Compared to the bustling and complicated world outside, the inside of the Trial Grounds seemed much quieter and more peaceful.
Although everyone knew this peace was only temporary, for the animals and monsters, this place could already be considered a rare land of purity.
However, for the players, things were completely different.
Because they had endless chances to resurrect, there was no real pressure when it came to survival.
From that point of view, there wasn't much difference between the Trial Grounds and the main world.
Stephen never would've thought that players would actually develop feelings of attachment toward this place.
When he heard the player captain's emotional sigh, Stephen was a little surprised, but he still understood the captain's mood at that moment.
He looked at the captain, thought for a moment, then asked, "You can't let go of Bread Sheep, can you?"
Stephen's sudden outburst startled the player captain so much he jumped.
"What the?!"
"You can talk???"
Since meeting the player captain, Stephen hadn't said a word, so the captain had just assumed Stephen couldn't speak.
Stephen suddenly speaking caught him completely off guard.
It wasn't clear whether he was really startled or just trying to change the subject, but he didn't answer Stephen's question directly.
"Answer my question!" Stephen stared seriously at the captain and pressed him.
Hearing that, the captain didn't dare look him in the eyes. He turned his head away, trying to act calm.
"What's there to be reluctant about…"
In truth, Stephen already knew the answer. Just from the captain's expression when he talked about Bread Sheep earlier, and from what he said, it was obvious he couldn't let go.
The reason Stephen asked was because he wanted the captain to face his own feelings.
Seeing the captain still unwilling to admit it, Stephen continued.
"When we got close to the rainforest just now, I saw it."
The captain froze for a second. A hint of surprise flashed across his face, but he quickly regained his composure.
A moment later, as if something occurred to him, he smiled lightly and said in a relaxed tone, "How could that be? It's not working today…"
Since Xu Yuan had set the rules, the rainforest area had seen all sorts of trades taking place daily.
The animals and monsters who came to trade were all assigned rotating shifts according to a schedule.
The captain was all too familiar with this. He knew exactly when Bread Sheep was supposed to be on duty.
Because of that, these days he would either find excuses to skip leading the team, or he'd purposely go to the rainforest only when Bread Sheep wasn't working.
Not only that, to prevent others in the team from ending up like him, the captain had even ordered all players to withdraw to a safe distance during trades, completely cutting off contact between them and the animals or monsters.
He knew perfectly well that today wasn't Bread Sheep's shift, so he didn't believe Stephen's words.
Besides, the captain had only told Stephen Bread Sheep's story, not what it actually looked like.
Bread Sheep only had loaves stuck all over its body when it was trading; normally it looked no different from an ordinary little sheep.
So even if Bread Sheep really had appeared, Stephen wouldn't have been able to recognize it.
But at that moment, Stephen's face suddenly showed a smug expression.
He hadn't actually seen Bread Sheep, his earlier words were just to test the captain.
And clearly, the captain had fallen for it.
"You even know exactly when it's on duty, and you still say you don't care about it? …"
Just as the captain had thought, there was no way Stephen could recognize Bread Sheep based on the description alone.
Though Stephen was indeed better than ordinary players at telling apart members of the same species, just a rough description wasn't enough for him to tell Bread Sheep apart from the other sheepfolk.
Stephen had already sensed that the captain had special feelings toward Bread Sheep.
He had only said all that to test him.
He hadn't expected the captain to fall for it so easily.
When the captain heard Stephen's words, he froze for a second.
His gaze suddenly turned evasive, as if he didn't dare meet Stephen's eyes.
Then, he quickly looked away, trying to cover up his unease with forced reasoning.
"W-what's so strange about that?"
"I'm the captain of the trading squad. Of course I have to understand how the rainforest's animals and monsters rotate their shifts."
"I'm just doing my job properly, that's all…"
Even after saying that, he still felt embarrassed, so he kept trying to save face.
"It's just a sheep with self-awareness, what's there to care about?"
"I just think it's kind of interesting, that's all."
As he said that, he patted his round belly and continued.
"You know how many sheep I've had in this belly of mine?"
As soon as those words left his mouth, before Stephen could even react, the captain himself froze.
He clenched his fists subconsciously, a look of regret flashing in his eyes.
"What the hell am I even saying?!…"
He didn't mean it like that at all, he didn't even know why those words had slipped out.
The captain had always been a man who cared a lot about saving face. He'd only said that because he didn't want to look weak.
He was deeply obsessed with the anime and gaming world. He had played plenty of gacha games before.
In order to get the characters he liked, he had spent tons of money, he'd bought more than a few 648s.
Back then, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
After all, as the saying goes, "You can't buy the boss's happiness with gold."
As long as he could draw the character he loved and raise them bit by bit, he found joy in that.
But as time went on, voices around him started to bother him.
"What? You're into anime? All those anime guys are just…"
"Huh??? You actually spend that much money on a 2D character? Are you out of your mind?"
"Can't believe someone would get attached to a game character…"
"Ha, otakus are so easy to scam for money…"
Facing all those doubts and mockery, the captain became more and more timid. He stopped daring to tell anyone about his hobbies.
He was scared of being labeled. Scared of being laughed at.
So he buried that passion deep inside. He didn't give it up, but he never talked about it again.
That's why he refused to admit his feelings for Bread Sheep.
He had never told anyone about it, but he'd already imagined what kind of reactions he'd get if he ever said it out loud.
There would definitely be people who twisted it into something ugly.
And those words would hurt even more than anything he'd heard before.
The only reason he could talk like this with Notch and Stephen was because to him, they were just strangers, one human he barely knew, and one unfamiliar alpaca.
He didn't plan to recruit either of them into the team.
After all, they would soon be heading out to attack the rainforest, meaning they'd become enemies of the animals and monsters.
So, for the captain, after today, they would never cross paths again.
Besides, he could tell that Notch and Stephen were very close.
He knew that even if he let slip a little of his real thoughts, Notch probably wouldn't mock him.
That's why he had let his guard down, just a little.
But Stephen's sudden, relentless questioning made him instinctively put his guard back up.
Now, even though he regretted what he'd just said, he couldn't bring himself to explain.
Stephen stared at him, stunned.
After realizing the captain's feelings for Bread Sheep, Stephen had actually started to like him a little, that's why he'd taken the initiative to talk to him.
But now, the captain's words had touched his reverse scale.
"You!…"
Stephen was furious, ready to lash out at the captain, but Notch quickly stopped him.
Notch placed a hand on Stephen's back, gently smoothing his fur, then shook his head.
Stephen still fumed silently, but after seeing Notch's eyes, he backed off.
With a sharp "ptoo," Stephen spat on the ground by the captain's feet, then stepped away with a disgusted look.
Normally, the captain would've exploded after being treated like that.
But now, he knew he was in the wrong, so he just pretended not to see it.
The atmosphere instantly grew awkward.
Notch glanced at Stephen, still stewing in anger, then at the embarrassed captain, and sighed.
There's a saying, "You can never wake up someone who's pretending to sleep."
That perfectly described what had just happened.
From the start, Notch had been watching the captain's reactions.
He knew perfectly well that the captain cared about Bread Sheep. He just didn't want to admit it.
Everything Stephen did was his attempt to wake the captain up.
But the captain didn't misunderstand his feelings, he just refused to understand them.
Unless he was willing to wake up himself, Stephen could talk until his mouth went dry and it wouldn't change a thing.
"Um…"
Just as Notch was about to say something to break the awkward silence, the captain spoke first.
"Let's go."
"The trade should be done."
He stood up, turned to Notch, and said, "Once we pick up the goods, the deal's complete."
"The thing I promised you, that'll be done."
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