"I was never interested in the first place."

"Why not?" Sun Changkong pursued.

"Staying in the Salvation Society is my own choice. What's the point in knowing what the world outside looks like?" Mario replied.

He looked down, playing with his game console, his pupils reflecting the screen's glow.

"No way, stop playing games here." Sun Changkong frowned, "Everyone else is going, how can you not? Do you want to be a homebody forever?"

"Using a word you just learned?" Mario asked without lifting his head, "Did you learn it from Ji Minghuan?"

"What else?" Sun Changkong snorted, "Homebody, homebody, homebody."

"Hillbilly," Mario said calmly.

"Homebody."

Sun Changkong pulled her baseball cap lower, blinking nonchalantly, as if 'hillbilly' wasn't a particularly embarrassing word to her.

She already knew she was a hillbilly.

"Trash-picker," Mario continued.

"Huh?" Sun Changkong instantly got worked up, gritting her teeth, her little canines trembling with anger.

Mario coldly said, "Trash-picker, stop bothering me, got it..."

But before he could finish, Sun Changkong grabbed Mario's sleeve and hauled him onto the Somersault Cloud, spun him around more than ten times, then tossed him back to the ground.

Mario, dizzy, kept fiddling with his screen without much expression on his face.

"Is your game console your life?" Sun Changkong vented her frustration, almost enunciating each word.

"It is my life." Mario rubbed his forehead, "Only games will never betray me." He paused, "Friends leave, family leaves, everything is temporary... games are always there."

"Huh? Are you also Shang Xiaoqi?" Sun Changkong crossed her arms, squinting at him.

Shang Xiaoqi happened to have her hands clasped behind her back as she brushed past them, giving them a sidelong glance and a low snort.

She said, "Hehe... Those who've never experienced betrayal don't deserve to understand me, don't compare me to yourself."

Mario and Sun Changkong simultaneously turned their heads, giving her a speechless glance, then exchanged a look with each other.

"Let's go."

"Got it."

Mario said impatiently.

Knowing Sun Changkong wouldn't let him off, he sighed, paused his game, and stood up.

He turned his head, casually glancing at the elevator car at the entrance.

By this time, the others were already in the elevator, among them, Filio was the most enthusiastic.

Upon hearing they could go out for a bit, Filio immediately sprawled on the ground, running over with all fours, his grey-white wolf tail swaying, eyes sparkling brightly.

Mario was the only one lagging behind, seemingly reluctant. Sun Changkong was like a supervisor, flying behind Mario on the Somersault Cloud, vigorously patting his back, urging him forward, not giving him a chance to linger in the base.

Soon, the kids from the Salvation Squad all entered the elevator, the cold elevator doors closing above them.

The elevator was silent inside.

No one looked at Ji Minghuan, diverting their gaze, lowering their heads.

They all still cared about what happened two days ago, and the Mentor also suggested they temporarily avoid provoking Ji Minghuan.

For a moment, the atmosphere was a bit tense.

Fortunately, the Mentor had already pressed a button on the control panel and then withdrew his right hand.

Soon after, the elevator emitted a buzzing sound, like the vibration of giant wings, beginning to tremble.

However, the car did not ascend immediately, but instead returned to the original first floor.

A moment later, the elevator door opened, and the bright light from the corridor poured back in, shining on the kids' faces.

They squinted, raising their arms in front of their foreheads, peeking through the gaps, only to see the experimenters' outlines squeezing in from the bright light.

The experimenters handed some heavy objects to the kids' hands and then retreated.

With a rumbling thud, the elevator doors closed again. The kids lowered their heads, opened their eyes, curiously and suspiciously examining the gear in their hands.

"Mentor, what is this?" Sun Changkong was the first to raise a question.

"In the way of my gaming. What's this they shoved into my hands?" Mario also piped up.

Shang Xiaoqi and Filio exchanged glances.

"What is it?" Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow, looking down at the helmet and the inflated-looking puffy white suit, "Uh... spacesuit?" Indeed, what appeared before them was a child-sized spacesuit.

"What... is the Mentor up to?" He stared at the suit, then glanced at the Mentor, thinking silently, "Why would we need spacesuits, just to leave the base? Afraid we'll freeze?"

"Kids, don't question it, this is a necessary preparation."

The Mentor said calmly, also accepting a fitting spacesuit from the experimenters, not even taking off the clothes beneath, just putting it directly on.

The kids exchanged looks, then quickly put on their spacesuits, and with the experimenters' help, donned round transparent oxygen helmets.

Through the round helmets, they turned their heads, curiously observing each other, holding their stomachs and pointing at one another, especially Filio, who was ridiculed the most.

Filio's wolf tail stretched out from the back of the spacesuit, and his wolf ears, trapped inside the helmet, could barely move, making him the most uncomfortable among them.

After a while, the experimenters exited the elevator car, waving at them, and then the elevator doors closed again.

Soon after, the Mentor suddenly pulled out an ID card from his spacesuit pocket, swiping it through the elevator's card slot. At that moment, a new floor number suddenly appeared on the elevator's control panel—"3".