Rover silently looked at John.

The fog still quietly swirled around the small ring of light created by the lanterns planted in the ground. The pale yellow light covered John’s face, making his familiar cheerful smile a little more hazy.

This man had just said a great deal.

The dead zone. Level 6 being the ceiling of a cage. Lamp-Bearers also not being entirely free. If they stayed too long, they would rot, lose themselves, then become something belonging to this area.

That information was very valuable.

But Rover didn’t trust him because of it.

The higher the value of information, the greater the hidden price behind it usually was. This was a rule Rover had learned very early, not even requiring the Endless Game to understand.

John looked at Rover’s gaze, seemingly guessing what he was thinking. He breathed out a sigh, then smiled and said: "Don’t look at me like that. I know I just said quite a few frightening things, but at least I’m trying to be honest with you."

Nanoe was still behind Rover.

Her translucent body was condensed from pale red energy, not completely real, but each line was still soft enough to make it difficult to look away. She wrapped her arms around Rover’s shoulders from behind, her chin lightly resting near his neck, both like a woman leaning on her man, and like a beautiful snake quietly guarding its territory.

John glanced at her once, then very quickly looked away.

He felt that if he looked a moment longer, Nanoe might smile and ask him whether he wanted to keep those eyes.

"Alright." John raised both hands as if surrendering to Nanoe’s gaze. "If you don’t want to accept the formal bet right now, I won’t force it. But I have another proposal."

Rover raised an eyebrow slightly.

"A proposal?"

"That’s right. A faster path." John raised his hand to lightly touch the lantern on his side. The flame within flickered slightly, but this time there was no sign of too strong an objection. "I have a special card. If you agree to use it, you can directly reach Survivor level 5."

Rover was silent for a moment.

Then he burst out laughing.

"Sounds like a trap."

John nodded very straightforwardly.

"It is a trap."

Rover: "..."

John continued with a smile: "But the reward of this trap is large enough. If you pass, you directly reach level 5. No need to wait for the fourth round, no need to follow the normal path to the fifth round. You’ll step straight to the first boundary of the dead zone."

Nanoe gently asked: "The conditions?"

John glanced at her.

Nanoe’s questions always went straight to the most important point. She didn’t ask whether the reward was real, didn’t ask what the card looked like, didn’t ask how much stronger Rover would become after reaching level 5. The first thing she cared about was the conditions.

This made John feel increasingly uncomfortable.

Not the kind of uncomfortable from being insulted, but the kind when the other party is too clear-headed. Facing someone like Nanoe, it was very hard for him to use his half-joking conversational style to lead the rhythm.

"After activating the card, Rover will be pulled into an independent trial." John said: "The difficulty of that trial is roughly twice that of a normal fourth round. If he passes, he directly reaches level 5. If he fails..."

"Death?" Rover asked.

John looked at him.

"Possibly."

Rover laughed coldly.

"What a reassuring way to put it."

"I can’t say definitively that he’ll die, because the trial has many different types of failure." John shrugged. "Some die. Some lose levels. Some have part of their soul taken. Some survive but get trapped in the trial for a very long time, and by the time they return they’re no longer like ordinary people."

Rover heard this. His expression didn’t change too much.

But his gaze became colder.

Nanoe also said nothing, only tightening her arms around his shoulders slightly. Her translucent body had no real warmth, but Rover could still sense a very faint pressure spreading from her.

That wasn’t fear.

That was a warning.

John immediately said: "I haven’t finished. I can provide assistance."

"How much?" Nanoe asked.

"Not much."

John answered very quickly, perhaps because he knew if he spoke in circles, Nanoe would become even more uncomfortable.

"Lamp-Bearers can’t intervene too deeply in a Survivor’s trials, rounds, or survival ability. I can provide information, a few hints, perhaps even open a small escape route within the bounds of the rules. But fighting, choosing, surviving, all of that still depends on Rover."

Rover rubbed his chin.

Level 5.

If John hadn’t said those things just now, Rover would certainly have found this proposal far too dangerous. Twice the difficulty of the fourth round, just in exchange for leveling up faster, sounded like a crazy deal.

But now it was different.

If this place was truly a cage, if level 6 was just the ceiling of the dead zone, if Lamp-Bearers who were rotting away were all staring at Survivors with potential, then staying too long wasn’t necessarily safe.

He didn’t like meaningless risk-taking.

But he liked even less being pushed into a passive position.

Rover asked: "Why do you want me to reach level 5 faster?"

John smiled.

"Because that’s my way of betting."

Nanoe slightly tilted her head.

This motion was very small, but John immediately felt a slight chill run down his spine.

She was thinking.

Every time Nanoe fell into silent thought like this, John had the feeling he wasn’t facing an energy projection, but a woman using her fingertips to peel back each layer of skin from his words, looking to see what else was hidden inside.

"Your way of betting?" Nanoe softly repeated.

"Yes." John answered: "Each Lamp-Bearer has their own way of betting. I can’t speak too clearly about others, but my way is to help the Survivor I choose reach level 5 faster. Level 5 is the first boundary. Only when you touch that boundary do many things truly gain meaning."

Nanoe didn’t immediately ask further.

She lowered her eyes, her long lashes falling over her brown eyes. In the pale yellow light of the lanterns, her translucent face had a very strange kind of beauty. Gentle, alluring, but not weak. Like a flower so beautiful that one wanted to touch it, but hidden beneath the petals were thorns full of poison.

John looked at her, internally sighing quietly.

Rover was truly too fortunate.

Having a woman like this beside him wasn’t only about enjoyment. She could spot problems, could keep Rover clear-headed, could turn a negotiation that John had been leading into an equal-footed discussion.

John was even beginning to feel that he wasn’t the one enticing Rover, but was being interrogated by Nanoe.

A moment later, Nanoe raised her head.

"I have one question."

John smiled bitterly.

"I have a feeling your question won’t be simple."

Nanoe smiled.

"Don’t worry, I only have one very basic question."

John didn’t feel reassured at all.

"Ask away."

"How many Lamp-Bearers can bet on a single Survivor?"

The air suddenly went quiet.

This time, even Rover turned his head to look at Nanoe.

John didn’t immediately answer.

The smile on his face was still there, but had faded considerably. He looked at Nanoe, his gaze for the first time carrying almost undisguised seriousness.

Nanoe was still smiling.

Her translucent body leaned against Rover’s back, her soft hands resting on his shoulders, her posture so intimate it seemed like she was lazily resting against her man. But her question was like a thin blade, cutting directly into the place John hadn’t wanted to reveal too soon.

Rover looked at John’s reaction and immediately understood.

This question had a problem.

No.

More precisely, Nanoe had perhaps already picked something up.

John was silent for a moment, and finally breathed out.

"Five at maximum."

Nanoe nodded.

"Five Lamp-Bearers can bet on the same Survivor?"

"Yes."

"The more people who bet, the more support that Survivor receives?"

"In theory, yes."

Nanoe smiled lightly.

"Then what’s the price?"

John looked at her.

Nanoe slowly said: "If a Survivor is bet on by more Lamp-Bearers, they will receive more attention from the rules. That attention will make their rounds harder, won’t it?"

John didn’t immediately answer.

But the silence was already the answer.

Rover frowned.

"John."

John scratched his head, a helpless smile appearing.

"Alright, alright. That’s right. The more Lamp-Bearers who bet on a Survivor, the higher the difficulty that Survivor must face. Not every trial escalates immediately, but the rules will gradually pay more attention to them. Rounds, side missions, monsters, even rewards, all of them can be pulled up to an abnormal level."

Rover said nothing.

He thought about the round just finished.

The Ice Wolf General. Dokai. Millan. Soul monsters. A connection to a terrifying existence less than twenty miles from the apartment complex.

Did those things really resemble what a Survivor at this stage should encounter?

Nanoe at this moment suddenly smiled.

Her smile was still very gentle, but John saw that smile and silently cursed inwardly.

Sure enough.

She had connected the pieces.

Nanoe tilted her head to look at John, her eyes curving like a new moon. Her voice was soft enough to almost make others drop their guard.

"So then, John..."

"Which one are you?"

John fell silent.

Rover looked at John.

His gaze had now completely gone cold.

Nanoe was still holding him from behind, the smile on her face unchanged, but that gentle allure had transformed into a kind of pressure difficult to describe. She didn’t need to raise her voice, much less threaten. With just one question, she had made John understand that he could no longer continue hiding the full truth.

John breathed out a sigh.

This time, he truly sighed.

"Rover."

"Hm?"

"You’re truly very fortunate."

Rover frowned.

John looked at Nanoe, his gaze overflowing with envy and loss for words.

"Fortunate enough to make me want to curse."