Chapter 169: The Travel Tool Emerges

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: The Travel Tool Emerges

’Zhile’s writing instead of speaking probably means this person can’t be mentioned aloud,’ Shi Zhiyi thought. ’At the very least, his existence can’t be openly discussed right now.’

Shi Zhiyi asked, confused, "Who is it?"

Zhile continued to write: "Jiang Yuxing."

She drew an equals sign between the two names.

Mr. Wen’s brow furrowed slightly. "The same person?"

"Yes, and no!"

’If the wormhole Chuyi mentioned really exists, then Xi Nan is Jiang Yuxing, and Jiang Yuxing is also Xi Nan.’

’They’re the same person from different points in spacetime.’

Everyone was lost in thought, except for Mr. Wen, whose tightly furrowed brow suddenly relaxed.

Soon after, Shi Zhiyi and Wen Bai also understood the crucial point.

’When you put it together with what Chuyi said, the answer is pretty easy to guess.’

Luo Chuan and the others didn’t understand, but they were tactful enough not to ask any more questions.

Wen Bai looked at Luo Chuan and the others. "You should all be able to guess some things by now. The players who entered the game are likely all of humanity.

I have family inside the game, and you do too. This concerns the safety of everyone in the game, so the first name needs to be kept an absolute secret.

Tomorrow, I’ll report this to the base myself. Until then, follow the arrangements Zhile has laid out. No one can let their guard down."

"Yes!"

The night grew deep and silent. Outside the window, the sound of freezing rain began to fall once more.

「Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.」

During this time, Zhile would visit Jiang Yuxing’s island every day. Sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. She would occasionally sit beside Jiang Yuxing, observing him in silence, or she would take a walk around the island.

But it was always Xi Nan inside that body. He let Zhile wander as she pleased, ignoring her and asking no questions.

He just lay there all day as if boneless, never speaking or opening his eyes, as quiet as a corpse.

There were only three days left before the next instance opened. She used to get news from Wang Peng, but now that Jiang Yuxing had vanished, Wang Peng was gone too.

The temperature held steady at seventy degrees below zero. As long as you had a source of fire, you could keep warm. Wood, dry grass—anything that could burn was put to use.

Slowly, the surviving players began to adapt to the extreme cold.

The most critical shortage was still food. The cold weather meant people consumed it much faster.

Most of the food from the Planting Space went to the base, and in exchange, all the soil at the base ended up in Zhile’s hands.

The Planting Space successfully expanded to 1,000 square meters, unlocking a feature that let her view the surrounding area from within it.

With the increased area and a stable food supply, Huaxia Base decided after some discussion to spread the word that they had provisions.

Most players in the area started thinking about seeking refuge at the base. But with the ocean frozen solid and no way to travel, no one knew when the ice would finally thaw.

Just as players were despairing over their lack of transportation, the system, which had been silent for a long time, sent out a notification.

[Survival Tip: The game’s cataclysm has entered a sustained phase. A new batch of survival supplies has been airdropped into the various sea regions.

The next instance will open on June 21st. All players should prepare to enter.

The chests contain food, clothing, and various types of travel gear. The current cataclysm is the Ice Age. The probability of finding supplies suitable for the Ice Age in these chests has been increased by seventy percent.

Players, feel free to fish for the treasure chests beneath the ice!]

The system’s message was the only good news they’d had in a while. It gave the players immense hope, but also profound despair.

The hope was that the next instance’s opening on June 21st had been delayed, giving players an extra 21 days to gather supplies.

Most importantly, there were now treasure chests under the ice, and they had been updated with new supplies.

The despair came from the fact that the ice was too thick. It was impossible to drill through it by hand.

However, on the fifth day of the freeze, Huaxia Base successfully built an electric drill. They bored a hole in the frozen sea and successfully fished up their first treasure chest.

Soon after, players discovered that tools of Level Three or higher could break through the ice. Before long, more and more treasure chests were being fished out.

All sorts of vehicles appeared: snowmobiles, kick scooters, and off-road vehicles.

Players who were close to Huaxia Base had already used these vehicles to make their way over.

As more players arrived, a tense atmosphere descended upon the base and the outskirts of Stone Island.

The culprits responsible for this tension were foreigners from two countries.

First, the players from the Beautiful Country, 183 of them, led by Delangbu. And then there were the Japanese, more than 200 shorties without a tall one in the bunch.

Of course, there were a couple of foreigners from other countries, but most of them chose to join the Beautiful Country’s group.

Back at the base, Zhile had just accepted a group of reliable players to help with planting when she was pulled into a conference room by the two base leaders.

"Right now, some of the foreigners on the perimeter want to join our base. A large number are still watching from the sidelines. The group that has explicitly refused to join Huaxia Base is led by Delangbu, and there are over a hundred of them.

What’s most infuriating is that they’re demanding we hand over Stone Island and, for ’humanitarian’ reasons, give them half of our daily supplies."

The ones who went out to negotiate were Wei Zhan and Wen Changming.

The speaker had barely finished when Jiang Jing slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet.

"Impossible! Forget Stone Island and the supplies—I wouldn’t even give them a mouthful of hot piss to drink. If it comes to a fight, then we fight. They’re just a disorganized mob, anyway."

A middle-aged expert in glasses fell silent for a moment. A dark glint flashed in his eyes before he slowly began to speak. "No, we can’t. It would be a difficult fight. They..."

Zhile cut him off. "They what? I don’t care what you’re thinking, but I will absolutely never give up Stone Island."

"There’s nothing ’difficult’ about it. Everyone in Huaxia Base is one of our own, and we are not cowards.

A pathetic group of just over 100 people dares to provoke our group of more than 2,000. What are they banking on? Their tough talk, or are they immortal?

If you’re against fighting, then you’re a spy!"

Her voice was flat but exceptionally cold.

The middle-aged expert’s surname was Wang, and his name was Wang Hai.

His eyes flew wide with fury. He adjusted his glasses, pointed a finger at Zhile’s nose, and roared, "You! You ignorant little brat.

There are only a little over a hundred foreigners outside right now, but there are far more of them in the game! Killing them now would be the same as declaring war.

How are our other players, the ones who haven’t made it here yet, supposed to survive then?"

Zhile twirled a sharp hairpin in her fingers, watching him with a smirk that wasn’t quite a smile.

"So many people die all the time. If you don’t talk and I don’t talk, how would anyone know they died by our hands?

Do you think we Huaxia people *won’t* get killed when we run into foreigners in this game? It’s always been a kill-or-be-killed situation.

There are no borders in this game, nor is there any humanity. All that’s left is you or me."

She smiled as the hairpin in her hand shot out, piercing straight through his chest. ℯℯ𝘭.

Wang Hai collapsed back into his chair. He stared at Zhile in disbelief before his gaze slowly drifted to the others in the room.

"Help me... help..."

Blood gushed from the wound, drowning out his words.

Zhile stood up and walked around the long table to his side.

"See? I didn’t have to kill anyone, but you forced my hand. So you’re the one who had to die. Let me tell you a little secret: when I mentioned ’no humanity,’ I was talking about myself!"

"Ghk... you... you..."

With a blank expression, Zhile pulled out the hairpin. She wiped it clean on his clothes before playfully twirling it in her hand again.

Jiang Jing looked over at the two base leaders, who were sitting off to the side.

Their expressions were unchanged, as if Zhile hadn’t just killed a man, but an animal.