Chapter 102: Massive Server Merge

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Massive Server Merge

As morning arrived, players began to trickle out of the instance. The current player count for the region was 96,698.

Within the rule-based instance, the death toll in a single region had reached a staggering 130,000.

And that was to say nothing of the other regions.

After checking the player count, Shi Zhile exited the chat channel.

On her friends list, all the avatars were normal, none had grayed out, which meant none of them had died.

The next morning, a server merge notification was issued.

[Survival Tip: The player count in all regions has dropped below 150,000. The system will initiate an automatic server merge.

Due to the drastic increase in deaths, the system will conduct a large-scale merge.

Therefore: Every 1 to 10 regions will be merged into a single new region, with each new region containing 300,000 to 500,000 players.]

[The server merge countdown is beginning. All players, please prepare.

Special Note: Due to the massive scale of the merge, natural disasters will spread or intensify. The distance between islands will shrink, and the system will make all player locations public.

Current Natural Disaster: Extreme Heat.

Merging servers now. Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]

When the countdown hit zero, Shi Zhile was standing by the second-floor window when a sharp, stinging pain shot through her cheek.

The sunlight shining through the window felt like several large heat lamps were pressed right against her face.

She quickly backed away and immediately splashed her face with fresh water. The pain only began to subside after a few moments.

The chat channel was flooded with cries of anguish, and even the top-ranked players were no longer lurking.

[Zhen Zhu (Rank 96): Your skin will crack if you’re exposed to the sun for more than ten minutes. All the moisture on the islands is evaporating, and the soil is completely dry. To all you experts, is there any way to deal with this solar disaster?]

[Sun Ci (Rank 11): The air temperature on the islands is 46°C, and the ground temperature is 55°C. It’s even hotter over the ocean. Any players with farming plots should move them to a shady area as soon as possible.]

[Wei Hui: Help! Help me! The sun set my shelter on fire! I need water! Any kind of water will do!]

[Wang Peng (Rank 72): How could it catch fire? The sun hasn’t even set my Volcano Island on fire, but your shelter is burning?]

[Wei Hui: It’s a wooden house! My shelter is made of wood! You guys must have water, even seawater is fine! Help me put out this fire!]

Before Shi Zhile could say anything, a ping from Wei Hui arrived.

[Wei Hui: @Contentment Brings Happiness, you’re still rank one after the merge. You love hoarding supplies, so you must have water. I don’t need fresh water, seawater is fine. Just give me some seawater!]

Shi Zhile ignored him.

’The sun is brutal, but it’s highly unlikely that direct sunlight alone would set a wooden house on fire. There has to be another factor at play.’

A glint of light off glass under the sun made Shi Zhile’s heart jump, and she hurried downstairs.

The temperature in the enclosed courtyard was scorching. The leaves of the coconut and goji trees were curled at the edges, looking severely dehydrated.

She had barely stepped into the yard before the blistering sun forced her back.

’It’s just after seven in the morning, and the sun isn’t even directly overhead yet. If it’s this hot now, it’ll be even worse by two or three in the afternoon.

The handmade glass is a little uneven. If it focuses the sunlight, it could easily start a fire. I should take down the glass, or build a wooden roof over it.

But while that would block the light, the lack of air circulation would just make it even hotter.

Right now, even the Energy Shield can’t completely block the sun’s harmful rays. If I can’t block the sunlight, I won’t even be able to leave the cave.

My Planting Space requires a huge amount of water, and the freshwater lake is in the courtyard, so I have to be able to go out there.’

She went to the Task Hall menu, found the option for roof demolition and construction, and selected "Demolish."

[Please select the part you wish to demolish.]

Shi Zhile looked at the glass roof over the courtyard. "The entire courtyard glass roof."

[Demolition successful. You have obtained Glass x50.]

Shi Zhile felt a sharp pang of regret. It had cost her over two hundred pieces of glass to build that roof, and now she only got a quarter of it back.

She then went to the roof construction menu, spending Wood x100 to raise the courtyard walls and another Wood x250 to build a wooden sunshade roof.

Once everything was finished, Shi Zhile stepped out of the house.

Seeing that the water level in the freshwater lake hadn’t dropped at all, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

’Thank goodness the lake is fine. The animals in the Breeding Space and the crops in the Planting Space both need water. If this lake dries up, both Spaces will be completely useless.

But just having the lake isn’t enough. I need to store seawater too. The seawater filter can’t stop running; I have to store as much water as possible just in case.’

She had been in such a rush yesterday that she hadn’t put many of her supplies away in her backpack.

Shi Zhile began collecting water from the lake directly into the infinite slots of her backpack.

After a few minutes, the lake’s water level hadn’t changed. Ten minutes later, it was still the same.

Gradually, Shi Zhile began to realize what was happening.

The water level of the freshwater lake seemed to be fixed. In other words, it would never run dry, no matter what.

She quickly opened the chat channel and looked again at the pictures some players had posted.

The land was cracked, all the plants had withered from drought, and the islands looked like dead wood, without a single trace of life.

One player had even posted a picture of a mountain spring that had completely dried up.

’So natural water sources can dry up, but the freshwater lake from the system rewards can’t. This is a special boon from the system. I can’t let any other players find out. The moment they learn my water source is inexhaustible, they’ll definitely come to seize the lake.’

She quickly stored more fresh water in her backpack, then opened her map.

The system had said the distance between islands would shrink. After the merge, it was very likely that other islands would suddenly appear nearby. She had to scout out the situation immediately and prepare to deal with potential enemies.

Her island map showed nothing unusual, but on the sea chart, two islands had appeared about a kilometer away from Stone Island. One of them was labeled as a Volcano Island.

A kilometer was far too close.

You could practically see them just by standing on the shore.

Shi Zhile remembered that Wang Peng’s island was a volcano. She took a screenshot and sent it to him.

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Is this island yours?]

Wang Peng replied quickly: [I just saw Stone Island on my map and thought I was mistaken. Looks like it’s really you. The other island is a Rainforest Island. Didn’t that one sink?]

He wasn’t overreacting; the swarms of snakes on the Rainforest Island had left him deeply traumatized.

Watching with his own eyes as small snakes burrowed in and out of a person’s body was a truly sickening experience.

Shi Zhile replied: [With so many players, there are bound to be duplicate island types. We’re in a period of extreme heat, and the sun can easily start fires. Are you okay on your Volcano Island?]

Wang Peng started a video call.

On the other end of the call, Wang Peng was in a short-sleeved shirt, fanning himself nonstop. Even so, he was drenched in sweat.

"When I first got back yesterday, I went to the center of the island. It’s impossible to say nothing’s changed. There’s more lava flowing than usual, and the temperature near the crater is even higher.

If the temperature keeps rising tomorrow, the volcano won’t be far from erupting."

Once the volcano erupted, the entire island would surely be swallowed by lava.