without hesitation.

"Oh no! Danger! Run!"

As they spoke, they immediately scrambled to their feet and ran as fast as they could in all directions.

At this moment, they had only one thought in their minds: they absolutely could not be caught by any more unknown dangers, otherwise their lives would be in danger.

Driven by this intense will to survive, they ran to the side without regard for anything else, their steps becoming faster and faster.

They ran for an unknown amount of time before finally reaching the mountaintop, panting heavily.

I had barely sat down and hadn't even had a chance to catch my breath when I saw a tree next to me suddenly move without warning.

The three immediately became alert, startled, thinking it was an enemy that had caught up with them.

All the muscles in my body tensed up, ready to deal with any potential danger at any time.

However, when the "unidentified object" slowly emerged from behind the tree, they were surprised to find that it was actually a teacher in charge of the school system.

The teacher was plump and wore black-rimmed glasses, giving him a very refined appearance.

At this moment, he looked at the group of people with a puzzled expression, and said in a tone that was tinged with dissatisfaction and doubt.

"What are you guys doing? Why did you suddenly enter someone else's virtual world? I'm almost off work, and I just realized you've all entered the wrong place. What's wrong with the server? Get out of here right now!"

When they emerged from that terrifying virtual world, their faces were filled with disbelief.

For a moment, everyone was flustered and nervous, their minds still replaying the thrilling scenes they had just experienced in the virtual world, like a nightmare that was hard to shake off.

The teacher was also puzzled when they came out, not understanding why they had entered someone else's server.

"I was just about to leave work when I realized you hadn't passed the assessment yet. Strangely, no teacher contacted you. Now, your scores are practically zero."

"I really don't know which teacher you were students of, how did you all end up like this?"

The teacher kept rambling on and on, and the group looked at each other and realized that what had just happened was definitely related to the Hou family.

Just then, the group suddenly remembered that Hou Agui was still inside that server.

Gao Jie said.

"Teacher, we just encountered an extremely dangerous situation inside. A friend of ours is unfortunately trapped on that server. Could you please help us find him?"

Upon hearing this, the teacher was clearly taken aback, her face showing a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.

He pushed up his glasses and slowly began to speak.

"Hey, what are you thinking? I don't manage that server, I don't have any permissions to operate it, how could I possibly bring the person back?"

The teacher shook his head helplessly, his eyes revealing a sense of powerlessness.