Chapter 196: Fallen into a Deep Sleep

In the village, several months had passed, and the original mud-brick houses were now surrounded by sturdy concrete buildings.

The three of them stood at the village entrance, their faces pale.

A heavy sense of unease washed over them. They felt dizzy and muddled, and when the sea breeze blew past, it felt like needles were piercing their minds.

The discomfort intensified, especially when the seniors approached.

Shi Zhile’s pain was relatively mild and still tolerable.

Jiang Jing and Tang Yan weren’t so lucky. They clutched their heads as the pain grew increasingly intense.

“Don’t get near them!”

Senior Sun, who had arrived alongside the base leader, frowned deeply. He quickly gestured for a player to go get help.

A moment later, more than ten other seniors arrived.

Senior Sun said, “All you juniors, fall back. Don’t get near them.” He then looked at the two base leaders. “You two, back up as well. Something’s… not right with them.”

The other seniors slowly advanced, surrounding the trio.

Strangely, the more seniors there were, the lighter Shi Zhile’s pain became. Conversely, the pain afflicting Jiang Jing and Tang Yan grew more severe.

In the end, the two of them were in so much pain that they broke out in a cold sweat, their eyes turning bloodshot. They beat at their own heads relentlessly as their consciousness slowly faded.

Seeing the two of them struggling in agony, Shi Zhile didn’t hesitate and simply knocked them unconscious.

The seniors also stepped forward. A large amount of black mist surged into the two men’s bodies, only to flow back out a moment later.

Finally, they called over a few players to take the two men back to their room.

The moment the black mist appeared, the uncomfortable feeling in Shi Zhile’s mind vanished completely.

The base leader looked grave. “What happened over the past twenty-some days? Why are you three the only ones who returned?”

Shi Zhile’s expression was grim. “On the third day after we left, the System suddenly initiated a server merge. A human-versus-animal battle royale mode started immediately after, and we were trapped inside for twenty days.”

“Killing an animal gets you anywhere from 10 to 100 points. Killing a player gets you 1,000 points, and all of that player’s supplies go to the killer. Our region had 500,000 people. Over 300,000 of them died.”

“Most importantly, Jiang Yu and Luo Chuan were killed.”

Wen Changming echoed, “Jiang Yu and Luo Chuan…” He paused, suppressing the bitterness and confusion in his heart.

“I remember Jiang Yu didn’t leave with you all.”

Because of Chuyi, everyone knew Jiang Yuxing wanted to kill her, so Jiang Yu never left this place.

Shi Zhile said, “She didn’t leave with us, that’s true. The instance exists within the game, but even if it’s a separate space, it can’t be completely seamless.”

The deaths of Jiang Yu and Luo Chuan, the strange condition of Jiang Jing and Tang Yan, and the sudden disappearance of Wen Bai and Sun Ci were all connected to the battle royale mode.

And all of this happened after Jiang Yuxing appeared.

Thinking about the sudden wave of negative emotions she had felt, as well as the puppets that had surrounded her, Shi Zhile spoke again.

“Seniors, we encountered puppets in the battle royale. They seemed to be made from corpses. The skin from their face to their neck looked no different from a normal person’s, but their faces were stiff and had no liver mortis. Their ankles were shriveled and bluish-gray. When we tried to burn them, their muscles contracted. They would attack and surround us, and a Level Five Axe could only break the skin.”

“When we first arrived, did we have some kind of energy fluctuation on us? And was that energy the same as the one occupying Wen Yuchu’s body?”

Senior Sun was the first one to see the three of them and the first to notice that something was wrong. He spoke up, “You had an energy fluctuation on you. As for the other two…”

He trailed off.

Another senior spoke up. “The two of them have Corpse Qi on them, which is closer to our own energy. Under normal circumstances, only the dead would have it.”

Wen Changming said, “But they’re perfectly fine. They’re not dead.”

Shi Zhile asked, “If you’re in close contact with the dead, can you get tainted?”

Senior Sun replied, “You can, but it would only be on the surface. For example, the energy fluctuation on you is very mixed, and it includes a trace of Corpse Qi.”

“For those two, with the Corpse Qi having entered their bodies, it’s far more than simple contact.”

‘They might already be dead, but their consciousness just hasn’t been stripped away yet.’

This was his guess, so he didn’t say it out loud, planning instead to investigate with his old comrades that night.

Shi Zhile immediately brought Shi Zhiyi out from the Planting Space.

“What about my sister? Does she have it on her?”

“Yes, but not much. A little less than those two.”

If he had to describe it, he felt it was a state of being partially dead.

Shi Zhiyi was in a deep, groggy sleep, showing no signs of waking.

Shi Zhile dripped a drop of Healing Spring Water onto her sister’s lips, then checked her breathing and pulse. She only relaxed after feeling that her breathing was steady and her pulse was strong.

Wen Changming finally found a moment to ask, “What happened to her?”

Shi Zhile explained how Shi Zhiyi had been injured while saving Wen Bai. At the end, she added, “Wen Bai and Sun Ci are missing, but their avatars haven’t turned black.”

“Several of us entered the instance from the same spot, so logically, we should have exited at the same spot. But we searched the whole area and couldn’t find them.”

Wen Changming staggered, his heart pounding with panic.

But reality didn’t allow him to show weakness. “What exactly did you encounter in the battle royale mode?”

Shi Zhile recounted everything that had happened after they entered the instance, from beginning to end, including Jiang Yuxing’s appearance and the things he had said.

When the battle royale mode ended, she had killed the most people and had the highest score, meaning she had also obtained the most supplies from others.

She took out the supplies and placed them on the open ground at the village entrance.

The supplies piled up into a small mountain. There was everything from seeds, bedding, and coats to dry rations, vehicles, firewood, and stones. Most of it was daily necessities; truly rare items were few and far between.

She had killed roughly a thousand people, but the only truly rare items she had obtained were two used Advanced Teleportation Gates.

Although she didn’t know where the Teleportation Gates led, she could currently open both of them through her panel.

Having not slept all night, Shi Zhile had no energy to inspect the Teleportation Gates. Rubbing her temples, she took Shi Zhiyi into the Planting Space to rest.

After a dreamless sleep, she awoke to find Shi Zhiyi still slumbering. Shi Zhile gave her some of the spring water and changed her dressings.

After harvesting the ripe fruits and melons in the Planting Space, she watered the dark soil. Only after finishing all of that did she have time to enter the Breeding Space.

The Breeding Space had expanded to 1,000 square meters, making it even larger than the Planting Space.

Each species of large, ferocious beast she had collected in the past had added 200 square meters to the space.

There were so many types of animals that the space had automatically sorted and managed them.

Ferocious animals like tigers and leopards were confined to fixed areas, blocked by an invisible barrier.

Shi Zhile paid them no mind. After confirming that the space was in order, she fed the cows and horses and herded the chickens and ducks into the Planting Space to eat bugs.

The rabbits had already bred for who-knows-how-many generations. Shi Zhile grabbed four pairs, carrying them by hand as she left the space.

The sky had grown completely dark, but the island was brightly lit.

Shi Zhile gave the rabbits to Elder Guo. After a moment’s thought, she also took out ten fertilized eggs and asked him to try hatching them at the base.