Chapter 99: Dreaming

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Dreaming

Shi Zhile had wanted to unlock the Planting Space to make it easier to hide from danger.

But now that it conflicted with the instance’s capacity, she was suddenly at a loss for what to wish for.

The system prompted: [You can wish for supplies or weapons. While the path to receiving a specific item might be convoluted, the outcome is guaranteed to be positive.]

Shi Zhile thought for a moment. "I want to get through tonight safely."

The wish card vanished, and a golden light flashed for an instant.

At the same time, Luo Jiuyin returned to her own cabin.

They both fell asleep at nearly the same time.

Shi Zhile was jolted awake by the cold. On Day 6, the high was around zero degrees Celsius, with a low of minus ten.

This temperature shouldn’t have been a threat to Shi Zhile with her climate-controlled soft armor. The fact that she felt cold meant the temperature must have dropped even lower.

[A cold wave is approaching. You are at risk of hypothermia and frostbite. Players are advised to take shelter from the cold wave and keep warm. Frostbite: survival value -1 every 2 minutes. Current survival value: 100.]

Only a few embers remained in the fire pit. Shi Zhile quickly rekindled the flames and huddled close to warm herself.

Every breath she exhaled turned into a plume of white mist. It felt as if there were ice shards in the air; with every inhalation, a sharp pain stabbed at her lungs.

She warmed her hands over the fire, then cupped them over her mouth to filter the air as she took a breath.

[Survival value decreased by 1. Current survival value: 99. Player detected warming up. Survival value increased by 1. Current survival value: 100.]

Once her body had warmed up completely, she opened her interface to check the weather. "A blizzard... minus 37 degrees. No wonder it’s so cold."

It was 6:00 PM, with six hours remaining until Day 7.

’Survival conditions are tough right now. I wonder if the instance closes at midnight on Day 7, or at noon on Day 7.’

If it closed at midnight, she’d be fine. But if it closed at noon, she’d not only have to watch out for Luo Jiuyin’s schemes but also avoid freezing to death.

’Of course, it’d be even better if Luo Jiuyin just froze to death in this extreme weather.’

In this frigid weather, she craved a hot meal, but with no pots or bowls, her only option was the now-empty Wish Drifting Bottle.

The cork was stuck fast, and without a corkscrew, there was no way to open it.

She took out her axe, scored a line around the bottleneck with the sharp edge, then carefully tapped it with the back of the axe head, breaking off the top.

The bottom half of the Wish Drifting Bottle remained intact. Shi Zhile rinsed out the glass fragments with water, then built a small stand out of rocks in the fire pit, just large enough to hold the bottle.

She poured clean water into the bottle and set it on the fire to heat.

Once the water was hot, she wrapped a reed leaf around the jagged rim and carefully lifted the bottle off the fire.

She ate her compressed biscuits and half a pound of beef, washing them down with the hot water.

Cold wind seeped into the cabin through the gaps between the logs. Although a large boulder behind the structure blocked most of the wind, drafts still found their way into the main room.

The small room in the center of the cabin had originally been for ice fishing. It was warmer inside, but moving in carried a certain risk.

But with the blizzard raging, just surviving in the main cabin was difficult, let alone going out to hunt someone down.

Shi Zhile decisively moved into the smaller room.

She set up the wooden bed and started a fire. The cramped little room finally grew warm. Without the frigid wind chilling her to the bone, she finally felt comfortable.

Eight o’clock arrived right on schedule, and with it came a cacophony of shouts and banging on the door.

Even though she had wished for a safe night, it was impossible to rest easy with all this commotion.

Feeling uneasy, Shi Zhile came out of the small room and built a stone wall behind the main wooden door.

’The wooden door is secure now, but what if they attack my wooden walls?’

’I have plenty of stones left. I’ll just build another stone wall along the inside of the wooden one.’

After she finished laying the stones, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

’The cabin walls are double-layered wood with a stone slate core. Inside that, I’ve built another stone wall. And even further inside is the small wooden room.’

’With all these nested layers, plus the wish I made, this cabin should be completely safe now.’

She went back into the small room, spread her military greatcoat over the bed, and lay down fully clothed.

Shi Zhile slept fitfully that night. Her fragmented dreams were a bizarre kaleidoscope of images—one moment a high-tech skyscraper, the next, spaceships and warships. All of it was related to an interstellar civilization.

When a blue planet exploded in her dream, Shi Zhile shot bolt upright in bed, startled.

’That blue planet was Earth... Is that why we’re in this game? Because Earth exploded?’

’That huge warship was surprisingly easy to pilot. If only it were real.’

She found herself chuckling at the thought. ’Getting so worked up over a dream. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’

’Still, if an interstellar civilization really exists, and one that advanced... Earth’s destruction must have been their doing.’

It was 3:00 AM, and Shi Zhile was wide awake.

The room was the same, the fire burning low. It meant she hadn’t left the instance yet.

’Looks like I’ll have to get through all of Day 7 before I can leave.’

She got up, added more firewood to the blaze, and sat down beside it to send a message to Jiang Yuxing.

[Are you out of the instance yet?]

The final day’s arrival was bound to make many people sleepless, and Shi Zhile figured Jiang Yuxing was probably one of them.

Sure enough, a reply came in less than a minute.

[Not yet, but soon.]

[Contentment Brings Happiness: How come? Did you kill all the other players on your island?]

Jiang Yuxing initiated a video call directly. Shi Zhile accepted, and his voice came through.

"I’ve killed all the players, but there’s still one monster left."

"Sounds like you guys playing the ’ghost’ role are pretty busy. Not only do you have to kill players, but you also have to kill players who’ve turned into monsters."

Players turned into monsters when other players killed each other. It seemed the players on Jiang Yuxing’s island were no pushovers, either.

’Then again,’ she thought, ’the game has been running for over a month. The truly useless people are all dead. Those who’ve survived are either insane or actually have some skill.’

Jiang Yuxing chuckled. "You could say we’re busy. How are things on your end?"

Shi Zhile sighed. "All the other players are dead here, but the ghost is still alive. Are you ’ghosts’ affected by blizzards? Can you even feel the cold?"

"What are you thinking? The role is just a role; the person is still the same person. Of course we’re affected by the weather. The ghost’s mission is to kill all players and monsters on the island. The players’ mission is to survive."

"As long as you stay put in your cabin, you’ll be able to leave the instance at midnight tonight."

Just as Shi Zhile had suspected, Jiang Yuxing had some precognitive ability. Hearing him say it put her more at ease.

Thinking about her recent dream, Shi Zhile let out a soft laugh. "I just had a dream about spaceships and warships. I even got to pilot one for a bit."

Jiang Yuxing gave a soft hum in response, his expression unreadable.

Shi Zhile continued, "The universe is so vast. Do you think there’s really a place out there with an interstellar civilization? In my dream, the people there looked just like us, but I wonder... are they really the same?"