Chapter 118: A Sudden New Dungeon

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: A Sudden New Dungeon

By the time Shi Zhile came out in a fresh set of clothes, Jiang Jing had already tidied up the cave.

He had piled loose stones into rings on either side of the entrance, with a fire burning between them. Closer to the center of the cave, another fire was blazing.

The three fires burning in unison quickly drove the dampness from the air.

Just as Shi Zhile was about to treat Jiang Jing’s wounds, a video call came in from Mr. Wen in the Planting Space.

Shi Zhile answered the call. Old Mr. Wen’s energetic voice came through. "Miss Shi, did something happen? What happened to my bonfire?"

Shi Zhile and Jiang Jing exchanged a look, their gazes simultaneously shifting to the burning fires.

Shi Zhile’s hair was still dripping, and Jiang Jing was soaked to the bone. They both looked a complete mess, something Mr. Wen noticed immediately.

"What in the world happened? Never mind, just let me out of the space."

The cave seemed safe enough. The rain outside was heavy, but the rocks offered shelter, so it wouldn’t blow in for the time being.

Shi Zhile ended the call and brought him out of the space.

Taking advantage of the moment, Jiang Jing took off his shirt, revealing the wound on his back where he had been slammed against the reef.

A large patch of his back was red and swollen. The abraded skin had sloughed off, and tiny bits of sand and stone were embedded in the flesh. The slightest movement caused bloody fluid to ooze out.

He had bruises on his shoulders, neck, and waist. It looked incredibly painful.

Shi Zhile took out some clean water and was about to apply medicine to Jiang Jing’s wounds when Mr. Wen appeared in the cave.

Mr. Wen surveyed his surroundings. In the firelight, his eyes immediately fell on the wound on Jiang Jing’s back.

"Looks like an impact injury. What did you run into, kid?"

"A reef. We couldn’t make it to the island yesterday. Today, the waves just threw us onto the shore."

Elder Wen replied, "The waves threw you ashore? This instance’s mission is just to survive. It’s 1:00 PM now, which means we’re on the third day. I have a bad feeling about today."

Shi Zhile added an anti-inflammatory powder to a bottle of purified water. Once it dissolved, she poked a small hole in the cap.

She used the medicated water to flush the wound, increasing the pressure to dislodge the sand and stone embedded in his flesh.

Her hands worked on the wound, but her expression remained calm and composed.

"After we made it to the island, we faintly heard other players crying for help from the shore. I think the storm’s purpose was to wash all the players onto this island."

"A torrential downpour on top of being injured... if they can’t find shelter, the death toll for this instance is going to be even higher."

She squeezed the bottle, making it groan as the water pressure increased, flushing the tiny stones from his skin.

The sudden pain made Jiang Jing break out in a cold sweat. He hissed, sucking in a sharp breath. "You took a fall too. Where are you hurt?"

"I’m not wounded," Shi Zhile said.

She was wearing soft armor, and Jiang Jing had cushioned her fall, so her arm only took a slight knock.

She’d checked when she was changing. There was a small bruise on the outside of her arm, but nothing else.

Elder Wen quietly added more wood to the fire. The cave was dim, so worried that Shi Zhile couldn’t see clearly, he held up a torch to illuminate the area for her.

Once the wound was clean, Jiang Jing took a small container of ointment from his backpack.

The cool ointment instantly soothed the pain as he applied it. He then wrapped his torso several times with breathable gauze, completely covering the wound on his back.

Just as Elder Wen was about to speak, Shi Zhile’s ear twitched. She immediately sent him back into the Planting Space.

Moments later, cries for help and blood-curdling screams echoed from outside the cave.

Shi Zhile motioned for Jiang Jing to be silent, then peered out through a gap in the rocks, concealed by hanging vines.

Through the curtain of rain, three or four bedraggled players scrambled up the mountain path. Behind them slithered a massive black python.

The moment Shi Zhile saw the python, goosebumps prickled all over her skin.

She pulled out several large rocks from her space and added another layer to the stone wall at the cave’s entrance.

Jiang Jing slowly moved to Shi Zhile’s side and whispered, "What is it? Are players killing each other?"

Shi Zhile shook her head, pulling him deeper into the cave.

She carefully inspected the cave, only relaxing once she was sure there were no other entrances, nor any snakes or other creatures.

"A black python. That’s what I ran into during my very first instance. Its Python Meat increases your Life Value, and its scales can be made into weapons. The whole thing is a treasure trove. But it’s incredibly hard to kill."

"Back then, a few of us managed to seriously injure it. If it hadn’t come back for revenge and ambushed me and Jiang Yuxing, we never would have managed to kill it in that life-or-death battle."

"This one is even bigger than the one from before. We’re no match for it. We have to stay hidden."

Amidst the din of the rain, a sound like bones being crunched echoed from above the cave. The RUSTLE of scales scraping against vegetation was horribly familiar to Shi Zhile.

Time ticked by, and the sounds from outside slowly faded away.

Just as they were breathing a sigh of relief, thankful to be alive, the system’s voice rang in their ears.

[Survival Tip: All players have landed on the island. The Ocean Survival instance has concluded. A new instance is about to begin: Battle Royale Mode.]

[In the Primitive Forest, you will find man-eating pythons, colorful mushrooms taller than trees, talking monkeys, and Primitive Tribes.]

[In this resource-rich forest, all players are encouraged to stock up and replenish their supplies.]

[Hint: Beyond the light lies a bottomless cliff. At the bottom of this cliff are two tribes. To survive in the Primitive Forest, you must join one of them.]

[However, whether you have found the Cannibal Clan or the Beast-eating Clan remains to be seen.]

[Don’t celebrate too soon. Just try to stay alive.]

’A new instance?’

Shi Zhile and Jiang Jing stared at each other in disbelief. They hadn’t expected this instance to be so short; it was because two were running back-to-back.

Jiang Jing’s eyes fell, his thoughts suddenly turning to the vanished Chuyi.

"Zhile, do you think... he could be the one behind this?"

’Chuyi disappeared from the sea so quickly,’ he thought. ’Other than dying on the seabed or quitting the game, I can’t think of any other explanation.’

Shi Zhile removed a few stones from their barricade and pressed her ear to the opening, listening intently to the rain.

The rain was letting up. The air, thick with the scent of damp earth, now also carried the heavy stench of blood.

"It doesn’t matter who’s pulling the strings. What matters is that this new instance has no time limit and no specific objective."

"There were several hundred players in this area of the sea. Even if half of them are dead, that still leaves at least two hundred people."

"It would be great if they could all unite, but if the infighting continues, they’ll probably all get wiped out. For the game to use the Primitive Tribes to kill players, both tribes must have large populations."

Jiang Jing pulled on his now-dry shirt and sat by the fire to check the chat channel.

"Someone in the chat is speculating that we can exit the new instance by leaving the island. The covered boat is gone, but the raft is still there. Should we try it once the rain stops?"

Although Shi Zhile felt the idea was a long shot, she nodded anyway.

"Once the rain stops, we’ll head out to sea. If there’s any danger, we’ll just retreat into the space."

’The objective isn’t clear,’ she thought. ’If worse comes to worst, I can just hole up in the space until this whole instance is over.’