Chapter 87: They Are Here

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: They Are Here

Shi Zhile closed the panel and glanced at her.

’That’s what she finds terrifying?’

’Then when I suggested pouring lava on the other players, wouldn’t she have seen me as a full-blown demon?’

A moment later, the sound of panicked footsteps echoed from outside.

The bonfire in the courtyard hadn’t been completely extinguished, leaving only a few embers.

Hu Yaqin’s voice, choked with tears, rang out. "Help, Wang—"

Guo Funing clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shut up, you idiot! Are you trying to lure the monsters over? Cry, cry, cry, that’s all you fucking know how to do. You’re a useless piece of trash, more of a hindrance than a help."

Another voice, stammering and trembling with suppressed fear, spoke up. "Brother Ning... Song Chaoyun..."

Guo Funing said, "If he didn’t die, we would have. If you have to blame someone, blame him for being stupid enough to think we’d fight monsters with him."

Hu Yaqin asked, "Will the monsters come?"

Guo Funing replied, "I don’t know. There’s plenty of food in there. Wang Gang and the others should all be inside. If the monsters show up, we’ll push that Xiao Yi out to feed them first."

Li Haohao’s eyes darted around. In the darkness, he couldn’t see anything besides the faint glow of the fire.

"They... don’t seem to be here."

Guo Funing froze for a second, then stepped into the courtyard.

Seeing no one and hearing nothing, he started cursing. "Damn it, they’re really not here. Looks like they’re intentionally hiding from us."

Hu Yaqin said, "Didn’t Shi Zhile say there was a reed marsh to the west? Could she have been lying to us? If there are only reeds there, that means it’s a good place to hide."

They couldn’t worry about that right now. The image of Song Chaoyun being killed was still fresh in their minds, and they were utterly terrified of the monsters.

After their ordeal by the sea, the one thing they knew for sure was that the monsters were afraid of fire.

Even though there was no one in the courtyard, the embers were still there. To them, at this moment, that small pile of embers was more important than any person.

Guo Funing snapped, "Can’t you see the embers? Hurry up and get the fire going again."

The three of them scrambled about again, and finally managed to nurture a small flame.

The fire was started, but they had no dry wood. They had spent the entire day searching the forest, but they had only been looking for wooden chests.

Guo Funing spat, his eyes fixing on the new tent Luo Jiuyin had set up.

"Li Haohao, go tear down that tent and burn it. With a fire, we won’t die."

On the other side of the stone wall, rustling sounds filled the air.

Inside the stone wall, aside from the crackling of dry wood, everyone was silent.

Luo Jiuyin clenched her fists, afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from rushing out and beating them to death.

It wasn’t daytime; fighting and shouting could attract the monsters. They knew next to nothing about the creatures, so she couldn’t act rashly.

With a source of fire, the three people outside finally quieted down.

Shi Zhile took the opportunity to rest a little longer. As soon as it turned three o’clock, she opened her eyes right on time to take her watch.

Of the other five, everyone except Lan Lan was struggling to stay awake. The price of pulling an all-nighter was rising hunger and a falling survival value.

Shi Zhile was hungry too. Before her Life Value could drop, she tore off a small piece of beef and began to chew.

Beef digests slowly, and even though it was just a mouthful, it successfully stopped the system notifications.

The rest of the night passed peacefully. After six, the sky began to lighten.

The sound of snoring came from outside.

Inside the wooden hut, everyone except Shi Zhile and Luo Jiuyin was sleeping soundly, lost in a daze.

To be on the safe side, Luo Jiuyin didn’t get up until six-thirty.

Shi Zhile needed wood, so while the others were still asleep, she followed her out.

Luo Jiuyin had built the stone wall hiding the wooden hut very high. Perhaps afraid of being discovered, she had even built it with a large, jutting corner.

It looked a lot like the entrance to a public restroom.

Luo Jiuyin’s wooden hut had been dismantled. She had built it simply, so it was easy to take apart.

Without waking the others, Shi Zhile tiptoed toward the forest.

She needed wooden chests. She needed wood. She needed iron nails.

The forest was still pitch-black. Shi Zhile took out her homemade torch for light and, at the edge of the woods, swung her axe and started chopping.

One tree, two trees...

When the sun had fully risen, Shi Zhile moved quickly through the forest.

There weren’t many bushes. She searched every one of them and found five wooden chests, yielding a total of 25 wood and 120 iron nails.

Combined with the wood she’d gotten from logging, she had almost enough to build a wooden hut, but she still didn’t have enough iron nails.

The sun climbed higher. Afraid her own wooden hut might be destroyed, Shi Zhile headed back the way she came.

From a distance, she could hear shouting.

Guo Funing’s voice was the loudest. "Since you were here, why didn’t you come out and help us? And since you didn’t, we obviously had to find a way to protect ourselves. Consider your pile of firewood compensation.

You were the first one to say it was safe by the sea, and now you’re just looking for trouble. So, the one who got Song Chaoyun killed was you, Luo Jiuyin!"

Hu Yaqin sobbed, "How can you be so cruel..."

She was crying so hard she started hiccuping, but she stopped abruptly when her gaze fell on Shi Zhile returning from outside the courtyard, axe in hand.

Shi Zhile first checked her own wooden hut. Only after confirming it was intact did she put the stacked stone wall into her backpack.

She continued to patch the drafty spots in the wooden hut with wood. As the gaps grew smaller and the resources in her backpack dwindled, the sound of the hut leveling up was heard.

[Wooden hut improvement complete. Current Level: Level Two. Do you wish to bind the wooden hut? Once bound, the wooden hut cannot be dismantled, and no other players may enter besides the binder.]

"Yes!"

[Binding successful. Current bound player: Contentment Brings Happiness.]

[Instance Notification: The Wooden Hut Leaderboard is now officially open. The current number one on this island is: Contentment Brings Happiness.]

The group announcement popped up automatically from the system. The eight people outside all had mixed feelings when they saw the message.

’What are they doing?’

’Arguing?’

’What’s there to argue about at a time like this? Are their fists not hard enough, or are their weapons unusable?’

Wang Gang and Xiao Yi exchanged a look and walked out of the courtyard together.

Guo Funing and his two cronies stood together, all wearing defiant expressions as if they had nothing left to lose.

Luo Jiuyin walked toward the trio. When she was very close, she pulled out a dagger and stabbed straight at Guo Funing’s abdomen.

She was so fast that Guo Funing had no time to dodge and could only take the blow head-on.

Before the second stab could land, he grabbed Hu Yaqin and used her as a shield.

That blow had been aimed at his neck, but unfortunately, the height difference between them was too great, and the dagger slashed straight across Hu Yaqin’s eye.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out. Shi Zhile had just used up all her iron nails.

Lan Lan was watching the drama unfold from the side. Shi Zhile walked up and tapped her on the shoulder. "Are we going to look for supplies or not?"

Lan Lan replied, "Yes, yes! Sister Zhile, shouldn’t we wait for Sister Jiu Yin?"

Shi Zhile said, "To each their own. She hasn’t finished her business yet."

With that, she paid Lan Lan no more mind and headed back toward the forest.

This time, finding chests was secondary; the key was to find strong, pliable vines.

It took no effort at all. Almost as soon as she entered the forest, she saw a large patch of kudzu vines right in front of her.

This plant was perfect for making rope. She stopped and looked at Lan Lan. "It’ll be hard for you to find many supplies if you just keep following me. So, this morning, you should explore on your own. This afternoon, I’ll finish the raft and take you out to sea."