"Hey—!"

Upon noticing Lin Yu's sudden movement, Fern immediately cried out and lunged toward the mine cart where Lin Yu and Moss were.

Although she had wanted to explore the mine earlier, that was only when Algae was present!

Yet, even though Fern's reaction was swift, she was still a step too slow.

She threw herself forward with all her might, but her fingertips missed the cart by a hair's breadth, failing to grab hold of it.

Lunging too forcefully, Fern nearly lost her balance. By the time she steadied herself, the mine cart had already accelerated to a speed far exceeding a normal person's running pace.

"Grass! What the hell are you doing?!"

Fern tried to run after the cart, but after just two steps, she stopped in her tracks and shouted.

Lin Yu, holding Moss, lifted his head from the cart and smiled at Fern.

"I've already explained—this is a special situation. I think we need some special methods to break the deadlock."

As Lin Yu finished speaking, the mine cart completely entered the dark mine shaft!

"Everything is just right."

Lin Yu, seeing that Fern wasn't chasing after them, nodded in satisfaction.

Given Fern's personality, she should wait for Algae to return—although Fern sometimes seemed impulsive, Lin Yu could tell she was overly dependent on Algae.

Or perhaps among the three personalities... Algae bore the responsibility of "external defense" and "dealing with threats."

While Fern likely corresponded to "communication" and "daily life."

Of course, even if Fern had grabbed the cart just now, it wouldn't have mattered.

Lin Yu would have kicked her off or thrown her off—doing so would merely be playing the predetermined role of "Grass," which would have deviated from his expectations.

But fortunately, Fern didn't chase after them.

This was thanks to the powerful kick Lin Yu had delivered earlier, and when he jumped into the cart holding Moss, he deliberately shifted his weight to the front of the cart, even bumping his shoulder against the front panel.

Inside the mine, only widely spaced, swaying xenon lamps hanging from the tunnel ceiling provided illumination, resulting in very low visibility.

The dust-filled air further reduced the lighting efficiency of those old-fashioned hanging lamps, and it was turbid, choking, permeated with a heavy, raw odor.

The mine cart quickly reached its maximum acceleration, the entire vehicle jolting and shaking, its wheels and lever clattering noisily.

Even knowing this was a dream, the shaking and sensation of excessive speed instinctively made Lin Yu somewhat tense.

Using the faint and shifting light source, he looked at Moss, who was also in the cart.

This small child was still sitting calmly in the cart—in fact, he had adjusted his posture even earlier than Lin Yu.

No crying, no fussing, no shouting. He was even sitting cross-legged, leaning back against the side of the cart, simply watching Lin Yu calmly through the eye holes in his mask.

Through the other's eyes, Lin Yu read an emotion as calm as still water.

Even though he had practically abducted him, Moss still showed no fluctuation.

After all, even Fern, an adult, had been so anxious she shouted—and her Class was even 'Fraudster'.

"Good, smart or not, at least he's a calm child."

"But being able to stay calm... in itself means he's not too foolish."

Lin Yu let out a breath, slightly dispersing the dust before his eyes.

Time to start negotiating.

This was also the purpose behind Lin Yu's previous actions.

He needed to find a suitable opportunity to address the issue that Moss hadn't generated 'belief'.

Fern and Algae had already subconsciously regarded him as a "personality" like them, considering him one of their own, but Moss hadn't.

Before meeting Twenty... Lin Yu had to win over all the personalities of the guy before him.

So, although the timing wasn't perfect, Lin Yu couldn't afford to be picky anymore.

Because the time left for him was already extremely tight!

...

"What do you mean Grass took Moss and left?!"

At the mine entrance, the returned Algae rubbed her hair, speaking in a tone of disbelief.

"I was only gone for fifteen minutes... or even less."

Fern sighed. "Actually, not five minutes after you left, Grass started shouting something about 'extreme situations require extreme measures,' then grabbed Moss, jumped into the mine cart, and took off."

"You didn't stop them?"

Algae asked again, still incredulous.

"I tried, but... I wasn't on guard against him pulling such a move," Fern said with annoyance, kicking a black pebble on the ground. "Damn it, who would have thought Grass was that crazy—I thought he was supposed to be a gentle, tolerant, comforting figure."

"Then why didn't you chase after them?!"

Algae pressed again, pointing at the mine cart beside her. "Even if you couldn't catch up, isn't there another cart right here?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Because I was waiting for you," Fern said indignantly. "Don't act like you have no responsibility in this. It was you who insisted on acting alone—was that a very wise choice?"

"I just wanted to check if there were any other exits or special spots."

Algae's assertiveness weakened a bit as she muttered.

Fern looked at Algae and asked, "Since you came back so quickly, did you find anything?"

Algae pursed her lips. "No... but how would I know there wasn't anything if I didn't go?"

"Before you went, I already thought there wasn't."

Fern pressed on relentlessly.

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that anymore," Algae quickly interrupted Fern. "The top priority is catching up to those two—after all, over ten minutes have already passed!"

With that, Algae walked straight to the remaining mine cart parked on another track.

"But can you be sure these two carts' tracks lead to the same place?"

Fern raised the question.

This was also a major reason she hadn't boarded the other cart to give chase.

"It's fine. If there are branching paths inside, I can jump off the cart with you in time," Algae said after thinking. "You said that cart was fast, so we'll ride as far as we can along the same route, saving as much time as possible."

"And what if these two tracks do lead to the same place? Then we'd hit the jackpot!"

After saying this, Algae directly pulled the lever of the mine cart.

Once again persuaded by Algae, the two of them climbed into the now-starting mine cart.

However, compared to Lin Yu and Moss's one-large-one-small configuration, two adults crammed into this square mine cart felt somewhat crowded.

"Let's go!"

Algae said, holding onto the edge of the cart, swinging her legs outside, and giving the cart a couple of kicks to accelerate it.

The mine cart sped up faster and faster, soon also rushing into the dark mine shaft!

Xenon lamps illuminated the mining tunnel. Fern observed the parallel iron rails beside them and the support structures around the tunnel, gradually letting out a sigh of relief.

"Good news, maybe the destination really is the same!"

"This tunnel follows the main ore vein... so it's very likely this entrance itself only has one path."