Chapter 80: Dungeon Opens, Selecting Supplies

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Dungeon Opens, Selecting Supplies

The glaciers melted. Ten days later, the temperature had risen noticeably, and the instance was about to open again.

[Survival Tip: 11:59 remaining until the instance opens. This instance is the Rule Island. All players must abide by the rules. Violators will die.

Instance Mission: Survive.

Survival Duration: Seven days.]

[Special Tip: Due to the severe disparity in player supplies, for this instance, each player may only bring three types of items, and the quantity may not exceed three units.]

When the world announcement appeared, the merged regions instantly erupted into an uproar.

[Lan Lan: They’re only letting us bring three items for seven days! What are we supposed to do if we can’t find anything to eat on the island? The rule might be fair, but it’s basically a death sentence for all of us.]

[Long Jifan (Server 7): The instance didn’t give a specific name for the island, just that it’s about rules. No name means less intel. What if we’re sent to a glacier or a volcano? We’ll be completely unprepared.]

[Jiang Jing (Server 2): The three items can be water, food, and a weapon. This is just like the very beginning of the game. There probably won’t be any food in the instance, which will most likely force players to kill each other for supplies.

By deduction, and following the game’s logic, the players on the island in this instance will most likely come from different regions.

For the sake of survival, I hope players assigned to the same island will cooperate for a win-win situation as much as possible, and not resort to mindless killing.]

[Wei Zhan (Server 6): Jiang Jing is right. On behalf of Huaxia Base, I call on all players to unite. The national base is under construction, and our vanguard has already formed four teams to search for surviving players to the east, west, north, and south of the base. I urge all Huaxia people to stand united, survive together, and build a new home.]

[Qiao Feng: Is that true? The national base has really been established?]

[Tang Jiao: It’s true, it’s true! Girl, I was in the first group of players to get to the base. They’ve already built eight large rescue ships, and the shelter now has around two thousand players.]

[Princess Aisha: SOB... The government is finally here! We’ll definitely do our best to survive.]

Shi Zhile lurked, reading everything. ’A message from the government might boost the morale and unity of most players,’ she thought, ’but this is a chaotic world, and we’re inside a game. Players with darkness in their hearts won’t just turn over a new leaf after hearing a few nice words.’

’Once someone has experienced killing, they develop a taste for it. There’s a rush that becomes more and more addictive with every kill.’

Shi Zhile was no exception. In just over a month, she had developed a mindset of killing whenever it was necessary.

Wang Peng started another group call, but this time, Jiang Jing wasn’t on.

Wang Peng said, "Brother Nan, listening to Jiang Jing, does that mean we won’t all be sent to the same island for this instance?"

Jiang Yuxing was sharpening his axe. "There are a lot of players," he said. "The scenario Jiang Jing described is entirely possible.

If the game wants players to fight, the Rule Island will probably force people into teams. For example, it might drop ten or twenty people at a single starting point and make them fight for supplies, achieving the conditions for mass casualties."

Shi Zhile emptied all the supplies from her backpack into the shelter, distributing various items into the Planting Space and the Breeding Space.

She picked up where Jiang Yuxing left off. "The leaderboard only shows the top one hundred players. The instance will probably scatter all of us on the leaderboard to prevent us from teaming up."

’In the last two instances, the five of them had been inseparable. If she wasn’t wrong, this time they would be split up and sent to different islands.’

’When facing strangers who are eyeing you like prey, you have to be vigilant, and it’s easy to develop the intent to kill just to protect yourself.’

Chuyi looked at Jiang Yu. "Xiao Fish, most players will bring water, food, and a weapon. I suggest you do the same. That will reduce the chance of you being targeted. If you bring items that are too special or rare, you’ll become everyone’s first target."

The group discussed many other possibilities. The instance was set to open at eight the next morning, so to get a good night’s rest, they ended the call before ten.

Shi Zhile dried her hair, then put on her soft armor underneath a set of thermals and her black, temperature-regulating outfit.

Her backpack was now empty. Some of its former contents were moved to the Planting Space and Breeding Space, while the rest was left in the shelter.

’Three types of items, with a carry limit of three for each,’ she mused. ’I have to bring water and an axe. What should I bring for food?’

Her gaze fell on some beef and compressed biscuits.

One bag of compressed biscuits was 100 grams. Three bags would count as three units, but that was only 300 grams in total.

A single portion of beef, as defined by the system, was about five and a half pounds. If she cooked it before packing it, it would be a much better deal than the compressed biscuits.

If there really was no food to find in the instance, a large chunk of beef would help her last much longer.

She got right to it. She put on a pot of water, added salt, scallions, and ginger, then took out five portions of beef and placed them in the pot to simmer.

’It’s just past ten. I can use the time to craft two more axes as backups.’

She threw on a military greatcoat, left her bedroom, and went into the courtyard holding a torch.

When she placed the first axe on the workbench, the panel indicated it was upgradeable.

[Level Two Axe: Requires Iron Ingots x10, Wood x2. Can be upgraded to Level Three. Upgrade?]

"Yes!"

The workbench whirred to life, and soon, an axe engraved with golden patterns materialized.

[Upgrade successful. Current axe Level: Level Three Divine Axe (Splitting the heavens and sundering the earth might be a stretch, but cracking skulls and demolishing walls is a piece of cake. With a single swing, houses will turn to ash.)]

’She was skeptical of its power, but there was no way she was going to test it on her own shelter.’

Since she had time, she crafted two more axes. Level One Axes wore down easily, so she went ahead and upgraded them all to Level Two.

Her iron ingot count dropped to zero. Since she didn’t need any more for the time being, she didn’t ask Jiang Yuxing for a trade.

The next morning, Shi Zhile washed up and then took out the beef that had been simmering all night.

The cooked beef had shrunk considerably. She put three portions directly into her backpack, then ate a large chunk of the remaining beef with some of the broth for breakfast.

At 7:59, a system notification chimed.

[Survival Tip: The Rule Island instance is about to open. All players, please place your selected items in your backpack. If the items in your backpack exceed the allowed quantity, the system will randomly select which ones to bring into the instance.

Instance Mission: Survive.

Survival Duration: Seven days.]

The countdown ended. When Shi Zhile opened her eyes again, she found herself standing on yellow sand, facing a boundless sea.

"Ah! I’m screwed! My items didn’t get brought in!"

"Phew, at least it’s daytime. We don’t have to run from that white fog like last time."

"Didn’t it say this was a Rule Island? Why haven’t the rules shown up on the panel yet?"

Shi Zhile quietly sized everyone up.

Including her, there were a total of ten people on the beach: four women and six men.

Aside from the short-haired girl she had met during her first instance, the rest were all unfamiliar faces.

The short-haired girl’s eyes lit up the moment she saw Shi Zhile. She quietly sidled over and whispered, "Hey, big shot. I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Lan Lan."

’Lan Lan,’ she recalled. ’The one who traded for the Magma Stone Basin.’