A moment's thought would lead one to consider who he had recently offended.
Furthermore, when Xu An went to the auction, she had disguised her appearance, but not her gender or figure.
This made it easy to connect the dots.
Originally, Xu An was merely suspicious.
But then she felt a malevolent gaze fixated on her from behind, staring fiercely.
Xu An didn't need to turn around to confirm.
She knew that gaze belonged to Su Xiao.
Now, there was no need to guess.
"Su Xiao must have realized it was me behind the scheme."
Zhou Haimei's previously disdainful expression instantly turned serious.
"How could she have known?"
Xu An simply uttered two words: Instinct.
But Zhou Haimei didn't find it amusing; in the past, relying on Xu An's instinct, they had indeed evaded many dangers.
On their team's specialized communicator,
Messages came from Li Chen and Li Xin.
"Xu An, how are you guys?" Li Chen asked with concern.
The two had been on the mountain for over an hour, but there was no movement. The sounds of fighting continuously echoed, and they were very worried. However, they also remembered Xu An's words and did not rashly ascend the mountain, so they could only send them a message to inquire about the situation.
"All safe."
Upon hearing Xu An's four words, "All safe," Li Xin finally felt completely at ease.
Happily, she turned to her brother and said, "Brother, An An jie and the others are fine."
However, Xu An saw someone here she hadn't expected.
Liu Chang, who should have been seriously injured and unconscious, along with Hong Ying who was taking care of him, had miraculously appeared on the mountaintop.
Zhou Haimei looked towards Hong Ying, who was crouching on a nearby slope.
Beside her, Liu Chang leaned, his face pale and bloodless, but he appeared only slightly weak. He didn't look like he was on the verge of death, as Li Xin had reported.
Zhou Haimei said suspiciously, "Didn't Li Xin say that Liu Chang was about to die? That's why Hong Ying pleaded with us so earnestly to come here to recover. But now, looking at Liu Chang, apart from being a bit weak, he seems to be fine. What's Hong Ying's motive for deceiving Li Xin and bringing them here? Or is Liu Chang just a great actor?"
"Both, or perhaps just one of them. In any case, the other party is not to be trifled with," Xu An replied impassively.
There were always too many people who exploited others' kindness to achieve their own goals; such things were commonplace. It was when these people set their sights on those close to her that Xu An felt a pang of annoyance.
"You're right. Whichever the case, it only proves that Hong Ying and Liu Chang are ill-intentioned and approaching us with ulterior motives."
As time passed, under the sunlight, the people locked in combat fought fiercely. Impatience and anxiety gradually appeared on everyone's faces, like cornered beasts. They became increasingly bloodthirsty and brutal.
People fell one after another, replaced by new combatants.
It was like an unwearying Roman gladiatorial combat.
And now, the beasts were humans themselves.
Xu An watched the absurd and laughable scene before her, a sense of melancholy inexplicably rising in her heart.
If there truly existed a being with higher intelligence than humans,
Would those beings look at humans now as humans once looked at the caged beasts in the arena?
"These people are getting more and more unusual. Why do they seem so desperate in their fighting?" Zhou Haimei watched the endless crowd. The corpses at their feet piled higher and higher. People continuously stumbled over the bodies on the ground and never got up again.
Yet, the crowd continued to fight with relish, all for the sake of reaching the mountaintop.
"What exactly is on that mountaintop?"
Xu An didn't know either and could only shake her head. No one dared to rush forward now.
This last group of people to arrive had, conversely, saved their own lives.
Xu An had summarized a pattern.
The closer they got to the peak, the more they lost their sanity. Conversely, those on the periphery were still able to maintain their clarity.
Xu An's mind raced as she quickly considered countermeasures.
At such a crucial moment, Ze Yuan was still asleep.
Xu An felt like stewing Ze Yuan when she got home; she felt like this guy had been avoiding her lately, deliberately not appearing. She hoped all this was just her own speculation.
While Xu An was observing, Su Xiao on the other side suddenly made a move.
Perhaps due to her ability, her movements were exceptionally swift. In the blink of an eye, she charged into the crowd and cleanly dispatched nearly half of them with her lightning power.
Xu An was somewhat surprised. She had expected the other party to come looking for her to settle scores.
After all, Su Xiao's gaze towards her earlier was far from friendly.
And Xu An herself had already prepared for a fight, fearing Su Xiao would suddenly rush over to ambush her.
She hadn't expected that after all her preparations, the other party would play by completely different rules.
However, Xu An did not let her guard down because of this.
Because she discovered that a force in the shadows was still firmly locked onto her.
While startled, Xu An also secretly rejoiced that she was being cautious enough in her actions.
But she was also alarmed.
Had Su Xiao's control over her ability reached such a level of perfection?
Yet, she had awakened her ability less than a month ago.
Xu An was extremely sure that when they entered the Extreme Cold Arena, Su Xiao was still a complete ordinary person. But now, her control over her ability was no less than her own.
If Su Xiao were allowed to continue growing, and with the many grievances between them, Xu An knew the other party would not let her off.
Just as she herself would not let the other party off.
After all, being kind to an enemy was cruelty to oneself.
In a certain aspect,
Su Xiao was actually very similar to Xu An.
But people who were too alike often couldn't be friends.
It was precisely because they understood each other too well that they developed aversion.
It was like like poles repelling each other.
Xu An secretly observed the battlefield. After Su Xiao joined, the previously chaotic battlefield seemed to show a clear trend towards one side.
That is, everyone seemed to be attacking Su Xiao in unison.
It was as if a balance had been broken.
To maintain that balance, this anomaly had to be eliminated.