Lin Junru stood frozen in place.

  "What do you mean?" She couldn't believe it.

  "They want me to join them, and I agreed," Mu Xin said calmly. "But they don't want to accept you."

  Lin Junru didn't care about Qin Nan and Jian Fan's strange team; not being accepted was fine. But she couldn't accept being abandoned by Mu Xin.

  With hurt in her eyes, she stared at Mu Xin. "So you’re just going to leave me because they want to abandon me? Mu Xin, that's too much! We've been through so many worlds together, and now you're just going to toss me aside?"

  Mu Xin frowned.

  She admitted that parting ways with Lin Junru was indeed unfair to her, but in the Death Realm, survival was the most important thing. She had never promised to stay with Lin Junru forever.

  "Say something!" Lin Junru stepped forward, grabbing Mu Xin's arms, her tone agitated.

  Lin Junru's reaction made Mu Xin feel a little guilty at first, but it was soon replaced by annoyance.

  "Out of our past friendship, I can help you once in the next world. That's the only thing I can do for you," Mu Xin proposed, a plan she had already considered.

  Lin Junru laughed in anger. "Help me once? Mu Xin, have you forgotten how I helped you before? Now that you've found better teammates, you want to kick me aside? Dream on!"

  "So what? What can you do?" Mu Xin had lost her patience to part ways amicably with Lin Junru.

  Lin Junru paused.

  What could she do?

  Mu Xin reached out and held Lin Junru's hand on her arm, her tone cold. "I have no obligation to you. Yes, you helped me before, but I also helped you clear those worlds. Lin Junru, we were merely using each other. I don't owe you anything. I'm willing to give you one more promise because of our past, not because I truly feel sorry for you."

  Lin Junru fell silent.

  "This is the Death Realm; our lives hang by a thread. To survive, we can only rely on ourselves. Lin Junru, you need to wake up." With that, Mu Xin shook off Lin Junru's hand and turned to leave.

  Lin Junru stood there, dumbfounded.

  Mu Xin walked up to Qin Nan, nodded slightly to him as a greeting, then left.

  Qin Nan looked at Lin Junru.

  Lin Junru was clearly still in shock from the blow. She remained where she was for a while before suddenly squatting down and crying out loud. Without Mu Xin and with Zheng Jueming gone, she had no idea what to do.

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  Qin Nan felt sympathy for Lin Junru.

  But in the Death Realm, sympathy was the least useful thing. He couldn't take in a teammate just because he felt sorry for her. He could help within his capabilities, but how could he guarantee that such a teammate wouldn't betray them when faced with life-and-death decisions?

  Life was precious, and no one dared to gamble on it.

  To survive here, one couldn't rely solely on others. To become a teammate, one must also have their own abilities and be able to contribute value to the team.

  Lin Junru was clearly not a qualified teammate in the Death Realm.

  Qin Nan sighed.

  For Lin Junru, and for their own situation.

  He didn't linger any longer and turned to his room to rest.

  Only Lin Junru remained.

  When she cried herself out and looked up at the empty space, only a vast white world surrounded her, her mind was also blank.

  How did she end up like this?

  With Mu Xin around, she could always rely on her. She just needed to do whatever Mu Xin said. Although she sometimes feared seeing other players die, as long as she saw Mu Xin, she would calm down.

  But now, Mu Xin had abandoned her.

  What should she do?

  Mu Xin was right; she needed to wake up. But what after waking up? Lin Junru knew her own limitations; she couldn't navigate the Death Realm. She wanted to rely on herself, but she lacked the ability. All she could do was cling to others.

  Qin Nan and Jian Fan wouldn't accept her. Qin Wei Yi and Lu Jing probably wouldn't accept someone as useless as her either. Xu Tian... no, Lin Junru didn't think Xu Tian had any real abilities. So, her choices were limited to one.

  Xia Zheqin.

  Remembering Xia Zheqin's female companion, Lin Junru suddenly felt a surge of confidence.

  She stood up, adjusted her outfit, and walked towards Xia Zheqin's room.

  At that moment, Lin Junru was grateful that Mu Xin had approached her after Xia Zheqin had left. At that time, she still had the presence of mind to pay attention to Xia Zheqin and his companions, leaving her with a glimmer of hope.

  She arrived at Xia Zheqin's door and placed her hand on the ethereal door.

  Xia Zheqin was sitting on the sofa, tracing patterns in the air with his fingers when a system notification popped up.

  Player Lin Junru requests to enter.

  Xia Zheqin raised an eyebrow. He didn't act immediately, pondering the situation before finally retracting the floating control panel and clicking the button to allow Lin Junru in.

  After Xia Zheqin granted permission, Lin Junru vanished from her spot and appeared in Xia Zheqin's room.

  Seeing the environment change, Lin Junru let out a sigh of relief.

  "You wanted to see me?" Xia Zheqin asked, looking at Lin Junru.

  Lin Junru straightened up, putting on a smile. "Yes."

  "What's up?" Xia Zheqin asked, his intuition already hinting at her intentions, but he clearly didn't plan to confront her directly.

  Lin Junru nodded. "I do." As she spoke, she slowly approached Xia Zheqin, lightly tugging at her outfit to remove her outer coat, revealing a sleeveless dress underneath.

  Xia Zheqin raised an eyebrow.

  Lin Junru smiled alluringly, sitting directly on Xia Zheqin's lap, one hand resting on his shoulder, her voice softly brushing against his face. "Shall we talk about romantic matters?"

  She had thought about it—intellectually, she was just an ordinary person, unable to compete with those who were highly intelligent. If she had any advantage, it was that she was the most feminine among them.

  Mu Xin was a fresh-faced high school girl, exuding a sense of innocence and vulnerability. Xu Tian was the cool girl type. Lin Junru, on the other hand, was beautiful and well-proportioned. In the real world, she was a stunning beauty, but in the Death Realm, her beauty seemed to lose its value.

  Did it really have no value?

  Not entirely.

  With Mu Xin around, she had never considered using her allure to climb the ranks. Now that Mu Xin was gone, her only asset was her body.

  Moreover, she didn't understand deduction, but when it came to emotions, she understood men.

  Lin Junru was confident that she could do better than Xia Zheqin's previous female companion.

  "How do you want to talk?" Xia Zheqin asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Lin Junru giggled, her hand slowly moving towards Xia Zheqin's waistband. "Is this method satisfactory, Mr. Xia?"