Heat Poison Debuff
In this monster siege, Yan Yiqiu managed to collect nearly 1,500 treasure chests in total: over 800 white chests, more than 400 green chests, and the remaining 200+ were blue chests.
Although she knew that the chance of getting a purple chest at the start was extremely small, the fact that she didn’t get a single one still left her a little disappointed.
She quickly adjusted her mindset and boldly opened all the white chests.
[Obtained: Fabric·White x1920, Cotton x3215, Spices x334, Sugar x2113, Wood x92312, Tier-1 Ore x54211, Tier-2 Ore x23333, Beast Meat·White x3129, Beast Hide x1998, Rice x5071 jin, Flour x4187 jin, Bricks x92134, Cement x45218, Corn Seeds x213, Vegetable Seeds x115, Tomato Seeds x222, Potato Seeds x455, Sweet Potato Seeds x378, Gold Coins x2785…]
No equipment dropped—everything was raw materials and seeds.
Most of the items were food and construction materials, probably because the game wanted to give the lord some help. After all, having residents with no food would be a huge problem.
As for how much food the lord could acquire, it depended on their own capability and courage—the bolder the player, the greater the harvest.
There were plenty of seeds, but the planting area only had 60 plots unlocked. There was no way to plant them all. Upgrading the territory quickly was necessary.
Yan Yiqiu deposited all the items from the white chests into the territory warehouse and then opened the green chests.
[Obtained: Blueprints·Green x29, Wood x16723, Tier-3 Ore x8299, Tier-4 Ore x554, Construction Machines x5, Mechanical Guards·Green x8, Meteorite·Green x1267, Energy Crystals·Green x440, Herbs·Green x627, Beast Meat·Green x1600, Beast Hide·Green x819, Cotton·Green x666, Fabric·Green x415, Elemental Ore·Green x888, Gold Coins x4561…]
The green chest drops were practical.
There were five construction machines, which would speed up building multi-story structures.
Mechanical guards could patrol the territory. With so many residents, conflicts were likely, and guards could quickly detect and stop fights.
Energy crystals were especially valuable!
They could power machinery, and when the territory reached level 10, a defensive shield would unlock—its power source being these energy crystals.
However, sustaining the shield required a huge amount of energy crystals, and the green-grade ones from these chests would only last 10–20 minutes at most.
Next came the blue chests!
Yan Yiqiu’s eyes shone with anticipation. She went to wash her hands, silently prayed, and then opened all the blue chests in one go.
[Obtained: Blueprints x5, Energy Crystals·Blue x269, Tier-3 Ore x5255, Tier-4 Ore x2109, Elemental Ore·Blue x454, Meteorite·Blue x221, Turrets·Blue x4, Wind Turbine Generators·Blue x6, Beast Meat·Blue x456, Beast Hide·Blue x332, Flour·Blue x248, Cotton·Blue x332, Herbs·Blue x108, Gold Coins x10229…]
Yan Yiqiu paused for a moment on the turrets and wind turbines.
Blue-grade turrets were quite powerful—four of them, perfectly placed in the four cardinal directions. The wind turbines could go in the corners and would be useful once all buildings were set up.
Bad news: there was too much loot; the warehouse slots were insufficient.
Good news: the Tier-4 ores from the blue chests were enough to upgrade the territory to level 7.
Yan Yiqiu immediately chose to upgrade.
[To upgrade to level 7 requires: Wood x200,000, Tier-1 Ore x150,000, Tier-2 Ore x50,000, Tier-3 Ore x15,000, Tier-4 Ore x1,500, 10,000 Gold Coins.]
[Upgrade?]
“Yes.”
[Territory upgrading…]
[Territory upgraded to Level 7, area expanded to 50,000 sqm. Unlocks livestock area, adds 40 more planting plots, 20 more warehouse slots, and 2 additional wells.]
[Territory: Nirvana]
[Lord: Yan Yiqiu]
[Territory Level: 7]
[Residents: 6,587 (3 official residents)]
The territory expanded outward by several blocks, though the upgrade itself showed little visible change. Only the management system received the notification.
“Sis, our territory leveled up again?”
Yun Yan rushed into the villa. Although she looked like a sweet little girl, her behavior was reckless, completely contrasting her appearance and voice.
Yan Yiqiu nodded. “The chests dropped materials, so it was just the right time.”
“I opened some too, not much, all went into the warehouse,” Yun Yan said. “Our territory should be the highest level, right?”
Yan Yiqiu raised an eyebrow. “At the moment, yes.”
No players were willing to abandon their own territory to join others yet, so individual development was fast.
“I saw in the chat channel that a lot of people seem to have died. Originally there were over 60,000 threads, now only about 57,000 remain,” Yun Yan babbled on.
Each thread had a max of 10,000 players. Losing 3,000 threads meant that in this siege alone, at least 30 million players in China died—not counting players from other countries.
And then there were non-player residents…
It was terrifying—best not to think too deeply.
“Later, if any residents want to exchange points, handle it. I’ll be busy making stuff,” Yan Yiqiu assigned Yun Yan a task.
Yun Yan asked, “How many points should I give them?”
“Just follow the exchange rate for gold coins,” Yan Yiqiu instructed, noticing Yun Yan’s slightly chubby, helpless-looking face.
“Oh! Got it, I’ll go now!” Yun Yan rushed off and returned just as quickly, making Yan Yiqiu smile and shake her head.
Yan Yiqiu organized the inventory in her bag and left the villa.
As the lord, she immediately noticed the territory had expanded by several rings. The previously close spaces between the main hall and the warehouse had grown, and the planting area increased significantly.
Next to the planting area, a new empty plot was fenced off with iron bars—obviously for livestock.
Yan Yiqiu moved some planting soil to the livestock area and planted several flower seeds. Once the flowers sprouted, the mutant bee eggs in her bag could be released and raised.
She then picked a random open space to craft territory-specific items she had previously learned about: watchtowers, cannons, patrol robotic dogs, etc.
The watchtower was for observing nearby territory. The system had “helpfully” reminded her during the first siege; afterward, it would never notify again, even a single word.
Players needed to build the territory extremely sturdily and also prepare weapons. Monsters wouldn’t attack for free; if they came, something had to be left behind.
Yan Yiqiu smelted ores into steel and began crafting.
[Crafting failed, Heat Weapons Engineer EXP +10]
[Crafting failed, Heat Weapons Engineer EXP +10]
[Obtained Cannon·Green x1, Heat Weapons Engineer EXP +100]
[Crafting failed, Heat Weapons Engineer EXP +10]
[Obtained Cannon·Green x1, Heat Weapons Engineer EXP +100]
…
Heat weapons were harder to craft than other professions. After multiple failures, she finally made four cannons and barely leveled her Heat Weapons Engineer to 3.
She opened the management interface, seeing a 3D layout of the territory. She placed the four cannons on each wall, facing outward, with the operation panels safely inside the territory.
…
While she worked, Yun Yan was busy too.
Some residents lucked out and got equipment from chests. They weren’t players, so they handed them to Yun Yan to exchange for points.
Yun Yan converted the equipment’s market value into points. One resident saved 1,000 points and immediately upgraded to an official resident.
As administrator, Yun Yan had the authority to do this. The new official resident was a young girl, around 15–16, looking childlike but showing surprising maturity.
Yun Yan smiled sweetly: “Alright, you’re now an official resident.”
The girl noticed a silver bracelet-like object on her wrist. Curious, she tapped it, and a translucent panel appeared.
[Name: Zhang Ting]
[Identity: Nirvana Territory Official Resident]
[Personal Assets: 49 Silver]
**[Resident Account: *******]
Zhang Ting was startled, then looked at the panel and asked Yun Yan, “Administrator, what is this?”
Yun Yan, busy calculating points for others, quickly explained: “Think of it like a phone… your equipment is white-grade, the lowest quality, so it doesn’t give many points…”
A phone?
Zhang Ting had heard of them but never used one.
She was an orphan, barely attending school with the help of kind sponsors. Expensive items like a phone were unimaginable, though she had occasionally seen classmates use one.
Now, in this dangerous place, she had the chance to use a “phone.”
Curious and inexperienced, Zhang Ting fiddled with it.
Only she could see the panel; to others, it looked like she was waving her hands in the air, doing nothing.
“Little girl, what are you doing?”
“What’s different about being an official resident?”
“….”
People around were curious.
Zhang Ting shyly replied: “You get a device on your wrist. Tap it, and a translucent screen appears. It shows your ID and the non-player forum.”
The crowd whispered among themselves: “Others can’t see it.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of like a phone, but feels more high-tech.”
“I think we were kidnapped by aliens. Not sure if we can go home.”
“Don’t think about that. Focus on saving points to become official residents. I don’t want to get kicked out—the outside is too dangerous.”
With attention shifted away, Zhang Ting quietly made herself small in a corner, continuing to explore.
The panel didn’t have much yet—only personal info, contacts, and the player forum.
She opened the forum and saw all sorts of posts:
Looking at the posts, Zhang Ting thought: “It’s so lively.”
She clicked the post asking about the lord and saw many complaints:
Zhang Ting’s pupils widened—starving? They eat three full meals a day!
Zhang Ting’s eyes widened further—fortunately their lord was female, showed no such behavior, and didn’t require “Your Majesty.”
Zhang Ting: !!!
Although the lord of the territory let them go fight monsters, he provided weapons and didn’t just throw them outside the territory to attract monsters. Standing on the city walls was especially safe, and the treasure chests dropped by the monsters were even given to them!
Compared to that, Zhang Ting suddenly felt that the lord of this territory was really excellent.
She decided she would stay well in this territory!
The number of official residents quickly increased, reaching around five or six hundred. The others, after two days of work, had earned almost enough points as well.
Yan Yiqiu received news from Yun Yan, thought for a moment, and then decided to give them more tasks to help them quickly exchange for official resident status.
She herself wasn’t idle either.
The watchtower was completed, and she added all the green-quality elemental ores and meteorites from the warehouse into the territory’s walls, making them stronger and more solid to better resist future monsters.
No one was idle; everyone was bustling with activity.
Those building houses built houses, those sewing quilts sewed quilts, those cooking cooked.
When Yan Yiqiu finished and looked around, the number of official residents had surpassed three thousand, and the remaining temporary residents were mostly the old, weak, sick, or disabled.
She decided to upgrade all remaining residents to official status and created a territory group, adding all residents into it.
[Nirvana Territory Group]
[Lord: Congratulations to all of you for becoming official residents of the territory. I will notify you of anything in this group from now on.]
[Lord: I am a fair person. As long as you don’t do anything that harms the territory, I will not expel you without reason. Of course, I also hope you will help build the territory and avoid internal conflicts. Everyone should work together to survive.]
[Admin – Yun Yan: Understood, Lord~]
[Admin – Lin Shuya (Yunmu): Understood, Lord~]
[Admin – Yun Zhiyuan: Understood, Lord~]
[Resident – Zhang Tingting: Understood, Lord~]
[Resident – Gao Leyou: Understood, Lord~]
[…]
The group chat was very orderly.
Yan Yiqiu raised an eyebrow and exited the chat interface, then quickly created a small admin group to paste the previously prepared plan.
She said, “Once Yun Yan and I enter the dungeon, follow the list. Meals are charged: 100 points or 10 copper per meal.”
For tasks like building houses or sewing daily necessities, more detailed standards were set, specifying how many points/copper coins could be earned per hour.
Except for children too young to work, everyone else followed the list.
For the elderly over 55 and children under 10, they earned slightly more points due to their age.
She didn’t want residents to get used to gaining without effort, but she didn’t really intend to mistreat them either.
[Yun Yan: Got it!]
[Yun Zhiyuan: Understood.]
[Lin Shuya: Okay, we will pay attention.]
Yan Yiqiu had been busy ever since leaving the dungeon and hadn’t rested. After tidying the territory, she took the chance to message Yun Yan privately to come back and rest.
The dungeon was about to start.
[Yun Yan: Got it, coming right now~]
Yan Yiqiu returned to her room, lay down on the soft two-meter-wide bed, and comfortably fell asleep.
[Dungeon about to open, please prepare.]
[Main storyline complete; all dungeon exit channels are now closed, please be aware.]
The familiar dizzy sensation came again.
Yan Yiqiu steadied herself and quickly scanned the surroundings, finding herself in a long corridor with dark red soil and a slightly high temperature.
“Sis!” Yun Yan had just summoned Tuanzi and taken a defensive stance. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar figure, surprised and delighted: “We’re actually placed together!”
“Probably because we’re from the same territory,” Yan Yiqiu replied, though in her mind she thought: Being from the same territory defaults you to a team, so you won’t be separated when entering a dungeon. I guess that’s one benefit of joining someone else’s territory.
Yun Yan was clearly very happy, her eyes curved with a smile: “Then this game isn’t too bad after all.”
Yan Yiqiu agreed, her eyes scanning the tunnel ahead, which looked very familiar but she couldn’t recall exactly.
She couldn’t blame herself; after playing so many dungeons in her previous life, remembering the first three newbie dungeons was already impressive.
She shrugged off the thought: “Let’s move forward and see if we can get out.”
The corridor was dimly lit.
Yan Yiqiu made two simple torches from wood, and she and Yun Yan each held one as they slowly moved along.
The corridor varied in width and height. The dark red soil looked soft but was actually hard, with a faint warmth. Touching it lightly was negligible, but since all around was this soil, the heat was noticeable.
The corridor branched out in multiple directions, somewhat like the goblin underground dungeon in the second dungeon, but the paths were much narrower.
“Sis, I feel like there’s no way out. We’ve been walking almost two hours and are still inside,” Yun Yan said, wiping sweat from her brow, her face flushed. “And I feel like it’s getting hotter in here.”
She fiddled with her hair, soaked with sweat and sticking to her forehead, uncomfortable.
Yan Yiqiu also felt the heat around her. Just as she was about to speak, her ears caught a rustling sound.
“Be careful, something’s coming.”
Yun Yan immediately became alert and quietly summoned Tuanzi.
The cloud-like little battle pet appeared, floating in midair and cautiously looking ahead.
The rustling grew louder.
Two minutes later, a swarm of red dots appeared: a group of baby fist-sized ants, bright red with two antennae lightly twitching, pausing for two seconds before crawling toward Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan.
“So many ants! And they’re huge!” Yun Yan widened her eyes.
Seeing the ants, Yan Yiqiu finally recalled information about this dungeon and warned Yun Yan: “Be careful not to get bitten; I’m not sure if they’re poisonous.”
“I’ll be careful!” Yun Yan replied.
This dungeon was essentially a massive underground ant nest, much larger than the goblin dungeon. In her previous life, Yan Yiqiu spent a month here and still couldn’t find a way out.
Of course, the many twists and passages inside the ant nest made her go in circles.
The maze wasn’t the most dangerous part; the real danger was the mutant red ants and the heat-toxin buff.
The red soil was a kind of crystal ore, carrying slight heat and toxins. A small amount alone is fine, but the mutant red ants’ nest is built inside the crystal ore, so the surroundings are full of it.
Staying inside the crystal ore for too long triggers the heat-toxin buff.
Heat-Toxin Buff: All stats including stamina, energy, satiety, HP, and combat power decrease by 5%, and it slowly stacks with time, up to 10 layers.
At 10 layers, stats drop by 50%.
Being bitten by mutant red ants also adds layers; in short, this dungeon is quite troublesome.
As they thought, the swarm of mutant red ants was rapidly approaching.
Yan Yiqiu put away her axe and pulled out small wooden arrows from her bag.
The arrows were only finger-length, sharpened at both ends, held between her slender fingers and casually thrown.
Ten arrows flew out, hitting ten mutant red worker ants.
[Player dealt 754,328,910 damage to mutant red worker ants, with effective damage of 5,478.]
[Obtained: Wood x512, Tier 1 Ore x232, Tier 2 Ore x155, Tier 3 Ore x98, Glow Sand x10, Silver x121, XP +200.]
[Player dealt 657,389,201 damage to mutant red worker ants, effective damage 5,666.]
[Obtained: Wood x555, Tier 1 Ore x346, Tier 2 Ore x187, Tier 3 Ore x77, Glow Sand x16, Silver x155, XP +200.]
Worker ants were the most numerous and lowest rank. Their damage wasn’t high; their main advantage was their sheer number.
Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan fought the ants while retreating, with the path ahead swarming with baby fist-sized worker ants, too many to see the end.
Standing still would mean being bitten; better to fight while retreating.
“Huff, huff—”
Yun Yan’s breathing was rapid. Yan Yiqiu turned to see her face red, soaked with sweat, movements slowing.
They had been in the corridor for three to four hours; Yun Yan had surely accumulated heat-toxin layers, and continuing would make the buff worse.
Thinking this, Yan Yiqiu threw her arrows faster, clearing the ants approaching immediately, guiding Yun Yan into a side passage while sprinkling masking powder behind them.
“Huff, huff—”
Yun Yan panted, wiping sweat from her face: “It’s so hot in here, and I feel slower and slower. So strange.”
After clearing the swarm, Yan Yiqiu asked: “Check if you have any buff.”
“Let me see… yeah, there is!” Yun Yan opened the red icon and read aloud: “Heat-Toxin Buff, 2 layers, all stats reduced 10%??”
Yun Yan raised her voice: “When did I get this? I didn’t notice!”
A 10% total stat reduction!
No wonder she felt slow and weak; it was the debuff.
“It’s environmental. I have it too,” Yan Yiqiu said, searching her bag. “Don’t worry, I learned a formula before, can fix this.”
She pulled out herbs, a medicine jar, and alchemy furnace, preparing to brew medicine on the spot.
Antidotes didn’t work on the heat-toxin buff, as it involved heat as well as poison.
The medicine needed was simple and direct: Cooling Pill.
Cooling Pill: Keeps the body cool; duration depends on quality.
Some foods have this effect, but brewing pills is more efficient.
Yan Yiqiu’s alchemist level was 6, giving a high chance of success. It was a support pill with minimal combat effect.
[Obtained Cooling Pill (Green) x3, Alchemy XP +300]
[Obtained Cooling Pill (Green) x2, Alchemy XP +200]
[Obtained Cooling Pill (Blue) x2, Alchemy XP +400]
[Obtained Cooling Pill (Blue) x2, Alchemy XP +400]
[…]
She gave Yun Yan a few green and blue pills. After taking them, the heat around them was instantly suppressed.
Yun Yan’s flushed face returned to normal, sweat reduced.
“So cool and refreshing, feels great,” Yun Yan sighed, relieved she was okay.
“Other players will have this buff too, right?” she asked.
“Definitely,” Yan Yiqiu replied.
“This dungeon is so dangerous; this debuff is brutal.”
Their damage was low, they couldn’t leave, and many players might die.
“Be careful ahead,” Yan Yiqiu said. “The dungeon mobs will likely be mutant ants. Ants are social insects, so they always appear in swarms.”
Yun Yan became even more alert: “Okay, I’ll watch out!”
They rested a bit. Once Yun Yan’s heat-toxin buff fully dissipated, they cautiously continued down the dim corridor.
The heat-toxin buff appears silently; the system doesn’t notify, so by the time players notice, at least 5 layers are stacked.
The chat was full of complaints:
[“Are you kidding? No notification for a debuff! I almost got killed by mutant ants!”]
[“I thought my damage dropped suddenly because mobs were strong, turns out it’s a debuff? And it stacks?! This game wants us dead.”]
[“Antidote doesn’t work! I took a white-quality antidote, it cleared it but only lasts an hour! So I have to take one every hour? Where would I get that many antidotes?”]
[“What? Antidote doesn’t work?? I just traded for two antidotes! This game is ridiculous.”]
Hearing this, the chat complaints intensified.
Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan had just defeated another batch of mutant red worker ants and paused to eat.
Seeing the chat, Yan Yiqiu took two bites of rice, a couple of stir-fried ribs and greens, then posted:
[Yan Yiqiu: Antidotes only treat symptoms. To remove the debuff, use medicine or food that keeps the body cool; it’s more effective than antidotes.]
Purple-quality antidotes also work, but she hadn’t used them, so most players didn’t have them.
[“What medicine or food keeps the body cool? Any alchemist or chef here?”]
[“It works! I’m not a chef, but in an earlier dungeon loot, there was a green-quality cooling cake. Eating it slowly removed the heat-toxin buff, but it only lasts two days. I only had one… Any chefs with cooling-effect food?”]
[Collect! Collect all medicines or foods with cooling effects!]
[I’ll take them too! High price! Whether you want money or materials, just name it—anything I have I can give you!]
[Damn, don’t gouge the prices upstairs!]
Yan Yiqiu touched her jaw, and after replenishing her satiety, she took out her medicine jars and alchemy furnace and continued refining the Cooling Pills.
Refining auxiliary-type pills didn’t take long; in just half an hour, she produced 150 green-quality and 60 blue-quality Cooling Pills.
She gave half to Yun Yan, letting him also post in the chat channel for sale.
“Sell them according to my usual rules,” she said.
Yun Yan made an “OK” hand gesture. “Double the materials of the same quality, right? Got it.”
[Yan Yiqiu: Selling Cooling Pills – Green and Cooling Pills – Blue. Only require double the same-quality materials. Limited quantity, first come, first served.]
As soon as the message went out, friend requests started popping up.
She began trading with the first request; the other party immediately wanted to exchange for twenty green-quality Cooling Pills.
Yan Yiqiu: Limit of three green and one blue per person ^_^
The other party was surprised: You even limit purchases?
Yan Yiqiu didn’t answer, just asked if they wanted to trade.
[Of course, limit away. What will you trade? Materials or coins?]
[Yan Yiqiu: Double the same-quality materials is fine.]
Then she sent over the materials needed for the Cooling Pills—didn’t have to be exact, just double the same quality.
[That cheap?? I thought you’d ask for a fortune!]
[Yan Yiqiu: We’re all players, no need to take advantage. Helping each other to get through tough times is best ^_^]
If dungeon resources were scarce, that would be different. But since there were plenty of materials in the dungeon, and no direct competition between players, everyone had only one goal: survival.
So there was no need for her to gouge prices.
She didn’t care what other life-skill players did, but she would strictly follow her own rules.
[You’re a good person. If you ever run into trouble, just come to me. I’ll help however I can.]
[Yan Yiqiu: Sure ^_^]
After finishing trades with two people, she received a private message from a friend.
[Huo Zhengqi: Miss Yan, do you have any pills that keep the body cool?]
[Yan Yiqiu: Yes, limited purchase. How many of you?]
[Huo Zhengqi: Eight people including me.]
[Yan Yiqiu: I can give you 24 green-quality and 8 blue-quality Cooling Pills. Same rules as before: double the materials of the same quality.]
[Huo Zhengqi: Understood, thank you!]
Huo Zhengqi sent the materials without hesitation.
After receiving them, Yan Yiqiu sent the pills and chatted briefly about the dungeon situation before ending the conversation.
Some alchemists also asked for her Cooling Pill recipe.
She didn’t give it directly, instead exchanging it for materials. Those willing could get the recipe; those unwilling were ignored. Even if other alchemists knew the recipe, the Cooling Pills would still be in high demand, so there was no need to hoard.
“Let’s keep moving.”
After selling all the Cooling Pills, Yan Yiqiu closed her panel and ignored the remaining friend requests, continuing forward with Yun Yan, torches in hand.
The tunnels were complex, often leading to multiple branches.
Remembering that in her previous life she often wandered in one place, this time Yan Yiqiu was smart: at each branch, she carved a big “X” on the stone wall with a chisel.
They encountered a group of mutated crimson worker ants. Yun Yan fought with their companion, muttering: “Good thing I teamed with Sister Yi Qiu; I can’t imagine how miserable I’d feel going alone in this dungeon.”
The tunnels had no sunlight, no concept of day or night. Aside from dark red walls, only the mutated crimson worker ants existed. The narrow passages felt oppressive.
The ant swarms were numerous, and the heat debuff made this dungeon unfriendly to solo players.
“Get used to it early; maybe the upcoming dungeon is even harder.” Yan Yiqiu deftly shot a wooden arrow; her long red high ponytail swayed with the motion.
[Players dealt 773,846,521 total damage to mutated crimson worker ants, 6,521 effective damage.]
[Obtained: Wood x722, Tier 1 Ore x342, Tier 2 Ore x188, Tier 3 Ore x109, Glow Sand x12, Silver Coins x144, EXP +200.]
Seeing how fierce the prey was, the mutated ants began to retreat.
They surged like a tide and withdrew just as orderly, like trained soldiers.
“After a few more rounds, I can reach level seven.” Yun Yan, exhausted, sat on the ground and ate.
Encountering two ant swarms in four hours was brutal.
Yan Yiqiu checked her stats.
[Player Level: 8 (32,767/50,000)]
[Stamina: 144/300]
[Energy: 150/300]
[HP: 16,000/16,000 (with armor bonus)]
[Satiety: 44]
Each ant swarm gave around 10,000 EXP. Even Yun Yan would level up soon; she herself would too.
High combat power feels great.
Yan Yiqiu’s eyes curved with delight. She finished a sponge cake and drank a few sips of moderately sweet watermelon juice. Bliss.
They had brought juices before entering the dungeon: watermelon, grape, apple, peach, and strawberry.
Cakes included sponge cake, millet cake, egg tarts, salted egg yolk pastries, and honey cake.
As Yan Yiqiu’s cooking skill rose, her food tasted better, and replenishing satiety became enjoyable.
After eating honey cake, Yun Yan marveled again at following Sister Yi Qiu—life quality had skyrocketed! In previous dungeons, just replenishing satiety with food was torture.
Some people are born to make terrible food.
Like Yun Yan.
God knows why he could make grilled fish taste sour, bitter, and astringent at once!
After replenishing satiety, the pair sat down to rest.
Less than ten minutes later, hurried footsteps came from a nearby branch. Sounds indicated several people.
Eyes half-closed, Yan Yiqiu instantly opened them and watched the branch.
Two minutes later, a few figures appeared, all panting and looking disheveled.
Seeing Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan, they froze for two seconds before the leader told those behind: “Alright, everyone sit and rest.”
There were seven in total; two were life-skill players.
The man speaking showed as Level 5 combat; the others ranged from Level 3 to 4. The life-skill players included a Level 3 cook and a Level 2 alchemist.
They sat just three to four meters from Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan, occasionally glancing at them.
Yun Yan’s Level 6 combat status drew prolonged attention—it was rare and intimidating.
Of course, Yan Yiqiu also drew interest.
This was the fourth dungeon, yet she was still Level 1 in a life-skill profession—noticeable, indeed.
The tunnel was quiet, only faint breathing audible.
Zhao Xingpeng glanced at the two figures nearby. The woman leaning against him was annoyed and tapped his shoulder: “Why are you staring at them? Do you like them?”
“No,” Zhao Xingpeng replied, withdrawing his gaze, smiling and showing faint impatience: “I’m just curious how there are still Level 1 players in the fourth dungeon.”
“They’re clearly a team. That little girl next to her is Level 6 combat. You know leveling combat is dangerous—this combo is interesting,” he explained.
Li Ru snorted: “So what? She probably hadn’t entered a dungeon before, then joined that girl later.”
Zhao Xingpeng patted her head: “Smart, Ru Ru. By the way, after this dungeon, come join my territory.”
Hearing that, Li Ru hesitated: “Then I’d be controlled, couldn’t act freely. What if you bully me?”
“We’ve been together three years; don’t you trust me?” Zhao Xingpeng coaxed softly. “I’ll give you admin rights to manage others. No one but me can manage you, and I won’t interfere. You’ll be in charge.”
Li Ru leaned happily against him: “You mean it?”
“Of course.”
Their voices were low, but Yan Yiqiu’s senses were sharp; she heard everything clearly.
She glanced at the woman leaning on the man, thinking: Too naive to trust his words.
A man reliable as a mountain? When pigs fly.
Yan Yiqiu bet once the woman joined his territory, the man would betray her.
Being in his territory meant he could manipulate her freely.
She noted the woman’s Level 3 cooking info and silently withdrew her gaze, choosing not to interfere.
After peacefully coexisting for over half an hour, rustling came from the branch again. From a distance, the sound was faint.
The nearby team hadn’t noticed, but Yun Yan quickly stood, alert at the branch.
Her sudden movement startled the other team, who also rose nervously to watch.
A minute or two passed—nothing happened.
“What? Overreacted, scared me for nothing,” someone complained. “Can you stop jumping at every little thing?”
“Yeah, don’t scare people to death.”
Yan Yiqiu and Yun Yan ignored them.
Two minutes later, dense waves of mutated crimson worker ants poured out of the branch like a red tide.
The nearest team jumped three feet high, hastily raising weapons.
Author’s Note:
Dear readers, check out my upcoming work: “Huh? Isn’t this a farming game? [Base Building]”
Yan Shuang is a fan of base-building farming games, frequently browsing game stores for new ones.
One day, she found a game called “Territory”.
It featured exquisite graphics, detailed character models, and high-quality content, captivating her completely.
Starting from a small plot of land, she developed her territory: taking in residents, mining and smelting, farming, storing food, crafting weapons and daily goods.
Surviving disasters and beast raids, her territory grew into a village, then a tribe, eventually a resource-rich large territory.
She thought the game ended there.
But one day, the system updated: the new version, Territory Wars, was online.
Blinking, she found herself in a familiar yet strange place. Excited companions shouted: “Lord! Territory Wars is live! Let’s conquer nearby territories!”
Yan Shuang: “…?”
Huh? Wait, what’s happening??